All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[InformationGeek]

So, Trump went to Britain. How did that turn out exactly? Enjoy this fun thread!





A comparison between Obama's visit and Trump's now.

[kidfresh512]

Reading the excerpts and the clips from the Axios Kushner interview good lord what a disaster.

He can't answer if Birtherism was racist because "“Um, look, I wasn’t really involved in that”?"
It is or it is not Kush, not that hard.

The Palestine questions and answers wtf? How is he going to bring peace to the Middle east saying he doesn't know if the Palestinians can govern themselves at all?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So, Trump went to Britain. How did that turn out exactly? Enjoy this fun thread!





A comparison between Obama's visit and Trump's now.

HA! Outrageous! The best way to hurt Trump is to ignore him, and this was a BIG time diss.

[PwrdOn]

A ‘Bridge’ to China, and Her Family’s Business, in the Trump Cabinet

Elaine Chao has boosted the profile of her family’s shipping company, which benefits from industrial policies in China that are roiling the Trump administration.

As if anyone needs any further proof that this whole trade war was just a sham all along. Trump and his cronies get to act tough and stir up their base with nationalism and xenophobia, the Chinese government does the same, corporations cry bloody murder and plead for handouts, and consumers foot the bill.

[Robotman]

So, Trump went to Britain. How did that turn out exactly? Enjoy this fun thread!





A comparison between Obama's visit and Trump's now.

Would be a shame if people start retweeting that pic to Trump nonstop.

[Iron Maiden]

Trump transition team member George Nader just got arrested on child pornography charges. His second offense. These latest charges were discovered while he was cooperating with the Mueller investigation, and it seems that there's some s*** that the FBI will not let go of just because you're helping explain how much of a criminal Trump is.

But, Trump only hires the best people, remember.

Rachel Maddow covered this on her show tonight. It's well worth watching. This guy was known to be an advisor and of United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed and was the one that arranged that mysterious meeting on the Seychelles in 2017 that included Kremlin ally Kirill Dmitriev, the head of a sanctioned Russian investment fund and Betsy DeVos's brother and Trump associate Eric Prince. Prince has claimed that his being there was just a coinky dink. Prior to that Nader also arranged a meeting in Trump Tower in NYC after the election in 2016 that raised some flags in the Obama administration since they were not informed that the Crown Prince himself was going to be in NYC for this meeting which also included Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon.

[Tendrin]

Remember that weird Biden and Ukraine story? Turns out that the co-author of the report is...

...now the spokesperson for the President of the Ukraine! WEird, huh?

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/03/media...son/index.html

ew York (CNN Business)The New York Times reported last month that Joe Biden was facing conflict of interest questions for his role as vice president in ousting a Ukrainian prosecutor. Now, a little more than one month later, it's The Times that is facing conflict of interest questions for that very story and another.
On Monday, weeks after The Times published its widely-criticized story, one of the piece's co-authors, freelancer Iuliia Mendel, announced that she had joined the Ukrainian government as spokesperson for the president of Ukraine.
"If you want changes — make them," Mendel said in a press release. "I am glad to join Volodymyr Zelenskyy's team. We will do everything possible to be as open to the media and society as we can."

[Malvolio]

Would be a shame if people start retweeting that pic to Trump nonstop.

Wouldn't matter. He'd just trot out Sarah Sanders to declare it the biggest crowd ever for a foreign dignitary visiting England.

[Malvolio]

A ‘Bridge’ to China, and Her Family’s Business, in the Trump Cabinet

Elaine Chao has boosted the profile of her family’s shipping company, which benefits from industrial policies in China that are roiling the Trump administration.





2017 State Department Emails Related to Planned Trip by Transportation Secretary Chao to China



BTW Did you notice how, when you add an 's' to the last name Chao it becomes the word Chaos?

And let's remember who Secretary Chao is married to: the ole' Turtle himself, Mitch McConnell.

[Iron Maiden]

If this isn't the most corrupt administration ever, I'd sure like to know which one tops it.

[aja_christopher]

"Ava DuVernay lets Trump 'speak for himself' in Central Park Five series 'When They See Us'"

"Despite its 1980s setting, the specter of current politics hangs over Netflix's Central Park Five miniseries "When They See Us."

"They need to keep that bigot off TV, that's what they need to do," mother Sharon Salaam (Aunjanue Ellis) says while watching an interview with future president Donald Trump, in which he tells NBC's Bryant Gumbel that he would "love to be a well-educated black."

