Haha, Funny Joke… It’s A Joke… Right?
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A blog by a "sucker" and a "loser" who served her country in the Navy.
If you're one of the Covidiots who believe that COVID-19 is "just the flu",
that the 2020 election was stolen, or
especially if you supported the 1/6/21 insurrection,
leave now.
Slava Ukraini!
It was a measure of the strained atmosphere in Washington that two top Democrats — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, who heads the House intelligence committee — didn’t get a heads-up from Trump about the operation.That, of course, is bullshit. Trump wanted to poke a finger in their eyes and he did.
Trump didn’t trust them to keep it secret.
“Washington is a leaking machine,” Trump said. In this case, he said, “there were no leaks, no nothing. The only people that knew were the few people that I dealt with.”
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2019
Behind closed doors, President Donald Trump has made his views on Ukraine clear: “They tried to take me down.”Trump is going to say and even believe anything that Putin wants him to.
The president, according to people familiar with testimony in the House impeachment investigation, sees the Eastern European ally, not Russia, as responsible for the interference in the 2016 election that was investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller.
It’s a view denied by the intelligence community, at odds with U.S. foreign policy and dismissed by many of Trump’s fellow Republicans but part of a broader skepticism of Ukraine being shared with Trump by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his key regional ally Viktor Orban of Hungary.
Explaining why Trump had tried to steer an international summit to one of the president’s own properties before giving up on the idea, Mulvaney said Trump “still considers himself to be in the hospitality business.” That did nothing to allay concerns that the Republican president has used his office to enrich his business interests.Concerns? Concerns?? It's a fucking established fact. The examples, by now, are so numerous that only the willfully blind won't acknowledge them.
Late last year, in a Miami conference room, a consultant for President Trump’s company said business at his prized 643-room Doral resort was in sharp decline.You may wonder why I raised the possibility that Trump is lying on his request for lower property taxes. It's because that, arguably, seems to be his practice.
At Doral, which Trump has listed in federal disclosures as his biggest moneymaker hotel, room rates, banquets, golf and overall revenue were all down since 2015. In two years, the resort’s net operating income — a key figure, representing the amount left over after expenses are paid — had fallen by 69 percent.
Even in a vigorous economy, the property was missing the Trump Organization’s internal business targets; for instance, the club expected to take in $85 million in revenue in 2017 but took in just $75 million.
“They are severely underperforming” other resorts in the area, tax consultant Jessica Vachiratevanurak told a Miami-Dade County official in a bid to lower the property’s tax bill. The reason, she said: “There is some negative connotation that is associated with the brand.”
Documents obtained by ProPublica show stark differences in how Donald Trump’s businesses reported some expenses, profits and occupancy figures for two Manhattan buildings, giving a lender different figures than they provided to New York City tax authorities. The discrepancies made the buildings appear more profitable to the lender — and less profitable to the officials who set the buildings’ property tax.The conclusion seems to be easy to reach: Donald Trump is a crook. He'll be gotten the same way that every other mob boss is gotten: By identifying those who facilitated his crimes and going after them until someone can't give a good answer to the question "Why are you going to prison for him?"
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A dozen real estate professionals told ProPublica they saw no clear explanation for multiple inconsistencies in the documents. The discrepancies are “versions of fraud,” said Nancy Wallace, a professor of finance and real estate at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters Thursday that President Trump blocked nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in part to force the government in Kyiv to secure a politically motivated investigation of Democrats, a startling acknowledgment after the president’s repeated denials of a quid pro quo.And this:
Mulvaney defended the maneuver as “absolutely appropriate.”
President Donald Trump’s suggestion that his Miami golf resort host next year’s Group of Seven summit became a reality Thursday, sparking an outcry from critics who called it the most blatant example yet of him using the power of his office to boost his business empire.Anyone who believes that Trump didn't drive this has mush for brains, and anyone who doesn't believe that Trump won't make money on this is dumber than a stump.
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Mulvaney said the Doral was picked for its location and amenities, and the president will not profit because the resort will be booked “at cost.” But the decision takes Trump’s apparent conflicts of interest to a new level because, unlike foreign dignitaries who can choose to stay at his Washington hotel, they will have no choice but to spend money at his resort during the June 10-12 summit.
Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, told House impeachment investigators on Thursday that President Trump delegated American foreign policy on Ukraine to his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, a directive that he said he disagreed with but nonetheless followed.I don't see how anyone with a functioning cortex can defend Trump at this point. Even Miss Lindsey seems to be reaching a breaking point.
The Trump administration has acknowledged that its proposed changes to the food stamp program could leave nearly 500,000 children without access to free school lunches.Children don't learn very well when they're hungry. What will happen is that states and school boards will try to step up to feed the children, at least in places that haven't been wholly captured by the Forces of Cruelty.
