Bill USA
Bill USA's JournalOur Dishonest President: L.A. Times editorial eviscerates Trump
https://www.yahoo.com/news/our-dishonest-president-l-a-times-editorial-eviscerates-trump-195956411.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=twSince Donald Trump began his stunning ascent from real estate mogul and reality television star to wall-building, Muslim-ban-promising Republican candidate to GOP nominee to president, there have been plenty of piercing editorials about him and his policies.
But perhaps none have been as scathing as the one published Sunday by the Los Angeles Times.
It was no secret during the campaign that Donald Trump was a narcissist and a demagogue who used fear and dishonesty to appeal to the worst in American voters, the Times editorial board wrote in the first of a four-part op-ed titled Our Dishonest President.
In September, the same editorial board called Trump unqualified and unsuited to be president and said his election would be catastrophic for the nation.
Still, nothing prepared us for the magnitude of this train wreck, the paper said Sunday.
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GOP congressman threatens constituent at town hall: Maam, if you yell one more time like that
http://shareblue.com/republican-congressman-threatens-constituent-at-townhall-maam-if-you-keep-yelling-like-that/Its becoming a trend. Earlier this month, in response to being called out by angry constituents during a town hall meeting, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) yelled at one of them to shut up.
This time, things got ugly in a hurry for Rep. Andy Harriss (R-MD) town hall meeting at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, Maryland.
As the Freedom Caucus member presented a Power Point presentation on his views about health care, the crowd booed and jeered him loudly.
At one point, Rep. Harris threatened a woman in the audience, telling her hed have her thrown out if she didnt stop yelling:
https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/847950910055743488
The crowd was having none of it, as John Fritze of the Baltimore Sun reported:
[div style="border:1px solid #000000;padding:10px;class="excerpt"]
John Fritze ✔ @jfritze
Rep. Andy Harris to woman in front row of rows hall on Eastern Shore: "If you yell one more time like that..." Crowd goes ballistic.
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The Clown King Wants to Gut Protections for Bank Customers. Here's How to Fight Back - MJ
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/public-banking-community-private-banks-wall-street-oakland-philadelphia-santa-fe
With Wall Street as greedy as it ever was, and the Trump administration seeking to ditch banking restrictions enacted in 2008 to protect the little people, a handful of cities are considering a do-it-yourself alternative: Public banking is just what it sounds likefinancial institutions owned and operated by a government entity. Officials in Philadelphia and Oakland, California, are taking a hard look at the idea, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, has done a feasibility study that concluded a city-run bank would benefit the community, socially and economically. If done right, the report found, the bank would create a "robust local lending climate" and bring in millions of dollars per year in revenue.
From 1910 to 1966, Americans could deposit and borrow small sums at US post offices.
There are already successful public banks in France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. There's even a robust American model: North Dakota has had a state-run bank for nearly a century. Although created by socialists, the Bank of North Dakota retains ironclad support among the red state's residents, many of whom credit it for helping North Dakota weather the 2008 financial crisis. Moreover, from 1910 to 1966, US post offices operated as de facto public banks where people could deposit and borrow small sums.
Leading the push in Oakland are progressive City Council members Rebecca Kaplan and Dan Kalb. "Public banking can give us a bank that is more responsive to the needs of the community," Kaplan told me, "rather than prioritizing the needs of shareholders who don't live in our community or the needs of corporate profit."
Kaplan says there are two key reasons Oakland should pursue public banking. The first is that it can help low-income peopleand especially people of color who may face discrimination at corporate bankssecure loans at a fair rate. "Oakland has long suffered from redlining," Kaplan points out, and for-profit institutions can't necessarily be trusted to refrain from discriminatory tactics.
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New Poll Shows Trumps Base Eroding, Approval Rating Sliding, as 60 Percent Find Him Dishonest
"cares about average Americans": 57% "NO"http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/03/22/new_quinnipiac_poll_shows_trump_s_numbers_sliding_60_percent_find_him_dishonest.html
Inside the numbers, Trumps support is eroding among Republicansdropping 10 pointsand his support among white voters and mentwo demographics whose support was crucial to his election winhas also dipped. Trumps personal characteristics are also proving to be deeply unpopular. According to Quinnipiacs nationwide survey conducted March 1621, some 60 percent of Americans think the president is not honest and does not share their values; 66 percent believe he is not level-headed; and 57 percent say President Trump does not share their values.
The majority of Americans also disapprove of how Trump is handling the major issues facing the country.
Only 19 percent of Americans believe that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the election, according to the survey.
Yes, Fake News Exists On The Left -- But It's Being Overblown - MM
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/02/09/yes-fake-news-exists-left-its-being-overblown/215273The weaponized fake news stories that have emerged of late are certainly not confined to just one end of the political spectrum and are dangerous to political discourse regardless of partisan tilt. But a recent spate of articles trumpeting the so-called rise of progressive fake news omits the context necessary to understanding why the right-wing fake news ecosystem is so uniquely destructive, and in doing so collapses the collective understanding of fake news into a trite and distracting argument about both sides.
