Donald Trump swore all day Monday that he had nothing to do with
military personnel and the Vice President staying at his Turnberry golf
course in Scotland, but it turns out this was just another lie.
And the
little failing airport that feeds Turnberry? Trump’s got a deal with
them, too, and that’s why hundreds of military flights are stopping at
the inconvenient airport in order to spend millions on fuel.
Ring of
Fire’s Farron Cousins explains what’s happening.
Fox News' Laura Ingraham waded into the waters to attempt to 'trigger
the libs.' Instead of accomplishing what she set out to, she ended up
making a colossal fool of herself!
Donald Trump’s advisers believe that he’s done a great job running the
country, but they also see his erratic behavior as sabotaging his own
reelection campaign.
His horrendous comments over the summer certainly
haven’t helped his chances, but he seems to think that’ll be what helps
him win.
Donald Trump can't handle Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and The Squad; here
is a perfect example. John Iadarola and Jayar Jackson break it down on
The Damage Report.
Donald Trump, Jr. appeared in Kentucky to host a rally for Governor Matt
Bevin, but only a handful of people actually showed up to hear the resident’s son.
According to those in attendance, there were so few
people that those who were there were told to “crowd” around the stage
so that it looked more packed for pictures.
Ring of Fire’s Farron
Cousins explains why this is a bad sign for the “Trump political
dynasty.”
'This administration is now deporting kids with cancer," said Rep. Ed
Markey, D-Mass., calling it "a new low, even for Donald Trump."
Mariela
Sanchez, of Honduras, comforts her son, Jonathan, 16, during a news
conference on Aug. 26, 2019, in Boston. The Sanchez family came to the
United States seeking treatment for Jonathan's cystic fibrosis. Elise Amendola/AP
Each
year, the U.S. gets about 1,000 applications from immigrant families in
the U.S. seeking permission to stay in the country and not face
deportation so family members can continue lifesaving medical care that
is not available in their home countries.
But
the Trump administration recently told families who were granted
permission to stay for medical care that their permission to stay has
been rescinded and they have 33 days to leave the country. The policy,
which was not publicly announced, is being applied retroactively to any
requests filed on or before Aug. 7.
In a conference call Thursday with reporters, advocates and Democrats expressed outrage over the rule.
“This is a new low even for Donald Trump,” Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in a conference call with reporters Thursday.
Among those facing deportation is Jonathan Sanchez, 16, who has cystic fibrosis.
His
mother, Mariela Sanchez, told NBC 10 in Boston that her family arrived
in the United States in 2016 and she had recently applied for the
medical exemption. After losing a daughter to the hereditary and
incurable disease because doctors in Honduras did not diagnose it, she
knows what would have happened to her son if he was not getting the care
in the U.S.
“He would be dead,” she told the station.
The
Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a
request for comment from NBC News. In a previous statement, United
States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has said that it was
no longer considering nonmilitary requests for deferred action "to
focus agency resources on faithfully administering our nation’s lawful
immigration system."
“This administration is now deporting kids
with cancer. Perhaps that is why it was too ashamed to announce this
policy change publicly," said Markey, who has been trying to draw
national attention to the issue since it was first reported in Boston by WBUR-FM, a public radio station.
The
Trump administration is no longer considering medical deferred action
requests for immigrants. This could be a de facto death sentence for
patients. We all need to stand together against the deportation of sick,
vulnerable children.https://t.co/aWBnZk4v7U
The
change was not made public and members of the public were not given a
chance to provide comment before it went into effect. Families simply
received letters telling them they had 33 days to leave.
“They
are telling these people they need to leave on their own,” Anthony
Marino, director of immigration legal services,said on MSNBC’s “The
Rachel Maddow Show” about the families with seriously ill relatives now
facing deportation.
“I don’t know how they
expect parents to pull their children from hospital beds, disconnect
them from lifesaving treatments and go some place where they are know
they are going to die," said Marino. "But that is what they are telling
them to do.”
In Miami, attorney Milena Portillo told The Miami Herald
that families who have applied for the medical deferments include a
girl with an eye malignancy, a girl with cerebral palsy and the father
of three children — who are American citizens — who has a terminal liver
illness.
“We as a country, we are losing
our humanitarian side,” Portillo told the Herald. “We’re not reviewing
case by case, but we’re just giving a blanket ‘no’ to everyone.”
Rep.
Ayana Pressley, D-Mass., cited in the Thursday call the case of Samuel,
a five year old boy from Brazil. She said he is unable to eat solid
food and without care at Boston Children’s Hospital will not be able to
receive the nutrients he needs to live.
Sirlen
Costa, of Brazil, holds her son Samuel, 5, as her niece Danyelle Sales,
right, looks on during a news conference on Aug. 26, 2019, in Boston.
Costa brought her son to the United States seeking treatment for his
short bowel syndrome. Elise Amendola/AP
"With
this decision, again this administration has hit a new low," Pressley
said. "To be fighting for your life, imagine on top of that facing
deportation."
The American Immigration Lawyers Association
called on the USCIS to reverse the policy change. It has asked people to
contact elected leaders to change it.
A
backlash over the changes has led to confusion over which Department of
Homeland Security agency, the USCIS or Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, must enforce the new policy, as the agencies have pointed
to each other as having jurisdiction.
Medical deferrals are not the only denials imposed by the administration. USCIS told NBC News
that it applies to all other deferred action requests outside of the
military and immigrants enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrival program or DACA.
The policy change
is another in a series of actions the administration has taken that have
had direct impact on children, both who are immigrants and those who
are U.S. citizens.
The administration has taken numerous children from their parents at the border and some have yet to be reunited.
The administration changed the so-called public charge rule so that immigrants wanting a green card or asking to move to the U.S. must prove they are unlikely to ever need public assistance, such as access to health care.
“There
can be no other explanation for why you would target such a small and
vulnerable community other than if your goal was to spread fear and
hardship,” Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., said.
