Happy HUMP Day, Everyone.
Remember what the SNAKES are up to, as #45 & his slimy family sink further & further into their lies and deceit.
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Fatherhood
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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.
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https://twitter.com/abc13houston/status/885330990591352833
https://www.facebook.com/pg/NAACP-Bakersfield-786247818090483/videos/?ref=page_internal
This link is better. Case of “Mistaken Identity”…
Absolutely terrifying!!!
I didn’t think this was real. I still don’t. No way in hell I’d have a python around my little kids.
https://twitter.com/DM_ME_YOUR_CATS/status/884761083453591555
https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/883272915436937216
Russian Officials Overheard Discussing Trump Associates Before Campaign Began
U.S. intelligence starting in the spring of 2015 detected conversations in which Russian government officials discussed meetings with Trump associates
WASHINGTON—U.S. intelligence agencies starting in the spring of 2015 detected conversations in which Russian government officials discussed associates of Donald Trump, several months before he declared his candidacy for president, according to current and former U.S. officials.
In some cases, the Russians in the overheard conversations talked about meetings held outside the U.S. involving Russian government officials and Trump business associates or advisers, these people said.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-officials-overheard-discussing-trump-associates-before-campaign-began-1499890354
https://twitter.com/tariqnasheed/status/885208831315197952
What is this evil..?
Why is nobody doing anything about this…
Where is the outcry…
If this were a dog, there’d be such unrelenting outrage …the kind that spans years and is persistent in its determination that these wicked men in taxpayer-funded uniforms will never ever work again or be allowed to exist ever..
Breitbart Readers Display Frightening Racism Towards Michelle Obama
The writers at Breitbart have managed to create a site that attracts some of the most vile racist, misogynistic malcontents who appear more ideologically inline with the KKK than the ‘Alt Right’ movement they claim to represent.
BEN COHEN
4 HOURS AGO
Last month, Breitbart editor Alex Marlow went on Real Time with Bill Maher to explain to the HBO host why Breitbart wasn’t a cesspool of racial hatred and misinformation. “The Breitbart editors are the most wonderful, diverse, influential journalists on the planet, and no one is interested in their real story because they’re so quick to want to call people ‘racist,’” said Marlow when Maher confronted him about the site’s rampant xenophobia. If Marlow is correct, then these wonderful, not-racist and diverse journalists should not be attracting virulent racists to the site, right?
A cursory glance through the comments section of a random Breitbart article dispels this notion astonishingly quickly. Contrary to Marlow’s claims, the writers at Breitbart have managed to create a site that attracts some of the most vile racist, misogynistic malcontents who appear more ideologically inline with the KKK than the ‘Alt Right’ movement they claim to represent. In an article posted on July 11th about Michelle Obama’s new book named “Chasing Light”, a collection of White House pictures of the former First Lady, Breitbart readers weighed in on the book with what can only be described as truly frightening racism. These were the first comments that appear on the article (and no, we don’t link to Breitbart.com):
The society rejects are still jealous of our outstanding First Lady Michelle Obama because they know that other white gold digging woman whose naked pics are spread across the net can NEVER be or even come close to OUR beautiful Michelle.
MO is not responsible for the way these losers’ lives turned out. What they are failing to note is that she chose to educate herself in order to attain a higher standard of living. That was her choice. If they didn’t make the same choice and are frustrated at their lot in life, it’s THEIR problem. MO and PBO are myth-busters because they are examples showing that what some think about Persons of Color is, and has always been, wrong. As I grown older, I recall my parents having said many times that no one can take what you know away from you. These haters want to do that to any POC who they view as undeserving of their elevated status in our society. MO and PBO earned what they have which is what these tools must realize. Jealousy and hatred are eating them up.
My fam here…and everyone else out in the world is clear about my unabashed and fiercest love and respect for my historic ForeverFLOTUS…
For years I’ve pushed back hard against, raged over and warned about the overt/covert, insidious and outright attacks on, and subtle and not so subtle undermining and disrespect of her …instigated, propelled and helped along by a variety of motivations, and brazenly carried out right before our eyes, by a variety of folks..
Pointing out again and again that the attacks on her were even deeper, more offensive, more malicious, more persistent, more personal, more dehumanizing and unrelenting than anything even ever targeted at her elected husband …when the excuse that it was all ‘political’ and ‘comes with the territory’…was often dismissively offered as a way to ignore/justify it all…And don’t get me started on those who insisted that she better not complain since a ‘poor, black girl like her from the SouthSide, never had it so good…and should suck it up and be grateful’…Same folks who ironically, immediately started absolving, excusing, groveling, rallying for and laid out the red carpet for an imported, lying, uneducated, 2-bit, gold-digging, 3rd wife, hollow, nothing Birther – simply because the outer casing that enclosed the hollow, vacuous nothingness, was white…No substance or character necessary, required or demanded…nothing else but the white casing mattered and was needed to be automatically deemed ‘worthy’…and for the almighty protection and elevation to be immediately activated..
