The
Drumpfster Fire
chronicles Week
13
x
The
Drumpfster Fire
chronicles Week
13
A Talbot‑‑Heindl Experience LLC Zine By: Chris Talbot‑‑Heindl
April
15 2017
rumpf spent another weekend in Mar-a-Lago (aka: the Southern White House). Drumpf has now spent 28% of his term traveling to or staying at Mar-a-Lago. He spent the morning golfing at Trump International Golf Club.
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he Autonomous Space Agency Network (ASAN) displayed the first protest in space against Drumpf. The group printed out a giant tweet which read “LOOK AT THAT, YOU SON OF A BITCH,” tagging Drumpf’s Twitter handle. They attached it to a weather balloon at 90,000 feet. The quote references the words of the sixth person to walk on the moon, Edgar Mitchell who said, “From out there on the moon, international politics look so pretty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.’”
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orth Korea celebrated the Kim Il Sung’s 105th birthday by parading missiles they claimed could reach the United States in front of Kim Jong Un. They did not do a nuclear test or missile launch as suspected.
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rkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson sped up the executions of eight men over 10 days because all of the lethal injection drugs was going to expire at the end of the month, but a series of court rulings on Friday and early Saturday may jeopardize their stateapproved murder schedule. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge stated, “We have worked round the clock for the last couple of weeks and particularly in the last couple of days, as judges have made decisions and court cases have been filed in these pieces of litigation, to ensure again that justice is carried out for these families of the victims.”
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rumpf has declared that he can’t be sued for violence at his rallies that were done in his name by his encouragement because he won. “Mr. Trump is immune from suite because he is President of the United States,” his lawyers wrote.
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journalist broke the news story of Chechnya’s homosexual concentration camps where hundreds of gay men have been detained, tortured, and at least three killed. So far, there has been no comment or denouncement by the Drumpf administration.
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onflicts of interest are popping up in the White House with some of Drumpf’s appointments. And Drumpf is secretly issuing waivers to ethics rules in order to do it. Michael Catanzaro was appointed as a top Energy Advisor. He had been working as a lobbyist for an oil and gas company and a coal-burning electric utility until late last year. Now, he’s using his government job to fight Obama’s environmental regulations, including the Clean Power Plan.
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had Wolf was appointed Chief of Staff for the Transportation Security Administration, an agency that is currently testing a carry-on luggage screening device he lobbied to create. If it tests well (under his supervision), the agency will purchase the device.
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he Director of the Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub Jr. said that Drumpf eliminated a requirement that executive branch appointees not accept jobs in agencies they recently lobbied in an Executive Order in January, which allowed for these hires. He also made it easier for former lobbyists to get waivers that would allow them to use their positions to benefit former clients. He also ended the transparency of the Obama administration which had posted the waivers on the Government Ethics website. He removed the requirement to share them. “There’s no transparency, and I have no idea how many waivers have been issued,” Director Shaub stated in an interview. In other words, he swamped up the swamp rather than draining it.
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April
15 2017
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mid all the backlash over the cost of housing and protecting the First Family, Melania Trump and Barron Trump changed the timeline for moving to the White House to the end of the school year.
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ormer Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he intended to work on “ousting the US,” and stated that there was no justification for the US to drop the MOAB in Afghanistan. He accused the US of using the presence of ISIS to turn Afghanistan into their own private weapons testing laboratory.
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spokesman for Hezb-e-Islami, an Islamist party with links to the insurgency, believed that the MOAB strike was conducted for political reasons rather than to fight terrorism in Afghanistan. He said “The goal of this attack was for beyond Afghanistan - it was for showing American power to North Korea, Syria, and some other countries; it was for scaring these countries.”
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here were 150 protests across the country about Drumpf not releasing his taxes. Government transparency groups have argued that if he doesn’t release his taxes, we can’t know the extent of ethics violations or conflicts of interest he might have. One government ethics groups has already sued Drumpf claiming that his hotel profits violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
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epresentative Jamie Raskin of Maryland attended the DC rally and stated, “How can we determine his conflicts of interest or stop hiim from receiving payments from foreign governments if he won’t show us the names of the people and corporations that he is in active partnership with all over the world?”
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he official White House BS excuse is that Drumpf can’t release his tax returns because he is under audit. But presidents and vice presidents are automatically audited every year, and they’ve all released their tax returns anyway. A poll from the Global Strategy Group found that 80% of Americans, including 64% of Republicans want to see Drumpf’s tax returns.
