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Category Archives: My Opinion

EPA Administrator Dismisses Climate Change As ‘50 To 75 Years Out’


TOTUS appears to be a magnet for Deplorables.MA
POLITICS 03/20/2019 08:52 am ET
By Marina Fang

The nation’s top environmental official dismissed efforts to combat climate change as misguided, arguing that unsafe drinking water is a more urgent problem because “most of the threats from climate change are 50 to 75 years out” and global organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank should be “focused on the people who are dying today.”
“We have 1,000 children die every day worldwide because they don’t have safe drinking water,” Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a CBS News interview Wednesday, ahead of launching a global program to combat unsafe drinking water. “What we need to do is make sure that the whole world is focused on the people who are dying today, the thousand children that die every day from lack of drinking water.”
But global officials have repeatedly warned of the effects of climate change on access to water, cascading into a host of other political and humanitarian problems.
“Water is the primary medium through which we will feel the effects of climate change,” according to the United Nations’ program on water, which notes that climate change has exacerbated flooding and droughts, creating extremes in water availability and quality, which then severely affects farming and agriculture, jeopardizing food access.
Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, has regularly downplayed the threat of climate change.

During his Senate confirmation hearing in January, Wheeler refused to call climate change a crisis and admitted that he had not fully read a major federal climate change report co-authored by his own agency.

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A Florida Massage Parlor Owner Has Been Selling Chinese Execs Access to Trump at Mar-a-Lago


 

The strange, swampy saga of Trump donor Li Yang.
David Corn, Dan Friedman and Daniel Schulman March 9, 2019 6:26 AM

The latest Trump political donor to draw controversy is Li Yang, a 45-year-old Florida entrepreneur from China who founded a chain of spas and massage parlors that included the one where New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft was recently busted for soliciting prostitution. She made the news this week when the Miami Herald reported that last month she had attended a Super Bowl viewing party at Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club and had snapped a selfie with the president during the event. Though Yang no longer owns the spa Kraft allegedly visited, the newspaper noted that other massage parlors her family runs have “gained a reputation for offering sexual services.” (She told the newspaper she has never violated the law.) Beyond this sordid tale, there is another angle to the strange story of Yang: She runs an investment business that has offered to sell Chinese clients access to Trump and his family. And a website for the business—which includes numerous photos of Yang and her purported clients hobnobbing at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach—suggests she had some success in doing so.
Yang, who goes by Cindy, and her husband, Zubin Gong, started GY US Investments LLC in 2017. The company describes itself on its website, which is mostly in Chinese, as an “international business consulting firm that provides public relations services to assist businesses in America to establish and expand their brand image in the modern Chinese marketplace.” But the firm notes that its services also address clients looking to make high-level connections in the United States. On a page displaying a photo of Mar-a-Lago, Yang’s company says its “activities for clients” have included providing them “the opportunity to interact with the president, the [American] Minister of Commerce and other political figures.” The company boasts it has “arranged taking photos with the President” and suggests it can set up a “White House and Capitol Hill Dinner.” (The same day the Herald story about Yang broke, the website stopped functioning.)

The short bio of Yang on the website, identifying her as the founder and CEO of GY US Investments, shows her in a photo with Trump bearing his signature. It says she has been “settled in the United States for more than 20 years” and is a member of the “Presidential Fundraising Committee.” According to the Herald, Yang is a registered Republican, and since 2017 she and her relatives have donated more than $42,000 to a Trump political action committee and more than $16,000 to Trump’s campaign. Her Facebook page, which was taken offline on Friday, was loaded with photos of her posing with GOP notables: Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, among others.
On a page displaying a photo of Mar-a-Lago, Yang’s company says its “activities for clients” have included providing them “the opportunity to interact with the president, the [American] Minister of Commerce and other political figures.”
The GY US Investments website lists upcoming events at Mar-a-Lago at which Yang’s clients presumably can mingle with Trump or members of his family. This includes something called the International Leaders Elite Forum, where Trump’s sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau, will supposedly be the featured speaker. Attendees, the site says, will include “Chinese elites from various countries, including the US states, as well as elite leaders from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, Europe and other countries and regions.” Another event for which Yang’s firm says it can provide access is Trump’s annual New Year’s celebration at Mar-a-Lago. Elsewhere on the website, the firm boasts that “GY Company arranged a number of guests to attend the 2019 New Year’s Eve dinner. All the guests took photos with” members of Trump’s family. This page displays photos of Chinese executives and a Chinese movie star with Donald Trump Jr., suggesting that these pics were arranged by the company, and also includes a photo of Yang with Elizabeth Trump Grau.

