POLITICS
Irked the rich asshole Reportedly Warned Putin: We’d Win The Arms Race
“If you want to have an arms race, we can do that,” the rich asshole told the Russian leader, according to NBC News.
President some rich asshole told Russia’s Vladimir Putin that if the two countries wanted to have a nuclear arms race, the U.S. would win, according to a report Thursday by NBC News.
the rich asshole reportedly made the comments during his congratulatory call with Putin last week after the Russian won an unsurprising re-election as president. But Putin’s unveiling of a new arsenal of nuclear weapons earlier this month apparently “got under the president’s skin,” an unnamed official told NBC, and he brought up such frustrations.
“If you want to have an arms race, we can do that, but I’ll win,” the rich asshole reportedly told his counterpart.
Thursday’s report echoes another explosive threat made by the president after he tweeted in January that his “nuclear button” was “much bigger & more powerful” than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s.
The official White House readout of the Putin call didn’t mention such tensions, simply saying the pair “discussed the state of bilateral relations,” and the rich asshole himself described the encounter as “very good.” The president reportedly ignored explicit, all-caps instructions from his aides to not congratulate Putin on his re-election, and he declined to discuss Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election or criticize the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in England.
But the call reflects growing tensions between the two countries. The White House said Monday it would expel 60 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the poisoning of the spy, joining more than a dozen European countries that have pledged to do the same. In turn, Russia on Thursday said 60 Americans would have to leave the country and that the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg would close.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said other countries would also be affected, and the number would “mirror” that of the Russians expelled in recent weeks.
“With its regrettable, unwarranted decision today, it is clear that Russia is not interested in dialogue about issues that matter to our two countries,” Heather Nauert, the State Department’s spokeswoman, said on Twitter Thursday of the expulsions.
With its regrettable, unwarranted decision today, it is clear that #Russia is not interested in dialogue about issues that matter to our two countries. #Russia is further isolating itself following the brazen chemical attack in the United Kingdom. - @statedeptspox
the rich asshole has long taken a soft stance on Russia, and he told reporters last week he would “probably” meet with Putin in the coming weeks, a move that caught advisers by surprise. He’s also told aides to minimize publicity around Russian policy moves, worried that the news might antagonize his counterpart, NBC reported.
“He doesn’t want us to bring it up,” an official told NBC.
But the rich asshole himself has also long touted American military might and said during his State of the Union address that Congress must “modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal” to keep up with Russia.
MEDIA
Advertisers Ditching Laura Ingraham’s Show Over Attack On Parkland Survivor
The Fox News host mocked 17-year-old David Hogg for not getting into a few colleges.
Several companies announced Thursday that they were pulling the plug on advertising during Laura Ingraham’s show after the Fox News host bashed a teen survivor of the Parkland school shooting.
Nutrish, the pet food line owned by celebrity chef Rachael Ray, was the first to tweet that it would no longer advertise during Ingraham’s show.
“We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham’s program, as the comments she has made are not consistent with how we feel people should be treated,” a spokesman for Nutrish told HuffPost in a statement.
Hours later, travel site TripAdvisor and home goods retailer Wayfair followed suit.
In a statement to HuffPost, TripAdvisor said Ingraham’s comments crossed “the line of decency”:
We believe strongly in the values of our company, especially the one that says, “We are better together.”We also believe Americans can disagree while still being agreeable, and that the free exchange of ideas within a community, in a peaceful manner, is the cornerstone of our democracy.We do not, however, condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster. In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency. As such, we have made a decision to stop advertising on that program.
A spokeswoman for Wayfair told HuffPost that Ingraham’s comments were “not consistent with our values.”
“As a company, we support open dialogue and debate on issues,” the Wayfair spokeswoman said. “However, the decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values. We do not plan to continue advertising on this particular program.”
The companies’ announcements came a day after Ingraham mocked David Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for not getting accepted into a few 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…
In response, Hogg called on people to pressure a dozen companies to remove their ads from Ingraham’s programs, which include “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News and a morning radio show on Talk 1370 AM of Austin, Texas. Nutrish, TripAdvisor and Wayfair are pulling their commercials from the Fox News show, the companies confirmed to HuffPost.
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
tweet away 
I'm so sorry to everyone that @IngrahamAngle has ever tried to hurt we are here for you and we love you
Ingraham apologized Thursday afternoon on Twitter for “any upset or hurt my tweet caused [Hogg] or any of the brave victims of Parkland.”
Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David...(1/2)
... immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how "poised" he was given the tragedy. As always, he’s welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion. WATCH: youtu.be/K0v7yxczipo (2/2)
Hogg dismissed Ingraham’s apology in an interview Thursday with The New York Times
“She only apologized after we went after her advertisers,” Hogg said. “It kind of speaks for itself. ... I’m not going to stoop to her level and go after her on a personal level. I’m going to go after her advertisers.”
I 100% agree an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough. I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children. twitter.com/fred_guttenber…
Expedia and Nestlé told HuffPost on Thursday that they would no longer advertise on Ingraham’s show, but did not immediately specify when this decision was made or whether her remarks about Hogg played a role in it.
“We have no plans to buy ads on the show in the future,” the Nestlé spokesman said.
Johnson & Johnson told HuffPost on Thursday that it “will pull advertising from Ms. Ingraham’s show.” Stitch Fix also confirmed to HuffPost that it would stop purchasing ads on her program.
Hulu tweeted that evening in reply to Hogg, saying it would similarly cease such advertising.
We’d like to confirm that we are no longer advertising on Laura Ingraham’s show and are monitoring all of our ad placements carefully.
HuffPost reached out to every company on Hogg’s list of Ingraham advertisers, as well as others the teen tweeted out from a list compiled by Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog. Nutrish, TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Expedia, Nestlé, Johnson & Johnson, Hulu and Stitch Fix have responded or otherwise made public statements.
A representative for Fox News declined to comment beyond Ingraham’s apology on Twitter.
This story has been updated as additional companies spoke out.
Surprise: the rich asshole’s newest Cabinet nominee has no relevant experience
You can’t make this stuff up: President the rich asshole has announced he will nominate a medical doctor who has no discernible management experience to run the second-largest agency in the federal government.
Can presidents be sued for malpractice?
The man the rich asshole has named to become secretary of veterans affairs, Ronny L. Jackson , happens to be the president’s personal doctor. More to the point, given the rich asshole’s perpetual hunger for sycophancy, is the fact that Jackson showered the president with hyperbolic Dear-Leader-style praise during a widely viewed television appearance in January.
the rich asshole has “incredibly good genes,” the White House physician said in describing a examination he had given the president. the rich asshole’s overall health is “excellent.” His “cardiac assessment” put him “in the excellent range.” If his diet were a bit better, “he might live to be 200 years old.” In any event, “I think he will remain fit for duty for the remainder of this term and even for the remainder of another term if he’s elected.”