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April
16 2017
rumpf tweeted about the Tax Day protests against Drumpf on Saturday. He tweeted, “Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over!” There were 150 protests across the country to criticize the president’s policies and demand that he release his full tax returns. He then tweeted, “I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again?”
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rumpf then spent the morning golfing at his private golf club. In fact, he spent three days of the weekend scooting around between his Mar-a-Lago resort and Trump International Golf Club.
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ormer House Speaker Newt Gingrich defended the nepotism of the Drumpf administration – specifically Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump being Drumpf’s closest Advisors despite having zero experience – saying, “If you think of it as a classic business model, Trump likes to invest in winners because they make more money, and Jared has been pretty consistently winning. You’re always on a what’s-your-quarterly-report kind of relationship with Trump.” The problem is, it isn’t his family business; it’s the nation.
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orth Korea launched a ballistic missile on the east coast that blew up almost immediately just as Vice President Mike Pence left Alaska on his way to Seoul where he is planning on warning North Korea to stop threatening the US and our allies and stop launching missiles. A White House foreign advisor told reporters, “We weren’t surprised by it, we were anticipating it. It wasn’t a matter of if; it was a matter of when. The good news is that after five seconds it fizzled out.”
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n ABC News, Drumpf’s National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster stated that the US was exploring “a range of options” to combat North Korea, and stated that Drumpf would like “to take action short of armed conflict, so we can avoid the worst…The president has made clear that he will not accept the United States and its allies and partners in the region being under threat from this hostile regime with nuclear weapons.”
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ice President Mike Pence described North Korea’s sad missile test as a “provocation” during an Easter celebration at Yongsan military base in South Korea. “This morning’s provocation from the North is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face each and every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defense of America in this part of the world.” He also stated, “The era of strategic patience is over,” and claimed that all options were on the table for dealing with North Korea.
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ope Francis used his Easter “Urbi et Orbi” address to thousands who gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican to denounce the attacks in Syria. “May [God] sustain the efforts of those who are actively working to bring comfort and relief to the civilian population in beloved Syria who are greatly suffering from a war that does not cease to sow horror and death.”
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April
17 2017
ice President Pence issued a warning to North Korea not to test the US’s incredibly small patience by pursuing a nuclear weapons program. He then mentioned the recent military attacks in Syria and Afghanistan as incentive. “North Korea would do well not to test [Drumpf’s] resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region.”
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n an interview on Fox and Friends, Drumpf’s Counselor Kellyanne Conway asked Democratic representatives to stop their constituents from protesting Drumpf because he won the Electoral College vote. “Six months after Donald Trump won 306 electoral votes, you have people still trying to make it go away.” She was referring to the Tax Day protests, which were actually asking him to release his tax returns, not denying his Electoral College win. “I would love to hear the new DNC chairman, Tom Perez, Bernie Sanders…and I would love to hear Hillary Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump handily…I would love to hear them come forward as leaders of the Democratic Party and tell the people to stop.”
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new Gallup poll found that there was a slide of 17 points in the last two months of whether or not Americans think Drumpf keeps his promises. In February, the poll showed 62% of Americans believed that statement, but now only 45% believe that statement. The slide happened regardless of demographic, although it slid the most among women (-25%), Democrats (-21%), people ages 18-34 (-22%), and liberals (-22%).
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he First Family held their first White House Easter Egg Roll that was thrown together last minute. It was about half the size as last year’s event, with 21,000 in attendance. There were only 18,000 eggs, since the First Family neglected to order the eggs in time for the full amount to be manufactured. Instead of A-list celebrities, Drumpf’s first Easter Egg Roll featured a military band. As the band began to play the national anthem, Melania and Barron Trump instinctively placed their hands over the hearts. Melania had to jab Drumpf’s hand to remind him to do the same.
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April
17 2017
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rumpf’s opening speech was awkward AF. “This is the 139th Easter Egg Roll. Think of it – 139. It began a long time ago – 1878. And we will be stronger and bigger and better as a nation than ever before. We’re right on track. You see what’s happening, and we’re right no track. So thank you, everybody, for being here.”
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rumpf made sure to thank Melania, who he claimed had “been working on this for a long time, to make it perfect.” Pretty much all news outlets had already begun reporting that it was thrown together in the last minute.
