A day before the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a U.S. president messaged 50 million people to complain that certain "infested" areas of his country are serving as "breeding" sites for a minority population he disfavors. That's exactly how the Germans saw Warsaw. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Explanation: Graham's PAC received $800,000 from a Ukraine-born oligarch, Len Blavatnik, who has close ties to Oleg Deripaska and Putin. twitter.com/LindseyGrahamS…
"Honestly, when I saw how vigorously President Trump threw those rocks to protect our cave from those savages in that other cave, I knew our tribe STILL had the most decisive leader on God's scorched Earth." - post-apocalyptic Hannity, 2019.
There's a president* who wants the Department of Justice to knuckle his political opponents. The DOJ—even this DOJ—temporizes because this clearly smacks of Somoza at best and Mussolini at worst. Now, 11 members of the House of Representatives Flunky Caucus jump in, demanding that the DOJ get off the dime. From Politico:
The push represents the latest counter-attack from the right against the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign — an investigation that Trump continues to rail against. The lawmakers describe a variety of potential crimes in calling for the new inquiries. They accuse Comey of leaking classified information, Clinton of concealing campaign payments to an opposition research firm and Lynch of threatening an informant with "reprisal" if he came forward with anti-Clinton information in 2016. They also demand new criminal investigations into top FBI officials who signed off on a surveillance warrant for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Those officials, they say, include former acting attorney general Sally Yates, former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe and former acting deputy attorney general Dana Boente.
The letter is a ragbag of diversions and distractions, the ragged flotsam of the endless pursuit of Hillary Rodham Clinton that covered over 20 years of public life, and of the ongoing desperate attempts to cover the president*'s more than ample hindquarters.
Getty Images
The signatories are the loudest nightbirds in the fever swamp, some of them more ambitious than others. Ron DiSantis wants to be governor of Florida and Todd Rokita would like Indiana's permission to blight the U.S. Senate. The rest of them are irreconcilable talk-radio conservatives, including Dave Brat, the man who replaced Eric Cantor and would very much like to replace the 20th Century; Matt Gaetz, who thinks he has Robert Mueller's number; and a whole flock of other Freedom Caucus loon-o-bots who have signed aboard the Trump Train because Hillary, that's why. These include Claudia Tenney of New York, who recently shared with the nation her perception that many mass murderers are Democrats.
This whole thing reeks of authoritarian vengeance and it also smells faintly of outright fascism. A president* is being encouraged by members of the national legislature to defend himself by using the law-enforcement apparatus at his command to investigate his perceived political opponents, and the president* is not committed enough to democratic processes to tell these guys to go turn a hose on each other to cool off. Ni shagu nazad, y'all.
Also known as Venus in Schatulle (engl.: Venus in casket) or Venus I is one of the most prominent archaeological findings in history. The estimated 29.500 years old piece of lime rock was found about 109 years ago in the Austrian Wachau Region (Lower Austria) and is currently located in the Natural History Museum (NHM) in Vienna [1]. Facts aside, if you are a history lover, a cultural assets' collector or always wanted to have a Willendorf Venus at home without actually having to rob the NHM, you can now make your very own crochet Venus following my pattern below; for a jail-free curriculum vitae and a naked, 11 cm (like the original!) decoration at home.
I included a wire in the body (for the arms and legs). If you want to work without a wire, attach the arms to the breasts at the end of your work to make it look like the original.
What do you need:
a fine to super fine yarn (at a recommended hook size of 2-2.5 mm); it is assumed that she had a white-skin colour, but I tried a lime-paint styled colour to keep it neutral
additional curly yarn (bouclé) for her headgear. It is unknown whether she wears a headgear of basketwork or short curly hair. Thus, I used a beige coloured twisted yarn at a recommended hook size of 6-7 (e.g. Woll Butt Adela) and tried to make it look like it could fit for both
(wiring)
some wadding
tapestry needle
scissors
Skill level: easy
Get the free pattern for crochet Willendorf Venus here.
