Warner: Treasury's financial crimes unit has handed over 2,000+ pages of docs to Senate intel Russia investigators https://t.co/KaWQCOcnjB
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 28, 2017
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https://twitter.com/BlackNewsOutlet/status/880201985080807425
https://twitter.com/Crystal1Johnson/status/880230013961871360
Moves me to tears…how beautiful!
https://twitter.com/TheRoot/status/880177285805912068
Did Van Jones really say that about Russia? “The Russia thing is just a big nothingburger” .
Say it ain’t so?
Here is a new summary of the health bill the Senate is considering passing.
RT if helpful. pic.twitter.com/EHlBf158AL
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) June 27, 2017
Fox News host argues stripping coverage from millions is no biggie since “we’re all going to die” https://t.co/BqFFAn0T6Q pic.twitter.com/dsWhaeGClK
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) June 28, 2017
https://twitter.com/AP_Europe/status/880116483707285504
https://twitter.com/APWestRegion/status/880134188334071809
Texas made $350 million in Medicaid cuts, leaving special needs kids without speech, occupational & physical therapyhttps://t.co/XsMrHU6NuX
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 28, 2017
Protesters are being arrested outside of Sen. Pat Toomey’s office as they chant “kill the bill, don’t kill me.”#ProtectOurCare pic.twitter.com/1dnUHORWbF
— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) June 28, 2017
We Don’t Let Black Boys and Girls Be Children
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 28, 2017 12:29 PM
In the Trump era, we’ve been reminded that outright hatred of African Americans still exists. White nationalists like Richard Spencer have been given a platform, and some even occupy high level positions in the White House.
But we also can’t dismiss the way that racism infects the entire culture in a way that can affect all of us. The phrase “unconscious bias” is being used lately to describe that form of racism. Recent research explains one of the ways it is manifest.
This is why I made every effort to make sure my daughters could be children during their childhoods. I didn’t let them ‘grow up too fast’ . Children should be children and this includes our little boys.
Also, to this day, they will cuddle up with me and their dad. We hug them still and tell them “I love you”. They get called spoiled but we call it love and care.
Governors Led the Revolt Against the GOP Health Care Bill
by Martin Longman
June 28, 2017 9:46 AM
In the New York Times, reporter Alexander Burns does a nice job of detailing how a bipartisan group of governors, led by Republican John Kasich of Ohio and Democrat John Hickenlooper of Colorado, teamed up to kill (for now, at least) Mitch McConnell’s effort to pass a health care reform bill that would cripple Medicaid and leave tens of millions of Americans medically uninsured. The most significant thing I learned in reading the piece is that the governors hatched their plot way back in February, long before they had any way of knowing the details of what would be in the House or Senate versions of the bill or how the process would proceed.
Whatever was in that presentation must have been compelling, and it must have been easy even in February to read that Medicaid would be on the chopping block of any foreseeable bill. Therefore, before anything really happened in Congress, the governors already knew that they’d be able to criticize both the House and Senate versions of the bill, and to criticize the secretive and hasty process.
What’s also interesting is that this bipartisan group of governors is united in thinking that the Democrats ought to be central to any reforms.
Mitch McConnell’s Sinister Role in the Russian Hacks
With the normalization of Trump’s antics, it is unfortunately all too easy to overlook the sheer rottenness of Mitch McConnell.
by Mike Lofgren
June 28, 2017
Recently, I broached the “T” word (treason) with respect to Donald Trump’s actions. Strange and wonderful to relate, the heavens did not fall and lightning did not strike, regardless of the Polynesian taboo that seems to prevail in polite society. (At most, the prestige media will venture with the tiresome word “collusion,” which is unfortunate, because there is no legal sanction against collusion; the word they are looking for is “conspiracy.”)
This chasteness on the part of enlightened opinion follows from the unspoken assumption of good faith on everybody’s part unless there is overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence to the contrary—and sometimes not even then. But a glance at American history shows that accusations of treason, and even the overt deed, have been inextricably bound up with our politics.
