Thousands of protesters gathered around the country in a series of “March for Truth” rallies, on Saturday. Demonstrators were calling for a congressional independent commission to investigate connections between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Even though 3Chics Politico is written and curated by three women: Ametia, Rikyrah, and SouthernGirl2, I must nominate this as one of the most engaging blogs I've found. Devoted to politics and culture, these three shine a light on contemporary life with humor and spirit.
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/872205749748776960
I’m not surprised. MSNBC is trying to make her into the next Diane Sawyer but I suspect she will fall short.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Look at this ISH, y’all? He told a flat out bald face lie. And they’re so thug until they absolutely don’t give a damn.
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/872235827845361664
https://twitter.com/Crystal1Johnson/status/871894514050400257
Why No Lawyers Will Represent Trump
by Martin Longman
June 6, 2017 12:19 PM
President Trump can’t find a top law firm that wants to represent him. He and his top aides have tried. They’ve looked around. They’ve had conference calls. But they got zip, nada, bupkis. The top litigators and their firms have various reasons why they won’t agree to represent the president of the United States. Here are some of them:
1. They won’t get paid.
2. Their client wouldn’t follow their advice.
3. They represent clients who have been or might be subpoenaed in money laundering aspects of the case.
4. It would destroy the image and reputation of their firm.
5. It would ‘kill’ efforts to recruit top lawyers to their firm.
6. They’ll be washing their hair that year (“I’m too busy to represent the POTUS.”)
7. He can’t be saved.
To me, that’s a damning list. Under ordinary circumstances, I can’t think of anything more prestigious for a law firm than to be able to say that when the shit hits the fan, they’re the ones who take the call from the president. But, with this president, they’re not even confident that the client won’t stiff them on their bill. They’re also savvy enough to realize that the Trump Organization is up to its ears in money laundering and that this will create a conflict with the large banking institutions they represent. And Trump is so toxic, guilty, and unsympathetic that simply advocating on his behalf would cause people to shun and disdain their whole organization. Plus, they’d lose the case anyway in part because their advice wouldn’t be followed.
Sen. Mark Warner: More state election systems were targeted by Russians
Susan Page , USA TODAY Published 1:03 p.m. ET June 6, 2017
WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee told USA TODAY on Tuesday that Russian attacks on election systems were broader and targeted more states than those detailed in an explosive intelligence report leaked to the website The Intercept.
“I don’t believe they got into changing actual voting outcomes,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said in an interview. “But the extent of the attacks is much broader than has been reported so far.” He said he was pushing intelligence agencies to declassify the names of those states hit to help put electoral systems on notice before the midterm voting in 2018.
“None of these actions from the Russians stopped on Election Day,” he warned.
The National Security Agency report said Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. supplier of voting software and sent deceptive emails to more than 100 local election officials in the days leading up to the election last November — a sign that Moscow’s hacking may have penetrated further into voting systems than previously known.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/06/mark-warner-more-state-election-systems-targeted-by-russians-nsa-senate-intelligence/102549928/
Thread Book Hour: Eddie Glaude Jr. on what it means to be American-Parts 1 & 2
PART 1:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/06/05/eddie-glaude-jr-on-democracy-in-black
PART 2:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/06/06/pt2-eddie-glaude-jr
I know that I can be flip at times. And, snarky.
But, I am worried about what’s happening in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia is NOT, nor has ever been our friend. Neither is Qatar, but we have Soldiers and their families in Qatar.
We have an ignoramous in the WH, who hasn’t a clue about any phucking thing.
And, he has surrounded himself with ignorant azz muthaphuckas without a clue about anything but kissing his azz and grifting.
Shrub was Shrub, but he did surround himself with professionals. They were evil as phuck, but there was a basic professionalism about them. WE KNEW when he lied about Iraq, what was going on. We didn’t know the end result, but we knew what was going on.
Dolt45 doesn’t know what’s going on, and folks best not sleep on Iran.
The.Persians.Are.NOT.Iraq.