“This
is all in character for an administration that is separating families
and abusing children in prison camps at the border," Chu added.
Chu
has filed a bill to defund the public charge rule but said “it’s clear
that this administration will not stop looking for any opportunity to
wage war on immigrants.”
Eugene Robinson joins Morning Blow to talk about his new op-ed in The
Washington Post about Trump’s obsession with comparing himself to
President Obama and his behavior at the G-7 meeting.
Let's talk about the reporting from Axios that Donald Trump has (ON
MULTIPLE OCCASIONS) suggested that we bomb hurricanes so they won't come
to the shores of the United States.
Anthony Scaramucci believes that there are enough former Trump officials
who are angry at the resident to assemble a team to take him down.
The
problem with Scaramucci’s idea is that the public already knows that
he’s nuts, and anything short of revealing criminal activity by the resident isn’t going to have any effect at all on the public.
With just his actions on WEDNESDAY of this week, Donald Trump
demonstrated the dire situation we are facing with him in the office of resident.
He is a ranting & raving lunatic who is steering our
country off a cliff and threatening our allies while asserting that he
may still be in office in FOURTEEN YEARS from now... and all while
claiming to be the chosen one, the second coming of God, and the king of
Israel.
At a sick G-7 presser, Trump outrageously blamed the former president for Russia's international war crimes.
Not only that, the criticism takes the form of lies, and reeks of
racism, not only for the former president he insults, but the esteemed
reporter (Yamiche Alcindor, of PBS) asking him the questions.
ALCINDOR: Thanks, Mr. President. Why do you think it's appropriate to
invite Russia to the G7 given that they've meddled in the 2016 election?
And are you worried that if Russia does come to the G7 that it might
hurt you politically because it's only going to be a couple of months
before the 2020 election?
DJT: I don't care politically. A lot of people don't understand this.
I ran one election and I won. It happened to be for president. I don't
care politically....
[...blah blah blah argle bargle horsesh*t...]
...Really it was President -- I'm not blaming him, but a lot of bad
things happened with President Putin and President Obama. One of the
things that happened was, as you know, what happened with a very big
area, a very, very big and important area in the Middle East where the
red line was drawn and then President Obama decided that he was not
going to do anything about it. You can't draw red lines in the sand. You
just can't do it. And the other was in Ukraine having to do with a
certain section of Ukraine that you know very well, where it was sort of
taken away from President Obama. Not taken away from President Trump,
taken away from President Obama. President Obama was not happy that this
happened because it was embarrassing to him, right? It was very
embarrassing to him. And he wanted Russia to be out of the what was
called the G8. That was his determination. He was outsmarted by Putin.
He was outsmarted. President Putin outsmarted President Obama. And I can
understand how President Obama would feel. He wasn't happy. And they're
not in for that reason....
[...blah yada bloop-de-doo horsedinky...]
I do nothing for politics. I do what's right. And people like what I do. But I just do what's right...
Wait, let me get this straight. You can't
name the "very big area" where President Obama drew the red line in the
sand (it was Syria, sweetie,) and Putin took Crimea away from President
OBAMA?
Crimea was OURS, and Putin tricked Obama into giving it
to him? Oh, that wily Putin. He's so dang SMART. He and his army and
TANKS outwitted Obama into losing Crimea to him in a game of checkers
because he's brill, man. So much smarter than Obama!
Lies and racism. Yamiche Alcindor called him on it.
ALCINDOR: Why do you keep using the misleading statement that Russia outsmarted President Obama...
TRUMP: Well, he did.
ALCINDOR: ...when other countries have said the reason why Russia was
kicked out was very clearly because they annexed Crimea? Why would you
keep repeating what some people would see as a clear lie?
TRUMP: Well, it was annexed during President, I know you like
President Obama, but it was annexed during President Obama's term. If it
was annexed during my term, I would say, "Sorry, folks, I made a
mistake." President Obama was helping Ukraine. Crimea was annexed during
his term. It's a very big area and important area. [...something
something submarines...] and President Obama was pure and simply
outsmarted. They took Crimea during his term. That was not a good thing.
It could have been stopped. It could have been stopped with the right
whatever. It could have been stopped.
But President Obama was unable to
stop it and it's too bad.
Yeah. It could have been stopped with the right "whatever." President
Obama was outsmarted. "I know you like President Obama..." You know,
because Yamiche Alcindor is Black?
Racism and lies. The BIGGEST lie was when Trump said that if Crimea
was annexed during his term, he would have said, "Sorry. I made a
mistake." That's the biggest pile of horseshit of all
California Governor Gavin Newsome signed a bill into law this week that
will prevent Donald Trump from appearing on the 2020 ballot if he does
not release his tax returns.
This might get under Trump’s skin, but
given the fact that California is a solid blue state, it isn’t likely to
change his position on releasing those tax returns. Ring of Fire’s
Farron Cousins discusses this.
The latest round of polling from Fox News doesn’t have any good news for
the resident, even though the hosts on the network do their best to
provide cover for him on a daily basis.
The latest polls from the
network have Trump’s disapproval ratings at a near-record high, which is
consequential for multiple reasons.
Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins
explains what’s happening, and how the events of the last few months
haven’t helped Trump at all.
Hollywood legend and liberal activist Rob Reiner puts out new video with
military veterans against Trump. Reiner and U.S. Army veteran Robert
Pearson join The Beat.
Let's get one thing straight here right off: If you are a legal
immigrant in nearly every other country in the world, you are allowed to
participate in that country's national health system. You're paying for
the benefit through your taxes and other fees, and, goddamnit, just
like everyone else legally in the country, you don't have to worry about
paying much of anything else for your medical care. Nothing will be
held against you. Nothing will turn you into a "public charge" or
whatever fuckin' term for "undesirable" you want to use. And that's
because most every other country in the world is not filled with
ignorant savages who think that calling health care a "right" is akin to
mass enslavement by socialists.
