Cornered and raging, Trump begins his coverup. Here’s how Democrats can respond.

By Greg Sargent

Opinion writer

November 8 at 10:25 AM

 

resident Trump has forced out his attorney general and replaced him with a loyalist who will now oversee special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation. Speculation is rampant: Will the new acting attorney general fire Mueller? Constrain his investigation? Block Mueller’s findings from going public? 

 

We don’t know whether Matthew Whitaker, Trump’s replacement for Jeff Sessions, will go through with these things. But here’s something we can conclude right now: Trump surely picked Whitaker, Sessions’s chief of staff, expressly to put him in the position of being able to do any and all of them.

Unlike Sessions, who recused himself from the probe, Whitaker will oversee it, whereas before, that had fallen to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. Whitaker can theoretically fire Mueller by invoking some rationale that fulfills the relevant regulations’ requirement for “cause,” or he can revoke those regulations. Or he can severely limit the scope of the investigation, or starve it of funds.

Ask yourself: What would this look like if Republicans had held the House? We would be concluding that Trump is taking steps to close down or limit the probe, or keep its findings covered up, in the full knowledge that congressional Republicans will let him get away with it. Which is why it’s a good thing that Democrats did capture the House.

At his news conference on Wednesday in the wake of the Democratic victory, Trump raged over the investigation. He said that if House Democrats investigate his administration — an activity known as congressional oversight —  that the White House can retaliate by investigating Democrats. Trump vowed a “warlike posture.” This lays the groundwork to dramatically resist whatever Democrats do in response to Trump’s moves against the Mueller probe.

So what can Democrats do in these scenarios, once they’re in the majority? Here’s a rundown:

House Democrats can investigate the firing of Sessions. The question of whether Trump fired Sessions or whether Sessions merely resigned is critical. If Trump fired Sessions, it might not be legit that Trump replaced him with an acting attorney general (Whitaker) who didn’t require Senate confirmation (which Trump may have wanted to do to insulate the replacement from questioning from senators about his intention toward the Mueller probe). Mueller could conceivably challenge the appointment in court if Whitaker does try to shut down or severely constrain the probe.

Though the White House claims Sessions resigned at Trump’s “request,” it seems obvious that Trump did fire him. The Post reports that Sessions thought staying would protect “the investigation’s integrity,” which would leave the country “better served,” as its findings will be “more credible to the American public.” So House Democrats can try to investigate the circumstances leading up to Sessions’s “resignation,” to determine whether Sessions did resist it and was fired.

“The rationale would be that they were investigating to determine whether Sessions was fired as part of a conspiracy to obstruct justice,” Josh Chafetz, a professor at Cornell Law School, told me. “This could entail requests for documents and witness testimony.”

Subpoena Sessions himself. House Democrats can try to question Sessions himself, both about the circumstances surrounding his firing and, more broadly, about the repeated private meetings in which Trump raged at him for failing to protect him from the investigation. Sessions would likely assert executive privilege regarding his conversations with Trump.

But Democrats have recourse. They can “haul Sessions in and make him refuse to answer questions live, on TV,” Chafetz told me. “Then, after some arguing back and forth, if Democrats decide that the assertion of privilege is improper, they can hold him in contempt.” Whether that would do much is anybody’s guess, but at least the spectacle of Sessions refusing to say whether Trump forced him out and why would be dramatized for the country.

Subpoena Mueller’s findings. Under the regulations governing the special counsel, he is to provide a “confidential” report explaining his conclusions to the person overseeing the probe — who would have been Rosenstein but now will be Whitaker. It is Whitaker who is then supposed to provide a report to the bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate judiciary committees, which gives him a great deal of discretion to decide how much to put in that report.

Whitaker could theoretically report little to nothing, in effect covering up what Mueller learned. “Democrats could subpoena Mueller’s findings,” Chafetz tells me. “But expect the White House to put up a fight in response to the subpoena.” Other legal experts think that if the White House defied such a subpoena, the courts would rule against them, meaning Congress would get Mueller’s findings.

As Chafetz has written elsewhere, one key thing Democrats must think hard about is how to use such proceedings to inform the public about what’s happening, both for political and substantive reasons.

Impeach the acting attorney general. This is a far-fetched scenario, but it’s not an impossibility. As it is, Whitaker has publicly opined that Mueller has gone too far in probing Trump’s finances and has openly suggested that one option is to de-fund the investigation. On these grounds, Democrats have called for his recusal.

Here an irony kicks in. A handful of House Republicans loyal to Trump tried to impeach Rosenstein earlier this year on grounds so specious that even many Republicans, including the leadership, rejected it. It’s hard to say what circumstances might justify such a move against Whitaker, if any, but if he shuts down the Mueller probe without good cause, that might be seen as extremely serious misconduct — far more serious than what Republicans alleged against Rosenstein.

Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western University, points out that there are other forms of misconduct Whitaker could commit. Whether or not his public opinions merit recusal, he should still solicit a Justice Department ethics opinion on whether he should oversee the probe. “Rosenstein did this, and some Republicans still called for his impeachment,” Adler notes. “If Whitaker fails to take the same prudent step, it would be inexcusable.”

It seems obvious that once Democrats take over the House, we are headed for a major escalation in hostilities. Trump is already testing to see what he can get away with, so it’s good that leading Democrats just responded with a letter calling on Republicans to hold emergency hearings on Trump’s move, arguing that the appointment of Whitaker is precipitating a “constitutional crisis.” 

Republicans will shrug, but this suggests Democrats recognize the gravity of the moment and are organizing to respond accordingly.

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III Is Forced Out As Attorney General As Trump Installs Loyalist

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jeff-sessions-is-forced-out-as-attorney-general-as-trump-installs-loyalist/ar-BBPshQH

Random Observations On The Democrats Getting A Win And Trump Losing

Posted by Rude One

1. Democrats won. Don't let any motherfuckers spin it any other way. It's that simple. No, Democrats didn't win as much as we would have wanted. Yes, they lost a couple of seats in the Senate. Yes, there were some heartbreakers, like Beto O'Rourke losing to the desert skink in a human skin suit, Ted Cruz.

But, in the light of day, after all the counting is done, Democrats began Tuesday by having no power in federal government (beyond the Senate filibuster) and ended it with full subpoena and investigative power as the majority in the House of Representatives. That's a fucking unequivocal win, taking some longtime seats from the filthy hands of the GOP.

And bathe yourself in the blood of the deaths of the political careers of Kris Kobach, Dana Rohrbacher, and Scott Walker, among so many other fucknuts. So quit bitching about the losses, hang in there for the recounts, get jazzed about the local and state victories, and get ready for the coming war.