A flier posted on GY US Investments’ website publicizing an upcoming event at Mar-A-Lago featuring the president’s sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau.
Among the Chinese executives who attended that New Year’s event was Huachu Tang, the owner of an electric car company. Tang told Yahoo Finance that he flew 17 hours from Xi’an, China, with his family and an assistant in hopes of meeting with Trump at the party. Though he reportedly speaks almost no English, Tang said he hoped to use a Trump connection to build up his company’s brand before eventually taking it public on the New York Stock Exchange. Trump, however, canceled his trip to Mar-a-Lago due to the government shutdown. Tang and his wife managed to pose for pictures with Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Trump Grau. Tang told Yahoo that he received admission to the New Year’s party through a package offered by a public relations agency—perhaps Yang’s firm. According to Yahoo, the company Tang used declined to reveal the price of the package, citing the confidentiality of the contract.
The GY US Investments website also posted photos of Yang at a White House celebration of the “Asian New Year” in 2018 and at a Chinese New Year dinner celebration that purportedly included Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Transportation Secretary Chao. The firm says it invited 10 guests to the Chinese New Year event and the website shows several of them posing with Chao.
According to the website, the company has offices in Miami; Washington, DC; and Wuhan, China, and is preparing to open an office in Beijing. But the address of its office in the Washington area matches the location of a UPS store.
Yang and her business partners listed on the GY US Investments’ website could not be reached for comment. No one responded to messages left at the number for GY US Investments. A man who answered a phone number listed for Yang hung up. A man who picked up the phone at a number listed for the company’s Washington-area office said, “My English isn’t good,” and hung up. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders and Trump Grau did not respond to requests for comment.
The overall message conveyed by the GY US Investments website seems clear: hire Yang’s company and she can get you close to Trump and his government—at Mar-a-Lago and in Washington. If the posted photos are authentic, she has been able to get Chinese clients at least into the Trump circle for a quick pic. They are a sign that this Chinese immigrant and Trump donor has used her contacts to go from massaging clients to massaging influence.
Update: Yang has been active in Asian American Republican groups. Since 2017, she has participated in the Broward County, Florida Chapter of the Asian GOP, a national Republican group. The chapter’s web page touts the Mar-a-Lago “Safari Night” promoted by Yang’s company – with Trump Grau listed as the host. Yang also visited the White House last year as part of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Initiative, a White House advisory group.

Cindy Yang, Community Outreach Director, Asian GOP FL (left); Sue Snowden, Palm Beach County Chair at Donald Trump for President Campaign.

The dirty laundry continues to be aired for this administration, apparently the swamp has moved to Florida. MA

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What Disney gets as its $71.3B buy of Fox assets closes