We in the United States happen to live in a country that is, in fact,
filled with brutish idiots who would rather die in a ditch of a
treatable disease than have a government-run health insurance system for
everyone. So that means that only the poorest of the poor get to be on
Medicaid, and then you're considered on welfare and a burden to the
state. And that means that, unlike every other civilized nation, if
you're a legal immigrant, the American government wants to hold it
against you if you have a shitty job that doesn't provide health
insurance (like, say, in a chicken processing plant) and need help so
the flu doesn't financially ruin you.
We are a nation run by sadists who get off on hurting the poor. So, in the new rule, "Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds," published yesterday
in the Federal Register, taking advantage of a whole bunch of
government programs meant to, you know, help you survive could result in
you getting booted from the country.
See, previously, "'public charge' has been interpreted to mean a person
who is 'primarily dependent on the Government for subsistence, as
demonstrated by either the receipt of public cash assistance for income
maintenance or institutionalization for long-term care at Government
expense.'" Yeah, we didn't take into consideration "an alien's reliance
on or receipt of non-cash benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps; Medicaid; and housing
vouchers and other housing subsidies."
But that was before motherfuckers took over and decided to redefine shit
that didn't need redefining unless you are a motherfucker. Here's the
new shit: "DHS is revising its interpretation of 'public charge' to
incorporate consideration of such benefits, and to better ensure that
aliens subject to the public charge inadmissibility ground are
self-sufficient, i.e., do not depend on public resources to meet their
needs, but rather rely on their own capabilities, as well as the
resources of family members, sponsors, and private organizations." Wow,
sounds almost logical, no? Except it's just fucking cruel for so many
reasons. Keep reading.
"This rule redefines the term 'public charge' to mean an alien who
receives one or more designated public benefits for more than 12 months
in the aggregate within any 36-month period (such that, for instance,
receipt of two benefits in one month counts as two months). This rule
defines the term 'public benefit' to include cash benefits for income
maintenance, SNAP, most forms of Medicaid, Section 8 Housing Assistance
under the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program, Section 8 Project-Based
Rental Assistance, and certain other forms of subsidized housing."
The fuckery is deep in this, but let's put this simply. Let's say you're
an immigrant who has been in the country for a few years totally
legally. All of a sudden., you lose your job when the restaurant where
you're waiting tables or, hell, the office where you're working closes.
For four months, you need to go on Medicaid, you need SNAP, and you need
housing assistance. That's it. You can be denied a green card for
circumstances completely beyond your control unless you starve, go
homeless, and let yourself be sick.
This has been one of the pet projects of presidential adviser and man
most likely piss in your swimming pool, Stephen Miller, whose head is
essentially shaped like a white hood. It's racism that is so plain, it's
almost laughable. Yes, let's punish those who want to come to the
United States and work our shittiest jobs so rich pukes can get richer.
Yes, let's make them pay sales taxes and other shit that prop up our
economy. And by all fucking means, let's take the income taxes of people
who may have paid them for years before needing some government
assistance.
In the UK, if you are a legal immigrant, once you receive your National
Insurance number, you have access to many (not all) financial benefits,
starting with the National Health Service. You can apply for Employment
and Support Allowance, in case you are too ill or disabled to work. You
can apply for a Carer's Allowance if you are forced to stay home because
you must care for someone. You can get housing credits, maternity leave
pay, and retirement income. And it's specifically because you've been
paying into the national insurance while living in the UK that you are
eligible. In the United States, it doesn't matter how much you've paid.
Go fuck yourself in your old country if you need Medicaid for over a
year.
Of course, the demented dullards of the Trump administration are all on
board. Acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,
that verminous cockscab Ken Cuccinelli, couldn't
even fake it when he completely undercut the Emma Lazarus poem on the
Statue of Liberty, ignoring the "huddled masses" and "wretched refuse"
part. And then he insisted that the poem was about Europeans, which,
really, just sodomize your ass with a burning cross at that point.
As for resident Ignoramus Q. Shiteater, when asked
about the rule and Cuccinelli yesterday, he said, " I don’t think it’s
fair to have the American taxpayer paying for people to come into the
United States...I am tired of seeing our taxpayer paying for people to
come into the country and immediately go onto welfare and various other
things. So I think we’re doing it right." We should point out that not
only are the taxpayers of the country paying for the months and months
of vacation he has taken, but a good chunk of that taxpayer money is
going straight into his business coffers and his own pockets.
Frankly, it's pretty fucking clear who should be booted from the country for being a public charge.
JERUSALEM —
Israel on Thursday barred two American Democratic congresswomen who had
planned to visit the Israeli-occupied West Bank, hours after resident
Trump had urged the country to block them.
Mr.
Trump’s intervention was an extraordinary step to influence an allied
nation and punish his political opponents at home. Israel’s decision to
bar the two congresswomen, Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and
Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, was widely criticized, including by prominent
Israel supporters.
The two lawmakers,
both freshmen, are the first Muslim women elected to Congress. Both are
outspoken adversaries of Mr. Trump and have been vocal in their support
of the Palestinians and the boycott-Israel movement.
The resident has targeted them in speeches and Twitter postings that his critics have called racist and xenophobic.
It was reported last week that Mr. Trump was pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to
deny entrance to the two women, and Thursday morning he left little
doubt. While Israeli officials were still deliberating the matter, he
said in a Twitter post that “it would show great weakness if Israel
allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit.”
It
would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to
visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, there is nothing
that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan
will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!
Later
on Thursday Israel’s Interior Ministry announced that Mr. Netanyahu had
decided to deny entry to the two American lawmakers, on grounds of
their “boycott activities against Israel” and in accordance with the
country’s anti-boycott law.