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rumpf called to congratulate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about a referendum that grossly expanded his powers to a level that borders on a dictatorship, that he won by a small margin during a questionable election that international election observers declared unfair.
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eporters attempted to find out what was happening with North Korea and if Drumpf had a “red line” during the press briefing. Press Secretary Sean Spicer kept up the party line that “you’re not going to see him telegraphing how he’s going to respond to any military or other situation going forward...but I think that the action that he took in Syria shows that, when appropriate, this President will take decisive action.”
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he reporter responded, “Just to follow up on that, Syria is one thing and North Korea is quite another, when they have nuclear ambitions the way they do. When you talk about, ‘Well, we did this to Syria and we did this to Afghanistan,’ is that being a little too loose with bombastic rhetoric?” YES. This.
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hen asked why Drumpf decided not to release the visitor logs, “why does the President object to people knowing who is coming in the White House?” Press Secretary Spicer answered, “It’s about following the law.” not about reducing transparency. He also stated that Obama’s logs were a “faux level” of transparency since he scrubbed people’s names.
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he next reporter followed up: “the rationale given Friday for the visitor logs reversal was for national security and privacy concerns. Both of those were clear exemptions in the Obama administration’s policy which led to the scrubbing that you describe. So why exactly the reversal? You seem to be describing maybe a third rationale that you’re giving.” Spicer’s answer explored the idea of collusion by the Obama administration, “I mean, they said what it was, but you don’t know who got left off and who didn’t. They chose to not put people out for whatever reason, and they gave an excuse nad no one questioned it.”
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reporter asked Press Secretary Spicer to clarify what Vice President Pence means when he says “strategic patience is over.” In an add turn of style, Spicer answered the question: “The era of strategic patience was a policy that the Obama administration enacted to basically wait and see. I think we have now understood that that policy is not one that is prudent for the United States.”
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nother reporter asked what we were all thinking: “You’re doing it today and you’ve done it before - you’ve stood at the podium and said you don’t want to telegraph moves that the President will make to preserve the element of surprise. A Kremlin spokesperson said that President Trump is more impulsive and unpredictable than Kim Jong-un. At what point does this strategy of unpredictability become a liability?” Press Secretary Spicer answered that he saw the unpredictability as an asset. He then said that people around the world “are excited” that Drumpf is taking action “and decisively so.”
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April
17 2017
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rumpf recorded a robo-call for Georgia’s special election. “Only you can stop the super liberal Democrats and Nancy Pelosi’s group, and in particular, Jon Ossoff. If you don’t vote tomorrow, Ossoff will raise your taxes, destroy your healthcare, and flood our country with illegal immigrants.” The special election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District was held for a House seat to replace Tom Price, the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Democrat Jon Ossoff, is a 30-year-old former congressional staffer, running with the slogan “Make Trump Furious.” He’s also got a 28% lead over all the Republican candidates in the race.
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udge Neil Gorsuch spent his first day as a Supreme Court Justice making snide comments. A lawyer asked if the court would be establishing a new precedent, and Gorsuch said the court would “continue to make it up.”
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he 2016 American National Election Study was released and shows that what motivated Drumpf voters the most was racism. Moving from the 50% to the 75% in the authoritarian scale made someone about 3% more likely to vote for Drumpf. The same jump on the symbolic racism scale (asking and measuring how people respond to racial inequalities and if they are a result of social bias or personal responsibility) made someone 20% more likely to vote for Drumpf. Categorically, racism made a bigger difference than authoritarianism.
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Republican Senator in Florida, Frank Artiles went on a racist rant Monday night speaking to fellow state Senators Audrey Gibson and Perry Thurston, who are both black. He referred to six white senators as the “N” word while complaining about the GOP leadership. He also referred to Senator Gibson as “this fucking asshole,” “this bitch,” and “girl.” Artiles defended his use of the “N” word because he was from a largely Hispanic city.
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he nonpartisan Tax Policy Center published an estimate for the proposed tax reform plan from House Speaker Paul Ryan. it shows that the proposal would reduce gross domestic product by 0.5% after a decade and by 2.6% after two. Proposed border adjustments would make goods imported more expensive for American consumers.