What! No faux news-thats kind of entertaining in vicious sort of way. MA

By MAE ANDERSON, AP Technology Writer
8 hrs ago

It’s finally complete. Disney closed its $71 billion acquisition of Fox’s entertainment assets on Wednesday, more than a year after the mega merger was proposed . Disney gets far ranging properties ranging from Fox’s film studios, including “Avatar” and X-Men, to its TV productions such as “The Simpsons” and networks including National Geographic.
The acquisition comes as Disney plans to launch its streaming service Disney Plus later this year.
MOVIES
X-Men and other movies from Fox’s studios could be added to Disney’s upcoming streaming service. Fox’s film studios, with “Avatar,” X-Men, the Fantastic Four and Deadpool, would pair well with Disney’s studios. This includes reuniting the Marvel franchises X-Men and the Avengers, as some of those characters were already in Fox’s hands when Disney bought Marvel in 2009. Disney also has the Muppets, Pixar and “Star Wars.”
On Tuesday actor Ryan Reynolds tweeted a picture of his “Deadpool” character in a Disney-branded school bus. “Feels like the first day of ‘Pool,” he wrote.
TELEVISION
Fox’s TV productions include “The Americans,” ”This Is Us,” ”Modern Family” and “The Simpsons.” Its networks include FX Networks and National Geographic. The Fox businesses add to Disney’s roster of channels like ABC, the Disney Channel and Freeform. “Modern Family” already airs on ABC.
STREAMING
Disney gets controlling stake in streaming service Hulu. Comcast, Disney and Fox now own 30 percent apiece, with AT&T owning the other 10 percent through Time Warner. With Fox’s share, Disney has a controlling 60 percent stake. It has said it plans to keep operating Hulu for general programming, with its own Disney Plus service offering more family-focused fare.
INTERNATIONAL
Though it dropped its bid for Fox’s stake in Sky, Disney gets other international properties from Fox, including Star India, a major Mumbai-based media company with dozens of sports and entertainment channels; and stakes in Tata Sky, an Indian satellite TV provider and Endemol Shine Group, a Dutch-based media company.
THEME PARKS
Disney has made extensive use of its portfolio at its theme parks in California, Florida and overseas. Disney, for instance, is expanding its attractions related to “Star Wars.” On the flip side, Disney turned its Pirates of the Caribbean ride into a major movie franchise.
Disney would be able to expand its opportunities with Fox, though theme parks have historically been able to reach licensing deals with rival studios. Comcast’s Universal, for instance, has rides based on Fox’s “The Simpsons” and Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter.” Disney has licensed Fox’s “Avatar” for its “Pandora” park within Walt Disney World.
FOX CORP.
What doesn’t Disney get? Fox Corp. is a new stand-alone company that comprises of the assets Disney didn’t buy. It includes Fox News, Fox Sports, the Fox Network, and Fox TV stations.

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Aluminum Makers Ditch Can Business


Tariff effects on recycling extends to Farmers, auto manufacturers and other industries yet TOTUS thinks we are winning? MA

Bob Tita 18 hrs ago
Used cans are piling up at scrapyards because U.S. aluminum companies are turning fewer of them into new metal, another indication of the economic challenges facing recycling.
Arconic Inc. and other aluminum rollers are producing less sheet for beverage cans and more higher-margin, flat-rolled aluminum for automotive and industrial components. Prices for used aluminum cans in the U.S. have fallen about 30% since last summer. Old cans are less versatile than other scrap. The makers of airplane and car parts prefer not to use aluminum made from recycled cans. More new cans in the U.S. are made from imported aluminum.
“We’d prefer to purchase domestic can sheet, but as of right now there is not enough to supply the domestic market,” said Jamie Westfahl, senior director of global packaging procurement for Denver-based brewer Molson Coors Brewing Co.
Producing aluminum for cans isn’t as profitable as rolling sheet for car companies. Aluminum rolling mills are paid about $1 a pound above the market price for the raw-aluminum ingots they use to make auto-body sheet, compared with about 35 cents a pound for converting can sheeting.
The challenging economics is a troubling sign for food and packaging companies that are facing pressure to embrace recycling. The glut of used cans shows how public calls for using more recyclable materials can fall short if companies decide it isn’t profitable enough to remake them into new products.
Other recycled materials are facing similar problems. Scrap paper and plastic prices have collapsed since China imposed higher standards on the purity of those products imported from the U.S. China implemented tariffs of 50% last year on aluminum scrap from the U.S. That has created a glut of shredded scrap from junked cars in the U.S. to mix with the growing stockpile of discarded cans.
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Atlanta-based Novelis Inc. has shifted some production in recent years from cans to making more aluminum sheet for vehicle bodies. The company opened new lines for auto sheet at a plant in Oswego, N.Y., and is building a plant to make automotive aluminum in Guthrie, Ky.
“We’ve done it. Our competitors have done it,” Novelis Vice President Andy King said. The company also recently increased production from its remaining can-sheet lines as demand for cans improves.
Arconic is investing $100 million at one of its plants to shift production from can sheet to automotive and industrial aluminum. The company stopped making can sheet at the end of last year at the plant near Knoxville, Tenn., that accounted for 14% of the aluminum used in beverage-can bodies and was a major consumer of discarded beverage cans.
Alcoa Corp. is bucking the trend, keeping its rolling mill in southern Indiana committed to just making can sheet. The company has increased production about 20% in the past two years. While making metal for cans isn’t as profitable as producing aluminum for auto bodies, can sheet has become more profitable recently because falling prices for used cans have reduced producers’ scrap costs and widened their margins.
“It’s a good market to be in,” said Tim Reyes, president of Alcoa’s aluminum business.
Aluminum cans have been the most recycled packaging in the U.S. since they supplanted steel as the beverage container of choice in the 1970s. Aluminum can be repeatedly melted and rerolled into paper-thin sheets. About 70% of the aluminum in the 94 billion beverage cans made for the U.S. and Canada last year came from scrap, according to the Can Manufacturers Institute trade group.