The US Department of Agriculture released an analysis late Tuesday afternoon that showed the agency's proposed rule would mean nearly 1 million children would no longer be directly certified for free school meals based on their participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the formal name for food stamps.
About half of those children would continue to be eligible to receive free meals because they come from families with annual household incomes of no more than 130% of the federal poverty level, or $33,475 for a four-person family in 2019.
A homemade bomb was detonated in Hong Kong on Sunday amid violent protests, the police said on Monday, indicating an escalation in the street-level arms race between police officers and the protesters.It may be exactly as reported.
The device was hidden in a bush and was triggered by a mobile phone as a police vehicle passed nearby in the Mong Kok district of Kowloon, Suryanto Chin-chiu, a superintendent of the Hong Kong police’s explosives disposal unit, said at a news conference.
The bomb caused no damage or injuries, but it was the first time such a device had been employed in weeks of clashes, the police said.
Targeting Turkey’s economy, President Donald Trump announced sanctions Monday aimed at restraining the Turks’ assault against Kurdish fighters and civilians in Syria — an assault Turkey began after Trump announced he was moving U.S. troops out of the way.Erdogan isn't going to give a shit. The world has learned that Trump is all mouth. He thinks that everyone is like him, that they can be bought like a piece of property.
The United States also called on Turkey to stop the invasion and declare a ceasefire, and Trump is sending Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser Robert O’Brien to Ankara as soon as possible in an attempt to begin negotiations. Pence said Trump spoke directly to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who promised not attack the border town of Kobani, which in 2015 witnessed the Islamic State group’s first defeat in a battle by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters.
A white Fort Worth police officer who shot and killed a black woman through a back window of her home while responding to a call about an open front door acted without justification and resigned Monday before he could be fired, the police chief said.And this:
Police bodycam video showed Aaron Dean approaching the door of the home where Atatiana Jefferson, 28, was caring for her 8-year-old nephew early Saturday. He then walked around the side of the house, pushed through a gate into the fenced-off backyard and fired through the glass a split-second after shouting at Jefferson to show her hands.
Dean was not heard identifying himself as police on the video, and Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said there was no sign Dean or the other officer who responded even knocked on the front door.
Kraus said a criminal investigation is ongoing and he expects to release a “substantial update” by Tuesday on whether charges will be filed. The FBI also has been briefed to investigate possible civil rights violations, he said.Compared to Chicago, which dithered and delayed when Laquan McDonald was shot to pieces by a cop and then tried to cover it all up, Ft. Worth has been moving at just under the speed of light.
[Ft. Worth Mayor Betsy] Price further commented on the photos police released of a gun found in Jefferson’s home. She said the gun was irrelevant and that Jefferson had a right to have a gun in her home.Because as they recognize in Ft. Worth, the 2nd Amendment applies to black people. Releasing a photo of her gun was an attempt to slur the victim, who did nothing wrong.
Kraus said police have previously released images of weapons to illustrate a perceived threat. But, he said, releasing the photos in this instance was “a bad thing to do.”
Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign has disavowed a parody video showing the US president massacring media outlets and political rivals.There are more details here.
The video was on display at a conference organised by American Priority, a pro-Trump group.
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Mr Trump's head is superimposed on the body of a man who goes on a killing rampage inside "the Church of Fake News".
The heads of the people he kills have been replaced with the logos of media organisations, including BBC News, CNN and the Washington Post, and political opponents such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The United States appears to be heading toward a full military withdrawal from Syria amid growing chaos, cries of betrayal and signs that Turkey’s invasion could fuel a broader war.Make no mistake about this: Every once of blood that has beeh shed by Kurds in the last week is on Trumps cowardly hands. The Kurdish political leader, Hevrin Khalaf, who was forced out of her car and murdered by Turkish proxies: Those deaths are on Trump's head.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday that President Donald Trump had directed U.S. troops in northern Syria to begin pulling out “as safely and quickly as possible.” He did not say Trump ordered troops to leave Syria, but that seemed like the next step in a combat zone growing more unstable by the hour.
James Comey Would Like to HelpFucking A right he did. The polling at the time was clear as glass: Clinton held a solid lead until Comey opened his fucking yap.
The former F.B.I. director wants an end to the Trump presidency. And yes, he knows you might think he caused it.
President Trump told reporters Friday that he didn’t know whether Rudy Giuliani was still his personal attorney, adding that the two hadn’t spoken since Thursday.Rudy's been thrown under the bus. Rudy is apparently too much in denial or too dumb to notice the treadmarks on his back.