I’ve often shared over the years, personally honest, but often I know, rather discomfiting to some – long rants about this and other related matters…and the many ways and different players/culprits and complicit ‘allies’ that have laid the foundation and contributed to the continued brazen dehumanization and attacks on her….And the many ways she has never been looked out for or protected or rallied around…consistent with how black women are generally disregarded, degraded, consistently mistreated, abused and dismissed …and often left to fend for themselves…to protect themselves and fight their own battles and defend their own honor, dignity, and humanity, in a society that then turns around and subsequently labels them ‘angry’, ‘aggressive’, ‘bitter’, ‘masculine’, ‘ugly’…
Same society – including black men and even some black women…that sad and unfortunate cohort of the psychologically colonized, who have consciously and unconsciously consumed, bought into and wittingly and unwittingly and in many cases, very opportunistically aided the prevalent damaging societal narratives and stereotypes that have been the basis of, and continue to inform the standards of what is beautiful, worthy, acceptable, deserving of love, chivalry, respect, elevation, adulation,…protection..
Same society that will always, always like clockwork, quickly come to the rescue of non-black women…or the often preferred and in their opinion, still higher on the totem pole, ‘mixed black’ ones….quick to rally around them, to protect and defend them…quick to fight for them and defend their honor…But somehow, always, always M.I.A for black women…black women who can’t or aren’t willing or disposed to straddle or embrace and invoke when it suits their purposes, that ‘other’ strain…that subtlest of wink-winks, …that in the end seeks to separate when convenient, or racially ‘elevate’…for advantage – but is often misleadingly and exploitingly sold as ‘not denying a part of’ …
There are some who would even have taken for ‘advantage’ and associated ‘elevation’ ‘privilege’ no matter how twisted, and run with the white great-grand father slave-owner in the mix …But that is not how my proud, actually woke, historic FLOTUS rolls…She has no use for the usual attempts or tricks used to conveniently distance one from their full and perceived ‘inferior blackness’…nor does she feel like her unapologetic blackness needs ‘upgrading’ by declared dilution…
Part of the problem these alt-right folks and others have always had with her is that she is, and has always been so completely confident and grounded in who she is…completely comfortable with her blackness…but not with superficial accouterments…but in deeper, more substantive and undeniable ways ….and she has never ever needed the validation of the usual suspects…a validation that has often come at the cost of them needing you to renounce or reject as inferior, ones blackness…except of course for those times they allow you a pass when one is needing an in with the black community, to promote or sell them pridycts, a movie, t.v show, or something….or having been rejected or exhausted their time with massa and other non-black folks…returning to curry favor or find an audience/community with black folks at award shows or black-targeted festivals…or with tweets about Black Lives Matters – but only ever as a last resort…
It has all been glaring as it’s played out right before all our eyes…as some choose to be indifferent, ignore it all, turn a blind eye and pretend not to notice, and others are actively complicit and help propagate the continued racial narratives and stereotypes that anchor the mistreatment and continued dehumanization ..
My still uncontained rage has run the gamut…and my unapologetic defense and fierce and unapologetic protectiveness of this my historic first black FLOTUS – the most visible metaphor for black women on the world stage – has often encompassed a determination to protect her for her, and for us…but now even more so, because she has handled this whole process just so stoically, but more importantly, in a way that has left me even more completely in awe of her…a protection of what she’s modeled in her lived values, integrity, character, strength, dignity, grace, power in the face of unprecedented dehumanizing attacks that would have immediately felled and brought folks to their knees..
Even as I am completely blown away by her, her grit, determination, resolve and her deft and magnificent handling of everything this treacherous historic sojourn in the public eye threw and has continued to throw at her – and even with practically no defense or protection from it all over the years…I remain furious that she’s had to soldier on alone…And as long as she’s not had a public nervous breakdown, everyone thinks it and she’s ok…and ok to not protect and defend her…ok to keep testing her human limits with the endless dehumanization of her…
As I’ve often said, much harm has been done over time by the shirking of our sacred responsibility to her… the responsibility to fiercely rally for, to protect and defend her as that most visible of metaphors for black women…the endless maligning of her…the non-stop chipping away at her …the insulting, dehumanizing lies and narratives that have taken on a life of their own, and is even now forcibly seeping into the minds of some young black kids growing up in predominantly alt-right communities …even outside of those enclaves…the insidious undoing of years of work to psychologically bolster young black kids…and even adults…
When I read that a book of photographs from her White House days was being published, I laughed and fumed…shook my head…
My fam here know very well, how often I ranted about how disrespectfully and poorly I felt she was being treated by even her husband’s White House…
You will recall that I’ve in frustration written more than a few epistles over time, of my disdain for several of those who work(ed) for her husband and who I felt continued to disrespect, undermine and sabotage her…folks I told you fam may be working for and may ‘like’ the historic POTUS, and effusively align with him – claws firmly dug in – and only for the perks of association…these folks I knew were not in fact even marginally or necessarily ‘woke’ – even though they worked for the historic President…nor did they appreciate, respect or give a wit…most had never really interacted with and were in fact, generally condescending to and contemptuous of black folks…starting with his black wife who came with the political gravy train they all eagerly hitched their fleeting from politician to politician, career ambitious and exploitative racist fake b*tts to..