The crochet Venus in comparison to the original Willendorf Venus
1/ Defense Secretary James Mattis wanted to get Congressional approval before bombing Syria last week. Trump overruled him because he wanted his tweets to be supported by action, despite warnings that an overly aggressive strike could spark a larger dispute with Russia. A limited airstrike on three targets was the compromise. (New York Times)
2/ Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend for a top-secret visit to lay the groundwork for direct talks between Trump and the North Korean leader. Pompeo was nominated as secretary of state shortly after the meeting. Trump is expected to meet with Kim by June. While meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump said his administration has "had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels with North Korea." (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "the administration does not comment on the CIA director's travel." Hours later, Trump tweeted that "Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed." (Reuters)
Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
4/ Two Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote against Mike Pompeo, Trump's nominee for secretary of state. Pompeo can still be confirmed by the full Senate without the committee's support. Republicans hold a 11-10 majority on the committee and Republican Rand Paul has already said he's also "no." (Reuters / CNN)
5/ Nikki Haley: "I don't get confused." The comment by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations comes in response to a White House official attributing her statement that Trump would impose sanctions on Russia to "momentary confusion." Larry Kudlow, the president's national economics adviser, said Haley "got ahead of the curve." Later, Kudlow called Haley to apologize, saying "she was certainly not confused." He added: "She was basically following what she thought was policy. The policy was changed and she wasn't told about it, so she was in a box." The White House sent out a document – titled "White House talking points" – to surrogates on Saturday letting them know that Trump had decided to take punitive action against Moscow. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
Haley said her relationship with Trump was "perfect." (Reuters)
6/ Trump denied that he fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation, directly contradicting his own comments on Comey's dismissal. In May 2017, Trump told NBC's Lester Holt that his decision to fire Comey was "this Russia thing," which he called "a made up story" and "an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won." Today, Trump tweeted that "Slippery James Comey, the worst FBI Director in history, was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation," adding the requisite all-caps "NO COLLUSION (except by the Dems)!" (CNN / Washington Post / Axios)
Slippery James Comey, the worst FBI Director in history, was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation where, by the way, there was NO COLLUSION (except by the Dems)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
7/ Trump dismissed the sketch of the person that Stormy Daniels claims threatened her years ago on Trump's behalf, calling the person a "nonexistent man" and said the sketch was a "total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!" (ABC News / New York Times)
8/ American Media Inc. let Karen McDougal out of her contract that kept her from talking about her affair with Trump. In August 2016 American Media, which owns the National Enquirer, purchased the rights to McDougal's story and spiked it in exchange for $150,000. David Pecker, American Media's chairman, is friends with Trump. (New York Times)
9/ Trump is still "apoplectic" about the FBI raids on Michael Cohen's hotel room, office and home, a source close to the president said. Trump's concerned that the FBI has everything, including everything he's told Cohen, and doesn't feel protected by the FBI "taint team" that's supposed to separate out information subject to attorney client-privilege. (CNN)
poll/ The race between Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke is "too close to call." 47% of Texas voters support Cruz while 43% back O'Rourke. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Barbara Bush died at the age of 92 after a series of recent hospitalizations. Bush had recently refused to seek any further medical treatment. (NBC News)
The Senate Judiciary Committee will take up legislation to protect Robert Mueller despite opposition from Mitch McConnell. The legislation is on the agenda for a committee business meeting on Thursday, but an actual vote is expected to be delayed until next week. (The Hill)
Puerto Rico hit with an island-wide blackout after an excavator accidentally downed a transmission line. Officials said it could take 24 to 36 hours to fully restore power to more than 1.4 million customers. (Associated Press)
New York's attorney general is trying change a state law so he can bring criminal charges against aides Trump pardons. Eric Schneiderman wants to exempt New York's double jeopardy law from cases involving presidential pardons. (New York Times)
Mick Mulvaney said the Office of Management and Budget is opening a probe into Scott Pruitt's spending since he took over the EPA. The OMB will look into the $43,000 spent on a "secure phone booth" for Pruitt's office at EPA headquarters. (ABC News)
A group of 131 representatives and 39 senators introduced a resolution calling for Scott Pruitt to resign for ethics lapses. The resolution states that the co-signers have "no confidence in the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and [are] calling for the immediate resignation of the Administrator." (The Hill / Reuters)
Trump's trade representative Robert Lighthizer is spending nearly $1 million on new furniture. He blamed the Obama administration for the costs. (New York Post)
Trump tweeted that sanctuary cities are where undocumented immigrants go for "breeding." (CNN)
Bob Corker said Trump governs in a state of "constant chaos" and denounced his attacks on the FBI and the media. The Republican senator once described the White House as an "adult day-care center." (Washington Post)
Madeleine Albright: Trump is "the least democratic president of modern history." The former secretary of state said the modern world provides a "petri dish" for fascism. (The Atlantic)
"When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won'."
When the dark chapter of the Trump presidency is written in the history books, the harshest criticism will be reserved for the GOP leadership in Congress, which put party over country and refused to defend our institutions and the rule of law when they were most at risk. twitter.com/AP/status/9863…
Dear Morrissey: Hitler banned unions, collective bargaining, workers' strikes & abortions; his regime persecuted gays, hated immigrants; was anti-gun control for most Germans, pro-Nationalism and, ahem, pro-militarism.
