Overnight Open Thread: Volunteer Cuddlers For The NICU
Most peaceful and secure looking babies!
What Was James Comey Doing At The NY Times Today?
This, after Trump said there were no tapes. Is Comey now going to try to change his story and lie? He obviously intends to leak more.
Via Daily Mail:
Former FBI director James Comey made a quiet visit to The New York Times on Thursday, one of few public outings since he admitted leaking stories to the newspaper about President Trump before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8.
Comey kept his sunglasses on and his gaze forward as he marched through the front entrance of the Times Square office building which houses the publication. He was accompanied by his wife Patrice Failor who also wore sunglasses.
Unmistakable as he towered over the crowds in a crisp navy suit and tie on one of the warmest days of the year, Comey drew second-glances from some stunned by-passers.
Watch Jon Ossoff To A Freaky Imitation Of Barack Obama In His Concession Speech
Shut your eyes and think Barack Obama as you listen to this, it’s a freaky imitation, cadence and delivery.
Sorry, Pajama Boy, there was only one. Thank God…
Senate Republicans Introduce Obamacare Replacement Bill
Will get rid of Obamacare taxes and mandates.
Via Free Beacon:
Today, Senate Republicans introduced their legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017.
According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), the bill will eliminate Obamacare’s taxes and eliminate the law’s individual and employer mandates in an attempt to lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
“It will eliminate costly Obamacare taxes that are passed on to consumers so we can put downward pressure on premiums,” said McConnell. “We agreed on the need to free Americans from Obamacare’s mandates, and policies contained in a discussion draft will repeal the individual mandate so Americans are no longer forced to buy insurance they don’t need or can’t afford.”
“We will repeal the employer mandate so Americans no longer see their hours and take-home pay cut by employers because of it,” he said. “We agreed on the need to improve the affordability of health insurance, and policies contained in the discussion draft will do that.”
Debbie Wassermann Schultz Claims Jeh Johnson Not Telling Truth, Says DHS Let Russia Stay On Their Server For Year…
Left eating left whole.
He was willing to say it under oath. How about you? Why didn’t you turn over the server?
She’s just trying to come up with a rationale for not turning the server over.
But if what she is saying is true, then there’s another problem.
She’s saying the Obama administration left the Russians on their server for a year? Really?
If that’s true, how dare they accuse or whack on Trump for anything, when either they didn’t give a darn or they were themselves effectively in cahoots with the Russians, if what she’s saying is true?
New York Man Arrested for Supporting ISIS: ‘Allah Will Reward for Attempting Jihad’
Pretty soon, you may not have an ISIS there to join…
Via Free Beacon:
A New York man was arrested Wednesday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport and charged with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to the Justice Department.
Saddam Mohamed Raishani, 30, attempted to travel overseas to join ISIS in Syria, according to a criminal complaint.
Joon H. Kim, the acting U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, said in a press release that Raishani, who also went by “Adam,” planned to “wage violent jihad.”
Senate Health Care Bill Defunds Planned Parenthood
Now, all they have to do is get it passed, a tall order as they may not have the votes…
Via Daily Caller:
The Senate health care bill released Thursday includes a provision to defund Planned Parenthood for one year.
The bill, which has drawn criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for the secretive way in which it was drafted, will prohibit federal funding of any organizations that provide abortions except in instances of incest or rape or those in which the mother’s life is threatened.
The legislation keeps Obamacare subsidies until 2020 rather than adopting the tax credits implemented in the House passed health care bill since limiting those tax credits to exclude abortion providers may have violated Senate budget rules.
U.S. Airstrike Kills Al Qaeda Leader in Yemen
Steady and good success against both ISIS and Al Qaeda.
Via Free Beacon:
A senior leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was killed in Yemen last week by a U.S. airstrike, U.S. Central Command announced Thursday.
Abu Khattab al Awlaqi, the emir for AQAP’s terrorist stronghold in the Shabwah governorate, was killed in the strike along with two of his associates, according to a Centcom press release.
“Al Awlaqi was a senior leader responsible for planning and conducting terrorist attacks against civilians,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “He had significant influence throughout AQAP’s terrorist stronghold, had ties and access to the group’s other senior leaders, and was implicated in planning and leading efforts to exacerbate instability in southern Yemen.”
Another Democrat Goes On Record: Pelosi Must Go…
Maybe they will try to push her out before 2018.