I often wrote about how she too was historic in her role, but was being mostly insultingly disregarded, demeaned, dismissed and treated as merely incidental .. if even that..
I raged over her being blurred out and cropped out of photographs…including those capturing momentous occasions and important historic milestones…I raged over how after all these years, they never bothered or took the time to study and positively frame her, their subject, in the most flattering light…as good photographers worth their weight in gold…and who actually cared about and respected their subject, or thought them important or valuable, always did…
I raged about the overall general disregard …and how she wasn’t being properly documented as the also historic first black FLOTUS…I even posted videos showing the White House photographer ignoring moments that should have been captured in still images for posterity…Endearing and heart-tugging moments like those Native American kids from New Mexico on their first visit to the White House, who immediately bonded with her, and wouldn’t let go or stop hugging her even as she was leaving her last Let’s Move garden harvest event at the White House…I posted clips of the West Wing Weekly videos that completely blacked her out from events she actually participated in, while highlighting others…including other women whoever was in charge, deemed more important, or wanted preserved for posterity in the telling of this black woman’s husband’s historic presidency..
I always predicted that they would all come to regret not treating her better…and not properly documenting her …and not only when they all suddenly jumped on the bandwagon at the very end, when the world began to understand what she’s worth, and more importantly, what she means..
If for nothing, but for the money they could make by association…I also shook my head at just how short-sighted they were for not properly documenting her and not taking their time to study, frame and capture her…How stupid not to realize that beautiful photographs of her turned into a book, would also be as in demand, and command as much in value..
And while many including some of my fam hailed him, I also often expressed my frustrations with, and ultimately, my disdain for the lead White House photographer who called the shots…metaphorically and literally…and had also ironically, covered the Reagans and the Reagan White House …and in my opinion, knew how, but for some reason, chose not to do better by my historic FLOTUS….He treated Mrs Reagan with infinitely more respect and reverence in her position…and properly and consistently documented and respectfully gave her her full and equal right of place right beside and alongside her husband, and presented her throughout every last archived image, properly, consistently and importantly, positively, in her role as partner to her husband.. something he not only failed to do with the historic first black FLOTUS, but actually seemed to go out of his way to not do…almost instead, diminishing her at every turn….
And even at some point, those who were paying close attention noticed and will remember, that they even tried to begin to erase her…And only a combination of some us – my brilliant mother and friends included – letting them know that we saw what they were trying to do…and her completely blowing folks away when she staked her own reputation and political capital, put herself in the line of fire, and stepped out and boldly spoke up on the campaign trail on behalf of folks who had not been even remotely supportive of or kind to her…Only those events halted their brazen attempt to completely erase her from her husband’s historic presidency..
Now they’re scrambling to make a buck off her and her hard-won capital that she earned all by her lonesome – and with no thanks to these same folks who for years, treated her as if she were inconvenient, disposable and replaceable ….and would have thrown her under the bus and run her over, given the opportunity…because she was black…
Folks who brazenly disrespected her, disrespected her marriage …hijacked her husband and decided that it was their call what they chose to do with him…her opinion, feelings and boundaries be damned…
And this scrambling will show up again and again in the poor quality and thin selection of photographs…They never set out to cover her or properly and fully document her in her also historic role…never…there’ll be some pics from the beginning when they were still trying to generally humor black folks…And there’ll be some from the reelection period when they still needed her…and also some from the last days, when it hit them, and they realized that she did in fact matter…
But as I shared here before, most of the best photographs of her …alone or with her husband…were taken not by White House photographers, but by random outsiders..
But I digress…
So do forgive me fam, if I’m not terribly impressed with or moved by a random write-up in July 2017 …in response to alt-right folks continuing to do what they and even some so-called ‘progressives’ and ‘feminists’ have been doing for 9 long years …all while everyone turned a blind eye …as the endless dehumanizing, demeaning and disrespecting of our historic first black FLOTUS continued unaddressed and unabated ..
In a world where a 2-bit, lying, plagiarizing, character-deficient, plastic, hollow, vapid, naked-pics, gold-digging, uneducated, immigrant-hating immigrant 3rd wife of a treasonous geriatric twerp is suddenly now elevated and touted as ‘classy’, ‘elegant’, ‘reserved’, ‘intelligent’…LOL…and there are even straight-faced attempts to mention her in the same breath as the double Ivy League educated historic FLOTUS who against all odds, not only honorably pulled herself up by the bootstraps…but did so too without ever resorting to shady or dubious stuff…Character. Integrity. It does matter..
