Tuesday Open Thread

Posted on August 1, 2017 by rikyrah

I love CBS Sunday Morning. They always showcase the good, beauty of the human spirit.

ICYMI- 7/30/17

Summer Breeze!

This entry was posted in Culture, Current Events, Media, Music, News, Open Thread, Politics and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

66 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread

  9. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 3:04 pm

    EXCLUSIVE: Omarosa Manigault keeping dossiers on journalists April Ryan and Roland Martin and Pastor Jamal Bryant calling them ‘biggest threats to sow discord in the African American community’ and ‘enemies of the Trump administration’
    By Karen Ruiz For Dailymail.com
    PUBLISHED: 13:12 EDT, 1 August 2017 | UPDATED: 14:43 EDT, 1 August 2017

    Omarosa has told President Trump three high-profile personalities are the ‘biggest threats to sow discord in the African American community,’ sources tell DailyMail.com

    The former reality star was once pals with CNN’s April Ryan, Roland Martin, and Pastor Jamal Bryant, but their political differences have come between them

    The 43-year-old has reportedly told former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to stop calling on Ryan during press briefings because she is a ‘media w***e’

    Manigualt is allegedly ‘always bashing’ her former friends in meetings with senior White House staff and has team keeping a dossier on each of them

    However, the Trump aide ‘doesn’t want to publicly fall out with Roland because out of her three former allies, he is the one she really fears’

    Manigault denies that she is carefully monitoring the three personalities

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4641430/Omarosa-keeping-dossiers-Trump-enemies.html#ixzz4oXHYoqL9

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 2:05 pm

    Analysis: Between now and the debt-limit deadline — Sept. 29 — the House is in session for only 12 days https://t.co/yk4DlWHzPq
    — Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 1, 2017

    Reply
  11. Ametia says:
    August 1, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    WHAT A FAILURE- Can’t get anythingof value for the greater good of Americans.

    So off to build a pretend wall? GTFOH PAUL -AYN -RYAN!

    Reply
  12. Ametia says:
    August 1, 2017 at 12:31 pm

    How Queen Sugar’s Ralph Angel Humanizes A Specific Type of Black Man
    Humanizing the Black Man

    alph Angel’s character on Queen Sugar helps to humanize a certain type of Black man. The type of Black man who isn’t represented in the media as a human being with any real layers or depth. Black men like Ralph Angel-who are former felons, with no degrees, traditional work experiences or skills are often scrutinized and usually depicted as angry, barbaric, unintelligent, one dimensional, emotionally inept creatures.

    What Ava DuVernay so beautifully captures with Ralph Angel’s character is his ability to dream and want the same things most of us (both men and women) desire for our lives as part of this American Dream we’re all so desperately in search of. She brilliantly highlights Ralph Angel’s evolution as he challenges his own ability to restore the relationships in his life and improve upon them. The first of those relationships being the one with his son. His compassion and love for his son is the very first thing that humanizes him. In a society where we are often socialized or conditioned to believe that most Black men cannot or will not commit to loving and supporting their children as fiercely as the Black woman- we see just the opposite with Ralph Angel. As the custodial parent in Season 1 we watch him evolve as a father, inserting himself in Blue’s life not only as a provider and protector but also as a supporter of Blue’s potential exploration with self identity, through his attachment to a Barbie doll named Kenya. Ralph Angel does not project his own feelings or judgments onto Blue, instead he provides Blue with support and love and he fights fiercely to maintain a shield of protection for Blue as he navigates through the world.

    Read on
    https://blavity.com/how-queen-sugars-ralph-angel-humanizes-a-specific-type-of-black-man?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Blavity%20Daily%20Newsletter%208117&utm_content=Blavity%20Daily%20Newsletter%208117+CID_8d68df459bf0091455ca19553c0ab28b&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Ralph%20Angel%20humanizes%20a%20specific%20type

    Reply
  13. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 1, 2017 at 12:26 pm

    Great article on super digital resource on SNCC history:
    https://blogs.library.duke.edu/bitstreams/author/kdf5duke-edu/
    Photo from above article link:
    https://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/snccdigitalgateway/DL_1963.07DylanCoxSeegerFormanGreenwood.jpg
    “Bob Dylan, Cortland Cox, Pete Seeger, and James Forman sitting outside the SNCC office in
    Greenwood, Mississippi, July 1963, Danny Lyon”

    https://blogs.library.duke.edu/bitstreams/files/2016/12/SDGInsideSNCC.jpg

    Reply
  14. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 1, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    “20/20: The Studio Museum in Harlem and Carnegie Museum of Art”
    https://cmoa.org/exhibition/2020-studio-cmoa/
    https://cmoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Marshall-sm-625×768.jpg

