Missing

Mar 27th, 2018 11:45 am | By

Trump misses Rob wifebeater Porter and wants him back.

President Trump has stayed in touch with Rob Porter, the former White House staff secretary who stepped down after allegations that he had abused his two former wives came to light, according to three people familiar with the conversations, and has told some advisers he hopes Mr. Porter returns to work in the West Wing.

He sees Porter as a “they just don’t understand us!” bro.

From Fire and Fury:

Here was, Bannon saw again, the essential Trump problem. He hopelessly personalized everything. He saw the world in commercial and show business terms: someone was always trying to one-up you, someone else was always trying to take the

… Read the rest

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A citizenship question

Mar 27th, 2018 10:28 am | By

Another xenophobic action from the Trump administration:

The 2020 census will ask respondents whether they are United States citizens, the Commerce Department announced Monday night, agreeing to a Trump administration request with highly charged political and social implications that many officials feared would result in a substantial undercount.

In a statement released Monday, the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had “determined that reinstatement of a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census questionnaire is necessary to provide complete and accurate census block level data,” allowing the department to accurately measure the portion of the population eligible to vote.

But his decision immediately invited a legal challenge: Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general,

… Read the rest

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That parlance is not legitimate

Mar 27th, 2018 9:34 am | By

The Post also reports on BoJo’s casual everyday sexism along with his everyday everythingelseism besides.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth.

He once described Hillary Clinton as “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital” with “dyed blond hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare.” He said Barack Obama is “part-Kenyan” with an “ancestral dislike” of Britain. He joked about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “having relations” with a goat.

Check check check – sexism, racism, xenophobia.

And in Parliament on Tuesday, he referred to Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary for the opposition Labour Party, as Lady Nugee. Nugee is the last name of Thornberry’s husband, Christopher.

What … Read the rest

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Hear hear

Mar 27th, 2018 9:20 am | By

Goodness, even the Speaker of the House of Commons is a Social Justice Warrior – that is to say he recognizes that a man referring to a woman as “Lady Husbandname” when she goes by her own name is (brace yourselves) sexist.

H/t Maureen Brian… Read the rest

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They have a previous engagement

Mar 26th, 2018 4:32 pm | By

Poor Don. Yet another will you come to my party? will you be my lawyer? meets with a Sorry, no.

Two more high-power attorneys have had to turn down President Donald Trump. Tom Buchanan and Dan Webb confirmed to The Daily Beast that Trump reached out to them about representing him, and that they couldn’t do it.

“President Trump reached out to Dan Webb and Tom Buchanan to provide legal representation,” they said in a statement. “They were unable to take on the representation due to business conflicts. However they consider the opportunity to represent the President to be the highest honor and they sincerely regret that they cannot do so. They wish the president the best and believe

… Read the rest

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Additional measures

Mar 26th, 2018 3:54 pm | By

The shoe might start to pinch now.

The United States and its European allies are expelling dozens of Russian diplomats in a co-ordinated response to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in the UK.

It is said to be the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history.

More than 20 countries have aligned with the UK, expelling more than 100 diplomats.

Russia says it’s going to “retaliate” – which is silly because it did its retaliating in advance, which is why the allies are responding.

President of the European Council Donald Tusk said the EU states had decided to expel Russian diplomats as a direct result of a meeting, held last week about the Salisbury poisoning.

… Read the rest

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Verbose potus

Mar 26th, 2018 11:23 am | By

Haha the Times (Shear and Haberman) calls Trump verbose. In real life (i.e. socially as opposed to pretending to be presidently) that would be the worst thing about him: the windbag aspect. I cannot bear windbags.

The verbose commander-in-chief has posted more than 2,900 times on Twitter since taking office, using the term “FAKE NEWS” to describe everything from the Russia probe and allegations of chaos in the White House to harassment accusations, the size of his inaugural crowds and heated arguments with world leaders.

But he has been uncharacteristically silent in recent days — to the relief of his advisers — as a pornographic film star and a Playboy model described intimate details of sexual encounters with Mr.

… Read the rest

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Not so plausible after all

Mar 26th, 2018 10:49 am | By

Well there’s a surprise, Trump has finally joined the move to rebuke Putin.

President Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russians from the United States on Monday, adding to a growing cascade of similar actions taken by western allies in response to Russia’s alleged poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain.

Poland, Italy, Denmark, France and Germany were among 14 European Union member nations announcing plans to expel Russians from their countries in solidarity with Britain, which previously expelled 23 Russian diplomats after the poisoning. Canada also said it would expel four.

They’re kicking out 12 intelligence officers at the UN and closing the consulate in Seattle, with seven days to pack up and leave.

In a call

… Read the rest

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An Olympian whinger

Mar 25th, 2018 5:48 pm | By

Priss Choss is even funnier than I realized.

An unauthorised new biography of Prince Charles paints a picture of a capricious man who is obsessed with the public’s opinion of him, whose lavish spending reveals a royal utterly divorced from the life of ordinary people.

According to Tom Bower’s Rebel Prince, published on Thursday by William Collins, Charles once “shrieked” and “trembled” at the sight of an unknown plastic substance covering his dinner, only to be told “It’s cling film, darling,” by Camilla. On another occasion, Bower claims the prince brought his own mattress, toilet seat, Kleenex Velvet toilet paper and two “landscapes of the Scottish Highlands” when visiting a friend in north-east England.

