POLITICS
NRA Is Pulling In Big Bucks After The Parkland Mass Shooting
Donations skyrocketed as the gun group issued frothy warnings of the “freedom-hating left.”
The National Rifle Association has launched a heated offensive in the weeks since the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Warning of the “freedom-hating left” impinging on Americans’ “fundamental rights” and spreading conspiracy theories about teenagers who survived the mass shooting, the gun group ramped up efforts to raise money, recruit members and drum up support for its agenda.
The strategy appears to be working.
Donations to the group spiked in the aftermath of the school shooting, in which a former student armed with an assault-style rifle killed 17 people. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the NRA received “twice as much money from nearly five times as many donors” in the week after the shooting, compared with the week before.
Donations to the NRA’s Political Victory Fund, which contributes money to political campaigns for NRA-friendly candidates, tripled in February from the month earlier, reported CNN.
The Center for Responsive Politics noted it’s unclear what caused the surge. It said factors may have included the NRA’s recent outreach efforts and comments by President some rich asshole after the shooting suggesting he may take a tougher stance on gun control (the rich asshole later flip-flopped on the issue).
The Chicago Tribune reported last week that the NRA “aggressively increased” its advertising on Facebook in the weeks after the Parkland attack. The paper, citing data from tech company Pathmatics, reported that the NRA’s average daily spending on Facebook advertising had been $11,300 in the 24 days before the shooting. The group paused its ads in the four days immediately after the slaughter, but then resumed advertising ― increasing average daily spending on Facebook ads to $47,300 in the succeeding 24 days.
NRA social media pages have boosted membership and donation-drive messages since Parkland. On Saturday ― hours before the March For Our Lives in Washington, organized by Stoneman Douglas survivors ― an NRA post on Facebook urged people to join the group to “stand and fight for our kids’ safety.”
“Today’s protests aren’t spontaneous,” the NRA wrote on Facebook, referring to the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators demanding gun reforms. “Gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites are manipulating and exploiting children as part of their plan to DESTROY the Second Amendment and strip us of our right to defend ourselves and our loved ones.”
The post directed people to the NRA website, which urged them to “join NRA’s March for Freedom.” Visitors were given an option to pay for a membership.
In the six weeks prior to Parkland, the NRA posted just one message about donations or membership on its Facebook page. In the six weeks since, it has published 11 such posts.
Recent posts strike a similar tone. “The freedom-hating left wants to take away your fundamental right to self-defense,” read one from mid-March, boasting an “EXCLUSIVE RENEWAL OFFER” for existing NRA members.
“Never in our lives have we seen more dangerous and reckless attacks from those who despise our freedoms,” said another, promising a “FREE gift” for those who renewed their membership. “We need YOU fighting with us more than ever!”
The regular price of a one-year NRA membership is $40. According to a 2015 report by the nonprofit A-Mark Foundation, about half of NRA’s total revenue comes from membership dues.
It’s unclear how many new members have joined the NRA or renewed their membership since the Parkland attack.
The NRA didn’t immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
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CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta skillfully destroys ‘hyperbolic’ VA pick: the rich asshole is ‘not going to live to 200 years’
Sanjay Gupta appears on CNN (screen grab)
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CNN medical analyst Sanjay Gupta on Thursday called out President some rich asshole’s nominee for Veterans Affairs secretary for not having any management experience that would help him serve the VA’s 9 million customers.
During a CNN discussion about the nomination of White House physician Ronny Jackson for VA secretary, host Chris Cuomo asked Gupta what experience the doctor could bring to the job.
“Not much,” Gupta replied. “He obviously has the ear of the president. Ronny Jackson has medical experience, clearly. He has military experience, clearly. He’s supporting and loyal to the president. But this is a large organization.”
The CNN medical correspondent noted that 9 million people depend on the VA for medical services.
“It’s a big managerial job,” Gupta pointed out. “I don’t think that he has any experience in actually running a big organization like that. We don’t know where he stands on some of the biggest issues that are confronting the VA right now.”
Gupta recalled that he recently spent time with Jackson when he publicly vouched for the rich asshole’s good health, which the White House physician has been accused of embellishing.
“The more hyperbolic tone, I was really struck by it,” the CNN doctor said. “The problem is when you’re talking about facts and data and science and, in this case, the president’s health, suggesting that, look, could he live to 200 years? Who’s to say? You know, I put my hand up and said, ‘I’ll say he’s not going to live to 200 years.'”
Watch the video below from CNN.
the rich asshole slams Amazon for ‘putting many thousands of retailers out of business’
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 03/29/18 08:25 AM EDT
President the rich asshole publicly criticized Amazon in a tweet on Thursday, citing his concerns with how the online retailer pays its taxes.
I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!
The tweet comes after Axios reported on Wednesday that the rich asshole wants to take aim at the retail giant, citing the company's tax treatment.
“He’s obsessed with Amazon,” a source told the outlet. “Obsessed.”
“He’s wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law," a source who spoke to the rich asshole said, according to Axios.
The president has reportedly cited the company's treatment of the U.S. Postal Service.
“The whole post office thing, that's very much a perception he has,” another source said. “It's been explained to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate and that the post office actually makes a ton of money from Amazon."
The president has also frequently taken aim at The Washington Post, which Amazon owner Jeff Bezos purchased in 2013.
Amazon's stock lost $50 billion in shareholder value on Wednesday after the report was published.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Wednesday that there were no announcements on Amazon.
"We have no announcement and no specific policies we are pushing for," she said.
the rich asshole previously lashed out at Amazon in a tweet last year.
Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!
By
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March 29, 2018
Rick Santorum sparked outrage when he told school children to learn how to treat gunshot victims, but NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch has an equally absurd suggestion: that kids pay for their own school security.
During Thursday morning’s “Fox & Friends,” Loesch was asked about the massive “March For Our Lives” demonstrations that took place last weekend. While she professed a belief in “free speech,” she had reservations about the protests.
“I just think that all of the money that was spent on concerts and Port-O-Potties, and ‘cuz they had armed security there as well, a lot of that could have been spent on school security measures,” Loesch argued.
“All of the individuals could be meeting with elected officials,” she added. “You can march all day long, [but] you have to follow it up with action.”
Like Santorum’s advice that the kids learn to treat their own classmates’ gunshot wounds, Loesch’s suggestion is as insulting as it is absurd. Kids shouldn’t have to worry about being gunned down at school, let alone about how to pay for measures to defend their schools.
