the rich asshole will announce decision on Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday
President of the United States some rich asshole speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
U.S. President some rich asshole said in a tweet on Monday that he would announce his decision on whether to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal at 2:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday.
the rich asshole has threatened to withdraw from the deal, which provided Iran with relief from sanctions in exchange for limiting its uranium enrichment capacity, unless European signatories to the accord fix what he has called its shortcomings.
the rich asshole brazenly endorses the use of torture while defending CIA nominee
The president claimed Democrats opposed Haspel's nomination because she was "too tough on terror."
President the rich asshole defended the use of torture on Monday while tweeting his support for acting CIA Director Gina Haspel, his pick to officially head up the agency.
“My highly respected nominee for CIA Director, Gina Haspel, has come under fire because she was too tough on Terrorists,” the rich asshole tweeted, referring to criticisms of Haspel’s tenure overseeing a black site CIA prison in Thailand after 9/11, where detainees were subjected to brutal torture, including sleep deprivation and waterboarding. Haspel was later involved in the CIA’s destruction of some 100 videotaped recordings of those interrogation sessions.
“Think of that, in these very dangerous times, we have the most qualified person, a woman, who Democrats want OUT because she is too tough on terror,” the rich asshole added. “Win Gina!”
Haspel, nominated by the rich asshole in March to run the CIA, is set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. If confirmed, she’ll replace former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who was recently confirmed to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.
the rich asshole’s tweet comes on the heels of reports that Haspel, over the weekend, attempted to withdraw her nomination for CIA director. According to the Washington Post, Haspel was concerned about the “potential damage to the CIA’s reputation and her own” that her upcoming Senate Intelligence hearing might inflict.
“Taken aback at her stance, senior White House aides, including legislative affairs head Marc Short and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, rushed to Langley, Va., to meet with Haspel at her office late Friday afternoon,” the Post reported. “Discussions stretched several hours, officials said, and the White House was not entirely sure she would stick with her nomination until Saturday afternoon, according to the officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.”
The president’s willingness to overlook, if not outwardly endorse, torture as a method of interrogation is disturbing, although largely unsurprising. the rich asshole has previously supported the use of so-called “enhanced interrogation” methods to extract information, despite a wealth of information that proves it doesn’t work.
During his 2016 presidential bid, the rich asshole claimed that “torture works.” He referred to waterboarding as a “minor form” of torture and said that, as president, he would reinstate it along with other techniques that were “a hell of a lot worse.”
the rich asshole has also justified the use of torture by military and intelligence officials by arguing that “if it doesn’t work, they deserve it anyway for what they do to us.”
As NBC News noted in January 2017, even the architects of the post-9/11 torture program have condemned the rich asshole’s support of the techniques used at black sites and prisons — such as the one Haspel ran in Thailand in 2002, which was code-named “Cat’s Eye.”
“The whole premise of the original program was that the techniques did not fit the legal definition of torture,” former CIA general counsel John Rizzo told MSNBC last year. “[Torture] was illegal then, and it’s illegal now […]. So to hear the President of the United States use that word in an affirmative way, I found that remarkable.”
If Haspel is confirmed as CIA director, it could pave the way for the rich asshole to reinstate or green-light further questionable interrogation methods moving forward — a fact that has not escaped the Democrats and Republicans who see Haspel’s nomination as the White House’s implicit endorsement of illegal torture.
“Those who run our government have a duty to the American people to ensure that their organizations are free of corruption,” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) wrote in an op-ed for Politico in March. “We are a nation of laws, where transparency and accountability are supposed to be paramount. …Haspel participated in a program that was antithetical to the ideals of this country. She destroyed evidence in defiance of our ideals. I simply do not believe she should hold the post to which she has been nominated.”
the rich asshole: I’m not obstructing justice, I'm 'fighting back'
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 05/07/18 07:52 AM EDT
President the rich asshole on Monday criticized the suggestion that he has obstructed justice in the Russia investigation, saying he is simply “fighting back.”
“The Russia Witch Hunt is rapidly losing credibility. House Intelligence Committee found No Collusion, Coordination or anything else with Russia,” the president wrote on Twitter.
“So now the Probe says OK, what else is there? How about Obstruction for a made up, phony crime.There is no O, it’s called Fighting Back."
The Russia Witch Hunt is rapidly losing credibility. House Intelligence Committee found No Collusion, Coordination or anything else with Russia. So now the Probe says OK, what else is there? How about Obstruction for a made up, phony crime.There is no O, it’s called Fighting Back
the rich asshole’s tweet comes after a federal judge last week pushed back against prosecutors handling former the rich asshole campaign chairman Paul Manafort's case.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III reportedly said in a Friday hearing.
“You really care about getting information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on some rich asshole and lead to his prosecution or impeachment.
"That's what you're really interested in.”
the rich asshole has repeatedly referred to the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and any potential ties between the rich asshole campaign staff members and the Kremlin as a “witch hunt.”
“The 13 Angry Democrats in charge of the Russian Witch Hunt are starting to find out that there is a Court System in place that actually protects people from injustice...and just wait ‘till the Courts get to see your unrevealed Conflicts of Interest!” the rich asshole added Monday.
