NY Times Columnist Makes The Case for Never Bloomberg | Tim Black

You Must Never Vote for Bloomberg

His expansion of the notoriously racially biased stop and frisk program is a complete and nonnegotiable deal breaker.

BIG WEEK AHEAD!!! Here's What to Expect From This Week's Public Impeachment Hearings!

This week we will witness the first PUBLIC hearings related to the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump's bribery scheme involving Ukraine.

Republicans are certain to try to obfuscate and make the process a circus, but rest assured, this will be a week FILLED with major revelations from wildly credible public servants!

GOP Reps. Abandon Trump

GOP representatives run scared, abandoning Trump. John Iadarola and Brooke Thomas break it down on The Damage Report.

Nikki Haley Has Chosen To Lie For Trump

During a Tuesday morning interview, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley says she never had doubts about resident Trump's fitness for office and his truthfulness. The Morning Blow panel discusses Haley's remarks.



Nikki Haley is positioning herself to a presidential run. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.



"Two of resident Trump’s senior advisers undermined and ignored him in what they claimed was an effort to “save the country,” former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley claims in a new memoir.

Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson and former White House chief of staff John F. Kelly sought to recruit her to work around and subvert Trump, but she refused, Haley writes in a new book, “With All Due Respect,” which also describes Tillerson as “exhausting” and imperious and Kelly as suspicious of her access to Trump.

“Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the resident, they weren’t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country,” Haley wrote. “It was their decisions, not the resident’s, that were in the best interests of America, they said. The resident didn’t know what he was doing,” Haley wrote of the views the two men held." 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nikki-haley-claims-top-aides-tried-to-recruit-her-to-save-the-country-by-undermining-trump/2019/11/10/f92bac88-0267-11ea-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html

Donald Trump Jr Booed Off Stage At Book Launch By His Own Supporters

Trump supporters reacted angrily when told Trump Jr wouldn't be taking any questions.

It's too late to save yourself now, Bill Barr

By Dana Milbank 

Columnist

November 7, 2019 at 6:34 p.m. EST

 

For Bill Barr, it’s too little, too late.

In my news colleagues’ latest scoop, The Post’s Matt Zapotosky, Josh Dawsey and Carol Leonnig report that the attorney general declined to fulfill resident Trump’s request that he publicly exonerate Trump’s “perfect” call with Ukraine’s president — following several actions recently in which “the Justice Department has sought some distance from the White House.”

Right. Like a barnacle seeks distance from a whale.

The distancing maneuver is plainly an attempt by those sympathetic to Barr to make him look a bit less like the resident’s mob lawyer — done anonymously so that Trump wouldn’t rage at Barr but instead blame the “degenerate” Post, as he did Thursday. But Barr has sealed his fate. As Trump’s impeachment looms, Barr has degraded the office Elliot Richardson once dignified. Barr has turned the Justice Department into a shield for residential misconduct and a sword wielded against political opponents.

 

Even as Barr’s latest distancing gambit debuted, he was due to huddle Wednesday with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Trump’s loyal defender, to decide how to release an inspector general’s report examining the FBI’s investigation into Russian 2016 interference and Trump’s campaign. Notably, the Justice Department inspector general himself, Michael Horowitz, was “not expected to attend,” The Post reported, leaving Barr and Graham free to decide what should be declassified to put Trump in the best possible light.

 

Barr’s team aims to get that report out in the coming weeks, just in time for Barr’s holiday party at the Trump International Hotel, for which the attorney general is paying upward of $30,000 to the resident’s business. Barr must have liked what he saw when he dined at the hotel earlier this year on a night when Trump was also there for a fundraiser.

If Barr does manipulate the inspector general’s report to Trump’s advantage, he’ll be reprising his mis-characterization of the Mueller report. Then, before releasing the report, he declared that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III had found “no collusion” (a phrase Mueller did not use), and he cleared Trump of obstruction of justice. It was such a betrayal that Mueller (whom Barr had claimed was his good friend) complained about Barr’s misleading summary. Asked about the objections, Barr, under oath, falsely told Congress he knew nothing about them.