And Loesch’s accusation that the Parkland activists aren’t taking action is an obvious lie. Within days of the gun massacre, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School boarded buses to Tallahassee to meet with lawmakers. A week later, they met with lawmakers in Washington, DC. Their activism has focused on registering and getting people to vote.
In fact, these activists are organizing town hall meetings with lawmakers so that anyone, including Dana Loesch, can be heard on the issue of school safety and gun violence. You’re welcome, Dana.
Loesch’s suggestion is similar to Santorum’s in more ways than its mere absurdity, though. Both of them are delivering the explicit message to kids that being attacked by gunmen at school is simply a fact of life to which they must adapt.
But more tellingly, Santorum and Loesch are telling these kids to heed their advice instead of organizing to end gun violence. More than anything else, such desperate pleas for silence are the surest sign that what these kids are doing is working.
the rich asshole’s numbers rise amid storm of controversy
BY JORDAN FABIAN AND JONATHAN EASLEY - 03/29/18 06:00 AM EDT
President the rich asshole’s approval ratings are rising, driven by a roaring economy that has dulled the effects of a White House swarmed by controversies.
Republicans remain panicked over their prospects in 2018, with angst growing that the GOP will lose its majority in the House.
Yet even as those fears grow, the rich asshole’s numbers are getting better.
The Associated Press and CNN released new polls this week showing 42 percent of Americans approve of the rich asshole’s job performance, up 7 percentage points each from their surveys last month.
The number is historically low for a president 14 months into his tenure, but the jump suggests the rich asshole is at least on an upward trend even as his party fights to hold on to its majority in the House.
One Republican lawmaker this week publicly talked about rumors of Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) exit, remarks that only underlined the sense that the House is in danger of falling to the Democrats.
A few factors outside the GOP’s control have contributed to the panic, including a new legislative map for Pennsylvania that gives Democrats opportunities to win several seats.
Lawmakers also blame the bad news surrounding the rich asshole, which they say has crowded out talk of the GOP tax overhaul.
the rich asshole has been hammered by a torrent of negative headlines related to staff shake-ups, battles with special counsel Robert Mueller and accusations that he had extramarital affairs with an adult-film star and a Playboy model.
the rich asshole has stepped up his attacks on Mueller, frustrating some Republicans who fear that he might fire the special counsel in an effort to halt the investigation into Russian election meddling.
Such a move would spark a bipartisan backlash against the rich asshole that could squelch any chance Republicans have of maintaining their congressional majorities.
During that time, the president has parted ways with his secretary of State, Veterans Affairs secretary, national security adviser, top economic aide and lead outside attorney in the Russia probe, adding to the sense that the rich asshole is consumed by chaos and incapable of staying focused on a positive message.
If only the rich asshole would stay focused on the economy, lawmakers believe their own chances would improve.
Forty-eight percent of Americans approve of the rich asshole’s handling of the economy, according to the CNN–SSRS Research poll, his highest rating on any issue. The AP survey shows that 46 percent support the rich asshole’s tax policies.
“[the rich asshole’s] political fortunes will rise and fall with the economy, and Republicans will have a better chance on Election Day if the economy remains strong,” said Republican operative Ryan Williams, adding that the rich asshole could boost GOP candidates by focusing on the issue in speeches and remarks.
The improving poll numbers come amid a raft of positive signs for the U.S. economy, which grew at an even faster clip than previously thought to close out 2017.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.9 percent annual rate in the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, up from a previous estimate of 2.5 percent.
The nation added 313,000 new jobs in February, according to the Labor Department, the most since July 2016. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent, the lowest since 2001.
The biggest concern among Republicans is the energy they see on the left, which is materializing in massive protests in streets across the country. Democratic victories in a number of special elections nationwide since the rich asshole’s inauguration added to their concerns.
Many in the GOP point the finger squarely at the rich asshole as the energizing force for Democrats.
“This should be a good election for us, despite it being the first midterm for the party in power, and we have a super positive map in the Senate,” said Chris Wright, a top conservative donor and oil industry executive from Colorado. “But the rich asshole infuriates people. He energizes the left against him and that’s the problem.”
Democrats need a net gain of 24 seats to win the House, and they’ve been boosted in that effort by GOP retirements.
Generic ballot polls show Democrats with about a 7-point lead, according to the RealClearPolitics average, although several polls show Democrats with a double-digit lead.
To counter that advantage, GOP candidates and outside groups plan to sell their tax overhaul between now and November in an effort to capitalize on signs that the public is warming to it.
But polling shows there is still some work to do. A CNBC All-America Economic survey released Wednesday found that 52 percent of voters say they haven’t seen a change as a result of the bill the rich asshole signed into law late last year.
And the rich asshole’s bump in polling comes despite a cascade of new controversies stemming from comments made by porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, who have both spoken in detail about how the rich asshole cheated on his wife with them.
The uptick in approval has some pollsters wondering whether the president is impervious to scandals that would torpedo normal politicians.
“With the rich asshole it’s not Teflon. The crud is so caked in, what’s more crud going to do to it?” said pollster John Zogby.
A Politico–Morning Consult poll released Wednesday found that 56 percent of registered voters believe the rich asshole had an affair with Daniels — but almost half said it doesn’t change their view of the president.
Many of the negatives about the rich asshole are already baked in, said Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray.
“There’s no question, some rich asshole is the chaos president, pretty much from the campaign through the first months of his presidency, he established that would be the pattern,” Murray said. “So in many respects, the fact that we have all these new revelations doesn’t change that voters were expecting chaos.”
CNN’s Cuomo shuts down the rich asshole backer’s rant over Justice Steven’s call for 2nd Amendment repeal
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The conclusion of a wide-ranging CNN interview with former the rich asshole campaign manager Corey Lewandowski took a manic turn on Thursday morning when host Chris Cuomo mentioned former Justice John Paul Stevens’ call to repeal the 2nd Amendment and the ex-the rich asshole official grew agitated.
Following a discussion on whether Lewandowski believes the rich asshole accuser, adult star Stormy Daniels, Cuomo asked about the rich asshole administration’s view on reasonable gun control laws.
“Let me ask you one more thing, Corey,” Cuomo began. ” You are interested in, and I believe that the White House is interested in, stopping these shootings, right? We all want that as a joint enterprise, right? ”
“Of course, of course,” Lewandowski agreed.