Every school child has heard of Benedict Arnold, whose mischief imperiled the very birth of the republic. The founders were terrified of potential sympathy for monarchical Britain or revolutionary France, and Washington’s farewell address was a fervent admonition against “a passionate attachment of one nation for another,” which be believed “produces a variety of evils.”
……………………………………………
But what about a persona as different from Trump as oatmeal from a Serrano pepper? Unlike the presumed novice Trump, Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. has been a U.S. senator since 1985, and has served as the majority or minority leader since 2007. This means that for the last 10 years, McConnell has been briefed on the most sensitive national security issues, topics not accessible even to other senators; he is no tyro on national security matters.
In October, we began hearing rumors that McConnell directly or indirectly threatened Obama that he would make it a partisan issue if the administration went public with the full extent of what it knew about Russian interference in the presidential election. A month after the election, the Washington Post published what should have been a bombshell, but was surprisingly disregarded at the time.
In the the Post’s account, in September the administration sent James Comey, former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, and Lisa Monaco, Obama’s counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, to Capitol Hill to brief congressional leadership plus the chairmen and ranking members of the two intelligence committees.
Now, eight months since the election, the Post has published the fullest account to date on the Obama administration’s discovery of the Russian hacking and its early, fumbling attempts to respond. It reiterates the Republican role in pushing back against the revelation of Russian interference, and McConnell’s role in particular:
While it is frustrating that Obama seemed to handcuff himself into avoiding aggressive action, and that he even appeared to fall for Republicans’ “concern trolling” that going public with the allegations would somehow play into Putin’s hands, there is no question that the villain in this saga was McConnell.
From BalloonJuice:
Public support for Republican health care plan reaches new depths
06/28/17 01:12 PM—UPDATED 06/28/17 02:29 PM
By Steve Benen
The Kaiser Family Foundation has been publishing regular reports on the Affordable Care Act’s public support for several years, and last week, it found something new. For the first time, a narrow majority of the country – 51%, to be exact – expressed a favorable view of the health care reform law. This is roughly in line with other polling showing “Obamacare” reaching new heights in popularity in recent months.
It’s against this backdrop that Republicans are trying to replace an increasingly popular law with a strikingly unpopular alternative.
How the debate over pesticides unfolds in Donald Trump’s ‘swamp’
06/28/17 10:47 AM—UPDATED 06/28/17 11:02 AM
By Steve Benen
……………..
About three weeks later, Pruitt ignored the findings of his own agency’s chemical safety experts to allow the use of Dow’s chlorpyrifos pesticide on food. The AP’s report added that EPA scientists concluded “ingesting even minuscule amounts of the chemical can interfere with the brain development of fetuses and infants.”
A spokesperson for Pruitt’s agency said that when he spoke to Dow Chemical’s CEO, the two did not discuss the pending decision on the pesticide. The timing, apparently, is supposed to be seen as a coincidence.
A separate AP report noted in April, “Dow Chemical chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris is a close adviser to President Donald Trump. The company wrote a $1 million check to help underwrite Trump’s inaugural festivities…. When Trump signed an executive order in February mandating the creation of task forces at federal agencies to roll back government regulations, Dow’s chief executive was at Trump’s side.”
Trump’s embrace of ‘fake news’ takes an embarrassing turn
06/28/17 10:21 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump boasted a few months ago that “nobody” has been on the cover of Time magazine more than him. He made a similar claim, for reasons that still aren’t clear, at CIA headquarters two months earlier. The assertion isn’t even close to being true – Richard Nixon holds the record – but the president just keeps repeating it anyway.
It’s possible, however, that Trump actually believes he set the record because he counts fictional Time magazine covers that feature his face. The latest gem from the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold ran yesterday:
It is, however, a fake. It’s not clear who made the bogus cover, or whether Trump realized it’s a fake or not, but a spokesperson for the company that publishes the magazine confirmed it’s not real. That cover didn’t exist on that or any other date.
