Topic: Typhoid Trump: the not-smart, corrupt, coward, loser, thread

[Red Beret]

The cracks are widening.  Trump's got a lot of chickens coming home to roost.  He's on the phone every day to McConnell, threatening to throw GOP Senators to his wolf-like base if they don't back him publicly, but we're just not seeing much of a response.  Good stuff.

[Machae]

Trump lost his appeal and now must release 8 years worth of tax returns. I guess itll go up to Supreme court and hell get off

[John C]

The cracks are widening.  Trump's got a lot of chickens coming home to roost.  He's on the phone every day to McConnell, threatening to throw GOP Senators to his wolf-like base if they don't back him publicly, but we're just not seeing much of a response.  Good stuff.

You're right P, after such an infuriating and frustrating 3 years we may be on the brink. One more push from the we don't know what we don't know aspect of his actions exposing this entire disaster again may just make Republicans squeal and revolt.

Fucking hell, I know money talks, opulence and fame creates ignorance, but how the fuck do the families of every GOP member tolerate such vile spinelessness. It's bewildering how ethics and decency has disintegrated so much in America. Did everyone miss those old practically propaganda programmes of be nice to everyone?

[ShakaHislop]

Trump lost his appeal and now must release 8 years worth of tax returns. I guess itll go up to Supreme court and hell get off

Trump loses appeal to stop House subpoena of his tax documents

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump on Friday lost his appeal to stop a House subpoena of his tax documents from his longtime accountant Mazars USA.

In a 2-1 ruling, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a lower court ruling saying the firm must turn over eight years of accounting records.

The opinion is a strong signal that the White House's letter earlier this week refusing to cooperate with the impeachment probe without a full House vote authorizing it would not hold up in court.

The court specifically weighed in on this idea, writing it has "no authority" to require the House to take a full vote in support of a subpoena to investigate the President, citing the Constitution.

"The courts lack the power to invalidate a duly authorized congressional subpoena merely because it might have been 'better [if]...the full House' had specifically authorized or issued it," the court wrote. "Unless and until Congress adopts a rule that offends the Constitution, the courts get no vote in how each chamber chooses to run its internal affairs."

It's the first major case at the appeals court level in the ongoing standoff between the House and Trump. The President has lost all of his challenges so far that have been decided at the trial court level to stop House subpoenas.

Trump may appeal to the Supreme Court to stop Mazars, but courts, including the Supreme Court, previously have refused to curtail Congress' subpoena power.

"We are reviewing the opinion and evaluating all appellate options," said Trump attorney Jay Sekulow.

In a statement, the accounting firm wrote: Mazars USA will respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations. We believe strongly in the ethical and professional rules and regulations that govern our industry, our work and our client interactions. As a matter of firm policy and professional rules we do not comment on the work we conduct for our clients."

Trump will have seven days to ask for another appeal on the decision endorsing the House's subpoena of his tax documents.

Judges David Tatel, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, wrote the majority opinion, joined by Judge Patricia Millett, an appointee of President Barack Obama. Trump appointee Judge Neomi Rao dissented.

The appeals court broadly supported the House's power to subpoena information about Trump as it investigates him and considers laws in response, calling the subpoena "valid and enforceable."

"A congressional committee, as committees have done repeatedly over the past two centuries, issued an investigative subpoena, and the target of that subpoena, questioning the committee's legislative purpose, has asked a court to invalidate it," the majority opinion states.

"The fact that the subpoena in this case seeks information that concerns the President of the United States adds a twist, but not a surprising one."

Though the court's decision was split, the case is widely considered to be a tough one for Trump, even with support from the Justice Department.

"We detect no inherent constitutional flaw in laws requiring presidents to publicly disclose certain financial information. And that is enough," the opinion states.

The documents the House seeks are relevant to the investigation, the majority said.

"Just as a congressional committee could not subpoena the President's high school transcripts in service of an investigation into K-12 education, nor subpoena his medical records as part of an investigation into public health, it may not subpoena his financial information except to facilitate an investigation into presidential finances" the majority opinion states.

In her dissent, Rao adopts the argument from Trump and House Republicans that the efforts to get Trump's personal documents cannot be done simply under Congress's investigative power.