And he was only dropping in … Read the rest

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Winning?

Mar 25th, 2018 5:18 pm | By

Sam Harris just keeps getting more tiresome. (Not more smug. He started out at maximum smug so he can’t get any more so.) (Unless he performs a miracle.)

Ooh edgy.… Read the rest

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They really see the bigger picture

Mar 25th, 2018 11:45 am | By

Joan Walsh on yesterday.

Parkland high school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez galvanized a student revolt against gun violence with a fiery speech calling out NRA-bought politicians, just a few days after a disturbed young man murdered 17 of her peers—in six minutes and 20 seconds. At Saturday’s March For Our Lives in Washington, Gonzalez galvanized a movement with silence.

She recited the names of all 17 Parkland victims, and then she stood mute, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes sometimes closed. The crowd, rooting for the poised young woman with the shaved head and wearing a braided choker, grew confused. A few minutes earlier, a nervous Parkland classmate had actually vomited on stage during her speech, and then

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Spring break

Mar 25th, 2018 10:57 am | By

Surprisingly, Melania won’t be settling down on the couch next to Don this evening to watch 60 Minutes. He’s going back to DC but she’s staying on in Florida because reasons.

“The First Lady will be staying in Florida as is their tradition for spring break,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said in a late Sunday morning statement.

Ah yes their tradition. They have a long long long tradition that goes back to the Norman Conquest that he goes to the White House and she stays at the golf hotel for spring break. Tradition is a beautiful thing.

Trump, meanwhile, has been complaining to associates here this weekend about all the media attention Daniels has been receiving, according to people

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Everything’s fine, totally normal

Mar 25th, 2018 9:37 am | By

Aw. Poor Don is having trouble hiring new lawyers now.

President Trump has decided not to hire two lawyers who were announced last week as new additions to his legal team, leaving him with a shrinking stable of lawyers as the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, enters an intense phase.

“The president is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel legal team,” Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement on Sunday morning. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters. The president looks forward to working with them.”

And Dowd quit on Thursday. Rats, sinking ship, at … Read the rest

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How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem

Mar 25th, 2018 9:09 am | By

Well, great, Rick Santorum has the solution – tell the kids to stop whining and just learn first aid for when their shooter arrives. Right?! Goddam lazy kids expecting other people to pass reasonable gun control laws.

CNN commentator and former Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Rick Santorum on Sunday suggested students protesting for gun control legislation would be better served by taking CPR classes and preparing for active shooter scenarios.

“How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that,” Santorum said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Totally! Kids today … Read the rest

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Guest post: No forced pregnancy, no health care

Mar 25th, 2018 8:47 am | By

Originally a comment by iknklast on All for the fetus, nothing for the child.

The Nebraska budget bill is currently stalled in the legislature because the governor managed to get a passage stuck into it to end all Title X funding for any agencies that perform, counsel, or refer for abortions. This would end funding for most of the current Title X agencies, meaning that a lot of low income people wouldn’t be able to get important health care.

The governor is a tea party favorite who is also obscenely rich and has attempted to pack the legislature with people who will agree with him 100% of the time, supporting them with his own money. He is bullying the … Read the rest

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All for the fetus, nothing for the child

Mar 24th, 2018 3:56 pm | By

Last week Mississippi passed a law making abortion illegal after 15 weeks.

On Monday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1510 into law, making it immediately illegal for a woman to obtain an abortion after 15 weeks gestation. Mississippi’s previous law restricted abortion access within the state to 20 weeks. The state’s sole abortion clinic, Women’s Health Organization, located in Jackson, does not perform abortions past 16 weeks.

On Tuesday a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to stop the law from going into effect.

Meanwhile, Mississippi is the poorest state in the country.… Read the rest

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Along Southern Boulevard toward Mar-a-Lago

Mar 24th, 2018 3:49 pm | By

Trump thought he was safe from the pesky students.

At least 2,000 people are expected to turn out Saturday afternoon for a March for Our Lives event in West Palm Beach, joining over a million people at more than 800 marches nationwide.

The participants plan to march along Southern Boulevard toward Mar-a-Lago, taking the same route used by Trump’s motorcade to transport him to and from the golf course.

According to press reports, Trump arrived at Trump International Golf Club just after 10 a.m. on Saturday.

When he leaves, thousands of protesters will be waiting to greet him — and they’re coming prepared to make sure he hears their message.

“They will have bullhorns. They are going to

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The march

Mar 24th, 2018 3:12 pm | By

Organizers estimate 800 thousand student protesters in DC.

The protest stretches for miles.

John Lewis was there.

… Read the rest

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Six minutes and twenty seconds

Mar 24th, 2018 12:00 pm | By

… Read the rest

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Really look at it

Mar 24th, 2018 10:27 am | By

More than 10 thousand shares on Facebook so far: Look at this picture:

Look at this picture. Really look at it. Look at the way the younger son holds onto his dad’s shirt with one hand and his dad’s thumb with the other. Look at how this father holds both of his older son’s hands in his. Look at how this father cradles his younger son’s tiny foot between his fingers. Look at the way their heads tilt towards each other. Look at their smiles. Keep looking. Don’t look away. Why? Because this father will never hold his children again. Because this father was shot twenty times in his grandmother’s backyard armed with nothing but an iPhone. Because this

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