THe 129th Week of Smoke and Misdirection!

[JackLuis]

Trump is humiliating the Department of Justice and tearing its credibility to shreds

If you work for Donald Trump, there’s a good chance you’ll end up being shamed and humiliated. That’s long been true for his closest aides and appointees, many of who have been shuffled off the national stage in disgrace or with their reputations ruined — or both.

But now the principle may be extending even further, touching even career officials who work in federal government departments and traditionally stay in their jobs even as presidents change.

Trump’s latest proxy humiliation came for Joshua Gardner, who has been defending the administration in the legal battle over the citizenship question on the Census. After the Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s decision to block the question, the administration’s lawyers told the courts Tuesday that it had given up on trying to include that section on the Census survey forms. But the very next day, the president tweeted that what his own administration’s lawyers had claimed was fake news and that he would continue fighting to include the citizenship question.

That led to Gardner — while on vacation — getting called to speak with a federal judge to explain the change. Gardner was clearly flummoxed, saying that he didn’t have any new information in addition to the tweet and that he was trying to figure out what was going on. It was only then that another DOJ lawyer jumped into the discussion to confirm that the administration is seeking out possible alternative routes to include the question.

WTF! Trumpski is steering the Ship Of State off the edge of his Flat Earth!

 

[JackLuis]

Another unpopular president tried to turn around his low numbers with a Fourth of July celebration — it didn’t end well

President Donald Trump may hope that by throwing a giant military parade and giving a grand speech this Fourth of July, he will impress people enough to turn around his dismal polling numbers.

If so, there is a historical example that the president might want to take as a cautionary tale: President Harry Truman.

As presidential historian Douglas Brinkley explained to CNN’s Dana Bash on “Inside Politics,” Truman — at the nadir of his popularity — tried to turn his image around with a similar grand statement on the Fourth of July. And he ultimately decided not to run for re-election at all.

“Yeah,” said Brinkley. “And Truman only had about 150,000 people there … this was in the middle of the Korean War. Election cycle was coming up in 1952. They used to say he had a 27 percent approval rating. He thought by speaking at the Mall it might bring him up a little bit. It didn’t, and Truman couldn’t run for re-election.”

Oops!

 

[JackLuis]

Trump’s fake patriotism was sophomoric and insulting — so of course his supporters loved it

Donald Trump’s Fourth of July speech was sophomoric. The fly-overs were anemic. The pairs of Bradley fighting vehicles and M1-A2 tanks were practically invisible. Everyone was soaked to the skin. They even played the hoary redneck anthem, “I’m Proud to Be an American.”

But the crowd loved it. Trump told them the Declaration of Independence was written on “parchment.” They clapped. He told them Lewis and Clark went on a “perilous expedition.” They cheered. He told them that “devotion to our founding ideals led American patriots to abolish the evils of slavery, secure civil rights and expand the blessings of liberty to all Americans.” They cheered some more. He reassured them that this country is “the most exceptional nation in the history of the world, and our nation is stronger today than it ever was before and it is its strongest now.” They cheered and waved flags and chanted “USA! USA! USA!” Trump stood there nodding his head, and they cheered and chanted some more.

Democrats would do well to start paying attention to Trump’s rallies, starting with the one that happened on the Mall in Washington on Thursday. He uses them to road-test his lies. He learned all his best-selling lines in front of crowds just like the one he faced on the Fourth.

We are not the country we like to think we are. Trump won in 2016. “Make America Great Again” carried the day for him. His “basket of deplorables” turned out for him. They can do it again.

 

[JackLuis]

Public Corruption Unit is handling Trump pal Jeff Epstein’s prostitution case — there could be 2nd defendant: report

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on human trafficking charges on Saturday evening, news first reported by The Daily Beast.

“The case is being handled by the Public Corruption Unit of the Southern District of New York, with assistance from the district’s human-trafficking officials and the FBI,” The Beast reported.

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on human trafficking charges on Saturday evening, news first reported by The Daily Beast.