2. We all want Nancy Pelosi to put on the deluxe spiked strap-on and ream the assholes of the Trump Administration. God, their yowls of pain would be like sweet music for the next two years. Lemme lay out a better strategy.

- Target the most corrupt cockmites in the White House, like Ryan Zinke and Wilbur Ross (although look for their resignations soon).

- Wreck the scumfucks in the GOP caucus, like Devin Nunes, Steve King, and Chris Collins, with ethics investigations. Demonstrate that we don't want traitors and Nazis and thieves in power.

- Shove a hearing enema into the sphincter of things like white nationalism, voter suppression, immigration fuckery, and anything that can shine a light on the shitpile of cruelty, negligence, and outright evil committed by the GOP and conservative nutzoids.

- And release the fuckin' hounds on judicial nominees. Yeah, the House doesn't vote on 'em, but it can sure as shit investigate if someone's a damn sexual predator.

3a. But pick the battles with Trump. Goddamn, I want him to suffer subpoena and arrests so fucking much that I can taste the orange tanning spray dripping off his sweaty face. I want him to watch his horrible jizzstain children sent to prison. I want him to see his fake empire burned to the fucking ground with lawsuits and bankruptcies until he is just another pathetic, poor old racist, mumbling to himself in some stinking room that he used to be someone. But the risk is turning Trump into a martyr because he loves playing the victim who needs his idiot hordes to defend him. Start with his taxes. Find out if he's really under "continuous audit," as he said today (Note: He's not because that's not a thing). Use that info to say he's a lying dickhole and should release his taxes. Then subpoena them. Then have a fuckin' fight. And when the Mueller report is issued (well, if it's issued now), use that as the basis for an investigation into how the Russians own Trump.

3b. The counter to this is that Trump is gonna whine and attack Democrats for any investigating at all, so, fuck it, may as well go whole hog. Go after all of 'em, from dumb thug Eric to skeevy thug Don, Jr. to incest model Ivanka, and make Jared cry. Go after Trump's finances, from his money-laundering to his hotels used as bribe machines to his dicking over of investors. Scorched earth this motherfucker. Fuck it. What do you think Trump's gonna do? Play nice? Make deals? Democrats won the House precisely to be a check on Trump. So fuckin' check away. And impeach the bitch.

4. Trump was a quivering, desperate little jelly man today at whatever the fuck that press conference was. He was lashing out at any reporters who dared to challenge him, going so far as calling an African American reporter "racist" for asking him about racism. You know he wanted to send goons to break CNN's Jim Acosta's legs. He was ranting and sweating and threatening and then trying to say he'd work with Democrats. He praised himself endlessly, going so far as to say that the only lesson he learned from the midterms was that "People really like me." He really said, "God plays a big role in my life." He claimed that candidates who he campaigned for won, despite the fact that that is objectively not true (he went to Montana four times, but Jon Tester won, for example). What we were watching were the wheels coming off the wagon as he realized that Democrats would now be able to show the Americans people that he really is just a tiny mushroom dick.

5. Shit's gonna get crazy pretty quickly. More on that tomorrow.

Random Observations... (Part 2): How Crazy Will Shit Get?

As we tumble and twist to the end of the year and into the new one with Democrats having a whole fuckload of power more than they've had since the end of 2016, you gotta understand that shit's about to go fuckin' crazy. We have a crazy motherfucker in the White House who is getting crazier and crankier every day. He's surrounded by crazy motherfuckers, and the people who believe in him are crazy motherfuckers. And, as I've said so many times before, a motherfucker will fuck mothers. That is a motherfucker's primary purpose. So a whole bunch of mothers are about to get fucked in a motherfucking rage orgy. And when Democrats take over the House, it's gonna get even fuckier.

1. Shit's gonna get crazy in the lame duck session of Congress. The Republicans get to keep the House for four weeks of scheduled sessions before the Christmas break. You can bet that Paul Ryan and the Trump spunk gobblers in his caucus are gonna try to ram through an Affordable Care Act repeal, more tax cuts (or more permanent tax cuts), and whatever else they can. The honest-to-fuck shock is that there are some bipartisan bills that might pass, like criminal justice reform and the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Hell, things might be just bizarro enough that they make a deal on immigration: DACA kids for the funding for the bullshit wall (the same deal that was negotiated before that Trump walked away from). But the Senate is gonna amp up the judge approvals, and they'll rubber stamp the asses of anyone Trump nominates to any post. He could send Roy Cohn's skull up for Attorney General, and Lindsey Graham would screech about how qualified it is and how Democrats are jerks for pointing out that it's not alive, Jeff Flake would sigh and tweet how wrong it is, and Orrin Hatch would tongue fuck the eyeholes, all before making Roy Cohn's skull AG.

2. Shit's gonna get crazy in the Justice Department. Right now, with the firing of America's most racist leprechaun, Jeff Sessions, we have a bugfuck insane, walking cockknob as Attorney General. Matthew Whitaker is a repulsive idiot, a filthy con man,  and another Trump dick lamprey. Not only does the nation have to deal with the fallout of Sessions' bullshit approach to criminal justice, like ignoring the threat of far-right violence and gutting consent decrees on police brutality, but now we've got an asshole in there who is a walking conflict of interest. Whether or not the investigation of Robert Mueller gets to continue is now in the hands of Kingpin the AG. This is not to mention that we get to look forward to the confirmation hearing of, perhaps, Chris Christie, which will primarily consist of Republicans fighting each other to suckle at his man teats while Christie insults Democrats.

3. Shit's gonna get crazy with Trump's voters. The MAGA chodes have been told over and over that they will always be winning. Like monkeys who just had their favorite toy taken away, they're going to be confused by Democrats being able to subpoena their orange dolt god and force officials to testify under oath. Monkeys will break shit. They are in full death threat mode already, against Christine Blasey Ford, who dared to tell her story of sexual abuse by Brett Kavanaugh, and against any reporter that Trump calls out, especially April Ryan and Jim Acosta. You might have forgotten, but a MAGA puke sent a dozen bombs to Democrats and liberals opposed to the resident just a week or so ago. These assholes have no chill. They are itching for the chance to take down some libtards. I promise you that right now, they're breaking out their ape memes to attack Michelle Obama for daring to say that Trump was full of shit about birther nonsense. I would lay money down that some piece of shit is locked and loaded and ready to go to Florida (or, more likely, is already living there) to stop the counting of ballots.