In a world were Kanye West’s wife – and every other married woman for that matter, is somehow deemed more deserving and entitled to equal and automatic respect and chivalrous treatment …and entitled to be right alongside her husband in his place in society – and the acquisitions that come with it, and all automatically and indisputably hers as well…and yet, the historic FLOTUS who built up a life from scratch with her man who she met when she was financially and professionally ahead, is treated as if she not only isn’t deserving or entitled, but as if she were some random and inconvenient interloper who suddenly hitched her wagon to a ready-made man… And demeaned as unimportant in the scheme of things besides birthing the kids…and even that sacred motherhood she sacrificed her body and everything for, the alt-right wish to take from her with their vicious and malicious slander…and even her daughters now suddenly not deemed nearly as important as imaginary sons….and in the end, dismissively yoking her together – and even below her own daughters, in the scale of importance..
In a world where yet another deluded, devious, racially insidious, self-touting ex-girlfriend from over 30 years ago…this time around, a woman who is now an associate college professor, has no shame regaling the world with salacious, shallow yarns…coming from a desperately petty and spiteful place…and designed to spite and sting…and all told to and eagerly conveyed via a greasy, lip-smacking, self-promoting, aggrandizing narcissistic gossipy psychopath masquerading as a ‘historian’…her twisted, inconsistent, hole-filled, Swiss-cheesy gleeful yarns, an attempt to forcibly insert herself into, and permanently distort the story of the now successful man and his wife long ago married and living their life as one …his equally successful wife who sacrificed everything, now derisively demeaned and cast as not only some forced and calculated pity-f*ck, but as some undeserving token racial ‘political expedience’…This sorry excuse for an associate college professor and also married woman with kids of her own, who has no shame telling the world that she often trolled and posted negative comments on various sites including the Washington Post, railing against the ex-boyfriend from her early twenties, who was now president and more importantly, a husband of 25 years to his wife, and father to their two daughters…But somehow, this twisted and insecure woman who clearly has some serious issues, she’s now elevated and laughably touted as ‘the one that got away’…LOL..
With so many twisted, and seriously warped folks and their competing yarns milling about in our society…and together with their various enablers, cheerleaders and spinmeisters who validate and help them and it along …normalizing, legitimizing and elevating the crazy, the immoral and the bizzare…even as they tsk, tsk away…and try to kneecap the upstanding who’ve done everything right as society always stipulated…
Little wonder we now exist in a full-blown, seriously dystopian nightmare…the Twilight Zone of Twilight Zones…so twilightly twisted and unreal that not even Alfred Hitchcock could wrap his bald head around these versions of heightened crazy…
What I know without a doubt is that I will continue to fight my heart out – with everything I have…for this my all around amazing and magnificent and historic FLOTUS…She is not only infinitely deserving, she is us…in every and in the very best sense of us…
And if this battle for hers and our dignity, honor, humanity isn’t taken on and fought head on and won… black girls and women the world over, will continue to be the losers for it in every way…in a hostile world that has pre-ordered the scheme of things, and categorically decreed black women unworthy…
Commentary: Trump’s plan to make voters older, wealthier and whiter
Scott Lemieux
………
There isn’t a single state in which a majority favors the GOP’s proposals. In a starkly polarized political environment, it’s almost impossible for a major proposal to be this widely hated. So why would the House pass a similar bill, and why didn’t McConnell immediately bury it?
Many Republicans legislators are insulated from even the fiercest political backlash because the political playing field is tilted strongly towards the GOP side. Now the White House is about to make it even more so with a scheme to shrink the electorate and skew it towards the GOP.
In late June, the Trump administration announced a series of measures to constrict the body politic, making it older, whiter, and wealthier – and therefore more Republican. The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity is asking for detailed state data about voters. There already is evidence that merely asking for the data is stopping people from registering. Voting rights experts say that because voter rolls inevitably contain errors, such as still listing voters who recently moved, the Trump administration is likely planning to use these discrepancies to justify vote suppression efforts such as onerous identification requirements. (On Monday, while awaiting the outcome of legal challenges to the request and the refusal of some secretaries of state to comply, Trump’s commission put the request on hold.)
Donald Trump Jr. Was So Far Out of His League
by Martin Longman
July 12, 2017 2:54 PM
If, as seems likely, Julia Ioffe is correct that Yury Chaika, the prosecutor-general of the Russian Federation, is the “Crown Prosecutor” referred to in Donald Trump Jr.’s email chain, everyone involved should be concerned about their physical safety.