Trump Admin, Congress Offer New Hope For Families Of U.S. Hostages In Iran
This is what people voted for, actually caring about Americans.
Via Free Beacon:
Families and advocates of U.S. prisoners held in Iran are encouraged by a new focus from the Trump administration and Congress to secure the safe return of their loved ones after experiencing several disappointments during the final year of President Obama’s tenure.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a hearing in July featuring testimony from families of U.S. hostages held in Iran. Next week, the panel’s Middle East and North Africa subcommittee will mark up a bipartisan resolution calling on Iran to unconditionally release all U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents.
The mark-up also will include previously passed language pressing Tehran to follow through on its promises, made public early last year, of assistance in the case of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007, and condemn Iran’s persecution of its Baha’i minority.
“We are trying to put more focus on the human rights issue and hostages issue in Iran,” Edward Acevedo, a staff director for the subcommittee chaired by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.) told the Washington Free Beacon.
The House action is an attempt to bolster a stepped-up effort by the Trump administration over the last several weeks to free other Americans and U.S. permanent legal residents held in Iran, along with additional U.S. hostages held overseas.
Pelosi Gives Incoherent Response To Trump’s Saying Her Being Dem Leader Helps GOP
You go, Nancy!
Via Free Beacon:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) responded Thursday to criticism from Democratic colleagues asking her to step down from her leadership post and President Donald Trump’s subsequent tweet mocking her for helping Republicans politically.
Some Republican members have said that it would be good for their party if Pelosi remains the top Democrat in the House. These remarks followed heavy criticism from Democratic lawmakers of Pelosi’s leadership following Tuesday’s special election losses in Georgia and South Carolina.
Voices within the Democratic party, including Rep. Kathleen Rice (D., N.Y.), are calling for new leadership.
Amid the backlash against Pelosi, Trump went on Twitter to mockingly signal his support for the California Democrat.
30 GOP Congressmen Have Been Attacked Or Threatened Since May
But no problem there, let’s just move on…
Via Free Beacon:
A total of 30 Republican members of Congress have either been attacked or revealed that they were the victim of a death threat since the beginning of May.
May 8: Wendi Wright, 35, was arrested after stalking Rep. David Kustoff (Tenn.) and trying to run him off the road. After pulling over, Wright “began to scream and strike the windows on Kustoff’s car and even reached inside the vehicle.”
May 9: Virginia Rep. Tom Garrett needed heavy security at a town hall after receiving a series of death threats in May that police “deemed to be credible and real.”
“This is how we’re going to kill your wife,” one message said. Others detailed how they would kill his children, and even his dog.
Congressional Black Caucus Declines To Meet With Trump Because Omarosa Invited Them
So dumb. Hard to argue he’s not listening to you if you reject his invitations. And for a stupid reason.
Via Politico:
The Congressional Black Caucus is expected to reject an invitation to meet with President Donald Trump, according to four sources close to the group.
The Trump administration, sources said, has done nothing to advance the CBC’s priorities since the group’s executive board first met with Trump in March. And members are worried the request for a caucus-wide meeting would amount to little more than a photo op that the president could use to bolster his standing among African-Americans.
“No one wants to be a co-star on the reality show,” said one senior Democratic aide.
Lawmakers in the 49-member group each received an invitation last week from Omarosa Manigault, the-reality-TV-star-turned-White-House-aide who has pitched herself as an unofficial liaison to the CBC.
Jeh Johnson: “Trump Signalling Election Interference Is OK”
They’re never going to stop with this.
Via Washington Examiner:
Former President Barack Obama’s DHS secretary accused President Trump on Thursday of increasing the likelihood of future cyberattacks against U.S. election systems through his defensive response to Russia’s 2016 attack on the Democratic Party.
“[T]he current administration in power is sending the signals basically that this will be tolerated if [foreign governments] do this,” Jeh Johnson, who led the Department of Homeland Security in Obama’s second term, said during a national security forum on Capitol Hill. “We have yet to see any strong statement from the current administration condemning what the Russians did, and warning them not to do it again.”
Jeremy Corbyn ‘Seize The Homes Of Rich People And Given To Residents Who Lost Everything In Grenfell Tower Fire’
What a lunatic.
Via Daily Mail:
The homes of rich people in Kensington could be seized for Grenfell Tower residents made homeless by fire, Jeremy Corbyn said today.
Mr Corbyn said the London borough was a ‘tale of two cities’ between a wealthy south and a poor north.