"The Constitution and our historical practice draw a consistent line between the legislative and judicial powers of Congress. The majority crosses this boundary for the first time by upholding this subpoena investigating the illegal conduct of the President under the legislative power," Rao wrote.

"Investigations of impeachable offenses simply are not, and never have been, within Congress's legislative power," Rao said. "Throughout our history, Congress, the President, and the courts have insisted upon maintaining the separation between the legislative and impeachment powers of the House and recognized the gravity and accountability that follow impeachment."

Rao added: "Allowing the Committee to issue this subpoena for legislative purposes would turn Congress into a roving inquisition over a co-equal branch of government."

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/11/politics/trump-mazars-appeal-decision/index.html

[Red Beret]

How do you separate impeachment and legislative powers? There's only ever been three impeachments!  How else do you investigate impeachable offences??

[Giono]

The cracks are widening.  Trump's got a lot of chickens coming home to roost.  He's on the phone every day to McConnell, threatening to throw GOP Senators to his wolf-like base if they don't back him publicly, but we're just not seeing much of a response.  Good stuff.

He has cultured the base continually to protect him from GOP senators. Not to win an election.

[Red Beret]

He has cultured the base continually to protect him from GOP senators. Not to win an election.

I think its only a matter of time before senators start to break ranks. He's a fight on his hands just to make the election.

[Giono]

You're right P, after such an infuriating and frustrating 3 years we may be on the brink. One more push from the we don't know what we don't know aspect of his actions exposing this entire disaster again may just make Republicans squeal and revolt.

Fucking hell, I know money talks, opulence and fame creates ignorance, but how the fuck do the families of every GOP member tolerate such vile spinelessness. It's bewildering how ethics and decency has disintegrated so much in America. Did everyone miss those old practically propaganda programmes of be nice to everyone?

Those politicians will get an earful when they do decide to hold townhalls in their states/directs. They'll also have some very uncomfortable thanksgiving dinners.

Actually, riotous townhalls could give them the out to actually turn on Trump. 

[Giono]

I think its only a matter of time before senators start to break ranks. He's a fight on his hands just to make the election.

They are weighing getting primaried vs general election success I figure. Fear of a Trumpster fire primary challenge is motivating them now. But when it is clear he is going to sink them in the general, they'll turn on him eventually.


If it looks like the GOP will lose the house and the Presidency, they'll want to salvage the senate.

[rafathegaffa83]

Rudy Giuliani is the "Oh Crap!" guy from The Simpsons brought to life

Mr. Giuliani said that federal prosecutors had no grounds to charge him with foreign lobbying disclosure violations because he said he was acting on behalf of Mr. Trump, not the Ukrainian prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, when he collected the information on Ms. Yovanovitch and the others and relayed it to the American government and the news media.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/us/politics/rudy-giuliani-investigation.html

[Chakan]

“I was just following orders”

[demain]

If it looks like the GOP will lose the house and the Presidency, they'll want to salvage the senate.

I think it's too late for them to salvage anything, they will be exposed as the most spineless possible turncoats by most of their current members if they choose to betray Trump at the last minute. The more reasonable conservatives have already left the party, and they won't be returning just because a few senators shamelessly try to save their own skins.

The only way they win is if they continue to shamelessly back the president and pray that the economy stays reasonably robust going into the election. It's an all or nothing strategy, but any compromise or volte face will see them getting roundly thrashed regardless. It's the old prisoner's dilemma in a nutshell.

[Red Beret]

If it looks like the GOP will lose the house and the Presidency, they'll want to salvage the senate.

Primaries don't conclude for six months and they're defending 20 Senate seats. They've already lost. It's just a question of how bad it gets.

Now the starting gun's been fired on impeachment I'm not sure they can sit on the fence much longer. A bunch of Trump loving loons might walk into the chamber in 2021, just in time to see him booted out; and then they might follow him.in 2024.

[Groundskeeper Willie]

It's a thing of beauty to see Trump, Pence, Pompeo and the likes squirm like worms on s hook.

Pence trying to answer the question if he was awarr of Trump's request to Zelensky was particularly beautiful. Ultimately his response was "That's YOUR question."

I recommend you watch it if you haven't.

[Red Beret]

Just want to add, the staffers, diplomats and intelligence officers are taking the decision out of the GOP's hands.  They're answering subpoenas and looking to save themselves,  whereas the elected officials are struggling to defend the indefensible.

