A Barrel Full of Rotten Apples

These men were not elected, and have no legitimate position in government, yet they have the power to interfere

Three Private Civilians Have Been Shaping Policy at the VA From Mar-a-Lago

ProPublica found that the three men had been part of the daily leadership of the agency, actively reviewing and weighing in on regular policy and personnel decisions.

Ike Perlmutter, Bruce Moskowitz (and his remora fish son Aaron), Marc Sherman

Why do they feel they have the right to interfere directly, with the VA ? Why did the trio have the power to push Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin out ?


David Shulkin did not want complete privatization of veteran services, did not want the VA to become monetized by private corporations.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics...rs-secretary-david-shulkin-is-a-bad-idea.html

Yummy corruption opportunities, for Trump's enforcers- Do it Mr. Trump's way, or else...

https://www.propublica.org/article/...oskowitz-marc-sherman-shadow-rulers-of-the-va



Shulkin came to the Obama administration to run the VA health care system after the 2014 Phoenix scandal. His selection came after a turbulent Trump transition, during which the president interviewed several potential candidates before settling on Shulkin. Trump reportedly gave Shulkin the job because the New Jersey physician persuaded him he could continue the slow, deliberate privatization of the VA and deliver other wins to Trump on issues like employee accountability (read: easier firing of civil servants).

Shulkin could have been allowed to be quietly corrupt, if he allowed Trump's alliance to exploit the VA completely, and allowed Trump to pare the actual VA down to a skeleton crew.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-fired-va-secretary-shulkin-for-wrong-reasons-3423a42d38cb/


(Trump always needs money for his own, personal pet projects- He scraped money up, by leaving departments empty, skimping on funding, leaving people without resources. Trump has no problem with making false promises to vets, and breaking them.)

But the administration has already established that it believes corporate tax cuts are so important, they’re worth enacting at any fiscal cost. Given that context, it shouldn’t be difficult for Democrats to paint the White House’s current hard line on deficits as a tacit admission that it sees caring for America’s retired troops as less important than increasing corporate America’s allowance.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligence...afford-veterans-health-care-without-cuts.html

One more-

Transcript

Audio

A new report questions how the Veterans Affairs Department is being run in the Trump administration. ProPublica says the VA has three "shadow rulers," three men who have never served in the U.S. military or government but have outsize influence over all department decisions. Nick Schifrin talks with Isaac Arnsdorf of ProPublica and Melissa Bryant of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America


Shadow leadership’ is wielding vast influence at Veterans Affairs, report says


Perlmutter became the leader of what the investigative news site ProPublica calls the VA’s shadow rulers. Perlmutter, Bruce Moskowitz, a doctor, and Marc Sherman, a lawyer, none of the three have served in the U.S. military or the government, but they have outsized influence over all VA decisions, according to the story written by ProPublica reporter Isaac Arnsdorf, who joins us in the studio. Also here, Melissa Bryant, a former Army intelligence officer and the chief policy officer of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/s...ce-at-veterans-affairs-report-says#transcript

Rotten

Devin Nunes

Main job ? Supporting Trump fuckery.


Marc Ambinder
✔
@marcambinder

The most objective way to describe this is: @DevinNunes has acknowledged that he knowingly, willfully, repeatedly and with glee, uses his considerable power to destroy civic institutions that exist to hold powerful interests accountable. That is the _least_ biased way to put it.

12:43 AM - Aug 9, 2018


The recording of Nunes at private fundraiser, via Rachel Maddow

In a nutshell: If Sessions refuses to fire Mueller, and if Mueller concludes that Trump broke the law, there’s only one defense left: Republicans in Congress. No matter what happens, we can keep Trump in office as long as we’re in the majority


https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/08/nunes-we-will-protect-trump-no-matter-what-hes-done/


Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)


Who is he?

Chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee and perhaps Trump’s top congressional field general in his war on the Russia probe. Trump was actually a big fan of Nunes long before the congressman became one of his leading attack dogs. During the presidential campaign, Trump made an unexpected stop in Nunes’ district to raise money and, after securing the presidency, named the California lawmaker to a leading role on his transition team.

Claim to fame:

Nunes recused himself last April from the intel committee’s probe into Russian election interference after disclosing information from classified reports he apparently viewed at the White House. Despite promising to hand off the investigation to Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), Nunes continued to review classified material related to the case and, in May, issued three subpoenas to intelligence officials over unfounded claims that Trump associates were improperly “unmasked” following American surveillance of foreign operatives. The House Ethics Committee ultimately cleared Nunes of any wrongdoing in December.


Trumpiest moments:

Remember #ReleaseTheMemo? That brief social media campaign—trumpeted on Twitter by no less than the president himself—led to a party-line committee vote to release a memo drafted by Nunes and his staff that blasted federal law enforcement officials’ handling of the Russia investigation. In true Trumpian fashion, Nunes didn’t let facts get in the way of a compelling narrative. The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, called the memo “rife with factual inaccuracies” and later released a blistering Democratic rebuttal disproving one of Nunes’ central claims.

https://www.motherjones.com/politic...n-devin-nunes-chris-collins-dana-rohrabacher/

Rotten

13. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.)

12. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)

11. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)

10. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)


9. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)

8. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.)

"...biggest hypocrite in Congress.”

7. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)

6. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)

5. Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.)

Republican candidate charged with assault after 'body-slamming' Guardian reporter

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/24/greg-gianforte-bodyslams-reporter-ben-jacobs-montana

Gianforte was determined to avoid answering a questions, by any means possible. Which included attacking and beating a reporter during an open interview session.