"Don't worry about it," her friend responds. "His 15 minutes (are) almost up."

It's an eerily prescient exchange that's sure to spark conversation among viewers of Ava DuVernay's new four-part drama, now streaming, which follows a group of black and Hispanic teenagers who were convicted (and later exonerated) in connection with the 1989 rape of jogger Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old white investment banker.

At the time of the brutal assault, Trump was a high-powered New York real-estate mogul adamant about cracking down on crime. Although no DNA evidence connected the boys, aged 14 to 16, to the attack, that didn't stop Trump from spending $85,000 on full-page ads in four city newspapers, calling for their executions.



"BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE,” read the alarming ads, which Trump accompanied with a first-person article. "I want to hate these murderers and I always will. I am not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them, I am looking to punish them."

The boys – Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise – were cleared as adults in 2002 after convicted murder Matias Reyes confessed to raping Meili, which was confirmed by DNA evidence. The city awarded the men $41 million in 2014 but Trump continued to insist they were guilty, and called the settlement "a disgrace" in an op-ed for the New York Daily News.

Given Trump's history of racist remarks, DuVernay isn't surprised that people have forgotten – or have chosen to overlook – his overzealous involvement in the Central Park Five case.

"There's unfortunately not much that shocks me anymore when it has to do with him, and I think that's why I didn't use it for shock value at all in the (series)," DuVernay says. "It's just a matter of fact of all of our lives at this point, and we have to move on from there and stop feigning horror at the things that are being said and done in his name and by him."

[WestPhillyPunisher]

"Ava DuVernay lets Trump 'speak for himself' in Central Park Five series 'When They See Us'"

"Despite its 1980s setting, the specter of current politics hangs over Netflix's Central Park Five miniseries "When They See Us."

"They need to keep that bigot off TV, that's what they need to do," mother Sharon Salaam (Aunjanue Ellis) says while watching an interview with future president Donald Trump, in which he tells NBC's Bryant Gumbel that he would "love to be a well-educated black."

"Don't worry about it," her friend responds. "His 15 minutes (are) almost up."

It's an eerily prescient exchange that's sure to spark conversation among viewers of Ava DuVernay's new four-part drama, now streaming, which follows a group of black and Hispanic teenagers who were convicted (and later exonerated) in connection with the 1989 rape of jogger Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old white investment banker.

At the time of the brutal assault, Trump was a high-powered New York real-estate mogul adamant about cracking down on crime. Although no DNA evidence connected the boys, aged 14 to 16, to the attack, that didn't stop Trump from spending $85,000 on full-page ads in four city newspapers, calling for their executions.

"BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE,” read the alarming ads, which Trump accompanied with a first-person article. "I want to hate these murderers and I always will. I am not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them, I am looking to punish them."

The boys – Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise – were cleared as adults in 2002 after convicted murder Matias Reyes confessed to raping Meili, which was confirmed by DNA evidence. The city awarded the men $41 million in 2014 but Trump continued to insist they were guilty, and called the settlement "a disgrace" in an op-ed for the New York Daily News.

Given Trump's history of racist remarks, DuVernay isn't surprised that people have forgotten – or have chosen to overlook – his overzealous involvement in the Central Park Five case.

Trump's heinous attitude, totally unchanged today is two-fold: one, his inherent racism and hatred of minorities, and two, his complete inability to admit being wrong, even when presented with undeniable evidence which he ignores because it runs contrary to his worldview.

====================

House To Vote On Holding William Barr In Contempt Over Mueller Report

The full House of Representatives will vote June 11 over whether the attorney general should be held in contempt of Congress. This figures to be interesting.

**********

El Paso Still Waiting For Trump Campaign To Pay $470,000 Overdue Rally Tab

Campaign insinuates it’s being overcharged and is “reviewing” the bill. Beto already paid his — on time. So, Trump continues his longtime practice of stiffing people. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

**********

His Son Died In The Aurora Theater Shooting. The GOP Is Outraged He Supports Gun Control.

Colorado Republicans want to recall state Rep. Tom Sullivan because he did what he campaigned on. Here's hoping Mr. Sullivan defeats the recall by those Republican snowflakes who won't do **** to stem gun violence.

**********

Seth Moulton: ‘If This Country Wasn’t Racist, Stacey Abrams Would Be Governor’

The 2020 presidential hopeful made clear why he believes Democrat Stacey Abrams lost the 2018 Georgia governor’s race to Republican Brian Kemp. Well, can't argue that.