Those itching for war with Iran are even stupider than those who wanted to go to war in Iraq.
Trump’s radical budget director sees himself as a great success
06/06/17 11:20 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump’s far-right budget director, Mick Mulvaney, sat down with the New York Times the other day and expressed confidence that he’s doing a great job.
Aside from the president himself, if there’s one person in the Trump administration who should avoid boasts about “substantive” debates, it’s the Republican leading the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
It was just last week, for example, that Mulvaney told the Washington Examiner, in reference to his budget plan and the administration’s tax-reform ambitions, ”I wouldn’t take what’s in the budget as indicative of what our proposals are.”
That, of course, didn’t make any sense. A budget is, practically by definition, a document intended to reflect proposals.
But the comment offered a mere peek into a deeply radical perspective that makes Mulvaney one of the most extreme and indefensible members of Team Trump.
Just informed Senate Foreign Relations Chair Corker of what Trump tweeted about Qatar and was met with about 8 seconds of stunned silence
— Matt Laslo (@MattLaslo) June 6, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump just dragged us into Gulf dispute & trashed Qatar, which hosts 11,000 U.S. troops. He better have a plan for their safety.
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) June 6, 2017
Dems lose appetite for deal with Trump on infrastructure
BY MELANIE ZANONA – 06/06/17 06:00 AM EDT
Major elements of President Trump’s infrastructure initiative are facing staunch opposition from Democrats, increasing the likelihood that Republicans will have to go it alone.
…
But Trump kicked off his infrastructure campaign Monday by announcing a proposal to separate air traffic control from the federal government — one of the most controversial infrastructure ideas floated by the administration so far, and one that was quickly rejected by Democrats.
“Trump’s ‘infrastructure week’ appears to be little more than a Trojan Horse for undermining workers’ wages and handing massive tax breaks to billionaires and corporations,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement.
“Trump’s ideas for privatizing Air Traffic Control — which recycle a tired Republican plan that both sides of the aisle have rejected — would hand control of one of our nation’s most important public assets to special interests and the big airlines.”
The proposal would transfer the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) air traffic control operations to an independent outside agency over three years “at no charge,” removing 30,000 FAA employees from the federal payroll. The FAA would still maintain safety oversight.
…
Trump’s infrastructure proposal, which was outlined in his budget request last month, would spend $200 billion to inject $1 trillion worth of overall investment into the nation’s transportation system by largely incentivizing private firms to back projects.
The private-sector model has raised concern among Democrats and rural Republicans who fear investors would only be attracted to projects that can recoup their revenue cost through tolls or user fees.
…
Several groups of Democrats have signaled that they would prefer to move ahead with their own infrastructure plans, including the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), which recently outlined a $2 trillion proposal in an effort to create a contrast with Trump.
“In reality, President Trump and Congressional Republicans are pushing a trillion-dollar corporate giveaway that would create tax incentives for Wall Street to privatize our roads, bridges, sanitation systems, and utilities, while raising tolls, fees, and bills — all through taxpayer subsidies,” the CPC outline says.
…
http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/336461-dems-lose-appetite-for-deal-with-trump-on-infrastructure
AWE….
NEW YORK (AP) — Publicist says Amal Clooney, wife of George Clooney, gave birth to twins Ella and Alexander on Tuesday.
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 6, 2017
They buried the lede on this one: Four top law firms turned down requests to represent Trump https://t.co/vhQNLNaCwE#RICO#TrumpCrimeFamily pic.twitter.com/v12u0bVM8g
— meta (@metaquest) June 6, 2017
Of course they buried the lede. If these mofos would display any semblance of REAL JOURNALISM, #45 would have been BURRIED decades ago.
The United States government no longer has a policy of any kind; just a bunch of angry white people tripping over each other.
— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) June 5, 2017
MSM, you can’t take anything #45 says at face value. The $110B arms deal to Saudi Arabia is fake news https://t.co/BwSGTjwGhQ @BrookingsInst
— Donna NoShock (@NoShock) June 6, 2017
CNN has announced it will livestream Thursday’s Comey testimony without requiring a cable subscriber log-in.