According to Ioffe, Chaika should be considered the Russian equivalent of Jeff Sessions, the U.S. Attorney General. That might not seem so scary, but Russia’s government is so violent and so intertwined with organized crime, that crossing their Attorney General is a perilous decision.
This is important for understanding why Rob Goldstone is insisting without the remotest plausibility that he was referring in his email to Trump Jr. to Natalia Veselnitskaya when he said that “the Crown prosecutor of Russia met with … Aras [Agalarov] this morning and in their meeting offered to provide some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.”
Put simply, Mr. Goldstone doesn’t want to be killed and if he confirmed that he was referring to Mr. Chaika his death would be a distinct possibility.
Ioffe does an excellent job of explaining this. Chaika was apparently close to gangster Sergei Tsapok whose organization was was responsible for the Kushchyovskaya Massacre in 2010. His two adult sons have amassed vast fortunes through outright thuggery including the murder of at least one victim who was strangled to death.
Here’s a bigger taste of what kind of individual Trump Jr. was getting in bed with when he said he’d “love” to collude with the Russian government.
Kushner Is at the Heart of Every Issue Related to the Russia Story
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 12, 2017 11:06 AM
Based on what we know right now, there are three levels of the investigation into whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian attempt to influence the election.
In addition, there are a couple of groups of players involved. There are those who were advisors during the campaign (Flynn, Page, Manafort, family members) and then there are those who are part of the administration.
If you combine the areas of investigation and the two different groups, there are only two people who have been involved across the board. One of them, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign. The other is Jared Kushner.
The Trump team’s habit of lying in public about its contacts with various official and unofficial emissaries of the Russian government is problematic on its own terms, but especially troubling because it raises the possibility that American foreign policy could be influenced by the fear of blackmail.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/12/15955314/trump-russia-blackmail
An anecdote
Liberal Librarian
July 12, 2017
When all you have is:
” At least I’m not a Nigger”…
And, the answer to the question:
” What do you call the President of the United States?”
Is “Nigger”
Then Yes, your entire worldview is shook.
You, and those like you, were played for fools, for GENERATIONS, with nothing to show for it.
and, rather than admit that you were played for a fool..
you cling to the Whiteness and double down.
pitiful and pathetic.
They think somebody’s playing with them.
NOBODY is playing with them.
We are SO not going back…so, they best get ready for more hurt feelings.
AND….
They better understand that people like me, and scores more..
Don’t give two shyts about ‘ understanding’ why they voted for Dolt45.
Because their vote for him shows their LACK OF CHARACTER.
TRUTH
Trump attorney says collusion scandal is ‘not a legal issue’
07/12/17 01:01 PM
By Steve Benen
Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for the religious right movement who’s now part of Donald Trump’s legal team, appeared on several morning shows today, hoping to dismiss the relevance of the Russia scandal and this week’s revelations. In an exchange with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, Sekulow made the case that the developments with Donald Trump Jr. aren’t that important, in part because there’s no allegation of a crime.
Of course it’s a legal issue. Rachel talked to Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney, about this on the show last night and it seemed quite obvious that this is a legal issue. NBC News published a related piece on the legal questions surrounding the controversy. The New York Times published a piece of its own today from Norm Eisen and Richard Painter, who served as the top ethics attorneys in the last two administrations, exploring some of the unresolved legal controversies that are still being investigated.
If, however, Sekulow wants to argue that this isn’t only a legal issue, I’d be far more inclined to agree. As one observer put it yesterday, “A presidential campaign enthusiastically courting secret sponsorship by a foreign government is a problem bigger than the criminal law.”
Watching the exchange between him and Dick Durbin, and Mr Wray’s mediocrity becomes even more stark..
Dick Durbin’s superior mind and articulation only further exposes this guy’s inadequacy for this top job..
This Wray guy is not only unimpressive, he’s mediocre at best…In a country full of highly-intelligent and extraordinary patriots with integrity, brilliant minds, presence, humanity, foresight, extraordinary insight and a boundless capacity to strategize and successfully execute, this person is so undeserving to lead this top security agency…
And to anyone with eyes and good instincts, it’s clear to see that he’s of that other massaged strain of soulless alt-right cohort..
P.S:
All mealy-mouthed when it comes to Russia…He won’t even categorically denounce Russia as a hostile entity…
Beware folks…this is another entirely self-serving one eager to ascend to a prestigious and powerful position he’d normally never have been even remotely considered for..
https://twitter.com/deray/status/885132557402222594
https://twitter.com/deray/status/885140907514896387
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/885088854125969408
Does McConnell regret doing nothing about the Russian attack?
07/12/17 10:01 AM
By Steve Benen
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appears principally focused on passing a regressive health care plan this summer, but with the Russia scandal intensifying, NBC News’ Kasie Hunt asked the Kentucky Republican a good question yesterday.