FYI, the Senate Finance Office is tallying calls from people who want a public hearing of the healthcare bill: (202)224-4515. It’s v. easy.
—
Heather & Jessica (@fuggirls) June 27, 2017
Just say you’re calling to be added to the tally of people who want a public hearing for the healthcare bill and they’ll take your zip code.
—
Heather & Jessica (@fuggirls) June 27, 2017
New Jersey mother tweets out $231,000 hospital bill for 2-year-old son amid health care debate https://t.co/xNuSBKjYAX pic.twitter.com/EHk0kaOM2b
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) June 28, 2017
New Quinnipiac poll:
—Just 16% of Americans approve of GOP health plan; 58% disapprove
—29% approve of Trump’s handling of health care
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 28, 2017
Admits Russians meddled with election. Reveals he intimidated Comey. Bullied media. Again. Today. Why APPEASE Trump? pic.twitter.com/ZadX1pELWO
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 28, 2017
Kellyanne Conway: Those on Medicaid who will lose health insurance can always get jobs https://t.co/xaceZ85Dhm
— CNBC (@CNBC) June 26, 2017
As someone who works in a nursing home, please explain how ppl 65-100 (yes someone here is 100) w/ dementia will work? https://t.co/gOL1n8tlvc
— Beauty in Color (@PoCBeauty) June 28, 2017
In 2018, your constituents will ‘choose’ not to vote for you.
This isn’t a healthcare bill, it’s a death sentence to those most in need. https://t.co/lMH1UlN2La
— David Yankovich (@DavidYankovich) June 28, 2017
Paul Ryan: 22 million Americans won’t be ‘pushed off’ insurance — they will ‘choose’ not to buy it https://t.co/P2sGhVUBjg pic.twitter.com/LJbpPscnzI
— Raw Story (@RawStory) June 27, 2017
Obama Crushes Trump By A Huge 24 Point Margin As Americans Long For Effective Leadership https://t.co/YUsCAzPTQJ
— #TheResistance (@SocialPowerOne1) June 28, 2017
https://twitter.com/pannlewis44/status/880118156337061895
https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/877575065000431616
but trump, them im-mi-grints, and coal jobs, THOUGH!
https://twitter.com/TheAuburnAvenue/status/880080499661733888
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/05/69/10/056910a4851cd9ca37c8e94268a55de3–southern-christian-leadership-conference-harry-belafonte.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/37/85/6f/37856f0621ef9395a7bb1da80558e6c4.jpg
“Berry Gordy Jr & Ms Lena Horne supporting Dr Martin Luther King”
https://twitter.com/supremelemonade/status/880034393804374016
That was truly awesome.
A major highlight in our country’s history!
USF’s ‘Black Pulp!’ and ‘Woke!’ exhibits reframe African-American representation
http://web.tampabay.com/things-to-do/visualarts/usfs-black-pulp-and-woke-exhibits-reframe-african-american-representation/2328694
Excerpt:
http://web.tampabay.com/resources/images/dti/rendered/2017/06/lat_cover070217BIG_19513928_8col.jpg
“Chillin’ with Liberty,” 1998
https://twitter.com/AP/status/880071056102486016
https://twitter.com/AP_Oddities/status/880071048187785223
We all know it is Warren…but are you going to just point it out, then take it …or will you outrightly reject it and put your money where your mouth is, and actually help fight it so that those who desperately need the services that are to be cut to provide said relief for the rich, don’t have to contend with the awful fate this portends..
“…Warren Buffett is attacking the Republican Party’s plans to repeal and replace ObamaCare, claiming bills in the House and Senate would provide tax cuts for the rich.
Legislation passed by the House, he said, should be called “Relief for the Rich Act.”