But can-sheet production in the U.S. fell 10% between 2011 and 2018 to 1.8 million metric tons annually, according to industry groups. Market consulting firm Harbor Aluminum Intelligence Unit LLC expects annual domestic capacity to make can sheet to fall to 1.73 million metric tons by 2020, down 30% from 2010.
The hole left in the U.S. market is being filled by imports. Can-sheet imports have increased more than 200% since 2013, based on U.S. Census Bureau data. About 70% of imports last year came from China despite the 10% tariff the Trump administration levied on imported aluminum last March. The administration also has granted exemptions on 362,000 metric tons of imported can sheet, most of it from Saudi Arabia.
Can manufacturers Ball Corp. and Metal Container Corp., a unit of beer maker Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, have asked the Commerce Department to exempt about 64,000 metric tons of Chinese can sheet from the tariff. Their requests are pending.
Beverage companies say can-sheet manufacturers have raised prices to reflect the tariff and lower U.S. production. Kelly Clay, chief executive of Wyoming-based Admiral Beverage Corp., said his costs for cans from Crown Holdings Inc. and Ball have increased 15% since the tariff took effect. That obliged him to raise prices on the drinks he bottles and distributes for PepsiCo Inc. in seven Western states by about 15% as well, to $3.35 for 12 cans of soda.
“I don’t know anybody in this industry that is getting any of these tariff exemptions off their can price,” he said.
Write to Bob Tita at robert.tita@wsj.com

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Don’t Do The Crime If You Can’t Do The Time?


TOTUS takes exception to SNL parody of him and further proved himself a viable source of comedy.MA 

From the WRAP:
“It’s truly incredible that shows like Saturday Night Live, not funny/no talent, can spend all of their time knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of ‘the other side.’ Like an advertisement without consequences. Same with Late Night Shows,” the POTUS wrote.
“Should Federal Election Commission and/or FCC look into this?” he added in a subsequent tweet. “There must be Collusion with the Democrats and, of course, Russia! Such one-sided [sic] media coverage, most of it Fake News. Hard to believe I won and am winning. Approval Rating 52%, 93% with Republicans. Sorry! #MAGA”Donald Trump threatened “Saturday Night Live” and other late-night shows with a federal investigation for poking fun of him, calling it in a Sunday tweet, “one-sided [sic] media coverage.”“It’s truly incredible that shows like Saturday Night Live, not funny/no talent, can spend all of their time knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of ‘the other side.’ Like an advertisement without consequences. Same with Late Night Shows,” the POTUS wrote.“Should Federal Election Commission and/or FCC look into this?” he added in a subsequent tweet. “There must be Collusion with the Democrats and, of course, Russia! Such one-sided [sic] media coverage, most of it Fake News. Hard to believe I won and am winning. Approval Rating 52%, 93% with Republicans. Sorry! MAGA” Also Read: Alec Baldwin’s Latest ‘SNL’ Sketch Has Trump in Another Twitter RantGallup’s last Donald Trump’s Presidential Job Approval Ratings (for March 1-10, 2019) stood at 39 percent, while 57 percent disapprove.“SNL” ran a repeat Saturday of the Christmas 2018 episode in which the cold open — titled “It’s a Wonderful Trump” — had Trump get his wish that he had never become president, and the circle of people around him led happier lives as a result. The president was clearly fired up when that episode originally aired on Dec. 15, tweeting at the time, “It is nothing less than unfair news coverage and Dem commercials. Should be tested in courts, can’t be legal?”Also Read: Alec Baldwin Asks if Trump Twitter Rant ‘Constitutes a Threat’ to His Family’s Safety“Comedy programs are under exactly zero legal obligation to be even-handed in their satire, regardless of whether the butt of their jokes is a political figure,” Law&Crime columnist Elura Nanos wrote Sunday. “Similarly, news programs are legally permitted to be as one-sided as they like. As an agency of the federal government, the FCC must adhere to the limitations set out by the First Amendment — which means that censoring speech based on its political content is as illegal as it gets.”“Saturday Night Live” is a satire show that has mocked every president since Gerald Ford in 1976, along with a number of political figures. President Trump hosted “SNL” on April 2004 and Nov. 7, 2015.Read original story Trump Threatens ‘SNL’ With Federal Investigation Because They Mock Him At TheWrap

