Former White House ethics lawyer and Democratic Senate candidate Richard Painter argued
on CBS Monday night that there is much more evidence against resident
Donald Trump for obstruction of justice than there ever was against
President Richard Nixon before he resigned in disgrace.
The difference between the two situations? Congress, Painter said.
"We
have far more evidence of abuse of power and obstruction of justice
than we had in 1973 when I was 12 years old and the House and the Senate
convened the Judiciary Committees to have hearings with respect to
Watergate and President Nixon. We're well-beyond that point. And yet the
House and the Senate won't do anything at all.
Nearly 51 million households don’t earn enough to afford a monthly budget that includes housing, food, child care, health care, transportation, and a cell phone.
On Tuesday, May 15, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) joined Rachel Maddow on
MSNBC to discuss resident Trump's recent actions to protect Chinese
jobs and specifically ZTE, a company that violated U.S. sanctions on
North Korea and Iran and posed a cyber security threat.
Small business owners who supported Donald Trump are complaining about troubles hiring foreign seasonal labor the Lexington Herald-Leaderreports.
The newspaper interviewed multiple landscaping business owners who claim they are unable to hire Americans for the same wages.
Eddie Devine voted for Trump, but worries he may go out of business if
he is unable to continue hiring 20 foreign workers a season though the
H-2B visa program.
“I feel like I’ve been tricked by the devil,” Devine admitted. “I feel so stupid.”
Devin
says Trump's policies are more about race than economics, noting that
Trump properties in
New York and Florida rely upon the H-2B visa program
for 144 jobs a year.
“I think there’s a war on brown people,” he
argued. “I want to know why it’s OK for him to get his workers, but
supporters like me don’t get theirs."
“We live and die by these
visas,” said Ken Monin, owner of Monin Construction. “Last year we about
went bankrupt. The workers we were supposed to get in March didn’t show
up until August because they couldn’t get visas.”
“Americans don’t want most of these jobs,” Monin claimed.
Donald Trump, with his feral cunning, knew. The
oleaginous Mike Pence, with his talent for toadyism and appetite for
obsequiousness, could, Trump knew, become America’s most repulsive
public figure. And Pence, who has reached this pinnacle by dethroning
his benefactor, is augmenting the public stock of useful knowledge.
Because his is the authentic voice of today’s lick-spittle Republican
Party, he clarifies this year’s elections: Vote Republican to ratify
groveling as governing.
Last June, a Trump
Cabinet meeting featured testimonials offered to Dear Leader by his
forelock-tugging colleagues. His chief of staff, Reince Priebus, caught
the spirit of the worship service by thanking Trump for the “blessing”
of being allowed to serve him. The hosannas poured forth
from around the table, unredeemed by even a scintilla of insincerity.
Priebus was soon deprived of his blessing, as was Tom Price. Before
Price’s ecstasy of public service was truncated because of his
incontinent enthusiasm for charter flights, he was the secretary of
health and human services who at the Cabinet meeting said, “I can’t
thank you enough for the privileges you’ve given me.”
The vice resident
chimed in but saved his best riff for a December Cabinet meeting when,
as The Post’s Aaron Blake calculated,
Pence praised Trump once every 12 seconds for three minutes: “I’m
deeply humbled. . . . ” Judging by the number of times Pence announces
himself “humbled,” he might seem proud of his humility, but that is
impossible because he is conspicuously devout and pride is a sin.
Between those two Cabinet meetings, Pence and his retinue flew to Indiana
for the purpose of walking out of an Indianapolis Colts football game,
thereby demonstrating that football players kneeling during the national
anthem are intolerable to someone of Pence’s refined sense of right and
wrong. Which brings us to his Arizona salute last week to Joe Arpaio,
who was sheriff of Maricopa County until in 2016 voters wearied of his act.
Noting
that Arpaio was in his Tempe audience, Pence, oozing unctuousness from
every pore, called Arpaio “another favorite,” professed himself
“honored” by Arpaio’s presence, and praised
him as “a tireless champion of . . . the rule of law.” Arpaio, a
grandstanding, camera-chasing bully and darling of the thuggish right,
is also a criminal, convicted
of contempt of court for ignoring a federal judge’s order to desist
from certain illegal law enforcement practices. Pence’s performance
occurred eight miles from the home of Sen. John McCain, who could teach
Pence — or perhaps not — something about honor.
Henry Adams said
that “practical politics consists in ignoring facts,” but what was the
practicality in Pence’s disregard of the facts about Arpaio? His
pandering had no purpose beyond serving Pence’s vocation, which is to
ingratiate himself with his audience of the moment. The audience for his
praise of Arpaio was given to chanting “Build that wall!” and applauded Arpaio, who wears Trump’s pardon like a boutonniere.
Hoosiers, of whom Pence is one, sometimes say that although Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky and flourished in Illinois, he spent his formative years
— December 1816 to March 1830 — in Indiana, which he left at age 21. Be
that as it may, on Jan. 27, 1838, Lincoln, then 28, delivered his first great speech,
to the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield.
Less than three months
earlier, Elijah Lovejoy, an abolitionist newspaper editor in Alton,
Ill., 67 miles from Springfield, was murdered
by a pro-slavery mob. Without mentioning Lovejoy — it would have been
unnecessary — Lincoln lamented that throughout America, “so lately famed
for love of law and order,” there was a “mobocratic spirit” among “the
vicious portion of [the] population.” So, “let reverence for the laws
. . . become the political religion of the nation.” Pence, one of
evangelical Christians’ favorite pin-ups, genuflects at various altars,
as the mobocratic spirit and the vicious portion require.