    Reply
  15. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 1, 2017 at 12:13 pm

    “Black Power 50” Exhibition – Until December 15, 2017

    https://twitter.com/Welcometoharlem/status/892150486807216130

    “On display through December 2017, Black Power! will invite visitors to delve deeper into the heterogeneous and ideologically diverse global movement that shaped black consciousness and built an immense legacy of community organizing and advocacy that continues to resonate in the United States of America and around the world today. Visitors will also confront misconceptions and truths about the Black Power movement.

    “Black Power! serves as another touchstone in the Schomburg’s “Black Power 50” focus, a year-long examination into the 50th anniversary of the Black Power movement. Stokely Carmichael and fellow Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) worker Willie Ricks introduced Black Power as a concept in June 1966.”

    Reply
  16. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 1, 2017 at 12:09 pm

    Podcast of Ella Baker writing to NAACP:
    https://twitter.com/SchomburgCenter/status/892369757969756160

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 11:58 am

    Obama’s Legacy Is Finally Coming Into Focus, Thanks to Trump
    By Jonathan Chait
    August 1, 2017
    8:00 am

    Even though it yielded a broad array of historic policy reforms, during the eight years Barack Obama occupied the White House, his administration looked and felt to most of his supporters like a bitter slog of gridlock punctuated by half-measures. And it looked to his enemies like a period of untrammeled radicalism that would soon be reversed. Six months later, his record appears very different, viewed from both the left and the right. Any president would benefit from the contrast with Donald Trump, of course. But for many reasons, not merely the flamboyant shortcomings of the current administration, the Trump era provides a vantage point from which to understand the scale and durability of the 44th president’s accomplishments. Trump, quite by mistake, is revealing the true scale of his predecessor’s achievements.

    One obvious source of newfound clarity is the renewed realization that governing is hard, especially in a polarized era with a form of government laden with legislative choke points. Obama’s critics complained endlessly about the slow pace of legislation and the endless compromises wrung by interest groups and recalcitrant moderates. Liberals spent his presidency pining for imagined alternatives who could overpower the opposition. High-minded centrists endlessly blamed the president for his failure to dissuade Republicans from their strategy of total opposition, and in so doing helped reinforce the success of that opposition. Throughout his time in office, Obama labored against the contrast of hazy memories of presidents of yore who could supposedly reason with or overpower their foes and impose their legislative will.

    ………………………………………..

    The most important reason so many people overestimated the ease with which Trump would overrun the Obama legacy is that they failed to grasp its breadth and depth, the degree to which its roots spread and its reforms took hold. Trump’s struggles to knock down Obama’s work have served to reveal how solidly it was constructed.

    For eight years, Republicans drove themselves into a fever-pitch hysteria against the Affordable Care Act without bothering to learn how the law worked. Working from the premise that Obamacare was a uniquely ill-designed law — death panels! train wrecks! — they easily persuaded themselves and much of the country that Republicans could write something vastly better.

    Half a year of Republican-run government has systematically exposed the right-wing arguments against Obamacare as bad-faith rhetoric or outright fantasy. One small-business owner, who told the New York Times in 2012 that he opposed the law as something jammed down the public’s throat, was re-interviewed this year. “I can’t even remember why I opposed it,” he now says.

    It is not surprising that only this year did the Affordable Care Act become popular. The law’s unpopularity depended entirely on the existence of an imaginary alternative that was free of trade-offs. The populist fallacy that everybody can get better insurance for less money if only the government wasn’t run by morons is seductive. Obama’s wonkish explanations could not expose the fallacy’s hollowness. But the Republicans in power have proven excellent (if inadvertent) tutors.

    Reply
  20. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 1, 2017 at 11:57 am

    “It’s not just FL: State felony disenfranchisement laws prevent 5.85 mil people from voting. We made an interactive map” :

    https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/892389782629879808

    Reply
  21. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 1, 2017 at 11:55 am

    “56 retired generals & admirals say Trump’s trans military ban would degrade troop readiness.”
    https://twitter.com/dominicholden/status/892412256570441734

    Reply
  22. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 1, 2017 at 11:52 am

    The article in this tweet delves into reasons people do not report hate crimes:

    https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/892384785342971904

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 11:52 am

    We should stop equating the threat to the republic with the threat to Obama’s legacy, writes @jonathanchait https://t.co/1Ik6nPnTbH
    — New York Magazine (@NYMag) August 1, 2017

    Reply
  25. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 11:25 am

    THE EVERLOVING PHUCK?????

