Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) described Wednesday the reaction he once witnessed from an unnamed Democratic colleague who picked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during the Senate’s Secret Santa name drawing.

“I’ve had people pick out Cruz’s name and then drop it on the floor. I’ve actually had that happen,” the Minnesota senator said during a town hall discussion with Bob Cusack, editor in chief of The Hill, and Julie Mason, host of "Press Pool” on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel.

The Senate’s Secret Santa aims to spread bipartisan “bonhomie” and good-spirited fun among lawmakers in the upper chamber. Franken said he tries to arrange for Republicans to draw Democrats' names and vice versa.

“Ted is a toxic co-worker. He’s the guy who microwaves fish for lunch,” Franken said about his GOP colleague, adding that Cruz's greatest accomplishment is getting the government to shutdown.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/335822-franken-dem-colleague-dropped-cruzs-name-during-secret-santa-name-drawing#.WS8oGesciNQ.twitter

The Republican National Committee went after MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough Wednesday for his recent opposition to President Donald Trump. Scarborough then turned to attack Trump himself and encouraged him to get a life.

Scarborough’s “Morning Joe” was once a welcoming place to Trump as a candidate but turned hostile as Trump began to infuriate the host. According to The Hill, RNC deputy communications director Michael Reed sent out a statement blaming Scarborough for filling the airwaves with leftist propaganda.

“Once a respected forum for intelligent discourse, the program has turned into 3 hours of far-left hysteria, filled with more faux scandal and innuendo than a bad episode of Gossip Girl,” the statement said.

The statement went on to say that the “Morning Joe” hosts also give Democratic leaders a pass. They cited Wednesday’s interview with Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), noting they didn’t ask the comedian about Kathy Griffin’s recent photo with a headless Trump dummy.

https://twitter.com/JoeNBC/status/869955323649556480

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/joe-scarborough-hilariously-swats-back-rnc-attack-trump-should-stop-obsessing-over-tv-or-get-a-new-job/

Trump Is Launching His Own Subscription Box Service



https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/trump-launching-own-subscription-box-150149504.html

Over the past few years, subscription box services have morphed from simple offerings – say, the old-fashioned cheese-of-the-month club – to every possible product one might theoretically want shipped to them on a monthly basis. You can opt for anything from makeup to snacks, wine to sex toys, crafts to crystals. And now the president is getting in on this business model.

https://twitter.com/betsy_klein/status/869268254744858624

Or so the "unnamed source" claims.



James Comey plans to confirm bombshell allegations against Trump in public testimony: report

An unnamed source is telling CNN that former FBI Director James Comey plans to confirm bombshell reports about his interactions with President Donald Trump during a public testimony that could come as soon as next week.

According to the source, Comey has already spoken with Robert Mueller, who was tapped to act as the special counsel in the Russian probe, about the overall parameters of what he plans to say. No firm date has yet been set for Comey’s testimony, however.

In the weeks since Comey’s firing, reports have emerged that Trump asked Comey to back off the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, that Trump asked Comey to offer him a pledge of loyalty, and that Trump even boasted about firing Comey to Russian government officials as a way to ease pressure from the Russia investigation.

“When he testifies, Comey is unlikely to be willing to discuss in any detail the FBI’s investigation into the charges of possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign,” CNN reports. “But he appears eager to discuss his tense interactions with Trump before his firing, which have now spurred allegations that the president may have tried to obstruct the investigation.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/comey-plans-to-confirm-bombshell-allegations-against-trump-in-public-testimony-report/

The president is reportedly considering a number of staffing changes after his legislative agenda stalled and his administration drowns in the Russia scandal, but experienced Washington hands are reluctant to sign on, reported The Hill.

Trump rejected many GOP veterans for White House jobs because they had criticized him during the campaign or felt they had been insufficiently supportive, but few reputable Republicans want to sign on with the president after seeing the chaotic first months of his administration.