Buffett, one of the wealthiest men in the country, claimed his tax bill would have been reduced by $679,999, or 17 percent, from the House bill.
“There’s nothing ambiguous about that. I will be given a 17 percent tax cut. And the people it’s directed at are couples with $250,000 or more of income. You could entitle this, you know, Relief for the Rich Act or something,” he said in an interview with PBS.
Buffett also suggested that the bill would give many lawmakers a tax cut.
The annual salaries for lawmakers are much lower, he noted, at around $174,000 a year.
“But most of them have — if you look at the disclosures, they have substantial other income,” he said.
“If they get to higher than $250,000, as a married couple, or $200,000 as a single person, they have given themselves a big, big tax cut, if they — if they voted for this.”
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/339799-warren-buffett-obamacare-repeal-bill-should-be-called-relief-for-the-rich
“…More than 15,000 Americans were losing their jobs each day in June 2009, as the US struggled to climb out of a painful recession following its worst financial crisis in decades.
But Jay Sekulow, who is now an attorney to Donald Trump, had a private jet to finance. His law firm was expecting a $3m payday. And six-figure contracts for members of his family needed to be taken care of.
Documents obtained by the Guardian show Sekulow that month approved plans to push poor and jobless people to donate money to his Christian nonprofit, which since 2000 has steered more than $60m to Sekulow, his family and their businesses.
Telemarketers for the nonprofit, Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (Case), were instructed in contracts signed by Sekulow to urge people who pleaded poverty or said they were out of work to dig deep for a “sacrificial gift”.
“I can certainly understand how that would make it difficult for you to share a gift like that right now,” they told retirees who said they were on fixed incomes and had “no extra money” – before asking if they could spare “even $20 within the next three weeks”.
In addition to using tens of millions of dollars in donations to pay Sekulow, his wife, his sons, his brother, his sister-in-law, his niece and nephew and their firms, Case has also been used to provide a series of unusual loans and property deals to the Sekulow family.
“This is all highly unusual, and it gives an appearance of conflicts of interest that any nonprofit should want to avoid,” said Daniel Borochoff, the president of CharityWatch, a Chicago-based group that monitors nonprofits.
Sekulow, 61, is the president of Case and the chief counsel of its sister organization, the American Center for Legal Justice (ACLJ). He has become one of Trump’s most vocal defenders since joining the team of attorneys representing the president amid investigations into possible ties between his campaign and Russia.
Sekulow did not respond to a series of detailed questions from the Guardian.
Sekulow is an ally of the conservative televangelist Pat Robertson and made his name in Washington by fighting against abortion rights and efforts to legalise same-sex marriage.
He founded Case in 1988 to build on a successful appearance at the US supreme court on behalf of the group Jews For Jesus, after an earlier career as a real estate attorney ended in bankruptcy and legal disputes. Sekulow has gone on to use Case as a platform for legal action to defend Christians against perceived encroachments on their rights.
Case raises tens of millions of dollars a year, much of it in small amounts from Christians who receive direct appeals for money over the telephone or in the mail. The telemarketing contracts obtained by the Guardian show how fundraisers were instructed by Sekulow to deliver bleak warnings about topics including abortion, Sharia law and Barack Obama.
“It’s time to let the president know that his vision of America is obscured and represents a dangerous threat to the Judea-Christian [sic] values that have been the cornerstone of our republic,” one script from 2015 said.
A 2013 script warned listeners that Obama’s signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, promised to give Planned Parenthood federal funding to open abortion referral clinics “in your child’s or grandchild’s middle school or high school”.
Sekulow has assured supporters that his organization “does not charge” for its services. “We are dependent on God and the resources He provides through the gifts of people who share our vision,” he wrote in a letter sent to contributors.
For years, the nonprofits have made a notable amount of payments to Sekulow and his family, which were first reported by Law.com. Since 2000, a law firm co-owned by Sekulow, the Constitutional Litigation and Advocacy Group, has been paid more than $25m by the nonprofits for legal services. During the same period, Sekulow’s company Regency Productions, which produces his talk radio show, was paid $11.3m for production services.