They'll break at some point.

[jambutty]

POLITICO
Indicted Giuliani associate attended private ‘16 election night party for ‘friend’ Trump
 By Darren Samuelsohn and Ben Schreckinger
11 hrs ago

Donald Trump tried to distance himself from the latest scandal that threatens his presidency on Thursday by saying he didn’t know either of the foreign-born Rudy Giuliani associates that his own Justice Department had just indicted for alleged campaign finance violations.

But that’s not what one of the men said three years ago — while attending Trump’s invite-only 2016 election night party in New York.

In fact, Lev Parnas described himself to a foreign correspondent at the cash-bar event in midtown Manhattan as a friend of the president-elect who didn’t live far from his south Florida winter home.

Parnas arrived at Trump’s November 2016 election night party, which was held in a ballroom at the Midtown Hilton, with two other men in suits and their heavily made-up wives, according to a forgotten but newly relevant dispatch from the event published at the time in Le Figaro, France’s oldest daily newspaper.

The Ukrainian-born businessman told the paper that a friend from his hometown of Boca Raton, Florida, had hosted several fundraising events for Trump and that his daughter had traveled around the state singing on the candidate’s behalf. It is not clear what friend Parnas was referring to.

“We are confident,” Parnas, told the newspaper, “America wants a change.” The newspaper described Parnas as an insurer. (Parnas co-founded a company, Fraud Guarantee, that at some point retained Giuliani as a lawyer.)

The new detail connecting Trump and Parnas at the same election night party in November 2016 raises fresh questions about the president’s insistence that he doesn’t know the Ukrainian-born businessman. It comes amid a rapidly unspooling investigation that appears headed for a House vote to impeach the president. On Thursday, Democrats probing Trump’s outreach to Ukrainian officials seeking an investigation into his political opponents sent subpoenas to both Parnas and his Florida-based partner, Igor Fruman, just hours after DOJ unsealed its indictments against the two businessmen.

John Dowd, who represents both men, also confirmed in a letter to Congress earlier this week that his clients were assisting Giuliani “in connection with his representation of President Trump” -- a partnership that the former New York mayor openly said was about pressing for help in Kiev that would undercut the 2020 Democratic front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Back in 2016, Hillary Clinton’s thousands-strong extravaganza at the Javits Center on election night drew a sharp contrast with Trump’s election night event, which was relatively cozy and with die-hard supporters barely outnumbering the throngs of media on hand.

Giuliani attended the same party, as did Felix Sater, a former executive at the Trump Organization who had a double life as a convicted criminal and a high-level cooperator for the CIA. Sater, who told POLITICO earlier this month that he knows Parnas, said Friday that he did not interact with him at the party.

Giuliani, who is reportedly facing investigative scrutiny himself for his dealings with Parnas and Fruman did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump on Thursday tried to distance himself from Parnas and his business partner. “I don’t know those gentleman,” the president told reporters before boarding Marine One en route to a campaign rally in Minneapolis. “Maybe they were clients of Rudy. You’d have to ask Rudy.”

Parnas posted a photo of himself with Trump at the White House on May 1, 2018, with a caption describing an “incredible dinner and even better conversation,” according to a screenshot captured by The Campaign Legal Center. Another picture Parnas posted from May 21, 2018 shows him with Fruman and Donald Trump Jr. in Beverly Hills, with the capiton “Power Breakfast!!!”

Trump dismissed the photos “because I have a picture with everybody.”

The White House hasn’t explained why Parnas and Fruman were meeting with the president; a spokesman referred questions about the event to the Trump campaign, and Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Those involved in planning Trump’s election-night party portrayed a chaotic organizing system, with no centralized guest list or system for inviting attendees.

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, the spokesman for the Republican National Committee at the time, recalled, “I think up until the wee hours of the morning it was not a tough ticket. Put it that way. I just remember bringing people in there with me. It was not the most challenging event to get into.”

Jason Miller, who worked as communications director for the 2016 campaign, said he was unaware of Parnas’s presence at the event. “I was with the president up on stage that night,” he told POLITICO. “I was not mingling with attendees early in the evening.”

Parnas, 47, was arrested Wednesday night along with Fruman while trying to leave the country and indicted over alleged schemes to purchase political influence on behalf of foreigners.