“No
country in the world respects America and the American Congress more
than the state of Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement after the
decision had been announced. “As a free and vibrant democracy, Israel is
open to critics and criticism, with one exception: Israeli law
prohibits the entry into Israel of those who call for, and work to
impose, boycotts on Israel, as do other democracies that prevent the
entry of people believed to be damaging to the country.”
Welcoming the decision, Mr. Trump said on Twitter: “Representatives Omar and Tlaib are the face of the Democrat Party, and they HATE Israel!”
Representatives Omar and Tlaib are the face of the Democrat Party, and they HATE Israel!
His ambassador to Israel, David M. Friedman, said in a statement that
the boycott movement was “no less than economic warfare” and that
Israel had “every right to protect its borders” against activists who
support it.
In lobbying a foreign
government to bar members of the United States Congress, Mr. Trump
crossed yet another line that other presidents generally respected. No
matter how virulent their differences at home, presidents have
traditionally not enlisted the help of overseas allies to take action
against domestic political adversaries.
But
Mr. Trump has demonstrated time and again over the last two and a half
years that he sees little need to observe the norms that governed
previous occupants of the White House, dismissing them either as
antiquated or irrelevant if he recognized their existence at all. To Mr.
Trump, politics is a contact sport with few limits and Ms. Omar and Ms.
Tlaib have become two of his favorite targets.
In
a statement, Ms. Omar called the actions by Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu
“an affront” that had limited the ability of members of Congress to
learn from both Israelis and Palestinians.
“Sadly,
this is not a surprise given the public positions of Prime Minister
Netanyahu, who has consistently resisted peace efforts, restricted the
freedom of movement of Palestinians, limited public knowledge of the
brutal realities of the occupation and aligned himself with Islamophobes
like Donald Trump,” she said.
“The
irony of the ‘only democracy’ in the Middle East making such a
decision,” she said, “is that it is both an insult to democratic values
and a chilling response to a visit by government officials from an
allied nation.”
Mr. Trump’s
intervention also placed him at odds with the Democratic and Republican
leadership in Congress and even some pro-Israel advocacy groups in the
United States.
Senator Chuck Schumer,
the Democratic minority leader, said denying the representatives entry
was “a sign of weakness, not strength.”
“No democratic society should fear an open debate,” he tweeted. “Many strong supporters of Israel will be deeply disappointed in this decision, which the Israeli government should reverse.”
Just
a few days earlier, the House minority leader, Representative Kevin
McCarthy of California, told reporters in Jerusalem while leading a
delegation of 31 Republican lawmakers: “I think all should come.”
Speaking at a news conference with Mr. McCarthy, Representative Steny
Hoyer, the House majority leader who was heading a delegation to Israel
of 41 Democratic representatives, agreed.
Many
Israelis and Jewish leaders have also expressed discomfort with the
idea that American officials could be denied entry because of their
beliefs or criticism of Israel. Just last month, the Israeli ambassador
to Washington, Ron Dermer, said that Israel would not deny entry to any
United States representatives.
David
Harris, chief executive officer of the American Jewish Committee, a
prominent pro-Israel organization, said it disagreed with Mr.
Netanyahu’s decision even though the group strongly opposes the views
expressed by the two congresswomen.
“While
we fully respect Israel’s sovereign right to control entry into the
country, a right that every nation employs, and while we are under no
illusions about the implacably hostile views of Reps. Omar and Tlaib on
Israel-related issues, we nonetheless believe that the costs in the U.S.
of barring the entry of two members of Congress may prove even higher
than the alternative,” Mr. Harris said in a statement.
Jeremy
Ben Ami, the leader of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel advocacy group in
Washington, sharply criticized both Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu. J
Street, which backs Democrats who support Israel, did not endorse Ms.
Omar, and withdrew its endorsement of Ms. Tlaib last year after she said
she did not support a two-state solution and expressed support for the
boycott-Israel movement.
“The very
foundations of American and Israeli democracy are being called into
question by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Mr. Ben Ami
said in an interview. “If you’re not allowed entry into a country
because of your views, then we have reached the end of the ability to
say the U.S.-Israel relationship is based on shared democratic values.”
Ms.
Omar had been scheduled to arrive on Sunday for a tour of the West
Bank, partly under the auspices of an organization headed by a longtime
Palestinian lawmaker, Hanan Ashrawi, that was expected to highlight
Palestinian grievances over the Israeli occupation.
The
women had been planning to visit the West Bank cities of Hebron,
Ramallah and Bethlehem, as well as Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem,
according to Ms. Ashrawi, including a visit to the Al Aqsa Mosque, a
hotly contested and volatile holy site. Most of the delegation was
expected to depart on Aug. 22, but Ms. Tlaib had been planning to stay
to visit relatives in the West Bank.
No
meetings had been planned with either Israeli or Palestinian officials,
other than Ms. Ashrawi, who is also a member of the Palestine
Liberation Organization’s executive committee. She said the organization
she leads, Miftah, was co-sponsoring the visit.
The
purpose of the visit, Ms. Ashrawi said, was to give the congresswomen a
way “to engage with the Palestinian people directly and to see things
on the ground.”
“What are they afraid of?” she said, referring to the Israeli government. “That they might find out things?”
Ms.
Tlaib, of Palestinian descent, has spoken often of her grandmother, who
lives on the West Bank, while Ms. Omar, a Somali refugee, is the first
woman to wear a hijab on the House floor.
In early March, the House voted to condemn all forms of hatred
after Ms. Omar said pro-Israel activists were “pushing for allegiance
to a foreign country,” a remark that critics in both parties said
invoked the longstanding anti-Semitic trope of “dual loyalty.”
Those
remarks have been deeply problematic for Democratic leaders, who are
trying to demonstrate solidarity with Israel. And they have given Mr.
Trump and his fellow Republicans an opening to fan the flames of racial
division, in an effort to break the longstanding alliance between
American Jews and the Democratic Party.