Sekulow also personally received other compensation totalling $3.3m. Pam Sekulow, his wife, has been paid more than $1.2m in compensation for serving as treasurer and secretary of Case.
Sekulow’s brother, Gary, the chief operating officer of the nonprofits, has been paid $9.2m in salary and benefits by them since 2000. Gary Sekulow has stated in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filings that he works 40 hours per week – the equivalent of a full-time job – for each of the nonprofits. Filers are told to specify if any of the hours were spent on work for “related organizations”. He does not.
Meanwhile, a company run by Gary’s wife, Kim Sekulow, has received $6.2m since 2000 in fees for media production services and for the lease of a private jet, which it owned jointly with Jay Sekulow’s company Regency Productions. The jet was made available for the use of Jay and Pam Sekulow, according to corporate filings.
Jay’s two sons, and Gary’s son and daughter, have also shared at least $1.7m in compensation for work done for the nonprofits since 2000.
Federal law bars insiders at a nonprofit from receiving “excess benefit”, which is defined as payment exceeding the fair market value for goods or services the insider provides. If the IRS finds that an excess benefit has been paid, the recipient may be fined 200% of the benefit’s value, and the nonprofit could be stripped of its valuable tax-exempt status.
“I can’t imagine this situation being acceptable,” said Arthur Rieman, managing attorney at the California-based Law Firm for Nonprofits. “That kind of money is practically unheard of in the nonprofit world, and these kinds of transactions I could never justify.”
The way Sekulow’s nonprofits are set up may obscure how much money goes to his family, according to some experts.
In addition to receiving payments for salaries and contracts, the Sekulows have also entered into a series of unusual financial agreements and property deals with their own nonprofits.
The Sekulows also received assistance from Case in their accommodation. A townhouse in Washington bought by Case with $1.5m in contributions from its supporters has been used as a residence by Sekulow’s son Jordan, who is a director of the nonprofit. Jordan and his wife remain registered to vote at the property.
For several years, Case leased yet another property it owned to Jay Sekulow’s parents. Case accounts said Sekulow’s parents paid the nonprofit $1,550 per month to rent the unidentified house, based on an estimate of “fair market rates”.
Legal experts said the arrangements raised questions…said Jeffrey Tenenbaum, a Washington-based attorney who represents nonprofits….“Generally speaking, that would usually create significant risk of private inurement and impermissible private benefit.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/27/trump-lawyer-jay-sekulow-donations
Just gonna drop this link right CHERE
https://blavity.com/serena-williams-baby-bump-vanity-fair?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Blavity%20Daily%20Newsletter%2062817&utm_content=Blavity%20Daily%20Newsletter%2062817+CID_1d5d7abc5e6b52af44eef053041ea8f4&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=baby%20bump%20on%20display
“…The U.S. commerce secretary was cut off in mid-speech during a video feed to an event hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, underscoring how German patience with attacks on the country’s trade surplus is fraying.
Attendees at the Christian Democratic Union’s business conference in Berlin laughed and clapped when organizers faded out Wilbur Ross after about 20 minutes for overstepping his time limit. Merkel, who had been craning her neck on the podium to watch Ross speak on a screen behind her, then took the floor to close out the evening.
“That was the U.S. secretary of commerce, who had promised us a 10-minute statement,” Werner M. Bahlsen, head of the CDU Economic Council, told the audience Tuesday evening. “As you saw, he spoke a bit slowly, so it took a bit longer. Now we look forward to the chancellor’s speech.”
