All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Tami]

Trump Wanted to Sell Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria, His Former Homeland Security Head Says

Oh?

President Donald Trump raised the possibility of selling hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico to his Secretary of Homeland Security in late 2017, The New York Times reports. Elaine Duke, a Republican who served as acting head of Homeland Security from July to December 2017, told the Times in an interview, “The president’s initial ideas were more of as a businessman, you know: Can we outsource the electricity? Can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?”

Duke said the idea didn’t come up in a serious way after Trump’s initial proposal. Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico in September 2017, causing billions of dollars in damages that the island nation is still recovering from.

Leading Homeland Security Under a President Who Embraces ‘Hate-Filled’ Talk

A lifelong Republican who describes herself as “a kid from the Cleveland, Ohio, area,” Ms. Duke said she supported tougher enforcement of immigration laws, as long as it was tempered by a sense of humanity that she tried to exhibit when she volunteered to teach naturalization classes. But she described an administration that is often driven by ideology instead of deliberation, values politics over policy and is dominated by a president who embraces “hate-filled, angry and divisive” language.

“We get distracted by slogans, by maybe words we heard like the president allegedly saying ‘Haiti is a shithole,’” Ms. Duke said from her home overlooking the Occoquan River about 25 minutes south of Washington. “So we get only spun up in that, and then we never get to the issue.”

Ms. Duke is the latest in a series of senior officials who have gone public to describe — often in vivid, behind-the-scenes detail — their discomfort and sometimes shock at the inner workings of the Trump presidency. Like former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, she chooses her words carefully. And like John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser who published a book titled “The Room Where It Happened,” Ms. Duke says she is not ready to commit to voting for Mr. Trump again.

Among her most searing moments during the response to the hurricanes came when she heard Mr. Trump raise the possibility of “divesting” or “selling” Puerto Rico as the island struggled to recover.

“The president’s initial ideas were more of as a businessman, you know,” she recalled. “Can we outsource the electricity? Can we can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?”

She said the idea was never seriously considered or discussed after that meeting.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Have a look at the trending twitter topic "mittens".

Might be mostly bots, but he is getting a lot of MAGA hate today.

Not at all surprised. Remember, Mittens voted for impeachment and has been critical of Trump, an unforgivable sin in the eyes of MAGA Maggots.

[Tami]

Robert Mueller: Roger Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so

Robert S. Mueller III served as special counsel for the Justice Department from 2017 to 2019.

The work of the special counsel’s office — its report, indictments, guilty pleas and convictions — should speak for itself. But I feel compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office. The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.

Russia’s actions were a threat to America’s democracy. It was critical that they be investigated and understood. By late 2016, the FBI had evidence that the Russians had signaled to a Trump campaign adviser that they could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to the Democratic candidate. And the FBI knew that the Russians had done just that: Beginning in July 2016, WikiLeaks released emails stolen by Russian military intelligence officers from the Clinton campaign. Other online personas using false names — fronts for Russian military intelligence — also released Clinton campaign emails.

Following FBI Director James B. Comey’s termination in May 2017, the acting attorney general named me as special counsel and directed the special counsel’s office to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The order specified lines of investigation for us to pursue, including any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign. One of our cases involved Stone, an official on the campaign until mid-2015 and a supporter of the campaign throughout 2016. Stone became a central figure in our investigation for two key reasons: He communicated in 2016 with individuals known to us to be Russian intelligence officers, and he claimed advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ release of emails stolen by those Russian intelligence officers.

The jury ultimately convicted Stone of obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress and tampering with a witness. Because his sentence has been commuted, he will not go to prison. But his conviction stands.

Russian efforts to interfere in our political system, and the essential question of whether those efforts involved the Trump campaign, required investigation. In that investigation, it was critical for us (and, before us, the FBI) to obtain full and accurate information. Likewise, it was critical for Congress to obtain accurate information from its witnesses. When a subject lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the government’s efforts to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable. It may ultimately impede those efforts.