    DA HAIL???

    State Department considers scrubbing democracy promotion from its mission
    By Josh Rogin
    August 1 at 5:01 AM

    Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has ordered his department to redefine its mission and issue a new statement of purpose to the world. The draft statements under review right now are similar to the old mission statement, except for one thing — any mention of promoting democracy is being eliminated.

    According to an internal email that went out Friday, which I obtained, the State Department’s Executive Steering Committee convened a meeting of leaders to draft new statements on the department’s purpose, mission and ambition, as part of the overall reorganization of the State Department and USAID. (The draft statements were being circulated for comment Friday and could change before being finalized.)

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 11:16 am

    Obama advisers are urging Deval Patrick to run in 2020
    By Rob DeCola GLOBE STAFF
    AUGUST 01, 2017

    Will former Mass. governor Deval Patrick throw his hat into the ring as a candidate for president in 2020? Members of former president Barack Obama’s inner circle are trying to nudge Patrick toward a yes, according to a Politico interview.

    In a story published on Tuesday, the publication spoke to Obama strategist David Alexrod and advisor Valerie Jarrett about a possible Patrick run in 2020.

    Alexrod said he has spoken to Patrick, now at Bain Capital, about it, and rattled off to Politico the list of advantages the former Massachusetts governor would have on the national stage: “small-town campaign experience from his 2006 gubernatorial run that will jive perfectly with Iowa, neighbor-state advantage in New Hampshire, and the immediate bloc of votes he’d have as an African-American heading into South Carolina.”

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 9:58 am

    Trump’s Court Evangelicals and Their Impact on the Church
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    August 1, 2017

    It is probably not an accident that, just as the media is awash with stories about chaos in the White House spurred by the now-former communications director’s foul-mouthed treatment of his adversaries, the evangelical world is treated to a story about the “Biblical leaders” in Trump’s cabinet.

    ……………………………………………………

    If your head is spinning trying to reconcile a “spiritual awakening” to what is actually emanating from this White House, join the club. John Fea, who chairs the History Department at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, PA, recently shared a different perspective in an article titled, “Trump threatens to change the course of American Christianity.” He refers to people like Drollinger as “court evangelicals,” who “like the attendants and advisers who frequented the courts of monarchs, seeks influence.”

    [Trump’s] campaign and presidency has shed light on a troubling wing of American evangelicalism willing to embrace nationalism, populism, fear of outsiders and anger. The leaders of this wing trade their evangelical witness for a mess of political pottage and a Supreme Court nomination.

    Many of these court evangelicals are the same ones who questioned Barack Obama’s Christian faith and who cast Hillary Clinton as evil, even as she herself attended Bible studies regularly while in Washington. The fact that they can now look beyond everything Trump has stood for in his life in order to claim his presidency is the work of God speaks to their hypocrisy.

    Fea notes that there are Christians who aren’t buying what the court evangelicals are selling.

    Not all evangelicals are on board, of course. Most black evangelicals are horrified by Trump’s failure to understand their history and his willingness to serve as a hero of the alt-right movement.

    The 20 percent of white evangelicals who did not vote for Trump — many of whom are conservative politically and theologically — now seem to have a lot more in common with mainline Protestants. Some in my own circles have expressed a desire to leave their evangelical churches in search of a more authentic form of Christianity.

    Other evangelicals are experiencing a crisis of faith as they look around in their white congregations on Sunday morning and realize that so many fellow Christians were willing to turn a blind eye to all that Trump represents.

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 9:45 am

    On Iran, Trump wants to start with the answer, then work backwards
    08/01/17 10:00 AM—UPDATED 08/01/17 10:09 AM
    By Steve Benen
    Donald Trump has an important problem: a major U.S. foreign policy is working exactly as designed, and he wishes it weren’t.

    As a presidential candidate, Trump had convinced himself that the international nuclear agreement with Iran was a disaster. As a president, however, Trump has discovered that the policy is working quite well, and the conflict between what’s true and what he wants to be true has apparently infuriated the easily confused president.