4. Trump's gonna go full apeshit. Or he's already doing it. Jesus, at that press conference thing, he mocked Republicans who lost, he shit-talked the media constantly when not being outright abusive, and his self-aggrandizement was the kind of ego rant that one usually associates with a high school student council member who wants more credit for putting together the homecoming dance decorations. One quick example: On North Korea, he said, "We made more progress in that four or five months than they’ve made in 70 years. And nobody else could have done what I’ve done." Bitch, we had actual deals with North Korea and they fell apart. You haven't done shit but put your tiny hand in Kim Jong-un's tiny hand and traded palm sweat. But watch for Trump to lash out even more harshly, as he did today, calling a reporter's question on the Mueller investigation "stupid," and look for executive orders piling up. Frankly, if we're not in a war by the end of 2019, I'll be surprised. Trump is a coward at heart. It's why he has always crumbled whenever he's been questioned under oath. He talks a good game about fighting, but he's one of those punk-ass mob bosses who never got his hands dirty. He's always had goons and lackeys do his bidding. When his family starts being arrested, he's gonna scream and throw shit around and demand his idiot horde battle for his honor.

5. How do you respond to shit going crazy? Simple: You keep poking the crazy until their crazy is clear. Trump and the GOP are gonna say that Democrats are "harassing" them by investigating. It won't matter if Democrats are probing the most obvious shit, like voter suppression. The second some official is forced to produce documents, Trump will say how "no man was ever treated worse." It won't matter. Every Democratic bill will be labeled "socialism." Every opposition to a nominee will be called "obstruction." He is going to war. So be in a war posture. Go on the offense (and I talked how to do that Wednesday), ignore the right-wing noise machine, and bring a modicum of sanity back.

Gird yer loins, sweet Americans. If you thought times have been intense already, we're about to barrel into maelstrom.

Republicans, have a miserable evening

By milestogo

Dems will kick your ass tonight, and we will do it without cheating or fraud.

How to make sure your vote gets counted on Election Day

https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article221026570.html

Oprah Winfrey campaigns with Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams

Oprah Winfrey is joining the campaign trail canvassing for Democrat Stacey Abrams in the Georgia gubernatorial election. Abrams is locked in a tight race with Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

George Washington For President

By Thomas L. Friedman

Opinion Columnist

Dear Reader. I think you know, after 23 years of my writing this column, that I’m not lazy. I always try to come up with fresh ideas. Today, though, I am fresh out of fresh ideas. More than any time in my career, I think our country is in danger. It has a disturbed man as resident, whose job description — to be a healer of the country in times of great national hurt and to pull us together to do big hard things that can be done only together — conflicts with his political strategy, which is to divide us and mobilize his base with anger and fear. And time and again he has chosen the latter.

When a person is promoted to a top job in life, usually one of two things happens: He either grows or he swells — he either evolves and grows into that job or all of his worst instincts and habits become swollen and just expand over a wider field. I don’t have to tell you what happened with resident Trump. He is a shameless liar and an abusive bully — only now he is doing it from the bully pulpit of the residency.

When you have a resident without shame, backed by a party without a spine, amplified by a TV network without integrity, reason is not an option and hope is not a strategy. The only restraint on Trump is a lever of national power in the hands of the opposition party that can force some accountability.

The stakes could not be higher. If the coming midterms reaffirm Trump’s grip on every lever of national power — the White House, the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court — he will become even more swollen and more dangerous to our institutions, which are now straining to contain his excesses.

Trump once boasted, “I am a nationalist.’’ He surely is. And remember what President Charles de Gaulle of France once observed: Patriots put love of their own people first, while nationalists put hate for other people first. This is a time for every American patriot to do the only thing that can make a difference now:

In the midterm elections, vote for a Democrat, canvass for a Democrat, raise money for a Democrat, drive someone to a voting station to vote for a Democrat. I repeat: In the midterm elections, vote for a Democrat, canvass for a Democrat, raise money for a Democrat, drive someone to a voting station to vote for a Democrat. I repeat: In the midterm elections, vote for a Democrat, canvass for a Democrat, raise money for a Democrat, drive someone to a voting station to vote for a Democrat.

Beyond that, nothing else matters. We have to protect our institutions until this Trump era passes and we can restore the residency to someone — Democrat or Republican — focused on loving our country more than hating others. To remind us what such a president sounds like, I cede the rest of my space to President George Washington and the letter he wrote, after a visit to Newport, R.I., where he was enthusiastically received by, among others, members of the local Jewish community. It was dated Aug. 18, 1790. (Hat tip to the Jewish Women’s Theater in Los Angeles, Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, NPR and all others who have referenced this letter in recent days.).

Gentlemen: While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens.

The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and a happy people.

The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.

G. Washington

Just another week in hell

Reeling From Tragedy, Many In Pittsburgh Say Trump Should Not Visit

By Trip Gabriel

As people continued to mourn at the Tree of Life synagogue, President Trump announced he would visit Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

 

Credit Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

PITTSBURGH — Still reeling from the horror and grief after Saturday’s massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, Pittsburgh is now dealing with something else: the barbed politics of the 2018 midterms and widespread opposition to resident Trump’s plan to visit here Tuesday.

Jewish leaders said that President Trump was not welcome in Pittsburgh and accused him of stirring up extremism.

Mayor William Peduto, who strongly rejected Mr. Trump’s suggestion that armed guards in houses of worship are the answer to violence, warned that the resident would be a distraction from funerals taking place Tuesday.

Many in the Jewish community in Pittsburgh cited what they saw as the resident’s divisive rhetoric, which they feel had a role in enabling the violence here, as well as other recent episodes including the mail bombs sent from Florida to prominent Democratic figures and what appears to be the racial killing of two black shoppers near Louisville, Ky. Interviews in Florida reflected a similar urgency and unease about the intersection of violence in American life and the looming midterm elections.

The incidents returned to a boil a long-running issue dating at least to the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, when Mr. Trump was widely condemned for equating neo-Nazis with demonstrators protesting them.

Now, one week before Americans head to the polls, criticisms that the resident is sowing hurtful divisions in society have become an electoral issue, a turn of events that the White House and Republicans are vehemently pushing back on. Chants of “Vote! Vote! Vote!” broke out during vigils for victims of the synagogue shootings.

Not all Jewish leaders said Mr. Trump was unwelcome. Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who was in the sanctuary leading a service for the Tree of Life congregation during the shootings, told CNN on Monday: “I’m a citizen. He’s my president. He is certainly welcome.”