There is no meaningful relationship between the question and the answer – the Intelligence Committee’s investigation is unrelated to McConnell’s personal culpability – but I’m glad Kasie asked anyway because I continue to believe this angle to the story is underappreciated.
As The New Republic’s Brian Beutler noted yesterday, “McConnell ran interference for Trump during the campaign to stop Obama from warning the country about things Trump was lying publicly about.”
That’s true. As we discussed last month, the Obama White House, swayed by the evidence compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies, wanted bipartisan support to pushback against Russian intrusion, and in mid-September, the then-president dispatched counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco, then-FBI Director James Comey, and then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to brief top members of Congress.
Obama didn’t want to be seen as using intelligence for partisan or electoral ends, so he sought a “show of solidarity and bipartisan unity” against foreign manipulation of our democracy.
That didn’t happen – because Mitch McConnel refused. From a recent Washington Post report:
Ted Cruz’s “Freedom Plans” won’t cover chemotherapy, pregnancy, hospitalization, or Rx medicine. What a strange way to define freedom.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) July 12, 2017
“It’s not just about health care, it’s really about my ability to participate in society.” https://t.co/WDwNduF5Zl
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 12, 2017
“Medicaid is the engine” that allows disabled people to live independently. Our society is better because of it. #SaveMedicaid #NoBCRA https://t.co/whMAX0zNx6
— Indivisible Berks (@IndivisiblBerks) July 12, 2017
The plot thickens dear Holmes: Details in Junior’s emails align with parts of the Trump-Russia dossier:
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/donald-trump-jr-email-leaked-buzzfeed-trump-russia-document-2017-7
🚨 ALERT: VOTE NEXT WEEK. While everyone is focused on Don Jr., McConnell is going to try to ram Trumpcare through 🚨 https://t.co/M1Jv5gQhuE
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) July 11, 2017
BWA HA HA HA HA HA AHH A
This is the EXACT reason they viciously attack our family! They can’t stand that we are extremely close and will ALWAYS support each other. https://t.co/1f7JqxScMr
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) July 11, 2017
I’m pretty sure you’re attacked because you conspired with an adversary to steal an election. But whatever helps you sleep at night. https://t.co/cDzQF1F3TS
— Kara Calavera (@KaraCalavera) July 11, 2017
Oh, and you’re crooks. And white supremacists. And misogynists. I hate all of you and what you’ve done to our country, @EricTrump.
— Kara Calavera (@KaraCalavera) July 11, 2017
Oh so now the DUMPSTERS are VICTIMS?
Quiet competence: That’s what I miss. I miss not having to think about the president every waking minute.
She would have provided it. pic.twitter.com/tj17jwiva8
— Hillary Warned Us (@HillaryWarnedUs) July 11, 2017
Quick drive by to say hello to my fam, and to say, No on Mr Wray…and if the republicans slip him in, here’s hoping that the next President …a real and legitimate President, quickly names a true and deserving patriot to the position of FBI director..
See you in a little bit fam..
Hi eliihass, the snakes are slithering here & there. Here’s hoping the machete comes down hard and chop off their HEADS.
This is the message of the #GOP to minorities: we really do love you & please join our party. But first we need to deport your children. https://t.co/zhjREp7J6t
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 30, 2017
BREAKING: Texas AG Paxton is joined by 9 other state AGs & 1 gov in urging Trump administration to end #DACA. If not, they say they’ll sue. pic.twitter.com/wUGTjAdhjk
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) June 29, 2017
A closer look at Ted Cruz’s interest in Russian ‘appeasement’
07/12/17 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
There were some fascinating exchanges yesterday between reporters and congressional Republicans on the Trump-Russia scandal, but for my money, it’s tough to top the interview NBC News’ Kasie Hunt had with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in a Capitol Hill hallway.
The Texas Republican, reluctant to answer the question directly, kept trying to complain about Obama – because some habits evidently die hard. Hunt ultimately reminded Cruz that Trump is trying to water down a bill on Russian sanctions that Cruz (and 96 other senators) voted for.
The GOP lawmaker responded, “The policies of the Obama administration were constant weakness and appeasement….”
Sure, this was unpleasant to watch. It was also rather predictable: despite Trump targeting Cruz’s wife and father during their race for the Republican presidential nomination, the Texas senator votes with the White House’s position more than 95% of the time and is eager to carry Trump’s water.
But if Cruz sincerely wants to talk about Russian appeasement, he may not like where the conversation ends up.
‘Pathetic’: Fox’s Krauthammer shreds conservatives for pretending Trump Jr wasn’t colluding with Russians https://t.co/vdbtwEavx8 pic.twitter.com/NJC5C3TWq0
— Raw Story (@RawStory) July 12, 2017
America, where black ppl can commit a traffic offense and lose their life, but the first fam can commit treason and not even lose their job.
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) July 12, 2017
Meryl Streep carrying a President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama purse?