The 13 Angry Democrats in charge of the Russian Witch Hunt are starting to find out that there is a Court System in place that actually protects people from injustice...and just wait ‘till the Courts get to see your unrevealed Conflicts of Interest!
Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team have for the last year been conducting the investigation, in addition to several separate congressional panels heading up their own probes.
‘Trumpier than the rich asshole’ candidate turns on the rich asshole for not supporting him
By
-
On the eve of the primary, West Virginia's most bombastic candidate, U.S. Senate hopeful Don Blankenship, has turned on the man he is emulating.
Don Blankenship, the convicted criminal running for Senate in West Virginia, has loved to boast that he is “Trumpier than the rich asshole.”
But on Monday morning, the rich asshole told his supporters not to vote for Blankenship, fearful he would lose like accused child molester Roy Moore did in Alabama — even though the rich asshole very much had a hand in that campaign.
And Blankenship was not happy.
So he put out a new statement, reiterating that he is “Trumpier than the rich asshole.” But this time he did not mean that as a compliment for the president.
Just in- @DonBlankenship statement responds to @realDonaldTrump.
Take note of these lines: “Tomorrow, WV will send the swamp a message—no one, and I mean no one, will tell us how to vote. As some have said, I am Trumpier than Trump and this morning proves it.” #wvsen
“The President is a very busy man and he doesn’t know me and he doesn’t know how flawed my two main opponents are in the primary,” said Blankenship’s statement.
“Tomorrow, WV will send the swamp a message — no one, and I mean no one, will tell us how to vote,” he concluded. “As some have said, I am Trumpier than the rich asshole and this morning proves it.”
In other words, Blankenship is saying that even the rich asshole cannot hold a candle to him when it comes to upholding the values of … the rich asshole.
And to be fair, Blankenship certainly could hold his own against the rich asshole depravity. He served a year in prison for conspiracy in connection with an explosion that killed two dozen miners at a facility he owned. And his final weeks of his campaign have been marked by an appallingly racist attacks on GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell’s “China family.”
Despite all of this, Blankenship is surging in internal campaign polls, and Republicans are terrified he could win the nomination in this Tuesday’s primary. The view among some in the GOP is that if he wins it, his opponent, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, will coast to easy re-election.
the rich asshole’s toxic brand of politics is now empowering rogue candidates like Blankenship to blow up major races. And now not even he can control this monster.
the rich asshole blasts Blankenship ahead of W.Va. GOP Senate primary
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 05/07/18 07:19 AM EDT
President the rich asshole early Monday slammed Republican West Virginia Senate candidate Don Blankenship, urging voters to cast their ballots for the other two GOP challengers in the race.
“To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference,” the president wrote on Twitter.
“Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State...No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!” he added, referring to Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.) and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference. Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State...No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!
Blankenship, a former coal CEO who spent time in jail for violating mining safety regulations, recently attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his family in an ad, referring to McConnell’s “China family.”
"Swamp captain Mitch McConnell has created millions of jobs for China people. While doing so Mitch has gotten rich. In fact his China family has given him tens of millions of dollars," Blankenship said in the ad, released last week.
Meanwhile, Morrissey attacked Blankenship over the weekend, accusing him of not filing a personal financial disclosure form.
Meanwhile, Morrissey attacked Blankenship over the weekend, accusing him of not filing a personal financial disclosure form.
The winner of the Tuesday primary will likely face incumbent Sen. Joe Manchin (D) in the November general election.
Whoopi Goldberg calls BS on the rich asshole doing anything for black Americans: No one ‘in their right mind’ believes that
Whoopi Goldberg (Photo: Screen capture)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
President some rich asshole cited a questionable poll at the NRA convention Friday as he celebrated his recent endorsement from rapper Kanye West. the rich asshole’s support among people of color has been significantly lower than previous Republicans before him.
“Kanye West must have some power because you probably have saw I doubled my African-American poll numbers. It went from 11 to 22 in one week,” he told the crowd. “Thank you, Kanye!”
the rich asshole lost the African American vote with 8 percent compared to opponent Hillary Clinton’s 89 percent. Now, the rich asshole somehow decided that number expanded to 11 percent. Now, he’s citing a poll claiming it has doubled thanks to West. The poll, however, surveyed a very small sample of people who volunteered to answer the poll.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed the rich asshole’s approval with black men — not black Americans, at 22 percent. The poll used a “non-probability online sample,” according to the Washington Post. It’s a “methodology that a 2014 Pew Research study found doesn’t necessarily accurately represent African Americans,” the report explained.
Monday’s episode of “The View,” had nearly all of the women on the panel laughing at the absurdity.
“I mean, even though there is five black people behind him with a sign that says, blacks for the rich asshole, there is, like, four or five guys standing there,” said Whoopi Goldberg. “I think it’s the same person. I think it’s the same five people that go everywhere, but I could be wrong. I could be wrong.”
Co-host Joy Behar had a conspiracy theory that they didn’t survey black people, instead they surveyed everyone about what African-Americans think.
“It could have been white people that said, ‘Yes. black people are happy now,'” she said.