“I don’t know,” Trump said, responding to a question about the lawyer as he prepared to leave the White House for a rally in Louisiana Friday evening. “I haven’t spoken to Rudy. I spoke to him yesterday briefly. He’s a very good attorney, and he has been my attorney.”
The attack on a German synagogue highlights the threat posed by do-it-yourself guns.Information, once out there, is pretty damn hard to quash.
The business relationship between President Donald Trump's private lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the men charged Thursday in a campaign finance scheme is a subject of the ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by federal authorities in New York, according to two sources familiar with the matter.I'm sure that, after the arrest, Trump will tell everyone that he barely knew Rudy.
A white Florida man who told detectives he was irritated by people who illegally park in handicapped spots was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison for the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man outside a convenience store.Asswipe was shown to be a parking-space vigilante who persisted in doing that even when the store's owner asked him to knock that shit off.
Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone called 49-year-old Michael Drejka a “wanna-be” law enforcement officer and a self-appointed “handicapped parking space monitor.”
Jurors found Drejka guilty of manslaughter in August. Drejka showed no emotion when the judge sentenced him.
Two Florida businessmen tied to President Donald Trump’s lawyer and the Ukraine investigation were charged Thursday with federal campaign finance violations. The charges relate to a $325,000 donation to a group supporting Trump’s reelection.You can guess which two of these five crooks were arrested:
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, associates of Rudy Giuliani, were arrested on a four-count indictment that includes charges of conspiracy, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsification of records. The men had key roles in Giuliani’s efforts to launch a Ukrainian corruption investigation against Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
In the face of growing bipartisan anger, President Donald Trump defended his decision to allow a Turkish offensive in northern Syria by saying that the U.S.-allied Kurds — who led the ground campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and are under Turkish attack — did not help the U.S. during World War II.One might point out that the French helped us during the Revolutionary War even though we weren't there for them during the Battle of Agincourt. Trump's comment is so glaringly idiotic that it's not worth the debate.
“Now the Kurds are fighting for their land,” Trump told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday night. “They didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy, for example.”
Apple removed an app late Wednesday that enabled protesters in Hong Kong to track police, a day after facing intense criticism from Chinese state media for it, plunging the technology giant deeper into the complicated politics of a country that is fundamental to its business.This is what happens when one crawls deeply into bed with a murderous dictatorship. Cook is bleating about gun control, but you'll have to search far and wide to find where he has uttered a single word about China's ethnic cleaning of the Uighurs. (You'll probably find nothing.)
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Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has become a deft diplomat in China. He has traveled there frequently and attended numerous Chinese government events. In recent months, Mr. Cook has argued for moderation in the trade war between the United States and China. Unlike in the United States, where he regularly speaks out on political issues like gun control and immigration, he has largely remained silent on Chinese politics, including the clashes in Hong Kong.
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Apple also pulled the app of the news organization Quartz from the App Store in China less than two weeks ago. Quartz, which has been covering the Hong Kong protests, said that Apple sent it a vague notice about removing its app “because it includes content that is illegal in China.” Apple did not clarify what content was illegal, Quartz said. A Quartz editor tweeted that Apple removed it “at the request of China.”
Turkey launched airstrikes and fired artillery across its border into northeastern Syria on Wednesday to open a military operation aimed at flushing out an American-backed militia, Turkish and Syrian officials said.Let's be clear about this: The word of the United States is now worth nothing. Only a fool would rely on American promises or security guarantees. If another nation or people ally themselves with the Americans, they can rest assured that, whenever it suits the United states, they will be stabbed in the back.
Turkish television stations broadcast video of fighter jets taking off, Howitzers firing and smoke rising from Syrian towns, while images posted on social media showed Syrians fleeing in trucks piled high with their possessions and children. Two civilians were killed and others were wounded, a militia spokesman and a local journalist said.
Turkey’s long-planned move to root out United States-allied Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria has accelerated rapidly since President Trump gave the operation a green light in a call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Sunday.
Matt Gaetz: "What we see in this impeachment is a kangaroo court and Chairman Schiff is acting like a malicious Captain Kangaroo." pic.twitter.com/QQPaj8sR0p— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 8, 2019
President Donald Trump intensified his fight with Congress Tuesday over the Democrats’ impeachment investigation, as the administration blocked a U.S. diplomat from testifying behind closed doors about the president’s dealings with Ukraine. House committee chairmen said they would subpoena the envoy to force him to appear.The tide is turning against Trump:
A majority of respondents in a new poll supports the impeachment inquiry into President Trump while almost half back his removal from office.Republicans have two conflicting electorates. Their batshit base supports Trump. The general electorate may not. So they can lose in the primary or lose in the general election.