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April
18 2017
n an interview on Fox and Friends, Drumpf betrayed the fact that he has no idea who is in charge of North Korea. He claimed that both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were outplayed by “this gentleman” in North Korea. Kim Jong Un didn’t even come into power until the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011. “You read Clinton’s book, he said, ‘Oh, we made such a great peace deal,’ and it was a joke. You look at different things over the years with President Obama. Everybody has been outplayed, they’ve all been outplayed by this gentleman. And we’ll see what happens. But I just don’t telegraph my moves.” Or know who is the current dictator of North Korea, apparently.
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he Murdoch family stated that they were leaning toward pulling Bill O’Reilly off Fox News due to growing pressure from advertisers. Another report surfaced that O’Reilly used to harass a black clerical worker, “He would never talk to her, not even hello, except to grunt at her like a wild boar” and call her “hot chocolate…He would leer at her.” The story was verified by three witnesses. She registered her complaint with Fox News sexual harassment hotline in light of recent news; something most women at the company didn’t even know existed.
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ill O’Reilly’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, claims that all of the women coming forward are lying. “It is outrageous that an allegation from an anonymous person about something that purportedly happened almost a decade ago is being treated as fact, especially where there is obviously an orchestrated campaign by activists and lawyers to destroy Mr. O’Reilly and enrich themselves through publicity driven donations.”
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rial photographs showed that the flotilla of aircraft carriers that Drumpf said would act as a powerful deterrent to North Korea’s continued missile launches was actually floating in the opposite direction. The White House blamed the flub on the Defense Department. Whoopsies!
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he Supreme Court decided not to act on the Arkansas executions, preventing the lethal injections from taking place as scheduled. Governor Asa Hutchinson was attempting to murder eight people over the next 11 days, before the state’s stash of drugs to do it expired.
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on Ossoff ran on the campaign slogan: “Make Trump Furious.” It seems to be working. Drumpf tweeted about the election: “Democrat Jon Ossoff would be a disaster in Congress. VERY weak on crime and illegal immigration, bad for jobs and wants higher taxes. Say NO…Republicans must get out today and VOTE in Georgia 6. Force runoff and easy win! Dem Ossoff will raise your taxes-very bad on crime & 2nd A…Just learned that Jon @Ossoff, who is running for Congress in Georgia, doesn’t even live in the district. Republicans, get out and vote!”
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April
18 2017
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month after Attorney General Jeff Sessions called for the resignation of all the US attorneys across the nation, he still hasn’t replaced 93 of them. When asked about the vacancies, he stated, “We really need to work hard at that.”
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eputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders held a press gaggle on the route to Kenosha, Wisconsin. She proved in her answers that she has no idea what Drumpf thinks on anything. When asked if he was planning on pulling out of the Paris Accords, she responded, “I haven’t had a chance to have that conversation.”
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hen asked about the Executive Order that Drumpf was signing when they arrived in Kenosha, she claimed ignorance to that as well. “I’m not going to get too far ahead of the President’s comments and his remarks that he’ll make.” Which begs the question, if she’s not doing her job of informing the media of Drumpf’s thoughts or policies, what is she getting a paycheck of taxpayer money for?
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t the signing of the supposed Buy American, Hire American Executive Order in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Drumpf claimed “No administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days.” This is an #altfact. There were 76 bills signed into law under Roosevelt in the first 100 day. Drumpf wrote 28. 13 of the new bills were actually reversing Obama actions - not technically a new action at all. None of Drumpf’s bills are major legislation. In contrast, Obama’s stimulus package was passed in the first 30 days.
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rumpf talked really big as he signed the Buy American, Hire American Executive Order that he claimed would end the “theft of American prosperity.” But the order actually just called for a report on changes needed for the H-1B program. Senator Charles Schumer had this to say: “Like all the other exectuive orders, it’s just words - he’s calling for new studies. It’s not going to fix the problem. It’s not going to create a single job.”
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uring the press briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked if the Republican party was concerned over Jon Ossoff nearly winning the race for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. And if the election was a wake up call to update some of their policies to meet with their constituencies. Spicer answered that the Republican Party won the president - “This President won - got 306 electoral votes, won 30 of 50 states, over 2,600 counties.” When pressed, he stated that there was only one Democrat running. “There was five” the reporter interrupted. “The bottom line is they went all in on it; they said that their goal was to get over 50 percent. They came up short.”