The question was quite simple. Gianforte had previously stated that he wanted to see the Congressional Budget Office score before saying whether he would have voted for the Affordable Health Care Act, the Obamacare repeal effort that passed the House on May 4. Late Wednesday afternoon, on the eve of Thursday’s special election to replace Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, the CBO released its report, finding that the bill would leave an additional 23 million Americans without health insurance by 2026 and cause the cost of insurance to soar for some populations, in particular for people suffering from drug abuse. Now that the score was out, Jacobs asked Gianforte what he thought.

Trump was doing everything in his power to keep this fact obscured, and Gianforte would keep his promise and pledge, or piss Trump off and lose his opportunity to join the Trump machine. Which would piss off his campaign supporters, hoping to achieve Extremist Religious Right goals, Koch goals of raping National Monument land for profit, and White Supremacist goals of establishing a way to exclude minorities, liberals, and Democrats.

4. Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.)


3. Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.)

Entitled egotistical sexist pig

Republican Rep. Chris Collins (N.Y.)—President Donald Trump's first congressional supporter—on Wednesday was arrested by the FBI and indicted on insider trading charges for actions that may have taken place while he was on the White House lawn.


https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...umps-very-first-congressional-backer-indicted


disgusting pig pit, replenished with pigs, frequently

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/11/6281...g-rep-jim-jordan-amid-sex-abuse-investigation

2. Rep. Jason Lewis (R-Minn.)

"We required modesty from women. Now, are we beyond those days where a woman can behave as a slut, but you can’t call her a slut ?"


1. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.)

Grand Climate Change Denier

This exemplifies the tactics—the scare tactics—of those who’ve been pushing this global warming fraud on us,” he said during a spate of fires in August 2013. “They’ll take something that is dramatic, like a fire, and try and use that, or a tornado, or a hurricane, and say, ‘See, people are being hurt.'”


https://www.motherjones.com/politic...n-devin-nunes-chris-collins-dana-rohrabacher/

A Good Family stands against Trump Supporter that is a rotten person

"...whenever you hear about a particularly cruel immigration crackdown coming from the White House, you can bet adviser Stephen Miller’s fingerprints are all over it."

Stephen Miller, rotten hypocrite

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Immigration-hypocrite-Stephen-Miller-s-uncle-13153733.php

August 12, 2018

His critics describe his influence as being like Gríma—the fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of Rings, better known as Wormtongue—a silent power behind the throne. For instance, multiple sources described how Miller has worked to make the refugee cap irrelevant by bureaucratically kneecapping the refugee program—slowing down the interviews D.H.S. officials conduct with refugees overseas, undercutting the staffing at the agencies that handle resettlement in the United States, and complicating the vetting process.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/08/stephen-miller-refugees-state-department


Stephen Miller’s uncle David Glosser described his goblin nephew as a “hypocrite” whose policies “repudiate the very foundation of our family’s life in this country,"Glosser continued jumping off the top rope and onto his nephew’s frail body, telling the network’s John Berman that the “inexcusable cruelty” of the child separation policy spurred him to act:


New Day
✔
@NewDay
Stephen Miller's uncle David Glosser says "inexcusable cruelty" of family separation spurred his public repudiation of his nephew: "Various members of the family...thought I could no longer remain...a quiet voice on the subject in light of the incarceration of all these children"

7:50 AM - Aug 14, 2018

Glosser said “dozens”—yes, DOZENS—of his family members “encouraged” him to “push forward” with the public disavowal of the Trump administration’s most Earthworm Jim-lookin’ piece of shit.


Glosser said their family is “huge” and he wouldn’t speak for all of them, but man, when dozens of your relatives think you are a disgrace... You might have fucked up.


https://splinternews.com/stephen-millers-uncle-says-dozens-of-family-members-hat-1828329792

AUG. 13, 2018

GOP Congressman Repeatedly Owned by Son on Twitter

Usually, Twitter.com is a place where people go to hurl insults at celebrities, strangers, and fast-food restaurants. But sometimes it’s also a place where they go to own their parents. Like Bobby Goodlatte, a designer and investor, and son of GOP congressman Bob Goodlatte, who recently announced he gave the maximum allowed donation to Jennifer Lewis, the Democrat running for his father’s seat representing Virginia’s 6th Congressional District.


I just gave the maximum allowed donation to Jennifer Lewis, a democrat running for my father's congressional seat. I've also gotten 5 other folks to commit to donate the max. 2018 is the year to flip districts — let's do this! https://jenniferlewisforcongress.com/

8:19 PM - Aug 12, 2018


https://www.thecut.com/2018/08/rep-bob-goodlatte-repeatedly-owned-by-son-on-twitter.html

(Orange Cheeto-lini's) apparent ongoing intimidation of the national-security apparatus is worrying, the truly terrifying exercise in power has been his purge of federal law enforcement.

If a determined authoritarian president were to probe the system for weaknesses that would allow him to consolidate his power, the awesome authority of the Department of Justice is where he would focus. Either by instinct or by happenstance (we can rule out conscious planning), this is where Trump has arrived.

The police powers of the state could, if corrupted, become a fearsome weapon both to hound the opposition party and to permit illegality by the president’s allies.


The president has a vise grip on the loyalties of his party base, and Republicans in Congress, for all their private misgivings, see crossing him as an act of career suicide. Shame has no more power over this administration than does Santa Claus. The remaining factor, control of Congress, hangs in the balance with the midterm elections. As does much else.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligence...-the-doj-into-his-own-private-goon-squad.html

David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland Florida massacre. A high school student, that has dedicated his time to students.

New York magazine allowed their journalist write a huge article about him.

He is a decent young person, and people are willing to give him a start, a decent chance in life to fulfill his gifts and potential.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligence...is-taking-his-gap-year-at-the-barricades.html

If the awakening of #MeToo would have happened earlier, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas would have never been allowed to approach the sacred bench.

Anita Hill would have had support.