“I don’t understand the energy that’s being exerted in putting up the boogeyman that one side wants to get rid of the 2nd amendment,” Cuomo continued. “That’s what this is about. The president tweeted the other day and it is now percolating up in the fringes of the right. Why push that when you know there is no meaningful effort to repeal the 2nd amendment — it seems like a tactic to keep the sides apart and not get any reasonable solutions working to this obvious problem? Why go this way?”
“I think the president’s tweet was probably in response to the op-ed penned by the former Supreme Court justice who recommended the repeal of the 2nd Amendment,” the rich asshole confidante suggested. “That is so antithetical to everything our Constitution stand for.”
“We had a former Supreme Court justice who wrote an op-ed who said we should repeal the 2nd Amendment,” Lewandowski reiterated. “This is an individual who is on the highest court of the land, who is making decisions that affect every person in the United States, and now that they’ve left the court thinking repealing the 2nd Amendment is something we should consider.”
“But he made it sound like it’s a real threat, ” Cuomo parried. ” Do you think there is any real momentum anywhere with anyone who is a player in this situation to repeal the 2nd Amendment? ”
“Look, I think when you have a former Supreme Court justice who served on the highest court in the land recommending that, advocating that, potentially influencing his former colleagues,” Lewandowski insisted.
“Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) came out and said we don’t want this,” Cuomo replied. “One of the representatives of the kids group in Florida said we don’t want this. It’s not just Stevens — other people have written these op-eds as well. We both know there is no meaningful energy behind this cause, we know it is all but politically impossible for this to happen. so why push it? Nobody is asking to repeal any amendment, but you guys are using it as a boogeyman.”
“Somebody did ask to repeal it!” Lewandowski shot back.
“He is retired,” the CNN host lectured. “It’s a distraction, it keeps us apart. I just don’t get it.”
“This is a former member of the highest court,” Lewandowski repeated.
“I know who he is,” Cuomo retorted. “But he is not a player in this.”
“He is a player in this,” came the reply.
“He doesn’t lead an organization. He’s not an elected official and there is no momentum behind any call like this in Congress,” Cuomo explained to the increasingly agitated Lewandowski.
“He was a colleague of one of the nine individuals,” Lewandowski repeated. “He is trying to influence those people to make decisions based on a tragedy which took place in Parkland. Whether that issue ever comes to the Supreme Court, who knows. Is he trying to influence his colleagues to crack down on gun control? Of course he is.”
“Cracking down on gun control is very different than repealing the 2nd Amendment,” Cuomo patiently explained.
Watch the video below via CNN:
Shulkin: White House blocked me from publicly responding to accusations
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 03/29/18 09:21 AM EDT
Ousted Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin said Thursday that an inspector general report laying out his misuse of taxpayer dollars was “mischaracterized” and that he was not given a chance to defend himself.
“There was nothing improper about this trip, and I was not allowed to put up an official statement or to even respond to this by the White House,” Shulkin told NPR.
“I think this was really just being used in a political context to try to make sure that I wasn’t as effective as a leader moving forward,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
Shulkin also speculated to NPR that he was removed from his post because he was against privatizing the VA.
President the rich asshole tweeted Wednesday evening that he intends to replace Shulkin with Adm. Ronny Jackson, who is currently the White House physician.
Shulkin was facing intense scrutiny in recent weeks after an inspector general report found he spent most of his time during a trip to Europe last summer sightseeing rather than conducting official business and improperly accepted tickets to a Wimbledon tennis match as a gift.
It also said a top aide, who has since resigned, altered an email to gain approval to use taxpayer money to pay for Shulkin’s wife to accompany him on the trip.
It also said a top aide, who has since resigned, altered an email to gain approval to use taxpayer money to pay for Shulkin’s wife to accompany him on the trip.
Shulkin penned an op-ed published Wednesday morning defending his tenure at the VA and railing against the "toxic" and "chaotic" environment in Washington.
"As I prepare to leave government, I am struck by a recurring thought: It should not be this hard to serve your country," he wrote in The New York Times.
the rich asshole’s lawyer has a lawyer and he just made the Stormy Daniels situation a lot worse
A disastrous interview on CNN.
The scandal surrounding Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who claims to have had an affair with some rich asshole, just got worse.
It started when David Schwartz, an attorney for some rich asshole’s attorney Michael Cohen, appeared on CNN last night. Schwartz told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the rich asshole “was not aware of” the non-disclosure contract signed by Stormy Daniels and “wasn’t told about it.”
This is a big problem for the rich asshole. Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, argues that the absence of the rich asshole’s signature on the non-disclosure agreement renders the contract invalid. But while this might be true, it is not a slam-dunk argument. You can have a binding contract without any written document. But there are three core elements to a binding contract: 1. offer, 2. acceptance and 3. consideration (something of value).
While you can have a binding contract without a a signature you cannot be a party to a contract that you don’t even know about — knowing about the contract is literally what being “a party to a contract” means. That is because you have to have knowledge of the offer and knowingly accept the offer. the rich asshole, by Schwartz’s own admission, did neither of those things.
Schwartz’s argument is that there was a binding contract between Daniels and EC LLC, the shell corporation set up by Michael Cohen, and the rich asshole was a “third party beneficiary” of the contract.
The problem for Schwartz, Cohen, and the rich asshole is that the contract was not constructed in a way to make that possible. Part of the inducement for Daniels to sign the contract, explicitly, were things that only some rich asshole himself (referred to in the contract, and by Schwartz, as “DD”) could provide.
The contract explicitly states, in Section 4.3, that as a “material inducement” for Daniels to sign the contract the rich asshole agrees not to sue Daniels in civil court or provide her name to the authorities unless asked. This relates to any claims the rich asshole might have against Daniels for the dissemination of “the Property” — defined as photos, videos or other evidence of their alleged affair.
It explicitly notes that “each Party” is “executing this Agreement in reliance thereon.” In other words, the promise by the rich asshole to release Daniels from legal liability is not a trivial part of the contract. This is the “consideration” part of the contract. It’s essential.
But if the rich asshole is not a party to the contract — and Schwartz has admitted he was not — the rich asshole cannot provide such a warranty. Thus, Daniels was “materially induced” to sign a contract with a false promise. In other words, Schwartz’s definitive statement that the rich asshole was not a party greatly increases the chances that a court will invalidate this contract.
Even if a court decided the contract is valid somehow, Schwartz’s claim that the president is not a party to it does significant damage to the rich asshole. The case is now in federal court. the rich asshole and Cohen are seeking to avoid having to sit for a deposition, or be subject to additional discovery, by pushing the dispute back into secret arbitration.