The resident’s visit was announced at a briefing Monday. Later Monday, the White House said Mr. Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, would arrive at the Pittsburgh airport at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, but there were no details about their itinerary in the city.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said the news media were unfairly blaming Mr. Trump for inspiring violent acts by lone individuals.

Donna Coufal, the president-elect of Dor Hadash, one of three congregations that were worshiping in the Tree of Life building, is against President Trump’s visit to Pittsburgh.CreditMichael Henninger for The New York Times

She echoed Mr. Trump himself, who on Sunday night angrily took aim at the media one day after denouncing the Pittsburgh attack as a “wicked act of pure evil and anti-Semitic.”

“The Fake News is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our Country,” the resident wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

The issue was most painful and raw in Pittsburgh in the wake of the massacre in which the suspect has a record of virulent anti-Semitism.'

“I do not want resident Trump to come to Pittsburgh,” said Donna Coufal, the president-elect of Dor Hadash, one of three congregations worshiping in the same building on Saturday morning when 11 people were slaughtered. “I feel very sad saying that because I think if he was capable of feeling empathy or understanding how much we welcome strangers into our community, he would be welcome here.”

Steve Gelernter, a Republican who lives in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, the backbone of the city’s Jewish population and where Tree of Life is a mainstay, said he was furious that Mr. Trump had not distanced himself enough from views espoused by white nationalists.

“He is giving a platform for the closet racists to come out and have a voice,” Mr. Gelernter said. “You never saw any leader speak this way and the country become so polarized.”

He said he intended to support Democrats on the ballot this year. His 86 year old mother, Francine Gelernter, a Holocaust survivor who has lived in Pittsburgh for decades, said that for the first time she did not feel safe in America. She told a grandson, Max, to tuck the Chai necklace he wears under his shirt.

Mayor Peduto, a Democrat, said a residential visit would be a distraction while congregations are burying their dead.

“We do not have enough public safety officials to provide enough protection at the funerals and to be able at the same time draw attention to a potential residential visit,” he said.

In Miami on Monday, Andrew Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor and Democratic nominee for governor, suggested that Mr. Trump — and Mr. Gillum’s Republican opponent, former Representative Ron DeSantis — bore responsibility if not for the violence then for the tone they set in public.

“Our civic discourse is under attack. That kind of irresponsible language is now leading to loss of life,” Mr. Gillum told reporters after a rally. “You can’t give harbor to it. You can’t decry it in a public statement after a tragedy has occurred and then go back to a public rally and then stoke that same kind of, I think, irresponsible language.”

Image

Letters, signs and flowers were left outside of the synagogue. Credit Michael Henninger for The New York Times

Mr. DeSantis has been accused of courting racist elements in Florida and playing dog-whistle politics — implications he denies.

One Florida voter, Milo Marcos, 30, said he didn’t vote in 2016 but felt compelled to cast a straight-Republican ballot this year. “I don’t want Democrats to get the House or the Senate,” he said.

But he worried that the pipe bombs and Pittsburgh shooting would blunt Republicans’ momentum going into Election Day. “The press was good for the Republicans up to that point,” he said. “The caravan, I think that helped Republicans. You’re putting a face on illegal immigration.”

Now, he said: “It just kind of changes the subject and allows the media to bring back the narrative that people who are supporting Trump want to do terrorism. Which is not true. Every side has crazy people.”

In Pennsylvania, the Republican candidate for governor, Scott Wagner, who styles himself a Trumplike figure, recently recorded a video boasting that he would “stomp all over” the face of Gov. Tom Wolf with golf spikes.

That threat was cited by a voter from Hummelstown, Pa., Jessica Kolaric, 46, who blamed Mr. Trump for a political climate where violence is no longer taboo. “For him to say he’s not inciting the violence within his party and this country, that’s absurd,” she said.

Democratic and Republican strategists suggested most voters’ attitudes were already hardened, including opinions about Mr. Trump’s sowing of division. Some said the latest violent episodes would probably not move many votes.

“There’s plenty of divisive rhetoric on the left: You can go to Eric Holder or Maxine Waters or whoever you like and find abhorrent comments,” said Charlie Gerow, a Republican strategist in Pennsylvania. “I think most voters have made up their mind one way or the other on both the resident’s rhetoric and the rhetoric on the left.”

Still, the scenes out of Pittsburgh during the resident’s visit might paint a picture with the potential to surprise partisans on both sides. Mr. Trump has mostly avoided visiting states and cities where he is deeply unpopular.

Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton in 2016. 

Josh Friedman, a leader of a progressive Jewish group, Bend the Arc-Pittsburgh, which circulated the letter over the weekend telling Mr. Trump to stay away, predicted the resident would find a hostile reception.

“He’s going to find streets filled with people that don’t want him here,” he said.

Matt Flegenheimer contributed reporting from Miami and Patricia Mazzei from Miami Beach, Fla.

 

A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 30, 2018, on Page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: Strains of Divisive Politics Intrude in a City That Is Just Beginning to Grieve.

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Trump's hypocrisy on hate is glaring

Trump hypocritically tells us he opposes "any form of religious or racial hatred or prejudice."

Trump deserves an award for saying that line with a straight face, given his horrible record.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/28/opinions/trump-hypocrisy-hate-glaring-obeidallah/index.html

Muslim groups raise thousands for Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims

A crowdfunding campaign started by two Muslim groups has raised more than $40,000 for the victims of the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday.

The campaign on LaunchGood, a Muslim-focused crowdfunding site, reached its $25,000 goal in less than six hours, and is now working to raise $50,000.

“The Muslim-American community extends its hands to help the shooting victims, whether it is the injured victims or the Jewish families who have lost loved ones,” the fundraising page reads. “We wish to respond to evil with good, as our faith instructs us, and send a powerful message of compassion through action.”

The fundraiser was started by Celebrate Mercy and MPower Change, two Muslim-American nonprofit organizations. The groups say they are partnering with the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh to distribute the funds.

At least 11 people were killed and several others injured after a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The shooting is believed to be the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The suspected gunman has been charged on 29 federal counts.

 

The funds will go to help families of victims pay for funeral expenses and medical bills, according to the LaunchGood page.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/413513-muslim-groups-raise-thousands-for-victims-of-pittsburgh 

A Week Of American Hate: Bombs Mailed, Black People Executed, Jews Slaughtered

Hate showed what it is truly capable of in America this week.

We've Arrived At This Dark Hour Because Of Donald Trump

Political veteran Steve Schmidt joins to discuss Trump's rhetoric both before and after the resident's critics were targeted with a slew of pipe bombs.