That is an unusual way to describe a 71-year-old man whose height was reported as a generous 6 feet 3 inches , and weight at an eyebrow-raising 239 pounds, which classifies him as overweight — but conveniently one pound short of obese. Jackson’s are odd words characterizing a man whose cheeseburger-laden diet my doctor would describe as suicidal and whose coronary calcium scan results, according to many other physicians, indicate some degree of heart disease and a clearly elevated risk of heart attack.
I assume Jackson has been more, shall we say, plain-spoken with the president about his health than he was with the public. But am I suggesting that flattery, rather than merit, is what makes him the rich asshole’s choice to replace ousted VA Secretary David Shulkin? Absolutely, because no other explanation makes sense.
Pliability may also be playing a role. In a New York Times op-ed, Shulkin wrote that he believed he was being sacked because he opposed a push by the rich asshole administration “to put VA health care in the hands of the private sector.”
Shulkin is a physician, but before he took over VA, he also had experience running hospitals. With no comparable administrative background, Jackson — if confirmed by the Senate — would take over a sprawling agency with about 360,000 employees, a $186 billion budget and responsibility for providing medical care to 9 million veterans who deserve better, faster service than they now receive.
Shulkin was one of several high-ranking the rich asshole appointees under fire for lavish spending on the taxpayers’ dime. He was also a holdover from the Obama administration, and even though the job is perhaps the least partisan in the Cabinet , that prior association clashed with the rich asshole’s bratty determination to oppose everything President Barack Obama supported and support everything he opposed.
But Shulkin, by most accounts, had stabilized VA’s vast system of hospitals and health clinics. What he refused to do was support the notion of privatizing veterans’ health care — an idea pushed by some of the political appointees the White House had installed under him.
“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,” Shulkin wrote in his Times op-ed. “The private sector . . . is ill-prepared to handle the number and complexity of patients that would come from closing or downsizing VA hospitals and clinics, particularly when it comes to the mental health needs of people scarred by the horrors of war.”
Shulkin wrote that “in recent months” the political environment in Washington had become “toxic, chaotic, disrespectful and subversive,” making it impossible for him to do his job. “It should not be this hard to serve your country,” he wrote.
But it should be hard to get a job running any organization as big, complex and vital as the Department of Veterans Affairs. Perhaps Jackson has an innate genius for management that awaits only the opportunity to flower. If not, the rich asshole will be doing a grave disservice to men and women who are owed the nation’s thanks and gratitude.
I can’t say I’m surprised. the rich asshole put neurosurgeon Ben Carson in charge of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, despite Carson having zero experience in housing policy. He put Betsy DeVos in charge of the Department of Education, despite her apparent unfamiliarity with actual schools. He put politician Rick Perry in charge of the Department of Energy, which Perry wanted to eliminate until he learned what the agency does.
Perry actually said that during his confirmation hearing. One doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Laura Ingraham’s Attack On Parkland Shooting Survivor David Hogg Just Backfired Bigly
Laura Ingraham thought it would be funny to shitpost about one of the Parkland shooting survivors after he wasn’t accepted by four colleges he had applied to even though he has a 4.2 GPA. David Hogg responded by posting a list of her top advertisers on Twitter to launch a boycott.
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
The first of likely many advertisers responded by saying the company is pulling its sponsorship of Laura Ingraham’s program.
“We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham’s program,” Rachael Ray’s pet food brand Nutrish tweeted to Hogg.
We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham’s program.
While the rich asshole supporters on Twitter were upset over the company’s decision, the majority of the responses showed support over removing the ads.
I have two dogs, I am sure they're going to enjoy your dog food. You have a customer for life.
I will be checking out all of the Nutrish product line and you now have a new customer! Thank you!!
Me too, new customer here! Thank you, Nutrish!
ErciTall 
Never heard of Nutrish before, now I have! Do you guys sell in Australia?
We have two dogs and three cats. We will be looking into buying products from Nutrish, a company that obviously wants to be on the right side of the moral compass.
The attacks on the surviving students have been appalling from so-called ‘pro-life’ conservatives. A word of advice for Laura Ingraham: Don’t start no shit and there won’t be no shit, k?
Update:
Online travel website TripAdvisor said it will stop advertising on Ingraham’s television show, stating that the company “does not “condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster.”
“In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency. As such, we have made a decision to stop advertising on that program,” the spokesperson said.
Online home goods company Wayfair told CNBC that it plans to stop advertising on Ingraham’s program over her attack.
“As a company, we support open dialogue and debate on issues. However, the decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values,” said Wayfair’s head of public relations, Jane Carpenter.
“We do not plan to continue advertising on this particular program,” Carpenter added.
‘People are going to the slammer’: Former Bush ethics lawyer predicts Mueller’s Gates revelations are ‘only the beginning’
Richard Painter (Photo: RealTime/Twitter)
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Richard Painter, former ethics lawyer for George W. Bush, called any claims that there was “no collusion” between President some rich asshole’s campaign and the Russians fugazi.
“Well, we know there was collusion,” Painter said. “The president has denied it, but we have the meeting in the rich asshole Tower with Russian agents. We have Mr. [George] Papadopoulos who had his Russian handler, the professor they called him, over in London. Now we have [Rick] Gates and his Russian agent contact.”
Painter noted, the small list is only the beginning.
“The critical question for Robert Mueller at the end of the day is whether there was illegal collusion,” Painter continued. “Whether it was criminal. Whether it violated campaign finance laws or whether there was collusion before or after the fact with respect to computer hacking or other crimes. A lot of people are lying about their contacts with the Russians and that’s criminal. We’ll have people going to the slammer and the question is who and how high up it will reach. But the notion of ‘No collusion‘ is ridiculous. Well it is collusion and we know it by now.”
Republican Congressman Charlie Dent noted that the recent revelations that special counsel Mueller has been speaking with Gates over Russian communications establishes that there is already a connection between Russia and the the rich asshole campaign.
“The question is: is this criminal?” he said, noting he’s not sure. “But I’ll tell you it seems that this moves beyond Paul Manafort’s business dealings that preceded his time with the campaign. It kind of really puts the campaign directly in the cross hairs.”
He went on to say that if he was “part of the campaign and part of the the rich asshole campaign, it seems to me, they have a lot to worry about.” He explained that it doesn’t implicate the president directly but that it raises more questions.
Painter noted that Gates is much more powerful than most realize. As the deputy campaign manager under Manafort, Gates was included in many conversations and meetings. However, Gates also stayed on the the rich asshole campaign after Manafort had resigned.