It
is said that one cannot blame people who applaud Arpaio and support his
rehabilitators (Trump, Pence, et al.), because, well, globalization or
health-care costs or something. Actually, one must either blame them or
condescend to them as lacking moral agency. Republicans silent about
Pence have no such excuse.
There will be
negligible legislating by the next Congress, so ballots cast this
November will be most important as validations or repudiations of the
harmonizing voices of Trump, Pence, Arpaio and the like. Trump is what
he is, a floundering, inarticulate jumble of gnawing insecurities and
not-at-all compensating vanities, which is pathetic. Pence is what he
has chosen to be, which is horrifying.
If you think Rudy Giuliani created a mess during his pro Trump defense
right wing media tour, then you have to watch this to believe the
magnitude of the disaster expanded by Trump. Trump not only Ran the Bus
over Rudy, he reversed it over him as well, all in the name of defending
his friend.
Robert S. Mueller III is said
to be trying to determine whether the president had criminal intent
when he fired James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director.Credit
J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
WASHINGTON
— Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia’s
election interference, has at least four dozen questions on an
exhaustive array of subjects he wants to ask resident Trump to learn
more about his ties to Russia and determine whether he obstructed the
inquiry itself, according to a list of the questions obtained by The New
York Times.
The
open-ended queries appear to be an attempt to penetrate the resident’s
thinking, to get at the motivation behind some of his most combative
Twitter posts and to examine his relationships with his family and his
closest advisers. They deal chiefly with the resident’s high-profile
firings of the F.B.I. director and his first national security adviser,
his treatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a 2016 Trump Tower
meeting between campaign officials and Russians offering dirt on Hillary
Clinton.
But
they also touch on the resident’s businesses; any discussions with his
longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, about a Moscow real estate
deal; whether the resident knew of any attempt by Mr. Trump’s
son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to set up a back channel to Russia during the
transition; any contacts he had with Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime
adviser who claimed to have inside information about Democratic email
hackings; and what happened during Mr. Trump’s 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant.
The
questions provide the most detailed look yet inside Mr. Mueller’s
investigation, which has been shrouded in secrecy since he was appointed
nearly a year ago. The majority relate to possible obstruction of
justice, demonstrating how an investigation into Russia’s election
meddling grew to include an examination of the resident’s conduct in
office. Among them are queries on any discussions Mr. Trump had about
his attempts to fire Mr. Mueller himself and what the resident knew
about possible pardon offers to Mr. Flynn.
“What
efforts were made to reach out to Mr. Flynn about seeking immunity or
possible pardon?” Mr. Mueller planned to ask, according to questions
read by the special counsel investigators to the resident’s lawyers,
who compiled them into a list. That document was provided to The Times
by a person outside Mr. Trump’s legal team.
A
few questions reveal that Mr. Mueller is still investigating possible
coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. In one of the more
tantalizing inquiries, Mr. Mueller asks what Mr. Trump knew about
campaign aides, including the former chairman Paul Manafort, seeking
assistance from Moscow: “What knowledge did you have of any outreach by
your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential
assistance to the campaign?” No such outreach has been revealed
publicly.
Jay
Sekulow, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, declined to comment. A spokesman for
the special counsel’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The
questions serve as a reminder of the chaotic first 15 months of the
Trump residency and the transition and campaign before that. Mr.
Mueller wanted to inquire about public threats the resident made,
conflicting statements from Mr. Trump and White House aides, the resident’s private admissions to Russian officials, a secret meeting at
an island resort, WikiLeaks, salacious accusations and dramatic
congressional testimony.
The
special counsel also sought information from the resident about his
relationship with Russia. Mr. Mueller would like to ask Mr. Trump
whether he had any discussions during the campaign about any meetings
with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and whether he spoke to
others about either American sanctions against Russia or meeting with
Mr. Putin.
Through
his questions, Mr. Mueller also tries to tease out Mr. Trump’s views on
law enforcement officials and whether he sees them as independent
investigators or people who should loyally protect him.
For example, when the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, was fired,
the White House said he broke with Justice Department policy and spoke
publicly about the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email server. Mr.
Mueller’s questions put that statement to the test. He wants to ask why,
time and again, Mr. Trump expressed no concerns with whether Mr. Comey
had abided by policy. Rather, in statements in private and on national
television, Mr. Trump suggested that Mr. Comey was fired because of the Russia investigation.
Many
of the questions surround Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Sessions,
including the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself from the
Russia investigation and whether Mr. Trump told Mr. Sessions he needed
him in place for protection.
Mr.
Mueller appears to be investigating how Mr. Trump took steps last year
to fire Mr. Mueller himself. The resident relented after the White
House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, threatened to resign, an episode
that the special counsel wants to ask about.
“What
consideration and discussions did you have regarding terminating the
special counsel in June of 2017?” Mr. Mueller planned to ask, according
to the list of questions. “What did you think and do in reaction to Jan.
25, 2018, story about the termination of the special counsel and Don
McGahn backing you off the termination?” he planned to ask, referring to
the Times article that broke the news of the confrontation.
Mr.
Mueller has sought for months to question the resident, who has in
turn expressed a desire, at times, to be interviewed, viewing it as an
avenue to end the inquiry more quickly. His lawyers have been
negotiating terms of an interview out of concern that their client —
whose exaggerations, half-truths and outright falsehoods are well
documented — could provide false statements or easily become distracted.
Four people, including Mr. Flynn, have pleaded guilty to lying to investigators in the Russia inquiry.
The
list of questions grew out of those negotiations. In January, Mr.