Ross’s comments included renewed criticism of Germany’s trade surplus with the U.S., which President Donald Trump has used repeatedly to pillory Europe’s biggest economy. The episode hints at growing tension over trade and challenges such as climate change ahead a Group of 20 summit next week in Hamburg, where Merkel will host Trump and his global peers. German officials said earlier that Ross had canceled a trip to Berlin to address the meeting in person.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-28/trump-s-commerce-chief-cut-off-in-berlin-as-german-patience-ends
https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/879885432783347712
😀
bwa ha ha ha ha ha …the look on her face….she’s ready for drama.
LOL She chu-rin that gum, though. HA HA HA
The gif is killing me. Nosy butt loves drama!
https://twitter.com/girlsreallyrule/status/880066116080418816
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
We need a conviction!
https://twitter.com/TrendingReport/status/880069828660350976
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/880062164794527745
He snatched Sarah Huckabee’s wig….
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/879783260137504768
LOL
https://twitter.com/AP/status/880059184749789185
Here’s Trump threatening to use his powers as POTUS against Amazon because he doesn’t like WaPo reporting about him:https://t.co/UimCBbP8pO
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 28, 2017
Trump on Amazon: “If I become president, oh do they have problems. They’re going to have such problems”. • $AMZNhttps://t.co/208DgKJM8o
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) February 26, 2016
—Amazon pays taxes
—Amazon collects state sales tax
—There’s no internet tax
—WaPo exposed Trump’s fake TIME covers
—POTUS threatens company https://t.co/v88qBGX8z1
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 28, 2017
Ron Johnson just said Rs will buy off moderates with a bit of added money.
If so, their criticisms were lies:https://t.co/yLT5BXbKYB pic.twitter.com/BQDtSGk5SF
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) June 28, 2017
I love y’all, but don’t sleep now. These bastards have no qualms springing up a different bill on July 5th w/o a CBO score. Keep pressuring!
— Charles Clymer🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) June 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/PuestoLoco/status/879848836683968513
“…The Russian foreign ministry has denied reports that its ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, is being recalled, even as plans for his departure are under way in Washington.
The US-Russia Business Council in Washington confirmed on Monday it was hosting a farewell dinner on July 11 for Kislyak, who has become a controversial figure for his contacts with senior members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 US presidential election.
However, the Russian foreign ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, posted a statement on Facebook saying it was up to Vladimir Putin to decide whether to recall Kislyak to Moscow and appoint a successor, and that the process would take many months from the time a decision was made.
“And if a decision is made to name a new ambassador to the United States … then Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak, who has worked in the United States for nine years, will go down in the history of bilateral relations as a person who did everything to develop them even in the most complicated circumstances,” Zakharova said.
Diplomats in Washington had been expecting Kislyak’s departure for some time. He had been tipped to take the top counter-terrorist job at the UN, but that was given to another Russian official, Vladimir Voronkov.
Instead it was reported on Sunday, first by BuzzFeed News, that Kislyak would be going to back to Moscow, at a time when he is a central figure in the investigations into Trump links to the Kremlin.
His contacts with Michael Flynn, the administration’s initial national security adviser, ultimately led Flynn to resign; and the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, came under fire during recent Senate hearings for his own undisclosed meetings with the ambassador during the campaign.
Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is also reported to have met Kislyak, during the transition in December, and discussed setting up a secret back channel to Moscow…”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/26/sergey-kislyak-russian-ambassador-leaving-us
Wow
GET THEM ALL & REALLY put the SCREWSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS to MCTURTLE
Because he’s a vile racist bigot occupying the Oval Office.
https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/880055698704351232
Never forget this is not normal in a democracy. Presidents don’t crow over the firing of journalists. The offlce used to have more dignity. https://t.co/FjJo41BzfR
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) June 27, 2017
Police officer tickets Black man for made-up law of not having ID while walking https://t.co/zshZhH9dSU pic.twitter.com/hdG8HVf6Nz
— Boing Boing (@BoingBoing) June 27, 2017
Now is the right time to get rid of the police officer. He needs to be FIRED. These are the red flag moments that indicate a particular person is not suited to be a cop.