Now, Clarence Thomas's wife Ginni Thomas is neck deep in Extremist Right Wing propaganda.

She has steadily attacked the students that survived the Parkland massacre. Now, she has passed along a senseless meme, that used a dead child and two courageous Parland students.

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/08/ginni-thomas-bullies-parkland-teens

The "meme" was created by someone associated with a Super PAC named The Great American Movement, and !surprise! it is centered in Mar-a-Lago territory, Palm Beach, Florida.

Another Parkland massacre survivor, was subverted by the NRA. The student and his dad seem to be upset by the New York magazine article, too.


They are tearing at David Hogg.

Is the NRA so afraid of a high school student ?

Paul Manafort, only 44% guilty, convicted of eight out of eighteen counts.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/21/politics/paul-manafort-trial-jury/index.html

Now it's on to another trial on a new set of charges.

Orange Cheeto-lini's White House, White Noise


What is it, that we are not hearing ?


What is it, that is being "washed out" ?


21.08.2018

US deports former Nazi camp guard Jakiv Palij to Germany
Former SS camp guard Jakiv Palij has landed in Düsseldorf, 14 years after his deportation order was signed in the US. But whether he faces trial in Germany remains far from clear.

The German judiciary has been infamously reluctant to prosecute Holocaust perpetrators. A turning point came in 2011 with the conviction of another "Trawniki man," Ukrainian-born John Demjanjuk, on charges of accessory to murder in 28,060 cases.

Demjanjuk was sentenced to five years in prison and died ten months later aged 91, but the case set the crucial precedent that service at a Nazi death camp was enough to secure a conviction. Several late Nazi trials followed, though all the defendants were in their 90s.

But the Demjanjuk case was simpler, said Rommel: "Demjanjuk was also trained in Trawniki, but he was deployed in the death camp Sobibor, where everyone who arrived was killed, so that everyone who served there, regardless of what they did on individual days, helped to maintain this death machinery."

https://www.dw.com/en/us-deports-former-nazi-camp-guard-jakiv-palij-to-germany/a-45154743



The Trump administration quickly used it as an opportunity to claim some kind of moral high ground for an agency that has targeted immigrants at courthouses and en route to hospitals, overseen a staggering increase in arrests while often using deceptive tactics, and exposed more than 1,000 immigrants to abuse while detained.



Sarah Sanders
✔
@PressSec

For many years a Nazi forced labor camp guard had been living in NY - a terrible injustice. Past Administrations failed to deport him. Today, @realDonaldTrump got the job done! ICE has removed this despicable Nazi from our great country


https://theslot.jezebel.com/sarah-sanders-uses-nazi-deportation-to-claim-moral-high-1828489267

on youtube

Sacramento County Community ICE Forum

Published on Mar 30, 2017

On March 28th, 2017, Sacramento County Sheriff, Scott Jones, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting-Director, James Homan, held a community forum to discuss immigration enforcement within Sacramento County.

We want to share this video of the event in its entirety, however during some moments of the discussion, profanity from several audience members can be heard. Viewer discretion is advised



In 2017, Bernard Marks, a Holocaust survivor, had a different assessment of the legacy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I am a survivor of Auschwitz and Dachau,” Marks said while confronting the agency’s acting director at a public forum. “History is not on your side

March 30, 2017

Bernard Marks, 87, will talk about the Holocaust with anyone who will listen.

The world was listening this week after the Auschwitz survivor stood at a Sacramento immigration forum Tuesday and compared the Trump administration’s hardline stance on refugees and undocumented immigrants to Nazi Germany.


“History is not on your side,” Marks told Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, who hosted the forum featuring Thomas Homan,, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In a followup interview, Marks talked about his comparison of the Trump administration to Nazis.

“I have not compared them 100 percent to the Nazis, but we are on the way,” he said. “What concerns me is we are breaking up families. We are turning justice upside down. We are starting with the Muslims. Who is next?”

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article141862719.html

Republican National Committee

Republican Nazi Committee ?


Republican National Committee—perhaps concerned about losing another potential Trump voter—simply couldn’t let the occasion of Palij’s deportation pass without taking a swing at their new public enemy number one.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez !

ICE deports Nazi from Ocasio-Cortez’s backyard,” the RNC trumpeted in a blog post that was emailed to supporters on Tuesday morning.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents removed the Nazi from his home in Queens, which is located in the New York congressional district that Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is running to represent.

There’s arguably no issue that’s drawn more attention to Ocasio-Cortez than her call to abolish ICE. Earlier this month, she fundraised with a group that referred to ICE as “the Gestapo” and encourages the harassment of ICE employees.

Click to expand...

The RNC’s insinuation seems pretty clear: If ICE was abolished, Ocasio-Cortez—who has the gall to say “healthcare is good, and people should have basic human rights like education”—would be just fine with harboring war criminals


https://splinternews.com/the-gop-tears-a-hamstring-making-the-leap-from-nazis-de-1828490670

Of a matter of course, Neo-Nazis, and members of other Nazi associated groups are running for public office. They are not Democrats.

Spoiled rotten, and sulking angrily in court


Rep. Duncan Hunter, Republican

In relentless detail, Hunter indictment lays out broad case, shows breadth and depth of investigation

The indictment filed in San Diego federal court is full of eye-popping details on expenditures — using campaign funds to pay for cross-country air travel for a pet rabbit, family vacations in Italy and Hawaii, even mundane items like workout shorts, frozen yogurt and fast food.


http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/sd-me-hunter-legal-20180823-story.html

Now that Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has been indicted on corruption charges for using campaign money to pay personal expenses, Democratic candidates are calling on Republicans to return the money he gave them.