Trump’s lawyers gave Mr. Mueller several pages of written explanations
about the resident’s role in the matters the special counsel is
investigating. Concerned about putting the resident in legal jeopardy,
his lead lawyer, John Dowd, was trying to convince Mr. Mueller he did
not need to interview Mr. Trump, according to people briefed on the
matter.
Mr.
Mueller was apparently unsatisfied. He told Mr. Dowd in early March
that he needed to question the resident directly to determine whether
he had criminal intent when he fired Mr. Comey, the people said.
But
Mr. Dowd held firm, and investigators for Mr. Mueller agreed days later
to share during a meeting with Mr. Dowd the questions they wanted to
ask Mr. Trump.
When
Mr. Mueller’s team relayed the questions, their tone and detailed
nature cemented Mr. Dowd’s view that the resident should not sit for an
interview. Despite Mr. Dowd’s misgivings, Mr. Trump remained firm in
his insistence that he meet with Mr. Mueller. About a week and a half
after receiving the questions, Mr. Dowd resigned, concluding that his client was ignoring his advice.
Mr. Trump’s new lawyer in the investigation
and his longtime confidant, Rudolph W. Giuliani, met with Mr. Mueller
last week and said he was trying to determine whether the special
counsel and his staff were going to be “truly objective.”
Mr.
Mueller’s endgame remains a mystery, even if he determines the resident broke the law. A longstanding Justice Department legal finding
says residents cannot be charged with a crime while they are in
office. The special counsel told Mr. Dowd in March that though the resident’s conduct is under scrutiny, he is not a target of the
investigation, meaning Mr. Mueller does not expect to charge him.
The
prospect of pardons is also among Mr. Mueller’s inquiries, and whether
Mr. Trump offered them to a pair of former top aides to influence their
decisions about whether to cooperate with the special counsel
investigation.
Mr. Dowd broached the idea
with lawyers for both of the advisers, Mr. Flynn and Mr. Manafort,
according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Mr. Manafort has
pleaded not guilty on charges of money laundering and other financial
crimes related to his work for the pro-Russia former president of
Ukraine.
Mr. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general who was ousted from the White House in February 2017
amid revelations about contacts with the Russian ambassador to the
United States, ultimately pleaded guilty last December to lying to
federal authorities and agreed to cooperate with the special counsel.
“After
General Flynn resigned, what calls or efforts were made by people
associated with you to reach out to General Flynn or to discuss Flynn
seeking immunity or possible pardon?” Mr. Mueller planned to ask.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from New York.
A version of this article appears in print on May 1, 2018, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Questions for President Show Depth of Inquiry Into Russian Meddling. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe
Wolf's routine took shots at Donald Trump, Mike
Pence, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and the media.
Good evening. Good evening. Here we are, the White House
correspondents' dinner: Like a porn star says when she's about to have
sex with a Trump, let's get this over with.
Yup,
kiddos, this is who you're getting tonight. I'm going to skip a lot of
the normal pleasantries. We're at a Hilton; it's not nice. This is on
C-SPAN; no one watches that. Trump is president; it's not ideal.The White House Correspondents' Association, thank you for having me. The monkfish was fine.
And
just a reminder to everyone, I'm here to make jokes. I have no agenda.
I'm not trying to get anything accomplished. So everyone that's here
from Congress, you should feel right at home.
Yeah, before we
get too far, a little bit about me. A lot of you might not know who I
am. I'm 32 years old, which is an odd age: 10 years too young to host
this event and 20 years too old for Roy Moore. I know, he almost got elected, yeah. It was fun. It was fun.
Honestly,
I never really thought I'd be a comedian. But I did take an aptitude
test in seventh grade — and this is 100 percent true — I took an
aptitude test in seventh grade, and it said in my best profession was a
clown or a mime.Well, at first it said clown, and then it heard my voice and then was like, “Or maybe mime. Think about mime.”
And
I know as much as some of you might want me to, it's 2018 and I am a
woman, so you cannot shut me up — unless you have Michael Cohen wire me
$130,000. Michael, you can find me on Venmo under my porn star name,
Reince Priebus. Reince just gave a thumbs up. OK.
Now,
people are saying America is more divided than ever, but I think no
matter what you support politically, we can all agree that this is a
great time for craft stores. Because of all the protests, poster board
has been flying off the shelves faster than Robert Mueller can say,
“You've been subpoenaed.”
Thanks to Trump, pink yarn
sales are through the roof. After Trump got elected, women started
knitting those pussy hats. When I first saw them, I was like, “That's a
pussy?” I guess mine just has a lot more yarn on it.Yeah, shoulda done more research before you got me to do this.
Now,
there is a lot to cover tonight. There's a lot to go over. I can't get
to everything. I know there's a lot of people that want me to talk about
Russia and Putin and collusion, but I'm not going to do that because
there's also a lot of liberal media here. And I've never really wanted
to know what any of you look like when you orgasm.
Except for maybe you, Jake Tapper. I bet it's something like this: “OK, that's all the time we have.”
It
is kind of crazy that the Trump campaign was in contact with Russia
when the Hillary campaign wasn't even in contact with Michigan. It's a
direct flight; it's so close.
Of course, Trump isn't
here, if you haven't noticed. He's not here. And I know, I know, I would
drag him here myself. But it turns out the resident of the United
States is the one pussy you're not allowed to grab.He said it first. Yeah, he did. Do you remember? Good.
Now,
I know people really want me to go after Trump tonight, but I think we
should give the resident credit when he deserves it. Like, he pulled
out the Paris agreement, and I think he should get credit for that
because he said he was going to pull out and then he did. And that's a
refreshing quality in a man. Most men are like, “I forgot. I'll get you
next time.” Oh, there's going to be a next time?