GA-6 voter turnout data now final: Democrats benefit from big turnout, esp among young voters, but it wasn’t enough https://t.co/TnZyF3rLf2 pic.twitter.com/pOqcEPxYhS
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) June 26, 2017
Experts say GA’s voting system is unreliable. Our voting machines are out of date and there is no paper trail. https://t.co/7QpzJG0lYi
— New Georgia Project (@NewGAProject) June 27, 2017
https://twitter.com/funder/status/880057404335026178
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/879847892663533568
From TOD:
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/27/17
Victorious activists stay vigilant for next GOP health bill
Senator Cory Booker talks with Rachel Maddow about the public activism that contributed to the Republican failure to pass their health/tax plan and why it’s too soon for opponents of the Republican bill to celebrate.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/27/17
Health care activists press on as GOP stumbles
Rachel Maddow looks at continued activism against Republican dismantling of health benefits even as Senate Republicans have failed in their first effort to bring a bill of their own.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/27/17
Deutsche Bank adds lawyer with financial crime background
Rachel Maddow reports that Deutsche Bank, at the center of a lot of questions about its business practices and loans made to both Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, has hired a new lawyer with a background in tax crimes and money laundering.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/27/17
Manafort files retroactively as foreign agent
Rachel Maddow relays reports that former Donald Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort has filed retroactively as an agent of a foreign government, the second top Trump aide to do so.
Republicans see bipartisan policymaking as the worst-case scenario
06/28/17 08:47 AM
By Steve Benen
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly called Donald Trump on Monday to deliver what Politico described as “a reality check.”
To hear GOP leaders tell it, the ongoing effort to approve a far-right health care overhaul is a strictly partisan enterprise, not because Republicans want to jam their bill down the nation’s throat, but because those rascally Democrats just aren’t interested in playing a constructive role.
At a Capitol Hill press conference yesterday, at which McConnell announced he’d scrapped plans for a vote this week, a reporter asked if the ongoing discussions about the future of the bill might involve Democratic senators. “They’re not interested in participating in this,” the Republican leader replied.
In that sentence, the word “this” is doing a lot of work.
If the point is that Senate Democrats won’t help Republicans take health coverage from 22 million Americans, and force much of the country to pay more for worse insurance, then sure, Dems aren’t interested in “participating in this.” But to say there’s no room for bipartisan talks is plainly wrong.
Democrats have practically been begging to work with Republicans on health care. They’ve put their appeals in writing for months. GOP leaders have thus far ignored every appeal.
It’s Painful to Watch Jonah Goldberg Try to Talk Sense on Health Care
by Martin Longman
June 27, 2017 4:30 PM
It’s fascinating to see how Republicans talk to each other about health care. Over at the National Review, Jonah Goldberg tip-toes towards political reality, but always by jingling enough right-wing lunacy around to try to scare off the bears.
………………………………………
Of course, this isn’t even half true. While the Democrats would welcome a constructive effort to shore up the Affordable Care Act, they are actually protesting a bill that would undo all the gains in coverage that Obamacare created. And I mean that quite literally.
But Goldberg is really aiming to make a different point.
………………
But Goldberg knows that he’s putting all his conservative credentials at risk by suggesting that Trump should have worked with the Democrats on health care, so he has to finish up by basically disavowing his entire point:
As for the Republicans’ refusal to say what they mean and mean what they say, Goldberg is fairly honest:
Trevor Noah has been stopped by police 8 to 10 times in the six years he has lived here.
https://twitter.com/Crystal1Johnson/status/879799245464850434
Speaker Paul Ryan Humble-Brags About Everything But Healthcare
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 28, 2017 8:00 AM
In light of all the focus on Majority Leader McConnell lately, coupled with the fact that Donald Trump is constantly in the spotlight for doing/saying absurd things, it may be that Speaker Paul Ryan is feeling a little left out lately. Perhaps that is why he wrote an op-ed for the Independent Journal Review titled, “Ignore the Cable News Bickering: This Congress Is Getting Things Done.”