*nods in approval*https://t.co/7uRp7Z08PS pic.twitter.com/jvEVaHBNc4
— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) July 11, 2017
As Russia scandal grows, Team Trump faces a crisis of credibility
07/12/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 07/12/17 08:31 AM
By Steve Benen
Yesterday’s developments in the Trump-Russia scandal caught much of the political world off-guard. Even those who’ve come to expect the worst seemed at least a little surprised to read emails, released by Donald Trump Jr., showing the Trump campaign’s eagerness to collude with the Russian government during its attack on the American election.
The president’s son is nevertheless under the impression that he can explain this mess away. In fact, he turned to Trump World’s friendliest media ally in the hopes of doing exactly that.
While it’s true that much of Team Trump is new to politics and public service, for the record, it’s not “pretty common” for an American campaign to welcome assistance from a foreign adversary.
Double flip. Two Oklahoma State legislative seats flipped red to blue tonight. State senate district 44 and House 75. Congrats @OkDemocrats!
— flippable (@flippable_org) July 12, 2017
Book of Michelle Obama photographs coming in October https://t.co/W0amGHL749 via @stltoday
— Dudette (@Dudette9t9) July 11, 2017
Fox News spent a whole day claiming James Comey leaked secret info. It wasn’t true, so they issued a 5 second apology (@MattBinder for CAFE) pic.twitter.com/arVrN9Qo01
— CAFE (@cafedotcom) July 11, 2017
Amtrak conductor calls Acela “high speed train.” Can hit 150 mph on short stretches. Train in China, closer to 300, in Europe well over 200.
— John Bussey (@johncbussey) July 11, 2017
Yeah, it’s a race to become a Third World country now. Maybe a 2.5 at best.
Donald Trump’s mission of destruction on this earth not complete until he coverts all GOP into the party of collusion https://t.co/gpR7YExqBn
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 11, 2017
And they willingly step in line. Because??
The Trump-Russia Conspiracy Is Now Very Simple
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/07/the-trump-russia-conspiracy-is-now-very-simple/
Marvelous painting pic.twitter.com/q3LqxR9lUR
— Beautiful Art (@Beautyofdrawing) July 12, 2017
This brilliant twist on an old wedding tradition will make you feel all the feels pic.twitter.com/RgdTk4rlbf
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 12, 2017
Who Dished the Dirt on Donald Trump Jr?
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 12, 2017 8:00 AM
While we’ve all been focused on the collusion story, Kevin Drum has been wondering who it was that dished the dirt on Donald Jr. That is an interesting question.
The New York Times has now run four stories on this topic for four consecutive days. Let’s take a look at how they described their sources.
July 8th — “according to confidential government records described to The New York Times” and “according to interviews and the documents, which were outlined by people familiar with them.”
July 9th — “according to three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it.”
July 10th — “according to three people with knowledge of the email.”
July 11th — no reference to sources
The only one that gives us any clues is the July 9th story that came from White House advisors. It could be that those advisors are responsible for all four stories or that different people leaked on different days. But even if people inside Trump’s White House are only responsible for one of these stories, that is huge.
BANNON?
Meet the Vote Suppressors and Conspiracy Theorists on Trump’s ‘Election Integrity’ Commission
Forty-eight states have refused to fully comply with the commission’s request for voter data, but the order has already sown chaos at state election offices.
By Ari Berman
……………………..
The latest addition to the commission is J. Christian Adams, who served alongside von Spakovsky in the Bush Justice Department. Their boss, Bradley Schlozman, said he wanted to “ “gerrymander all of those crazy libs right out of the [voting] section.” Adams was “exhibit A” for the improper hiring and rampant politicization that occurred during the Bush years, according to former voting-section chief Joe Rich.
Today Adams is best known as the leading figure behind the New Black Panther Party conspiracy theory. He accused the Obama administration of “a hostility in the voting section and in the Civil Rights Division to bringing cases on behalf of white victims for the benefit of national racial minorities.” Since he left DOJ, Adams has been suing states and counties to force them to purge their voting rolls, as Mother Jones reported—a preview of the types of suppressive tactics the Trump DOJ is prepping and the commission will no doubt recommend in its report.
YES YES YES!!!!
The Whole Trump Team Has Been Subject to Blackmail
by Martin Longman
July 11, 2017 3:48 PM
The official story is that Michael Flynn had to resign as President Trump’s national security advisor because he lied to Vice President Pence about what he discussed with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. In truth, however, the FBI all but insisted on his removal because they assessed that he was subject to Russian blackmail.
I’ve written repeatedly that Flynn was subject to blackmail for a lot more than what he might have told Mike Pence. He had taken tens of thousands of dollars from the Kremlin and not disclosed it, for example, and he’d done work as an agent of a foreign power (Turkey) without disclosing it. Russia knew these things and could have let the world know about them at any time.