“The case is being handled by the Public Corruption Unit of the Southern District of New York, with assistance from the district’s human-trafficking officials and the FBI,” The Beast reported.

Could this second defendant be a Trumpian who jiggered the last case?

 

[JackLuis]

Sports bar patrons ruin Fox News segment by loudly chanting ‘Fuck Trump’ after US wins World Cup

World Cup viewers at a bar in Lyon, France on Sunday marred a Fox News segment by chanting profanities at President Donald Trump.

Fox News cut to the sports bar in Lyon just moments after the U.S. women’s team won the World Cup championship.

As correspondent Greg Palkot began his report, the establishment’s bartender prompted a chorus of chants.

“Fuck Trump!” the bartender shouted.

“Fuck Trump!” the bar began to yell in unison.

“We were going to be outside,” Palkot explained. “We were going to be looking at a screen with the football game. But in fact it was cancelled by officials because they were worried about security measures. The American fans came over to this sports bar.”

“It’s been a crazy time,” the veteran war reporter added.

Bitter Fox News fans pitch a fit after US women and Rapinoe win the World Cup

While most of America was celebrating the U.S. Women’s National Team’s record-setting fourth World Cup Championship win, some Fox News fans were bitterly stewing over the fact that team co-captain Megan Rapinoe scored the first of the two goals that would keep the cup in the U.S.

Rapinoe, who is openly gay, has become a sore point for fans of President Donald Trump after she told a reporter that there was no “f*cking” way she would go to the White House if invited — which has naturally made her a target of Fox News viewers.

 

[phrodeau]

https://gizmodo.com/facebook-and-twitter-not-invited-to-white-house-social-1836178201

The Trump regime will host a social media summit this Thursday that will include “digital leaders,” according to the White House, but there are at least two major social media companies that aren’t on the guest list. Representatives from Facebook and Twitter haven’t been invited to schmooze with President Donald Trump, according to a new report.

Would Trump hold a hamburger summit without McDonald’s? I think not.

 

[JackLuis]

‘Something is rotten’: Ex-DOJ lawyer sounds the alarm on Trump appointee who quit census case

In a Twitter thread Sunday evening, Eric Columbus, former Justice Department appointee under President Obama sounded the alarm on the announcement Trump’s own lawyers were done.

The announcement came that the DOJ was making a change, but the reality is that Trump’s own politically appointed lawyers weren’t going to try and push the census question after the Supreme Court made a ruling.

Why are Burnham and others refusing to [continue] on the case? Probably two reasons. First, they’re being asked to make wholly implausible arguments. This is extraordinary rare but it’s happened before in this administration, in the Obamacare case currently before the Fifth Circuit. The second, even bigger reason these DOJ lawyers are quitting the case is to avoid having to contradict prior representations to the courts that the Census had to be finalized by 6/30. That type of thing can lead to sanctions and discipline,” he closed.

 

[KeithD]

Were the DOJ lawyers "quitting" the case, or were they removed from the case? The latter seems more likely.

 

[JackLuis]

Were the DOJ lawyers "quitting" the case, or were they removed from the case? The latter seems more likely.

The article said that at least one refused to trip over his own arguments, for fear that his reputation would be further diminished.

 

[KeithD]

The article said that at least one refused to trip over his own arguments, for fear that his reputation would be further diminished.

That doesn't mean he withdrew from any position or case under his own volition.

That's one of the most stinky aspects of the Trump "administration." The great number of people who just don't say no and walk off in any point of time, knowing full well how slimy Trump is and that he has no loyalty to anyone but himself. The only backing he does is--eventually--backstabbing.

 

[KeithD]

My goodness you're bleeding all over the board today, Jay. Triggered much? Wonder what you're whining about (no, I don't. )

 

[JackLuis]

Trump Tower Moscow negotiator to testify before House Intel — tomorrow

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) has allowed a former key Trump Organization executive — with links to the Russian mob — to testify before closed doors on Tuesday after he slept through his previously scheduled questioning.