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April
18 2017
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ress Secretary Sean Spicer attempted to rewrite history and the facts. When asked about the armada heading in the opposite direction than Drumpf and the White House said it was. “The President said that we have an armada going towards the peninsula. That’s a fact; it happened - it is happening, rather.” Another reporter clarified, “It’s headed there now. It wasn’t headed there last week.” Spicer: “No, no, no - but that’s not what we ever said. We said it was heading there, and it was heading there - it is heading there.”
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hree more questions were asked about why the media wasn’t informed when it was clear that they “misunderstood” what the administration had stated about the whereabouts of the armada. Spicer passed it off as a failure of the media to ask the right questions to the right people. “You’re asking me why you didn’t know better. I don’t know.”
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isclosures from the Federal Election Commission show that while Drumpf’s inaugural crowd was pretty tiny, the money raised for it were not. Influence-seekers paid out a whopping $107 million, which is twice as much as any other inauguration. Drumpf’s committee said it was still identifying charities to donate the extra money, but it declined to say how much that was and why it takes three months to donate it. Other presidents have limited donations. For instance, George W. capped donations at $250k and Obama banned gifts from lobbyists and corporations. Drumpf opted not to impose such restrictions, but said he would not accept donations from registered federal lobbyists. Of course, as we all know from a number of Drumpf’s appointees, you don’t have to register right away.
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April
19 2017
he Utah Representative, Jason Chaffetz, announced that he would not run for reelection to his House seat in 2018 – probably due to the criticism over his refusal to truly investigate Drumpf’s crimes. “I am healthy. I am confident I could continue to be re-elected by large margins. I have the full support of Speaker Ryan to continue as Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. That said, I have made a personal decision to return to the private sector.”
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vanka Trump could be up for another ethics violation as she applied for even more trademarks across the country. Richard Painter, a man who served as Chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. suggested that Ivanka, “Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you’re in government.” The problem is that they work very closely with China on policy, which is also the country of the latest trademark that Ivanka received.
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April
19 2017
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ox News removed Bill O’Reilly finally due to the loss of advertisers. “After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel.” O’Reilly had this to say: It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunately reality many of us in the public eye must live with today.”
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ox News chose jackass blowhard Tucker Carlson, who’s record is at best only slightly less aggressive and offensive as Bill O’Reilly’s.
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n his remarks aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, Vice President Mike Pence seemed to indicate that Obama didn’t value America’s allies. “Under President Donald Trump, the United States once again will stand with our allies and stand up to our enemies. And I can assure you President Trump will unfailingly support the brave men and women in uniform who defend our freedom every single day.” n court papers made public it was announced that lawyer Michael Mukasey, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a secret meeting in February to make a diplomatic deal where Turkey might aid American interests in the region in return for the release of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish gold trader being held in a Manhattan jail.
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ttorney General Jeff Sessions told a radio host that “an island in the Pacific” shouldn’t be able to strike down Drumpf’s Muslim Ban. “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.”
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rumpf invited Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, to in turn invited Ted Nugent and Kid Rock, to the White House. When asked why she invited Kid Rock and Ted Nugent, Palin stated, “Because Jesus was booked.” The three posed in front of a portrait of Hillary Clinton and in the Oval Office. “It was like a family reunion. None of us expected this.” Ted Nugent said about it.
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April
20 2017
tah Representative Jason Chaffetz told the Wall Street Journal, “My future plans are not yet finalized but I haven’t ruled out the possibility of leaving early” from his post. Why not? It’s not like he’s doing his job now – especially as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.
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statement was released that announced that FBI investigators discovered in 2013 that a Russian spy was trying to recruit Carter Page, Drumpf’s foreign policy adviser. When he gave a Russia-friendly speech at the Moscow Institute, the FBI began its investigation into connections between Russia and Drumpf’s campaign.
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he US Secret Service announced that it would end public access to the sidewalk along the south fence of the White House beginning next Wednesday. The sidewalk and the fence has long been an avenue for political dissidents to display their distain for policies or the administration itself.
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n Vice President Mike Pence’s remarks to the press during his visit with Indonesian President Widodo, he was pretty condescending, “As the largest majority Muslim country, Indonesia’s tradition of modern Islam, frankly, is an inspiration to the world. And we commend you and your people.” Too bad America’s tradition of modern Christianity is an embarrassment to the world.