    Trump’s new goal is to start with the answer that makes him feel better, and then have his staff reverse-engineer the evidence to arrive at the conclusion he prefers. The New York Times reported the other day:

    President Trump, frustrated that his national security aides have not given him any options on how the United States can leave the Iran nuclear deal, has instructed them to find a rationale for declaring that the country is violating the terms of the accord.

    American officials have already told allies they should be prepared to join in reopening negotiations with Iran or expect that the United States may abandon the agreement, as it did the Paris climate accord.

    It’s important to understand that Trump, presented with evidence of a successful American policy, is furious – because he wants and expects the policy to fail.

    Reply
  34. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:56 am

    GOP senators have no appetite for another health care fight
    08/01/17 09:20 AM—UPDATED 08/01/17 09:35 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Over the weekend, Donald Trump was under the impression he could taunt GOP senators into passing some kind of health care bill. In fact, the president said via Twitter, “Unless the Republican Senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead! Demand another vote before voting on any other bill!”

    The same day, Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, said it’s the official White House policy that the Senate – part of a separate and co-equal branch of government – put aside its entire legislative schedule, presumably indefinitely, until the chamber makes the president happy by passing some kind of health care legislation.

    At least for now, Republican senators don’t seem to care. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared in the early hours of Friday morning, “It’s time to move on,” and as the Washington Post reports, quite a few Republican senators are thinking along the same lines.

    “We’ve had our vote, and we’re moving on to tax reform,” said Sen. John Thune (S.D.), one of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s top lieutenants, speaking of the next big GOP legislative priority.

    Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), another member of the Republican Senate leadership, put it this way: “I think it’s time to move on to something else. Come back to health care when we’ve had more time to get beyond the moment we’re in – see if we can’t put some wins on the board.”

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:51 am

    Unless Kelly fires Cohen-Watnik, Gorka, and Bannon, it’s all a show.
    — Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 31, 2017

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:51 am

    My latest:

    Putin Declares War on Trump

    Why the White House should be very, very afraid of the Kremlin’s wrath.

    https://t.co/rht3ZiiulA
    — John Schindler (@20committee) July 31, 2017

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:50 am

    They really want to see a woman president, just not that woman, and not that woman and not that woman and not that woman and not that woman https://t.co/B64JBrmmM9
    — BWD 🤢 (@IrisRimon) August 1, 2017

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:49 am

    I love Misty Copeland.

    @GGail26 Simply stunning. Thanks for the link!https://t.co/UoNPzoSeEC https://t.co/CfMDtGXsWn
    — Arapaho415 (@arapaho415) August 1, 2017

    I always apply fragrance before I step onto the stage. @EsteeLauder #BeAnInspiration #ModernMuse #EsteeAmbassador pic.twitter.com/SWjg9xXXDi
    — Misty Copeland (@mistyonpointe) July 31, 2017

    Reply
  39. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:47 am

    If this story is true he should have the dignity to resign. https://t.co/T0paVR43Sc
    — Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) August 1, 2017

    Reply
  40. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:42 am

    I made a little video explainer on Trump, Sessions, Rosenstein and Mueller. You might find it useful. https://t.co/D8a9OQxqcZ
    — Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) August 1, 2017

    Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:35 am

    Will John Kelly’s ‘Shut Up and Trust Me’ Approach Work in the White House?
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    August 1, 2017

    …………………………………………..

    However, there have been two major success stories for the Trump administration. The first has been commented on a lot—he gave the religious right their anti-choice justice on the Supreme Court. The second hasn’t received as much attention, but comes to the fore with the president’s decision to make General John Kelly his chief of staff. (Before the announcement, Kelly served as Trump’s secretary of homeland security.)

    I have previously noted that this appointment highlights the fact that Trump likes military generals because of their immersion in a culture of hierarchy and dominance. But Kelly is also the one person in the president’s cabinet who has successfully implemented his portion of the Trump agenda. Julianne Hing explains that Kelly has turned DHS into a deportation machine.

    Indeed, in the last six months, Kelly has turned the DHS into one of the most productive arms of the Trump administration. Kelly managed to translate much of Trump’s brazen anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric into actual policy. And if the numbers are any indication, Kelly has certainly flourished. Arrests since Trump took office in February increased by 40 percent over the prior year. But perhaps more important than the numbers is Kelly’s impact on immigrant communities, where apprehension and fear now reign.