But the contract only allows the rich asshole, not Cohen’s shell corporation, to resolve disputes in arbitration under section 5.13 and 5.2 of the agreement. the rich asshole can’t take advantage of an arbitration agreement that he is not a party to and knows nothing about.
This problems all stems from Cohen’s attempts to thread this legal needle. He wanted to create a contract that prevented Daniels from talking about her alleged relationship with the rich asshole, but also wanted to simultaneously claim the rich asshole wasn’t involved at all.
But binding your client to an agreement, and paying $130,000 to seal the deal without telling him or her about it, is a violation of a lawyer’s professional responsibility — and could result in Cohen being sanctioned or disbarred.
So now Cohen has a lawyer of his own and he’s trying to protect his client by claiming Cohen did not bind the rich asshole, but just created a separate agreement between a shell corporation and Daniels.
This isn’t working out well and may end up making the rich asshole’s problems much worse.
the rich asshole may already be running the White House without a chief of staff as Kelly is shoved to the side
FILE PHOTO: Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly (L) listens to U.S. President some rich asshole during a meeting with cyber security experts in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 31, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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White House chief of staff John Kelly has found himself on the outs with President some rich asshole, who reportedly has considered firing the retired general and not replacing him.
The president has made recent staffing decisions and phone calls to foreign leaders without Kelly being present, but the rich asshole has publicly praised his chief of staff and insists he has no plans to oust him, reported Bloomberg Politics.
“Kelly wasn’t with the president last week when the rich asshole abruptly decided to oust H.R. McMaster as national security adviser and replace him with John Bolton. Just two people were in the room for that decision: the rich asshole and Bolton,” the website reported.
“And Kelly is rarely on the line any more when the rich asshole calls foreign leaders,” the report continued. “Last week, when the rich asshole spoke with President Vladimir Putin days before the U.S. decided to expel dozens of Russian diplomats, Kelly wasn’t on the call.”
Seven White House aides and five former staffers and outside confidants told Bloomberg that Kelly has seen his authority and influence slip after the firing of staff secretary Rob Porter, although the rich asshole has privately mused about bringing him back.
Porter was fired last month after domestic violence allegations surfaced against him, and the episode highlighted problems with security clearances for multiple White House staffers.
Aides say Kelly bungled the Porter departure by publicly praising the staff secretary after the claims were reported, and then giving to reporters an inaccurate timeline of his dismissal.
Kelly has been less aware of the rich asshole’s plans lately, according to several aides, and the president seeks his input less frequently — and the chief of staff is no longer able to block access to former aides like Anthony Scaramucci and Corey Lewandowski.
the rich asshole has grown more confident on the job after a year in office, aides say, and he’s making more decisions without input from Kelly or other advisers.
Kelly retains the confidence of many White House aides, according to senior officials, but he has lost credibility with some staffers.
However, sources told Bloomberg that the rich asshole isn’t seriously considering a third chief of staff — although he sometimes dreams up ideas for replacements during private chats with pals outside the White House.
the rich asshole is gaslighting the public. You can see it in the way he fires cabinet members.
the rich asshole's dismissal of his VA Secretary proves his administration lied once again.
President some rich asshole took to Twitter on Wednesday night to fire another member of his administration — this time, Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs David Shulkin. The move is the latest in an all-too-familiar cycle for the rich asshole administration: lie, fire, repeat.
Just two days before the rich asshole made public his decision to appoint his personal doctor to run the agency he had once promised would “be fixed – fast,” his administration falsely claimed that no dismissal was imminent and that Shulkin enjoyed the rich asshole’s “confidence.” Although multiple administration sources had — accurately — told the press that Shulkin was about to be removed, the rich asshole spokesman Hogan Gidley poo-pooed the reporting, telling Fox News “we hear these types of rumors every day.”
This fits a pattern the administration has shown time and again when it comes to personnel. the rich asshole, who as a candidate vowed to pick only “the best people” for his administration, has seen record turnover and often fired his own appointees after less than 15 months on the job. And frequently, he and his staff have lied to the American people just before doing so, often claiming accurate reporting on the moves is “fake news.”
Some examples:
- National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster “resigned“/was fired last week. Seven days before, the rich asshole had called reports that he would do this “very false.” His press secretary also implied that McMaster was not about to be replaced.
Just spoke to @POTUS and Gen. H.R. McMaster - contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the NSC.
- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired, via tweet, two weeks ago. Though the rich asshole said that he and Tillerson had “been talking about this for a long time,” just three months before he called such claims “FAKE NEWS.”
The media has been speculating that I fired Rex Tillerson or that he would be leaving soon - FAKE NEWS! He’s not leaving and while we disagree on certain subjects, (I call the final shots) we work well together and America is highly respected again!instagram.com/p/BcLCXDYgQed/
- White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was pushed out last July. A day earlier, Sanders had told the reporters of Priebus, “We all serve at the pleasure of the president, and if he gets to a place where that isn’t the case, he’ll let you know.” Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) had also claimed that Priebus was “doing a fantastic job at the White House and I believe he has the president’s confidence.”
- National Security Adviser Mike Flynn was forced to resign in February 2017, after just days on the job. Only a day earlier, White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway had told the public that Flynn had the rich asshole’s “full confidence.”
On Sunday, the rich asshole used his regular “fake news” line to dismiss accurate reports that top lawyers are reluctant to take on the rich asshole as a client. Given the way he treated his former employees, it’s not hard to imagine why “the best people” might be hesitant to work for the rich asshole or his administration.
By
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March 29, 2018
How many advertisers will now drop the toxic host?
Laura Ingraham has suddenly put her Fox News advertisers at risk after the primetime host needlessly mocked a Parkland, Florida, mass murder survivor on Twitter.
After being the target of Ingraham’s demeaning attack, Parkland’s David Hogg on Wednesday night urged his Twitter followers to contact the Fox host’s advertisers:
Pick a number 1-12 contact the company next to that #
Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers
1. @sleepnumber
2. @ATT
3. Nutrish
4. @Allstate & @esurance
5. @Bayer
6. @RocketMortgage Mortgage
7. @LibertyMutual
8. @Arbys
9. @TripAdvisor
10. @Nestle
11. @hulu
12. @Wayfair
Ingraham might dismiss the emerging ad boycott. But both Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck lost their Fox News jobs after advertisers abandoned their shows when the hosts because embroiled in controversies. O’Reilly mistreated women co-workers, and Beck called President Barack Obama a “racist” who hates white people.