People say romance is
dead. People call Trump names all the time. And, look, I could call Trump
a racist, a misogynist or xenophobic or unstable or incompetent or
impotent. But he's heard all of those, and he doesn't care. So, tonight,
I'm going to try to make fun of the resident in a new way — in a way
that I think will really get him. Mr. resident, I don't think you're
very rich.
Like, I think you might be rich in Idaho, but
in New York, you're doing fine. Trump is the only person that still
watches “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and thinks, “Me.”Although,
I'm not sure you'd get very far. He'd get to, like, the third question
and be, like, “I have to phone a 'Fox & Friend.'
”We're going to try a fun new thing, OK? I'm going to say, “Trump is so broke,” and you guys go, “How broke is he?” All right?
Trump is so broke. [AUDIENCE: How broke is he?] He has to fly failed business class.
Trump is so broke. [AUDIENCE: How broke is he?] He looked for foreign oil in Don Jr.'s hair.
Trump is so broke. [AUDIENCE: How broke is he?] He — Southwest used him as one of their engines. I know, it's so soon. It's so soon for that joke. Why did she tell it? It's so soon.
Trump is so broke. [AUDIENCE: How broke is he?] He
had to borrow money from the Russians, and now he's compromised and not
susceptible to blackmail and possibly responsible for the collapse of
the republic.Yay! It's a fun game.
Trump is
racist, though. He loves white nationalists, which is a weird term for a
Nazi. Calling a Nazi a white nationalist is like calling a pedophile a
kid friend or Harvey Weinstein a ladies' man — which isn't really fair;
he also likes plants. Trump's also an idea guy. He's got loads
of ideas. You gotta love him for that. He wants to give teachers guns,
and I support that, 'cause then they can sell them for things they need,
like supplies. A lot of protractors. A lot of people want Trump
to be impeached. I do not. Because just when you think Trump is awful,
you remember Mike Pence. Mike Pence is what happens when Anderson Cooper
isn't gay.
Mike Pence is the kind of guy that brushes
his teeth and then drinks orange juice and thinks, “Mmm.” Mike Pence is
also very anti-choice. He thinks abortion is murder, which, first of
all, don't knock it till you try it. And when you do try it, really
knock it. You know, you got to get that baby out of there. And,
yes, sure, you can groan all you want. I know a lot of you are very
anti-abortion. You know, unless it's the one you got for your secret
mistress. It's fun how values can waiver. But good for you.
Mike
Pence is a weirdo, though. He's a weird little guy. He won't meet with
other women without his wife present. When people first heard this, they
were like, “That's crazy.” But now, in this current climate, they're
like, “That's a good witness.”Which, of course, brings me to
the Me Too movement; it's probably the reason I'm here. They were like,
“A woman's probably not going to jerk off in front of anyone, right?”
And to that, I say, “Don't count your chickens.” There's a lot of party.
Now,
I've worked in a lot of male-dominated fields. Before comedy, I worked
at a tech company and, before that, I worked on Wall Street. And,
honestly, I've never really been sexually harassed. That being said, I
did work at Bear Stearns in 2008. So, although I haven't been sexually
harassed, I've definitely been fucked. Yeah, that whole company went
down on me without my consent. And no men got in trouble for that one
either.
No, things are changing. Men are being held
accountable. You know, Al Franken was ousted. That one really hurt
liberals. But I believe it was the great Ted Kennedy who said, “Wow,
that's crazy; I murdered a woman.”
Chappaquiddick – in theaters now.
I
did have a lot of jokes — I had a lot of jokes about Cabinet members,
but I had to scrap all of those because everyone has been fired. You
guys are going through Cabinet members quicker than Starbucks throws out
black people. No, don't worry, they're having an afternoon. That'll solve it. We just needed an afternoon.
Mitch McConnell isn't here. He had a prior engagement. He's finally getting his neck circumcised. Mazel.
Paul
Ryan couldn't make it. Of course, he's already been circumcised.
Unfortunately, while they were down there, they also took his bitches.Yeah, bye, Paul. Great acting, though, in that video.
Republicans
are easy to make fun of. It's like shooting fish in a Chris Christie.
But I also want to make fun of Democrats. Democrats are harder to make
fun of because you guys don't do anything. People think you
might flip the House and Senate this November, but you guys always find a
way to mess it up. You're somehow going to lose by 12 points to a guy
named Jeff Pedophile Nazi Doctor. Oh, he's a doctor?
We should
definitely talk about the women in the Trump administration. There's
Kellyanne Conway. Man, she has the perfect last name for what she does:
Conway. It's like if my name was Michelle Jokes Frizzy Hair Small Tits. You
guys gotta stop putting Kellyanne on your shows. All she does is lie.
If you don't give her a platform, she has nowhere to lie. It's like that
old saying: If a tree falls in the woods, how do we get Kellyanne under
that tree? I'm not suggesting she gets hurt; just stuck. Stuck under a tree. Incidentally, a tree falls in the woods is Scott Pruitt's definition of porn. Yeah, we all have our kinks.
There's
also, of course, Ivanka. She was supposed to be an advocate for women,
but it turns out she's about as helpful to women as an empty box of
tampons. She's done nothing to satisfy women. So, I guess, like father,
like daughter. Oh, you don't think he's good in bed. Come on.
She
does clean up nice, though. Ivanka cleans up nice. She's the Diaper
Genie of the administration. On the outside, she looks sleek but the
inside — it's still full of shit.