**********

Three cheers to the Brits! When they express their dislike for someone, they do so royally!

British Activists Troll Trump By Projecting USS John McCain Hat On Wax Museum

Hard To Miss: Giant Penis May Have Been The First Protest Trump Saw Heading Into London

[aja_christopher]

"The Economy Under Democratic vs. Republican Presidents"

"It has often been suggested that Republicans are better at overseeing the economy than Democrats. However, an analysis of economic performance since World War II under Democratic versus Republican presidents shows that claims that Republicans are better at managing the economy are simply not true. While the reasons are neither fully understood nor completely attributable to policy choices, data show that the economy has performed much better during Democratic administrations. Economic growth, job creation and industrial production have all been stronger.

In fact, a recent paper by economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson states: “The superiority of economic performance under Democrats rather than Republicans is nearly ubiquitous; it holds almost regardless of how you define success.” Fact-checking groups have investigated similar statements and have found time and time again that they are true. Moreover, past research shows that stock market returns are also higher under Democrats.

The charts in this document update and expand upon the analysis in the Blinder and Watson paper. They include more recent data for both gross domestic product (GDP) and employment, as well as revisions to past data that have occurred since their paper was written. The charts also go back further to include all available data for the Truman presidency, though GDP data are only available beginning in 1947.



The data show that, since World War II, the economy has performed substantially better under Democratic presidents. On average, real (inflation-adjusted) GDP has grown about 1.6 times faster under Democrats than under Republicans. While the strong performance under Presidents Truman, Kennedy and Johnson certainly contributes to this gap, the starting point does not matter: GDP has grown faster under Democrats regardless of whether the analysis begins with President Truman, President Kennedy or President Reagan.

The findings for private-sector job growth are even more striking: businesses have added jobs at a nearly 2.5 times faster rate under Democrats than under Republicans, on average. In fact, the private-sector job growth gap between Democrats and Republicans is even greater than the gap when including government jobs.



These results should be interpreted with caution, since numerous external factors can impact the economy, including demographic trends, the strength of foreign economies and actions by the Federal Reserve. The Blinder and Watson paper concludes that the “large and significant” performance gap between the economy under Democrats and Republicans is predominantly due to factors that “might be considered blends of good policy and good luck,” in particular lower oil prices and higher productivity growth. But as Dr. Blinder pointed out to FactCheck.org, presidents may inadvertently affect these factors while pursuing other objectives.

For example, he wrote: “the fact that we entered several wars in the gulf area (the latest in 2003) under Republican presidents, thereby driving up oil prices, was not just luck – it was policy, though not economic policy.”

[worstblogever]

If this isn't the most corrupt administration ever, I'd sure like to know which one tops it.

Reagan, but then again, Reagan had 8 years and for all of them, Democrats had Congressional oversight keeping tabs on the crooked bastards.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, we profiled Jerry Bergevin, a former member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives who advised against teaching evolution in public schools because he believed it led to the rise of Nazi Germany, and was the motivation for the shooters in the Columbine Massacre. Alternately, he has tried making Bible Studies a mandatory course in schools. Bergevin also released one of the country's first "religious freedom" bills back in 2012. Upon the state legislature in New Hampshire voting to legalize medical marijuana, he completely lost his damned mind, and sent out an email decrying that, calling his colleagues "Potheads who legalized the rectum as a sexual organ." Bergevin has been voted out of office for three years now, and we’re fine with that.