Ms.
Omar and Ms. Tlaib’s public support for the boycott movement had
already drawn criticism from the White House. In remarks last month that
were widely condemned as racist,
Mr. Trump said that four congresswomen of color — Ms. Omar and Ms.
Tlaib, as well as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York
and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts — should “go back” to the
countries they came from.
Axios reported recently
that resident Trump had told advisers that he thought Mr. Netanyahu
should bar Ms. Tlaib and Ms. Omar under a law that denies entry to
foreign nationals who publicly show support for a boycott.
Under
the law, passed in 2017, Israel can bar entry to people considered
prominent advocates of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, a
loose network that, among other goals, aims to pressure Israel into
ending the occupation of the West Bank. Pro-Israel advocates accuse the movement’s supporters of anti-Semitism.
Last month, the United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed
a bipartisan resolution condemning the boycott-Israel movement as one
that “promotes principles of collective guilt, mass punishment and group
isolation, which are destructive of prospects for progress towards
peace.”
Mr. Netanyahu, for his part,
is in the middle of a tight election campaign, and some analysts say he
can ill afford to appear weak when dealing with high-profile critics of
Israeli policies. At the same time, he is involved in a high-wire act of
trying to balance Israel’s ties with the Democrats and his close
embrace of, and support from, Mr. Trump.
Alon
Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York, told Israel’s Army
Radio on Thursday that it would be “foolishness” to deny the lawmakers
entry. “These are congresswomen of the majority party, which most
American Jews vote for.”
One of the
main points of contention over the planned itinerary appears to be the
visit to the Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem. A sacred site revered by
Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as Temple Mount, the location
of their ancient temples, it is a frequent flash point in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Danny
Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States and a former
deputy foreign minister, told Israel’s Kan Radio on Thursday that the
congresswomen should be allowed to enter Israel “but with restrictions.”
“If they want to stage a provocation by entering the Temple Mount with Palestinian hosts, then that can be prevented,” he said.
Sheryl
Gay Stolberg and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from Washington,
David M. Halbfinger from Jerusalem and Rick Gladstone from New York.
Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition to rename a
one-block stretch of Fifth Avenue in New York City after former
President Barack Obama. That particular block also happens to be the
home of Trump Tower.
"We request the New York City Mayor and City Council do the same by
renaming a block of Fifth Avenue after the former president whose many
accomplishments include: saving our nation from the Great Recession;
serving two completely scandal-free terms in office; and taking out
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind September 11th, which killed over
3,000 New Yorkers," creator Elizabeth Rowin wrote.
The petition
requests that all buildings between 56th and 57th Streets on Fifth
Avenue change their addresses. If the campaign is successful, Trump
Tower's new address would read: "725 President Barack H. Obama Avenue,
New York, NY 10022."
Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci now says
Republicans should support someone other than Trump in 2020.
Lawrence O’Donnell explains why you should be skeptical of the former
Trump supporter's claim and talks with Bill Weld, the only Republican
who is already challenging Trump in the GOP primary.
Jesse Dollemore shares a word of caution to those of you who may buy and drink
Bang Energy drinks.
Jack & Meg Owoc gave $250,000.00 to an America
First PAC which is run by Linda McMahon.
Both Jack and Meg are total
MAGA cult members who have plastered their social media with photos of
them with the Trumps and other far right-wing nut jobs.
Let's talk about Anthony Scaramucci and the comments he made in an
interview with Axios... and then the CNN interview he did where he
doubled down and even said Donald Trump is "disassembling" and "sounding
more and more nonsensical.”
Could this be a sign of things to come?
Are
Republicans finally starting to tire of Trump's flagrant disregard for
decency?
According to reports over the weekend, former mobster Lewis Kasman said
that Attorney General Bill Barr made a secret visit to Epstein’s jail
shortly before Epstein was found dead in his cell.
If this story is
accurate, it will certainly ignite a whole new round of conspiracy
theories, although they might have a little more credibility this time.
Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Following the announcement of Jeffrey Epstein’s death while in federal
custody, Donald Trump retweeted a conspiracy theory claiming that Bill
Clinton may have had Epstein killed.
Here’s the only problem with that
theory – the most damning information that had started to trickle out
was about Trump, not Clinton, and the resident received a flurry of bad
Epstein news just hours before his death. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins
discusses this.
Former Republican Representative David Jolly has some advice for the
American public: Vote every single Republican out of office in the next
election.
Jolly didn’t mince words during an interview earlier this week
where he made those comments, and he’s 100% correct about how to fix
this country.
Republicans are standing in the way of progress on so many
issues, and the only way to move forward is to leave them behind. Ring
of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
To be part of your local law enforcement's surveillance network, all you need is a little tech from Amazon. Amazon's Ring doorbell/camera is being handed out to cops, who can then give them to citizens with the implication the recipients of this corporate/government largesse will deliver recordings upon request.
Every Ring installed is another contributor to this ad hoc network of cameras -- something both cops and Amazon have access to. Amazon is looking to corner two markets at one time, roping in both the public and private sectors with an eye on dominating both. The added bonus -- at least as far as Amazon is concerned -- is its Neighbors app. Neighbors allows people to report suspicious things to other neighbors, as well as law enforcement.
The whole process is guided by Amazon's heavy hand. Government agencies participating in the Ring handouts are given talking points, pre-written press releases, and contractual obligations to promote the product they're giving away. Recently-obtained documents show Amazon has even crafted scripts for police officers and press relations staff to use when questioned by citizens.
If the community member doesn’t want to supply a Ring video that seems vital to a local law enforcement investigation, police can contact Amazon, which will then essentially “subpoena” the video.
“If we ask within 60 days of the recording and as long as it’s been uploaded to the cloud, then Ring can take it out of the cloud and send it to us legally so that we can use it as part of our investigation,” [Fresno County Sheriff's Office public information officer Tony Botti] said.