As the title suggests, Ryan wants to humble-brag a bit about the things he’s accomplishing in the House.
Here in the House of Representatives, we can do more than one thing at a time. And the truth is, even while carrying out our oversight responsibilities, we’ve been delivering on our promises to the American people. We are passing important legislation. We are doing our job.
Back in December, Ryan said he had three priorities for the coming year.
Repeal Obamacare
Make changes to the tax code
Roll back regulations
Here’s the kicker: nowhere in the entire op-ed does Ryan mention Obamacare, healthcare or taxes. It’s understandable that the latter didn’t get mentioned because the Republicans haven’t been able to even put forward a bill on taxes yet. But while the Senate struggles with their version, the House passed the AHCA to much pomp and circumstance—including a Rose Garden victory celebration. I’m not sure what Ryan’s failure to mention that tells us. Perhaps he knows that public support for the AHCA is in the tank and would ruin his whole humble-brag vibe. But it is a glaring omission of the issue that is front and center on everyone’s mind right now.
In terms of what Ryan did include, he talked about reforms to the Veterans Administration and suggested they would solve the problems associated with the scandal we heard so much about during the Obama administration. I doubt that is the case because, as readers here at the Washington Monthly know, that whole scandal was a Koch brother’s campaign designed to “dismantle the country’s most successful health care system.”
https://twitter.com/Crystal1Johnson/status/879813884726718467
https://twitter.com/Crystal1Johnson/status/879836168036265984
New to me: In Florida you have to carry an ID card on you at all times. Bet a lot of people going on vacation there do not know that.
https://twitter.com/Crystal1Johnson/status/879826858602369024
The failing attempt to erase Barack Obama
Nancy the Artist
June 27, 2017
It is well known that on the night of the inauguration of President Obama that members of the GOP met in private with the intention of finding a way to insure that President Obama would fail. The GOP didn’t want him to be able to accomplish anything. They saw him as a threat to their authority and they wanted to be able to undo him. From the very beginning they wanted to erase him and because of this they became completely polarized and began a complete shut down to everything relating to President Obama.
When Trump become aware of President Obama it’s clear that he sensed through his reptilian brain that Obama was a threat to him as well. He began tweeting disparaging things about President Obama and he went on Fox News to demean him. He became a major birther as a means of erasing his very existence. It makes sense that after the Correspondents Dinner where President Obama made jokes at Trump’s expense in front of the country that Trump made the decision to run for president. It is easy to see Trump as obsessed with the need to put President Obama beneath him.
………………………………………
The reason that Trump and the GOP have been acting in the way that they have is because somewhere in them they know the gig is up and that their reign of power is over. They know that with the election of President Obama their worst fear had been realized and that they no longer are going to be able to have the power to impose their will on others. They all know it but because of the way they think they can’t accept it and because they can’t accept it they are acting out. They are panic stricken and they are behaving like cornered rabid animals.
What the GOP has been doing and continues to do is the polar opposite of what is needed. They have brought us to where we are today where we are seeing tremendous disparity of all kinds. Diversity is growing and will continue to grow. The needs associated with this are not going away. What we are seeing is the polar opposite of what is needed. This is unsustainable. If what we are doing is unsustainable then we are going to need to change and engage in what is sustainable. The time that we are in demands that.
https://twitter.com/HRC/status/879870717864681472
Excerpt from article linked in the above tweet:
Here is the link to the U.S. sentators’ letter:
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3878460/Betsy-DeVos-ED-Office-of-Civil-Rights-OCR.pdf
https://twitter.com/Hatewatch/status/879829243911340032
Excerpt from article linked in above tweet:
https://twitter.com/fivefifths/status/879772256846598144
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/877916375209181184
https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/879866945821999108
Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄
Good Morning, Rikyrah and Everyone!
Have a super day 😃
Happy HUMP Day, Everyone!