What goes through my my mind when I read the news with my morning coffee. …Or for the Simon's Rockers in the group, this is my response journal.
Donald Trump has hired a legal team to help defend him against allegations over his links with Russia, the White House has announced. The US leader has asked the unnamed Washington law firm to send a letter to a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee making clear he has no connections to the Kremlin, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.
Donald Trump hires lawyers to help defend him over Russia allegations | The Independent
hmmmm
Michael Flynn is at odds with his former Turkish client over two unusual payments totalling $80,000 that Flynn’s firm sent back last year to the client.
Flynn’s company, Flynn Intel Group, told the Justice Department in March that the two $40,000 payments were consulting fees for unspecified work. But Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin has told The Associated Press that the payments from Flynn’s firm were refunds for unperformed lobbying.
…The Senate intelligence committee said late Wednesday it issued a subpoena to compel Flynn to turn over documents related to its investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election.
…In March, Kelner said in a statement that Flynn had a “story to tell,” but said no reasonable person would agree to be questioned by the committee without “assurances against unfair prosecution.”
…Flynn and Alptekin have, at times, provided inconsistent explanations of the work.
Alptekin said last fall that his company paid only tens of thousands of dollars, but later acknowledged that the $530,000 in payments listed in Flynn’s foreign agent filing was correct.
Alptekin’s contention that Flynn didn’t carry out any lobbying also appears to conflict with Flynn’s filing with the Justice Department since the firm reported lobbying activity. It registered with Congress as a lobbyist in September, and Flynn Intel and a contracted public relations firm disclosed lobbying a House committee and an Arkansas state official.
More inconsistencies found in ex-Trump adviser Michael Flynn’s consulting work | Toronto Star
hmmm
Trump had grown angry with the Russia investigation — particularly Comey admitting in front of the Senate that the FBI was investigating his campaign — and that the FBI director wouldn’t support his claims that President Barack Obama had tapped his phones in Trump Tower.
…In his letter dismissing Comey, Trump said the FBI director had given him three private assurances that he wasn’t under investigation. The White House declined to say when those conversations happened — or why Comey would volunteer such information. It is not the first time Trump has publicly commented on an ongoing investigation — typically a no-no for presidents. He said earlier this month that Comey had done Clinton a favor by letting her off easy.
Behind Comey’s firing: An enraged Trump, fuming about Russia – POLITICO
hmmmm
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is taking the unusual step of hunting for evidence of crimes committed by Haitian immigrants as it decides whether to allow them to continue participating in a humanitarian program that has shielded tens of thousands from deportation since an earthquake destroyed much of their country.
...The request for criminal data for an entire community is unorthodox. The law doesn’t specify it should be a consideration for Temporary Protected Status and the government has never said it would use criminal rates in deciding if a country’s citizens should be allowed to stay under this program. Introducing new criteria is likely to cause consternation among law-abiding Haitians who may feel they are being penalized for the wrongdoing of their compatriots.
Trump administration wants evidence of Haitian immigrants’ crimes – NY Daily News
Grrrrrrrrr
President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017.
Trump’s letter firing FBI Director James Comey – CNNPolitics.com
Again…. Not the Onion. Real life.
What tha faaaaa?
“Three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation,” -huh? whaaa?
???!
The chief spokesperson for the president of the United States hid in the bushes, only to emerge after journalists agreed to talk to him in “near darkness.”
After Spicer spent several minutes hidden in the bushes behind these sets, Janet Montesi, an executive assistant in the press office, emerged and told reporters that Spicer would answer some questions, as long as he was not filmed doing so. Spicer then emerged.
Sean Spicer ‘spent several minutes hidden in the bushes’ | MSNBC
Just to be clear, this is NOT The Onion. True Story.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced an auditorium of jeering Bethune-Cookman University graduates Wednesday as she gave a commencement address that many students and graduates said she was in no place to deliver.
…As she opened her remarks, some students stood and turned their backs to her. At times hecklers drowned out her remarks.
…A primary reason for protesting her appearance — and for petitioning school officials to cancel her address — is her now-recanted statement that founders of historically black colleges and universities were “real pioneers” of school choice.
Betsy DeVos speech at Bethune-Cookman met with boos, turned backs – CNNPolitics.com
Heh.
Dan Heyman of the Public News Service was attempting to question Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price about pre-existing conditions. Heyman was handcuffed and charged with a misdemeanor.