Congressman Lieu Destroys Trump Over Email And iPhone Hypocrisy

A bombshell report from “The New York Times” alleges that Chinese and Russian spies are exploiting vulnerabilities in resident Trump’s iPhone to listen to his conversations.

Trump has reportedly resisted warnings to avoid using the phone.

Rep. Ted Lieu tells Ari Melber that it’s “absolutely hypocritical” for Trump to use a non-secure phone when he campaigned on Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, which was never infiltrated by foreign spies.

Trump's Game of Blame Avoidance Continues! Only the Fools are Fooled!

Jesse Dollemore discusses the latest development related to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, Eric Holder, John Brennan, Maxine Waters, Debbie Wasserman- Schultz, and the NYC headquarters of CNN. The list NOW INCLUDES Robert De Niro and Joe Biden. Something must be done!



Coming less than two weeks before the midterm elections, the discovery of the pipe bombs reverberated across a country already on edge, stirring anew questions about whether political discourse had grown too vitriolic. Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Soros and CNN have all figured prominently in right-wing political attacks — many of which have been led by Mr. Trump.

He has often referred to major news organizations as “the enemy of the people” and has shown contempt for CNN. Mr. Trump, speaking at the White House on Wednesday, called the attempted bombings “despicable acts.”

 “In these times we have to unify,” Mr. Trump said. “We have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.”

New! A Hotline for Racists | NYT Opinion

In this satirical infomercial, the comedian and actress Niecy Nash plays the inventor of a new hotline, 1-844-WYT-FEAR.

The video advertises a phone service for white people to call when they can’t cope with black people living their lives near them.

It’s a real phone number we created so that fearful whites can call it for advice, about their racism.

Republicans Will Hurt You More Than 100 Caravans of Immigrants

Posted by Rude One

You have to be a special kind of son of a bitch to look at filthy, exhausted people wearing rags and desperately trying to get somewhere they won't be raped, tortured, murdered, or forced into gangs or where they won't watch their children starve to death, and think, "Fuckin' stop them because they gotta be terrorists." You gotta be a particular type of motherfucker if you exploit those families, those mothers, those fathers, those children in order to whip a horde of idiots into an orgy of xenophobia and racism where a perverse, heaving mass of flesh, all sweat and pimples and whiteness, so much whiteness, pumps and sucks, fucking themselves until they reach an undulating roar of intolerance.

Goddamn, the stink.

At each of his rallies of the damned, resident Donald Trump, a lump of cow shit with bits of undigested hay stuck in it, has been that son of a bitch and that motherfucker, frothing in a Mussolini-esque squawk about the immigrants and the vile Democrats who allowed this to happen and the depraved leaders of Honduras and Guatemala and Mexico who have not halted the march of the immigrants. Jesus, how the mob of Trumpistas lap it up like semen spooged straight from Jesus's circumcised dick, fighting over each other for who can ingest the last precious drops as Trump does his dance with the ghost of Hitler, demonizing, condemning, promising violence, stopping just short of advocating violence himself, but ensuring that the mob's adoring hatred will drive them to the voting booths to protect him, protect the future he has promised, the white future, the rich future, when the nation is Mar-a-Lago and you're either a member or you're staring in longingly from the gate.

Trump has mastered the art of layering lie upon lie, creating a shit parfait of lies, the essence of his entire career. He told the gathered villagers in Houston last night to get their pitchforks and torches ready for the "caravan" of immigrants traveling to the United States border with Mexico because "I think the Democrats had something to do with it and now they're saying I think we made a big mistake because people are seeing how bad it is...look, that is an assault on our country and in that caravan you have some very bad people. You have some very bad people and we can't let that happen to our country." Yes, the president of the United States, with no evidence at all, is saying that the opposition party is behind a mass of immigrants who are hiding evildoers. He said earlier in the day that, if you search the thousands of immigrants walking over 1000 miles, "You’re going to find MS-13, you’re going to find Middle Eastern, you’re going to find everything."

Many of the Hondurans and others are fleeing from vicious gangs who have threatened to kill them or their families, who have killed family members, who have taken over communities. You think that they'd want open gang members to be along with them? Or are they in disguise as young children being carried by their parents? And, as for Middle Easterners, you think that immigrants who want to start a new life are totally fine covering up for terrorists? They'd probably be able to tell the difference between a Saudi and a Guatemalan.

You know what would happen if those immigrants were treated like asylum seekers and refugees ought to be treated in the supposed wealthiest, greatest, mostest wonderfulest, sexiest nation in the history of the earth and universe forever? The adults would get jobs. They'd open businesses. The kids would go to school. They'd all create safe communities if they didn't have to worry about ICE coming in to tear their worlds apart. They'd want to become Americans if our shit system for allowing that wasn't hopelessly backlogged and broken. They would barely be a blip in the immigration radar.

Some would commit crimes, sure, but, statistically, at a lower rate than citizens. And a few might join a gang because that's just how the world goes. But the vast majority just want a goddamn life and a chance for their kids to survive and thrive and they are willing to fucking walk 1,500 miles for the barest thread of hope. (And, by the way, the caravan is just inside Mexico. Walking nonstop, it'd be at least two months before they got to the border, unless George Soros provides them with some helicopters, so everyone just calm the fuck down.)

Even if every single one of the immigrants were let into the United States, it would have no effect on your life (unless you work in resettlement or enforcement). They're not all gonna settle in your neighborhood. Some would live with family already here. The rest would be dispersed to different areas. The most you might see is a new family moving in next door. If that frightens you, well, you're a fucking dumbass and aren't worth talking to.

You know what will have an effect on your life? If Republicans continue to run the government without any check on their power, Mitch McConnell has vowed to go after Medicare and Social Security cuts to help pay for the tax cuts for the greedy, wealthy pig fuckers who fund our fraught and frayed political system. That's a real goddamned threat to you and your family.

If Republicans keep both the House and Senate, they have vowed to try again to overturn the Affordable Care Act, even as they blatantly lie about protecting the pre-existing conditions exemption. That's a real goddamned threat to you and your health.

If Democrats lose in the midterms, we'll fall even further behind on anything to slow climate change as even supposedly smart Republicans have come down on the "Well, the climate is changing, sure, but we don't know what causes it" side of the bullshit (even though we totally know what causes it). That's a real goddamned threat to you and safety and security and property.

You know what's not a threat to you, your family, your health, your safety, your security, and your property? The fucking caravan of immigrants in Mexico right now. If you give an actual shit about protecting your ass, you'll get rid of the people who have flat-out promised to do shit to kill you.