He suggested that ‘requisitioning’ vacant properties would be a solution to the shortage of available accommodation for those displaced.
‘Properties must be found – requisitioned if necessary – in order to make sure that residents do get rehoused locally,’ Mr Corbyn told a meeting of MPs.
‘How is it acceptable that in London you have luxury buildings and luxury flats kept empty as land banking for that future while homeless people look for somewhere to live?’
Rapper Ice Cube: Cops Haven’t Changed Since ‘F*ck The Police’…
And neither has he.
Via Page Six:
It’s been more than 25 years, and Ice Cube’s still got something to say.
The 48-year-old entertainer has come a long way from his start as part of the West Coast rap group N.W.A. and later a solo artist, branching into movies and now founding a soon-to-be-launched half-court basketball league. But some things haven’t changed, like his willingness to call out law enforcement on the way he sees policing done and to speak his mind on race issues, like he did recently when he took late-night host Bill Maher to task for his use of the N-word during a show.
He brought that attitude to the 25th anniversary re-release this month of his 1991 solo album, “Death Certificate,” with its newly added-on lead single, “Good Cop, Bad Cop.” Asked for his thoughts about where the country is with policing, especially in the wake of several high-profile shootings of minorities by officers, he was blunt: “Same as we always been.”
Buzzfeed Has Bedbugs…
Not surprising.
Well then. Bed bugs detected at BuzzFeed NYC HQ. Fumigation happening tomorrow, employees asked to WFH "out of abundance of caution"
— Steven Perlberg (@perlberg) June 22, 2017
‘I Think Leftism Is A Disorder’: Is Sabo The Right Wing Banksy?
Sabo has cornered the market on right wing street art. His posters went up all over Los Angeles during the primaries and the election, causing quite a stir.
The guerrilla art movement is usually associated with leftwing politics. Banksy targets capitalism, consumerism and inequality. Blek le Rat, the father of stencil graffiti, depicts oppression and resistance.
Shepard Fairey gilded Barack Obama’s rise with the iconic “Hope” poster and now highlights the scapegoating of Muslims and the corporatisation of US politics.
In the Trump era, the right, however, has its own guerrilla artist: Sabo, a former US marine who works from an apartment-cum-studio in Los Angeles beneath a sign that says “Fuck Tibet”. Another says “Fuck peace”.
Forget far-right populism – crypto-anarchists are the new masters
Under cover of darkness, he peppers public spaces in LA with images and slogans targeting liberals, whom he associates with “pot-smoking lazy bums” hostile to western values. He puts the same images and slogans on posters, T-shirts and pins which he sells from his website and at Republican party gatherings across the US.
“I think leftism is a mental disorder,” Sabo, 49, said in an interview at his home. “I truly believe I’m fighting the good fight.”
The fight is proving lucrative. After a decade of inflammatory guerrilla art which yielded little money or recognition, Sabo is on a roll plastering images of Donald Trump, and most recently Milo Yiannopoulos, across LA.
In a city thrumming with opposition to the president, the artist is part of the resistance to the resistance, a figure feted in Republican circles who appears on Fox News, Breitbart, the Blaze and other conservative media outlets. No longer behind on his rent or scrounging to buy a burger, he has bought a $7,000 industrial-size printer which fills a corner of his apartment.
Biography: Obama’s Ex-Girlfriend Disappointed That He Wouldn’t Condemn Black Racism…
Everyone knows blacks can’t be racist.
Via Daily Caller:
A new biography on former President Barack Obama reveals that an ex-girlfriend was disappointed that Obama wouldn’t clearly condemn racism among black people.
The book, “Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama,” written by David Garrow, is a deep dive into the personal life of Obama, and has already made headlines for uncovering the identity of the ex-girlfriend, Sheila Miyoshi Jager.
Garrow’s book also revealed that Jager, now a professor at Oberlin College, was dumped by Obama because he was worried that having a white spouse would hurt his future political career. […]
Specifically referring to one argument between the two, the article says, “Where Dreams portrayed the lovers’ rift as at bottom a function of racial difference, Jager, while acknowledging the racial component of their strains, insisted she was mainly upset that day that Obama, in her recollection, was less than unequivocal in condemning ‘black racism’; it was at a moment when the overt anti-Semitism of Steve Cokely, a black mayoral aide in Chicago, had become a cause célèbre in local politics.”