So much for asserting your rights. The only way to shut law enforcement out completely and demand they actually get a warrant supported by probable cause is to store all recordings locally. (It appears only a subpoena is needed to obtain footage from Amazon.) Very few people will be taking those steps. And, as Tony Botti points out, most people "play ball" and allow cops to collect footage without a warrant.
If the implicit obligation of "repaying" a government agency for giving you a free doorbell camera isn't persuasive enough, Amazon is crafting scripts for law enforcement to use to talk people out of their Constitutional rights. Thanks to even more public document requests, the pitches are now public. Caroline Haskins has more details at Motherboard.
Emails obtained from police department in Maywood, NJ—and emails from the police department of Bloomfield, NJ, which were also posted by Wired—show that Ring coaches police on how to obtain footage. The company provides cops with templates for requesting footage, which they do not need a court warrant to do. Ring suggests cops post often on Neighbors, Ring’s free “neighborhood watch” app, where Ring camera owners have the option of sharing their camera footage.
"I have noticed you have been posting alerts and receiving feedback from the community,” a Ring representative told Bloomfield police. “You are doing a great job interacting with them and that will be critical in increasing the opt-in rate.”
“The more users you have, the more useful the information you can collect,” the representative added.
“Seems like you wasted no time sending out your video Request out to Ring Users which is awesome!!” a Ring “Partner Success Associate” told Maywood police.
This guidance is supposed to create a perverse circle of life that ditches Constitutional niceties in favor of keeping cops awash in doorbell footage and Amazon well ahead of the pack in the doorbell camera market.
Ring's PR partners encourage law enforcement agencies to increase their social media presence. (There are scripts for that as well.) While engaging with local residents, agencies should also be pushing the Neighbors app. This gives cops more credits to trade in for more cameras to give to more people. Everyone receiving a camera is nudged by the app to post footage publicly. Cops will be online more often to encourage further sharing of recordings.
Once this feedback loop is engaged, people will be nudged towards thinking there are no legal barriers between police officers and their camera footage. When the cops ask for footage they haven't seen yet, homeowners will likely feel there's no difference between posting footage to Neighbors or handing it over to law enforcement.
While many people do install security cameras at their homes, they seldom do so with the intent of becoming an unofficial extension of a government agency's surveillance network. The pitches and scripted pushes accompanying the Ring rollout suggest Amazon believes this is nothing more than the evolution of snitch tech. It has repeatedly shown it prefers to ingratiate itself to government agencies at the expense of the millions of customers who helped it become the retail behemoth it is.
And those are the people Amazon is leaving behind in its quest to dominate a market very few consumers wanted to see it entering.
Join Jesse Dollemore as he corrects Tucker Carlson's propaganda about the actual
serious threat posed by radicalized racist white supremacist terrorists
in the United States.
He reads from joint Homeland Security
Department/Federal Bureau of Investigation intelligence briefings &
Government Accountability Office threat assessments. Also included is
brief sworn testimony from Director of the FBI Christopher Wray.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell jabbed at political rivals on
stage at the Fancy Farm Picnic in rural Graves County, Kentucky, on
August 3 before a crowd divided by party line - with Republican
supporters on one side and jeering Democrats on the other, the latter
chanting "Moscow Mitch."
Kentucky Democrats are capitalizing on the viral nickname following
criticism over McConnell's blocking of legislation designed to protect
the political system against a foreign attack.
Joy Reid hosts Malcolm & panel to consider why Republican Senate
leader, Mitch McConnell, refuses to condemn Russian interference in
American politics.
CNN had a hard time finding Republicans willing to come on their network
on Sunday morning, and things only got worse over the next 24 hours.
According to the network, only ONE Republican out of 50 that they asked
was willing to talk to them about the events that transpired over the
weekend, showing how truly cowardly the Republicans are in this time of
crisis. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Let's talk about the clear connections between white supremacist
terrorists, white nationalist, neo-Nazis, alt-righters, and Donald Trump
& Fox News (especially Tucker Carlson & Laura Ingraham).
They
all speak the same rhetoric and traffic in the same conspiracy theories,
I believe, in an effort to ramp up the anger and rage in soon-to-be
gun-wielding domestic terrorists!
John Delaney is salty about getting shut down by Bernie and Elizabeth
Warren. Adrienne Lawrence, Maytha Alhassen, and Ana Kasparian, hosts of
The Young Turks, break it down.
Another post from the Rude Pundit's designated millennial guest blogger,
R. Sharp. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of all
millennials because that would be fucking dumb.)
So, two weeks ago that bloated, white supremacist king of idiots told
four congresswomen of color - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar,
Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib - to go back to where they came from
and accused them of hating their own country. Not surprising whatsoever
considering
Dipshit has been plunging America into the kind of
stink-filled swamp he said he would drain in the first place. I’m not
even fazed by whatever atrocious thing he says or does. Everything just
provides extra motivation for me to vote him and all of his
taint-licking enablers out in 2020. Not only has this been the most
ineffective and cruel administration in modern American politics, it’s
also boasted an impressive collection of morons. It takes a special kind
of mental deficiency to tell four Congresswoman to go back to where
they came from when three of them were born in the fucking United States
and one is a naturalized citizen. Much like that play-wife Melania.
Here are the first two of four people who actually hate what America stands for.
First, of course, there's Trump. The grotesque orange monster doesn’t
care about anybody except for himself (and Ivanka, but only after she’s
done lubing his cashew dick to a shine). He relishes pulling America
down into this divisive shit storm, because it distracts us from what’s
really going on. Think about it: he attacks Amazon and other companies
as their stock drowns. Here's my theory: He starts a trade war with
China and the market falls. In the background, he has his shills buy up
stock for him. He changes his mind, market shares rise again, and there
you have it. He’s supposedly made billions. All he cares about is money,
but we live in a capitalist dystopia now and things like this should
just be expected. Frankly, that just scratches the surface of his hatred
for America.