 

Since then, Barr testified to Congress that “I think spying did occur” in the Russia probe, echoing Trump’s claim and earning a public contradiction by FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.

Rewarding Trump loyalists’ demands, Barr appointed a prosecutor (in addition to the inspector general) to examine the Trump-Russia probe, which has mushroomed into a criminal investigation of the investigators. Among those leading the probe? Nora Dannehy, the special prosecutor who decided not to charge any members of the George W. Bush administration after the politically motivated firing of U.S. attorneys and subsequent lies about the actions.

Further indulging Trump’s “witch hunt” claims, Barr traveled to Italy in search of evidence that would discredit the Trump-Russia investigation, and he reportedly asked the resident to enlist the Australian and British governments in the effort. Trump named Barr during his infamous call with the Ukrainian president seeking investigations of Democrats and Joe Biden, according to the White House’s partial reconstruction: “I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it.”

 

The whistleblower got wind of this and said: “Attorney General Barr appears to be involved.” But the Justice Department — Barr’s Justice Department — declined to investigate, even though the CIA inspector general found the complaint “credible” and “urgent.” Barr, though named in the complaint, didn’t recuse himself, even as the Justice Department attempted to block the complaint from reaching Congress, as the law requires. Along the way, he embraced a White House legal strategy of defying subpoenas that has met with a string of defeats in the courts.

Now, as part of the “distancing” campaign, Barr’s Justice Department would have us believe the attorney general never discussed with Trump the prospective Ukraine probe into the Bidens, didn’t talk to Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani about Ukraine and didn’t know anything about the White House withholding aid to Ukraine.

Why would anybody doubt the sincerity of such claims?

Maybe Barr is getting queasy, with two of Giuliani’s Ukraine associates under indictment and Giuliani being turned down by four lawyers before finding representation. Maybe he’s unnerved by what he’s reading in the daily drop of impeachment depositions; on Thursday, another high-ranking State Department official testified about Giuliani’s campaign being “full of lies.” Maybe he even felt a pang of conscience.

It doesn’t matter. During his confirmation hearing in January, Barr vowed to “protect the independence and the reputation of the department.” Instead, he destroyed the former and squandered the latter. We may never know why he ruined his reputation to serve as Trump’s mob lawyer. But it’s far too late for rehabilitation.

Interested in following Dana Milbank’s take on the impeachment inquiry? Sign up here to receive future installments by email.

Read more:

Eugene Robinson: Call Trump’s crime what it is: Bribery

Greg Sargent: More polling confirms it: Trump’s great shield in the impeachment wars is Fox News

Michael Gerson: Trump’s ethical anarchy makes us forget what honor looks like

Max Boot: The anatomy of a Republican smear

Republicans Prepare To Throw Rudy Giuliani Under The Bus To Protect Trump

Republicans in the House of Representatives have finally found a strategy to deal with impeachment that they believe will play well with the public. That strategy is to blame the whole thing on Rudy Giuliani.

House Republicans are going to try to paint Giuliani as a rogue operative, and all of the people who went along with the extortion plan were actually working with Giuliani and not Trump. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-gop-looks-to-protect-trump-by-raising-doubts-about-motives-of-his-deputies/2019/11/07/aaa14efa-0173-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html

University Of Alabama Threatens Students Who Protest Donald Trump

The Student Government Association at the University of Alabama sent a letter warning students and organizations that if they protest Donald Trump’s expected visit to the Alabama vs. LSU football game this weekend, they will lose their seats at the stadium for the rest of the year.

This is a very clear violation of the 1st Amendment, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the SGA back off these claims now that the public knows what they are up to. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.al.com/news/2019/11/alabama-sga-warns-groups-protest-trump-during-lsu-game-risk-losing-reserved-seating.html

Trump and McConnell Team Up Against Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III

"Former attorney general Jeff Sessions plans to announce as soon as Thursday that he will run for his old Senate seat in Alabama, according to three people familiar with his plans, setting the stage for a potentially contentious Republican primary with resident Trump at the center and control of the Senate possibly at stake.