“He knows a lot of the people or very close to the president,” Painter said. “Some of the people who are currently in the White House who worked on that campaign. And if that campaign was illegally colluding with the Russians or anybody on that campaign has lied to Robert Mueller about their contacts with the Russians, they are going to be in big trouble. And this is well beyond the point of demonstrating collusion. We are now getting into the criminal activity question, was there a crime, and who committed it. And this investigation is heating up.”
He agreed that he would be “very, very worried” if he had anything to do with the the rich asshole campaign in 2016.
“The idea of a presidential campaign colluding with the Russians, it’s something I thought I would never see growing up in this country and certainly a Republican campaign or a Democrat campaign — maybe a Communist Party campaign,” he mused. “This is shocking this happened whether or not it’s criminal.”
Watch the clip below:
‘It’s a coin flip’: Republican suggests he’d prefer a ‘socialist Democrat’ like Bernie over the rich asshole in 2020
some rich asshole, Bernie Sanders -- (Flickr via Gage Skidmore/MSNBC screen grab)
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When discussing a potential Republican primary challenger to President some rich asshole in 2020, Republican strategist Mike Murphy was taken aback when MSNBC’s Katy Tur asked him if a Democrat would be better than the current GOP president.
Laughing, never-the rich asshole Republican Mike Murphy responding that it would “depend which Democrat” won the nomination.
“If it’s a choice between the rich asshole and a Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren socialist Democrat,” he continued, “it’s a coin flip of pain.”
Watch below, via MSNBC:
‘Getting info from tinfoil hats’: CNN legal analyst hits the rich asshole and GOP for watching Fox News bash Clinton ’20 hours a day’
some rich asshole and former Fox News anchor Juliet Huddy (Photos: Gage Skidmore/Flickr and screen capture)
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CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on Thursday reacted to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision not to appoint a second special counsel to investigate the FBI, arguing the Republicans who are pushing for a “deep state” probe” are “getting the information from tinfoil hats” and Fox News.
Toobin saw Sessions’ decision not to appoint a second special counsel as a rebuke of the “deep state” narrative championed by some rich asshole and his congressional Republican backers.
“Most of these Republicans making accusations, as far as I can tell, are getting the information from tinfoil hats that they wear,” the CNN legal analyst explained.
“This is the thing about the Department of Justice, is that hey actually deal with facts,” he continued. “I mean, the lawyers there, the people who work there, the investigators who work there, they actually look at facts.”
“[The Department of Justice] looked at accusations and said the appropriate level of inquiry is for a U.S. attorney not from the area to look into it,” Toobin said. “That seems to me more than sufficient. Ans this is a political act designed—I mean, the criticism of Sessions—is a political act designed to distract attention from the investigation of the rich asshole and attack Hillary Clinton, which is what Fox News consists of about 20 hours a day.”
“That’s not the appropriate role of the Justice Department,” Toobin added. “Jeff Sessions is doing the right thing.”
Watch below:
Mueller pushed Rick Gates to cooperate on Russian collusion investigation — not on case against Manafort
Special counsel Robert Mueller and former some rich asshole campaign adviser Rick Gates (Wikimedia Commons / Shutterstock)
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The former deputy campaign manager for some rich asshole was pushed last year to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller on more than just his case against former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
CNN reported Thursday evening that Rick Gates, Manafort’s deputy who stayed on after the latter was ousted and was spotted at the White House in the early days of the rich asshole administration, was sought for cooperation on Mueller’s investigation into whether or not the campaign colluded with Russia. The information came from the network’s sources close to the investigation.
The information comes after court filings from earlier this week revealed to the public that Mueller was probing Gates’ knowing contact with a Russian intelligence-linked Ukrainian during the campaign. The deputy campaign manager’s knowledge, if any, has not yet been made public, but did file a guilty plea last month in exchange for a greatly-reduced sentence — a move that signals cooperation with Mueller’s team.
Former CIA director John Brennan rips the rich asshole’s VA pick: ‘Terribly misguided nomination that will hurt our veterans’
CIA director John Brennan, pictured in March, gave a staunch defense of the framework nuclear deal with Iran, calling some criticism of the accord "disingenuous" while expressing surprise at Tehran's concessions (AFP Photo/Don Emmert)
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In a rare tweet, former CIA director John Brennan cautioned against President some rich asshole’s pick for the Veterans Administration.
“I personally know and greatly respect Ronny Jackson,” Brennan began Thursday. However, he said he knows Jackson “as a terrific doctor and Navy officer. However, he has neither the experience nor the credentials to run the very large and complex VA. This is a terribly misguided nomination that will hurt both a good man and our veterans.”
The move comes after many have questioned the appointment as being too inexperienced to run an agency.
Sessions declines to appoint second special counsel
BY BRANDON CONRADIS AND JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 03/29/18 05:03 PM EDT
Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed in a letter to lawmakers Thursday that he had declined to name a second special counsel to investigate allegations of surveillance abuse within the Department of Justice (DOJ), despite pressure from the Republican Party for him to do so.
In his letter to GOP committee chairmen Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Bob Goodlatte (Va.) and Trey Gowdy (S.C.), Sessions said the appointment of a special counsel only occurs under "the most 'extraordinary circumstances.' "
"To justify such an appointment, the Attorney General would need to conclude that 'the public interest would be served by removing a large degree of responsibility for the matter from the Department of Justice,' " Sessions wrote.
He said he had named a federal prosecutor in Utah, John Huber, to lead the investigation into Republicans' allegations that the FBI and DOJ abused a surveillance program against a former the rich asshole campaign aide.
"The additional matters raised in your March 6, 2018, letter fall within the scope of his existing mandate, and I am confident that Mr. Huber's review will include a full, complete, and objective evaluation of these matters in a manner that is consistent with the law and the facts," Sessions wrote.
Sessions said that upon completion of the investigation he would receive a recommendation from Huber about whether the allegations merit the need for another special counsel.
The letter comes amid mounting pressure from GOP lawmakers for Sessions to appoint a second counsel as Robert Mueller continues his own investigation into possible ties between the the rich asshole campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Sessions earlier this month said he had tapped a former official "with many years in the Department of Justice" to look into the need for another special counsel, as calls grew from the likes of Grassley, Gowdy and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to to look into the alleged surveillance abuses within the department.
His decision is likely to not sit well with President the rich asshole, who has frequently criticized the attorney general over his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
In his letter, Sessions also noted that he had directed the department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to open a probe into the allegations, an investigation that was formally announced on Wednesday. the rich asshole has also been dismissive of the decision to put the department's watchdog in charge of the case.
"Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse," the rich asshole tweeted earlier in March after Sessions announced Horowitz would be looking into the surveillance abuse allegations. "Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on [former FBI Director James] Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!"
The multiple investigations center on allegations from Republicans that the FBI and DOJ abused the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA), which were the subject of a controversial memo authored by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).
The GOP lawmakers allege that investigators used information from the "Steele dossier," a controversial file of opposition research compiled by ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele, in order to obtain a politically motivated warrant for former the rich asshole adviser Carter Page.
Huber has also been looking at whether the FBI should have more thoroughly probed Hillary Clinton’s ties to Uranium One, a Russian nuclear energy agency.
Former President Obama appointed Huber to his position in 2015.
Updated at 5:58 p.m.
the rich asshole rushes to embrace 'Roseanne' success
BY JONATHAN EASLEY - 03/29/18 04:08 PM EDT
President the rich asshole is embracing comedian Roseanne Barr, whose rebooted television show is a surprise hit that’s being hailed by the media for its portrayal of a working-class family in the rich asshole era.
On Wednesday night, the president phoned Barr — a rich asshole supporter who also plays one on TV — to congratulate her on her titular show’s success.
In a Thursday interview on “Good Morning America,” Barr described the president’s phone call as a “sweet” gesture from an old friend and laughingly detailed the rich asshole’s fixation on ratings.On Wednesday night, the president phoned Barr — a rich asshole supporter who also plays one on TV — to congratulate her on her titular show’s success.
The “Roseanne” debut on ABC pulled in more than 18 million viewers, making it the most successful comedy launch in four years. The rebooted debut eclipsed viewership for the show’s 1997 finale.
For the rich asshole, the show represented a rare opportunity to tie himself to a piece of popular entertainment.
“Look at her ratings,” the rich asshole said Thursday during a speech in Ohio meant to promote his infrastructure plan. “They were unbelievable, over 18 million people and it was about us. … The fake news hasn’t figured it out yet … and when they do, they’ll become much less fake. It may take a while, but it’s happening.”
Conservatives have fumed at what they describe as an endless stream of hostility from Hollywood and the mainstream media. Those frustrations have been underscored by award shows and late-night comedy, where hosts and anchors grab headlines with viral insults directed at the administration.
But television critics have also noted the broader political and cultural implications of a show that centers on a blue-collar family from the Midwest.
An analysis by the trade industry publication Deadline found that“Roseanne” barely registered with viewers in New York City or Los Angeles, the nation’s largest media markets. Instead, most viewers tuned in from the heartland, in cities like Tulsa, Cincinnati and Kansas City.
That phenomenon mirrored the rich asshole’s election victories in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — the first in a generation for a Republican candidate — which propelled him into the White House and provoked soul-searching among the media and political class about whether they had fallen out of touch with ordinary Americans.
“Of course the president was smart to hitch himself to the show after it blew up,” said Armstrong Williams, the largest owner from a minority group of broadcast television stations in America.
“But he’s also embracing it because there are so few media platforms out there that bring balance and respect to the people he appeals to. ‘Roseanne’ is a show that looks at politics and the economic struggles of average Americans through the eyes of someone who is transparent in their beliefs and, like the president, is uncomplicated. That there’s a huge market for this should be a gut-check for Hollywood and the mainstream media.”
The first episode of the new show highlighted Barr’s support for the rich asshole, punctuated with her dinner table prayer in which she thanked the Lord for “making America great again.”
In that episode, Barr clashes with her sister, played by Laurie Metcalf, who portrays a supporter Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and dresses in a “Nasty Woman” T-shirt and pink beanie from the Women’s March. Metcalf calls Barr’s character “deplorable” and asks her how she could support someone like the rich asshole.
“He talked about jobs, he said he’d shake things up,” Barr says on the show. “I mean, this might come as a complete shock to you, but we almost lost our house, the way things are going.”
“Have you looked on the news?” Metcalf responds. “Because now things are worse.”
“Not on the real news,” Barr shoots back.
The comedian has defended the rich asshole as part of her media tour for the show, which included an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Kimmel’s show — which is also on ABC — has exploded in popularity since he became a vocal critic of the president and of Republican policies.
“I’m shocked because I know you are a very socially liberal person in general,” Kimmel said to Barr in an interview this week.
“I’m still the same. You all moved [too far to the left],” Barr responded.
A survey from the polling outlet Morning Consult — conducted shortly before the “Roseanne” debut — found that 59 percent of Republicans were more likely to watch the show because of Barr’s support for the rich asshole. The survey also found that many conservatives feel as if their views are not represented in popular culture.
The “Roseanne” reboot was trumpeted across conservative media, with the influential news aggregator Matt Drudge plastering the headline “Roseanne Boom stuns Hollywood,
Prompts Soul-Searching” across his website.
Conservative opinion writer John Podhoretz wrote at the New York Post that the show’s success means “Hollywood is now faced with indisputable evidence that there’s a huge potential audience out there for programs that don’t actively insult 63 million the rich asshole voters.”
Still, not all conservatives were equally energized.
“Roseanne” isn’t expected to be solely a meditation on pro-the rich asshole politics. Future episodes will look at the high costs of health care, gun ownership and LGBT issues, among other things.
Some conservatives blasted the show as a liberal characterization of what a heartland the rich asshole supporter might look like.
The first episode focuses on Barr’s grandson, who in the show likes to dress like a girl.
Ben Shapiro, the massively popular conservative writer and speaker, blasted the show in a series of tweets, saying it “recasts the rich asshole voters as social Leftists who just disagree about economics.” Shapiro is an opinion contributor for The Hill.
“The whole premise of ‘Roseanne’ is that this pro-abortion, pro-LGBT woman who is happy to watch her grandson wear girls' clothing voted the rich asshole — because she's blue collar,” Shapiro writes. “That isn't an accurate depiction of the rich asshole voters. It's actually a Hollywood fantasy of what the rich asshole voters are: people who agree with Hollywood elites on values, but just disagree on economics because they're old white factory workers.”
And DePauw University media professor Jeffrey McCaul expressed frustration with the president for plunging into the culture wars at a time when many people are exhausted by the creeping politicization of everything.
the rich asshole bids farewell to Hope HicksPrompts Soul-Searching” across his website.
Conservative opinion writer John Podhoretz wrote at the New York Post that the show’s success means “Hollywood is now faced with indisputable evidence that there’s a huge potential audience out there for programs that don’t actively insult 63 million the rich asshole voters.”
Still, not all conservatives were equally energized.
“Roseanne” isn’t expected to be solely a meditation on pro-the rich asshole politics. Future episodes will look at the high costs of health care, gun ownership and LGBT issues, among other things.