The Washington Post–Schar School poll released early Tuesday found that 58 percent say the House was correct to launch the inquiry, compared to 38 percent who disagreed.
Almost half — 49 percent — said lawmakers in the lower chamber should impeach Trump and call for his removal from office.
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Support for an impeachment inquiry has risen among all three partisan groups since a July poll, with Democratic support rising 25 points from July, Republican support rising 21 points and independent support rising 20 points, based on the poll.
In a major shift in United States military policy in Syria, the White House said on Sunday that President Trump had given his endorsement for a Turkish military operation that would sweep away American-backed Kurdish forces near the border in Syria.Anyone who stands with the United States under the presidency of Cadet Bonespurs runs the risk of being betrayed. Especially when Trump has some sort of twisted love for autocrats around the world. They are all members of a club Trump would dearly love to join.
The Obama-libertarian foreign policy does not make America safe.— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 7, 2019
If ignoring radical Islam made America safe, there would NOT have been a 9/11.
A Florida juror has been sentenced to 10 days in prison after he overslept and missed the start of a court case.I am rather skeptical about this one. An enterprising reporter might want to find out how many white guys the judge has sent to jail for anything similar.
Deandre Somerville, 21, of West Palm Beach, was chosen to serve on a jury in August.
But on the first day of the trial he overslept by at least two hours and failed to notify the court.
Judge John Kastrenakes held him in criminal contempt, also imposing 150 hours' community service and a $223 (£180) fine as well as the jail term.
After serving his time in prison, Somerville is appealing against the sentence, arguing it was "excessive".
President Trump acknowledged on Sunday that he raised corruption accusations against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. during a phone call with Ukraine’s leader..And:
President Trump said Thursday that China should investigate the business dealings of 2020 rival Joe Biden's son, Hunter, as he doubled down on his prior -- and controversial -- call for Ukraine to do the same.Trump is violating Federal law in the open. Asking for foreign assistance for a political campaign is soliciting foreign contributions is illegal. No quid pro quo is required, no response is needed. The ask, in and of itself, completes the crime.
Kyle Kuchirka, 25, an actor and recent graduate of the University of Saskatchewan's drama department, said he tried to cross the U.S. border between Abbotsford, B.C., and Sumas, Wash., on Aug. 29.I imagine that former Soviet customs offers can only look at our CBP people and say to themselves "we were never that mean-spirited."
Kuchirka, who is also a set designer, said he was on his way to volunteer his skills at the Sh'Bang Art Festival near Bellingham, Wash. But he was questioned at the border by an agent, who then directed him to a side room inside the large customs building.
After more than four hours of questioning, he said, he was handed a document informing him he was prohibited from entering the U.S. for five years. "You do not have work authorization," the document stated.
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Inside the customs building, Kuchirka said the guard told him he would be taking American jobs.
Kuchirka replied that he was a volunteer, and his only payment was free meals. He was paying all of his own expenses.
Taking a defiant stance in the impeachment inquiry, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday declared that House Democrats are trying to “intimidate, bully and treat improperly” five current and former career officials in seeking information in the Ukraine investigation.News broke within the last day that Pompeo was in on Trump's "perfect call," as Trump puts it, with the President of Ukraine.
Pompeo said in a letter to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as part of the chamber’s impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, that the requested dates for the officials to voluntarily appear for depositions were “not feasible.”
A key House Democrat said he’s consulting lawyers about whether to make public a complaint by a federal employee about possible misconduct in the Internal Revenue Service’s auditing of President Donald Trump.This is early, but if Mnuchin pressured the IRS to take it easy on Trump, that's a clear abuse of power. Then comes the question whether Mnuchin did it on his own or if he was told to by Trump.
The complaint raises allegations about “inappropriate efforts to influence” the audit process, House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in August. Neal told reporters on Friday that a decision on releasing the complaint depends on advice he receives from lawyers for the House of Representatives.
Last month, Beijing moved thousands of troops across the border into this restive city. They came in on trucks and armored cars, by bus and by ship.A significant element of the reinforcements are not army troops, but internal security forces, the People's Armed Police. As the article explains, the PAP was greatly expanded when the Chinese government learned that using tanks and automatic weapons to suppress a demonstration didn't play well overseas.
The state news agency Xinhua described the operation as a routine “rotation” of the low-key force China has kept in Hong Kong since the city’s handover from Britain in 1997. No mention was made of the anti-government protests that have been shaking the metropolis since June.
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A month on, Asian and Western envoys in Hong Kong say they are certain the late-August deployment was not a rotation at all, but a reinforcement. Seven envoys who spoke to Reuters said they didn’t detect any significant number of existing forces in Hong Kong returning to the mainland in the days before or after the announcement.
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