Guest-host Amanda Carpenter noted the controversy is more that the people who participated in the poll were only those who opted in, instead of people who weren’t the rich asshole supporters before but switched.
“You know what that’s called? The big lie!” exclaimed Joy Behar. “It’s been used in other dictatorships. You keep lying and lying and lying.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin said that even if it were true, the idea that the rich asshole has somehow done a lot for the African-American community is a joke.
“I just don’t see it,” she said.”
“I don’t think anybody in their right mind would point to anything,” Goldberg said.
“That’s the thing, you have some conservative commentators and pundits saying that the unemployment rate is lower now in the African-American community,” said Sunny Hostin. “Which it’s really the same under [former President Barack] Obama, of course.”
She went on to note that if the rich asshole cared so much about the African American community it would probably be reflected in the way the White House behaved with staffers.
“Do you think the rich asshole administration cares about the African-American community?” she continued. “Because if you look at his recent White House intern picture, I didn’t see too many people of color up in there. So, it just seems to me he is not necessarily giving African-Americans more opportunities. Even within his own administration.”
Carpenter said that she doesn’t think the rich asshole cares one way or another, but he has a list of things he wishes he could say in public. Her example was that the rich asshole wants to claim “I saved the DREAMERS,” and that his huge ego likely also wants to claim he “saved black people.”
Watch the full commentary below:
POLITICS
Melania the rich asshole Is Forging Her Own Path As First Lady, In Spite Of Her Husband
Though her work and public appearances have been limited, she may be making the most of her “impossible situation.”
WASHINGTON — First lady Melania the rich asshole unveiled a new initiative focused on children on Monday in the White House Rose Garden.
Called “Be Best,” the project is designed “to educate children about the many issues they are facing today,” she told reporters at the event.
the rich asshole’s rare appearance before the press to announce a seemingly modest set of proposals is a reminder of the unique challenges she has faced as first lady, filling an arcane role fraught with gender stereotypes and a lack of definition, compounded by her husband’s extreme divisiveness and outsized penchant for chaos.
Originally not scheduled to attend, the president himself joined the first lady at the lectern, just one day after The Washington Post reported that the couple spend much of their time in the White House apart, leading mostly separate lives.
The first lady famously pledged early in her husband’s presidency to make combating cyberbullying a priority and has devoted some speeches and White House events to the subject over the past year. Predictably, her efforts have faced mockery at every turn — any mention of cyberbullying conjures her husband’s frequent Twitter tirades and ad hominem attacks.
“I am well aware that people are skeptical of me discussing this topic,” she said in March. “I have been criticized for my commitment to tackling this issue, and I know that will continue. But it will not stop me from doing what I know is right.”
Ahead of Monday’s event, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders criticized a reporter’s question about the apparent hypocrisy of the first lady’s focus on cyberbullying given the president’s relentless Twitter tantrums.
“I think the idea that you’re trying to blame cyberbullying on the president is kind of ridiculous,” Sanders said at the White House press briefing.
Melania the rich asshole has also turned her attention toward other issues, such as the nation’s opioid crisis ― especially its effect on children and families.
Monday’s announcement was a culmination of those early forays as first lady, laying out three broadly defined policy areas on which she will focus: well-being, social media use and opioid abuse.
It’s unusual for a first lady not to have clearly defined initiatives at this point of her husband’s presidency, according to Kate Andersen Brower, author of First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies, and First in Line, an upcoming book about vice presidents.
Yet overall, the rich asshole “has been, in her way, the best version of the first lady that she can,” given that she is dealing with “an impossible situation,” Brower said. And in distancing herself from her husband, she may be further reinventing the role of first lady and subverting public expectations of her, even in otherwise traditional tasks.
So far, the rich asshole has mostly carried out ceremonial duties, such as hosting the first White House state visit of her husband’s presidency last month with the Trumps’ French counterparts, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron.
She has also responded to tragedies as a “consoler in chief,” Brower noted, such as visiting with hurricane survivors and representing her husband’s administration at former first lady Barbara Bush’s funeral last month.
These settings provide opportunities for the rich asshole to “really be empathetic and sympathize with people, in the way that her husband can’t,” Brower said.
She also seems to contrast herself with her husband in the way she avoids publicly engaging in attacks, personal or political. As many political observers have noted, she notably has not responded to her husband’s many personal scandals, including his alleged extramarital affairs with porn star Stormy Daniels and “Playboy” model Karen McDougal. A rare exception came during his campaign, after the October 2016 release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, when the rich asshole defended her husband’s bragging about sexual assault as “boy talk.”
“I think she has been very smart to try to stay above the fray,” Brower said. “She’s learning the best thing to do is just focus on these bipartisan, non-controversial issues, do the state dinner, go about her business as best you can.”
Like previous first ladies, the rich asshole has been subject to scrutiny and speculation over her fashion and personal life. Her marriage to the president in particular has sparked fascination and her body language during their interactions is closely analyzed.
Brower attributed it to the way the rich asshole remains a “cipher,” unlike some of her predecessors, who were more accessible to the press.