    Here is how Kelly managed to accomplish that 40 percent increase:

    In a sweeping February memo, Kelly did away with the Obama-era policy of prioritizing the deportation of those who’d been convicted of serious crimes. On paper (if not always in practice), the Obama administration directed immigration agents to focus their energy on those who’d been convicted of serious crimes and to largely leave alone those who’d been convicted of no crimes. In February, Kelly wrote: “Unless otherwise directed, Department personnel may initiate enforcement actions against removable aliens encountered during the performance of their official duties.” Translation: Every undocumented and deportable immigrant would now be fair game.

    Gone are the tiers of enforcement that the Obama administration put forth. Even as Trump himself says that he wants to rid the country of the “rapists” and “murderers” among the immigrant population, Kelly has pursued a policy that targets all undocumented immigrants. Kelly’s policy effectively blurs the line between who is an “immigrant” and who is a “criminal”—despite what Trump says. On a practical level, immigration agents no longer have to think carefully about whether an undocumented immigrant they come across is a priority, because anyone who’s undocumented can go. As a result, those with no criminal records or those with the most minor of infractions are as much at risk as those with serious convictions.

    When challenged, Kelly simply told his critics to shut up.

    Congressional critics of the Department of Homeland Security should “shut up’’ and assume the agency is acting appropriately and following the law, the agency’s chief said in a combative public speech Tuesday.

    “If lawmakers do not like the laws they’ve passed and we are charged to enforce, then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws,’’ Secretary John F. Kelly said. “Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines.’’

    Reply
  42. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:31 am

    This is Not Normal!
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    July 31, 2017

    A lot happened during the week that I was on vacation. There is one pair of events on which I feel the need to comment. As you know, Trump gave a speech at the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia that he turned into an “us against them” political rally. He followed that up with a speech to officers in Brentwood, NY where he basically encouraged police brutality (singling out the kind of behavior that led to the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore).

    ………………………

    These two events don’t have a lot in common. But the tie that binds them is the fact that the President of the United States made remarks in public that were so inflammatory and incendiary that other leaders—who traditionally refrain from making political statements—felt the need to step up to the plate and either apologize or correct the record.

    To the extent that we let that kind of thing pass by without comment, we accept that the bar of expectations for POTUS has been lowered to such an extent that this kind of thing is no longer shocking.

    I want to go on record to say that I’m shocked and appalled (while not surprised…given the source). Please repeat after me: This is not normal!

    Reply
  43. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:29 am

    Can Anyone Persuade Trump Not to Fire Sessions?
    by Martin Longman
    July 31, 2017

    There are two very significant things you can observe when reading this Washington Post piece by Sari Horwitz and Robert Costa on the broken relationship between the president and his attorney general. The first is that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is willing to be obsequious in an effort to keep his dream job, but only up to a point. When it comes to his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, he’s not willing to concede much to Donald Trump. Sure, he can understand why the president finds his decision frustrating, but…

    “I’m confident I made the right decision, a decision that’s consistent for the rule of law,” Sessions said. “An attorney general who doesn’t follow the law is not very effective in leading the Department of Justice.”

    …the president is angry with him for following the law. One day after the Post revealed that Sessions had met in his Senate office with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak and failed to disclose it during his confirmation hearing, and a mere three weeks after he was sworn in as attorney general, Sessions held a press conference at the Department of Justice and announced that “I have recused myself from matters that deal with the Trump campaign.” He explained that he was following the advice of Justice Department lawyers, and Trump is fuming mad about that. But imagine what it would have looked like if Sessions had ignored that advice. He would have invited a revolt by not only Congress, but also by the majority of people serving in the department he has just begun to lead. In particular, the FBI would have gone ape. It’s not unlikely that there would have mass resignations, and anyone trying to argue that Sessions wasn’t leading a cover-up of Trump’s actions and his own actions would have been left with no compelling rebuttal points.

    Reply
  44. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:28 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/31/17
    Trump silent as Putin expels U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia
    Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about the Donald Trump administration’s odd silence in response to Russia expelling an unprecedented number of people from the U.S. embassy.

    Reply
  45. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:27 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/31/17
    Motive eyed in Trump’s misleading collusion e-mail story for Jr.
    Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about the legal implications of Donald Trump personally drafting Donald Trump Jr’s misleading story about the meeting he took with Russians offering government collusion for dirt on Hillary Clinton.