And, of course, we have
Sarah Huckabee Sanders. We're graced with Sarah's presence tonight. I
have to say I'm a little star-struck. I love you as Aunt Lydia in “The
Handmaid's Tale.”Mike Pence, if you haven't seen it, you would love it.
Every
time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited because I'm not really
sure what we're going to get: you know, a press briefing, a bunch of
lies or divided into softball teams. “It's shirts and skins, and this
time, don't be such a little bitch, Jim Acosta.”I actually
really like Sarah. I think she's very resourceful. Like, she burns
facts, and then she uses the ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like,
maybe she's born with it; maybe it's lies.It's probably lies.
And
I'm never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders. You know, is
it Sarah Sanders? Is Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Is it Cousin Huckabee? Is
it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? Like, what's Uncle Tom but for white women
who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know: Aunt Coulter.
We've
got our friends at CNN here. Welcome, guys, it's great to have you. You
guys love breaking news, and you did it. You broke it. Good work.The most useful information on CNN is when Anthony Bourdain tells me where to eat noodles. Fox News is here. So, you know what that means, ladies: Cover your drinks. Seriously. People want me to make fun of Sean Hannity tonight, but I cannot do that; this dinner is for journalists.
We've
got MSNBC here. MSNBC's news slogan is, “This is who we are.” Guys,
it's not a good slogan. “This is who we are” is what your Mom thinks the
sad show on NBC is called. “Did you watch 'This Is Who We Are' this
week? Someone left on a Crockpot, and everyone died.”I watch
“Morning Joe” every morning. We now know that Mika and Joe are engaged.
Congratulations, you guys. It's like when a Me Too works out.
We
also have Rachel Maddow. We cannot forget about Rachel Maddow. She is
the Peter Pan of MSNBC. But instead of never growing up, she never gets
to the point. Watching Rachel Maddow is like going to Target. You went
in for milk, but you left with shampoo, candles and the entire history
of the Byzantine Empire. “I didn't need this.”And, of course, Megyn Kelly. What would I do without Megyn Kelly? You know, probably be more proud of women.
Megyn
Kelly got paid $23 million by NBC, then NBC didn't let Megyn go to the
Winter Olympics. Why not? She's so white, cold and expensive, she might
as well be the Winter Olympics.
And, by the way, Megyn,
Santa's black. The weird old guy going through your chimney was Bill
O'Reilly. You might want to put a flue on it or something.There's
a lot of print media here. There's a ton of you guys, but I'm not going
to go after print media tonight because it's illegal to attack an
endangered species.Buy newspapers.There's a ton of
news right now; a lot is going on, and we have all these 24-hour news
networks, and we could be covering everything. But, instead, we're
covering like three topics. Every hour, it's Trump, Russia, Hillary and a
panel of four people who remind you why you don't go home for
Thanksgiving.
“Milk comes from nuts now, all 'cause of the gays.”You
guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you use to date him? Because you
pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him. I think what no one
in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He
couldn't sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric, but
he has helped you.
He's helped you sell your papers and
your books and your TV. You helped create this monster, and now you're
profiting off of him. And if you're gonna profit off of Trump, you
should at least give him some money because he doesn't have any.
Trump is so broke.
[AUDIENCE: How broke is he?]
He
grabs pussies 'cause he thinks there might be loose change in them. All
right, like an immigrant who was brought here by his parents and didn't
do anything wrong, I gotta get the fuck out of here.
Enlarge/ Daybreak's story on the money behind this logo has been changing recently.
Back in 2015, the former Sony Online Entertainment announced it was being bought by investment management firm Columbus Nova and changing its name to Daybreak Game Company (Everquest II, H1Z1, Planetside 2).
Now that the US Treasury Department is sanctioning the Russian oligarch
that owns Columbus Nova, though, Daybreak is suddenly saying that it
has never had any affiliation with its ostensible parent company.
What Daybreak now disputes, though, is that Columbus Nova ever had an
ownership stake in the MMO maker. "From the get-go, Daybreak has been
primarily owned by Jason Epstein, a longtime investor who also has
investments in a variety of media properties," the company wrote in a forum post yesterday.
"We're well aware of prior statements from Daybreak indicating our
company was acquired by Columbus Nova. We have since clarified that the
company was acquired by Jason Epstein when he was a partner at Columbus
Nova, which he left in 2017."
It's those previous statements—which have stood uncontested for
years—that are raising some eyebrows now that the companies are
attempting to distance themselves from the investment management firm.
Columbus Nova was mentioned a number of times in Daybreak's February 2015 announcement press release, which doesn't mention Epstein at all. Columbus Nova was also cited as Daybreak's parent company in the site's privacy policy
from 2015 through at least 2017. Both of those documents have since
been taken down from the Daybreak Games website, but the Internet
Archive links cited above don't forget.
Outside of those previous firsthand sources, there's also a Polygon feature from April 2015
where Daybreak's then-president and CEO John Smedley directly says that
"after kissing a lot of frogs, we finally found a happy home with
Columbus Nova. It was really a match made in heaven." Smedley also
mentions Columbus Nova's investment in a May VentureBeat interview and in a 2016 Polygon interview.
Players of Daybreak games like Everquest II are understandably concerned that the disputed connections between Vekselberg and Daybreak could cause trouble for their favorite titles. Reports suggest
Vekselberg's frozen US accounts contain up to $2 billion in assets and
that the Treasury Department has given his US investment funds until
June 5 to sell off their interest in his companies at a loss and wind
down their related operations.
Given that, it's likely only a small matter of time until we find out
if Vekselberg's legal and financial problems will become Daybreak's via
a disputed business relationship. For now, we'll only say that
something doesn't seem to add up.