What ticks me off about him and his goddamned Republican henchman is
that they pay excessive lip service to the integrity of our democracy.
But, they’ve taken every active step to chip away at it. From election
security to voter suppression, Republicans have known for a long time
they can’t win the popular vote. They need the Electoral College or the
Supreme Court, or to enlist aid from a hostile foreign government.
Republicans will stop at nothing to ensure that their enraged clementine
will remain in power. America was built on the idea that we didn’t bow
down to kings and dictators who employ these exact tactics to weaken the
foundations of our democracy. Trump is by far the most un-American
president we’ve ever had. He will drag this country into oblivion as
long as he can see dollar signs at the end.
Obviously, Mitch McConnell is by far the most damaging member of the
Republican-controlled Senate that’s been reaming our asses since 2011.
He recently said that he’d be delighted to be called the “grim reaper
for progressive policies,” which include such Communist nightmares like
addressing climate change, ensuring millions have adequate healthcare,
and making the top 1% pay their fair share of taxes. What he’s basically
saying is, “As long as I’m taken care of, I could give two shits about
the rest of you plebes. Now please, keep voting for me and my horrible
motherfuckers.” If ensuring the peace of mind of lobbyists and
politicians while casting the public aside isn’t awful enough, there's
his whiny bitch approach to Russian election interference.
Moscow Mitch doesn’t like when he gets called out for being a Russian
asset. We know that President Obama approached Comrade McConnell in 2016
and wanted to launch a bi-partisan rebuke against potential Russian
election interference. Mitch curled up into his shell and refused to do
such a thing. God forbid the Senate Majority Leader ensure our democracy
remains strong and secure. Hell, there were Senate elections involved. I
mean it’s not like he took an oath to “defend the Constitution of the
United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” or anything,
right? Moscow Mitch is a liar and a traitor. He would gladly hand his
balls over to Putin to ensure Trump a second term.
(Tomorrow: The other two Republicans who can get the fuck out of here.)
Continuing R. Sharp's post from yesterday.
He's getting a bunch of shit off his chest, so just kick back and enjoy
the ride. Yesterday, he went after Trump and McConnell. Here are his
other two politicians who we should send back to some goddamn place.)
Good riddance to Paul Ryan, that spineless piece of trash. My only wish
was that he had been voted out instead of comfortably retiring. Here’s
the thing though: Paul Ryan might be out of politics, but his actions in
and on his way out of office prove that this motherfucker doesn’t give a
shit about America or anything that can’t make him filthy rich. Not
only did he enable Candidate Trump and work with him to get him elected,
he knew a possible https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2019/08/guest-post-four-politicians-who-really_2.html Cheeto would be a complete disaster. He
could smell Trump from a mile away (it's true - this is a proven fact
about Trump), and he did nothing to stop him. In fact, he worked with
Trump and assimilated him into the Republican Party’s decadent
framework.
Sadly, Ryan isn’t a complete idiot. He planned his moves very carefully.
He saw the results of the 2016 election as an escape hatch from
American politics. When his disastrous American Healthcare Act failed in
the Senate, Ryan knew he was on his way out. But before he retired, he
promoted Trump’s cruel immigration policies and actively supported
Republican candidates before the 2018 midterms. What really pisses me
off about Ryan was his final act in Congress. In late 2018, Ryan pushed
for thousands of unused work visas to be used for Irish citizens who
wanted to emigrate to the United States. Yeah. After years spent
blocking comprehensive immigration reform, Ryan decided he would hand
out visas to white people who shared his heritage, but he even failed
at that since it was blocked by a Republican, Tom Cotton, in the
Senate. The final shiv from his own party. Ryan helped build the
horrifying America we see today. Then he retired and left his mess all
over the place for others to clean. If Ryan loves Ireland so much maybe
he should go back. He clearly doesn’t give a damn about the United
States.
Finally, the last deplorable prick on the list is an oldie by Trump
administration standards. You may remember John F. (Fucking Asshole)
Kelly as Trump’s chief of staff starting in mid-2017 and through 2018.
You probably recall his hardline stance on immigration and his oversight
on the implementation of the zero-tolerance policy at the southern
border. Kelly pushed policies that led to thousands of Central American
children being detained at the border in facilities run by government
contractors. We’ve all read the stories and seen the news. These places
are essentially prison camps where children have no access to basic
hygiene products, are regularly abused and neglected, and have been
indefinitely separated from their parents. If Kelly’s support for these
facilities wasn’t bad enough, wait until you hear what he’s been doing
since leaving the White House.
Kelly is currently on the board
of Caliburn International, the parent organization of the company that
runs the largest facility housing migrant children in the United States.
He actively pushed for family separation and throwing innocent children
into prison camps, and when he left the White House he saw an opening
to make money on other people’s suffering. But this is only part of the
reason why Kelly sucks so much. You see, Kelly is a military man. He
served as a four star general in the Persian Gulf War, Operation Desert
Storm, and the Iraq War. He’s been to countries where children and their
parents live in squalor with absolutely nothing but the clothes on
their backs. He fought to end oppression in these regions. He fought to
uphold American ideals. But that all seemed to change when he entered
the White House. Kelly is making money off practices that are totally
un-American, and that’s simply because he doesn’t care. He’d rather see
children mistreated and live in their own shit than fight for what’s
right. Just as long as he gets a fat paycheck at the end of the week.
There you have it. Throw these four fuckers out of the country. Chant
"Send them back" at them, but, of course, Trump voters are too high on
their racist fumes to know who the real enemies of the state are.
Moscow Mitch McConnell seems to be doing everything he can to get in the
way of secure elections in the United States. He is working overtime to
block any and all legislation that passes the House of Representatives.