Curiously, the rich asshole has drawn sympathy from unlikely places, particularly in pop culture depictions and social media memes. In recurring segments on Stephen Colbert’s late-night show, actress Laura Benanti portrays the rich asshole as both desperate and defiant.
Over the weekend, “Saturday Night Live” showcased the Stormy Daniels scandal, portraying the first lady, played by Cecily Strong, as gleeful about the possibility of testifying against the president in his legal debacles.
In real life, the rich asshole’s “silence” on Daniels and “refusal to stand by her husband” shows how much she has defied expectations as first lady, according to Brower.
“I think that, in a way, that’s a feminist thing to do, to not do what’s expected of her,” Brower said. And like many women who are judged by their appearance, “people underestimate her,” she added.
“She has rejected a lot of what is expected of her and doesn’t seem to care about what we as a country expect of her,” Brower said. “I just don’t see that with her, and I think that’s kind o
This is the man who will supervise Mueller if the rich asshole fires Rosenstein
"I always say yes to the Federalist Society."
Even before he became some rich asshole’s top Supreme Court advocate, Solicitor General Noel Francisco was a magnet for Trumpian causes. Francisco was one of the tobacco industry‘s top appellate advocates. And he represented the coal company at the heart of a deadly mining disaster — a coal company owned by the rich asshole’s Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
In the Supreme Court, Francisco convinced the justices to effectively strip President Obama of the recess appointments power. He represented religious conservatives attacking the Obama administration’s efforts to expand access to birth control. And persuaded the Court to legalize many forms of political bribery.
In short. Francisco built his law practice as if his primary goal was to troll the libs.
Flash forward a few years, and Francisco is now one of the most powerful and influential lawyers in the country. As Solicitor General, Francisco shapes the rich asshole administration’s appellate litigation strategy and acts as one of the top advisers to the justices themselves. And, as one of the Justice Department’s top officials, Francisco is next in line to supervise Special Counsel Robert Mueller if the rich asshole fires Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Francisco’s record suggests that, if given the power to rein in this threat to the rich asshole’s presidency, he would do so enthusiastically.
As Solicitor General, Francisco helped transform his office from its traditional role as the American people’s advocate before the Supreme Court into a litigation chop shop advancing Republican causes.
In the lead up to the 2016 election, Francisco co-authored an op-ed touting the Trumpian claim that the FBI had treated Hillary Clinton “with kid gloves” when it investigated her IT practices and ultimately determined that no charges were warranted.
At a 2016 conference hosted by the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group that the rich asshole relies upon to pick many of his judicial nominees, Francisco offered a vision of the Second Amendment that was straight out of the National Rifle Association’s paranoid fantasia about armed citizens shooting back at their government. He also began his remarks with a declaration of loyalty.
“I always say yes to the Federalist Society.”
The Tenth Justice
The Solicitor General is a uniquely influential lawyer — so much so that solicitors general are often described as the “tenth justice” because of their profound impact on the Supreme Court’s conduct. In any given term, the Solicitor General is likely to file a brief in the majority of argued cases heard by the Court — the Solicitor General’s office participated in 58 of the 72 decided cases in 2014, either as a party or an amicus. Historically, the Court backs the Solicitor General’s preferred outcome in 60 to 80 percent of cases in which the United States expresses a view.
The Court, moreover, routinely seeks the Solicitor General’s advice on whether it should hear a particular case. Indeed, this practice is so common that Supreme Court practitioners refer to it by an acronym — a “CVSG,” which stands for “call for the views of the Solicitor General.”
Yet all of this influence comes at a price — or, at least, it has in the past. The Solicitor General is the ultimate “repeat player” in Supreme Court litigation. He is the custodian of more than a century of credibility that past officeholders earned by placing the institutional interests of the Court, the legal system, and the United States itself before those of any particular administration.
As former Solicitor General Drew Days once said of the office, the nation’s top litigator’s “responsibility is ultimately not to any particular agency or person in the federal government but rather ‘the interests of the United States’ which may, on occasion, conflict with the short-term programmatic goals of an affected governmental entity.”
At times, this insistence that the long term interests of the United States must triumph over short term political goals proves immensely frustrating to an administration’s allies. The Justice Department, for example, is exceedingly reluctant to concede that speculative limits exist on Congress’ power, and for good reason. If DOJ concedes today that some hypothetical future law would be unconstitutional, Congress may someday pass a similar law, and the Justice Department’s concession could be used against it in federal court.
During the 2012 litigation seeking to repeal the Affordable Care Act, former Solicitor General Paul Clement exploited this institutional constraint to great effect. Clement argued, falsely, that if the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, then there would no longer be any limits on the federal government’s power to legislate. That led Justice Anthony Kennedy to ask a fairly obvious question of then-Solicitor General Donald Verrilli — could Verrilli “identify for us some limits” on the federal government’s power to regulate commerce.
Verrilli’s answer was halting and imprecise, when he could have delivered a crisp list of hypothetical laws that are unconstitutional under the Obama administration’s legal theory. At the time, it looked like Verrilli might have given away the case, and sacrificed Obamacare along with it.