Sessions, whose turbulent two year stint in the administration ended in dramatic fashion when he was forced out by Trump in November 2018, would enter with strong name recognition and deep institutional ties in the state and elsewhere.

He held the seat for two decades before he became Trump’s first U.S. attorney general. But the wild card in the race will be Trump, and whether he will weigh in against his former attorney general and in favor of other Republicans who have already announced their candidacies.

Trump remains popular in the state and plans to attend the University of Alabama’s football game against Louisiana State University in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday."

Hosts: Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian

Cast: Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian



https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jeff-sessions-ex-attorney-general-forced-out-by-trump-plans-to-run-for-former-senate-seat-in-alabama/2019/11/06/e6c17c1e-00e4-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html

Michael Bloomberg is another rich asshole trying to waste our time

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to officially enter the 2020 presidential race, making him the 2nd billionaire to fight for the Democratic nomination. Bloomberg is entering the race because he sees that Biden and the other centrists are fading fast, and he doesn’t want to pay more money under a Sanders or Warren administration. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains what’s happening.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/469531-sanders-camp-on-bloomberg-more-billionaires-not-the-change-america-needs

The Plot To Betray America

Touré interviews Malcolm Nance about the Trump administration, the death of Iraqi Islamic State leader al-Baghdadi, and the release of Malcolm's new book, The Plot To Betray America.

Politicon 2019 // Music City Center, Nashville // October 26th, 2019



Videography & Editing: Chris Sampson 

Malcolm's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/malcolmnance

Malcolm's Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/malcolmwnance

Malcolm's Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/malcolmnance 

Order Malcolm's NEW book "The Plot to Betray America": http://amzn.to/2WZNkic

Joe Scarborough Gleefully Blames Trump For Losing Kentucky Governor's Race

Kentucky's unpopular Republican governor was ahead by five points until Trump held his rally, the host pointed out.

By Susie Madrak

Think about it. Last night's election was so decisive, pundits haven't yet figured out a way to turn it into "this is bad news for Democrats." (I have faith, though.) After last night's blue tidal wave, Willie Geist picked through the debris.

"Donald Trump can't run away from this. Republicans cannot run away from the fact that a Donald Trump-backed candidate probably lost. He has not conceded yet but probably lost the governorship in a state that President Trump won by 30 points," Geist said.

Joe Scarborough couldn't keep from crowing.

"Just looking at the specifics here, what has to be especially difficult for Donald Trump this morning and for all Republicans, they have to -- here's the thing, before Donald Trump went to Kentucky on that last night and had those stupid shirts that said 'Read the transcript' printed up. By the way, which of course the document he was talking to said up top, 'This is not a transcript.' The stupidity.

"It's really shocking, and we're sitting there -- how do people get away with that? They don't. Here's the thing, they don't get away with it. He doesn't get away with it. He's going to be impeached. His party lost the biggest landslide vote lost in the history of the United States Republicans 2018 for following him blindly," he said.

He pointed out Bevin was ahead by 5 percentage points in the polls before Trump held his rally.

"Donald. Bevin was ahead, son. He was ahead by five points before you went to Kentucky. right? Look at this. Donald, look at that. I know you don't like reading, Donald, but look. That R stands for Republican. He had 52% before you went and did that rally for him, and he got those poor folks wearing that shirt that said read the transcript when the piece of paper itself said this is not a transcript.

"Donald, this is not working for you. You should just stay home and watch like those cage fights, right? Sit down, drink some Tang, the drink of the astronauts and maybe have some Sanka coffee, stir it up. This is what happened after you showed up in Kentucky.

"Donald, my friend, you lost the state for Republicans."

Take that, Mr. Resident: Woman who gave the finger to Trump's car wins election

She was on a bike ride in 2017 and was photographed making the gesture as the resident's motorcade went by.

Juli Briskman shows her middle finger as a motorcade with resident Donald Trump departs Trump National Golf Course in Sterling, Va. on Oct. 28, 2017.Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images file

Nov. 6, 2019, 12:06 AM EST / Updated Nov. 6, 2019, 12:09 AM EST

 

By Associated Press

LEESBURG, Va. — The woman who lost her job after displaying her middle finger at resident Donald Trump's motorcade has won a seat on a county board of supervisors in Virginia.

