But Miller defended Pierson Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” after she falsely claimed a day earlier that Barack Obama was president when the United States invaded Afghanistan.

“Katrina is a valuable member of our team,” Miller said. “We’re glad to have her on board. She’s on board pretty early with Mr. Trump. As you heard her say, there was some audio difficulties hearing that question.”



Indeed, Pierson tweeted Saturday afternoon about audio problems, though they weren’t apparent during the segment. Pierson said on air that “Barack Obama went into Afghanistan,” and when given an opportunity to clarify if she meant the invasion happened after 2009, said it was “Obama’s war.”

The U.S. entered Afghanistan shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, while Obama wasn’t sworn in as president until Jan. 20, 2009.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/katrina-pierson-trump-reporters_us_57b1de74e4b07184041204bc?

Hillary Clinton Is Absolutely Kicking Donald Trump's Ass

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/08/hillary-clinton-absolutely-kicking-donald-trumps-ass

Back during convention season I warned that election polls wouldn't really mean much until the middle of August. Well, the middle of August is here! So what are the polls showing us? Here you go:



Hillary Clinton is ahead by a steady 8 points. State polls show that she's ahead in pretty much every battleground state. If this holds up, it would be an epic blowout.

Of course it might not hold up. Then again, it might get even worse for Trump. He could turn out to be worst natural politician since—who? I'm not sure. We've never seen anything like this in an election against a party that's already served two terms and is running on a mediocre economy. Previous blowouts—FDR in 1936, LBJ in 1964, Nixon in 1972, Reagan in 1984—have all been by one-term incumbents running for reelection during years of strong economic growth.

Trump is a man of extremes: the biggest, the richest, the boldest, the most beautiful. Now he's heading for another title: worst presidential candidate of all time. That's quite an achievement.

Rudy Giuliani Claims There Were No Successful Terror Attacks Before Obama, Critics Remind Him About 9/11

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/rudy-giuliani-there-were-no-successful-terror-attacks-before-obama-w434639

“Before Obama came along, we didn’t have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attacks inside the United States. They all started when (Hillary) Clinton and Obama got into office,” Giuliani, 72, said at a Donald Trump campaign event in Ohio on Monday, August 15.



Rudy Giuliani speaks during a campaign event for the 2016 Republican presidential nominee in Youngstown, Ohio, U.S., on Aug 15, 2016. Ty Wright/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Republican politician — who was mayor of New York from 1994 to 2001, including the day when two planes crashed into the Twin Towers and killed more than 3,000 — was heavily criticized on social media for his comment, which seemed as if he momentarily forgot about the largest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

One tweeter wrote, “Disgusted that Rudy Giuliani is so anti-Obama that he is willing to dishonor the memory of those lost during 9/11. He of all people knows better.”

Others argued that the comment was taken out of context since Giuliani had referenced both the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center just seconds before making the apparent gaffe.

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) endorsed Republican candidate Leland Christensen Sunday in his bid for Wyoming’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Christensen is state senator and retired law enforcement officer.

“Wyoming deserves a Congressman who will unequivocally stand up for property rights, a Congressman who lives in Wyoming and will defend the property rights of Wyoming,” said Paul on his Facebook page. “Leland Christensen lives in Wyoming and walks the walk as a proud Westerner. That is why I’ve decided to endorse him for Congress.”

“Sometimes, you just have to go out of your way to take a stand,” Paul said in an email about his endorsement. “There’s a brand of Republican that has had its time and should stay in the past.”

Paul continued, “They spent too much. They loaded us up with trillions in debt from being the world’s policeman. They said, ‘deficits don’t matter,” referring to a 2002 quote from Dick Cheney that rankled many fiscal conservatives. Paul added, “They violated our civil rights and then they laugh at conservatives and lovers of liberty.” Both Dick and Liz Cheney are strong proponents of the Patriot Act and the NSA’s controversial metadata collection program, vocally opposed by Paul and libertarian-leaning House Republicans Justin Amash and Thomas Massie.

http://rare.us/story/rand-paul-endorses-liz-cheneys-primary-opponent-in-u-s-house-race/

MGM Resorts CEO: I’m crossing the aisle to back Clinton

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/08/15/republican-ceo-endorses-clinton-mgm-resorts-international-jim-murren-las-vegas/88726804/?mc_cid=98a2c6bb1c&mc_eid=1fe96b9273



Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, speaks Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2011, at G2E at The Venetian.

As a lifelong registered Republican, I’ve crossed the aisle only a few times in elections past, and almost never at the presidential level. Each time, it was a gut-wrenching decision.

But this year it’s an easy choice. I’m going to put my country ahead of my party by voting for Hillary Clinton — and by making my first-ever public endorsement of a presidential candidate. Here's why.

First, like every CEO I know, I’m in favor of strong economic growth and the policies that generate it. Trade has always been an essential component of any credible pro-growth economic plan. One candidate in the race has pledged to support trade agreements that will boost our economy and benefit American workers, while ensuring that our environment is protected. The other candidate seems determined to needlessly antagonize our allies and trading partners by pledging to tear up NAFTA and other hard-won trade agreements. One candidate works to create stability and certainty, qualities the market loves and rewards. The other operates erratically and unpredictably — qualities the market abhors and punishes.

International trade is central to the U.S. economy, and travel is a major component of America’s exports to the world. In fact, travel is the United States’ No. 1 service export, generating a $98 billion trade surplus last year.

Trump's Kids Are in the Arena. If They Dish It Out, They Have to Learn to Take It, Too.

:large

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/08/trumps-kids-are-arena-if-they-dish-it-out-they-have-learn-take-it-too

He (Bob Woodward) went on to cite a Wednesday column by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who wrote Trump’s children “should be ashamed” of their father for his remark about “Second Amendment people” and called the GOP nominee “a disgusting human being.”

Friedman’s opinion of Trump as “disgusting” is a “reasonable opinion,” Woodward said, but said he couldn’t recall another time in 40 years of covering politics when someone violated the “zone of protection” generally respected for candidates’ children.

“That makes no sense. So, the excess is feeding both sides on this,” he said.

Um, these are "children" in their thirties who are actively part of Trump's campaign—actively lying, actively giving interviews, and actively telling anyone who will listen that Donald will be the best president in history. It so happens that I'd normally give them a pass anyway—I nearly always give family members a pass for supporting their kinfolk—but if you get into the arena, then you're in the arena.

“The Trump campaign has confirmed to Hannity.com that Mr. Trump did indeed send his plane to make two trips from North Carolina to Miami, Florida to transport over 200 Gulf War Marines back home.”
— quote in article titled “200 Stranded Marines Needed A Plane Ride Home, Here’s How Donald Trump Responded,” Sean Hannity Show website, May 19, 2016

It seemed like such a sweet story — Donald Trump sending his personal plane down to Camp Lejeune, N.C., when 200 Marines were stranded after fighting in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. At least that is the story that Sean Hannity of Fox News has touted on his website for several months.



Moreover, take a close look at the photograph. That was not Trump’s private plane at the time. That’s a Boeing 727 jet that was part of a Trump Shuttle fleet — an airline that Trump briefly owned before it was essentially seized by the banks because he failed to make payments on his loans. It had a white fuselage.

Here’s what Trump’s private plane, with a dark fuselage, looked like in 1991:



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/08/11/too-good-to-check-sean-hannitys-tale-of-a-trump-rescue/?tid=sm_fb