“Felix Sater, a former business associate of President Donald Trump who was the chief negotiator for the defunct Trump Tower Moscow project, will testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday morning, according to a person familiar with the matter,” The Daily Beast reports.

I'm sure they meant "behind closed doors."

 

[KeithD]

Trump Tower Moscow negotiator to testify before House Intel — tomorrow



I'm sure they meant "behind closed doors."

Maybe they're going to nail him to the outside of the committee room door. That would be nice.

 

[JackLuis]

RUH-ROH! The Washington Post sent someone to talk to an admissions officer who interviewed Donald Trump when he was trying to get into Wharton and -- SHOCKER -- it turns out he wasn't really a stable genius at all! Trump's older brother had a friend at the school who was in charge of interviewing prospective students and, curiously enough, the school received a number of anonymous donations around the same time Trump was applying.

Seems there was some fuckery when Trumpski was admitted to Wharton!

 

[KeithD]

Seems there was some fuckery when Trumpski was admitted to Wharton!

Oh, my goodness, what a surprise. Someone please notify the Trumpette coverup squad.

 

[Dumpington]

JackLuis writes: "Seems there was some fuckery when Trumpski was admitted to Wharton!"

Tucker Carlson on the FOX News Channel recently talked about the children of politicians being admitted into prestigious American universities!

If you’ve ever watched Chris Cuomo on CNN, you may have wondered: how did this guy get a TV show? Sure, he’s got well-defined abdominal muscles, and good for him. But he can barely speak English. There are nights when Cuomo emits entire paragraphs that mean nothing at all. Just pure gibberish, like pig Latin, or dogs barking. It’s remarkable. Was this guy educated in the United States? Let’s check Wikipedia. Wait it a second. The entry says that Chris Cuomo went to Yale University in Connecticut. That can’t be right. Yale has famously high admissions standards. Your kids couldn’t get in. No chance. They’d have to be incredibly smart — geniuses, really. Is Chris Cuomo a secret genius? Does he have some amazing talent that’s invisible on TV? Maybe he speaks flawless Urdu? Or has a deep grounding in particle physics? Or can calculate pi to the final digit? Actually, no. Chris Cuomo can’t do any of that.

It turns out that he has an even more impressive qualification: His father was the governor of New York.

If you want to get into a top American college, it’s best to have a parent who’s a well-known Democratic politician. That’s the most effective credential of all.

Don’t take our word for it. Ask Dante DeBlasio, son of Bill DeBlasio, the incompetent mayor of New York. There’s no evidence the younger DeBlasio did remarkably well in high school. And yet, like Chris Cuomo, he somehow got into Yale.

Once there, Dante DeBlasio found himself surrounded by people just like himself: the thoroughly average children of other prominent liberals. According to press reports, That would include the offspring of at least three Democrats currently-serving in the US Senate: Michael Bennett, Amy Klobuchar and Sheldon Whitehouse. All of them sent kids to Yale.

Their colleague Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, meanwhile, is one of a stunning number of senate Democrats who’ve sent children Harvard. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is a Harvard parent. So is senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. Schumer sent both his kids to Harvard. Barack Obama sent one of his. So did former New York governor Eliot Spitzer.

The all-time record, though, must go to former Vice President Al Gore. Gore sent four. Imagine that: Four kids in a row to Harvard. What are the odds of that occurring in nature? Statistically, it’s about as likely as being hit by lightning every single day for a year. Yet somehow the Gore family pulled it off. Congratulations.

Andrew Cuomo, the sitting governor of New York, sent one of his kids to Harvard, but the other two went to Brown. That’s also an Ivy League university that your kids could never get into. Brown is, as they say, “highly selective,” at least for the children of non-politicians.

But for pure, 200-proof exclusivity, nothing beats Stanford University outside San Francisco. You could live your entire life in this country and never meet a single person who went to Stanford. It’s that rarified. And yet here’s the amazing part: Hillary Clinton’s daughter breezed right in. How did Chelsea do that? Was it her formidable brainpower? Check out her twitter feed, and judge for yourself.

