All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[norj]

I prefer the comparison to being hired as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

Does that make Steve Bannon, Voldermort?

[worstblogever]

Hey WBE, did you have your eye on Mark Green? Oh boy...

Oh yeah, he's in the queue.

[Iron Maiden]

New Jersey AG probes Trump golf club after undocumented maids claim racially-charged harassment, threats

Trump goes to Bedminster all the time. How is it he doesn't know about this? Either he has a corrupt manager there that hid this or Trump knew and doesn't care.

Which reminds me, one of the "catch and kill" stories the Enquirer had about Trump is that he had an affair with his housekeeper at Trump Tower that produced a child. This was alleged by a doorman in the building

[Tami]

Trump goes to Bedminster all the time. How is it he doesn't know about this? Either he has a corrupt manager there that hid this or Trump knew and doesn't care.

According to one of the Maids who spoke to the NYTs, Trump knew. She told him herself once.

[Tami]

Ryan Zinke Is Resigning, and the Internet’s Reaction Is Priceless

It would be an understatement to say that environmentalists and Democratic politicians were pleased to see Zinke go, and they quickly took to the internet to let him know it. In a tweet, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Zinke was “one of the most toxic members” of Trump’s cabinet. Rep Don Beyer (D-Va.)—an outspoken member of the House Natural Resources and Science committees—called Zinke’s time in office a “never-ending stream of terrible management decisions.” And the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, tweeted, “Don’t let your $139,000 door hit you on the way out, Zinke!”

[Tami]

The Trump Administration Is Quietly Denying Federal Housing Loans To DACA Recipients

WASHINGTON — Two days before Thanksgiving, Edith Aguirre Vazquez got a phone call she wasn’t expecting — it was a home loan officer telling her she wouldn’t be able to close on the house she was about to buy because of her immigration status. Aguirre, 22, has been on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for the past six years.

Aguirre, a medication aide at a nursing and rehab facility, spent two years saving up to buy a home. A few months ago, she finally found a place within her budget where she could see herself and her husband setting up their lives — a one-story brick house on a hill with a big backyard in Dewey, Texas.

“I had already sent all the paperwork that I needed; we had just done the house inspection,” Aguirre said.

But then came the call from her lender. Aguirre is one of several DACA recipients who have been denied government-insured home loans from lenders following unofficial instructions from Trump administration officials to shut them out. DACA recipients, loan officers, realtors, and industry associations told BuzzFeed News that they have noticed the change, which has never been announced as a formal policy, particularly in the past year, amid a slowdown in the housing market nationwide.

[Iron Maiden]

According to one of the Maids who spoke to the NYTs, Trump knew. She told him herself once.

I guess with the do nothing GOP, it won't matter. IMO Pelosi should focus on getting his tax returns first. But this hypocrisy in regards to an undocumented worker being on his staff should be dropped on him if he tries one of those ambush meetings again with her about the wall and a government shutdown.

[Tami]

Quoting 'The Lorax,' Court Pulls Permit For Pipeline Crossing Appalachian Trail

A federal appeals court has thrown out a power company's permit to build a natural gas pipeline across two national forests and the Appalachian Trail – and slammed the U.S. Forest Service for granting the approvals in the first place.

In a decision filed Thursday by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., a three-judge panel declared the U.S. Forest Service "abdicated its responsibility to preserve national forest resources" when it issued permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to build through parts of the George Washington and Monongahela National Forests and a right of way across the Appalachian Trail.

"This conclusion," they wrote in a unanimous judgment, "is particularly informed by the Forest Service's serious environmental concerns that were suddenly, and mysteriously, assuaged in time to meet a private pipeline company's deadlines."

The judges cited Dr. Seuss' The Lorax: "We trust the United States Forest Service to 'speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.'"

[Tami]

Kansas lawmaker switches parties over GOP's 'absurd' LGBTQ platform

Kansas State Senator Barbara Bollier has announced that after 43 years as a registered Republican and 10 years as a GOP lawmaker she is switching parties. The newly minted Democrat said Republicans’ stances on LGBTQ issues, particularly transgender rights, pushed her over the edge.

“My moral compass is saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ and you throw that in with Donald Trump, and just from a moral position, I can’t be complicit anymore,” Bollier said in an interview with NBC News.

Bollier’s switch does not come as a total surprise: She endorsed Democrats Laura Kelly for governor and Sharice Davids for Congress in the midterms and has clashed with state Republicans for reaching across the aisle.

[Tazirai]

But here's some feel good news,. even if it'll make you tear up.

https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/...harles-barkley

You can always use a little good in rotten times.

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

But here's some feel good news,. even if it'll make you tear up.

https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/...harles-barkley

Man, I had a friendship like that once and letting it drift away is one of my biggest regrets. I'm balefully jealous of anyone who has a true besty. One of life's greatest treasures is someone you can be yourself with.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Alarming CNN Graphic Shows Just How Many Ongoing Investigations Relate To Trump

Everything the president touches seems to turn to evidence. This is what happens when you have a thief and conman who lives for stealing and duping people in the most powerful office in the land.



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Paul Ryan Pushing Through Thousands Of Irish Visas Before Leaving Office

The House speaker previously blocked efforts to help Dreamers. But hey, lily white immigrants are just fine with Eddie Munster.

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Obamacare Will ‘Likely’ Survive Judge’s Ruling, Obama Tweets

He reassures Americans as he reminds people to sign up for the health care program before the deadline. Is it any surprise this ruling came down BEFORE Dems take control of the House in January?

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Robert Mueller Is Pressing To Interview Trump After President’s Written Answers: CNN

“The reality is everybody knows Trump can’t talk without lying,” says Van Jones on CNN. Which is why Republicans and Trump's lawyers DON'T want Dolt45 talking to Mueller.

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Twitter Users Shred Trump For ‘Celebrating’ The Weekly Standard’s Closure

Many took the opportunity to remind the president of his own failed businesses, while others questioned where he learned the word 'prognosticator'. Hmm! I wonder about that myself.

[PaulBullion]

Those folks in Iowa sure love older white guys with lots of baggage.

[Kevinroc]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...system-1066644

The Trump administration has increasingly oriented its strategy around using the ACA to test new pilot projects.

“The biggest things we’re going to be launching, coming soon, are going to be these demonstrations that Adam Boehler — our head of the Center for Medicare And Medicaid Innovation — has been working on,” Azar said on Wednesday. Those projects would involve “testing new models of how we pay in Medicare for services… and then getting out of the way.”

Those projects — and Boehler’s entire center — would be illegal if Friday night’s ruling stands.

The Trump administration also has repeatedly pledged to lower the nation’s high drug prices, with the president vowing to “bring soaring drug prices back down to earth.” Azar has steadily rolled out a multi-part strategy this year, pushing ideas like changing how Medicare pays for some drugs.

But “Secretary Azar's most ambitious plans to lower the price of prescription drugs are only possible because of authority conferred on the department by the ACA,” said Rachel Sachs, a Washington University in St. Louis law professor. “Without that power, his ability to deliver what he has promised is severely limited.”

Everyone in this administration is a ****ing idiot...

[PaulBullion]

Turkey's foreign minister claims Trump promised Erdogan to extradite Fethullah Gulen to Turkey.