Dowd, the lawyer, said he did not know about his client’s presence at the November 2016 Trump party. Asked if he could check with Parnas about it, Dowd responded, via text message, “He is in the slammer. Get real.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/indicted-giuliani-associate-attended-private-16-election-night-party-for-friend-trump/ar-AAIEb1A?ocid=spartandhp


Love Spicer's comments

[jambutty]

Yahoo! Sports
President Donald Trump returns fire in feud with Warriors coach Steve Kerr, misspells 'choked'
 Jack Baer
3 hrs ago

In the feud that everybody could see coming, President Donald Trump has responded to Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s response to Trump’s response to Kerr’s non-response on the NBA’s ongoing China controversy.

The president fired off a tweet late Friday night mocking the coach as “weak and pathetic,” saying he “chocked (sic)” in his response and shutting down any offer of a White House visit that Kerr’s Warriors never signaled they would accept.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
So funny to watch Steve Kerr grovel and pander when asked a simple question about China. He chocked, and looks weak and pathetic. Don’t want him at the White House!

The president has been eager to jump on any chance to deride NBA figures like Kerr or San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, both frequent critics of his administration, for a relatively timid response to the controversy generated by a pro-Hong Kong tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

The NBA, a league where basically every player and organization has seen an income boost thanks to the league’s popularity in China, was initially quick to criticize Morey’s tweet — which simply read "Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong." — as “deeply” offensive to the country’s fans.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have criticized the NBA’s response as yielding to an authoritarian country on a human rights issue.

Among individual responses, Kerr’s was notable given that a normally outspoken coach basically gave only an extended “no comment.” The Warriors are one of the most — if not the single most — popular teams in China, and any pro-Hong Kong statement from the coach would have likely seen a response to similar to that of Morey’s tweet.

Trump has happily criticized NBA despite own reported promise to China
Trump, who reportedly promised Chinese president Xi Jinping that his administration would remain silent on Hong Kong, attacked Kerr’s statement as “scared” and “like a little boy.” Since the beginning of the Hong Kong protests, Trump has been only laudatory of Xinping’s handling of the matter.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
If President Xi would meet directly and personally with the protesters, there would be a happy and enlightened ending to the Hong Kong problem. I have no doubt! https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1161774305895694336 …

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
I know President Xi of China very well. He is a great leader who very much has the respect of his people. He is also a good man in a “tough business.” I have ZERO doubt that if President Xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it. Personal meeting?

An unfazed Kerr said Thursday that he was only a “shiny object” for Trump to chase.

“There’s another one today, there’ll be a new one tomorrow. The circus will go on,” Kerr said.

Trump still chose to stick with Kerr on Friday as he also deals with the ongoing House impeachment inquiry over his involvement into a political investigation of the son of Joe Biden and the widely criticized decision to pull U.S. forces from northern Syria at the request of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, leaving Kurdish allies — and one U.S. military outpost — exposed to an attack from Turkish forces.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/president-donald-trump-returns-fire-in-feud-with-warriors-coach-steve-kerr-misspells-choked/ar-AAIFLfN?ocid=spartanntp

Classy Kerr, pathetic president.

Nothing but a rich schoolyard bully that skipped all his classes and learned nothing but extortion.

[Red Beret]

These two guys are widely reported to have got the US Ambassador to Ukraine the boot.  It's really starting to unravel now that their long standing association with Trump is coming out.

[jambutty]

The Washington Post
Opinions | Shepard Smith leaves Fox News, and takes the facts with him
 Erik Wemple
6 hrs ago

Cable-news anchors come and go all the time. They often are lured by more lucrative contracts, pushed out by jittery executives or just grow tired of the grind.

The abrupt and immediate departure of Shepard Smith from Fox News falls into none of those categories. On Friday afternoon, the longtime host delivered an emotional farewell to his viewers: “Recently, I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News," said the 55-year-old Smith, who had been with the network since its 1996 launch. “After requesting that I stay, they obliged. . . . This is my last newscast here. Thank you for watching today and over the decades. . . . Even in our currently polarized nation, it’s my hope that the facts will win the day. That the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive.”