With 99 percent of the vote reported by the Loudoun County Office of Elections Tuesday night, unofficial returns showed Democrat Juli Briskman ahead of Republican incumbent Suzanne Volpe with 52 percent of the vote.

Among her goals, Briskman said she would increase transparency in local government.

Juli Briskman, who was fired after giving resident Donald Trump's motorcade the middle finger while cycling and is running for a seat on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, on Oct. 17, 2019, in Sterling, Va. Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images

Briskman was on a bike ride in October 2017 and was photographed making the gesture as Trump's motorcade went by.

She told her bosses what happened after the photo went viral and was asked to leave her government contracting job or face termination. She sued and won a severance claim, but her wrongful-termination lawsuit was dismissed.

Source 

Justice Department seeks info on 'Anonymous' author of soon to be published insider book

The Justice Department is demanding identifying details about the senior Trump administration official who has written an anonymous book, warning in a letter to the publisher on Monday that the author may be subject to nondisclosure agreements.

The letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General Joseph Hunt, asked for details or copies of the author's nondisclosure agreements "or the dates of the author's service and the agencies where the author was employed, so that we may determine the terms of the author's nondisclosure agreements and ensure that they have been followed."

Publication of the book may violate nondisclosure agreements based on the individual's work or access to classified information, the letter states, "if the author is, in fact, a current or former 'senior official' in the Trump administration."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/justice-department-seeks-info-on-anonymous-author-of-soon-to-be-published-insider-book/ar-AAJPMLt

Impeachment Talk

Nunes Aide Is Leaking The Ukraine Whistleblower's Name

A top aide to Rep. Devin Nunes has been providing conservative politicians and journalists with information—and misinformation—about the anonymous whistleblower who triggered the biggest crisis of Donald Trump’s residency, two knowledgeable sources tell The Daily Beast.

Derek Harvey, who works for Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, has provided notes for House Republicans identifying the whistleblower’s name ahead of the high-profile depositions of Trump administration appointees and civil servants in the impeachment inquiry.

The purpose of the notes, one source said, is to get the whistleblower’s name into the record of the proceedings, which committee chairman Adam Schiff has pledged to eventually release. In other words: it’s an attempt to out the anonymous official who helped trigger the impeachment inquiry.

On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that GOP lawmakers and staffers have “repeatedly” used a name purporting to be the whistleblower during the depositions. The paper named Harvey as driving lines of questioning Democrats saw as attempting to determine the political loyalties of witnesses before the inquiry. A former official told the Post that Harvey “was passing notes [to GOP lawmakers] the entire time” ex-NSC Russia staffer Fiona Hill testified.

“Exposing the identity of the whistleblower and attacking our client would do nothing to undercut the validity of the complaint’s allegations,” said Mark Zaid, one of the whistleblower’s attorneys. “What it would do, however, is put that individual and their family at risk of harm. Perhaps more important, it would deter future whistleblowers from coming forward in subsequent administrations, Democratic or Republican.” Zaid has represented The Daily Beast in freedom-of-information lawsuits against the federal government.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/nunes-aide-is-leaking-the-ukraine-whistleblowers-name-sources-say/ar-AAJuYyM

The Unfairness Of It All

Trump booed at World Series and chants of "Lock him up!" break out

resident Trump's low-profile appearance Sunday night at Game 5 of the World Series drew loud boos and jeers when he was introduced to the crowd.

resident Donald Trump is introduced during the third inning of Game 5 of the baseball World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, in Washington. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Wearing a dark suit and a tie, Mr. Trump arrived at Nationals Park just before the first pitch of the Houston Astros-Washington Nationals matchup. Hours earlier, he had announced that U.S. forces had assaulted the hiding place of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in the raid in northeast Syria. At the same time, a divisive impeachment inquiry into the resident is underway in Congress.