Peace Through Strength PAC, which is affiliated with Hunter, donated nearly $10,000 to three House candidates. The contributions came between 2014 and 2016, with the largest total going to Congressman Jeff Denham, R-Turlock. According to data gathered by the Center for Responsive Politics, Denham received a total of $4,700.


https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article217104095.html


Hunter’s campaign has published a lengthy statement calling the effort to indict him a “witch-hunt


A long list of pilfering and lies that were told

https://sandiegofreepress.org/2018/...cence-alongside-snippets-from-the-indictment/

Verizon to firefighter- "Die in a fire"


Ajit Pai Verizon's pet rat

Behind Pai’s brainy, technocratic mask, though, is an alter ego: ruthless conservative ideologue. In this sense, he is emblematic of Trump’s Washington, where all debates—even the bone-dry bureaucratic ones—have become so heated that they are fought like matters of life and death. Pai’s competence has allowed him to make quick work of undoing the Obama administration’s legacy at the FCC

https://www.wired.com/story/ajit-pai...et-neutrality/

August 22, 2018



The slow data speeds that befell Santa Clara firefighters late last month were eventually rectified — but only after paying a price, Bowden added.

"While Verizon ultimately did lift the throttling, it was only after County Fire subscribed to a new, more expensive plan," he said in his declaration.

"In light of our experience," he wrote, "County Fire believes it is likely that Verizon will continue to use the exigent nature of public safety emergencies and catastrophic events to coerce public agencies into higher cost plans ultimately paying significantly more for mission critical service — even if that means risking harm to public safety during negotiations."

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/22/64081...ire-chief-says

Bowden, along with more than two dozen states and local government entities, laid out his case for why the repeal actually represents a threat to public safety. In his addendum to a brief filed Monday, noted first by Ars Technica, Bowden said Verizon reduced its data rates to just one two-hundredths of what was usual — and did so at a critical time for the emergency response.


FCC Chair Ajit Pai’s argument for ending net neutrality was it would somehow ensure that emergency services were prioritized over pornography



The state of California was on fire! Firefighters are not on the emergency services list ?


AUGUST 23, 2018


Santa Clara County Fire Department accused the telecom giant Verizon of dramatically cutting its data speed as [the department] recently fought the largest recorded wildfire in California’s history.


After Verizon admitted that it slowed the fire department’s data — a despised practice known as throttling — but claimed it was a simple mistake that “has nothing to do with net neutrality,” Santa Clara County Counsel James Williams responded in a statement on behalf of the fire department on Wednesday that “Verizon’s throttling has everything to do with net neutrality.”


It shows that the [internet service providers] will act in their economic interests, even at the expense of public safety,” Williams added. “That is exactly what the Trump administration’s repeal of net neutrality allows and encourages.”



https://sandiegofreepress.org/2018/0...-firefighters/


Trump Picks Republican Lawyer For FCC Commissioner Seat


June 29, 2017

The president appointed Commissioner Ajit Pai as the FCC chairman in January


Brendan Carr, Pai's legal adviser for three years, is expected to back the chairman's efforts to undo the FCC's 2015 net neutrality rules.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...missioner-seat

gsgs comment- *tip of the hat, to the GB denizen that name dropped this publication

I have no clear idea, about who John McCaine was. But, what I read, before he passed away, was not flattering.

John McCain was for himself, much like Trump. McCain is taking many secrets to his grave.

My memory has faded, and I had forgotten that that Arizona's Rose Mofford was the model for Democrat, Lacey Davenport, featured in Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip.

/end gsgs comment

1988

"I'll embarrass a Democrat any time I get the chance."

-John McCain

Top Ten Crooked Things About McCain From This Phoenix Alt-Weekly Article

August. 07, 2008

7. When Rose Mofford, a nice old Democrat lady who was Arizona's secretary of state, wound up serving out Ev Mecham's term as governor -- the whackjob Mecham was forced out of office in 1988 -- McCain conspired to shame Mofford during a brief appearance before Congress. Asked why, he cackled and said, "I'll embarrass a Democrat any time I get the chance." Minutes later, he swears to reporters that he'd "never do anything like that."


https://www.wonkette.com/top-ten-crooked-things-about-mccain-from-this-phoenix-alt-weekly-article

The author of this article, knew more about John McCain, than America was told


https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/john-mccain-america-senator-arizona-obituary-10001670


Postmodern John McCain: the presidential candidate some Arizonans know — and loathe

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/new...didate-some-arizonans-know-and-loathe-6393986

JOHN McCAIN AND THE LOW ROAD

Democrat, Rose Mofford, a woman with a bright white beehive hairdo who had quietly overseen Arizona's elections for decades and had no ambition for higher office.

ew days after she was sworn in Mofford headed to Washington for a largely ceremonial visit but, to her surprise, was ambushed at a congressional hearing by Idaho's James McClure, who ran her around in circles with a series of complex questions she plainly wasn't yet able to answer about CAP, Arizona's main water project. Why embarrass her this way? Longtime Arizona reporter Amy Silverman tells the story:

As Murphy recounted in an e-mail recently (he left the Republic many years ago, and now lives in Idaho), the incident crushed him. He says it was the beginning of the end of his respect for and friendship with McCain.

...."During lunch, McCain said, almost with mischievous glee, that he had slipped some highly technical questions to [James McClure] to ask Mofford — questions she wouldn't be prepared to answer or expected to answer.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-mccain-and-the-low-road/
August 8, 2008


(Rose) Mofford had been governor for only eight days. Before that, her main task had been running the state's elections department. This appearance (there was a similar one, later that day, before the House) had been billed as ceremonial. She was not familiar with the particulars of federal water law. Nor did her staff think she'd be expected to be — just then.