With that, the host bid adieu to one of the few — in the view of some, the only — redoubts of legitimately straight news at Fox News. Network founder Roger Ailes, who died in 2017, designed Fox News in a way that mimics and corrupts the traditional division between news and opinion at American newspapers. When opinion hosts such as Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Tucker Carlson have twisted the facts beyond repair, the network has always responded that they’re leveraging their liberties as opinion people.

On the other side of Fox News reside news shows such as the morning program “America’s Newsroom," “Special Report" with Bret Baier, and "The Story” with Martha MacCallum. And then there was Smith’s program, set apart from all other Fox News programs for the blunt honesty with which the show’s host fact-checked President Trump with every last broadcast. Smith routinely made headlines among media observers with his straight delivery and reliance upon easily documented facts to rebut Trump and his allies. No-nonsense delivery of news during the Trump era made Smith’s program a significant aberration at Fox News — not to mention a sore point for die-hard fans of Hannity & Co., as the Erik Wemple Blog discovered upon visiting a Fox Nation event in Arizona earlier this year.

To have one anchor discussing the hard facts of Trumpism, while other anchors devise every excuse in their conspiratorial heads — well, that would create some fissures in even the most rough-and-tumble news organization. And so it was at Fox News, as Smith and Hannity and Carlson engaged in public feuding in regard to one another’s coverage of the president. “I wouldn’t work there," said Smith of his opinion counterparts back in March 2018, noting that they exist “strictly to be entertaining.”

That, actually, is too kind: They exist to enrich themselves, too, all the while deceiving the American public.

“Clueless” is how Hannity described Smith’s comments.

The feelings have lurked: In late September, Smith butted heads with Carlson after a guest on Carlson’s program called Fox News’s Andrew Napolitano a “fool” for some critical remarks he’d made about Trump. That Carlson didn’t challenge that characterization was “repugnant,” concluded Smith. To which, Carlson said, “Unlike maybe some dayside hosts, I’m not very partisan." Though Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman reported that Fox News management told Smith to “stop attacking Carlson,” network spokeswoman Irena Briganti denied to this blog that it was addressed with Smith. “At no time did anyone — including anyone in management or a third party — speak to Shepard Smith regarding that matter. Anything to the contrary is entirely false and wildly inaccurate,” said Briganti in a statement.

In his public-facing remarks, Smith made no mention of these tensions. Under the agreement he reached with the network, Smith won’t be reporting elsewhere for the “near future" — perhaps a sign that he really wanted out of a network that, especially in its most lucrative hours, works efficiently, enthusiastically and tirelessly as a propaganda bullhorn for Trump. “Shepard Smith Reporting” will be replaced with “Fox News Reporting,” which will rely on anchoring from Trace Gallagher and Jon Scott, among others.

Neither of those men furnishes the gravitas that Smith brought to the 3 o’clock hour. He’d carved out his own hour of honesty at Fox News on account of unique circumstances: He’d been there forever, he’d covered everything, he could communicate with an audience. There’ll be no replicating what Smith accomplished, and there’ll be no mistaking the implications. Facts are losing their tenuous foothold at Fox News.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/opinions-shepard-smith-leaves-fox-news-and-takes-the-facts-with-him/ar-AAIDEAf?ocid=spartandhp

I'd bet this came about on a call from Fungus to Murder asking him to find a way to get Shepard out.  He'll start bragging about it soon enough.

Fungus is so unconsciously transparent (no, it's not a new pronoun).

Fake news, meant to describe his critics, has been weaponized by Fox.  The Fair and Balanced White News Channel.

What we're seeing is the factionalisation of an insecure, shrinking white world.

Good on the shrinking, bad on the factionalisation.

[Red Beret]

Smith has been forced out, and probably forced into a non disclosure agreement in the process.  In an ideal world it would probably be constructive dismissal; the reality is he's probably tired of taking 3 showers a day and is just relieved it's all over for him.

Expect FOX to go into high lunacy drive.  Already saw Trump's started with the Biden, "Lock him up!" chants too - I don't think they'll work so well this time around.

[jambutty]

or should that be Faux news......

Its a coincidence that I posted views on Fox News in another thread earlier on, then heard on the radio on the way home that it is 10 years old this week. Fox News is to George Dubya what Al-Jazeera is to Bin laden, a convenient mouthpiece to air their views without fear of questioning or criticism. There are too many things to list when it comes to the bias Fox News demonstrate openly, two examples are the Republicans and Israel. Fox News is so slanted that by comparison it makes Sky News look like a bastion of truth and decency.