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Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t care if his Trump stance costs him fans


Well said.MA

Joseph Wulfsohn, FOX NEWS, 1 day ago

Samuel L. Jackson

© Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t care if supporters of President Trump no longer see his movies.

During an interview with Esquire published this week, the veteran actor trashed the president, referring to him with some unflattering expletives.
“This motherf–ker is like ruining the planet and all kinds of other crazy s–t,” the 70-year-old actor said. “And the people think that’s OK. It’s not f–king OK. And if you’re not saying anything, then you’re complicit.”
When asked if he was worried about antagonizing Trump voters, the “Avengers” star dismissed concerns: “I know how many motherf–kers hate me. ‘I’m never going to see a Sam Jackson movie again.’ F–k I care? If you never went to another movie I did in my life, I’m not going to lose any money. I already cashed that check. F–k you. Burn up my videotapes. I don’t give a f–k.”
Jackson also slammed critics who say he shouldn’t wade into politics and that he should “stick to acting.”
“No, motherf–ker. I’m a human being that feels a certain way. And some of this s–t does affect me, because if we don’t have health care … and my relatives get sick, they’re going to call my rich a–,” Jackson continued. “I want them to have health care. I want them to be able to take care of themselves. This is how I feel. And I count to 100 some days before I hit ‘send,’ because I know how that s–t is.”
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The Academy Award-nominated actor is known for his iconic performances in films like “Pulp Fiction,” “Jurassic Park,“ “Coach Carter” and “Django Unchained.” He has also appeared in numerous film franchises like “Star Wars,” and “The Incredibles,” while also playing Nick Fury in multiple Marvel superhero films. His latest is the box-office smash “Captain Marvel.”

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Trump Encourages Violence From His Supporters. They’re Listening.


Thank you, GOP (or Dupublicans) and “Scamocrats”   for your continued support of misfit leaders in the Senate and the Oval Office. It will not go unnoticed in the next election by people who vote and are affected by your poor performance.MA

Sebastian Murdock
HuffPost•March 15, 2019
President Donald Trump this week issued a thinly veiled threat of violence against his opponents, saying that members of the police, military and biker gangs could “play it tough” if they “reach a certain point.”
It was a disturbing remark, but even more disturbing is the fact that its part of a long history of Trump encouraging his supporters to engage in violence. Largely unchecked by his party’s leadership, Trump’s rhetoric has become normalized despite its real-world ramifications.
“I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of Bikers for Trump,” Trump told Breitbart in the interview, which he later tweeted. “I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.”
“I think it sounds very much to me like he’s encouraging them to engage in something that’s probably illegal such as assaulting people, you know behave in a dangerous way,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) told MSNBC. “That sounds like a threat to me. I think it’s appalling.”