But, apparently, Senator James McClure, a Republican from Idaho, did. After a lot of looking, that librarian and I (actually, it took three librarians) tracked down the testimony from that day. McClure asked Mofford a series of questions that would leave any water expert's mouth dry. Her staff jumped in to try to answer, but even so, ultimately they had to file an addendum to the testimony.

Flabbergasted, I asked McCain why would he want to sabotage Mofford's testimony, when in fact the CAP was the nonpartisan pet of Republicans and Democrats — such as far-left Udall and far-right Goldwater — since its inception.

"His reply, as near as I remember, was, 'I'll embarrass a Democrat any time I get the chance.'

The lunch continued in strained chit-chat. We then walked back to McCain's office, where a few reporters, all of them from Arizona papers, as I recall, were waiting. One said there was a rumor McCain had tried to sabotage Mofford's testimony, to which he said something like, 'I'd never do anything like that.'"

....

He was at the end of his life, the end of his career- He served his alliance, he served himself.

The Carter Center
@CarterCenter
·
18h

STATEMENT BY FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER ON THE PASSING OF SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN

9:35 PM · Aug 25, 2018z


Former president Jimmy Carter said: “John McCain was a man of honor, a true patriot in the best sense of the word. Americans will be forever grateful for his heroic military service and for his steadfast integrity as a member of the United States Senate. Rosalynn and I extend our sincere condolences to Senator McCain’s family and to the people of Arizona whom he represented so forthrightly for so many years.”

https://www.theroot.com/john-mccain-requests-former-rivals-barack-obama-georg-1828610386

Sweetness and light granted to John McCain in death. Fear, pain, and bitterness, left to the people of America. We must live with his decisions and actions.

https://splinternews.com/the-myth-of-john-mccain-1828587230


Twitter tracks John McCain's public statements

8/19/10

Either Dems retake the House, or prepare for fascism: Paul Krugman for the NY Times

2018/8/27

While some are lauding the criminal convictions of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and former Trump lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen as evidence that our institutions are capable of thwarting the Trump menace, and perhaps may prove to be a historical opportunity for our Democracy to reassert itself, Nobel Prize winner and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is considerably less sanguine.

I felt a sense of deepened dread as I watched the Republican reaction: Faced with undeniable evidence of Trump’s thuggishness, his party closed ranks around him more tightly than ever.

Click to expand...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/...l?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

A year ago it seemed possible that there might be limits to the party’s complicity, that there would come a point where at least a few representatives or senators would say, no more. Now it’s clear that there are no limits: They’ll do whatever it takes to defend Trump and consolidate power.

Click to expand...

Overshadowed by the death of Senator John McCain, the big news this weekend was the discovery of a “spread sheet” making the rounds of the Republican Congress, describing in lurid detail the type of criminal investigations and inquiries this Administration will face if Democrats re-take control of the House of Representatives on November 6th. Tellingly, the “spread sheet” is being circulated not to illustrate the depths of depravity that the Administration has sunken to, or the fact that these are the types of investigations that ought to be conducted by any law-abiding legislative body in the face of venality like Trump’s, but rather to instill a sense of urgency and “resolve” for the Party now committed to defending him.

The thing about the list is that every item on it — starting with Donald Trump’s tax returns — is something that obviously should be investigated, and would have been investigated under any other president. But the people circulating the document simply take it for granted that Republicans won’t address any of these issues: Party loyalty will prevail over constitutional responsibility.

Click to expand...

https://www.dailykos.com/blog/recommended

It seems like a long, long time ago that conservatives were America’s “law and order” people.

-ROY EDROSO

Laws, Shmaws: Conservatives Contort Selves to Paint Trump as Winner in Manafort-Cohen Cases

August 27, 2018

https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/0...aint-trump-as-winner-in-manafort-cohen-cases/

SO WHEN ARE THEY GONG AFTER ALL THE PEOPLE WHO LIED ABOUT BENGHAZI ONLINE AT THE DIRECTION OF BARRACK OBAMA TO PREVENT HIS LOSING THE 2012 ELECTION?” raved a nostalgic Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit.


Chris Stevens’s Family: Don’t Blame Hillary Clinton for Benghazi

Robin Wright June 28, 2016

The Committee’s eight-hundred page report, which wraps up a two-year, seven-million-dollar investigation, specifically reprimanded the State Department, then under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; the Pentagon, headed at the time by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta; and the C.I.A.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news...amily-dont-blame-hillary-clinton-for-benghazi

(gsgs comment-New Yorker magazine's cartoonist takes a poke at Trump's inability to colour the American flag correctly. They gave him un-earned credit for getting the first stripe right. He left it blank (white) put a blue stripe in, and added a red stripe afterwards, below the invasive blue stripe- Russian order. Not American.)

Giuliani said it was not improper for him to intervene in a foreign country’s law enforcement while simultaneously representing the US president and that the work was unconnected.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/29/rudy-giuliani-romania-letter-paid-freeh-group



Trump lawyer Giuliani got paid to lobby Romanian president


The former New York mayor’s letter goes against the State Department stance on corruption in Bucharest

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/29/rudy-giuliani-romania-letter-paid-freeh-group


The former New York City mayor said on Tuesday that he wrote the letter under a retainer he is paid by the Freeh Group, a private consultancy run by Giuliani’s friend Louis Freeh, a former FBI director and federal judge. Giuliani declined to say how much he was paid.

Popoviciu moved to the US from Romania in the early 1990s with his then wife Doina, the daughter of a former senior official in Nicolae Ceaușescu’s communist regime. Both registered to vote in the US, having apparently obtained US citizenship.

The Popovicius lived in New Jersey before buying a $3m condominium together in midtown Manhattan. The couple is reported to have divorced in 2012. Doina Popoviciu now owns the apartment and a neighbouring unit that she bought for $3.6m, according to city records.

https://www.politico.eu/article/rud...omanian-anti-corruption-drive-klaus-iohannis/


Giuliani’s letter to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis appears to take sides in a fight at the top of the Romanian government over how to rein in high-level corruption.