All across the Murdoch empire, examples of opinions being rammed down peoples throats can be found, none more so than a certain paper all of us here will be familiar with. It is not just the S*n that is content to lie to and slander people every day, it is a dictat to the whole organisation.

Anyway Fox News, heres hoping you dont see another decade!

PS a different slant on the birthday celebrations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpChNJbILZM

13 years on and it's gotten worse.

[jambutty]

USA TODAY
Kamala Harris to Trump Jr: 'You wouldn’t know a joke if one raised you'
 Savannah Behrmann, USA TODAY
6 hrs ago

WASHINGTON – A twitter feud between 2020 democratic hopeful Senator Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Jr. got jokey Friday night.

"Why is Kamala Harris the only person that laughs at her jokes... always way to long and way too hard?” the President’s son asked. “The most disingenuous person in politics... after Hillary.”

Harris responded: “You wouldn’t know a joke if one raised you.”

Harris has been extremely critical of President Donald Trump and has even recently called on his twitter account to be suspended, saying that "Others have had their accounts suspended for less offensive behavior. And when this kind of abuse is being spewed from the most powerful office in the United States, the stakes are too high to do nothing.”

Recent polls show Harris down to mid-single digits behind front runners former Vice President Joe Biden, and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

Still, the Twitter exchange with Trump Jr. got plenty of attention.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kamala-harris-to-trump-jr-you-wouldnt-know-a-joke-if-one-raised-you/ar-AAIEtpE?ocid=spartandhp



Repartee with one of the Fungus family is like an ass kicking contest vs a one legged man.

[CraigDS]

What a good comeback that was 

[bigbonedrawky]

Do something to start a conflict.  Do something else to try and stop it.  Talk endlessly about how you deserve a Nobel peace prize for trying to sort it out and hope they forget that it was you that started it in the first place.

The Saudi's outbid the Kurds...Simple as that really. 

[ShakaHislop]

Kevin McAleenan: US Homeland Security chief steps down

The acting head of US Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, has resigned after six months in the post.

In a tweet, President Donald Trump said Mr McAleenan wanted to spend more time with his family. He said his replacement would be named next week.

Mr McAleenan, 48, is the fourth person to serve as the head of Homeland Security during Mr Trump's tenure.

He has overseen the president's tough policies aimed at curbing immigration across the Mexican border.

However, analysts have described a turbulent relationship between the two and Mr McAleenan has criticised the tone of the immigration debate.

Recently he was shouted off stage by student protesters at a university in Washington DC.

Announcing his resignation, Mr Trump said Mr McAleenan had done "an outstanding job".

"We have worked well together with border crossings being way down," he said.

"Kevin now, after many years in government, wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector."

Mr McAleenan became acting head of the department after the resignation in April of Kirstjen Nielsen.

President Trump had often accused her of not being tough enough on controlling immigration.

During the administration of President Barack Obama, Mr McAleenan served as deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

In 2015, he received the highest civil service award from the then-president.

In 2018, he faced criticism in the media for carrying out Mr Trump's zero-tolerance policy that led to the controversial separation of families at the US southern border, but he has maintained his agency's duty is to carry out the law, not create it.

Earlier this month, the Washington Post described him as increasingly isolated within the Trump administration and overshadowed by others more vocal in their support for President Trump.

In an interview, Mr McAleenan lamented not having control over "the tone, the message, the public face and approach of the department in an increasingly polarised time. That's uncomfortable, as the accountable, senior figure."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50023448

[ShakaHislop]

Federal judge blocks Trump administration rule targeting low-income immigrants

A New York federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from implementing a rule next week that would have targeted lower-income immigrants as part of an effort to curb legal immigration.

"This rule would have had devastating impacts on New Yorkers and our nation, and today's decision is a critical step in our efforts to uphold the rule of law," New York Attorney General James said on Twitter, after the judge's decision.

The rule is part of President Donald Trump's broad push to favor skilled and wealthy immigrants over others.

Roughly 380,000 more applicants seeking legal immigration status would have been reviewed under the new rule, according to the government's own analysis. Hundreds of thousands more could have been affected if they avoided public benefits because they feared it would disqualify them from obtaining legal status, according to immigration advocates.