[Update: A source inside Daybreak Games (who asked
not to be named directly) responded to Ars' request for comment to
clarify once again that Daybreak was actually purchased in 2015 by Jason
Epstein through his wholly-owned LLC, Inception Acquisitions. Epstein
was an ownership partner of Columbus Nova at the time, leading his
purchase to be conflated with ownership by Columbus Nova itself in
statements and reporting, the source explained.
"At the time, they just didn't think that that was a big deal,
because both Inception and Columbus Nova were Jason's," said the source,
who was not with the company in 2015. "Jason was the primary owner, and
he owned both. Saying Columbus Nova as an investment firm seemed to
make more sense [at the time]... What they should have said was 'Jason
Epstein, owner of Harmonix, purchased Daybreak,' [or] ''Partners of
Columbus Nova purchase Daybreak.'"
"We're not denying he was there," the source continued. But when
Epstein left Columbus Nova last year, any association between the
investment firm and Daybreak (through Epstein) ended, the source said.
Daybreak and Columbus Nova let an announcement of that distinction "fall
through the cracks" when Epstein departed, focusing instead on getting H1Z1 to a full release, they added.
What's more, the source also said that Vekselberg's Renova Group does
not actually own Columbus Nova, despite widespread reporting through
the years suggesting they do. Instead, the source said, Columbus Nova
merely "managed some accounts," for the Russian conglomerate, adding
that those accounts were "not tied to Russia. Renova has other holdings
and accounts, and we've gotten roped in."
The saga of resident Donald Trump consists of several parallel and intersecting stories.
There is the structural dimension. Trump's victory over Hillary
Clinton was not entirely unpredictable or shocking. America's crisis in
civic literacy, political polarization, rampant anti-intellectualism,
deeply embedded sexism and racism, greed, broken schools and weakened
democratic institutions, as well as a hollowed-out public sphere where
people confuse celebrity with human worth, made the election of someone
like Trump nearly inevitable.
There is Donald Trump the man, who seems to revel in the very worst
human values. His closest family members -- including his father and
grandfather -- taught him the "value" of unrepentant greed and ambition.
He also displays the symptoms of malignant narcissism, as well as
sociopathy. In all, Trump is a master of manipulation who leads a
political cult.
How do these factors combine to form Donald Trump's residency and
the type of society that he and the Republican Party want to create? Are
matters actually worse than they appear, in terms of how we assess the
political and social crisis of Trump's residency? What strategy should
Democrats use to stop Trump and the Republican Party? If Trump is
removed from office because of his increasingly obvious efforts to
obstruct justice, how will his public respond? Will there be violence?
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length. A longer version of this conversation can also be heard on my podcast.
How was Donald Trump able to defeat Hillary Clinton and win the White House?
Well, a series of events came together. First of all, Hillary Clinton had a lot of baggage, and as Donna Brazile's book “Hacks”
shows, she ran a poor campaign and did not listen to the advice of
people who told her she needed to pay attention to what Trump was doing.
Secondly, the Republican challengers were a clown car of utterly
unqualified people, which meant his lack of qualifications was not so
noticeable. The one qualified candidate in that field was John Kasich.
Next, Donald ran on an economic platform that, on the surface, spoke
to inequality and frustration.
For example, in 2012, the bottom 90
percent of Americans reported a smaller income than in 1967.
Donald
tapped into that problem, but he’s a con artist who promised to drain
the swamp and then stocked it with swamp monsters.
Another factor was the utter failure of journalists to vet Donald
Trump. You can read about Barack Obama's kindergarten playmates in
Indonesia by name, the boys he smoked dope with in high school by name
and some of the women he dated in college by name. But The New York
Times, in the 16 months from Trump's [campaign] announcement to Election
Day, had exactly four references that had "Trump" and "Mafia" in the
same story, and they were all in passing and inconsequential.
They also didn't report on the two income tax fraud trials that Trump
lost. There was just a lot of stuff about Trump that was never reported
because his campaign was like looking at a car crash on the other side
of the highway, but it had dancing girls and a marching band and so you
couldn't turn away from it.
For 40 years, the Republicans have done serious work preparing for
the day when, as a minority party, they wanted to still be in control.
So they have reduced the franchise. They've passed laws like this
horrible law in Michigan that lets you throw out ballots on the most
bogus grounds, entire precincts. All that combined to help Trump win the
Electoral College.
Why were so many journalists and pundits unable to understand
the true power of Trump's campaign? So much of what he did and
continues to do is political performance art drawn from professional
wrestling and reality TV. It isn't complicated.
Remember that campaign reporters cover the horse race. They focus on
the sizzle and not the steak. Everybody was so taken by his unusual
campaign that they just forgot about the basics.
You have studied and written about Donald Trump for three
decades. What does the public need to know about his background, to
understand his behavior as president?
Here are the key things people should know about Donald Trump. He
comes from a family of criminals: His grandfather made his fortune
running whorehouses in Seattle and in the Yukon Territory. His father,
Fred, had a business partner named Willie Tomasello, who was an
associate of the Gambino crime family. Trump's father was also
investigated by the U.S. Senate for ripping off the government for what
would be the equivalent of $36 million in today's money. Donald got his
showmanship from his dad, as well as his comfort with organized
criminals.
I think it is very important for religious Americans to know that
Donald Trump says that his personal philosophy of life is revenge. He
has called anyone who turns the other cheek -- which is a fundamental
teaching of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount -- a fool, an idiot or a
schmuck. Trump is a man who says things that are absolutely contrary to
the teachings of the New Testament. He also denigrates Christians. Yet
you see all of these ministers endorsing him.