During the presidential campaign, fake news purveyors -- by and large right-wing, hyperpartisan fringe websites -- unleashed a blizzard of politically motivated lies packaged as legitimate news largely designed to undermine Hillary Clinton and boost Donald Trump. The onslaught of fabrications was effective: Fake news stories outperformed real ones on Facebook in the final campaign stretch, and most Americans who saw fake news during the election believed it.
But as it becomes clearer how and why right-wing fake news stories proliferated and succeeded, media outlets are now beginning to document an ostensible uptick in fake news with a distinctly liberal bent, as The Guardians Sam Levin describes it, and to compare it to the flood of conservative fake news stories shared during the election.
The Atlantics Robinson Meyer similarly writes that progressives have recently embraced fake news just like conservative Facebook users [shared] stories that had nothing to do with reality during the election, in what Meyer calls a funny reversal of the situation from November. And a BuzzFeed article claims that progressive alarm, paranoia, and genuine outrage are ushering in an increase in the lefts own distinct brand of the online phenomenon known as fake news.
Some examples these outlets point to indeed fit the mold of weaponized fake news and are cause for concern. There are also other recent cases of unsubstantiated claims rocketing through the liberal blogosphere. Yes, fake news-purveying websites that cater to progressive audiences do exist and do, as BuzzFeed contends, undermin(e) legitimate causes for outrage on the left.
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Mike Pence just cast tie-breaking vote to gut family planning
[font size="3"]Thanks to a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence, the Senate just moved to roll back an Obama administration rule which provided family planning organizations like Planned Parenthood with protection from discrimination under Title X. This would be devastating to women and families, especially those living under conservative state governments. The final vote will come soon.[/font]
http://shareblue.com/mike-pence-just-cast-tie-breaking-vote-to-gut-family-planning/
Womens health and family planning capabilities are once again being targeted by Republicans, as the Senate just voted to roll back crucial protections, put in place by President Obama, that shielded organizations like Planned Parenthood from discrimination in funding by state governments.
And Vice President Mike Pence was all too happy to help them do it:
[div style="border:1px solid #000000;padding:10px;" class="excerpt"] Steven Dennis ✔ @StevenTDennis
Smiling VP Mike Pence just cast tie-breaking vote on bill allowing states to block public-health grants to Planned Parenthood.
11:37 AM - 30 Mar 2017 · Washington, DC
Enacted in 1970 notably with bipartisan support Title X is a critical program which provides federal funds to non-profit organizations which offer family planning services and information. According to Guttmacher, for 40 percent of people who receive care at Title X clinics, it is their only source of health care especially low-income, uninsured, or underinsured people, and for those living in rural communities with limited access to health care options.
Title X clinics are a critical source of preventive sexual health services such as STI testing and treatment, gynecological exams, contraception education, and cancer screenings. In 2016 alone, these clinics provided such services to approximately 4 million women and men at nearly 4,000 health centers around the country.
In December 2016, in the remaining weeks of his presidency, the Obama administration issued a new rule to bar states from withholding federal family-planning funds from Planned Parenthood affiliates and other health clinics that provide abortions. The regulation was intended to protect people in states with conservative governments which have long held organizations like Planned Parenthood squarely in their sights for defunding and other attacks.
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Sean Spicer completely goes to pieces when asked if Trump ordered Nunes cover-up
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White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tried to avoid answering questions about the White House's involvement in House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes' (R-CA) investigation, but reporters refused to let him off the hook.[/font]
http://shareblue.com/sean-spicer-completely-goes-to-pieces-when-asked-if-trump-ordered-nunes-cover-up/
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer spent the better part of the week trying to sell the absurd lie that he did not know who walked House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) into the White House to be fed information that he used to defend Donald Trump. Eventually, Spicer abandoned that lie and said he is just not going to talk about process anymore, but a pair of new and promising threads emerged in its wake.
Spicer is not incapable of delivering an emphatic response, but he waffled when asked a pair of new questions involving the Nunes cover-up.
First, and most glaringly, Spicer completely fell apart when NBC News Kristen Welker asked him if Trump had directed White House officials to feed Nunes classified information:
https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/847578235990716417
WELKER: Thanks, Sean. Did the President direct anyone in this White House or in his national security team to try to find information or intelligence to back up his assertion about wiretapping?
SPICER: I dont Im not aware of anything directly. Id have to look into that in terms of again, theres two sides to this. One is the information side, and two is the policy and the activities and the legal piece of what happened. And I dont those are big buckets, if you will.
WELKER: So its possible.
SPICER: Im not going to comment on it.