Some conservatives blasted the show as a liberal characterization of what a heartland the rich asshole supporter might look like.
The first episode focuses on Barr’s grandson, who in the show likes to dress like a girl.
Ben Shapiro, the massively popular conservative writer and speaker, blasted the show in a series of tweets, saying it “recasts the rich asshole voters as social Leftists who just disagree about economics.” Shapiro is an opinion contributor for The Hill.
“The whole premise of ‘Roseanne’ is that this pro-abortion, pro-LGBT woman who is happy to watch her grandson wear girls' clothing voted the rich asshole — because she's blue collar,” Shapiro writes. “That isn't an accurate depiction of the rich asshole voters. It's actually a Hollywood fantasy of what the rich asshole voters are: people who agree with Hollywood elites on values, but just disagree on economics because they're old white factory workers.”
And DePauw University media professor Jeffrey McCaul expressed frustration with the president for plunging into the culture wars at a time when many people are exhausted by the creeping politicization of everything.
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 03/29/18 12:33 PM EDT
PRESIDENT THE RICH ASSHOLE ON THURSDAY SAID GOODBYE TO LONGTIME AIDE HOPE HICKS, WHO IS LEAVING THE WHITE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE WEEK.
THE RICH ASSHOLE AND HIS FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR WALKED OUT OF THE OVAL OFFICE TOGETHER AND WAVED TO REPORTERS WAITING FOR THE PRESIDENT TO DEPART FOR A TRIP TO OHIO AND FLORIDA, WHICH WILL KEEP HIM OUT OF TOWN ON HICKS’S LAST OFFICIAL DAY.
THE TWO THEN SHOOK HANDS AND POSED FOR PHOTOGRAPHS BEFORE THE RICH ASSHOLE WALKED TOWARD MARINE ONE.
TWITTER USERS QUICKLY POSTED PHOTOS AND VIDEOS OF THE FAREWELL:
POTUS WAVED TO PRESS BUT DID NOT TAKE ANY QUESTIONS BEFORE BOARDING MARINE ONE FOR OH/FL TRIP PIC.TWITTER.COM/R7KNBAKRHV
AND HERE IS TRUMP POSING WITH HOPE HICKS, HIS LONGTIME AIDE WHOSE LAST DAY AT THE WH WAS YESTERDAY. PHOTO COURTESY OF POOLER @LEARYREPORTS PIC.TWITTER.COM/TMXQYHKLPV
Republican state legislator claims, without proof, that Parkland students want to murder gun owners
Beverly Boswell has been criticized for allegedly embellishing the truth before.
A Republican state lawmaker in North Carolina claimed this week that speakers at the March For Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C. on March 24 — many of them shooting Parkland shooting survivors — wanted to “murder” gun owners. She provided no evidence to support her outlandish accusation.
“They’re out to take your guns, and our freedoms,” State Rep. Beverly Boswell wrote in a Facebook post on Monday, above a photo of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Tyra Hemans and Emma Gonzalez, who lived through a mass shooting at their school last month that left 17 people dead.
Responding to a follower in the comments below, who called Boswell’s post a “scare tactic,” the 6th District representative added, “Actually many of the speakers at these rallies were calling for gun registration, confiscation, Second Amendment repeal and even the murder of those who would not turn over their guns to the government. Blaming guns for crime is as silly as blaming plastic bags for pollution. It’s typical of liberals to blame crime on everyone but the criminal.”
As the News & Observer’s Under the Dome political blog notes, the claim was a bit far-fetched, not to mention incendiary.
Nothing on the March For Our Lives website — the official site for the student led anti-gun violence movement that sprang up in the wake of the Parkland shooting — indicates that the young activists want or are trying to take away firearms from law-abiding gun owners.
In their mission statement, the teens note that they are “working towards universal, comprehensive background checks; bringing the ATF into the 21st century with a digitized, searchable database; and [advocating for] funds for the Center for Disease Control to research the gun violence epidemic in America.” They’ve also called on Congress to enact a high-capacity magazine ban and crack down on the sale of assault-style weapons.
“The mission and focus of March For Our Lives is [to] assure that no special interest group or political agenda is more critical than timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country,” they write. “We demand morally-just leaders to rise up from both parties in order to ensure public safety.”
Additionally, at many of the March For Our Lives rallies and offshoot demonstrations, much of the focus was directed at the gun lobby — specifically the National Rifle Association (NRA) — which has spent billions of dollars on Capitol Hill to sway the gun debate in its favor.
“We are not trying to take away everybody’s guns away, and the NRA wants people to think that,” Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Cameron Kasky said in a speech the day of the march. “They are fearmongers. They want to sell weapons by exploiting people’s fears. So, the second we want to put common-sense resolutions on these assault weapons, the NRA will say they are trying to steal every single one of your guns, and people believe them. Fortunately, the majority of the American people see past this.”
"Stand for us or beware — the voters are coming." Florida school shooting survivor Cameron Kasky gives an impassioned speech pushing for gun control at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington. cnn.it/2G85nXL
Boswell is no stranger to controversy. The North Carolina legislator has previously been criticized for embellishing the facts to suit her own agenda.
Earlier in March, The News & Observer reported that the North Carolina Board of Nursing had contacted Boswell, demanding that she remove claims on her Facebook page and official website describing herself as a nurse. According to the outlet, Boswell, who serves on the state House health committee, is a certified medical assistant and phlebotomist, but does not have a nursing degree.
“Rep. Boswell is not a licensed nurse nor has she ever been a licensed nurse,” board spokesman David Kalbacker stated in an email, referring to a section on Boswell’s website and Facebook page that boasted of her journey “from struggling single mother to registered nurse and Dare County Commissioner.”
As the Observer notes, registered nurses in North Carolina are required to obtain at least a two-year associate degree and pass an exam to qualify for a license. Phlebotomists, by contrast, are not.
Boswell later claimed she had not been aware of the “mistake” and subsequently revised her Facebook page and website in response to the board’s demands.
READ IT: Jeff Sessions declines to appoint a second special counsel to investigate alleged FBI surveillance abuses
Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a Sept. 5, 2017 press briefing. (Screenshot)
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday responded to a letter from top Congressional Republicans officially requesting a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and potential FISA abuses during the 2016 presidential election, effectively declining to open a separate probe per the leaders’ request.
In a letter sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Sessions noted the Office of the Inspector General is “investigating alleged violations of criminal civil laws by Department employees.”