But it’s also easy to guess why Verrilli did so. His job was to represent the institutional concerns of the United States, even when those institutional concerns weighed against the signature legislative accomplishment of the President of the United States. In that moment, Verrilli placed the perpetual interests of the United States government before the short term need to win this particular case.
Many observers criticized Verrilli for how he handled this argument. I am one of them. But in his response to Justice Kennedy, Verrilli acted in the grand tradition of solicitors general who act as custodians of a grander institution, and not as partisans.
“How many times?”
Compare Verrilli’s conduct to the way Francisco handled a case brought by anti-union activists seeking to defund public sector unions.
For fairly obvious reasons, government employees have weaker First Amendment free speech protections within the context of their job. A public school principal can order a math teacher to actually teach math, and not, say, 16th century Asian art, even though a private citizen could not be compelled to speak on a certain subject against their will. If the government didn’t have some power to control the speech of its own workers, it would be impossible for it to manage a workplace.
But what happens when a government worker expresses a political view that their boss disagrees with? Or blows the whistle on a supervisor who is spending public funds irresponsibly?
The Supreme Court started to explore this question in Pickering v. Board of Education. Pickering is a half-century old case, and subsequent decisions have complicated the rules governing public sector workers considerably. But the general rule that emerges from the Pickering line of cases is that a government worker asserting a First Amendment claim against their employer must first show that they spoke on “a matter of legitimate public concern.”
If the employee can clear this bar, the case then moves on to its second step, where a court asks “whether the relevant government entity had an adequate justification for treating the employee differently from any other member of the general public.” But if the employee cannot clear this bar, they lose their case.
Which brings us to Janus v. AFSCME, the anti-union case.
The thrust of the plaintiff’s argument in Janus is that all collective bargaining between a government employer and a union is a matter of public concern — a claim that, if accepted by the Court, could lead to many unions losing a major funding source that they need to operate. Arguing before the Supreme Court, ostensibly on behalf of the United States government, Francisco embraced this anti-union theory and agreed that all speech relating to “employment conditions, about pay, about vacation . . . about all of the various employee benefits” provided to government workers are matters of public concern.
That led to a rather awkward exchange with Justice Elena Kagan, herself a former solicitor general, who noted that Francisco’s expansive definition of what constitutes a matter of public concern was “a very unusual position for the government to be taking.” If the Court were to agree with Francisco’s position, that would mean that the United States would have to litigate all future “employee/employer disputes under the second step of Pickering rather than under the first.”
Francisco, in other words, effectively argued that more federal employees should be able to drag the federal government into court, and force the government into a protracted trial over whether the way it managed a particular employee was justified. Moreover, Francisco took this position despite the fact that he was appearing in Court on behalf of the United States government.
Unlike Verrilli, who avoided arguments that would advance the political interests of his party at the expense of the institutional interests of the United States, Francisco decided that it was more important to undermine unions — a frequent antagonist of the Republican Party — than it was to protect his own client’s interest in avoiding future lawsuits.
A few minutes after Francisco’s exchange with Kagan, there was an even more awkward exchange with Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Francisco’s argument in Janus did not merely run counter to the interests of his client, it was also at odds with the argument Verrilli presented to the Supreme Court when the exact same issue was before the Court in 2016 (that case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, split the Court 4-4 after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death).
And, as it turns out, Janus isn’t the only case where Francisco has abandoned a long-held view in favor of one that happened to align with the Republican Party’s immediate interests. “How many times this term already,” Sotomayor asked Francisco during the Janus argument “have you flipped positions from prior administrations?”
According to Georgetown law Professor Marty Lederman, the answer to Sotomayor’s question is at least a dozen times. Lederman counted 12 distinct issues where the Justice Department flipped its view in an appeal after some rich asshole started filling the department’s top jobs — more that half of which took place in briefing before the Supreme Court. That’s a simply astounding number when you consider that the Court only heard arguments in 63 cases this term.
The cases Lederman identifies include an effort to purge voters from Ohio’s voter rolls (Francisco’s office is for it), and an effort to protect transgender students from discrimination (DOJ is against this effort). They involve voter suppression laws (which DOJ is for), workers’ rights to bring class action lawsuits against their employers (which DOJ is against), and the right of LGBTQ Americans to be free from discrimination (DOJ is on the pro-discrimination side).
Now, in fairness, at least some of these cases are not yet before the Supreme Court — though, under the Justice Department’s rules, “all appeals to the lower appellate courts in cases handled by divisions of the Department and United States Attorneys, and all petitions for certiorari and direct appeals to the Supreme Court must be authorized by the Solicitor General.”
Similarly, some of the briefs in these cases were filed during a brief interregnum when Francisco’s deputy Jeff Wall ran the Office of the Solicitor General. A federal law prevented Francisco from serving as acting head of the office while he was also awaiting confirmation to lead it on a permanent basis, but Francisco served as a “senior adviser” within the Justice Department while Wall was acting Solicitor General, and it is likely that Francisco was consulted on matters that he would be in charge of after his confirmation.
In any event, since the rich asshole took office, the Office of the Solicitor General has rapidly transformed itself into a strong advocate for conservative legal causes, and Francisco appears to be an enthusiastic champion of this transformation. So much so, that he’s even willing to advocate against the long term interests of his only client in order to advance conservative goals.