The president later deleted his tweet as news began to trickle in of a mass shooting in New Zealand that left at least 49 worshiping Muslims dead on Friday. While there are no signs that the suspect was a close follower of Trump, he did mention the U.S. president once in his rambling manifesto, calling Trump “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” Trump has previously banned those from majority-Muslim countries from coming into the U.S., keeping families apart under a racist policy.
It’s impossible to ignore how Trump’s continued rhetoric of violence and fear of other ethnicities has inspired his supporters to carry out attacks. Pro-Trump extremists sought to slaughter Somali Muslim immigrants in Kansas before authorities managed to intervene. The men chose their targets after Trump called refugees “the greatest Trojan horse of all time,” according to court testimony.
The case is one of more than a dozen where apparent Trump supporters attacked or plotted to attack Muslims. Acts of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have surged during Trump’s presidency, with more than 150 instances of Trump-related taunts and attacks, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting.
But it’s not just hate speech the president gloms onto when encouraging violence. During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Trump continuously called for his supporters to commit violence against protestors.
“If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you?” Trump said at a 2016 rally in Iowa. “Seriously, OK. Just knock the hell — I promise you I will pay for the legal fees, I promise.”
It worked. Videos taken at Trump rallies show his supporters lobbing punches at protestors.
In 2017, a gaggle of white supremacists committed acts of violence in Charlottesville, leading to the killing of anti-racist protestor Heather Heyer. It should have been a layup for the president to condemn the attack. He defended his racist supporters instead.
“You have people who are very fine people on both sides,” Trump said.
GOP leaders have largely ignored Trump’s repeated calls for violence. After Trump claimed to have the might of the military on his side, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stayed quiet. Sens. McConnell and John Cornyn (R-Texas), along with Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) did not respond to HuffPost’s requests asking if they would condemn Trump’s latest remarks.
As the GOP fails to respond to Trumps’ threats, the violence continues. Last October, pipe bombs were mailed to the political enemies of Trump and to the New York offices of CNN, which Trump has consistently deemed the “enemy of the people.” The Florida suspect in that case drove a van plastered with images of the president, and had told coworkers he “wanted to go back to the Hitler days.”
Just days after authorities caught the pipe bomb suspect, another wave of terror hit when a man went into a Pittsburgh synagogue and killed 11 people. Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers later met with the president to remind him that “hate speech leads to hateful actions.”
The rabbi’s words apparently fell on deaf ears.

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Where Is (B)itch McConnell?


Where the so-called Constitutional leader of the Senate in this “emergency declaration”? The Senate leader(?) is conspicuously absent in the vote on the President’s veto, could it be fear or complicity? Had this been the former President, Bitch would have been all over as would the current seat-filler in the White House. It is apparent that the Senate leader is not the leader he espouses to be in that he does what is safe for his own personal and political well-being. It is my hope that his base is looking at his actions that have damaged them as well as the rest of the country. We have only the hope that Nancy Pelosi with her longtime service can manage an override on this veto. This ill-use of OUR money will certainly follow the path of his ill use of other people’s funds in his business life. As a reminder of our (voters) purpose: Disengage from straight line party rhetoric, disengage from “entertainment news” and above all remember two middle letters in politician is: “LI”.  the rise of TOTUS has brought us down as a Country and will continue unless we stand up now against the actions of ill staffed and managed Administration. Just a reminder this administration has squandered enough of our money to have improved border security several times even though the “crisis” was manufactured by this administration. Bottom line here: phone, email, tweet your representative and ignore “faux news”.

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Trump offers condolences to New Zealand following mosque attacks


Unfortunately, the Administration words ring hollow when one looks at the actions taken against migrants who are seeking a better life. Puerto Rico still in crisis, tax reform hurting many of the lower income people to name a couple. MA
By Betsy Klein, CNN
1 hr ago
President Donald Trump on Friday expressed his condolences to the people of New Zealand following mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch that left at least 49 people dead.
“My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!” Trump tweeted.
The White House also condemned the shootings.
“The United States strongly condemns the attack in Christchurch. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Friday morning.
She continued, “We stand in solidarity with the people of New Zealand and their government against this vicious act of hate.”
National security adviser John Bolton said the US is “very concerned” and is following the events in New Zealand “very closely.”
“We’re obviously greatly disturbed on what seems to be a terror attack, this hate crime in New Zealand. We’ve been in touch with our embassy overnight, we’re still getting details, but the State Department and others are following up on it,” he told reporters Friday morning.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, called the incident a terrorist attack in a Friday press conference, saying the suspects held “extremist views” that have no place in New Zealand or the world.
Forty-one people were killed at the al Noor mosque on Deans Avenue, said Mike Bush, New Zealand’s Police Commissioner. Seven people died at the Linwood mosque on Linwood Avenue, and one person died from their injuries in the hospital.
Bush said four people were taken into custody — three men and one woman. Police do not believe there are any other suspects but said it was still an open investigation. A man in his late 20s has been charged with murder and will appear at the Christchurch court Saturday morning local time, Bush said.
US Ambassador to New Zealand Scott Brown also expressed his condolences and pledged US solidarity.
“We’re heartbroken over the events in Christchurch today. We stand with our Kiwi friends and neighbors and our prayers are with you. Kia Kaha,” Brown tweeted.