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new GOP plan for Drumpfcare 2.0 was released to the press. It was designed to bridge the gap between moderate and conservative Republicans who rejected the first one. Drumpfcare 2.0 would allow states to get rid of the pre-existing conditions requirement if they set up high-risk pools that would help cover people who would lose insurance because of it. It would require that Drumpfcare 2.0 cover the Essential Health Benefits, but allow states to get waivers for them. Drumpfcare 2.0 would still phaseout the Medicaid expansion, which would eventually result in 14 million people being dumped from Medicaid.
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efore Obamacare, when you applied for health insurance, you had to fill out crap tons of pages and submit medical records. Premiums could be set higher for a ton of reasons, including being slightly overweight. The Drumpfcare 2.0 waivers would make this a thing again. States could waive a rule that requires insurers to charge the same prices to healthy and sick people of the same age. Pre-Obamacare, health insurers would create pool categories of people. Healthy were called “Super Preferred” and could get a 7% discount on the standard premium. The least healthy were called “Modified 5” and were charged three times the standard rate. “Least healthy” was a relative term determined by the insurer, and could mean you have acne, blood cholesterol above 260, and you could be denied coverage altogether.
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20 2017
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n his opening remarks to Italian Prime Minister Gentiloni in the Joint Press Conference, Drumpf once again leaned on stereotypes and generalities of Italian people and culture as well as the “my x friend” trope: “Through the ages, your country has been a beacon of artistic and scientific achievement – and that continues today – from Venice to Florence, from Verdi to Pavarotti, a friend of mine. Great friend of mine.”
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rumpf then insulted the Prime Minister and Italians by echoing and making a joke about Italy’s financial commitment to NATO: “I love the question you asked the Prime Minister. I low forward to his answer because I’m going to be asking him that same question very soon.” To make awkward matters more awkward, Drumpf’s question, which he put off to make this joke was about the terrorist attacks in France. The Primer Minister took it in stride, “As far as the question is concerned, the commitment has been made. It was made during a NATO summit. And we are used to respecting our commitments. We know that this will be a gradual process; it has already begun. And we know that Italy has certain limitations when it comes to its budget, but despite these limitations our commitment for common defense is very clear.”
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oth the Prime Minister of Italy and Drumpf were asked the US’s role in stabilizing Libya. Prime Minister Gentiloni answered in Italian, “America has played a very key role –first of all to prevent the consolidation of an important basis for terrorism…I believe that one clear goal should be this: We need the region and we need countries like Egypt and Tunisia that are close to Libya. We need a stable and unified Libya. A divided country and in conflict would make stability worse. The U.S. role in this is very critical.” Drumpf then answered, “I do not see a role in Libya. I think the United States has right now enough roles. We’re in a role everywhere. So I do not see that.”
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n an interview on CNN, former Governor Sarah Palin avoided the question of whether she had experienced or witnessed any sexual harassment when she was a Fox News contributor. She did say, “Corporate culture there obviously has to change.” When asked if she left due to an experience, she answered, “Um, I just, you know, it was time to part ways and get out there in, you know, I guess a more diverse arena to express views and speak for the public, and that’s what I’ve been able to do now.”
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ttorney Jeff Sessions claimed that marijuana is only “slightly less awful” than heroin and has threatened a crackdown on states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use. A CBS News poll conducted for 4/20 found that 61% of registered voters favor legal marijuana, including 46% of Republicans. Just 24$ believe that the federal government should usurp states’ rights for those that have legalized it.
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ews of Bill O’Reilly’s exit package is disgusting to say the least and prove that while he may lose his slot, there really is no consequence at Fox News for sexual harassment. He is receiving a payout of $25 million – equal to one year of his salary.
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20 2017
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ime Magazine named White House Advisor Jared Kushner as on of its 100 most influential people. But it provided a very odd person to vouch for his amazingness, opting for Henry Kissinger who talked about his job rather than himself. “This space has been traversed for nearly four months by Jared Kushner, whom I first met about 18 months ago, when he introduced himself after a foreign policy lecture I had given. We have sporadically exchanged views since. As part of the Trump family, Jared is familiar with the intangibles of the President. As a graduate of Harvard and NYU, he has a broad education; as a businessman, a knowledge of administration. All this should help him make a success of his daunting role flying close to the sun.”
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April
21 2017
rumpf took to Twitter early in the morning to denounce the 100-day mark despite running on it. “No matter how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S.C.), media will kill!” Drumpf’s own Contract with the American Voter used the 100 days, it was part of almost all of his stump speeches, and he praised himself for his first 100 days in an interview with Fox News just last week.