Now, there’s a chance that Chelsea is intentionally misleading us. It’s possible that her entire public persona is performance art — a subversive, Borat-style parody of mindless lifestyle liberalism. If that’s the case, Chelsea Clinton is utterly brilliant. She’s the Jonathan Swift of our time. But it’s also possible that Chelsea isn’t joking at all.

It is possible, indeed even probable, that she is every bit as dull and self-serious as she seems. In that case, not only is Chelsea Clinton profoundly sub-brilliant, you’ve got to wonder how she holds a paying job. How did someone like that get into Stanford?

You might have the same question about some of the kids at Georgetown University, here in Washington. Georgetown’s alumni magazine is available online, so the next time you’ve got a minute, take a look. You’ll recognize many of the names: Biden, Pelosi, Kennedy. These are the children of famous Democratic politicians. Are they impressive, hardworking kids who deserve to be at one of America’s most prestigious universities? Maybe some of them. Maybe not.

That’s irrelevant. They’re the offspring of prominent Democrats.

That’s why they’re at Georgetown. How does this happen? Because our meritocracy is a sham. It’s fake. They tell you that only the most accomplished students get into these schools. They’re lying. Their friends’ kids get first dibs. Fellow members of their social circle. Kids whose families can help them down the road. The children of sympathetic politicians are an obvious priority for admissions officers. These are the same politicians who funnel many billions in tax dollars to colleges and universities every year. Letting a senator’s kid into Harvard is smart business. The quid quo pro is obvious. It’s a form of unregulated lobbying. Remember the varsity blues scandal in California, where a group of socially-anxious soccer moms tried to game college admissions? This is far more corrupt, except nobody’s going to prison for it.

So how many Chris Cuomos get into Yale every year? We don’t really know. Like almost everything about higher education, it’s opaque. Prestigious schools can pretend they admit only the most qualified applicants, because nobody can prove otherwise. The real admissions numbers are secret, hidden from public view.

Elite colleges are like public companies that lie about their balance sheets. They’re cooking the books to defraud shareholders. In this case, the shareholders are the entire country. A handful of schools form the gateway to success in America. If you go to Harvard, you are all but guaranteed to make more over the course of your life than someone who didn’t. It’s that simple. When you rig the admissions system, you’re rigging American society. You’re creating an impenetrable class system for your own benefit. And that’s exactly what they’re doing.

You often hear progressives say they worry about income inequality. They don’t mean it. How do you know? Because if the left really cared about the stratification of American society, they’d make college admissions transparent. They’d force Stanford to open the books and show the rest of us how they’re assembling this year’s freshman class. And yet Democrats in Congress haven’t done this. They seem strangely incurious about the process. It’s like they don’t really want to know how it all works. In fact, they already know precisely how admissions works, and they strongly approve. Why wouldn’t they? Their kids are befitting from it.

 

[phrodeau]

So Tucker Carlson has trouble understanding what Chris Cuomo says. That’s not a shocker.

 

[JackLuis]

That just goes to show how ethical the admissions staff is at all U's. I just wonder where Louie Gomert's kids are going?

 

[JackLuis]

Ocasio-Cortez drops major ‘told you so’ on Speaker Pelosi after Trump opened three new concentration camps

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blasted Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday night for getting punked by President Donald Trump.

In an interview published Saturday, Pelosi belittled the group of progressive first-term members of Congress known as “The Squad.” The group includes Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA).

Om response, Open Markets Institute fellow Matt Stoller explained how he saw the situation as a former congressional staffer.

“This is a bet by Pelosi that AOC is wrong and that the Trump administration will do the right thing on the border with the money Congress just appropriated,” Stoller tweeted. “Not a bet I’d make but OK.”

AOC noticed Stoller’s analysis and added her thoughts.

“I don’t believe it was a good idea for Dems to blindly trust the Trump admin when so many kids have died in their custody. It’s a huge mistake,” she predicted.

Three days later, we may know who won the bet.