I've followed Donald for 30 years. I don't see any evidence that he
has changed, and he certainly hasn't repented, which is a fundamental
Christian obligation.
He is a racist through and through. He has been found in formal
judicial proceedings to discriminate against nonwhites in rentals and
employment.
It's important to understand that Trump is aggressively
anti-Christian, despite claiming to be one. He is bluntly a racist. Most
importantly, he is literally ignorant about almost everything.
Trump's voters will not abandon him under any circumstances.
He leads the Republican Party and thus has its news media and other
resources at his disposal. Some folks believe that there will be a "blue
wave" of Democratic votes that will wash him and the Republican Party
out to sea in 2018 and 2020. I don't see that happening. I think Trump
wins in 2020. Am I being too cynical?
Well, he may win again in 2020. The November elections are the most
important American elections since the Civil War, and I'm including
1932.
Based just on normal historic averages, the Republicans should lose
control of the House by about four seats. They should lose control of
the Senate as well, although the map is pretty awful for the Democrats.
If Republicans retain control, then I believe what will happen over time
is that someone who shares Trump's dictatorial and authoritarian
tendencies but doesn't have his baggage -- someone who is a competent
manager and just as charismatic -- will eventually arise and you can
kiss your individual liberties goodbye. That will take time, but it's
the trend we are heading towards.
On the other hand, if enough people go to the polls -- remember,
roughly 100 million people did not vote in 2016 -- if the Democrats get
organized, if they can persuade the public they have an agenda that goes
beyond just getting rid of Trump and they get control of Congress, they
will move to impeach him. They need a two-thirds majority in the Senate
to convict him, but they will certainly move to have public hearings.
Is Trump an ideologue?
No. That's the whole point of the first chapter of my book,
“Resident Like No Other.” The 44 previous presidents were all over the
map. There were smart people and dumb people, there were people of
impeccable integrity such as Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter, there were
absolute scoundrels like Warren G. Harding. We had a murderous racist in
the White House whose painting hangs in the Oval Office, now looking
down on Trump. What distinguishes all those presidents, particularly
Chester Arthur, the one closest to Trump, is that they tried in the
context of their times to make America better.
Donald Trump is a man with this desperate need for adoration. He is
an empty vessel, the exact opposite of Henry David Thoreau -- a "life
unexamined." His only philosophy is the glorification of Donald.
If you were going to consult with the Democratic Party about
how to defeat Trump and the Republican Party, what would you suggest?
I think most of what Hillary said came across as "blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." What I would say to the Democrats is,
"Your first and fundamental mission is to tell people what you are for."
Not that you're against Trump. Being against Trump doesn't get you very
far. It will get you some people who hate Trump. But what are you for?
What you want to say is: We will get the incredible burden of health
care off the back of small businesses. We will make it so you don't have
to stick with an employer because you have health care and you don't
want to run the risk of switching or losing it. We want to relieve
business of the burden of health care like every other modern country,
and it will save everyone money.
We want to invest in the future of America. So we will put more money
into education and basic science. Did you know that half the economic
growth in this country since the end of World War II can be traced to
taxpayer investments in science?
We want investments at home that will create jobs. Our country is
falling apart in front of our eyes. That will create an enormous number
of jobs, but it will also make the economy more efficient. We want to
invest in that future, which will make us all much better off. We're
about building a prosperous future. We're not about looking back, as
Donald Trump is, to the past.
This is a crucial point. People who've been had by con artists are
ashamed, and the world is full of cases, I've written about some of
them, you see see it in movies and TV shows. They just can't face the
fact that they were tricked. It makes them feel stupid and foolish.
Well, people who got conned by Trump -- it's painful for many of them
and they will do anything to avoid it. You don’t want to confront them,
you don't want to make them feel stupid.
What do you think will happen with the Mueller investigation? Trump is not acting like an innocent person.
Well, Mueller has assembled an extraordinarily talented team. Here is
what Mueller is going to find. Mueller has the Trump tax returns. A
competent prosecutor would have them by now. The Trump tax returns are
the beginning point. You have to get the books and records -- Donald has
a long history of hiding books and records when they're sought by
auditors. As for the Russians, it is beyond dispute at this point that
the Trump campaign was actively involved in a conspiracy.
He's not exactly what Putin wanted, but most importantly, Trump's not
Hillary Clinton, who would have gone up to the edge of war to make
Putin give up Crimea. She made that very clear in a campaign. He would
be in severe pain if he didn't give up the Crimean peninsula in eastern
Ukraine.
So he didn't want her, under any circumstances. Mueller is
going to report on tax fraud, he's going to report on the Russians and
he is going to show that the Trump campaign was knowingly being helped
by the Russians. Remember that the Australian, Dutch and British
intelligence agencies, and maybe others, went to the FBI, State
Department and other contacts and said, "You folks have a problem. "
Where exactly Mueller will go beyond that, I don't know. His mission
is the Russians, and the Russians are tied in with the tax returns. But
remember this: The job of a prosecutor is not to bring the perfect case,
it's not to bring the case that should be brought for political
reasons. It's to bring the easiest, most solid case that wins. Mueller
will do that. There is nothing that prevents indicting a sitting
president, but it is an untested issue. Mueller is going to have to
decide whether to indict him or to go to Congress.
If the overwhelming conclusion of the Mueller report is that the
Russians put Trump in the White House, then you face a second terrible
problem: What do you do about Mike Pence, who is also the beneficiary of
Russian interference?