The former New York mayor’s letter criticizes the “excesses” of Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), contrary to U.S. State Department policy, which has been supportive of the agency’s efforts. Although the missive does not claim to have been sent on President Trump’s authority, Romanian politicians seeking to blunt the power of the DNA have already used it to sow doubt about the U.S. government’s position.


The U.S. State Department has expressed concern at recent political upheaval in Romania around attempts to dial back those anti-corruption practices, including the firing of the country’s top anti-corruption prosecutor, Laura Codruţa Kövesi.

Rotten Apples due for composting

September 3, 2018

Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), two of Trump’s earliest supporters in Congress, have both pleaded not guilty in recent weeks to federal charges. Collins is accused of various crimes related to insider trading. Hunter is facing a suite of charges related to misusing campaign funds.

https://www.motherjones.com/politic...vestigations-of-two-indicted-gop-congressmen/

The Republican Way

Lie. Rip off your workers, steal money, feed out of the public trough, buy your way out of trouble, use political alliances combined with religious alliances to corrupt local and state-wide government. Work your way up the ladder, and take corruption nation-wide.


Buying a piece of the Religion Scam


Pretend to be devoted to religious beliefs, while having no morals, no compassion, and no pity. FFS, the bible is a book filled with fairy tales about magic. Who would still buy this story, if they no longer believe in the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus ?There were consequences for refusal to conform. 70 years, ago. Shunning. But, now ?

Betsy DeVos rises to stand next to Donald Trump

Her family was engaged with and enmeshed themselves with Reagan Republicans.


October 2018 issue of Vanity Fair

Betsy DeVos’s younger brother, Erik Prince, the former navy SEAL who started Blackwater—the mammoth security company, some of whose “civilian soldiers” had gone rogue in Iraq. Prince recently turned over his computer and phones to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, which has no doubt looked closely at his possible involvement in helping establish back-channel communications with Russia for the Trump administration. (Prince denies any wrongdoing.)


Betsy DeVos and Erik's father, Edgar Prince, was a Chrysler-Plymouth salesman and then machine engineer who started a die-cast business and also had a tinkerer’s gift for inventions. One, the lighted vanity mirror on the flip-up sun visor (introduced in 1972), helped Edgar Prince become one of the wealthiest men in Michigan.


Pyramid Scheme Grifting

Prince Corporation, with its die-casting machines, was a classic Rust Belt factory. But the DeVos family business, Amway (short for American Way)—which recruited people to sell soap and household cleaning products—was very different, a kind of high-pressure cult, replete with tent-style rallies, as disillusioned ex-Amway sellers began to say. (Trouble with the law, but political alliances trumped local law.)

No Public Schools

Betsy DeVos wants Evangelists to be able to feed from federal funds. She is in favor of private for-profit schools, and charter schools that promote religion.

(According to a year-long investigation by the Detroit Free Press, rampant abuses followed.)


No Labor Unions

Amway and the Prince Corporation had no use for them.


Now the family waged a public fight. After Dick DeVos was routed when he ran for governor of Michigan in 2006, he blamed his defeat, in part, on Michigan’s unions and began to push for a right-to-work law (weakening the unions’ economic power and political clout, a pillar of the state’s Democratic Party). In 2012, the bill got through, and Michigan—headquarters to the United Automobile Workers, no less—became yet another of the country’s right-to-work states.


https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/09/the-strange-ascent-of-betsy-devos-and-erik-prince


How could the DeVos clan and the Prince clan become obscenely wealthy, if they were not allowed to lie, steal, abuse, corrupt, and be complicit with conniving conspirators ?

No one has video proof about Betsy DeVos claims that vandals set her $40 million dollar yacht drifting away from the dock ?

Fun way to get insurance money, to pay insurance on the remaining 9 holes in the water... Just tell a lie, again. Has Betsy been chatting to Trump ?

Following the path of Sen. Grassley (R)



What happened to his independence ?


He didn't press when Kavanaugh refused to say if he believes a sitting president could be forced to testify.

Grassley didn't join Democratic senators in asking if Kavanaugh would recuse himself from ruling on Trump because of a conflict of interest as his nominee.

Grassley told Kavanaugh: “I hope a lot of people in this country have formed very positive views of you, as I have," and praised his “compelling and credible” answers." He chided committee Democrats on approaching the hearings with their minds already made up.


Grassley had apparently already made up his mind to cast Democrats as obstructionists.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...eme-court-nominee/1288003002/?from=new-cookie


He does not seem to have any fondness for Democrats

Iowa, in the process of being divided

After the meeting, Grassley was asked if the anger over Kavanaugh’s likely confirmation will hurt Republicans in the mid-term elections, or if the opposition is a vocal minority.

“They may be a minority and a vocal minority, but what difference does it make? Trump supporters are a vocal minority too,” Grassley said. “It’s what you have in between that makes a difference. How are they going to fall? I can’t predict that for ya.”

Grassley said the Senate Majority Leader wants Kavanaugh to be confirmed by the full Senate by the end of September, but Grassley said he’s not sure it will happen that fast. The Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to vote on the nominee.

http://www.iowapublicradio.org/post...-hall-iowans-split-over-supreme-court-nominee

University of Iowa TPUSA Board Resigns, Accusing National Leaders of Exploiting the Death of Mollie Tibbetts


August 24, 2018

Right Wing Watch reported that the executive board of the University of Iowa chapter of Turning Point USA had resigned in protest of what an unsigned statement by the board said was the exploitation of Mollie Tibbets’ death by national TPUSA leaders, the statement was deleted from the Twitter feed of the U.I. chapter.


