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.
Some of the $400 million for 2018 will be spent on electing GOP candidates. The network also plans to spend heavily promoting tax reform and other achievements of the GOP-controlled government, including Veterans Affairs reforms and Trump’s conservative judicial picks.
Koch network to spend $400 million during 2018 midterm election cycle | TheHill
hmmm
Israel has condemned Poland over the latter’s pending legislation in the country, which bars any mention of crimes by the “Polish nation” during the Holocaust.
Israel condemns Poland over Holocaust Bill | Catch News
Sigh…..
7-year-old boy handcuffed in Florida school after allegedly attacking teacher – ABC News
1.) If an adult wants to press charges against a 7 year old child they do not have the cognitive ability necessary to function as an adult.
2.) If an adult cannot control a 7 year old child they should not be in a position where they are charged with the care of children.
3.) If an officer of the law thinks it is appropriate to handcuff and arrest a seven year old, they should surrender their badge and gun immediately because their poor judgement is a danger to the community they are employed to serve and protect.
Period.
Moskin, who served in the Army with the 66th infantry, 71st Division, recalls that his side of the experience started when a group of U.S. Army combat soldiers stumbled upon a prisoner-of-war camp, holding mostly Royal Air Force members, near Lambach, Austria. The British prisoners told the liberating soldiers that they’d heard rumors of a different kind of camp, a concentration camp for Jews, just a few kilometers away.
…“There were dead bodies on the left, piles of dead bodies on the right — and their arms and legs looked like broomsticks covered with no flesh,” Moskin says. Slowly, the ones who were still alive stumbled toward them like “the living dead, zombies,” in striped pajamas with a sewn-on star of David, calling out in German for food, water and cigarettes.
…“I remember saying the German for ‘I am also a Jew.’ It just came out of me. I don’t know where I heard it,” Moskin says. “An elderly man, very emaciated, started to smile and came towards me and he went down on his hands and knees and started to kiss my boots, which were tainted with blood, vomit, and feces. I knew he was trying to be affectionate toward me, but it made me very uncomfortable to watch him kissing my filthy, bloody boots. So I picked him up under the armpits, and as he came up towards me I could see open, festering sores going up and down his neck, and lice coming out of those sores. You could imagine that I wanted to pull away because he smelled so badly, but I didn’t. He had wrapped his arms around me and he was crying. He kept saying ‘Danke [thank you], danke, Jew.’ That’s when I lost it a little bit and started to cry.”
In the days that followed, word trickled in from other Army outfits that the events at Gunskirchen were just one liberation among many.
“Every time we found out,” Moskin recalls, “we said, ‘My God, how many of these damn hellholes are there?’”
…Preserving that story, and its lesson, is a job that Moskin feels remains unfinished.
“I’m going to be honest with you, my generation failed,” he says. “We didn’t get rid of the hate and prejudice. There’s still hate out there, all over the place.”
But, as Katz sees it, that’s a job that will never be complete — which is why it’s important to remember that, even at the worst moments in human history, luck and goodness can run counter to evil.
“Even then, there were people that were good and kind,” he says. “Same thing now. There are some people that will always hate, and there are people that are good, and that’s just human nature.”
Survivor and Liberator Reflect for Holocaust Remembrance Day | Time
Lord…..
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr’s staff has not been given access to a classified memo drafted by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a sign of how closely House Republicans are guarding allegations of Justice Department wrongdoing over surveillance activities in the Russia investigation.
According to three sources familiar with the matter, Burr’s staff requested a copy of the memo and has been denied, just as the FBI and Justice Department have also been denied reviewing a copy of the document. The memo is based on highly classified intelligence that only a select group of House and Senate lawmakers have accessed.
…Democrats on the House Intelligence Commitee are now pushing for the release of their own memo, calling on the panel to allow the full chamber to review their document next week, saying the Nunes memo is “profoundly misleading” and an attempt to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Senate intelligence panel denied access to Nunes memo – CNNPolitics
hmmmm
The emailed response from the Guggenheim’s chief curator to the White House was polite but firm: the museum could not accommodate a request to “borrow” a painting by Vincent Van Gogh for President Donald and Melania Trump’s private living quarters.
Instead, wrote the curator, Nancy Spector, another piece was available, one that was nothing like “Landscape with Snow,” the lovely 1888 Van Gogh rendering of a man in a black hat walking along a path in Arles with his dog.
The curator’s alternative: an 18-karat, fully functioning, solid gold toilet – an interactive work entitled “America” that critics have described as pointed satire aimed at the excess of wealth in this country.
Heh
Ex-Team USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison on Tuesday, after more than 150 women and girls came forward to accuse him of sexually abusing them.
[Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie] Aquilina called issuing the sentence a “privilege,” adding: “I just signed your death warrant.”
Aquilina has been praised on social media for focusing on the survivors over the last few days. When one survivor, Amanda Cormier, explained that she loved to write songs as a teenager, but that she hadn’t written one since the abuse, Aquilina gave some advice to the woman and her unborn baby:
“It seems to me, after this, you can finish writing. You found your voice,” Aquilina said. “It’s a strong, effective, brave voice, and you have a child coming. Maybe what you need to do is start and finish a lullaby.”