Meanwhile, an unstable and increasingly angry president occupies the White House. the rich asshole reportedly views Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteinas a threat, because the president feels that Rosenstein has not done enough to hinder Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia. If the rich asshole fires Rosenstein, the job of supervising Mueller will fall to Francisco.
Everything in Francisco’s record suggests that he is a passionate conservative, eager to use his office to advance ideological causes. Someday very soon, the rich asshole may hand Francisco the power to shut down Mueller’s investigation.
the rich asshole reminds everyone he supported alleged child molester in Alabama
By
-
the rich asshole has weighed in on the West Virginia Senate race, in the most awkward way imaginable.
Republicans are worried that the candidacy of disgraced former mining tycoon Don Blankenship in West Virginia could cost them a shot at defeating Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin.
And the rich asshole clearly agrees. Which is why he went to an incredibly awkward extreme to try to dissuade his supporters from voting for Blankenship in Tuesday’s primary.
In other words, the rich asshole wants his supporters to “remember” how he endorsed and personally campaigned on behalf of Roy Moore in Alabama, even after he was credibly accused of child molestation — and how Moore went on to lose to Democrat Doug Jones in what should have been one of the easiest GOP Senate races imaginable.
And for all of the rich asshole’s determination to avoid a rerun of Alabama, he seems to have learned little from that humiliating experience.
For one thing, just as with Moore, the rich asshole does not offer any moral or ideological objection to Blankenship. He does not mention Blankenship’s unabashed racism. Or his attacks on fellow Republicans. Or the fact that Blankenship served a year in prison for conspiring to violate safety standards at a mine where 29 of his workers were killed.
the rich asshole’s only only stated objection to Blankenship is that he “can’t win.”
But it would be difficult for the rich asshole to make an intellectually consistent case to his supporters against Blankenship on merit, since Blankenship is in many respects simply mimicking the rich asshole’s own political style.
And if the rich asshole wants to dissuade West Virginia Republicans from backing Blankenship, his tweet is a terrible way to do it.
As New York Times reporter Alex Burns notes, by failing to endorse one or the other of Blankenship’s primary opponents, and urging people to vote for Rep. Evan Jenkins or state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the rich asshole is essentially encouraging voters to split the anti-Blankenship vote. That would make it more likely that Blankenship wins the nomination, as some last-minute polling suggests he might do.
the rich asshole may want voters to remember Alabama. But he seems unaware that Alabama is a cautionary tale of his own incompetence and lack of morals. And if this tweet is any indication, those same qualities could cost the rich asshole this race as well.
POLITICS
the rich asshole Urges West Virginia Voters Not To Back Don Blankenship, Comparing Him To Roy Moore
The former coal CEO is one of the three leading contenders in Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary in West Virginia.
President some rich asshole on Monday urged voters in West Virginia to reject former coal executive and GOP Senate candidate Don Blankenship, throwing his support behind the two other major contenders in Tuesday’s primary.
All three leading candidates in the GOP primary have tried to attach themselves to the rich asshole by emphasizing their commitment to his agenda. Last month, the rich asshole invited two of them, Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.) and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R), to appear with him at a White House event on taxes. Blankenship was not asked to attend.
Claiming that Blankenship “can’t win the General Election,” the rich asshole on Monday alluded to the U.S. Senate special election in Alabama last year, where he made a similar endorsement. He initially endorsed the establishment candidate, then-Sen. Luther Strange (R), over challenger Roy Moore, who had a history of controversy.
When Moore defeated Strange in the primary, the rich asshole quickly backed Moore and essentially disavowed his support of Strange, deleting his tweets about the latter.
Moore later lost to Democrat Doug Jones, after facing sexual misconduct allegations from nearly 10 women, including accusations of child molestation. After the election result, the rich asshole tried to distance himself from Moore by reverting back to his previous argument that Strange would have won the general election.
Republican operatives are reportedly worried that Blankenship could win Tuesday’s primary in West Virginia. The former CEO of Massey Energy served a year in prison for his involvement in the deadly Upper Big Branch mine explosion. Blankenship continues to deny any responsibility for the accident, despite his conviction for conspiring to violate mine safety laws.
He has also made bizarre attacks on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a major part of his campaign platform, standing by his use of the racial slur “Chinaperson” to describe McConnell’s father-in-law, and arguing in a campaign ad that McConnell “has created millions of jobs for China people.”
The winner of Tuesday’s contentious race will challenge incumbent Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in November. Manchin’s seat is a top target of Republicans in this year’s midterm elections.
In a statement Monday, Blankenship dismissed the rich asshole’s tweet, calling the president “a very busy man and he doesn’t know me and he doesn’t know how flawed my two main opponents are in this primary.”
“The establishment is misinforming him because they do not want me to be in the U.S. Senate and promote the president’s agenda,” Blankenship continued. “Tomorrow, West Virginia will send the swamp a message — no one, I mean no one, will tell us how to vote. As some have said, I am Trumpier than the rich asshole and this morning proves it.”
Meanwhile, Jenkins said he was “honored” by the rich asshole’s tacit endorsement.