President Trump amplified the (divisive, racist, untrue, uninformed) theme just hours after Tibbetts’ body was identified.

The reaction brought condemnations from Tibbetts’ family members, including the dead student’s aunt, who released a statement cautioning against a racist reaction to her niece’s killing. Tibbetts’ second cousin, Sam Lucas, responded to a statement by TPUSA’s Owens about the murder, and demanded that Owens stop “using my cousin’s death as political propaganda.” Owens lashed out against Lucas, writing that she was “not ashamed for believing [Tibbets’] death should not have happened.”

In a statement dated August 24 the entire executive board of the University of Iowa TPUSA announced that they were resigning their posts, finding it “in poor taste to exploit the death of a Hawkeye to suit a political agenda.”


It adds that if TPUSA’s national directors hold the event anyway, “it does so without the support of this executive board” because “we are all shocked, hurting, and in need of more respect than what was given to us by Turning Point USA.”

University of Iowa TPUSA executive board announced that its members were severing their “association with Turning Point USA.”




http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/...s-try-to-exploit-the-death-of-mollie-tibbett/

Contentious Grassley Town Hall, Iowans Split Over Supreme Court Nominee
SEP 11, 2018


http://www.iowapublicradio.org/post...-hall-iowans-split-over-supreme-court-nominee


Chuck Grassley defends Kavanaugh hearings at raucous town hall


https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...ion-hearings-supreme-court-senate/1255832002/

Sadly, our women's hope for, keeping our rights, may not find much hope in Maine


Kavanaugh Nomination: Susan B. Anthony List Pays Protesters to Pressure Manchin; No Rebuke from Collins


September 13, 2018

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins alleges that a crowdfunding campaign by progressive activists in Maine, designed to pressure her to vote against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee of Brett Kavanaugh, amounts to some dirty money. But she’s had not a word to say about the fact that the anti-choice group, Susan B. Anthony List, is paying protesters to stand outside the West Virginia offices of colleague Sen. Joe Manchin, the Democrat of West Virginia who describes himself as “pro-life.” In addition, SBA List has pledged to spend $785,000 in TV and radio ads against Manchin in his bid for re-election this November.

As pressure mounts on Collins, the Maine Republican who professes to hold pro-choice views, to vote against the Kavanaugh nomination when a confirmation vote comes to the Senate floor, two state-based groups, Maine People’s Alliance and Mainers for Accountable Leadership, launched a novel campaign on the progressive political crowdfunding platform, Crowdpac. Those who donate will get their money back if Collins votes “no” on the Kavanaugh nomination. But if she votes “yes,” the money raised will go to support her Democratic challenger when Collins comes up for re-election in 2020. So far, according to Vox, the progressive groups have raised $1.1 million. Collins told the right-wing outlet Newsmax that the campaign amounts to an attempt to “bribe” her—even though none of the money will be given to her or her reelection campaign. (Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax, is a confidant of President Donald Trump.)

However, there does seem to be some hinky business happening with the anti-choice protesters who, in the days leading up to Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, congregated outside Manchin’s Fairmount, West Virginia, office, demanding that he vote “yes” on the nomination of the apparently anti-choice Kavanaugh. Those protesters were all from out of state, according to a report by West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and were each paid $150 to protest for the day. The Washington Examiner reported on August 10 that the Susan B. Anthony (anti-abortion) list is spending $785,000 in ads against Manchin “for his role in upholding [government] funding to Planned Parenthood.”


http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/...s-to-pressure-manchin-no-rebuke-from-collins/

Brett Kavanaugh, rotten apple, pretends that he is not rotten

He is rotten.

"Brett Kavanaugh will not answer your questions!"

https://www.wonkette.com/going-out-on-a-limb-here-but-brett-kavanaugh-is-kind-of-a-dick

The world is watching and reading.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.792487199497


America's citizens were assured, somewhat, by the advisors that were part of Trump's administration. But, Orange Cheeto-lini cannot tolerate anyone that does not fall in line with his hare-brained ideas, or those that are stubbornly loyal to the U.S.A, and not loyal to Orange Cheeto-lini, himself.

America Cringed as Honorable Men Degraded Themselves, to Suit Orange Cheeto-lini's Purposes

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...ion_is_being_destroyed_by_trump_s_deceit.html

Gen. Jim Mattis, not rotten enough


Fraying Ties With Trump Put Mattis's Fate in Doubt


September 15,2018


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/15/us/politics/jim-mattis-trump-defense-relationship.html


Is Orange Cheeto-lini tRump ready to throw "Mad Dog" Mattis, Defense Secretary General Jim Mattis, overboard ? Mattis remains as "one of the adults in the room." Mattis does not cave to unreasonable demands.

National Security Advisor Lt. General McMasters, was thrown overboard, and replaced with John Bolton.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39033934


Mira Ricardel is a campaign aide with Orange Cheeto-lini. She worked for John Bolton, and now she is interfering with Jim Mattis's decisions. Orange Cheeto-lini is allowing interference with the Pentagon.

September 15, 2018


Orange Cheeto-lini believes Mattis could be a Democrat
(Gen. Masters knows the conventional rules, guidance, and operations)

A new deputy national security adviser, Mira Ricardel, who has had past disagreements with Mattis, was added to the White House in May. Ricardel and Mattis reportedly clashed when it came to Pentagon appointees. Mattis privately said she was intentionally blocking nominees. The move to add her as a national security adviser, coupled with sources who spoke with The Times, suggests Trump could replace Mattis after the November midterm elections.

Two aides said the president wants Mattis to be more like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who offers more support and praise.

Aides said that because Mattis disagrees with Trump and does not want to publicly offer insincere praise, Mattis largely remains silent.