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Trump Russia dossier key claim verified
The "key claim" that has been verified is Steele's claim that Kalugin, of the Russian embassy, formally designated an economist, was a spy.
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"But on this vitally important point - Kalugin's status as a "spy under diplomatic cover" - people who saw the intelligence agree with the dossier, adding weight to Steele's other claims. "[/font]
This is a fairly long article and an excerpt can't do it justice.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39435786
In light of his earlier work, the US intelligence community saw him (Steele) as "credible" (their highest praise).
The FBI thought the same; they had worked with Steele going back to his days in MI6.
~~
~~
{the article states that Steele come to the U.S. and was debriefed by the FBI}
But the CIA never interviewed him, and never sought to.
This comes from several people who are in a position to know.
They are alarmed at how the investigation is going, and worry it is being fumbled.
{the article did not put 'fumbled' in quotes, --- I think it should be. The FBI is investigating it. THe CIA is apparently not involved in this investigation even though they have expertise/knowledge of people, activities outsid the U.S. which the FBI most definitely does NOT. Then there's Comey._Bill USA}
Intel hearing: Cyber Expert "Commander-in-Chief used Russian active measures..against his opponents"
[font size="3"]In testimony at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings on Russia's attempt to interfere in the 2016 election, cyber expert Clint Watts testified that Trump "used Russian active measures" against his political opponents over the course of the campaign.[/font]
Intel hearing bombshell: Cyber expert says Commander-in-Chief used Russian active measures
against his opponents
In testimony at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings on Russia's attempt to interfere in the 2016 election, cyber expert Clint Watts testified that Trump "used Russian active measures" against his political opponents over the course of the campaign.
Oliver Willis | Shareblue
Cyber expert Clint Watts, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee as it investigates Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, told the panel that Donald Trump used Russian active measures against his opponents during the campaign.
Watts is currently a Robert Fox Fellow for the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University. He served as a U.S. Army infantry officer, a FBI Special Agent on a Joint Terrorism Task Force, and as a consultant to the FBIs Counter Terrorism Division and National Security Branch.
Active measures, or aktivniye meropriyatiya, is a Russian technique dating back to the days of the KGB and the Cold War of dispensing disinformation and propaganda in order to influence events within another country, particularly the United States.
link to Clint Watts' testimony before the House Intelligence committee
[blockquote style="border:solid 1px #000000;padding: 11px;"] WATTS: "The answer is very simple and its what nobody is really saying in this room. Which is, part of the reason active measures have worked in this U.S. election is because the Commander-in-Chief has used Russian active measures at time, against his opponents. On 14 August 2016, his campaign chairman, after a debunked
LANKFORD: When you say his, whos his?
WATTS: Paul Manafort
LANKFORD: Okay.
WATTS: cited the fake Incirlik story as a terrorist attack on CNN, and he used it as a talking point. On 11 October, President Trump stood on a stage and cited a what appears to be a fake news story from Sputnik News that disappeared from the Internet. He denies the intel from the United States about Russia. He claims that the election could be rigged. That was the number one theme pushed by RT, Sputnik News, white outlets, all the way up until the election. Hes made claims of voter fraud, that President Obamas not a citizen, that, you know, Congressman Cruz is not a citizen.
So, part of the reason active measures works, and it does today in terms of Trump Tower being wiretapped is because they parrot the same line."
The investigation is proceeding despite Republican attempts at sabotage, and the evidence of Russian meddling, while also in contact with the Trump team continues to pile up. It is vital for Americans to know what happened to their election, and what Donald Trumps role in Vladimir Putins attack was.
Devin Nunes's wiretapping claims came from his former lawyer and a 30-year-old Trump aide - Vox.com
http://www.vox.com/world/2017/3/30/15126072/devin-nunes-source-white-houseOne of the biggest mysteries in the strange case of Rep. Devin Nunes, the House Intelligence Committee chair whos trying and failing to substantiate President Trumps wiretapping claims, may have just have been solved.
In a bombshell report Thursday, the New York Times named the sources who provided Nunes with classified intelligence reports purportedly validating some of Trumps wiretapping claims and both of them are Trump administration political appointees working directly in the White House complex.
That means Nunes the lawmaker charged with leading an investigation into the administrations unfounded wiretapping allegations used information he received from the Trump White House itself to publicly try to deflect blame from Trump. It also means Nunes was misleading the American public when he said his sources were whistleblowers, and that he went to the White House compound because it was the only secure place to review classified information. (This is not true: Capitol Hill has secure facilities for just this reason.)
Instead, we now know Nuness sources, and theyre far from disinterested parties. They are Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the National Security Councils senior director for intelligence, and Michael Ellis, a White House counsel attorney who, prior to the Trump administration, worked for Nunes. Cohen-Watnick uncovered the raw intelligence, according to the Times, and Ellis briefed Nunes on it directly.
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