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n expose was released regarding Drumpf’s charity – or lack of charitable giving. While Drumpf promised to give to charity on tons of occasions, including all the proceeds from Drumpf University, his salary from “The Apprentice,” and more, he did not actually do it. Between the years of 2008 and 2015, the only charitable gift that came from Drumpf’s pocket and not the Drumpf Foundation (which is technically other people’s money) was for less than $10,000.
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he money given away from the Drumpf Foundation (other people’s money) was spent to thank people who had spent money at the Mar-a-Lago estate or charities that were honoring his friends. While he talked a lot about giving a crap about rural America, Drumpf Foundation charities went to funding things in New York City and Palm Beach, the two locations of his real estate holdings.
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uring his weekly address, Drumpf claimed that the Executive Order to Buy American and Hire American was a “historic action to ensure that Federal Projects are made with American Goods – and to keep American workers and companies from being cheated out of contracts by countries that break the rules and break every regulation in the book to take advantage of the United States. That’s not going to happen anymore.” This is an extreme exaggeration. The only thing the Executive Order does, like most of Drump’s Executive Orders, is call for a study to determine if anything needs to change.
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April
21 2017 continued
rumpf promised a tax reduction that would be “bigger, I believe, than any tax cut ever” next week. This announcement came as a surprise to everyone, and White House officials attempted to pad the statement, cautioning against any high expectations the statement might have made.
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ecretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin held a press briefing on the Financial Services Executive Order and Memoranda. On the tax Executive Order he had this to say: “Under the previous administration, the tax code has become extremely expensive and burdensome. Individuals and business spend over 6.1 billion hours; the cost is over $230 billion. The basic 1040 has grown enormously. And I think everybody would agree that the tax system is way too complicated and burdensome.” So, the Executive Order, instead of doing anything concrete, would require a “review” of the tax regulations.
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reporter asked Secretary Mnuchin “what are some specific actions available to you to ease these tax compliance burdens?” Mnuchin responded: “Well, there’s – I mean, just to be clear, what we’re going to do is we are going to go through and look at every single significant regulation that has been done in the last yearand-a-half. We’re going to determine whether we think they’re needed in the tax code or whether they’re unnecessary, and the tax burden and complexity is too much.” In other words, nothing concrete.
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reporter tried to clarify what the purpose of the Executive Order even was. “Would you have done these reviews without executive presidential order? What was the purpose specifically of the orders?” Secretary Mnuchin made it clear that it was for show: “I think the purposes of the orders are to make clear what the President and the administration’s priorities are and to signify the importance of these issues to the American people.”
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April
21 2017 continued
uring the Press Gaggle Press Secretary Sean Spicer he was asked about the possibility of government shutdown. Spicer answered: “I think we’ve made it very clear that we want border wall funding, we want greater latitude to deny federal grants to sanctuary cities. We want hiring of immigration agents, and we want $30 billion to infuse the military budget. Those are our priorities…We’re working with members on both sides of the aisle in both chambers to find a way forward. But I think we feel confident that that will happen, that we will avoid a shutdown.”
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s a follow up, he was asked if some of the priorities had to be removed to avoid a shutdown. Secretary Spicer stated, “We’re working with House and Senate. Our goal now is – we’ve laid out our priorities and we’re committed to not having a shutdown. So I don’t know how easier to put it.” In other words, no, they will not give up any priorities to avoid a shutdown.
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mid the anti-science Drumpf administration, scientists are starting to consider running for Congress. Volanologist Jess Phoenix announced her running in California’s 25th Congressional District. She saw Republican Steve Knight mishandling environmental problems and disregarding science and decided, “That’s why I’m like, okay, it’s time to get to work. Because if not scientists, if not people who really understand what’s at stake, then who is going to step up?”
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ongress has until midnight on April 28 to pass a spending bill to keep the government open through September or there will be another government shutdown. The wild card on whether there will be a shutdown is Drumpf, which means there’s a pretty good chance the government will shut down. Congress could pass something and Drumpf could decide not to support it because it doesn’t support enough of his priorities (like the Drumpf Great Wall). This is likely since Drumpf isn’t really know for his compromising, Democrats refuse to fund the wall and conservative Republicans are not keen on how much it costs.
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