Recently-unearthed tapes reveal that Ronald Reagan didn’t exactly have a
high opinion of people from African countries, and he referred to them
as “monkeys” during a 1971 phone call to Richard Nixon.
This confirms
what we’ve been saying for a long time, and that is that Trump isn’t an
outlier in terms of hating on non-white people – this is who the
Republican Party has been for decades.
Yesterday's congressional hearings with former Special Counsel Robert
Mueller revealed the profound cowardice at the heart of our nation's
leaders right now in dealing with Donald Trump (himself a coward of the
lowest order) and the crimes that he has so blatantly committed and
continues to commit on a daily basis. Anyone who has actually read
Mueller's report or paid attention during the hearing who doesn't
believe that Russia interfered with the 2016 election and that Trump
panicked and attempted to cover up any involvement would have to be a
genuine fool or a willful idiot. The report says that Trump did so. It
just doesn't say that he committed a crime, although it walks right up
to that.
There was some hope that the hearings before the House Judiciary and
Intelligence Committees would produce a crystallizing moment, a
"gotcha," an absolutely clear statement of Trump and his circle's
complicity in obstruction of justice. Democrats called the hearing
ostensibly to disseminate the information in the report, but you know
that they wanted Mueller to say that Trump should have been indicted but
was blocked by Attorney General and the man who put the "toad" in
toady, William Barr.
If that had happened, no one would be talking about Mueller's really painful, halting, obviously impaired appearance.
But the cowardly media was not entertained and thus declared the day a
failure. Jesus, no one should care about the verve with which
revelations of our compromised electoral system were delivered. No one
should care if the person telling us that the resident induced people
to lie about their involvement in compromising our electoral system is
particularly charming. But we don't live in a country where plain facts
matter anymore, and we don't have a media that is capable of explaining
facts (yeah, yeah, there are exceptions).
That sky opening moment didn't happen. And, instead, we were treated to
the display of Democrats trying to get as much of the report on record
as possible, with Mueller agreeing that, yes, what he wrote in the
report is what he wrote in the report, and that it is as enraging and
worrisome as it ever was. There were a couple of
important moments that may make fine ads, like Rep. Jerrold Nadler's
direct, quick questioning that demonstrated just how much Trump is lying
about the report. Adam Schiff's opening comments were brutal, as was
his masterful dialogue with Mueller that was a distillation of just how
much Russia helped Trump and how much Trump and his team welcomed that
help and how really scary that all is.
Republicans on the committee were, with one, perhaps two, exceptions, a miserable bunch
of cowardly bastards. Bowing down before their twin idols, Trump and
the right-wing media machine, they regurgitated every rank conspiracy
theory, vomiting up a litany of names and a series of lies about the
origins of the investigation and the investigators themselves, all to
create a viscous fog for their president's venality and immorality and
criminality.
From loathsome hick Louie Gohmert screeching like he got
his penis stuck in the donkey he was fucking to bloated sack of farts
James Sensenbrenner declaring Mueller's work a flaming sack of shit left
on the government's porch to dimwitted Michael Turner bludgeoning
the word "exonerate" to death. It was disgusting, watching asshole
after asshole proclaim the innocence of Trump while trying, at least on
some minor level, to pretend to give even a single fuck about Russia's
interference in our elections. How low does a man or woman have to be to
fear a nasty comment by Tucker Carlson? How quickly do they become
traitors because they fear tweets that call for their ouster or deaths?
What vermin they are and what worms are the people who elect them.
Despite all the tributes to his long career as GI Joe G-Man, Mueller came across as a coward,
too. Simply put, there was no reason for him to hedge on what he
believed. As Sarah Kendzior put it, "Throughout the hearings, Mr.
Mueller acted as if outside forces constrained his ability to answer
questions. But he is no longer an employee of the Department of Justice,
and they can no longer tell him what to say." It made no sense, for
instance, that he was so clearly incensed by the idea of Russia's attack
on the 2016 election, yet he would not say, clearly, that Donald Trump
is harming the country by dismissing that idea. That's pretty easy: Here
is something that's broken. If you don't fix it, it will get worse.
Therefore, if the person who is supposed to fix it doesn't, that person
wants things to get worse. But he decided to limit himself and play the
good Republican, the good conservative,
one of the many useful idiots who think that the System still functions
as it's supposed to. And just say, for chrissake, that anyone would
have arrested Trump. All this coy implication was worthless. For someone
who once stood up to rabid buffalo Dick Cheney, it was a dereliction of
duty and a failure of nerve that will ultimately damage the nation.
Yet as strong as the Democrats in the committees were with their
questioning - there was blissfully little speechifying - the press
conference after the hearings demonstrated the cowardice that has
plagued the party's leaders since Trump was elected. When Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi again squashed the idea that impeachment of Trump
should move forward, she undid everything that the hearings might have
done. Impeachment would force attention to be paid to what Trump has
done and his failure to act on what was done to us. Now, they say, they
want to wait until courts decide on whether or not Trump needs to give
over documents or allow people to testify. C'mon. It's as if Pelosi and
others in the Democratic caucus, ignoring a growing faction of members
who want impeachment, believe that Trump won't be re-elected and things
can go back to whatever illusion of normal they think it was before.
This is the Merrick Garland fallacy: don't get in the mud to fight it
out because we're obviously gonna win the presidency. How did that turn
out in 2016? Democrats are stating that Trump committed crimes. Hell,
Nadler used the phrase "high crimes and misdemeanors" the other day. If
you say that and refuse to impeach, then Republicans have nothing to
fear from you and will keep owning the story with their lies.
As he revealed in his ranting, frothing moment
with the press yesterday, Donald Trump is a danger to the nation, and
he believes he is empowered to do more and more. That neither Democrats
nor Republicans are willing to stand up to him in the firmest, most
obvious way available is the kind of cowardice that will damn us, and
we'll deserve it.