    Reply
  46. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:26 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/31/17
    Trump drafted Jr’s misleading collusion e-mail statement: WaPo
    Carol Leonnig, reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about new revelations that Donald Trump was responsible for the misleading statement by Donald Trump Jr. to explain his meeting with Russians offering Clinton dirt and Russian government help.

    Reply
  47. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:20 am

    Cover-up allegations raise awkward questions for Trump’s lawyer
    08/01/17 08:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    ……………………………..

    As Joy explained on last night’s show, the Washington Post has quite a bit of new information on how the deceptive statement came together – with the president’s direct involvement.

    On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Germany last month, President Trump’s advisers discussed how to respond to a new revelation that Trump’s oldest son had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign — a disclosure the advisers knew carried political and potentially legal peril.

    The strategy, the advisers agreed, should be for Donald Trump Jr. to release a statement to get ahead of the story. They wanted to be truthful, so their account couldn’t be repudiated later if the full details emerged.

    But within hours, at the president’s direction, the plan changed.

    The plan changed because the president changed it. In fact, Trump Sr. reportedly dictated the statement’s language, making him directly responsible for misleading the public about a Trump campaign meeting with Russian nationals.

    Peter Zeidenberg, the deputy special prosecutor who investigated the George W. Bush administration’s leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity, told the Post, “The thing that really strikes me about this is the stupidity of involving the president. They are still treating this like a family-run business and they have a PR problem…. What they don’t seem to understand is this is a criminal investigation involving all of them.”

    Reply
  48. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:20 am

    “Federal Judge Says Alabama Doesn’t Have To Tell Felons They May Now Be Able To Vote Voting advocates say a recent change in state law is likely to cause confusion.”
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alabama-felon-moral-turpitude_us_597ce859e4b02a4ebb75d693
    Excerpt:

    Alabama election officials don’t have to immediately educate impacted people about a change in state voting qualifications that clarified tens of thousands of felons have the right to vote, a federal judge ruled Friday.

    The ruling came in response to a request from lawyers from the Campaign Legal Center, on behalf of 10 voters over a law that prohibited anyone who committed a “felony of moral turpitude” from voting. In May, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed a law defining exactly which offenses constituted a crime of moral turpitude, earning widespread praise. But Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R) told HuffPost in June the state wouldn’t undertake any effort to target people affected by the change and let them know they’re now eligible to vote.

    The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates the changes could affect thousands of potential voters.

    Campaign Legal Center lawyers said that the overhaul would cause confusion among people who previously had been told they could not vote, but under the clarified law were now clearly eligible. Ahead of a Monday registration deadline for a special election for the U.S. Senate, the plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction requesting the state promote the changes in eligibility. It also requested it automatically reinstate and notify those who had been told they couldn’t vote in the past two years, but were clearly eligible.

    Reply
  49. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:18 am

    Trump’s policy illiteracy includes the basics of economic data
    07/31/17 01:57 PM—UPDATED 07/31/17 02:37 PM
    By Steve Benen

    On Friday morning, the latest data on domestic economic growth was released, and we learned that the economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.6% in the second quarter, covering April to June. At a White House cabinet meeting this morning, Donald Trump pointed to the figure as proof of his underappreciated successes. From the official transcript:

    “We have a GDP, on Friday – it got very little mention, although I guess in the business areas it did. But it got, I think, very little mention. 2.6 is a number that nobody thought they’d see for a long period of time…. And 2.6 is an unbelievable number, announced on Friday.”

    It’s hard to say with confidence whether Trump has any idea what the GDP is or what the quarterly reports show, but 2.6% growth is clearly not an “unbelievable number.” It’s actually quite believable.

    Indeed, when the president says “nobody” expected to see quarterly growth of 2.6 “for a long period of time,” that plainly ridiculous. As recently as last fall, which really isn’t that long ago, we saw 2.8% growth.

    Throughout the Obama era, most notably after the Great Recession ended, we saw plenty of individual quarters in which growth topped 4% and, at one point, 5%. Barack Obama didn’t do much to pat himself on the back, and the Democratic White House didn’t tout the figures as “unbelievable.” They were simply seen as evidence of a domestic economy that was growing steadily.

    Reply
  50. rikyrah says:
    August 1, 2017 at 8:14 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄 😄

    Reply
  51. Ametia says:
    August 1, 2017 at 7:41 am

    Good Morning, Everyone.

    Reply

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