…Nassar wrote to a letter to the judge, complaining that he was unable to handle the continued victim impact statements because of his mental state, and which contained the phrase: “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
…”You need to talk about these issues with a therapist,” the judge told Nassar. “Contrary to CNN’s headline, I’m not a therapist.” Moments later, she threw the letter onto the ground.
Larry Nassar Complained About Listening To Survivor Statements And Judge Aquilina Wasn’t Having It
Justice served.
The vote comes on the heels of the unilateral release of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s interview with Simpson by ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). House Intel Democrats have since been pushing for the release of the transcript of their interview, which took place behind closed doors in November.
…The president’s allies argued that Simpson’s Judiciary testimony did nothing to undercut their core claim that the FBI had used the dossier to investigate Trump and possibly to secure a FISA warrant to spy on Trump officials during the campaign and transition.
Democrats responded by declaring that Simpson’s testimony bolstered allegations in the dossier and Steele’s credibility.
House Intel panel votes to release testimony of co-founder of firm tied to Trump dossier | TheHill
hmmmm
Because Trump has appointed very few officials, the small group of conservative activists who are attempting to implement his agenda could hold outsized influence. A leaked document from Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, reportedly leaked from the Office of Management and Budget and published in October by Crooked Media, identified eight Domestic Policy Council members who are apparently quietly leading that charge as points of contact.
…Rob Goad
Handling education policy for the Domestic Policy Council is Robert T. “Rob” Goad II. The leaked document suggests his work has focused on two key priorities: expanding school choice and making colleges and universities share some of the responsibility for student loans. Both efforts would divert federal funding for public schools toward private and even religious schools.
…In his Trump administration capacity, has he has made news twice. First, he was the administration staffer tasked with defending then-Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos against plagiarism charges. Then, he hosted a media conference call to announce a Trump executive order on “education federalism” — an order that, Goad admitted to reporters last April, does virtually nothing.
Laura Cunliffe
Laura Cunliffe is the point-person for changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Farm Bill, according to the leaked document.
…She spent most of the past five years at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administering child nutrition programs under President Barack Obama. As a USDA program analyst, she joined with nutritional advocates in 2013 to make the rounds explaining the department’s new healthy school snack requirements. Two years later, she gave a keynote speech on the importance of child nutrition programs at a foster-parent conference.
In her new role, she appears to be now working to eliminate much of what she worked to implement in the past administration.
James Sherk
The point person on labor issues is James Sherk. According to the document, his priorities are to reduce benefits to federal employees and labor unions.
…He is a 2003 alumnus of Hillsdale College, a Michigan school known as a “citadel of American conservatism” with a stated mission of not “succumbing to the dehumanizing, discriminatory trend of so-called ‘social justice’ and ‘multicultural diversity.’” As an undergrad, he penned an article for the college paper denouncing all government stimulus programs.
…He opposed public sector employees’ right to bargain collectively, embraced so-called “right to work” laws, and fiercely opposed a $15 minimum wage. He worked to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have made it easier for workers to unionize.
…Kara McKee
The memo identifies her as point person for proposals to allow Pell Grants to be used for job training, to cut or “repurpose” some job training programs at the Department of Labor, and to repurpose Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funds to increase private-sector partnerships and apprenticeships.
…The efforts in particular to cut federal programs is very much in line with her long history of pushing to decimate government.
Peter White
Peter J. White is the point of contact for issues related to aeronautics and space, according to the document.
…White’s former boss Brooks boasts that he “consistently receives the highest rating in Congress from NumbersUSA,” a notorious anti-immigration group known for racist attempts to convince black people that immigration takes away their jobs. Brooks’ views on immigration and other judicial issues are far-right — he once complained that the Democratic Party had launched a “war on whites. White also served as his old boss’ conduit to the Trump administration when Brooks was upset in January that the new administration did not immediately rescind protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as kids.”
…In his Trump administration role, White authored a presidential executive order reinstating the National Space Council, which President Bill Clinton disbanded in 1993 as part of a larger effort to reduce White House staff.
White is a member of the conservative Federalist Society. While space policy may be one area where White and the Trump administration are not pushing for massive cuts, it remains to be seen whether they will push for a massive privatization of the space space.
…Darin Selnick
Darin Selnick has been tasked with fixing the Veterans’ Affairs department, according to the document. And that apparently means privatizing it.
So far the VA is in the process of outsourcing its electronic records system, replacing its in-house Vista system with an estimated $10 billion to $18 billion system through the company Cerner. A recent push in Congress on a bill to overhaul the Veterans Choice Program, which proponents say would give veterans more flexibility in receiving care from private doctors (but opponents warn could effectively dismantle the VA), also aligns with the leaked list of Trump administration priorities — though it’s unclear if Selnick has been involved with the legislation.
…From 2013 to 2017, he served as senior veterans affairs adviser for Charles and David Koch’s libertarian dark money group Concerned Veterans for America, which is trying to push veteran healthcare into the private sector and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on electing Republican U.S. Senate candidates.