After having a shitty week of scandals, firings and nonsensical speeches, some rich asshole decides to take an "early break" from working. Fucking asshole.
the rich asshole takes early weekend after just one public appearance in six days
By
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March 29, 2018
After remaining out of sight for most of the week, the rich asshole made an early exit for the holiday weekend.
the rich asshole emerged from his weeklong, self-imposed seclusion on Thursday to give what the White House had touted would be a “major address.” Instead, the rich asshole wandered his way through a listless, garbled speech that was so boring cable news channels cut away from it.
For somebody who loves the spotlight, the rich asshole has virtually disappeared from public view over the last week. He’s scheduled to fly to Mar-a-Lago Thursday evening, where he’ll spend a long holiday weekend, and presumably stay out of public view while he golfs.
the rich asshole spent the previous weekend under wraps in Florida as well. And last week, the White House hosted just a single press briefing for reporters.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked about the rich asshole’s vanishing act during Wednesday’s press event. She insisted he’s been “incredibly active” in recent days, but couldn’t give many examples.
She did suggest the rich asshole would be a giving “a major speech” to construction union members in a speech outside of Cleveland, Ohio.
But the forgettable, unimportant Thursday address was just more warmed-over the rich asshole, as he bragged about his supposed accomplishments. In a rare move in the age of the rich asshole’s celebrity-type news coverage, CNN cut away from the speech after fifteen minutes. MSNBC soon followed and even Fox News pulled the plug on the rich asshole.
the rich asshole’s vanishing profile seems to have coincided with the rash of headlines about the mounting legal action surrounding porn actress Stormy Daniels.
To date, the rich asshole has categorically refused to address the burgeoning hush-money scandal, and he won’t even tweet her name.
Last Friday, he abruptly exited what he claimed would be a White House “news conference,” after taking only two queries from reporters. He quickly left the room full of journalists and ignored a pointed question about lawsuits that are piling up about his previous extramarital affairs.
the rich asshole’s weird silence also comes as his legal defense team remains in complete disrepair as special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe intensifies.
After the rich asshole’s head counsel, John Dowd, abruptly quit last week, at least half a dozen lawyers have publically turned down the opportunity to join the rich asshole’s legal team.
This, as the news on the Russia front has not been good this week for the rich asshole.
Late on Tuesday evening, it was revealed that Mueller had alleged in a court filing that former the rich asshole campaign aide Rick Gates knew that he and chairman Paul Manafort “were working with a former Russian intelligence officer during the 2016 election.”
Then on Wednesday came the stunning report that the rich asshole’s attorney last summer may have dangled presidential pardons in front of the rich asshole associates who were targets of the Mueller investigation, in exchange for them not cooperating with the probe.
the rich asshole just mailed in another week, and now he’s off to play more golf.
Every major cable network bails on the rich asshole’s garbled rant — even Fox
By
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March 29, 2018
the rich asshole's off-topic and rambling infrastructure speech tried the patience of all three major cable networks, who cut away instead of airing the entire diatribe. Even Fox News chose to return to standard programming instead of assisting the rich asshole's propaganda.
All three cable news channels bailed on the rich asshole’s rambling and unfocused speech. Even his allies at Fox News gave up, returning to previously scheduled programming while making excuses for his screw up.
the rich asshole spoke for over 50 minutes about nearly every topic under the sun in a speech billed by the White House as a major address on infrastructure. It was not.
Instead, the rich asshole emerged from days of hiding in the White House to hold court on several partisan topics and ideas, at an event held at taxpayer expense.
He complained about Hillary Clinton and the 2016 election, which concluded over 508 days ago.
He said he didn’t understand the concept of community college, while also alleging, “Nobody ever heard of the word trillion until ten years ago.”
the rich asshole even blamed President Barack Obama for judicial vacancies actually created by his legislative ally, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
At one point, he even spoke at length about the ratings for the revival of comedian Roseanne Barr’s TV show.
The connection to “infrastructure” was non-existent.
One by one, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News all cut away from the speech. Particularly notable was the abrupt manner in which Fox simply gave up on the rich asshole’s word salad.
At 2:07 PM, Fox began covering the speech. But by 2:34 PM, Fox News cut away from covering it. Instead of airing the rich asshole’s rambling live as they so often do, Fox returned to its regular programming.
His most reliable ally, propaganda outlet, and de facto political adviser instead aired commercials for gold, weight loss cures, and food delivery services alongside its standard panels and reporting.
Fox host Dana Perino tried to clean up after the rich asshole as the network cut away, noting it was a “wide-ranging speech but mostly focusing on his infrastructure plan.”
She was being nice.
the rich asshole has often noted that there is a symbiotic relationship between his political career and cable TV ratings. In that respect, he has departed from his usual habit and told the truth.
For too often, between today and 2015 when he launched his campaign, the networks have given the rich asshole an unfiltered microphone to praise himself, attack his detractors, and raise his profile. The head of CNN admitted it in October of 2016.
But now, as his presidency has continued to sink into the muck of corruption and incompetence, he is an unpopular and unliked figure. He is not someone who many television viewers want to tune in to so they can hear ranting and raving.
Even Fox News acknowledged that enough had been enough and pulled the plug. They made a judgement, and decided that it was far more worth their time to get their viewers to buy gold and weight loss plans than listen to another the rich asshole complaint.
For once, Fox may have done the right thing for its viewers.
the rich asshole comes out of hiding to give ‘major speech’ on Roseanne’s ratings
By
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March 29, 2018
This was the White House's excuse for the rich asshole hiding from reporters for a week.
the rich asshole had no time to answer questions or make any public appearances this week, but he found time to praise a rebooted sitcom.
Earlier this week, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders used the supposedly “major speech” Thursday as an excuse for his refusal to answer questions from reporters at a full press conference, which he has not done for over a year.
But that “major speech” in Ohio was a rambling 40 minutes of familiar political attacks that culminated in praise for a TV show’s ratings.
“Look at Roseanne, I called her yesterday. Look at her ratings,” he said, referencing ABC’s reboot of the rich asshole fan Roseanne Barr’s sitcom, which pulled 5 million fewer viewers than the “60 Minutes” interview with Stormy Daniels.
the rich asshole related his conversation with Hollywood producer Mark Burnett, who had called him to deliver the news.
“It was about us!” he bragged of the show.
the rich asshole spent little of the speech on its ostensible main topic of infrastructure, instead spending his time attacking Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, and casually threatening an ally, among other things.
He was happy to spend time riffing about Roseanne’s ratings. But when the White House was asked to comment on the police shootings of unarmed black men, Sanders refused to comment and dismissed the issue as a “local matter.”
And the rich asshole has been hiding out while Sanders stonewalls about his porn star scandal, which left the leader of our country vulnerable to blackmail.
Now, he heads for a long weekend at Mar-a-Lago, safely tucked away from the country whose problems he ignores.