Heh. Out-of-state liberals ended your last idea of how humans in Alabama should behave and structure a society. That shit was called slavery. twitter.com/thehill/status…
What does a Pulitzer mean? What's the real prize in journalism? @JohnArchibald, this year's winner in commentary, offers an eloquent reflection: al.com/opinion/index.…
Bruno Sammartino was a fascinating character with an amazing story, a fanatical fan base, and actual humility. I enjoyed interviewing him numerous times and he always lit up the phone lines RIP Bruno. twitter.com/RonCookPG/stat…
The African National Congress had called on parents to withdraw their children by this day from South African schools in resistance to the Bantu Education Act. That 1953 law transferred education of the Bantu (blacks) from religious missions to state-controlled schools. Mission education, argued then-Minister of Bantu Education Dr. H.F. Verwoerd, not only tended to create "false expectations" amongst the natives, but was also in direct conflict with South Africa's racially separatist apartheid policies. Whites, who were in complete control of government and society, comprised only 14% of South Africa's population. Verwoerd presented to Parliament: "When I have control of native education, I will reform it so that natives will be taught from childhood to realize that equality with Europeans is not for them. There is no place for him (the black child) in European society above the level of certain forms of labour…What is the use of teaching a Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice?"
#WednesdayWisdom The ENEMY WITHIN - WHO OWNS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY? US Oligarchs Kochs Mercers Smiths (Sinclair) Prince/DeVos NRA-#1 Money Launderers for Russia pic.twitter.com/Nha1poMycp
Oh wow, the pilot who steered Southwest 1380 to safety after a harrowing engine failure today was was one of the first female fighter pilots in the Navy's history, and the first woman to fly the F/A-18. twitter.com/crispinburke/s…
Today We Play Jagoff or Not! Look at the Photo and You Tell Me!
Personally, I 100% think that this is a Jagoff #PeterParkers pic! But then again, I may be too judgy! Do we give this driver a pass since they MAY have a random handicap that also requires them extra room to get out of their vehicle?
I say, "Oh hell naw!
If you're gonna park there, show proof that you're worthy of parking there. Hang a tag, Get that damned truck decorated in blue lights! Do sumthin! And for gawd sakes, let's get a little better and the line-management stuff. This driver needs parking-bumpers like they have a kids bowling!
Sooooooooooo.. you tell us… Jagoff or Not (give 'em the benefit of the doubt?)
Thanks to Oghoul on Instagram for the Jagoff #PeterParkers catch! Might be the champ of these right now for how many he catches!
On this #TaxDay, I ask you to compare your tax bill to that of last year. Most likely it is about the same, while your elite counterparts such as Sean Hannity and Donald Trump's bills are about 10-30% less.
Ex-Trump campaign official: "The guys that know Trump best are the most worried. People are very, very worried. Because it's Michael [effing] Cohen. Who knows what he's done?" axios.com/newsletters/ax…
The Koch brothers are estimated to receive $1 billion a year in tax breaks from the Trump-Republican tax scam. Happy #TaxDay, America. pic.twitter.com/HqPxvJq7Hz
The anti-abortion movement is suddenly obsessed with Cardi B
Conservatives' response to Cardi B is part of a long history of using black women to fight abortion.
American rapper, singer, songwriter, and media personality Cardi B arrives for the traditionnal Clive Davis party on the eve of the 60th Annual Grammy Awards on January 28, 2018, in New York. / AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMAD (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
BREAKING: Republican Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, one of the few remaining outspoken moderate Republicans in the House of Representatives, announced Tuesday he is resigning "in the coming weeks" instead of retiring at the end of his term
So to recap from the last few days, the President's attorney - also Sean Hannity's attorney - also worked for the GOP fundraiser who paid off Playboy models while simultaneously dealing with a sanctioned bank connected to Russia's spy services, and Ukraine's investigating. 🙃
Sherry -ECLECTIC POETRY,LIBERAL POLITICS and other things, from an eclectic little woman. published in,hip poetry 2012, the individualist newsletter, online at, the amateur poetry journal, alchemy lit. mag, the writer's hood and caught in the net. a member of the international PK poetry kit, included in the anthology project, dec. 2004 and in national poetry day projects, four volts. uk. pk#10 and the picolata review.national poetry dayu.k. 08. former list administrator for the PK list.featured poet june'07#20.member pgh women's blogging society. contributing writer-CITIZEN JOURNALIST EXCHANGE worldwidehippies.com
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