West Virginia Reporter Arrested For Yelling Question At HHS Secretary : The Two-Way : NPR
think your in Russia much?
A Missouri mom says she told the flight crew she needed to use the restroom and was given a cup instead.
United Passenger Says Crew Left Her No Choice but to Pee in a Cup – NBC News
Seriously?!
A Hercules man says he was punished for recording a disagreement with a United ticket agent. His trip was cancelled against his will.
United Agent Cancels Man’s Trip For Taping Argument | NBC Bay Area
Jeezus, United. Get your act together.
The chief spokesperson for the president of the United States hid in the bushes, only to emerge after journalists agreed to talk to him in “near darkness.”
Sean Spicer ‘spent several minutes hidden in the bushes’ | MSNBC
for reals. Not “The Onion.”
He asked Rod Rosenstein for the money. Yes, that Rod Rosenstein.
Report: Comey was fired after requesting more money to investigate Russia.
Oy….
Sigh…
Of course he did.
“Sally Yates handles condescending men so well you’d almost think she’d been doing it her whole life.”
Sally Yates Senate Hearing Mansplaining Funny Memes
Heh
In a deal with federal prosecutors, former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager admitted to using excessive force in the shooting death of Walter Scott.
Ex-officer Michael Slager pleads guilty in shooting death of Walter Scott – CNN.com
hmmmm
Siebel did let not the jury hear a claim of illegal entry against the cops, even though a recording shows he opened the door for police and told them he was fine and didn’t need help, the lawyers argue.
The appeal claims the cops ignored him and riled him up, which they then used as justification to force their way in — guns drawn.
…The lawyers also object to Siebel’s decision to dismiss an excessive force claim against Sgt. Keith Martin, a patrol supervisor who shot Chamberlain four times with beanbag rounds from a shotgun before Carelli fired the fatal bullet.
“During discovery, we learned that each projectile struck Mr. Chamberlain with a force greater than a Mike Tyson punch and that he, not surprisingly, was brought to the ground from the impact,” Cohen said.
Appeal filed in 68-year-old’s fatal Westchester police shooting – NY Daily News
hmmmm
Roy Oliver, who is white, was charged on Friday with murder for the death of Edwards.
…The lawsuit filed at a federal district court in Dallas on Friday by Odell Edwards seeks undisclosed damages from former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver for shooting his son Jordan Edwards, 15, with a rifle, court papers showed.
It also named Balch Springs, a predominantly black and Hispanic city about 15 miles (25 km) from Dallas as a defendant. The lawsuit accuses the city of failing to properly train Oliver, a person plaintiffs described as having a short fuse and a history of abusive behavior toward citizens.
…“Defendant Oliver shot Edwards in the head in plain view of his brothers … with total disregard to the safety of others,” the lawsuit said.
…The lawsuit alleges the two brothers were subject to racist comments, and the brother who sat beside Edwards when he died was handcuffed at the scene but not charged with any crime.
“(The brother) was not given any explanation and could not understand why he was being treated like a criminal,” the lawsuit said.
Jordan Edward’s Father Sues Police Officer For Killing His Son | HuffPost
hmmmm
Sanders stated in a 2010 loan application she had secured $2.6 million in promised donations to pay for the land purchase, which helped secure a $6.5 million loan from the People’s United Bank. Only $676,000 ever materialized over the next four years and the college defaulted on the loans, eventually going bankrupt in May 2016.
Carol Moore, who served as the final president of the college until its closure, told The DCNF the FBI contacted her as recently as a month ago regarding the allegations.
FBI Interviews Donors For Alleged Bank Fraud By Jane Sanders | The Daily Caller
Mere incompetence, as suggested by the school’s final president is far from ill intent or malfeasance. It is an interesting footnote though…
First: Donald Trump’s electoral college victory turned out to be substantial. But it was based on fewer than 100,000 votes spread across a handful of states. In other words, it was extremely close and any number of small factors could have made the difference.
Second: The FBI Director broke all precedent and DOJ guidelines to announce a criminal investigation into what proved to be the losing candidate just over a week before the election. There was little reason to believe the purported new evidence would lead to any criminal charges or indeed even any substantial new evidence. And it turned out that the ‘investigation’ was based on nothing. The entire blow up turned out to be based on nothing and knowing what we know now about what investigators and Comey knew at the time suggest he had little reason to think there was anything there.