Vote for Democrats like your ass depends on it.

Woman demands to see passports of Spanish speaking family at Virginia restaurant

© Telemundo 44

A white woman confronted a Spanish-speaking family last week at a Virginia restaurant and demanded that they "show me your passports" in video that has since gone viral.

The woman can be heard in the video screaming at a Guatemalan woman and her family, telling them to "go back to your fucking country." She also tells the family not to "freeload on America" and repeatedly asks for their passports.

Later in the video, the woman is seen continuing her tirade outside the restaurant, saying, "I'm tired of this shit."

The woman who was berated recorded the video and shared it with Telemundo 44 in Washington, D.C.

The confrontation occurred at Andy's, a restaurant in Lovettsville, Va. The restaurant denounced the woman in a Facebook post, calling her "a vile and loathsome individual."

"Thank you — and we mean this with all the aforementioned respect that you rightfully deserve—for never returning to Andy’s. You are not welcome," the restaurant wrote.

The confrontation is the latest video to go viral showing a white person berating Spanish-speaking people in public. In May, a man threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on customers and employees at a restaurant in New York for speaking Spanish.

The man, an attorney named Aaron Schlossberg, was later kicked out of his office space.

 By Michael Burke - 10/22/18 09:19 PM EDT

Republicans want to take away your Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid

By Laurence Lewis

 

Mitch McConnell is disappointed:

After instituting a $1.5 trillion tax cut and signing off on a $675 billion budget for the Department of Defense, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the only way to lower the record-high federal deficit would be to cut entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

"It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem," McConnell said of the deficit, which grew 17 percent to $779 billion in fiscal year 2018. McConnell explained to Bloomberg that "it’s a bipartisan problem: Unwillingness to address the real drivers of the debt by doing anything to adjust those programs to the demographics of America in the future." The deficit has increased 77 percent since McConnell became majority leader in 2015.

New Treasury Department analysis on Monday revealed that corporate tax cuts had a significant impact on the deficit this year. Federal revenue rose by 0.04 percent in 2018, a nearly 100 percent decrease on last year’s 1.5 percent. In fiscal year 2018, tax receipts on corporate income fell to $205 billion from $297 billion in 2017.

The Republican tax cuts for the wealthy gutted federal revenues and exploded the deficit, just as the CBO said they would, but it's not the Republicans' problem. That's Republican logic for you. And of course their solution isn’t to undo the damage they inflicted but to inflict more. By gutting the budget. McConnell has some very specific spending targets:

McConnell said it would be “very difficult to do entitlement reform, and we’re talking about Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid,” with one party in charge of Congress and the White House.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say that entitlement changes, which is the real driver of the debt by any objective standard, may well be difficult if not impossible to achieve when you have unified government,” McConnell said.

Trying to follow his train of thought makes the brain hurt. He's saying he wants to slash Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid, but he can't because his party controls all the branches of government. Democrats have no interest in destroying these popular and enormously beneficial programs, but somehow McConnell can only get it done with their help. The point seems to be that in order for an unpopular and disastrous Republican agenda to be enacted, Democrats need to be elected. Which may be his way of saying that if you don't want an unpopular and disastrous Republican agenda you need to keep Republicans in power.

Did I mention that trying to follow his train of thought makes the brain hurt?

But the point is clear. However he gets it done, he wants it done. Whatever the politics, his policy goal is to gut funding for Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. And as for his reference to any objective standard as to the driver of the debt, well he seems to have a different standard of objectivity than reality. That the Republican tax cuts for the wealthy would explode the deficit was known all along. Both before they were passed:

The House Republican tax plan may have a deficit problem.
The GOP bill including some changes would increase federal budget deficits by $1.7 trillion over 10 years, according to an estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That includes money for additional debt service payments due to the bill.
Under the plan, U.S. debt would rise to 97.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2027, up from 91.2 percent under current CBO projections.

And after:

The deficit - the amount that Washington’s spending exceeds its revenues - will expand to $804 billion in fiscal 2018, which ends on Sept. 30, up from $665 billion in fiscal 2017, CBO said.

The national debt is on track to approach 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2028, said the nonpartisan CBO, which analyzes legislation for Congress.

“That amount is far greater than the debt in any year since just after World War II,” CBO said, adding that the debt is now about 77 percent of GDP, a measure of the size of the economy. The Republican tax legislation, passed by Congress without Democratic support, along with a recent bipartisan $1.3 trillion spending package, are expected to drive economic growth faster than initially expected, CBO said.

Of course, McConnell was lying about it all along:

Nearly a year ago, as the debate over Republican tax breaks for the wealthy was near its end, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) insisted that the tax cuts didn’t need to be paid for – because they’d pay for themselves.

“I not only don’t think it will increase the deficit, I think it will be beyond revenue neutral,” McConnell said in December 2017. “In other words, I think it will produce more than enough to fill that gap.”

Whether the GOP leader actually believed his own rhetoric is an open question, but either way, we now know the Kentucky senator’s claim was spectacularly wrong. The Republican tax breaks have, as Democrats and those familiar with arithmetic predicted, sent the nation’s budget deficit soaring.

And just last month the Republican House of Representatives was pushing through yet another round of tax cuts:

A second round of Republican tax cuts would add an additional $3.2 trillion to the federal deficit over a decade, according to a new report released by a centrist think-tank...

The GOP’s “tax reform 2.0” would make permanent many of the individual and estate tax provisions in the tax law Republicans passed last fall, which the Congressional Budget Office said would already add about $1.9 trillion to the deficit, factoring for interest costs.

The second round of cuts would cost $631 billion before 2028 and an additional $3.15 trillion in the decade after that, according to the Tax Policy Center. The finding was somewhat larger than the $2.4 trillion cost over 10 years projected by the Tax Foundation, a conservative think-tank.

The first round of Republican tax cuts for the wealthy exploded the deficit, leading the Republican Senate leader to call for cuts to Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid, and the Republicans already are pushing for yet more tax cuts for the wealthy, which would further explode the deficit, undoubtedly leading to more Republican calls for more cuts to Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, and absolutely anything else that serves the interests of anyone other than the wealthy beneficiaries of the Republican tax cuts. For decades, this has been the Republican Party’s dream. If they retain control of Congress they can make it happen. As I wrote eight years ago, just don't call it class warfare:

It's not class warfare. Don't you dare call it class warfare. The Republicans may relentlessly pursue policies that favor the wealthy and hurt everyone else, but it most emphatically is not class warfare. The arbiters of appropriate political discourse will be most put out if you call it class warfare. You will not be welcome in the Village. You will not be invited to appear on the Sunday talk shows.

