All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[RumpusMagoo]

Louisiana has the seventh highest teen pregnancy rate, but legislators refuse to pass legislation that would mandate comprehensive sex education or even allow high school students to take a voluntary survey assessing their sexual risk behaviors.[/B]

This is really a huge problem. The same people who want to restrict abortion access also want to limit the measures (sex ed, screenings) that would decrease unplanned pregnancies.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Sessions Is Said to Have Offered to Resign

Attorney General Jeff Sessions offered to resign in recent weeks as he told President Trump he needed the freedom to do his job, according to two people who were briefed on the discussion. On Tuesday, the White House declined to say whether Mr. Trump still has confidence in his attorney general.

Hmm! Sounds like Cheeto Jesus might be meddling a bit with Barney Fife.

**********

May: I’ll rip up human rights laws that impede new terror legislation

Theresa May has declared she is prepared to rip up human rights laws to impose new restrictions on terror suspects, as she sought to gain control over the security agenda just 36 hours before the polls open.

The prime minister said she was looking at how to make it easier to deport foreign terror suspects and how to increase controls on extremists where it is thought they present a threat but there is not enough evidence to prosecute them.

She said: “But I can tell you a few of the things I mean by that: I mean longer prison sentences for people convicted of terrorist offences. I mean making it easier for the authorities to deport foreign terror suspects to their own countries.

“And I mean doing more to restrict the freedom and the movements of terrorist suspects when we have enough evidence to know they present a threat, but not enough evidence to prosecute them in full in court.

“And if human rights laws stop us from doing it, we will change those laws so we can do it.”

Better be careful, that sounds a whole lot like something Trump would say, and you DON'T want to go down THAT road.

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Comey Told Sessions: Don’t Leave Me Alone With Trump

The day after President Trump asked James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to end an investigation into his former national security adviser, Mr. Comey confronted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and said he did not want to be left alone again with the president, according to current and former law enforcement officials.

Mr. Comey believed Mr. Sessions should protect the F.B.I. from White House influence, the officials said, and pulled him aside after a meeting in February to tell him that private interactions between the F.B.I. director and the president were inappropriate. But Mr. Sessions could not guarantee that the president would not try to talk to Mr. Comey alone again, the officials said.

Meanwhile....

Top intelligence official told associates Trump asked him if he could intervene with Comey on FBI Russia probe

Meanwhile, part two....

Trump, furious and frustrated, gears up to punch back at Comey testimony

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Eric Trump: Dems ‘not even people’

President Trump's son Eric Trump on Tuesday said Democrats are "not even people" to him after their obstruction of his father's agenda.

"I've never seen hatred like this," he said on Fox News's "Hannity" Tuesday night. "To me, they're not even people. It's so, so sad. Morality's just gone, morals have flown out the window and we deserve so much better than this as a country."

Yes, you did, you fuckwad, back when Barack Obama was president, and right wingers and conservatives hated him more than life because they couldn't handle a proud, intelligent and stately black man as commander-in-chief.

"You see the Democratic Party, they're imploding. They're imploding. They became obstructionists because they have no message of their own."

Wow! Just like the Republican Party were obstructionists with no message of their own. Get the fuck out of here, you dipshit asshole!

[worstblogever]

I've never been more certain of someone about to get their comeuppance as I am about Donald J. Trump right now. Not even on Election Day, did I think the boom was about to drop.

All the major networks are pre-empting programming on Thursday to air the Comey hearings. Not just the major cable news networks... but FOX, ABC, CBS, and NBC.

The powers that be seem to think the public will be very interested in what's about to happen, and if they're bellying up to the bar this much, they know what we all suspect. Comey's going to point out where Trump has lied to the people, and where he has obstructed justice into the investigation into his campaign, possibly to cover up outright treason.

Get yo' popcorn ready.

[worstblogever]

As opposed to what, the reasonable, mainstream Democrats that have managed to lose Congress and the Presidency?

As opposed to the reasonable, mainstream ones who won in '06 and '08. And '12.

You give the worst advice to Democrats, but I'm pretty sure you're aware of that.

[numberthirty]

As opposed to the reasonable, mainstream ones who won in '06 and '08. And '12.

You give the worst advice to Democrats, but I'm pretty sure you're aware of that.

Did they win in 2014?

[numberthirty]

Come to think of it, what about 2016?

[worstblogever]

Hey, they're not winning, what should we do?