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) June 6, 2017
2018: Do Republicans Hate the Media More Than Democrats Fear Trump?
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 6, 2017 8:00 AM
Based on how things have been going, Republicans running in 2018 aren’t going to have much of a record of accomplishments to run on, despite controlling both houses of Congress and the presidency. There has been a lot of talk about how GOP turnout might be depressed as a result. But according to Alex Roarty and Lindsay Wise, the GOP has come up with a strategy.
The hope, say these officials, is to convince Trump die-hards that these mid-term races are as much a referendum on the media as they are on President Trump. That means embracing conflict with local and national journalists, taking them on to show Republicans voters that they, just like the president, are battling a biased press corps out to destroy them
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/5/17
Trump ranting corrodes executive credibility
Neal Katyal, former acting U.S. solicitor general, talks about how Donald Trump’s online ranting has undercut his lawyers’ legal defense of his Muslim ban, and shattered the credibility of the executive branch.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/5/17
Leaked docs show new depth of US voting system hacking by Russia
Ken Delanian, NBC News national security reporter, talks about new revelations of Russian efforts to hack U.S. voting systems in 2016 and the arrest of the NSA contractor who shared secret documents with the news media.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/5/17
White House staff fails to restrain Trump from damaging self, US
Michael Beschloss, NBC News presidential historian, talks about times in history when a struggling president has been steadied by able staff members, and notes that Donald Trump lacks such support.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/5/17
Trump rash behavior hurts US interests, alliances
Laura Kennedy, former deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, talks about the damage Donald Trump has done to U.S. relations with allies in Europe.
EPA chief, White House get caught making bogus jobs claims
06/06/17 08:40 AM—UPDATED 06/06/17 09:36 AM
By Steve Benen
On “Meet the Press” over the weekend, former Vice President Al Gore told NBC News’ Chuck Todd the truth about a struggling industry: “The loss of jobs in the coal industry started with the mechanization of the coal industry. Natural gas started displacing coal and the fossil fuel sector. And promising to re-create the 19th century is not a visionary strategy for a successful 21st century.”
The host asked Donald Trump’s far-right EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, whether Gore is right. “Dead wrong,” Pruitt replied. “Because the numbers show exactly the opposite. In fact, since the fourth quarter of last year to most recently, we’ve added almost 50,000 jobs in the coal sector. In the month of May alone, almost 7,000 jobs.”
The Republican EPA administrator made the nearly identical claim on ABC and Fox News, suggesting it wasn’t just a verbal slip-up. This was the message Pruitt prepared in advance and was eager to tell the public.
It was not, however, true. The Washington Post reported:
Trump’s family can’t seem to stop blurring ethical lines
06/06/17 10:09 AM—UPDATED 06/06/17 10:30 AM
By Steve Benen
ABC News aired a segment this morning featuring Donald Trump’s adult sons, Eric and Don Jr., talking about expanding the Trump Organization’s hotel business with a series of “mid-market properties it’s calling the American Idea.”
But while the two Trump brothers were there, they apparently thought it’d be wise to mix business and politics. The president’s sons tried to dismiss the seriousness of the Russia scandal, for example, and as Politico noted, Don Jr. decided to go after the mayor of London, too.
Look, I realize how easy it is to grow inured to bizarre political circumstances, but this should be difficult for anyone to defend.
The U.K. is one of our closest allies. London just suffered a deadly attack. The fact that the American president and his surrogates are going after the city’s mayor – who, by all appearances, has done nothing at all wrong, and hasn’t “pretended” that terrorism isn’t a problem – is plainly ridiculous.
Trump’s hotel profited from Saudi lobbying campaign
06/06/17 10:47 AM
By Steve Benen
Before taking office, Donald Trump and his team came up with a purported solution to one of the new president’s legal problems. The Constitution doesn’t allow a president to receive money from foreign governments, but Trump’s hotels – which he continues to own and profit from – welcomed foreign officials as guests.