“The talent pool is shrinking, because who wants to sign up for crazy?” said Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

“Nobody wants to step into a situation where you’re flying by the seat of your pants and don’t know whether what you just said will hold up from one news cycle to the next,” he added. “Nobody is going to be lining up for positions with that much uncertainty.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/who-wants-to-sign-up-for-crazy-trump-looks-to-gop-establishment-but-they-want-no-part-of-him/

Blue Velvet (Amazon and Hulu, June 1st)
With Twin Peaks making its triumphant return to the airwaves and Lynchmania at an all-time high, there's no better time to revisit the film most commonly cited as his masterpiece. Everyone's playing a classic type in this slice of rotted-through Americana: Kyle MacLachan is the boy next door with a perverse fascination, Isabella Rosselini is the sad-eyed femme fatale; and Dennis Hopper gave evil a corporeal form as your typical oxygen-huffing, PBR-swilling town sadist. This was the moment that the director did the impossible, i.e. make a critical and commercial hit without sacrificing one molecule of his inimitable Lynchness. Welcome to Lumberton. We hope you like kink and severed ears.

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/10-best-movies-and-tv-shows-to-stream-in-june-w484740

It DIDN'T "humanize" him.

It WASN'T funny.

It was a manifestation of his addled mental state that he tried to write off as a joke, and I'm not Jimmy Fallon, and I'm not going to play with Trump's hair to make him "human."

Trump ‘gaining weight’ and ‘emotionally withdrawing’ as Russia probe swamps White House



http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/trump-gaining-weight-and-emotionally-withdrawing-as-russia-probe-swamps-white-house-report/

Donald Trump is “emotionally withdrawing” and gaining weight as the FBI investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and the Russian government creeps closer to the Oval Office.

As he returns from his mercurial trip abroad, the president is forced to deal with the fallout from news that members of his inner circle, including son-in-law and “Secretary of Everything” Jared Kushner is a person of interest in the FBI probe.

CNN’s Gloria Borger reports the president was already “in a pretty glum mood” when he set out for a multi-day blitz through Europe and the Middle East. But now he faces even more legal woes after reports revealed Kushner tried to establish a backchannel line of communication between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin. He’s even brought on his longtime personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz, who will “supervise” the president’ legal team.

One source told Borger Trump’s major misstep was firing former FBI Director James Comey, which ultimately resulted int he appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.

https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/869618701112401920

THE CONTEXT:

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/white-house-issues-bizarre-statement-touting-trumps-magnetic-personality-that-exudes-positive-energy/

The absence of communications director Michael Dubke might already be impacting the White House because the statements coming out of the press office seem a little off. In fact, some online critics are mocking a newly released statement as a “parody” that looks like something President Donald Trump would write himself.

“President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him,” the statement from White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks reads. “He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people, whether he is speaking to a room of three or an arena of 30,000. He has built great relationships throughout his life and treats everyone with respect. He is brilliant with a great sense of humor … and an amazing ability to make people feel special and aspire to be more than even they thought possible.”

The statement came in response to a Washington Post report on Trump’s tendency of attacking his own staff with insults. The Post noted that the flagrant use of complimentary adjectives to heap praise upon her boss weren’t what stood out. Rather, the abrupt rejection of everything Trump once stood for stuck them as strange.

The Post’s Callum Borchers claimed that saying Trump “exudes positive energy” contradicts Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan, which presupposes America is not great currently.

Blast from the past:



Today's story:

Trump’s Personal Attorney Michael Cohen Under Investigation In Russia Probe
The House and Senate intelligence committees requested “information and testimony,” but Cohen chose not to comply.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-cohen-trump-attorney-russia_us_592da259e4b0df57cbfdb3db?v13&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

President Donald Trump’s personal attorney is under investigation as part of the congressional probes into ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia, NBC and ABC reported Tuesday.

Michael Cohen, who has been a close adviser to Trump for years and was a campaign surrogate, confirmed to both outlets that the House and Senate intelligence committees requested “information and testimony” from him, but he chose not to comply.

“I declined the invitation to participate, as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered,” he said in an email to ABC News.



The addition of Cohen to the expanding network of Trump advisers under investigation is just the latest in the mounting scandal facing the administration. Trump has decried reports that his administration colluded with Russia in last year’s election as “fake news,” even as new reports suggest he may have tried to obstruct justice and shut down the investigation into the issue.