The past two years have seen a tremendous shift in the public perception of capitalism and socialism, the character of philanthropy as reputation-laundry rather than generosity, and the nature of wealth as an indicator of sociopathy, not virtue or cleverness. Read the rest
Randy Rainbow is a national treasure. Read the rest
Facebook today confirmed what has long been rumored: Donald Trump hosted a dinner which was not disclosed to the public in October 2019 with Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel, at the White House. Read the rest
A single Trump golf outing brought Trump's club $28,800 in Secret Service spending. Read the rest
Pretty amazing pull quote from this New York Times profile of Dr. Fiona Hill, former top US diplomat in Ukraine, who testified today in the impeachment hearings against Donald Trump. Read the rest
She is going right for the jugular. Read the rest
Bad news for transparency and for foes of Trump. Read the rest
Mark Davis designed a font for BuzzFeed News based on Trump's distinctive handwriting (as seen on the I WANT NOTHING script he hand wrote yesterday). It's called Tiny Hand and you can download it for free. Read the rest
Time Magazine reports that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, freshly embarrassed in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, is planning to quit. Trump is making him look bad.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told three prominent Republicans in recent weeks that he plans to resign from the Trump Administration to run for the U.S. Senate from Kansas in next year’s elections. The problem: how to get out in one piece. Pompeo’s plan had been to remain at the State Department until early spring next year, the three Republicans tell TIME, but recent developments, including the House impeachment inquiry, are hurting him politically and straining his relationship with Trump.
Earlier today, Ambassador Gordon Sondland's testified to the House that "everyone was in the loop" for Trump's "quid pro quo"—refusing to release aid to Ukraine unless it announced an investigation into Trump's political rivals. Read the rest
Well, old Donald sure has got himself into a mighty fine pickle. Read the rest
What is even going on anymore? I thought this was a viral photoshop, but it is not. Read the rest
CNN reports that Donald Trump can be forced to be deposed in a defamation case against him, ruled a New York state Supreme Court Justice.
Summer Zervos, a a former Apprentice contestant accused Trump of sexually assaulting her. She filed a lawsuit against Trump, who responded by calling her a liar. Zervos then filed a defamation suit against Trump.
From CNN:
After the suit was filed, Trump's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case. They have argued the President has immunity from such lawsuits in state courts and that the case would conflict with Trump's official duties. They also said that Trump's frequent denials of accusations made by Zervos and others were protected political speech as statements of opinion.
Schecter dismissed those arguments in March 2018, writing that "no one is above the law."
In her ruling, she cited the 1997 Clinton vs. Jones sexual harassment lawsuit, in which the US Supreme Court held that a sitting president is not immune from being sued in federal court for unofficial acts.
Devin Nunes is such an idiot. Read the rest
The Donald Trump impeachment hearings are yielding much interesting drama today. Read the rest
CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip was among the first to share a provocative tidbit of Washington gossip on Twitter today. Read the rest
The president made an unscheduled weekend visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to "get a head start on his annual physical", but everyone is so accustomed to him and his staff lying about things it's blown up into a credible health scare. NBC News reports on the "skeptical reaction."
For any president, a sudden trip to the hospital would raise questions. But such scrutiny was magnified with a president who has a history of exaggeration and playing loose with the facts, giving skeptics room to run with their own theories.
“The one thing you can be absolutely sure of is this was not routine and he didn't go up there for half his physical,” tweeted Joe Lockhart, a press secretary under President Bill Clinton, who was himself impeached for perjury and obstruction. “What does it mean? It means that we just won't know what the medical issue was.”
Note how the speculation abut his health echoes his own crude rumor-monging about the health of others. Bullshit is a hallmark of autocracy, but getting everyone to play by the same rules is another. Read the rest