Class warfare is such an ugly term. To begin with, it suggests that we are a socially stratified nation, and that such stratification is at least to some degree based on money. Money is dirty. One shouldn't discuss money in polite conversation. And it's important that we be polite. And everyone knows that we are a melting pot. Everyone is capable of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps, and don't even consider questioning the physics when there is neither a fulcrum nor a point of leverage. This is America. The land of opportunity.

Republican policies that hurt the less affluent and favor those that need no favors is not class warfare, but to discuss Republican policies that hurt the less affluent and favor those that need no favors is class warfare. The pundits will say so. The policies themselves are not class warfare, but raising awareness about them is.

This isn't new. It's a pattern. It's the basis of the Republican Party’s economic history. As I wrote more than seven years ago:

Ronald Reagan used the deficit as an issue when he ran against President Carter. As president, Reagan ran up the largest deficit in U.S. history. The Republicans of his era talked a lot about a Balanced Budget Amendment, while consistently voting to run up the largest deficit in U.S. history. Reagan's successor, the heir to the Bush dynasty, outdid his mentor by running up an even larger deficit. President Clinton raised taxes, eliminated the deficit and created a surplus, and just coincidentally oversaw an enormous economic expansion and near full employment. The next heir to the Bush dynasty cut taxes, eviscerated the Clinton surplus, and outdid both his father and Reagan by breaking their records for creating the largest deficits in U.S. history. He also all but broke the economy. This isn't complicated. This isn't difficult to explain.

Republicans never did actually care about deficits. They cut taxes, explode deficits, then use those deficits as a rationale to cut government spending. It's not complicated. It never has been complicated. It has, in fact, been transparent all along. And it's transparent now.

Underneath his bizarre, Byzantine gaslighting, McConnell revealed the Republicans' ultimate goal. He wants to blame the Democrats for what his policies have wrought, and he wants to make the Democrats complicit in his further goals of wreaking further economic havoc. But the Democrats want no part of it. But cut through the misdirections and circumlocutions, and one thread of truth runs through McConnell's rhetoric. He admitted what he wants to do. He admitted what the Republican Party wants to do. And make no mistake that if they retain control of Congress, Republicans will push it through. They will blame its disastrous consequences on Democrats, but it is their agenda. More tax cuts for the wealthy. More cavernous deficits. And their ultimate goal: eviscerating Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.

So much is at stake in next month's elections, and it's sometimes hard to focus when Trump, McConnell and the Republicans are burning down the republic in so many ways, but don't lose sight of this one. The existence of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid are on the ballot this November.

Because the Republicans want to destroy them.

Eat At Home..You Vile Republicans....

By jodymarie aimee

poor Mitch and Elaine got hassled at chi chi restaurant...my elderly disabled and poor people in Wisconsin get a MAX of $15.00 a MONTH in FoodStamps...pennies a day....

Man dumps Mitch McConnell's to-go box on Bardstown Road, witness says

The Crisis

GOP Hypocrisy On Health Care

Republicans are talking up pre-existing conditions protections on the campaign trail after working for years to repeal health care. Lawrence discusses with Jared Bernstein and Ron Klain.

Alec Baldwin urges 'overthrow' of Trump government via voting

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Actor Alec Baldwin followed up his latest parody portrayal of resident Donald Trump with a serious call Sunday night for voters to use the Nov. 6 midterm elections to peacefully "overthrow" the government.

After reprising his role as Trump on "Saturday Night Live," Baldwin flew to New Hampshire, where he was the keynote speaker at the New Hampshire Democratic Party's annual fall fundraising dinner.

"The way we implement change in America is through elections. We change governments here at home in an orderly and formal way," he said. "In that orderly and formal way and lawful way, we need to overthrow the government of the United States under Donald Trump."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night.

Baldwin said on issue after issue, Republicans are destroyers, not builders.

"There is a small cadre of people currently in power who are hell-bent on continuing a malicious immigration policy that has set this country up for human rights violations charges by the global community. This cadre has looted money from the federal treasury and deposited it directly into the bank accounts of their most ardent political supporters," he said.

He said Republicans "shrug" when it comes to gun violence, "spit in the face" at the rest of the world at the notion of changing outdated energy policies and offer neither hope nor solutions to people of color "who seek a decent seat at the American economic table but instead are issued a prison term, or worse, a bullet."

The recent confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh showed that Republicans view women as undeserving as the same constitutional protections as men, Baldwin said.

"They themselves are sons, husbands, fathers, and yet when the time arrived in the thick of the #metoo movement to set politics aside and establish that women's rights were more important than political expediency, they failed and it was ugly," he said.

Several of the political leaders and candidates who spoke before Baldwin praised survivors of sexual assault who were moved to tell their stories during Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, saying they should inspire others to speak up and advocate for issues they care about.

"People raising their voices and sharing their experiences is what has been critical for our democracy and our capacity to move forward throughout our history," U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan said. "As difficult as the Kavanaugh battle was, those moments have been incredibly important and will continue to be as we move forward."

Congressional candidate Chris Pappas echoed that sentiment.

"If we're not hoarse by the time the election rolls around, we're not doing our jobs or we're not paying attention," he said. "It's about raising our voices and what we're all about as a country."

In 2016, U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster went public with her own account of a renowned heart surgeon reaching up her skirt during a business luncheon more than 40 years ago, when she was a young staffer on Capitol Hill.

"I want to say to everyone, to the survivors who have come forward and those who have not, I believe you and you are not alone," Kuster said Sunday.

Baldwin's appearance in the state that holds the first presidential primary came hours before the premiere of his new talk show. "The Alec Baldwin Show," which airs on ABC at 10 p.m., will feature one-on-one conversations with celebrities and cultural icons.

But Baldwin said it won't be overtly political. Asked Sunday if he'd consider running for office himself, he didn't rule it out but joked that his wife would likely divorce him.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/baldwin-urges-overthrow-of-trump-government-via-voting/ar-BBOomeY

GOP Aims To Suppress ND Native American Vote To Hinder Heidi Heitkamp

Trump to travel to Florida to view Hurricane Michael damage at Mar-a-Lago

By Tommy_Carcetti

resident Donald Trump announced that he will be traveling to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida to get a firsthand view of the aftermath of the damage that Florida incurred after Hurricane Michael--a near Category 5 major hurricane--struck the state this week.