(Gen. Mattis refuses to take part in FOX TV foolishness)

Mattis denied being the author of a New York Times op-ed written by an anonymous administration official who said there was a “quiet resistance” that existed within the president’s administration.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-tiring-james-mattis-thinks-he-democrat-1122675

“I didn’t write that letter to the Times.”

I used a keyboard.

Sen. Orrin Hatch showed the world that he was rotten, before Kavanaugh put his foot in it.


https://www.dailykos.com

Crumbling Crumbcakes!

Now, it is easier to understand why some of the GB denizens are, the way they are....


yikes


South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman


My opponent apparently thinks sexual assault is a joke. It is not,” said Archie Parnell, Norman’s opponent. “But I guess that’s the best we can expect from someone who pulled a loaded gun on his own constituents.”

Sumter Democrat Archie Parnell

https://www.postandcourier.com/news...cle_aa70b77c-bcf5-11e8-a7c7-ff6a511cd2db.html

I agree with Parnell, but Parnell doesn’t get to claim any moral high ground, either. According to divorce papers obtained by the Post and Courier, he was accused of beating his ex-wife.

-Prachi Gupta

Click to expand...

Cheerleaders, for the Extremist Religious Right Wing Republican agenda, are willing to say anything, even if it may harm their daughters,grand-daughters, neices, sisters, mothers, in-laws, friends, co-workers..




Catherine Glenn Foster, seems to be perfectly OK with Handmaids Tale becoming a reality.


Catherine Glenn Foster over at The Federalist, who wants us to know that losing our reproductive rights will empower us beyond our wildest dreams, according to the actual title of her essay.


Making abortion illegal, Foster continues, will also empower women by making men feel obligated to marry them.

(No man will ever use the phrase- "Is it mine ?" Every woman that marries, will never experience an unfaithful husband, or will never have a deadbeat ex-husband that decides child support is not his responsibility!)


Foster also claims that abortion has made women poorer. She's not, like, toooootally sure how, but she knows there are more poor women than there were before Roe was passed, and she's pretty sure it's because of that, and not because of Reagan's economic policies or the decline of unions.

Dennis Prager

Prager explains that your morals are like a bank account. So like, if you do good overall, you can totally rape someone, and it is fine and should not count against you.

Prager then explains that the truly empowering thing for women to do is to be like his wife, who was very chill about how her manager at work used to grab her breasts all the time.

(According to Prager) Empowerment isn't knowing you're not going to get groped, it's getting groped and being chill about it and not doing anything that's going to ruin a good family man's life.

https://www.wonkette.com/ladies-are...productive-rights-and-getting-sexual-harassed

According to Dennis Prager, women will be empowered by realizing that men trying to rape them isn't that big of a deal after all ?

Sexually transmitted diseases do not exist in Dennis Prager's world ?


Will we have Republican women stepping forward, to shame survivors of brutal and violent rapes ? Will Republican women reproach victims for not being strong enough to stay silent ?

Ed Whelan


Ed Whelan—long-time associate and friend of Brett Kavanaugh, former law clerk for Antonin Scalia


Ed Whelan, president of the laughably named Ethics and Public Policy Center, was interviewed by the Washington Post on Friday evening. He refused to discuss his scheme to pin a sexual assault on a middle school teacher and shift the blame from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. He also claims that he did not communicate with Kavanaugh, White House counsel Don McGahn, or “anyone else at the White House.” And on top of his ugly shift the blame scheme, it’s obvious that he’s lying — because he knew Christine Blasey Ford’s name before it became public, but was known to the White House


The facts are:

Someone at the White House passed along Dr. Ford’s name. It was passed to Whelan. Everything else is bullshit.

Whelan created his story over a period of days, and during that time he showed the story in development to others and got feedback. The odds that what he was doing was not at least known to others on the confirmation team is zero.

Kavanaugh left the public accusation of another man up and visible for twelve hours, and did not remove it until the accusation had been amplified and repeated by Sean Hannity, Fox and Friends, Breitbart and a host of others.

The “it was someone else” scheme was already being circulated on the right in advance of Whelan’s plot. Some of those spreading this idea … Hatch? Parker? Were likely aware of Whelan’s work while it was in progress



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...e-else-is-lying-about-White-House-connections


Garrett Ventry

Top staffer for Republican Senator Chuck Grassley


andrew kaczynski
✔
@KFILE
Per Politico, Grassley aide Garrett Ventry, who has resigned after NBC News asked about past sexual harassment allegations, worked for Grassley because CRC wanted someone on the hill.

CRC is the GOP firm that helped Ed Whelan w/his irresponsible thread.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/21/ed-whelan-kavanaugh-tweets-pr-firm-836405 …

11:03 AM - Sep 22, 2018

CRC Public Relations

CRC would not just be the group doing PR for Kavanaugh’s nomination, but also the group that was helping to push Ed Whelan’s blame-someone-else theory. They are also the people behind the Swift Boat campaign that spent months impugning John Kerry’s military service. Ventry was simultaneously employed as the communication director of the Senate Judiciary Committee and by CRC, a group pushing right wing propaganda.

Saturday, Sep 22, 2018
- Mark Sumner
Daily Kos

And as it turns out, Grassley hired the guy because he was actually working for CRC.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...-own-history-of-sexual-harassment-is-revealed

Despite the fact that he’s a lawyer and a former clerk for Scalia, Whelan seems to have taken about twelve hours to realize that he was open to both civil and criminal charges for his evil Hardy Boys Twitter thread. On Friday morning, he began deleting tweets and posted an awkward apology—over a story that had already been blasted out to millions on Fox and elsewhere. Whelan has now deleted the original Twitter thread, which has already done the desired harm.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...meone-else-involved-more-than-just-one-person