“I’m honored that President the rich asshole encouraged voters to cast their vote for me to Make America Great Again,” he said in a statement. “I’m the only candidate in this race who has backed some rich asshole since day one, and as senator, I’ll continue working side-by-side with him in the best interests of West Virginia and our conservative values.”
This article has been updated to include statements from Don Blankenship and Rep. Evan Jenkins.
Sessions is the rich asshole survivor — and punching bag
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 05/07/18 06:00 AM EDT
In a Cabinet beset by rapid turnover, one survivor stands out: Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Sessions has managed to keep his job, no small feat considering he has become one of President the rich asshole's favorite punching bags over his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
But for all of the rich asshole’s rebukes against an attorney general he has described as “beleaguered,” he knows firing Sessions would have dire political consequences.
“That is first and foremost what has driven the personnel situation,” said one White House official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the situation. “The president understands the media firestorm and political implications of a move at the top of [the Justice Department].”
the rich asshole and Sessions are not known to speak frequently, but they did see each other this week for a meeting on election security, according to the White House.
The Justice Department declined to comment for this story.
It is not just political convenience that has saved Sessions’s job, according to his allies.
They say the attorney general has done a good job of staying focused on policy work while keeping a low public profile.
The former GOP senator from Alabama was one of the rich asshole’s earliest campaign backers and shares the president's hard-line approach on immigration.
Sessions has made a series of announcements regarding crackdowns on criminal gangs like MS-13 and stopping illegal border crossings, including the so-called migrant caravan — all issues that the rich asshole cares about deeply.
the rich asshole raved to West Wing staff about a speech Sessions gave in March in which he chastised California officials over sanctuary cities, according to a White House official.
In the heated address, which was carried live on cable television, Sessions accused Golden State officials of being “radical extremists” and supporting “open borders.”
Firing Sessions would surely catch the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller, who reportedly wants to ask the rich asshole in a potential interview about his attacks on the attorney general over his recusal from the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election. the rich asshole has called Sessions’s decision a “terrible mistake” that made him reconsider choosing him as the nation’s top law enforcement official.
the rich asshole’s comments, or actions, with regard to Sessions could be used to build a case that the president obstructed justice in the Russia probe.
the rich asshole has never forgiven Sessions for recusing himself, and sources warned the mercurial president could get rid of his attorney general at any time, despite the possible repercussions.
“His tweets are very real,” the official said of the rich asshole. “You’re not going to get a ton of ‘full confidence in Jeff Sessions’ from the podium. You’re going to get a lot of ‘we have no personnel announcements.’”
But when the rich asshole does grow frustrated with Sessions over the Russia probe, White House chief of staff John Kelly has reminded the president about how the attorney general has helped him accomplish his agenda, which also includes going after opioid manufacturers and backing local law enforcement.
“Even as the president works through his frustration with Mueller, the bottom line is he understands Jeff has been one of his appointees in carrying out the policy promises the president made during the campaign,” said Ken Blackwell, a former Ohio secretary of state who served on the rich asshole’s transition team and voter-fraud commission.
Behind the scenes, a group of vocal conservative activists have been making the case to the White House to keep Sessions.
Blackwell was one of roughly 100 prominent conservatives who signed on to a letter voicing support for Sessions last summer, a time when tensions with the rich asshole reached a boiling point.
Since then, they have taken to periodically talking up Sessions to West Wing officials who speak to the rich asshole.
“In politics you have show horses and workhorses, and he is a workhorse,” Tony Perkins, head of the conservative Family Research Council, said of Sessions. “He is going a good job in so many areas … I’ve clearly communicated that to [the rich asshole’s] key staff multiple times.”
Others have recently pointed out that Sessions has avoided the types of ethics scandals that have doomed other Cabinet secretaries.
The New York Times reported that Sessions on a daily basis buys a $5.29 turkey sandwich for lunch from the Justice Department cafeteria, evidence he eschews the big-spending ways of some of his colleagues.
The praise campaign has not been entirely convincing to the rich asshole, who views Sessions’s policy achievements and conduct as “secondary” to Russia-related matters, according to the White House official.
And Sessions’s role in the criminal investigation has returned to the spotlight, which could trigger a new round of speculation about his future.
Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined the president's legal team, implored Sessions to intervene in the Michael Cohen case by putting federal officials involved “under investigation.”
“I am waiting for the attorney general to step in, in his role as defender of justice,” the former New York City mayor told The Hill on Thursday, reacting to an incorrect report about a wiretap on Cohen, the rich asshole’s longtime personal attorney. Federal investigators have been monitoring Cohen’s calls but were not recording their content, according to a corrected report by NBC News.
Sessions weeks before rebuffed demands for a second special counsel to probe conservative allegations of misconduct at the Justice Department, a decision that disappointed the rich asshole allies in Congress.
Serving as the nation’s top law enforcement official is a lifelong dream for Sessions, a former U.S. attorney and Alabama attorney general. It is his best opportunity to fulfill his goal of imposing his law-and-order policy agenda.
That means Sessions has been willing absorb the verbal fusillade from the rich asshole, who has blasted him on Twitter as “weak” and reportedly calls him “Mr. Magoo” behind closed doors.
