Source: USAToday

A Trump aide has taken responsibility for the controversy over Melania Trump’s speech, saying she offered to resign but Trump rejected it.

In a statement released by the Trump campaign, in-house staff writer Meredith McIver said it “was my mistake.”

"In working with Melania Trump on her recent First Lady speech, we discussed many people who inspired her and messages she wanted to share with the American people. A person she has always liked is Michele Obama. Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama’s speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech. I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches. This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/07/20/trump-aide-takes-responsibility-melania-speech/87340850/

Source: NYT

The speechwriters, Matthew Scully and John McConnell, sent Ms. Trump a draft last month, eager for her approval.

Weeks went by. They heard nothing.

Inside Trump Tower, it turned out, Ms. Trump had decided she was uncomfortable with the text, and began tearing it apart, leaving a small fraction of the original.

Her quiet plan to wrest the speech away and make it her own set in motion the most embarrassing moment of the convention: word-for-word repetition of phrases and borrowed themes from Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention eight years ago.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/melania-trump-convention-speech.html?_r=0

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Guilty!

The Presidential candidate of one of our two major political parties

(1) says repeatedly that the sitting President of the United States of America was born in Africa and is not a U.S. citizen

(2) attacks a federal court before which he has business, calling the federal judge "a Mexican" who cannot administer a fair trial

(3) reveals publicly that as President, he would default on the debts of the United States

(4) incites his supporters to commit violence against his opponents repeatedly, and offers to pay any legal expenses they incur thereby

(5) declares that on becoming President, he will institute torture and extra-judicial killing of prisoners as his executive policies

(6) promises to employ a program of U.S. government reprisal killing of women and children who are relatives of alleged offenders,



and (7) seven out of (8) eight Supreme Court justices remain silent.

Senator Professor Doctor Warren is live on c-span2 from the Well of the Senate.

Just sayin'.

Source: 9news.com.au

Eyebrows have been raised after former US President George W. Bush swayed and danced a merry jig onstage during a memorial service for five Dallas police officers killed last week.

Bush seemed out of tune with the gathering, smiling broadly and rocking back and forth while a choir sang The Battle Hymn of the Republic, a popular US patriotic anthem.

The former president held hands with wife Barbara and first lady Michelle Obama in a line of otherwise solemn mourners, and both appeared unsettled and uncomfortable by Bush's behaviour.

Predictably, Twitter users were quick to question what Bush was up to, and whether his behaviour was inappropriate.


Read more: http://www.9news.com.au/world/2016/07/13/09/40/george-w-bush-jigs-onstage-while-solemn-mourners-grieve-five-fallen-dallas-cops

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Meds can be hard to adjust.

. . . or is it early onset dementia?

http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4610436/finale-battle-hymn-republic

It would be irresponsible not to speculate.


(1 minute clip)

By Sara Jerde, Published July 6, 2016, 6:23 PM EDT

Eric Trump reportedly called up The Washington Post on Wednesday to profanely rant at the reporter spearheading coverage of the charitable contributions made (or not made) by his father, Donald Trump.

But the younger Trump didn't offer any evidence of those donations.

"I’m just saying, Jesus Christ, why is this guy trying to f---ing kill us?" Trump allegedly told the Post's David A. Fahrenthold.

Fahrenthold had meticulously tried to find corroboration for Donald Trump's claims of generous charitable giving, contacting 200 charities associated with the businessman. The reporter found only one charity that received a donation, in the amount of less than $10,000.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/eric-trump-rants-donald-donations


(my bold)