The white nationalist site Breitbart has also lost a huge number of advertisers, as companies steer clear of hate content.
Ingraham’s show airs at 10 p.m., a time slot Fox News dominated for years. But she now often finishes in second place, behind Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC.
Ingraham’s self-inflicted wound comes six weeks after 17 people were killed at the school massacre. Today, right-wing talkers like Ingraham are leading a toxic smear campaign against the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who have sparked a national movement to counter gun violence in America.
No longer even debating the merits of gun safety, GOP attack dogs now seem weirdly obsessed with demeaning the Florida teens. On Wednesday, Ingraham actually mocked Hogg for being rejected from several colleges and universities where he applied before the gun safety movement emerged.
Her ugly tweet was widely condemned for being pointlessly rude and noxious:
I have to ask - @IngrahamAngle - honestly, what kind of a mother bullies a HS student who survived a school shooting and a massacre? These kids know more about grace and class than you'll ever understand. twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/…
Laura, you're a parent. This is pretty deplorable. twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/…
Hogg’s sister, Laura, went on Twitter and demanded to know why Melania the rich asshole, a supposed White House ally in the war on cyber bullying, wasn’t speaking out against the attack on her brother.
Ingraham has a long history of trying to shut down debates that the GOP is losing, and trying to shut up popular spokespeople.
Earlier this year, she attacked NBA LeBron James for being “barely intelligible,” when he critiqued the Republican Party. “Must they run their mouths like that?” she asked.
Major advertisers may soon be asking the same question about Ingraham.
'Crime scene' projected onto the rich asshole hotel
BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 03/29/18 07:36 AM EDT
A "Crime Scene" warning was projected Wednesday night onto the rich asshole International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
The projection included the words "Crime Scene - Do Not Enter" displayed on a yellow background.
It also included the phrase "It's Stormy Out," which refers to the ongoing controversy over Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an alleged affair with President the rich asshole more than a decade ago.
It also used the phrases "Conflict of Interest Zone" and "Investigate the rich asshole."
This is amazing! Someone has projected “Crime Scene — Do Not Enter” onto Trump International Hotel! pscp.tv/w/1OwGWEnjbQpxQ
The projection came after a federal judge on Wednesday rejected the rich asshole's push to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of violating the Constitution by collecting profits from his luxury hotel in the nation's capital.
U.S. District Court Judge Peter Messitte shot down the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, which argued the plaintiffs had no legal standing to sue. The judge, based in Greenbelt, Md., said he will schedule another hearing to weigh the administration’s other claims.
The decision is a blow to the rich asshole, who has long claimed that his business arrangements are legal and do not pose a conflict of interest.
Critics say that the rich asshole is violating the emoluments clause, which bans presidents from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments without Congress’s explicit approval.
After the 2016 election, the rich asshole broke with precedent by refusing to divest in his business. The then-president elect instead placed his assets in a trust controlled by his two adult sons.
The pointed projection also comes amid special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and possible ties between the rich asshole campaign and Russia.
This is not the first time phrases have been projected on the hotel. In January, the world "shithole" was projected onto the D.C. hotel after reports that the rich asshole had referred to Haiti and African nations as "shithole countries."
Last year, the words “Pay the rich asshole Bribes Here” and the Constitution’s emoluments clause were both projected in one evening.
Washington, D.C.-based artist Robin Bell typically claims credit for the projections. Bell tweeted the "Crime Scene" projection on Wednesday night.
Shulkin after firing: 'It should not be this hard to serve your country'
BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 03/29/18 07:23 AM EDT
David Shulkin on Wednesday penned an op-ed following his ouster as Veterans Affairs (VA) secretary, railing against the "toxic" and "chaotic" environment in Washington and describing a "brutal power struggle" at the VA.
"As I prepare to leave government, I am struck by a recurring thought: It should not be this hard to serve your country," he wrote in the piece published in The New York Times.
Shulkin wrote about his accomplishments during his time at the VA and said it has been his "greatest professional honor" to serve the country's military veterans.
He said he fought during his time at the department to stand up "for this great department and all that it embodies."
"In recent months, though, the environment in Washington has turned so toxic, chaotic, disrespectful and subversive that it became impossible for me to accomplish the important work that our veterans need and deserve," he wrote.
"I can assure you that I will continue to speak out against those who seek to harm the V.A. by putting their personal agendas in front of the well-being of our veterans," he said.
He specifically blamed his opposition to privatizing health care at the VA for his ouster, saying "some political appointees" within the administration are "choosing to promote their agendas instead of what’s best for veterans."
Shulkin added that he came to Washington understanding the city can by "ugly." He said he figured he could "avoid all of the ugliness by staying true to my values."
"I have been falsely accused of things by people who wanted me out of the way. But despite these politically-based attacks on me and my family’s character, I am proud of my record and know that I acted with the utmost integrity. Unfortunately, none of that mattered," he wrote.
The op-ed comes after President the rich asshole said Wednesday he was removing Shulkin and tapping Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, as his replacement, ending weeks of uncertainty at the embattled agency.
the rich asshole announced the decision on Twitter, a move that caps off a stunning fall for Shulkin, who had once been among the rich asshole’s favorite Cabinet secretaries.
Shulkin’s ouster adds to the shake-up in the the rich asshole administration that has already resulted in the departures of the president's secretary of State, his top economic aide and his second national security adviser.
Shulkin had been in the hot seat for months over a scathing report accusing him of misusing taxpayer dollars.
the rich asshole lashes out at Amazon in bizarre morning tweet: ‘Use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy!’
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President some rich asshole once again took aim at retail giant Amazon on Thursday, as he accused it of ripping off the United States Postal Service and putting retail shops out of business.
“I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election,” the rich asshole wrote. “Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!”
In fact, Amazon pays the United States Post Office to deliver its packages and the mission of the USPS is to deliver mail and packages. Additionally, notes Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis, Amazon now pays sales taxes in most of the states where it operates.
the rich asshole has regularly attacked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, and the president has in the past accused it of ripping off the post office. A report from Axios’ Jonathan Swan earlier this week indicated that the rich asshole was “obsessed” with taking on Bezos, and he’s regularly heard complaints from his wealthy developer friends that Amazon has been putting their shopping malls out of business.