We made every decision in Stone’s case, as in all our cases, based solely on the facts and the law and in accordance with the rule of law. The women and men who conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest integrity. Claims to the contrary are false.

[Tami]

Rumors Rep. John Lewis has died are untrue, spokesman says

U.S. Rep. John Lewis’s chief of staff said there is no truth to posts on social media that he passed away today.

“It’s only rumors,” Michael Collins told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He is resting comfortably at home.”

A blog that focuses on news about historically black colleges & universities and U.S. Rep. Alma Adams of North Carolina were among those who posted that Lewis had died.

Adams deleted her post and offered an apology, saying she had offered condolences based on an erroneous news report. HBCUBuzz deleted its posts and article, which many pointed to as the originator of the rumors. No Lewis sources are cited in the HBCUBuzz post.

Lewis, 80, is undergoing treatment for advanced stage pancreatic cancer. As a result, he has used a proxy to cast votes in Congress and his public appearances have been very limited.

[Tami]

Screenshot_2020-07-11 Claire McCaskill on Twitter You POS You know the criminal justice system H.jpg

Twitter Link

[Jack Dracula]

I'm morbidly curious to see who they find next. I remember thinking that nothing could get worse than Bush and Cheney. How wrong I was. Maybe David Duke will run again.

Jared Kushner.

[Mister Mets]

Tucker Carlson, I Ihear that some Republican movers and shakers want him to run in 2024. God only knows why.

The first time I heard anyone talking about it was Farhad Manjoo (not a conservative) writing for the New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/o...r-carlson.html

The main times it seems to come up are liberals worried about the possibility. Maybe there is a huge groundswell of support on the right, but it seems largely be manufactured.

[numberthirty]

Caught this one on the local AM news radio on the way to Woodman's. While there's no telling just how long FNC has known about it, good on them for just dropping the hammer. Didn't really waffle in the statement.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/11/b...lake-neff.html

Writer for Tucker Carlson Resigns After ‘Abhorrent’ Online Posts Are Revealed

[Kirby101]

Barr: "It would be a crime" for a President to pardon someone who promises not to incriminate him

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-ne...dad9bd15a33901

Of course he will now say he didn't say what he did say.

[InformationGeek]

So Trump wore a mask today and the press was all like "hOw prESiDenTIal". Then more images came out.



Presidential indeed.

[Tami]

Commissioner who Voted Against Masks in Critical Condition with COVID-19

St. Augustine (WTFF) – St. Johns County Commissioner Paul Waldron caught the coronavirus and went into septic shock after voting against a motion to mandate masks for county employees last week.

His daughter posted on Facebook on July 9 that Waldron “went into septic shock and has many organs struggling.”

“He is currently in the most critical of conditions,” she wrote. “I ask you not to doubt the power of prayer.”

Last week, the St. Johns Board of County Commissioners took up the issue of whether masks should be mandated countywide. One of the motions would mandate masks for county employees. It failed by a count of 3-2, with Paul Waldron voting against it. (Action News Jax)

Waldron represents District 3, which covers the southern half of St. Johns county. (News4Jax)

[Iron Maiden]

Commissioner who Voted Against Masks in Critical Condition with COVID-19

There is so much irony attached to some of these stories of who is coming down with the virus it seems almost like it is all part of a grand design.

[SquirrelMan]

Twitter Video:

This is @RepGrothman *today* at the Wisconsin Republican convention (which was held in-person)

[SquirrelMan]

There is so much irony attached to some of these stories of who is coming down with the virus it seems almost like it is all part of a grand design.

It's about as ironic as a fly in your chardonnay. Nothing to do with karma, either.

People who don't take the virus seriously are at a higher risk of catching it. qed.

[Iron Maiden]

Trump Wanted to Sell Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria, His Former Homeland Security Head Says

Oh?



Leading Homeland Security Under a President Who Embraces ‘Hate-Filled’ Talk

At least this shows that there are those in the GOP that still have some scruples. I'm going to have to keep an ongoing list of all the former staff, relatives and others who are throwing Trump under the bus.