Third: A rival foreign power ransacked the computer files and email logs of the losing candidate and strategically leaked them out over the final months of the campaign with the intention and the effect of distracting and damaging what proved to be the losing candidate.
Fourth: We don’t know whether the winning candidate actively colluded with the rival foreign power. But we know that the candidate cheered the foreign power on in their campaign of damage and disruption. How do we know? He did it publicly? On camera. Out in the open. We all saw this.
…Close victories and defeats have a million potential causes. It matters a great deal which ones you want to focus on. But just in the realm of human nature and the standards we apply in almost every other context, the ‘take responsibility’ lecturing of Clinton just seems bizarre.
Lecturing Clinton About ‘Taking Responsibility’ For Her Defeat is Bizarre – Talking Points Memo
mhmmm
<facepalm>
Etoria Cheeks teaches math at a public high school in San Francisco, explaining algebra and statistics to teenagers. In a shocking indication of just how bad San Francisco’s teacher housing situation is, Cheeks is homeless.
…She was renting a room in a house in Daly City when she learned in December the house was in foreclosure, and she was evicted. With no family here, few friends and no savings because of a dispute over the security deposit, Cheeks had to scramble.
She put her belongings in storage and paid $30 to $50 a night for dorm beds in downtown hostels, moving around because they prohibit stays of more than 14 days. She looked at the below-market-rental lotteries run by the Mayor’s Office of Housing, but she made too much to qualify. She applied for apartments on Craigslist and other sites, but there was very little she could afford, and she kept striking out.
When her money ran low after two months in hostels, she was forced to sleep in a South of Market emergency homeless shelter called A Woman’s Place.
Low pay, high SF housing costs equal 1 homeless math teacher – San Francisco Chronicle
Sigh…
Hundreds of workers have been forced to “take cover” after a tunnel in a nuclear finishing plant collapsed in Washington state.
…a manager sent a message to workers telling them to “secure ventilation in your building” and to “refrain from eating or drinking.” The US Department of Energy activated its Emergency Operations Center Tuesday following the collapse. Some workers were reportedly told to evacuate while others were told to shelter-in-place as officials investigated the severity of the situation.
The tunnel reportedly contained highly contaminated materials including nuclear waste trains that are used to transport radioactive fuel rods.
…Before the Tuesday collapse, those tanks were reportedly leaking toxic and radioactive vapours and chemicals that have been linked to cancer, brain damage, and lung damage. There were at least 61 workers exposed to those deadly vapours last year. Experts have called the location “the most toxic place in America” and “an underground Chernobyl waiting to happen.”
WTF????
Jeff Sessions Seems Confused About What Country Hawaii Is In
Seriously, where the fuck did Sessions think Pearl Harbor is?
Or is he just that unfamiliar with the United State’s entry into WWII ???
Or maybe, in a nod to the rule of law Sessions is refusing to acknowledge Hawaii’s entry to the United States because it was an illegal coup that overthrew the lawful and rightful ruling monarchy of the islands? (Ha, just kidding. If he doesn’t know Hawaii is now a state, he ain’t gonna be too up on how it got to be that way…. Obvos…)
“I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the president of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power,”
…[Senator] Brian Schatz: “Mr. Attorney General: You voted for that judge. And that island is called Oahu. It’s my home. Have some respect.”
….Asked for a response from Mr. Sessions, Ian Prior, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said in an email: “Hawaii is, in fact, an island in the Pacific — a beautiful one where the attorney general’s granddaughter was born. The point, however, is that there is a problem when a flawed opinion by a single judge can block the president’s lawful exercise of authority to keep the entire country safe.”
(The State of Hawaii is a chain of islands, one of which is also called Hawaii; the judge’s chambers, however, are in Honolulu, which is on the island of Oahu.)
1.) I haven’t stopped laughing about this.
2.) Some get Sessions and his staff some geography lessons. Hawaii is a state. It shares the same name as an island in that state. Hawaii is an island in Hawaii, but it’s not the one where the Judge in question is. Also, the state of Hawaii encompasses many islands, the majority of which are not named Hawaii.
3.) If Sessions’ knowledge of the laws of this country truly does not include a basic understanding of how and why a Federal Judge can issue a stay on an Executive Order then he isn’t particularly well suited to his job, is he?
4.) What pedestrian old-white-man racist bullshit.
5.) The upside is that his kind will die out sooner than later.
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