In both 2016, 2017, and in 2018, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented its original profile of the four term U.S. House Representative for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, Mike Kelly, who was first elected in the Tea Party Wave back in 2010, defeating Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper by double digits with the benefit of GOP turnout that year, and after gerrymandering has turned the Cook Partisan Voter Index for his district from +2 Republican lean, all the way to +8 Republican, he’s now in his fourth term in office. Of course, in 2016, that was likely because nobody even bothered to run against him. Mike Kelly has raised some eyebrows since heading to our nation's capitol, with his first foray into the spotlight coming in August of 2012, when at a press conference, he compared the birth control mandate of the Affordable Care Act to "Pearl Harbor or 9-11." Certainly there was no hyperbole there, comparing the deaths of thousands in a surprise attack to employers having to cover contraceptives women might need to help regulate irregular menstrual cycles. No sir. A year after that blunder, in August of 2013, Rep. Kelly decided to comment on President Obama, explaining that actually, it was that Barack Obama "divides our country on race". Kelly went on to rant about how his "liberty and freedom were under attack" by the Obama administration, offering little explanation of how that was, exactly. But that's far from the worst thing he said about President Obama. He also discussed impeaching him for "dragging America into a Civil War" shortly after winning re-election back in November of 2014, and in a December 2015 interview with Houston conservative talk-show host Sam Malone, Kelly began questioning where Obama was born and who raised him, before ranting about how his remarks "embolden our enemies", and that terrorists could "shoot up a ballet while Obama dithers." His fearmongering about terrorism isn't a one off, as during the massive Ebola Virus outbreak in 2014, Mike Kelly was on Newsmax, calling for a travel ban (that doctors said would only make the outbreak worse) and making the ridiculous assertion that American Jihadis were going to go into Africa to deliberately infect themselves with the lethally terminal disease, and then bring it back to the states and spread it to massive numbers of people. Which is stupid, because people infected with Ebola are pretty easy to spot, and usually unable to move because they're so crippled by their organs liquifying. And to infect other people, they would have to smear blood or feces on people en masse, which is sort of a telltale sign of ill intent. And so in our update in the vein of “Mike Kelly is a deranged Obama-hating conspiracy theorist”, we must note that since President Obama left office, Rep. Kelly has not moved on, and in March of 2017, he told a crowd in his home district that President Obama was staying in the capitol not to just let his daughter Sasha finish high school, but was actually “running a shadow government that is totally gonna upset the new agenda.” Kelly never apologized for this blatant and paranoid lie, and his staffers tried walking it back, to being “frustration that some Obama holdovers within the federal bureaucracy are attempting to upset the Trump agenda”… which for a walk-back, is still pretty inflammatory. Meanwhile, President Obama took the time outside the White House to go kite-surfing with Richard Branson, because that’s exactly how shadow governments operate.

It was only a few weeks ago that Mike Kelly got humiliated on the floor of the House by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, after he tried claiming that he knew more about discrimination than she did as an African American woman before dropping “MAGA” into his remarks, and trying to skulk out. Waters was having none of that bulls***, and straight up torched him. A few days later, Kelly doubled down on his behavior, going on Fox News and uncorking the most outlandish take imaginable. This time he claimed it was Un-American to acknowledge and talk about the existence of racism in the United States, and that he was often prejudiced against because… before he was a Congressman, he was a car salesman. Then, he praised Donald Trump for improving racial unity. No, we’re not making that up, here’s the quote:

“We have seen the economy take off. I just think that if you come to the floor and there are 60 minutes to debate. 30 minutes on each side. But as I was sitting there, I had 30 minutes of Democrats coming down and talking about how bad automobile people are because they discriminate against nonwhite buyers. I said that’s not America. We don’t talk about those things.

We are a people of diversity, but we come together to make America great again. When I’ve seen what President Trump has done and you come in this area you can see it. It is so uplifting. Look at this, you say ‘if your only platform is hate and resistance and not about bringing the country together again’ — I mean, listen, we are still the United States of America, not Divided States of America, and if we can’t talk better than what happened on the floor the other day. I was disappointed and the Democrats that came down, every single person demagoguing and talking about how bad automobile people are. It’s just not true.”

Mike Kelly is living on Bizarro World, it seems.

Anyway, other than all that insanity, there's the matter of Mike Kelly's partisan, conservative voting record, that includes votes for the 2013 Government Shutdown, votes against raising the debt ceiling (!), two votes to shut down Planned Parenthood and one to shut down National Public radio, votes against disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy, voting against the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, votes for banning abortion at 20 weeks, and a vote for the SAFE Act, to keep Syrian refugees from fleeing the civil war in that country.

Kelly barely managed to hold off Robert DiNicola in the 2018 elections, winning office with 51% of the vote.

And guess what? He’s still a bastard of a legislator:

• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Kelly voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• February 28th, 2019: Mike Kelly votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Kelly votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
• April 4th, 2019: Mike Kelly is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).

Mike Kelly’s seat is now one of the top Democratic targets in 2020 to be flipped and further their majority advantage in the House. And he’s still in the middle of controversy. Because Mike Kelly still owns car dealerships… and has benefited from a law that allows him to sell models of cars that have been recalled by their manufacturers. And, overalll, the practice has resulted in 24 deaths around the country, including vehicles with defective airbags that kill passengers. Mike Kelly’s own dealerships have sold 17 recalled vehicles, and thus far, and luckily, he hasn’t managed to sell anyone a death trap yet.