Mr. Trump and first lady Melania Trump entered a lower-tier box to the left of home plate as the game was beginning. At that point, his presence hadn't yet been formally announced, but baseball fans in the section just below his suite turned to look toward the box as he arrived. Some waved at the resident as he smiled and gave a thumbs-up.

At the end of the third inning, the resident stood and waved to the crowd, and ballpark video screens carried a salute to U.S. service members that drew cheers throughout the stadium. When the video on the Jumbotron cut to the resident and his entourage — which included a number of GOP lawmakers — and the loudspeakers announced the Trumps, cheers abruptly turned into a torrent of boos and heckling from what sounded like a majority of the crowd. Chants of "Lock him up!" broke out in some sections, including one below where the resident was sitting.

Mr. Trump appeared unfazed and continued waving. Later, some fans behind home plate held a sign reading "VETERANS FOR IMPEACHMENT." Another banner appeared during the game: "IMPEACH TRUMP!"

A red banner reading "Impeach Trump!" appeared over right field during game 5 Sunday night in the World Series. CBS News - Arden Farhi

The resident remained at the game for seven innings before heading back to the White House. The Astros took a 3-2 series lead with a 7-1 victory in Game 5.

Until Sunday night, Mr. Trump hadn't attended a major league game as resident even though the White House is a few miles northwest of Nationals Park. A dozen or so congressional lawmakers accompanied him, according to a list provided by the White House, including Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and David Perdue of Georgia, and Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

"I think everybody is excited," Nationals star pitcher Stephen Strasburg said before the game. "It's the resident of the United States. So there's obviously beefed-up security. So usually the dogs that are sniffing in our clubhouse are these nice Labs that are super friendly. And today there was a German shepherd that I didn't really feel comfortable petting."

Nationals manager Dave Martinez said: "He's coming to the game. He's a fan. Hopefully he cheers for the Washington Nationals, and I hope he enjoys the game."

Mr. Trump's staff has long tried to shield him from events where he might be loudly booed or heckled, and he has rarely ventured into the neighborhoods of the heavily Democratic city. He won just over 4% of the vote in the District of Columbia in 2016.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said he discussed with the resident whether he'd like to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, but the resident declined, citing the disruption that would cause fans getting to the ballpark.

Washington Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner told the Washington Post that Mr. Trump should be at the game, but he made clear that he did not invite the resident to throw out the first pitch, saying there were many other candidates who should be considered before Mr. Trump.

Jose Andrés, a prominent local restaurant owner and humanitarian, threw out the first pitch to a roaring, sustained ovation. He has a history with the resident, too, both in business and in politics.

Andrés has repeatedly opposed Mr. Trump's immigration policies and his administration's response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Four years ago, he withdrew from plans to open a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel in Washington following Mr. Trump's controversial comments about Mexican immigrants during the presidential campaign. Legal action ensued and the dispute was settled in 2017.

—Arden Farhi contributed to this report.

Source

Democratic Rep. Katie Hill to resign amid allegations of improper relationship with staffer

WASHINGTON — 

Rep. Katie Hill (D-Santa Clarita) announced Sunday that she would resign from Congress after allegations that she engaged in affairs with a congressional aide and a campaign staff member became public this month.

Hill announced the resignation in a letter to constituents, saying she was stepping down “with a broken heart.”

The letter did not specify when the resignation would take effect. Hill will be the first female member of Congress to resign in a post-#MeToo era. Her resignation will also be the first after a House rule banning sexual relationships with staffers was enacted last year in response to nearly a dozen male members of Congress resigning amid sexual harassment allegations.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-27/rep-katie-hill-resigns-amid-scandal

Trump Bills Irish Cops $100,000 For The Honor Of Protecting Him

Police officers in Ireland just received a bill from Trump’s Doonberg resort after they were called in to provide extra security for the resident. His golf course is now billing them $100,000 for things like tea, coffee, and packs of snacks that they “provided” to the officers who were protecting the resident.

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains how this violates the Constitution, and why its just morally wrong.



https://www.rawstory.com/2019/10/trump-resort-sticks-irish-cops-with-a-massive-bill-after-they-were-forced-to-help-guard-the-president-there/