POLITICS
Jeb Bush Takes Apparent Swipe At some rich asshole Over His Children’s Love
some rich asshole Jr. and Eric the rich asshole have since responded to the comment.
Jeb Bush appeared to mock President some rich asshole over his relationship with his children during a lecture at Yale University on Tuesday.
The former Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate said he returned home following the 2016 GOP primary in South Carolina to children who “actually love me.”
Bush didn’t explicitly name the rich asshole ― who defeated him for the GOP presidential nomination ― during his lecture, “A Conversation with Jeb Bush: Restoring Conservatism in America.”
But much of the audience interpreted the joke as a dig at the current president, reports the Yale Daily News.
the rich asshole’s sons, some rich asshole Jr. and Eric the rich asshole, also thought the barb was a shot at their father. the rich asshole Jr. responded with this tweet:
Jeb! I love everything about my father. I love that he’s a fighter, I love that he has guts, I love that he’s President (all those things you’re not)
Also love that he learned enough about politics in a few weeks to dismantle you piece by piece despite it being your life’s work twitter.com/dailycaller/st…
Eric the rich asshole, meanwhile, posted this message in reply:
‘Conspiracy to obstruct justice’: Ex-DOJ official explains why bombshell Manafort pardon report could doom the rich asshole
Paul Manafort and some rich asshole (RawStory / Composite)
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A former top Justice Department official federal prosecutor said a bombshell report on possible pardons explains why Paul Manafort hadn’t rolled up on President some rich asshole — who may have committed an impeachable offense with his reported offer.
Harry Litman, who served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department from 1993 to 1998 and U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania from 1998 to 2001, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post that Manafort clearly believes the rich asshole will pardon him.
“Manafort’s refusal to cooperate can’t be driven by a rational calculation that he has any reasonable chance of escaping conviction, multimillion-dollar legal fees and a prison sentence that will result in years behind bars,” Litman wrote.
He said the rich asshole’s former campaign chairman faces damning evidence and a potential life sentence, yet he still has not agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller.
“In fact, no credible defense lawyer would advise Manafort that he can win the case. And if by some miracle he secures a mistrial, the government will retry the charges — the stakes are too high,” Litman wrote.
That’s why the New York Times report that recently departed the rich asshole defense attorney John Dowd had discussed a pardon with Manafort’s then-lawyer Reginald Brown was so significant — and another piece of evidence for Mueller to consider against the president.
“Dowd’s reported overture, particularly if done with the president’s knowledge or consent, could have constituted a conspiracy to obstruct justice, a separate impeachable offense,” Litman wrote. “That presumably is why the story includes a categorical denial from Dowd that he ever discussed pardons for the president’s former advisers with lawyers. For Dowd, the conduct would be putting his license at risk.”
MEDIA
Parkland Survivor Slams Fox News Host: ‘Coming From A 14-Year-Old, Please Grow Up’
Teens call for boycott of Laura Ingraham after she mocked a shooting survivor.
Lauren Hogg, a teen survivor of last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school, is accusing a Fox News host of cyberbullying.
Laura Ingraham of the “Ingraham Angle” on Wednesday mocked Hogg’s brother, David Hogg, also a survivor of the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which left 17 dead.
David Hogg has since become a vocal proponent of gun control, and has been attacked from the right for it.
Ingraham said the high school senior “whined” about getting rejected by four colleges:
David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.) dailywire.com/news/28770/gun…
Lauren Hogg defended her brother:
How low are your ratings @IngrahamAngle that you have to start attacking my brother’s grades to get attention? If you ask me, he is more articulate than you and has far better character. Man, that’s real low even for you. Coming from a 14 year old, please grow up. #NeverAgain twitter.com/ingrahamangle/…
Her brother called for a boycott of Ingraham’s show on Wednesday evening:
Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers ... Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts
Pick a number 1-12 contact the company next to that #
Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers
1. @sleepnumber
2. @ATT
3. Nutrish
4. @Allstate & @esurance
5. @Bayer
6. @RocketMortgage Mortgage
7. @LibertyMutual
8. @Arbys
9. @TripAdvisor
10. @Nestle
11. @hulu
12. @Wayfair
Lauren Hogg also called on first lady Melania the rich asshole, who has vowed to fight cyberbullying, to speak out.
HEY @FLOTUS MY BROTHER IS LITERALLY GETTING CYBERBULLIED BY @IngrahamAngle.
ANY COMMENTS?
#NeverAgain #MarchForOurLives
Lauren Hogg, who lost four friends in the mass shooting, made a similar comment last month, when some rich asshole Jr. “liked” two tweets promoting right-wing conspiracy theories about her brother.
“You say that your mission as first lady is to stop cyber bullying,” she tweeted to Melania the rich asshole. “Don’t you think it would have been smart to have a convo with your stepson @DonaldJTrumpJr before he liked a post about a false conspiracy theory which ... put a target on my back?”
The Hogg family has received death threats since the mass shooting, The Washington Post reported last month.
Outgoing VA director rips GOP lawmakers for trying to privatize veteran care to pay off wealthy allies
Dr. David J. Shulkin testifies before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on February 1, 2017. VA photo by Robert Turtil.
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In an op-ed published late Wednesday night , outgoing Veteran’s Affairs Secretary David Shulkin ripped into the “toxic” politicized nature of Washington, D.C., saying the atmosphere in the nation’s capitol makes it near impossible to get anything done, and that he was forced out because he opposed privatization of veterans’ services.
Following President some rich asshole’s dismissal of Shulkin — to be replaced by the president’s personal physician, Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson — the outgoing administrator wrote in the New York Times that it had “been my greatest professional honor to serve our country’s more than 20 million veterans,” before touting his accomplishments.
He then turned to why it was difficult for him to fulfill the mission of the V.A., blaming the political culture in the U.S. , as well as members of Congress who want to privatize services for veterans.
“It seems that these successes within the department have intensified the ambitions of people who want to put V.A. health care in the hands of the private sector,” Shulkin wrote. “I believe differences in philosophy deserve robust debate, and solutions should be determined based on the merits of the arguments. The advocates within the administration for privatizing V.A. health services, however, reject this approach.”
“They saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed. That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans,” he added.
“I have fought to stand up for this great department and all that it embodies,” Shulkin wrote. “In recent months, though, the environment in Washington has turned so toxic, chaotic, disrespectful and subversive that it became impossible for me to accomplish the important work that our veterans need and deserve. I can assure you that I will continue to speak out against those who seek to harm the V.A. by putting their personal agendas in front of the well-being of our veterans.”