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Fact Or Fiction


The trend of the current administration is to pick up the banner of as much fiction as possible to further their failing agenda. It truly fortunate for them that this is the United States and not one of many countries that censor and shutdown information sources they do not agree with. Why is it that this adminstration cannot se the forest for the trees in their policies? MA

Fiction:literature in the form of prose, especially short stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and people.
antonyms:
nonfiction
invention or fabrication as opposed to fact.
synonyms:
fabrication, invention, lies, fibs, concoction, trumped-up story, fake news, alternative fact, untruth, falsehood, fantasy, fancy, illusion, sham, nonsense; More
vulgar slangbullshit;
vulgar slangbulldust
antonyms:
fact, truth
a belief or statement that is false, but that is often held to be true because it is expedient to do so.
“the notion of that country being a democracy is a polite fiction”

The current administration has taken fiction to a new level. Each day new evidence of that emerges from someone in the adminstration or a member of their political party  (or subset). The latest is “Jexodus” as explained below:

Trump promotes model’s fringe ‘Jexodus’ campaign encouraging Jews to leave Democratic Party

Dylan Stableford,  Editor,Yahoo News•March 12, 2019
Trump lauds model’s ‘Jexodus’ campaign encouraging Jews to leave Democratic Party
President Trump on Tuesday kept up his campaign to turn Jewish voters away from the Democratic Party, tweeting support for an organization founded only a week ago called “Jexodus.”
Trump’s tweet quoted its spokesperson, Elizabeth Pipko, a 23-year-old model turned activist and former Trump campaign staffer.
Pipko appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday morning.
“‘Jewish people are leaving the Democratic Party,’” Trump tweeted, quoting Pipko. “‘We saw a lot of anti Israel policies start under the Obama Administration, and it got worse & worse. There is anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party. They don’t care about Israel or the Jewish people.’”
Jexodus.org, a site for “Jewish Millennials tired of living in bondage to leftist politics,” launched earlier this month at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“We reject the hypocrisy, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism of the rising far-left,” a message on the site reads. “Progressives, Democrats, and far too many old-school Jewish organizations take our support for granted. After all, we’re Jewish, and Jews vote for Democrats. Until today.”
American Jews supported Hillary Clinton over Trump by 71-24, the largest margin of any of the denominations (including “unaffiliated”) surveyed by Pew Research and consistent with the results of the last five presidential elections.
“We’re done standing with supposed Jewish leaders and allegedly supportive Democrats who rationalize, mainstream, and promote our enemies,” said a press release announcing the site’s launch. “We’d rather spend forty years wandering in the desert than belong to a party that welcomes Jew-haters like Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”
According to the Daily Wire, Jexodus is the “brainchild” of Jeff Ballabon, a Jewish Republican operative and an adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign.
It’s unclear how many “members” Jexodus has.
According to her bio, Pipko is an “international model, Trump 2016 campaign staffer, poet, patriot, and fiercely proud millennial.” Her official title is “national Jexodus spokesperson.”
“We left Egypt, and now we’re leaving the Democratic Party,” Pipko said on “Fox & Friends” in comments the president omitted from his tweet.
Trump has been sounding this theme since last week, when the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a Democrat-sponsored resolution condemning hate. The resolution was drafted in response to remarks by Omar, a freshman Democratic representative from Minnesota, which critics described as anti-Semitic.
It was subsequently broadened to condemn all forms of bigotry, which Trump described as evidence that “Democrats hate the Jewish people,” according to guests at a Mar-a-Lago dinner, as reported by Axios.
“The Democrats have become an anti-Israel party. They’ve become an anti-Jewish party,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn Friday. “And I thought that vote was a disgrace.”
All the Democrats present in the House voted for the resolution, but so did all but 23 of the Republicans.
At a press briefing Monday, the White House defended Trump’s comments, with press secretary Sarah Sanders sparring with reporters who challenged the president’s assertions.
“The president has been an unwavering and committed ally to Israel and the Jewish people,” Sanders said. “And frankly the remarks that have been made by a number of Democrats and failed to be called out by Democrat leadership is frankly abhorrent and it’s sad and it’s something that should be called by name. It shouldn’t be put in a watered-down resolution.”
Sanders, though, refused to answer when asked whether Trump believes “Democrats hate Jews.”
“I think that’s a question you have to ask Democrats”

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