“DHS & ICE are flagrantly violating Congressional orders, just as we said they would,” Ocasio-Cortez noted.

 

[JackLuis]

Trump pushing conspiracy theory that Mueller was a ‘hitman’ in a plot to ‘frame’ the president

On Tuesday, Trump posted a clip from Fox News of his television defense attorney, Rudy Guiliani, calling special counsel Robert Mueller a “hitman.”

Fox News personality Sean Hannity asked Giuliani a whataboutism question, wondering why others weren’t investigated instead of the president.

“Because he didn’t care about the truth,” Giuliani argued. “He was a hitman.”

Trump quoted Giuliani as claiming, “the reality is that this was a plot from the very beginning to frame Trump…”

Said Rudy on Hannity, so you know it is just bullshit spin propaganda.

 

[Dumpington]

JackLuis writes: "Ocasio-Cortez drops major ‘told you so’ on Speaker Pelosi after Trump opened three new concentration camps"

Seriously, Jack? "Three new concentration camps?"

I can't help but wonder what those Jews who survived Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz, Buchenwald, or Dachau think where they hear modern liberals lamenting the Obama & Trump administrations building detention centers for those people caught illegally trying to enter the United States?

I mean, it's already clear that people like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) know absolutely nothing about Adolf Hitler or what he did, and seriously believe that Jewish people must have been caught trying to illegally sneak into Nazi Germany in the 1930's, or else she wouldn't be saying some of the incredibly stupid things that have been coming out of her mouth!

In any case, the Democratic Party at first said we didn't NEED a wall because there was no crisis at the border... but THEN they complained that a crisis existed because there wasn't enough space in existing border facilities to house the tens of thousands of illegals caught flooding into our nation... and NOW they're complaining that housing illegals comfortably is akin to rounding-up Jews in Hitler's Germany? (And they wonder WHY their party keeps losing?)

 

[JackLuis]

‘I smell trouble’: Trump defends Deutsche Bank in bizarre series of tweets — and sets off alarm bells

President Donald Trump raised eyebrows with a series of tweets defending his banking history.

The president insisted he did not need to borrow money to pursue real estate projects, and also claimed he could easily have obtained loans from any bank — rather than relying on foreign investors and the embattled Deutsche Bank.

Jeffrey Epstein frantically asks judge to seal his finances as NYT probes his shady dealings

The request comes a day after The New York Times published a deep dive into Epstein’s financial history, suggesting that he may not actually be a billionaire as always claimed, and that he has extensive connections to Deutsche Bank, the same entity that gave President Donald Trump’s real estate empire vast loans and faces accusations of money laundering.

 

[jaF0]

Sooooooo .... Der Dumph is saying he appointed his own 'hitman'?

 

[JackLuis]

WATCH: Top Trump official faceplants at House hearing after being asked a simple question about Russia

On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee held a hearing titled, “United States Efforts to Counter Russian Disinformation and Malign Influence.”

When Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) questioned Lea Gabrielle — a top State department official under Trump — for examples of Russian disinformation campaigns around the world she replied with a drawn-out “Ummm,” ABC reports.

Fox News Blond face plants when asked about Facts!

That’s when another official was forced to step in and chronicle all the recent instances of Russian propaganda, ranging from a false narrative about NATO exercises, political unrest in Venezuela and the poisoning of British citizens.

Gabrielle is a former Fox News correspondent, according to ABC.

Only the beast people, right?

 

[JackLuis]

Top official explains why some Trump superfans were left out of White House summit: ‘We aren’t that stupid’

The White House is hosting a summit for pro-Trump social media personalities, but some of the president’s boosters are wondering why they weren’t invited to the event.

But White House staffers told the website they made the easy choice to exclude some of the president’s more controversial supporters — such as InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes — who have been banned from Twitter and other social media platforms.

“What benefit would it be to anyone if Laura Loomer were in the same room with the president?” one senior Trump administration official told The Daily Beast. “Why on earth would we do that? We aren’t that stupid. Come on.”

There may be some controversy about that.