TALLAHASSEE
Sen. Frank Artiles resigned from the Florida Legislature on Friday, consumed by a scandal that erupted three days earlier over a diatribe of insults the Miami Republican unleashed against two lawmakers at a Tallahassee bar.

In a letter to Senate President Joe Negron, Artiles said he was stepping down for the sake of his family and of the institution of the Senate, whose work ground to a near halt this week as Republican leaders grappled with Artiles’ political future.

“My actions and my presence in government is now a distraction to my colleagues, the legislative process, and the citizens of our great State,” Artiles wrote. “I am responsible and I am accountable and effective immediately, I am resigning from the Florida State Senate.

“It’s clear there are consequences to every action, and in this area, I will need time for personal reflection and growth.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article145942934.html#storylink=cpy

Donald Trump's first 100 days as president have been harrowing, unsettling and, above all, absurd. So it should come as no surprise that the finest commentators on Trump's tenure have been — and remain — those with a well-developed sense of absurdity.

As the Trump has devolved, I've had a chance to make common cause with cartoonists, satirists and comics on radio, television and at events across the country. There was never any question that this president merited mockery. But Trump has been the target of more than jokes; he has inspired some of the most pointed and effective comedy in this country's long and honorable history of ridiculing errant executives.

I spent last week at the Conference on World Affairs in Boulder, where my friend Lizz Winstead had people laughing and crying and, above all, thinking about the threats posed by a commander in chief who has displayed scorching disregard for the majority of Americans.

This week, I'll have a chance to welcome Stephanie Miller's Sexy Liberal Resistance Tour to Madison — featuring the brilliant host of "The Stephanie Miller Show" on radio, Frangela (Frances Callier and Angela V. Shelton) and John Fugelsang. The tour, which Fugelsang refers to as "comic-con for sane people with a sense of humor," returns to the Barrymore Theatre at 8 p.m. Saturday.

http://host.madison.com/ct/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-in-the-era-of-donald-trump-humor-is/article_8ce180bb-09cb-51dc-bdd6-7753c4cf2f5e.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share

apparently

Trump Has Been Placed Under ‘House Arrest’ By The ‘Deep State Goon Squad’, O’Reilly’s firing from Fox News over numerous sexual harassment allegations and Jones’ custody battle are the work of the deep state, which he claimed is out to silence influential voices on the Right. - Rick Wiles

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-trump-has-been-placed-under-house-arrest-by-the-deep-state-goon-squad/




WATCH US ROAR!!!!

At least 17 women have accused Trump of what O'Reilly was fired for including a video of Trump admitting to doing it


https://twitter.com/CitizensFedUp/status/855031414454079488

Jesus Christ
South Korea dismisses #Trump's remark that Korea was "part of China."

https://twitter.com/JeffreyGuterman/status/855006963779997697

WASHINGTON — Ever since F.B.I. investigators discovered in 2013 that a Russian spy was trying to recruit an American businessman named Carter Page, the bureau maintained an occasional interest in Mr. Page. So when he became a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign last year and gave a Russia-friendly speech at a prestigious Moscow institute, it soon caught the bureau’s attention.

That trip last July was a catalyst for the F.B.I. investigation into connections between Russia and President Trump’s campaign, according to current and former law enforcement and intelligence officials.

It is unclear exactly what about Mr. Page’s visit drew the F.B.I.’s interest: meetings he had during his three days in Moscow, intercepted communications of Russian officials speaking about him, or something else.

After Mr. Page, 45 — a Navy veteran and businessman who had lived in Moscow for three years — stepped down from the Trump campaign in September, the F.B.I. obtained a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court allowing the authorities to monitor his communications on the suspicion that he was a Russian agent.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/us/politics/carter-page-russia-trump.html?_r=0

Keep sending them money

FEC filings show football’s deepest pockets came up big, picking up nearly 7 percent of the party tab.

Eight National Football League franchise owners collectively gave millions of dollars to President Donald Trump’s inauguration, new disclosures show.

Among them: Robert Kraft, owner of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, who donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee by way of Kraft Group LLC, according to a Federal Election Commission filing released Wednesday.

Those FEC documents revealed that Trump had dwarfed fundraising for any previous inauguration. With nearly $107 million in contributions, the committee almost doubled the previous record, set by Barack Obama in 2009.

According to the FEC filing, NFL owners’ $7.25 million in contributions represented nearly one of every $15 donated to Trump’s inaugural committee.

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mythicist-milwaukee-show/e/foundation-for-reason-and-science-w-robyn-blumner-49882442?autoplay=true

Episode Info
Robyn Blumner joined the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science as Executive Director in February 2014 and a year later she was promoted to President & chief executive officer. Prior to working for the foundation Robyn’s career was as a nationally syndicated columnist and editorial writer at the Tampa Bay Times newspaper. Robyn is an expert on civil liberties and civil rights. She has written extensively on church-state separation, free speech and privacy issues as well as economics and the diminishing power of the middle-class. In 2012, she was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Robyn was the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida from 1989 to 1997, and executive director of the ACLU of Utah from 1987 to 1989. In that role she led efforts to protect abortion rights, student free speech rights and to prevent the adoption of school vouchers, among dozens of public policy battles. Robyn attended Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, graduating with honors in 1982. Her law degree comes from New York University School of Law where she graduated in 1985 and is a member of the New York State Bar.

in first few months of administration:
- Trump: 39,105
- Obama: 733

https://twitter.com/SteveRattner/status/854728473205764102

TIMBERRRRRRRRRR!!!!

(CNN)Nigeria is not on the list of countries affected by the US government's temporary travel bans. But several Nigerian citizens claim to have been denied entry since they were introduced.

Real estate businessman Femi Olaniyi travelled to Los Angeles on February 21 with a two-year multiple entry visa. He says the experience proved to be an ordeal.

"When I got to the point of entry at Los Angeles Airport, an immigration officer interrogated me," he told CNN. "He said I should come for biometric (tests) to check whether I have any criminal offence. I told him that I'm not a criminal and that he should go ahead."

"Later, he brought some documents for me to sign and I told him that I would need to read before I sign. He quickly withdrew the document and put me in a cold cell. From there he held me for four days. He collected all my phones so that I would not get access to my family. He later revoked my visa and sent me back to Nigeria."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/19/africa/africa-us-travel-issues/index.html