…His role in the Trump administration would seem to be chiefly a continuation of his longstanding pro-VA privatization activism.
Katy Talento
Two women are listed on the document as overseeing the health policy area: Katy Talento and Alexandra “Alex” Campau.
In that capacity, the duo would be trying to dismantle a long list of USAID and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention health programs aimed at curbing sexually transmitted diseases, obesity, chronic diseases, teen pregnancy, and infant mortality, and improving environmental health and workers’ safety.
Now, the administration’s fiscal year 2018 State Department and USAID and CDC budgets propose drastic cuts to global AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs, global health initiatives, and a range of chronic disease prevention and health promotion programs and grants.
…[Talento] has written columns for the right-wing news site The Federalist arguing birth control causes miscarriages and abortions and is a form of medical malpractice. She opposed funding for HIV/ AIDS research while working as a U.S. Senate staffer in 2003 because she claimed it supported Russian prostitution.
…The New York Times, in a July profile, called Talento one of the “architects” of Trump’s reversal of the Obama administration’s requirement that health insurance plans cover birth control.
…Alex Campau
…Her work shilling for the healthcare industry make her a prime fit to dismantle important initiatives and programs intended to improve global health.
hmmmm
[State Representative Michael] Moran’s district includes much of Brighton and Allston, including the site of a massive project that would take down a decrepit Mass. Pike viaduct, straighten the highway, and free up dozens of acres, now owned by Harvard, for new development.
…In a public comment letter also signed by other elected officials representing Allston and Brighton in the House, Senate, and Boston City Council, Moran urges the state to “monetize the total benefits” to Harvard — the “single biggest beneficiary” of the Pike realignment — to guarantee the construction of West Station sooner rather than later. In other words: While Harvard has already committed to covering a third of the station’s cost, the state should hit the school up for the majority of it.
…In general, the Greater Boston region, which might otherwise have become the eastern end of the Rust Belt, shouldn’t take its universities for granted. Yet there are some problems that only an institution like Harvard can solve. It would be a shame if the university stood aside as a major transit hub — the key to an urban vision for Allston — fell victim to bureaucratic inertia.
Dollar drops to 3-year low after Mnuchin praises weak US currency | TheHill
WTF????
After this presidency has mercifully come to an end, I foresee the release of a comic book anti-hero movie, “The Incompetents.”
It’s important not to get carried away, if only because a scenario in which the Russian investigation ensnares the N.R.A., probably the most influential conservative group in the United States, seems a bit too much like Resistance fan fiction, too delicious to be true. Indeed, if it is true, it has devastating implications for the entire Republican Party, since many officeholders enjoy lavish financial support from the N.R.A. Still, an N.R.A. role in Russiagate would explain a few things, including why the N.R.A. has, in recent years, developed such a close relationship with Russia.
Is This the Collusion We Were Waiting For? – The New York Times
…Because incompetent oafs hire more incompetent oafs.
Deporting legal residents. So much for upholding the rule of law….
Female Journalists Complain Of Obstructed View At Pence’s Western Wall Visit : Parallels : NPR
If any of this is a surprise to someone, that person is an oblivious idiot.
Shortly after firing FBI Director James Comey, President Donald Trump brought then-acting Director Andrew McCabe to the White House for a meeting. He had a very important question for McCabe: Who did you vote for in the 2016 election?
…Trump also grilled McCabe on donations his wife, who was a candidate for state Senate, accepted from a political group affiliated with then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime ally of the Clintons.
…Federal workers actually take an oath. The words “President” and “Trump” are not mentioned. The pledge is to uphold and defend the Constitution.
Of course Donald Trump wanted to know if the FBI director voted for him – CNNPolitics
his orange jumpsuit will look so fetching with this Cheeto tan and his ugly orange troll hair.
Slate’s Jacob Weisberg reported that in 2016, Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, told him that in 2006 she and Trump began a sexual relationship that lasted nearly a year. The Daily Beast published a story citing friends of Daniels saying she had told them about a fling with Trump. In Touch published an interview with Daniels from 2011 in which she herself described having a sexual affair with Trump. And Mother Jones has learned that Daniels years earlier talked about having had a sexual relationship with Trump—and in lurid detail. According to 2009 emails between political operatives who were at the time advising Daniels on a possible political campaign, the adult film actor and director claimed that her affair with Trump included an unusual act: spanking him with a copy of Forbes magazine.
In early 2009, Daniels announced that she was considering challenging Sen. David Vitter, the Louisiana Republican who two years earlier had been snared in a sex scandal. Vitter’s phone number was discovered in the records of the so-called D.C. Madam, who ran a prostitution ring in the nation’s capital. Vitter, who now is a lobbyist, was a prominent social conservative who opposed abortion and gay marriage. Daniels, who grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told reporters she wanted to highlight his hypocrisy. She offered up a potential campaign slogan: “Stormy Daniels: Screwing people honestly.”
Stormy Daniels Once Claimed She Spanked Donald Trump With a Forbes Magazine – Mother Jones
hmmmmm
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