Let's listen to the most facetious person on the internet who's not a member of our party, and recommends we send out candidates who yell and scream at people who aren't far enough to the extreme left, regardless of how the public would perceive that?

You're not helping, and you know that, #30. Just stop.

[worstblogever]

Because, in the myriad of possibilities of changes the Democrats should make regarding candidates, that's about the worst advice that could be given. Which is par for the course, from what you've shown when you're "helping".

[worstblogever]

I mean, you can be progressive and not yell at people. See Al Franken or Liz Warren for what that looks like.

And hey, they're popular. Go figure.

[worstblogever]

Even further, take a look at what's happening in Minnesota and North Carolina right now. Particularly the latter... the GOP rigged the system in their favor. It wasn't that anything was "wrong" with the Democrats running there. The game was rigged.

They're winning it back via the courts, and just by being sane, as opposed to the extremists across the aisle. That could be what happens in places like Wisconsin, Virginia, and Florida, when all is said and done.

Or, y'know, just throw the angriest, furthest left maniacs to the fore without addressing the actual problem. Ones that will still lose, and embarrass the party while they're at it.

[Tami]

Trump to nominate Christopher Wray as FBI director

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he plans to nominate Christopher A. Wray, the former assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's criminal division, to be the next FBI director.

Wray headed up the Justice Department's criminal division from 2003 to 2005 under President George W. Bush and is currently a litigation partner at the DC-based law firm King & Spalding, where he chairs the firm's Special Matters and Government Investigations Practice Group.

He also represented New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during the "Bridgegate" investigation into lane closures at the George Washington Bridge. Last week, Christie told the Bergen Record that Trump "would not be making a mistake" were he to tap Wray to lead the FBI.

Donald Trump To Nominate Christopher A. Wray For FBI Director

Wray’s name came up in a 2008 Justice Department Inspector General report on allegations of politicized hiring in the Attorney General’s Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program. The hiring process, the report concluded, was “fundamentally changed” to give political appointees more input. Data showed that applicants with Democratic or liberal affiliations were “deselected at a significantly higher rate” than candidates with conservative or neutral affiliations. Wray told the IG that politics and ideology only came up as part of an effort to make the programs more inclusive.

From the report:

He said there was a perception that in past administrations the career employees doing the screening may have weeded out candidates because the selecting officials were not ‘comfortable with their political persuasion.’ He said the political persuasion he was referring to pertained to candidates who had been in the military or law enforcement, ‘whether you call that conservative or not.’

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump Foundation funneled $100K in donations into revenue for Trump Organization: report

President Trump's charity foundation funneled $100,000 in donations meant for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital into revenue for the Trump Organization by using his son's charity, Forbes reported Tuesday.

For 10 years Eric Trump hosted an annual golf tournament which raised millions of dollars in donations for the hospital. According to the Forbes report, $100,000 of the donations was funneled through the Eric Trump Foundation back into Trump's golf courses for expenses incurred during the tournaments, despite donors being told that all their money would be used for charity.

I had heard something about this on my way into work this morning. Disgusting. Once again, the Grifter-in-Chief has conned the public, and stealing from St. Jude's represents an entirely new low, even for Trump.

[Kirby101]

Trump to nominate Christopher Wray as FBI director

Donald Trump To Nominate Christopher A. Wray For FBI Director

He defended Crime Boss Christie and was part of Karl Rove's efforts to politicize the U.S. Attorney's offices. A partisan hack who has probably already promised Trump to lay off.

[Tami]

Gulf states insist they're not pushing regime change on Qatar during 'Trumpification' of Middle East

Dubai (AFP) - A senior Emirati official insisted on Wednesday that Gulf Arab states were not seeking regime change in Doha, as tensions built in a bitter feud between Qatar and its neighbours.

Speaking to AFP in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates' state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash accused Qatar of being "the main champion of extremism and terrorism in the region".

But he also said measures taken against Qatar this week by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Arab nations were not aimed at seeking new leadership in Doha.

"This is not about regime change -- this is about change of policy, change of approach," Gargash said.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel accused the US president of fanning conflict in the Middle East and risking a "new spiral in arms sales" with his remarks.

"Such a 'Trumpification' of relations in a region already susceptible to crises is particularly dangerous," Gabriel said in an interview scheduled to appear on Wednesday.

[Tami]

He defended Crime Boss Christie and was part of Karl Rove's efforts to politicize the U.S. Attorney's offices. A partisan hack who has probably already promised Trump to lay off.

That's the way I'm seeing it. I hope Congress sees it that way too and rejects him.