Stormy Daniels was just one of ‘a ton of matters’ the rich asshole’s lawyer ‘fixed’
By
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March 29, 2018
And this was said in defense of the rich asshole.
the rich asshole’s porn star scandal was apparently a common occurrence, according to David Schwartz, the lawyer for the rich asshole’s personal attorney Michael Cohen.
While the rich asshole hides out and Sarah Huckabee Sanders stonewalls the press, Schwartz is doing his best to “help” by appearing on CNN’s OutFront to argue that the rich asshole had no idea Cohen was paying off Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 election. But he only made things worse.
CNN host Erin Burnett argued that Cohen’s closeness with the rich asshole made it difficult to imagine the rich asshole wouldn’t hear about the payoff.
“Because he’s that close to him, he had great latitude to handle these matters,” Schwartz explained.
“So they happened with such frequency that you wouldn’t need to tell him about a $130,000 payment?” Burnett asked.
“Look, Michael was the fixer,” Schwartz said, adding that this matter was not exceptional. “There were a ton of matters that Michael fixed.”
If you’re wondering who made Schwartz the authority on this matter, it was Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who referred reporters to Schwartz by name at Tuesday’s briefing.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has done the seemingly impossible, and found someone who is even worse at answering porn scandal questions than she is.
Schwartz’s “defense” of the rich asshole and Cohen is obviously damaging because it creates the impression that there are many more scandals that have not come to light. But according to former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, also presents some legal problems for the rich asshole.
Michael Cohen's attorney just claimed on @OutFrontCNN that Trump was not aware of the Stormy Daniels agreement or the payment, which means that there was no contract between Trump and Daniels, and Daniels can release the materials. Why would he admit this on national television?
Neither aspect of Schwartz’s revelations are helpful to the rich asshole, especially given the fact that special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly looking into exactly these sorts of “matters.”
the rich asshole’s porn star scandal is often played for laughs, but Schwartz’s remarks should serve as a deadly serious reminder that the rich asshole’s vulnerability to blackmail is more severe than we can know, or possibly even imagine.
the rich asshole has been bellowing for Hope Hicks in the White House only to find she’s not there
President some rich asshole, Hope Hicks -- screenshot
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Over the past month, exiting White House communications director Hope Hicks hasn’t been in the West Wing that often. As Thursday was her final day on staff, she’s leaving the president officially without his longest serving staffer. It also seems, her absence hasn’t gone unnoticed by the president.
Sources told White House CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins that President some rich asshole has spent the past several weeks bellowing for Hope Hicks to summon her to the Oval Office, only to find she isn’t there.
Hicks put in her notice directly after the rich asshole yelled at her for her Congressional testimony in which she confessed she has lied for the rich asshole in the past.
Watch the full CNN report below:
Laura Ingraham apologizes to David Hogg after losing multiple advertisers
"In the spirit of Holy Week."
Advertisers are beginning to drop like flies from The Ingraham Angle after its host mocked Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg for not getting into four University of California colleges.
“David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it,” the Fox News host tweeted. “(Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.)”
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…
In response, Hogg called for his supporters to boycott advertisers on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show, The Ingraham Angle.
Rachael Ray’s pet food company, Nutrish, wrote in a tweet to Hogg that they are “in the process of removing [their] ads from Laura Ingraham’s program.”
Not long after Nutrish pulled their sponsorship, online travel website TripAdvisor announced they will no longer advertise on Ingraham’s show, saying in a statement that her comments “cross the line of decency.”
“We believe strongly in the values of our company, especially the one that says, ‘We are better together.’ We also believe Americans can disagree while still being agreeable, and that the free exchange of ideas within a community, in a peaceful manner, is the cornerstone of our democracy,” the company stated.
Home-goods digital retailer Wayfair also announced Thursday they will be pulling their advertisements from Ingraham’s show, telling The Daily Beast in a statement: “As a company, we support open dialogue and debate on issues. However, the decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values. We do not plan to continue advertising on this particular program.”
Thursday afternoon online travel booking company Expedia announced they are no longer advertising during Laura Ingraham’s show, telling HuffPost, “Expedia no longer advertises on this show.”
The company neglected to mention whether this was in response to Ingraham’s comments.
A spokesperson for Nestlé told ThinkProgress the company will no longer run advertisements during The Ingraham Angle.
“We have no plans to buy ads on the show in the future,” a spokesperson for a company said.
Media Matters For America compiled a comprehensive list of Ingraham’s advertisers, which Hogg tweeted out to his supporters and recommended they each contact three or four.
Companies like Nutrisystem, Liberty Mutual, Choice Hotels, and Duracell are some of the top advertisers.
Ingraham only apologized to Hogg after a number companies announced they would stop advertising on her television show.
The tweet was up for over 24 hours before she issued an apology. According to Ingraham, the “spirit of Holy Week” motivated her to apologize for upsetting or hurting Hogg. Ingraham does not apologize for calling him a “whiner.”
“Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —including David Hogg. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David immediately after that horrific shooting. And as always, he’s welcome to come on my show anytime for a productive discussion.”
Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David...(1/2)
... immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how "poised" he was given the tragedy. As always, he’s welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion. WATCH: youtu.be/K0v7yxczipo (2/2)
Hogg, however, was unimpressed with Ingraham’s apology.
“She only apologized after we went after advertisers,” he told The New York Timesin an interview Thursday. “It kind of speaks for itself.”
“I’m not going to stoop to her level and go after her on a personal level,” he said. “I’m going to go after her advertisers.”
I 100% agree an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough. I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children. twitter.com/fred_guttenber…
Companies felt pressured to pull advertisements from Ingraham’s show after Hogg responded to Ingraham’s comments indirectly on Twitter Wednesday night, tagging many of the companies who had advertising deals with her show and asking why they supported her mocking rhetoric.
“Why do you support this?” he tweeted at several companies, including Arby’s Sleep Number, AT&T, Allstate, Hulu, and Liberty Mutual.
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
After Hogg’s tweets gained attention from the press overnight, some companies decided to withdraw advertisements from her show.
This story will be updated with more information from the advertisers.
Katy Tur nails Laura Ingraham for phony apology
By
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March 29, 2018
No one is buying Laura Ingraham's sorry excuse for an apology.
MSNBC host Katy Tur nailed Laura Ingraham’s faux apology Thursday afternoon, calling out the Fox News host and questioning whether she was actually sorry for what she said — or just sorry about the fact that she’s facing consequences for saying it.
Ingraham was shamed into apologizing earlier on Thursday, less than 24 hours after launching a reprehensible attack on 17-year-old Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg.
“On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland,” Ingraham tweeted.
But as Tur pointed out, Ingraham’s mea culpa rings hollow.