The new regulation would take an expanded look at public services, to include Medicaid and food stamps, that would be used to test whether an immigrant would required taxpayer-funded assistance.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services took a step forward on Wednesday, releasing "self-sufficiency" forms to evaluate prospective immigrants' income, debt and education levels.

Multiple lawsuits from states and from immigrants nationwide were in progress when Judge George B. Daniels of the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York made his ruling on Friday. With further judicial review expected, the Trump administration official in charge of implementing the new policy doesn't appear to be backing down.

"Long-standing federal law requires aliens to rely on their own capabilities and the resources of their families, sponsors and private organizations in their communities to succeed," USCIS acting Director Ken Cuccinelli said Friday. "Through faithful execution of the law, we will ensure immigrants are able to successfully support themselves as they seek opportunity here."

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/federal-judge-blocks-trump-administration-rule-targeting-low/story?id=66217830

[mallin9]

Such an avalanche of batshit nuttiness that Trump bragging that a deployment is being paid for by journalist killers and isn’t that bigly grand isn’t even making much of a ripple

[Chakan]

Only the best people ...

[Red Beret]

Pompeo could face impeachment himself.  With Giuliani under scrutiny and Perry stepping down, Pompeo is the next link in the chain.  And it's clear he's going to back Trump all the way - or at least until he's forced out himself .

[soxfan]

Such an avalanche of batshit nuttiness that Trump bragging that a deployment is being paid for by journalist killers and isn’t that bigly grand isn’t even making much of a ripple

True. it would be a gigantic headline for any other President, considering that in the same week he is abandoning allies elsewhere.

[soxfan]

He really does think his base is even dumber than he is. Who talks like this?
-------------

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

The deal I just made with China is, by far, the greatest and biggest deal ever made for our Great Patriot Farmers in the history of our Country. In fact, there is a question as to whether or not this much product can be produced? Our farmers will figure it out. Thank you China!

[Giono]

Smith has been forced out, and probably forced into a non disclosure agreement in the process.  In an ideal world it would probably be constructive dismissal; the reality is he's probably tired of taking 3 showers a day and is just relieved it's all over for him.

Expect FOX to go into high lunacy drive.  Already saw Trump's started with the Biden, "Lock him up!" chants too - I don't think they'll work so well this time around.

3 showers a day... 

[Giono]

The Saudi's outbid the Kurds...Simple as that really. 

Good thing he meets some of the families as the bodies come back. Especially as they are now his private mercenary force.

[Giono]

He really does think his base is even dumber than he is. Who talks like this?
-------------

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

The deal I just made with China is, by far, the greatest and biggest deal ever made for our Great Patriot Farmers in the history of our Country. In fact, there is a question as to whether or not this much product can be produced? Our farmers will figure it out. Thank you China!

Did Joseph Stalin tweet this?

[soxfan]

[Giono]

That's classic. What that hat should read is "I don't want to know".

[rafathegaffa83]

John Harwood@JohnJHarwood
WashPost reporting that Sondland isn’t taking fall for Trump: “Sondland intends to tell Congress that text he wrote denying quid pro quo on Ukraine was relayed to him directly by Trump; he has no knowledge of whether Trump was telling him the truth.”

Also...

Giving the phone to Ivanka when talking with world leaders and destroying/ignoring pre-briefing notes
https://apnews.com/ab67c31d9b3c4acdada93a624052ddc4/

[Chakan]

Baffles me why all these people are actually prepared to fall on their sword for trump. Obviously not the person above but everyone else.

[goalrushatgoodison]

Baffles me why all these people are actually prepared to fall on their sword for trump. Obviously not the person above but everyone else.

Because he has something on them. To a certain extent politics has always worked that way but like everything else with Trump, I'd expect things are being taken to extremes here.

[Giono]

The Attorney General to law students. This could be Franklin Graham. Just another chistianist out to make holy civil war with blasphemers...

	The Hill (@thehill)
	2019-10-11, 9:14 PM Attorney General Bill Barr: "Among the militant secularism are many of the so-called progressives, but where is the progress? We are told we are living in a post-Christian era, but what has replaced the Judeo-Christian moral system?" pic.twitter.com/jc7kkDKGqc