“He loves that job and loves being in that job,” said Matthew Heiman, a former Justice Department official during the George W. Bush administration. “As long as he feels he can be an effective and good steward, he’s going to stay there.”
Blackwell said Sessions “doesn’t frustrate as easily as some upstart might” in the face of “incoming fire.”
But Sessions has not taken every barb lying down. He reportedly submitted a resignation letter last year after the rich asshole called him an “idiot” for recusing himself from the Russia probe. The president turned him down.
Sessions responded publicly after the rich asshole labeled him “DISGRACEFUL” on Twitter over his handling of alleged surveillance abuses related to the 2016 campaign.
The attorney general said in a statement that the Justice Department “initiated the appropriate process” to look into the complaints and pledged to respond “fully and fairly.”
“As long as I am the attorney general, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution,” Sessions said.
Internet heaps mockery on Oliver North as the NRA’s ironic new ‘face of law-abiding gun ownership’
Retired United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North mugshot from the Iran-Contra scandal and recent Facebook profile picture.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Fox News commentator Oliver North will be the next President of the National Rifle Association, the gun group said in a statement released on Monday.
North gained public prominence for his participation in the Iran-Contra affair, secretly selling arms to Iran to finance right-wing insurrection in Nicaragua. North was indicted on 16 felony counts and convicted on 3, but the convictions were subsequently overturned due to his limited immunity when testifying before Congress.
“Look, I’m a right-wing goon — everybody knows it, right?” North told The New York Times in 2014.
North will now be tasked with repairing the NRA’s reputation, which has been hard-hit since the February 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“This is the most exciting news for our members since Charlton Heston became President of our Association,” said NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre.
“A total warrior for freedom, this is the last person that anti-gun advocates would want as the new President of the NRA board,” NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch claimed.
The internet, however, had a harsh assessment of the man Hunter S. Thompson described as, “the Charles Manson figure in this hideous scandal that crawls like a plague of maggots on the White House.”
Here are some of the top responses to the NRA’s announcement:
As the new president of the @NRA Oliver North makes the step up from illegally selling guns to people who shouldn't have them, to legally selling guns to people who shouldn't have them.
No war but class war
Old Marines who illegally sold arms to Iran in exchange for hostages to funnel the profits illegally to Nicaragua never die. They just go on to become Fox News commentators and president of the NRA. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/05/07…
Oliver North, who sold weapons to Iran so he could buy guns from a Syrian terrorist and then give the guns to farmer-murdering death squads, with the help of a drug-dealing Panamanian dictator. Then lied about it.
The face of law-abiding gun ownership. twitter.com/Bencjacobs/sta…
The @NRA has chosen Oliver North as its next president. North recently pitched a private, global spy network to the White House as a means of countering “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Trump, according to sources. interc.pt/2KFSnvc
He's now the next president of the NRA, on December 13, 2000, Oliver North was a contestant in the Funniest Celebrity in Washington contestc-span.org/video/?c472828…
Internet heaps mockery on Oliver North as the NRA’s ironic new ‘face of law-abiding gun ownership’
Retired United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North mugshot from the Iran-Contra scandal and recent Facebook profile picture.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Fox News commentator Oliver North will be the next President of the National Rifle Association, the gun group said in a statement released on Monday.
North gained public prominence for his participation in the Iran-Contra affair, secretly selling arms to Iran to finance right-wing insurrection in Nicaragua. North was indicted on 16 felony counts and convicted on 3, but the convictions were subsequently overturned due to his limited immunity when testifying before Congress.
“Look, I’m a right-wing goon — everybody knows it, right?” North told The New York Times in 2014.
North will now be tasked with repairing the NRA’s reputation, which has been hard-hit since the February 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“This is the most exciting news for our members since Charlton Heston became President of our Association,” said NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre.
“A total warrior for freedom, this is the last person that anti-gun advocates would want as the new President of the NRA board,” NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch claimed.
The internet, however, had a harsh assessment of the man Hunter S. Thompson described as, “the Charles Manson figure in this hideous scandal that crawls like a plague of maggots on the White House.”
Here are some of the top responses to the NRA’s announcement:
As the new president of the @NRA Oliver North makes the step up from illegally selling guns to people who shouldn't have them, to legally selling guns to people who shouldn't have them.
Old Marines who illegally sold arms to Iran in exchange for hostages to funnel the profits illegally to Nicaragua never die. They just go on to become Fox News commentators and president of the NRA. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/05/07…
Oliver North, who sold weapons to Iran so he could buy guns from a Syrian terrorist and then give the guns to farmer-murdering death squads, with the help of a drug-dealing Panamanian dictator. Then lied about it.
The face of law-abiding gun ownership. twitter.com/Bencjacobs/sta…
The @NRA has chosen Oliver North as its next president. North recently pitched a private, global spy network to the White House as a means of countering “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Trump, according to sources. interc.pt/2KFSnvc
He's now the next president of the NRA, on December 13, 2000, Oliver North was a contestant in the Funniest Celebrity in Washington contestc-span.org/video/?c472828…
last
No comments:
Post a Comment