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The Left Column

Gothmog

The Blue Wave Is Obscuring the Red Exodus

(Political Wire) The Cook Political Report‘s Dave Wasserman tells Axios that the most under-covered aspect of 2018 is that “a blue wave is obscuring a red exodus.”

“There are 43 Republican seats now without an incumbent on the ballot. That’s more than one out of every six Republicans in the House — a record in at least a century, Wasserman says.”

Botany

The un-celebrity president: Jimmy Carter shuns riches, lives modestly in his Georgia hometown

(WaPo) Jimmy Carter finishes his Saturday night dinner, salmon and broccoli casserole on a paper plate, flashes his famous toothy grin and calls playfully to his wife of 72 years, Rosalynn: “C’mon, kid.”

She laughs and takes his hand, and they walk carefully through a neighbor’s kitchen filled with 1976 campaign buttons, photos of world leaders and a couple of unopened cans of Billy Beer, then out the back door, where three Secret Service agents wait.

They do this just about every weekend in this tiny town where they were born — he almost 94 years ago, she almost 91. Dinner at their friend Jill Stuckey’s house, with plastic Solo cups of ice water and one glass each of bargain-brand chardonnay, then the half-mile walk home to the ranch house they built in 1961.

TomCADem

Giuliani: 'Truth isn't truth'

(Politico) President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Sunday claimed "truth isn't truth" when trying to explain why the president should not testify for special counsel Robert Mueller for fear of being trapped into a lie that could lead to a perjury charge.

“When you tell me that, you know, he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth and he shouldn’t worry, well that’s so silly because it’s somebody’s version of the truth. Not the truth,” Giuliani told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning.

“Truth is truth,” Todd responded. “No, it isn’t truth,” Giuliani said. “Truth isn’t truth. The President of the United States says, “I didn’t …”

A startled Todd answered: “Truth isn’t truth?” Giuliani: “No, no.”

malaise

Yesterday the world ignored the 500th Anniversary of the Atlantic slave trade

(Independent) Almost completely ignored by the modern world, this month marks the 500th anniversary of one of history’s most tragic and significant events – the birth of the Africa to America transatlantic slave trade. New discoveries are now revealing the details of the trade’s first horrific voyages.

Exactly five centuries ago – on 18 August 1518 (28 August 1518, if they had been using our modern Gregorian calendar) – the King of Spain, Charles I, issued a charter authorising the transportation of slaves direct from Africa to the Americas. Up until that point (since at least 1510), African slaves had usually been transported to Spain or Portugal and had then been transhipped to the Caribbean.

DonViejo

Former Joint Chiefs chairman: Trump's review of security clearances reminiscent of Nixon, McCarthy

(The Hill) Retired Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday that President Trump's list of former intelligence officials at risk of losing their security clearances is reminiscent of former President Richard Nixon's enemies list and Joseph McCarthy-era politics. "That historically has proven incredibly problematic for the country," Mullen said on "Fox News Sunday."

Mullen, who served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2007 to 2011, said he doesn't support former CIA Director John Brennan being as critical of Trump as he has been, but still doesn't agree with Trump's decision to revoke Brennan's clearance.

MrsCoffee

Vermont's Christine Hallquist becomes first transgender person nominated for gov

(CNN) Christine Hallquist's bid to become the country's first transgender governor will clear a historic hurdle on Tuesday.

Hallquist will be the first transgender gubernatorial nominee for a major political party, CNN projects, a breakthrough of both substantial and symbolic importance for LGBTQ Americans, in particular the trans community, which has for so long been shut out of the highest levels of elected office.

iluvtennis

Randy "Ironstache" Bryce wins Democratic nomination to flip Paul Ryan's House seat

(Vox) Democrats in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Wisconsin district have decided: They want Randy “Ironstache” Bryce to try to flip the seat blue.

Bryce, the populist ironworker and union organizer who goes by the nickname “Ironstache,” beat out Cathy Myers, a school board member and teacher, in the district’s bitter Democratic primary battle Tuesday. The race was called with 68 percent of precincts reporting; Bryce led by more than 20 points. He will face Republican Bryan Steil, a well-known local business executive with Ryan’s endorsement, in November.

highplainsdem

'You want me to put that face on the twenty-dollar bill?': Omarosa claims Trump slammed the idea of

(Business Insider) Former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman claims in her new book that President Donald Trump balked at the idea of putting abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.

In "Unhinged," Manigault Newman describes the deliberation over a new figure on the twenty-dollar bill. She wrote that Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin told her, "it's not something I'm focused on at the moment."

Manigault Newman wrote that she then pushed the decision to Trump, who reportedly replied, "You want me to put that face on the twenty-dollar bill?"

demmiblue

Omarosa: DeVos said black college students lack the 'capacity to understand' her agenda

(Politico) Education Secretary Betsy DeVos allegedly said the students who booed her May 2017 commencement speech at a historically black college didn't have the "capacity to understand" what she wants to accomplish, according to the tell-all book by former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.

Manigault Newman describes DeVos' comments during a conversation with her after the May address at Florida's Bethune-Cookman University as "meaning, all those black students were too stupid to understand her agenda."

iluvtennis

Auntee Maxine on Paul Manafort trial

Maxine Waters
@RepMaxineWaters

Can you believe Federal Savings Bank's CEO forced through a $16 million loan for Paul "Money Laundering" Manafort all because the CEO wanted to be in Trump's swamp cabinet? How many small businesses could have benefitted from those funds?

12:10 PM - Aug 14, 2018

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***August Photography Competition*** - FINAL ROUND NOW OPEN FOR VOTING Photography : By Soph0571

Your Sunday LOLcats (dial-up warning) Lazy SCE's Summertime BYO Edition The DU Lounge : By SalmonChantedEvening

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Giuliani Attempts To Taunt Brennan Into Suing Trump: 'You're Not A Blowhard?'

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