“I came to government with an understanding that Washington can be ugly, but I assumed that I could avoid all of the ugliness by staying true to my values. I have been falsely accused of things by people who wanted me out of the way. But despite these politically-based attacks on me and my family’s character, I am proud of my record and know that I acted with the utmost integrity. Unfortunately, none of that mattered,” he wrote before concluding, “As I prepare to leave government, I am struck by a recurring thought: It should not be this hard to serve your country.”
You can read the whole piece here.
Parkland student targets Ingraham's advertisers after tweet about college rejections
BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 03/28/18 11:03 PM EDT
One of the student survivors of the Parkland, Fla., mass shooting is calling for people to target Fox News host Laura Ingraham's advertisers after she posted a critical tweet about him being rejected from colleges.
Ingraham had tweeted a Daily Wire story earlier Wednesday about Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg not getting into four colleges he had applied to.
“David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates,)” she tweeted.
David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.) dailywire.com/news/28770/gun…
Hogg replied a few hours later, tweeting at the Fox News host and asking who her biggest advertisers were.
He later tweeted out a list of Ingraham advertisers, telling people to contact those companies.
Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers ... Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts
Pick a number 1-12 contact the company next to that #
Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers
1. @sleepnumber
2. @ATT
3. Nutrish
4. @Allstate & @esurance
5. @Bayer
6. @RocketMortgage Mortgage
7. @LibertyMutual
8. @Arbys
9. @TripAdvisor
10. @Nestle
11. @hulu
12. @Wayfair
Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers
1. @sleepnumber
2. @ATT
3. Nutrish
4. @Allstate & @esurance
5. @Bayer
6. @RocketMortgage Mortgage
7. @LibertyMutual
8. @Arbys
9. @TripAdvisor
10. @Nestle
11. @hulu
12. @Wayfair
Hogg has emerged as a national figure in the weeks since the mass shooting at his Florida high school that left 17 people dead. He helped to organize and lead the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
Many had knocked Ingraham for criticizing Hogg over his college rejections, including lawmakers.
Just a Fox News host attacking a school shooting survivor for getting rejected from colleges. What a world. twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/…
A professional troll who trolls a high school kid who survived a mass shooting and watched his friends get murdered deserves to be trolled mercilessly in return. twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/…
I have to ask - @IngrahamAngle - honestly, what kind of a mother bullies a HS student who survived a school shooting and a massacre? These kids know more about grace and class than you'll ever understand. twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/…
When I was in high school, we had a "Wall of Shame" where we all posted our rejection letters as a form of class-wide catharsis. Everyone did it and supported each other. All those 18-year-olds were more mature than Lauren Ingraham. twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/…
1. The constant barrage of nasty personal attacks against the Parkland student activists is both startling & proof of their effectiveness. twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/…
His friends are dead.
He's asking us to save other children from being killed.
One of the organizers of massive protests.
Fox News host mocks him for some colleges rejecting him even though he has an impressive GPA.
Guess @davidhogg111 has really gotten under Fox News' skin. twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/…
He's asking us to save other children from being killed.
One of the organizers of massive protests.
Fox News host mocks him for some colleges rejecting him even though he has an impressive GPA.
Guess @davidhogg111 has really gotten under Fox News' skin. twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/…
POLITICS
the rich asshole Administration’s Justification For A Census Question On Citizenship Appears Shaky
Census experts are skeptical of the reasons given for adding the question on the 2020 form.
WASHINGTON ― The rich asshole administration’s justifications for adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 census aren’t particularly strong.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said his decision to add the question was based on three things. First, he wrote in a memo, while the census’ long-form American Community Survey (ACS) already asks about citizenship, the data it collects aren’t specific enough for the Department of Justice to best enforce the Voting Rights Act. Second, he said, he saw “limited empirical evidence” that a citizenship question would decrease response rates. And third, a citizenship question was already well-tested because the decennial census had asked about it in the 19th and 20th centuries (it stopped after the 1950 census), and the ACS questionnaire asks about it.
The rich asshole administration’s justifications, which have already shifted, are going to come under more scrutiny as civil rights groups and Democrats file lawsuits challenging the decision. The challengers say the decision to add a citizenship question is politically motivated and will lead to an undercount of immigrants and minority groups, who will be afraid to respond to the survey.
The ACS has asked about citizenship since 2005, but John Thompson, the director of the Census Bureau from 2013 to 2017, noted that the ACS is a completely different form than the decennial census. The ACS consists of a few dozen personal questions about things such as income, rent, disabilities and transportation to work, in addition to citizenship. It goes out to 2.6 percent of the population each year. The 2010 decennial census was just 10 questions long and asked very basic questions, including how many people were living in a given household, telephone number, race or ethnicity, and housing status. Thompson noted that there is much more attention paid to the short-form census that’s meant to be answered by everyone every 10 years.
Justin Levitt, who served as deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice from 2015 to 2017, noted that the ACS has lower stakes than the decennial census, which he said is the first responsibility the Constitution gives the federal government. If there’s a low response rate on the ACS, he said, there are ways for officials to correct their data. But the Constitution mandates that the federal government count all people. An inaccurate count could disproportionately affect certain states. For instance, if immigrants are not fully counted in an immigrant-rich state because many fear answering a citizenship question, that state could lose congressional seats as well as a fair allocation of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal money.
“If we get the percentage of population wrong that happens to have indoor toilets or outdoor toilets, it’s not of constitutional magnitude,” Levitt said. “If you’re asking people for a lot of information, and they’ve already signed up to deliver that other information, then also asking them for information about whether they’re a citizen, feels ― many people have said ― less aggressive and less worrisome.”
Two former top officials at the Justice Department charged with enforcing the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which is intended to protect the voting power of minorities, say the the rich asshole administration’s idea that existing ACS citizenship data aren’t good enough to enforce the law is untrue.
“I oversaw the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act for just under 2½ years in the prior administration and can tell you in clear terms that rigorous enforcement of the Voting Rights Act has never required the addition of a citizenship question in the census,” said Vanita Gupta, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, who served as head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division from 2014 until 2017. The Leadership Conference has lobbied against adding the citizenship question.
Levitt said that most jurisdictions were large enough that any error in the ACS estimate was eliminated. The only places where the ACS did not produce reliable citizenship estimates were tiny towns and municipalities. Any increase in accuracy from asking about citizenship, Levitt says, would be outweighed by the potential for error caused by adding an untested question.