Trump will take an up close tour of the grounds of the club, which is located approximately 500 miles from the Panama City area where the storm made landfall. Palm trees at Mar-a-Lago reportedly lost multiple fronds during a Tuesday afternoon thunderstorm from one of Michael's outermost bands as it moved up the Gulf of Mexico towards the Florida Panhandle.

"From what I heard, damage to Mar-a-Lago was tremendous, the likes of which has never been seen before," Trump said to reporters as he boarded Marine One on his way to Andrews Air Force Base. "The amount of rain, which was wet, very, very wet, and some of the most incredible, powerful wind imaginable. I've heard estimates of winds in excess of 500 miles per hour, actually. It's really, really something."

Trump noted the "furious" work of groundskeepers to rake up fallen leaves and power wash muddied walkways to make sure the club was in spotless shape for the upcoming winter club season.

"It hasn't been easy," he noted. "For anyone. But especially for me. Of all the people out there, I have to say I've probably suffered the most because of this storm."

When asked if he had any thoughts for homeowners in storm ravaged areas like Mexico Beach--where houses were ripped from their foundations by devastating storm surge and obliterated into rubble by catastrophic winds--Trump replied, "Well, I'm certain any of those people would have to feel sorry for the situation I'm in. They'd very likely feel very, very bad for me. I'm sure if they had people wanting to pay $200,000 for access to them and their house, they'd know the type of situation I'm in, and they'd feel very, very bad. They wouldn't want to be in my position, believe me."

First Lady Melania Trump was expected to join her husband and pose for pictures alongside maintenance workers trimming hedges. The resident and First Lady would then reportedly sit down for a dinner prepared by banquet staff.

"We're going to have cake, chocolate cake, that most wonderful, magnificent chocolate cake like no other," the resident said. "No natural disaster is going to stop us from enjoying that wonderful, beautiful cake."

Details at Eleven.

Kanye West is what happens when Negroes don't read

Kanye West, you tap dancing, cant put 2 words together, foot shuffing, handkerchief head wearing Uncle Tom, 

Donald Trump can’t wait to talk with Kanye West about all the great things he’s done for minorities during his administration, especially in the African American community. #45 just spoke on his upcoming luncheon with Ye, and defended his decision to sit down with the rapper.

“He’s been a terrific guy … y’know he loves what we’re doing for African American jobs.” Trump says, “Kanye is a smart guy,” and apparently appreciates all the hard work the current administration has done.

Trump also revealed Kanye is bringing NFL legend Jim Brown to lunch, who the resident applauds as someone who also “gets it.”

Dyson Shreds Kanye-Trump: Blitzkrieg of Blathering Ignorance | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC

Professor Michael Eric Dyson joins Ari to break down Kanye West’s surreal Oval Office takeover. West sounding off in a 10 minute rant with Donald Trump talking about politics, prison, racism and himself. Dyson, who knows West personally, demolishes his effort to bring Colin Kaepernick to the meeting and hammers his “interventions through media” adding Kanye can’t “engage about issues” that he doesn’t “ have sophisticated comprehension and knowledge” of.

Trump has been lying about Russia for years

On Monday, resident Trump and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein flew together on Air Force One. And while Trump said he had no plans of firing Rosenstein, he also reiterated his position there was no collusion with Russia. Joe Scarborough weighs in.

Detective In Chief

Native Women Opposed To Kavanaugh Swayed Murkowski

Posted by Rude One

One of the few pleasant surprises to come out of the extraordinary fuckery of the "battle" over Brett Kavanaugh (if by "battle," you mean, "a pre-determined outcome where everyone pretended the fix wasn't in, especially Susan fucking Collins") was when Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, actually voted against Kavanaugh. And one major reason for Murkowski opposing her own party was the plea from Native women survivors of sexual assault and violence.

"Alaska Native women continue to suffer the highest rate of forcible sexual assault and have reported rates of domestic violence up to 10 times higher than in the rest of the United States," according to the Indian Law Resource Center. And some of these women showed up in DC to lobby Murkowski, who, to her credit, met with many of them over the course of the week. 

But the pressure on Murkowski ran deep in the Alaskan Native community, whose support was at least partially responsible for her electoral victories in 2010 (especially) and 2016. 

In an open letter to Murkowski, Natalie Landreth, a senior attorney with the Native American Rights Fund in Alaska, reminded the Senator, "This is the same community who had wristbands with your name on them so they could remember how to spell it when they had to write it in," referring to Murkowski's 2010 run as an independent candidate. As Melissa Merrick-Brady, a Native American survivor of sexual assault, wrote, "It pains me to think that our country’s leadership might allow such a figure to ascend to the highest judicial office in this land, allowing him to opine on whether I should be protected from violence." One of Merrick-Brady's senators in North Dakota, Heidi Heitkamp, did vote against Kavanaugh.

The Bering Sea Elders Group issued a statement saying, in part, "Violence against our Native women and children in Alaska is not part of our culture, but is unfortunately an epidemic in Alaska...A person’s actions, beliefs, and ways of being show you who they are, and it is our way to know a person, their actions, their beliefs, and their way of being before elevating them to an important position in the community."

It wasn't just issues of sexual violence that drove the Native groups in Alaska to lobby Murkowski. Kavanaugh had issued decisions that opposed tribal sovereignty on a host of issues. The BSEG, for instance, continued their statement, saying that Kavanaugh "has demonstrated he does not understand the inherent status, rights, and roles of federally recognized Tribes and puts at risk the 229 federally

recognized Tribes in Alaska."

Kavanaugh was opposed by the Alaska Federation of Natives because of his view of the Indian Commerce Clause. He was opposed by the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska because of concerns about voting rights and tribal control of rivers. He was opposed by the the Republican governor and the Democratic (and Tlingit) lieutenant governor of Alaska because of fears of the Supreme Court gutting the Affordable Care Act and the Indian Child Welfare Act. That last fear is closer to reality since a district court struck down the law that said that Indian children without parents should be placed within their tribe.

But the movement in DC was led by Native women, who protested outside Murkowski's office and the office of Alaska's other senator, Dan Sullivan. The protesters there were arrested by Capitol police (although Sullivan denies calling them), and Sullivan proudly voted for Kavanaugh.

Murkowski, though, listened, and in her heartfelt speech from the Senate floor, she recognized the treatment of Native women in her state: "The levels of sexual assault that we see within our Native American and our Alaska Native communities, the rates are incredibly devastating. It is not something that we say we’ll get to tomorrow. We’ve heard those voices. We’ve heard those voices, and I hope that we have all learned something, that we owe it to the victims of sexual assault to do more and to do better and to do it now with them." She listened. For once. She listened to Native voices.