Discussing the ordeal Thursday afternoon, Tur noted that Ingraham “seems to be learning what happens when you attack victims, particularly victims of a school shooting.”
But, she added, “I wonder what would have happened if it wasn’t Holy Week — or if her advertises didn’t drop her.”
Tur raises a good point.
Ingraham could have apologized when it became apparent that she had upset a teenager who just survived a massacre. But she didn’t.
Ingraham could have apologized when Hogg’s sister, Lauren, issued an appeal to Melania the rich asshole to do something about the cyberbullying. But she didn’t.
Ingraham could have apologized when social media erupted with condemnation and pleas for her to reflect on what she was doing. But she didn’t.
Ingraham could have apologized days ago, when her network repeatedly smeared the student activists at March for Our Lives. But she didn’t.
Ingraham could have apologized months ago, when she mocked another victim of violence. But she didn’t.
Ingraham could have apologized when Hogg first called for the boycott. But she didn’t.
Instead, she only backtracked when her advertisers started to flee — prompting Hogg to respondby telling Ingraham that “an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough.”
Ingraham is used to being able to get away with this type of reprehensible behavior. But as she learned the hard way, times are changing.
Facing boycott, Laura Ingraham apologizes for taunting Parkland teen over college rejections
By Amy B Wang and Allyson Chiu March 29 at 3:45 PM
Fox News host Laura Ingraham has apologized a day after taunting Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg over his college rejections.
On Wednesday morning, the “Ingraham Angle” host had tweeted a story from a conservative news site that described Hogg as a “Gun Rights Provocateur” who had not gained acceptance to four University of California schools.
“David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it,” Ingraham tweeted. “(Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.)”
“On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland,” Ingraham tweeted. She also tried to curtail the damage by noting Hogg had appeared on her show after the shooting.
Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David...(1/2)
... immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how "poised" he was given the tragedy. As always, he’s welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion. WATCH: youtu.be/K0v7yxczipo (2/2)
Hogg said he felt the apology was merely an effort to save her advertisers.
“I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight,” Hogg tweeted Thursday. “It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.”
Ingraham had faced immediate backlash over her original tweet from those shocked she would attack a 17-year-old student who had survived the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Among the outraged were people who reminded Ingraham, simply, that she was a mother, and Hogg’s 14-year-old sister, who accused the Fox News host of stooping to a “real low” to boost her ratings.
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/…
The shooting in Florida — already one of several to take place at a school in 2018 — left 17 students and staff members dead, and galvanized a new generation of activists, including many teenagers from Parkland.
Hogg has been one of the most vocal, speaking at the March for Our Lives rally against gun violence in Washington, D.C. Since the shooting, the teen has frequently appeared on television and rallied his growing number of Twitter followers to become civically engaged if they are frustrated with the status quo.
On Wednesday, however, Hogg remained silent — at first.
Hours later, though, he emerged with a tweet directed at the “Ingraham Angle” host. Who were her biggest advertisers? He wondered rhetorically.
Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers ... Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts
Shortly afterward, he tweeted to his nearly 600,000 followers a list of 12 companies that were reportedly the top advertisers on “The Ingraham Angle.”
Pick a number at random, Hogg suggested, and contact the company next to it.
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
Before long, the tweet was flooded with replies from Hogg’s supporters, some of whom pasted images of their messages to the companies in question, as well as those who accused Hogg of “bullying” Ingraham.
At this writing, several companies had responded to Hogg’s boycott call.
“We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham’s program,” Nutrish tweeted Thursday morning.
TripAdvisor pointed to one of its company values — “We are better together” — in its decision to stop advertising with Ingraham’s show.
“We do not … condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster,” TripAdvisor said in a statement. “In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency.”
Online home goods retailer Wayfair told the Hill that Ingraham’s personal criticism of Hogg was “not consistent with our values.”
Nestle told ThinkProgress it had no plans to buy future ads on the show.
It was unclear if any of the brands would change their minds following Ingraham’s apology Thursday afternoon.
Since the 2016 election, calls to boycott retailers have become frequent: The #GrabYourWallet campaign began as a way to protest President the rich asshole and identified companies that carried merchandise bearing the rich asshole name. Those calls have been met with some equally passionate responses by the rich asshole’s supporters on the right, who say they are determined to support the president and his family with their buying power.
On Thursday, #GrabYourWallet co-founder Shannon Coulter said she hadn’t spoken to Hogg directly but had seen his boycott call go viral the night before. To her, the campaign wasn’t a matter of politics so much as it was a response to “really egregious violations of basic human decency,” Coulter said, referring to Ingraham’s tweet about Hogg’s college rejections.
“Corporate America has a really positive role to play in preventing that kind of targeted harassment,” Coulter told The Washington Post. “It’s not just that one tweet. It’s that [Ingraham’s] signaling to her large audience that it’s okay to do that. Particularly when minors are concerned I think there’s a line that corporations can draw that apparently Laura Ingraham’s parents didn’t draw.”
Hogg was not immediately available for comment Thursday morning. Despite the backlash, Ingraham’s original tweet about Hogg’s college rejections has remained online.
In an interview with TMZ on Tuesday, Hogg had spoken about receiving rejection letters from California colleges and in doing so sparked derision from conservatives — including Ingraham.
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, who has a 4.2 GPA and a SAT score of 1270, was accepted to Florida Atlantic University, California Polytechnic State University and California State University San Marcos, TMZ reported.
During the TMZ interview he expressed disappointment about the rejections but said it has been difficult to focus on college lately.
“We’re changing the world,” he said.
Since the tweet was posted, Ingraham has received backlash on social media. Ingraham was previously criticized for telling professional basketball players to “shut up and dribble.”
Many have viewed her recent actions — the latest in a slew of right-wing attacks against the Parkland survivors — as particularly appalling, given that she is a parent.
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…
Journalist David Corn described Ingraham’s tweet as “deplorable.”
Others were shocked that she was “picking on” a student who survived a school shooting.
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…
Are you really picking on a teenager who just watched his classmates die in pools of their own blood less than two months ago?
While Ingraham has been the most recent target of criticism, she is not the only adult who has faced backlash for attacking the high school students.
Just days ago, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and his campaign team came under fire for posting a meme on Facebook about Emma González, another Parkland student and activist, The Washington Post’s Samantha Schmidt reported. The meme was criticized as attacking González’s Cuban heritage.
The Parkland survivors have been fiercely targeted since they first spoke out after the shooting, and the attacks have only continued, as The Post’s Abby Ohlheiser reported.
On Twitter, civil rights attorney Lisa Bloom said Ingraham’s tweet may be a sign that Hogg has “really gotten under Fox News’ skin.”
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