“By attempting to increase that precision, from 9.99999 to 10, they are introducing such profound chaos and such intentional and predictable undercount that the amount of error they will introduce into the process swamps, by exponential levels, any incremental accuracy that they are purporting to bring,” he said in an interview.
“If the reason for this is: ‘There are some cases we can’t bring because the data on the survey isn’t accurate enough,’ to believe that adding this question in this environment, without testing it ― and that is unthinkable ― it’s essentially setting off with the Titantic saying, ‘We’re pretty sure that this won’t create a problem, but just in case, yeah, let’s throw a massive iceberg in the way.’”
If we get the percentage of population wrong that happens to have indoor toilets or outdoor toilets, it’s not of constitutional magnitude.Justin Levitt, former deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights
Even though the Census Bureau can spend years testing the wording of a question, it hasn’t done any testing at all on the effect of adding a citizenship question. It will go into the 2020 test essentially blindfolded, taking the risk that a citizenship question won’t suppress response rates. Civil rights groups say that immigrants and other minority groups are less likely to respond to a citizenship question because of fear that the the rich asshole administration could use their answer to find them and deport them or deport someone they know.
Six former directors of the Census Bureau warned Ross against adding the question, saying it was too risky. But Ross and the White House have downplayed the risk, saying its presence on the ACS is a test and there’s “limited empirical evidence” that fewer people will respond.
The Census Bureau took the citizenship question off in 1960 and started asking about it only on the longer questionnaires in 1970 as the practice of sampling the population became more popular in the 20th century, said Margo Anderson, a historian of the census at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. But asking a question on those long-form surveys isn’t a substitute for testing the effect of the question on the actual decennial form.
“1950 is a long time ago,” Anderson said. “The normal method would be to say, ’OK, if you want to do this, let’s test it.”
Kathleen Joyce Weldon, director of data operations and communications at the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, said pollsters are careful about including questions about citizenship in polls out of fear that people won’t respond. The seriousness of the census, a government-conducted national survey, could only further discourage people from responding.
Beyond the differences in content between the long-form ACS and the decennial census, it’s risky to assume that a question that works well on one survey will work on a different one. Social scientists are careful about the way any question on a survey is asked and even the way questions are ordered because the wording of a single question can influence how a person responds to all other questions or if they choose to continue responding at all.
In a January letter to Ross, the American Statistical Association warned that adding a citizenship question could invalidate all of the careful testing and calibration the Census Bureau had done so far to prepare the questions for the decennial survey.
“Adding a question at this late stage of the census process does not allow time for adequate testing to incorporate new questions, particularly if the testing reveals substantial problems. Further, a new question undermines the validity of the extensive testing of the current questions carried out to date.... We believe the potential for a citizenship question to create problems argues strongly against its inclusion at this advanced stage. The most likely results would be a lower response rate, more non-participation, and ultimately a sharp increase in cost for non-response follow-up.”
Sanders tried to justify the rich asshole saying nothing about police shootings of black men. It made no sense.
But the rich asshole is happy to weigh in when he can demonize immigrants.
During a White House briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders brushed off a question about whether President the rich asshole has anything to say about news that two white Baton Rouge police officers who shot and killed a black man named Alton Sterling while he was pinned down will not be charged.
“Certainly a terrible incident, ah, this is something that is a local matter and something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities at this point in time,” Sanders said. “Certainly we want to make sure that all law enforcement is carrying out the letter of the law. The president is very supportive of law enforcement, but at the same time, in these specific cases in these specific instances those would be left up to local authorities to make that determination, and not something for the federal government to weigh into.”
Reporter April Ryan followed up by asking Sanders if the rich asshole has anything to say about Eric Garner, a black man who was killed by New York City police officers in 2014. But Sanders indicated the rich asshole isn’t particularly interested in that case either.
“Once again, these would be local matters that should be left up to the local authorities,” she said.
Later, NBC’s Kristen Welker pressed Sanders on her characterization of police killings of black people as “local matters,” pointing out that “this seems to be an issue that the entire country is grappling with — these tensions between communities of color.”
“Does the president not need to show leadership on these issues?” Welker asked.
Sanders responded by quickly changing the topic to how the rich asshole wants to “grow the economy for everybody.” Welker, however, followed up by trying to pin Sanders down on the underlying racial issue.
“But there are a lot of African American moms all across the country feeling as though their sons are dying, so doesn’t the president feel like he needs to do something about that?” Welker said.
Sanders again changed the topic as quickly as possible, this time to the rich asshole’s plan to keep kids safe by militarizing schools.
“We look for ways to protect the individuals in this country, particularly children, that’s why you’ve seen the president take an active over the last several months in school safety,” she said.
Sanders’ comment about the rich asshole believing it’s inappropriate for the administration to weigh in on local law enforcement issues is belied by his recent tweets about Kate Steinle, a woman who was killed by an undocumented immigrant in San Francisco in 2015.
In November and December, the rich asshole posted angry tweets attacking a jury for acquitting the immigrant who was charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with her death.
It goes beyond Steinle. Continuing a trend that began while he was on the campaign trail, since taking office the rich asshole has repeatedly weighed in on local law enforcement issues.
A month after the inauguration, the rich asshole alluded to possibly using the federal government to suppress gun violence in Chicago.
And beyond Steinle, the rich asshole has used his pulpit to highlight tragedies he can use to demonize immigrants.
So disgraceful that a person illegally in our country killed @Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson. This is just one of many such preventable tragedies. We must get the Dems to get tough on the Border, and with illegal immigration, FAST!
Not only has the rich asshole shown minimal empathy for victims of police violence, but he’s publicly expressed his approval for the types of police practices that have resulted in the deaths of unarmed black men.
During a speech to police officers last July, the rich asshole encouraged cops to get “rough” when they toss people into a squad car — the same type of behavior that resulted in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015.
Sanders’ comments on Wednesday weren’t even the first time the rich asshole administration dismissed a question about police violence against a black man during a press briefing this week. On Monday, deputy press secretary Raj Shah indicated that President the rich asshole has nothing at all to say about Stephon Clark, a black man who was gunned down by Sacramento police on March 20 when they mistook his cell phone for a gun.
“I’m not aware of any comments that he has,” Shah said. “I haven’t asked him about that directly. Obviously the president cares about any individual who would be harmed through no fault of their own.”
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