There is no good ending to the story. America will survive this,
we'll get past it, but whenever Trump leaves, there's no good ending. If
Trump is removed by impeachment or by the voters, whether in a
Republican primary or a general election, I know what he will do. He's
already told us what he will do by his actions. Trump will spend the
rest of his days fomenting violence and revolution in this country.
He's careful not to directly say "revolution," but he will call the
government illegitimate. He might even call it criminal, since he called
Democrats who didn't stand up during his State of the Union speech
treasonous. If they're going to impeach Trump, I believe they have to
have a plan to indict, try, convict and imprison him. But Trump will be a
role model for some people, and there may well be violence over it.
As Malcolm Nance and others have warned, Russia's
interference in the 2016 election and likely infiltration of Trump's
inner circle could be one of the worst intelligence disasters in
American history, a failure of Benedict Arnold or Rosenberg proportions.
Let me be very clear and quotable about this. At an absolute minimum,
Donald Trump has divided loyalties, and the evidence we already have
suggests that Donald Trump is a traitor. In fact, I would say that the
evidence we already have, the public materials such as emails for
example, strongly indicate that Donald Trump is a traitor. However, I
don't even think he understands what he's done.
For nearly 50 years, Earth Day has provided an opportunity for people
across the globe to come together and rally in support of the natural
world. While the specific challenges have varied, the goal has remained
more or less the same: to protect the rich, biological world that the
current generation has inherited from being overwhelmed by the
influences of humanity.
Posted by VERITASLIB3RA
Few
people understand that one of the most notorious individuals in British
history may have contributed to the lineage of our current (*now past)
president. Evidence points to the disturbing possibility that Crowley
was the true father of Barbara Bush, the former First Lady and mother to
George W. Bush. If you look at the below pictures, you can see the
resemblance of Crowley and Bush are too apparent to dismiss. Anyone who
remotely knows genetics can see these two people are related!!!
The
story may seem difficult to believe at first, until one learns more
about the social inter-relations that tied together these unlikely
parties. Specifically, we must focus on a fascinating woman named
Pauline Pierce, born Pauline Robinson—whose third child was named
Barbara. Most sources divulge little about this woman. We learn more
about her husband Marvin Pierce, the president of the McCall
Corporation, which published McCall’s magazine and Redbook. He married
Pauline, a beautiful young socialite, in 1919. Their first child,
Martha, was born the next year; the second, James, was born in 1921. At
this time, Aleister Crowley inhabited what must have seemed a very
different world, as he embarked upon the great communal experiment of
the Abbey of Thelema in Italy.
During the Abbey period, a Crowley
follower had accidentally died during a magical (Crowley’s spelling)
ceremony. The incident created a firestorm of unwanted publicity (the
sensationalist British press labeled Crowley “The Wickedest Man in the
World”), which prompted Mussolini’s government to expel Crowley and his
followers from Italian soil.
When Crowley was 50 years old, he was
residing in the home of Frank and Nellie O’Hara in Paris, France. In
early 1924, Nellie was visited by her American friend, Pauline Pierce,
the wife of Marvin Pierce, president of the McCall Corporation, which
published McCall’s and Redbook magazines.
During Pauline’s visit, Crowley underwent what he termed the “supreme ordeal”,
an initiation into the Masonic Ipsissimus Grade — the highest magickal
achievement in his Order. The initiation rite included choosing one or
more experienced attendants, charged with arousing and exhausting him
sexually by every means possible, employing every artifice and
stimulant. In that place and time, Nellie and Pauline were the most
suited for this task.
Pauline returned to America, and on June 8, 1925, eight months after Crowley’s “supreme ordeal”, Pauline gave birth to a daughter she named Barbara. Barbara grew up to marry George H. W. Bush, who later became President of the United States. Is Aleister Crowley the father of Barbara Bush?
It’s
very possible and highly likely that she knows her real father was
Crowley and is working behind the scenes to carry on the agenda he
started. Illuminati families are way more aware of things like this than
we think they are. I suspect Crowley is indeed Barbara Bush’s real
father.
Barbara
Bush matches her real father, Aleister Crowley to near perfection. The
face and eyes, it’s all very clear. (BELOW) Barbara Bush has no
resemblance to the man on the right, Marvin Pierce (Her alleged father).
But is a perfect match to the man on the left (Crowley)
Two
very recent pics of Barbara Bush (Below) and her father, Aleister
Crowley. You should be able to discern the evil in both, as a matter of
fact, if you took the hair off Barbara Bush, she could be Aleister
Crowley’s twin: WATCH THE RESEMBLANCE
However,
more than one person has noted the resemblance and it is
astounding!—and this resemblance is not just physical. Many will recall
the former First Lady’s haughty and thoughtless remarks in the aftermath
of the Katrina disaster.
Those “in the know”
were reminded of Aleister Crowley’s similar reaction to the loss of
life which occurred during the ascent of Kangchanjunga, an expedition he
commanded: “This is precisely the sort of thing with which I have no sympathy whatsoever.”
Barbara
Bush (Who is also the cousin of George Bush Sr. in addition to being
his wife) lso, said a truly despicable statement when asked about the
war casualties in Iraq…She stated…”It’s not relevant, why should I concern my beautiful mind with that?”
Hmm, Beautiful mind? No, she has an EVIL mind..the same as her father
Crowley. But America..(and@NOX) WAKE UP!! This is the same disgusting
first lady you admired for 8 years! (George Bush Sr. was the REAL
president when Reagan was in power). She is not who she presents herself
to be. She is the product of generational satanism. And each generation
gets more and more evil than the one which preceded it.