Flynn was compromised at a minimum and perhaps actively working for the Kremlin either voluntarily or in more of a coerced manner.
But how is any of this different from the situation we have with Jared Kushner?
How many foreign contacts does someone have to omit from their SF-86 forms to lose their security clearance immediately? Because Jared Kushner managed to forget more foreign contacts than he listed, since he listed exactly zero. Who could’ve known that meeting with Russian Ambassador Surgey Kislyak about setting up a secret back channel with Moscow or scrounging for dirt on Hillary Clinton from a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer were noteworthy? Or how about that meeting with the head of a U.S.-sanctioned Russian state-run bank?
As far as I am concerned, it’s not even debatable that Kushner’s security clearance should be yanked. The question is why he hasn’t been fired. The Russians could have, at any time, revealed or threatened to reveal Kushner’s contacts with them.
As for the president, the Russians could have revealed or threatened to reveal at any time that his son, his son-in-law, and his campaign manager met with one of their agents and colluded on how to damage Hillary Clinton. Knowing this, perhaps the president has been scared to say or do anything that is upsetting to Vladimir Putin.
It sure looks that way, doesn’t it.
uh huh
uh huh
The Russian lawyer who met with Don Trump Jr. had tangled with Preet Bharara before he was fired https://t.co/vFzL9p0tGh pic.twitter.com/2kIQYpJvux
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 12, 2017
“That’s not being transparent. That’s trying to appear as if you’re transparent when you’re backed into a corner.” pic.twitter.com/VLNvgdiRAx
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 12, 2017
This is big: Senate Republicans are talking about a bipartisan stabilization bill. https://t.co/EUejGjpTyU pic.twitter.com/qMF3sz6zvy
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) July 12, 2017
Here’s what it might look like: https://t.co/cjbC5nJwNL
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) July 12, 2017
Some Dare Call It Treason
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 11, 2017 2:42 PM
A little more than a month ago, Mike Lofgren wondered why so many in the press were reluctant to use the “t” word when it comes to the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia. With the release of the email chain between Donald Trump, Jr. and Rob Goldstone setting up a meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, there are those who are using the word “treason,” and it’s not just reporters.
Given that Senator Tim Kaine has a reputation as a scrupulously honest politician and is the opposite of a bomb-throwing extremist, this is something to take seriously.
…………………………….
What we now know is that since early June, at least these three members of the Trump campaign not only agreed to meet with someone representing the Russian government who was prepared to share “very high level and sensitive information” about Hillary Clinton, they also knew that Moscow was prepared to “support” Trump in the election. That makes almost everything they’ve said about the Russian investigation over the last few months a lie. For example, here’s Don Jr. about two weeks after the meeting with Veselnitskaya occurred.
………………………..
I really did enjoy Larry O last night , explaining how Kushner shoulda just stayed his azz in NY. If he had, he wouldn’t be facing jail time for the lies on the Security Clearance Form. You could tell that he was enjoying it too…LOL
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
Trump Jr. scandal hurts White House, US image
Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Donald Trump, Jr.’s admission of collusion with Russia hurts his father’s image and the United States by proxy.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
Russia enjoying great success with Trump in White House
Rachel Maddow notes that Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak is stepping down with a tremendous record of success as Russia’s wish list from America is seeing favorable progress under Donald Trump.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
Trump Jr. scandal puts his father in greater risk on obstruction
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about what laws Donald Trump, Jr. may have broken in colluding with Russia, and what further legal legal jeopardy his father may be in as a result of this meeting’s revelation.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
NYTimes Trump Jr. reporting ‘not closed by any measure’
Mark Mazzetti, Washington investigations editor for the New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about the story of Donald Trump, Jr. meeting with Russians and what questions remain to be investigated.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
Trump Jr collusion admission leaves Kushner exposed
Rachel Maddow points out that Republicans are likely to try to undercut the Trump Russia investigation and the admission to collusion by Donald Trump, Jr., but the risk of how Russia might coerce the Trump administration with what else it could reveal adds urgency to Robert Mueller’s mission.
Maddow pointed out, and all the MSM should..
the Russians could have used that meeting with Jr., Kushner and Manafort to Blackmail Dolt45.
What else do they have that they can blackmail them with?
Good Morning, Everyone 😐😐 😐
Sherrilyn Ifill exposes the absurdity of Trump’s election integrity commission
Jonathan Capehart July 11 at 10:16 AM
“We don’t have a problem of too many people showing up to vote. We have a problem of too few people showing up to vote.”
Leave it to Sherrilyn Ifill to succinctly expose the absurdity of President Trump’s election integrity commission. As president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), Ifill is supposed to protect the right to vote from suppression efforts. Her job became more urgent after the Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in its 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/07/11/sherrilyn-ifill-exposes-the-absurdity-of-trumps-election-integrity-commission/?utm_term=.c6167969db47
tell the truth!!!