So, we were told, to avoid running afoul of the law, Trump vowed that his business would monitor receipts and make sure the president didn’t profit from foreign governments. Except two weeks ago, NBC News reported that the Trump Organization decided not to keep that promise, determining that it’d be too difficult.
I’m not unsympathetic to the practical realities – keeping the promise would create a real logistical challenge – but there is no “this is too tricky and impractical” exception to the Constitution. Trump could do what he’s supposed to do – divest from his private-sector investments – and avoid the problem altogether.
The president, at least for now, refuses to divest, making reports like this one in the Wall Street Journal all the more problematic for Trump World.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/06/05/the-110-billion-arms-deal-to-saudi-arabia-is-fake-news/
Last month, President Trump visited Saudi Arabia and his administration announced that he had concluded a $110 billion arms deal with the kingdom. Only problem is that there is no deal. It’s fake news.
I’ve spoken to contacts in the defense business and on the Hill, and all of them say the same thing: There is no $110 billion deal. Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts. Many are offers that the defense industry thinks the Saudis will be interested in someday. So far nothing has been notified to the Senate for review. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the arms sales wing of the Pentagon, calls them “intended sales.” None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama administration.
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/872092756805660673
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/872091209929568257
Pesach ‘Pace’ Lattin @pacelattin 13h13 hours ago
Some serious stuff about to hit the news about the NSA that will destroy Trump. If he is not impeached then everyone is corrupt.
166 replies 1,194 retweets 2,588 likes
Pesach ‘Pace’ Lattin @pacelattin 9h9 hours ago
NSA and CIA have evidence that Russians accessed voter registration data and gave to people associated with Trump campaign.
34 replies 319 retweets 505 likes
In the Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the Koch Brothers’ Campaign Becomes Overt
By Jane Mayer
June 5, 2017
If there was any lingering doubt that a tiny clique of fossil-fuel barons has captured America’s energy and environmental policies, it was dispelled last week, when the Trump Administration withdrew from the Paris climate accord. Surveys showed that a majority of Americans in literally every state wanted to remain within the agreement, and news reports established that the heads of many of the country’s most successful and iconic Fortune 100 companies, from Disney to General Electric, did, too. Voters and big business were arrayed against leaving the climate agreement. Yet despite the majority’s sentiment, a tiny—and until recently, almost faceless—minority somehow prevailed.
How this happened is no longer a secret. The answer, as the New York Times reported, on Sunday, is “a story of big political money.” It is, perhaps, the most astounding example of influence-buying in modern American political history.
As the climate scientist Michael Mann put it to me in my book “Dark Money,” when attempting to explain why the Republican Party has moved in the opposite direction from virtually the rest of the world, “We are talking about a direct challenge to the most powerful industry that has ever existed on the face of the Earth. There’s no depth to which they’re unwilling to sink to challenge anything threatening their interests.” For most of the world’s population, the costs of inaction on climate change far outweigh that of action. But for the fossil-fuel industry, he said, “It’s like the switch from whale oil in the nineteenth century. They’re fighting to maintain the status quo, no matter how dumb.”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/in-the-withdrawal-from-the-paris-climate-agreement-the-koch-brothers-campaign-becomes-overt
https://twitter.com/Hatewatch/status/871826460113199104
https://twitter.com/orlandosentinel/status/872081181923311616
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/872072682417913856
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/871894691695951872
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/871929657427464197
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/871766472003026944
And this is who the people voted for?
https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/872072500871606274
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/872063783996461057
https://twitter.com/hourlyterrier/status/871733115470962689
Trump hotel received$270,000 from the Saudis.
https://mobile.twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/871853574443208705
Good Morning, Everyone 😐😐😐
https://twitter.com/MarchForTruth17/status/871173023868628992
Good Morning, Everyone :)
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a7/8a/f6/a78af66683f8cd9cf9761e862ad2c0ee.jpg
Good morning, everyone
Good Morning, Everyone!
HA Ha Ha ha love the post today. Folks don’t want no parts of orange POS