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poboy2

poboy2's Journal
poboy2's Journal
March 7, 2018

What We Found in Trumps Drained Swamp: Hundreds of Ex-Lobbyists and D.C. Insiders

What We Found in Trump’s Drained Swamp: Hundreds of Ex-Lobbyists and D.C. Insiders

ProPublica
Derek Kravitz, Al Shaw, Isaac Arnsdorf
4 hrs ago

Today we’re making available, for the first time, an authoritative searchable database of 2,475 political appointees, including Trump’s Cabinet, staffers in the White House and senior officials within the government, along with their federal lobbying and financial records. Trump Town is the result of a year spent filing hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests; collecting and organizing staffing lists; and compiling, sifting through and publishing thousands of financial disclosure reports.

Here’s what we found: At least 187 Trump political appointees have been federal lobbyists, and despite President Trump’s campaign pledge to “drain the swamp,” many are now overseeing the industries they once lobbied on behalf of. We’ve also discovered ethics waivers that allow Trump staffers to work on subjects in which they have financial conflicts of interest. In addition, at least 254 groups affiliated with Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and at least 125 staffers came from prominent conservative think tanks, many of whom are on teams to repeal Obama-era regulations.

Drilling down even further, at least 35 Trump political appointees worked for or consulted with groups affiliated with the the billionaire libertarian brothers Charles and David Koch, who also have a network of advocacy groups, nonprofits, private companies and political action committees. At least 25 Trump appointees came from the influential Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank founded in 1973, and at least two came from Heritage Action, its related political nonprofit. Heritage says the Trump administration, in just its first year, has enacted nearly two-thirds of its 334 policy recommendations.

We also found — for the first time — dozens of special-government employees, or SGEs, who work as paid consultants or experts for federal agencies while keeping their day jobs in the private sector. This rare government gig allows them to legally work for both industry and the Trump administration at the same time. Under the Obama administration, Huma Abedin, the longtime aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, benefited from this policy while simultaneously working at the State Department, the Clinton Foundation and a corporate consulting firm, drawing scrutiny from the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Government Accountability Office.
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https://www.propublica.org/article/what-we-found-in-trump-administration-drained-swamp-hundreds-of-ex-lobbyists-and-washington-dc-insiders
March 7, 2018

Betsy DeVos visits Parkland school, angers shooting survivors

Betsy DeVos visits Parkland school, angers shooting survivors
New York Daily News
Jessica Schladebeck
1 hr ago

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made a contentious visit to the site of last month’s Florida school shooting Wednesday, in which she was criticized by survivors and abruptly walked out of her own press conference.

DeVos spent the morning at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where former student Nikolas Cruz gunned down 17 students and teachers on Valentine’s Day. Her visit immediately sparked criticism and backlash from shooting survivors and advocates on social media.


“Do something unexpected: answer our questions,” Aly Sheehy tweeted at DeVos. “You came to our school just for publicity and avoided our questions for the 90 minutes you were actually here. How about you do your job?”

Emma Gonzalez, who captured the world’s attention when she called “BS” on Trump and the National Rifle Association following the school shooting, dismissed DeVos with a tweet to her 1.2 million followers.

When the visit was announced Tuesday evening she wrote it was a “good thing I was already planning on sleeping in that day.”

Student Sarah Chadwick echoed the sentiment in a tweet: “Literally no one asked for this.”

The brutal massacre has forced the issue of gun violence and gun safety laws to the forefront, with student survivors fiercely calling for change and stricter regulations. President Trump has since proposed banning bump stocks and arming school staff.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/betsy-devos-visits-parkland-school-angers-shooting-survivors/ar-BBJYSgL?li=BBnb7Kz
March 7, 2018

'Man of mystery' cooperates with Mueller in Russia probe

'Man of mystery' cooperates with Mueller in Russia probe
By Shimon Prokupecz, Kara Scannell and Sara Murray, CNN
Updated 7:38 PM ET, Tue March 6, 2018

(CNN)A Middle East specialist with ties to Donald Trump's team attended secret meetings during the presidential transition between the United Arab Emirates and Trump associates, and is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, two people familiar with the matter say.

George Nader, a low-profile diplomatic go-between who has forged close ties to the Emirates, was stopped and questioned by the FBI at Dulles International Airport in January as he returned from an overseas trip, these sources say. Since then, he has been talking to Mueller's investigators and providing information to the grand jury.
Nader attended a December 2016 meeting in New York between Emirati officials and members of Trump's inner circle, and another in January 2017 in the Seychelles islands between the Emiratis and Erik Prince, a Trump associate. Nader was also in the Seychelles when Prince met with a Russian banker, the sources said.
The special counsel's questions about the Emiratis point to an investigation that has expanded beyond Russian meddling in the 2016 election to broader concerns about foreign influence during the presidential campaign and long after it concluded. The Washington Post reported last week that at least four countries, including the United Arab Emirates, have discussed ways they could compromise Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law.

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https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/06/politics/george-nader-robert-mueller/index.html
March 5, 2018

Steve Bannon about to make waves in Europe

Steve Bannon about to make waves in Europe with speech on populism
Helena Bachmann
5 hrs ago

GENEVA — Steve Bannon, the contentious conservative and former chief strategist for President Trump, will give his first speech in Europe this week to discuss the global implications of populism.His speech set for Tuesday in Zurich has already sold out and has drawn criticism from some groups.

Bannon, who resigned in January as executive chairman of the far right Breitbart News, was invited here by the weekly Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche, whose editor-in-chief, Roger Koeppel, is a conservative member of the parliament.

Bannon "played a crucial role in getting one of the most unconventional U.S. presidents in history elected,” Koeppel said, explaining why Bannon was invited.“People are curious,” Koeppel said. “Probably not the hardcore left wing, but interest is huge from a broad variety of people, including the business community. And just the other day a group of surgeons also asked to attend.” Koeppel said that even though Bannon was “demonized” in the media, “people want to form their own judgment on this controversial personality.”

He did not disclose how much Bannon is being paid for his appearance.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/steve-bannon-about-to-make-waves-in-europe-with-speech-on-populism/ar-BBJRJqL?li=BBnb7Kz
March 3, 2018

3/3/18- Chris Hayes- Kushner using Qatar blockade as personal retribution for denial of loans

“We know his family is looking for various sources of foreign money to inject into a cash-starved property. We also know Jared Kushner is running a lot of foreign policy,” he noted. ”Ask the Qataris for money and two weeks later Qatar says no and then the full force of the U.S. government is slammed down on Qatar.”

“How involved was Kushner in that?” Hayes asked Ryan Grim, the DC bureau chief for The Intercept.

“He was extremely involved in the policy,” Grim replied. “Without Kushner, we might not have the blockade. And just so people know, this blockade is ongoing.”

“This cold war, very nearly became a hot war,” Grim added.
“There are reports that the Emirates considered invading with a mercenary force, Qatar, as this all unfolded.”


Watch:
March 2, 2018

'I know hes watching television because hes calling me five minutes after'

'I know he’s watching television because he’s calling me five minutes after': Republicans go on TV — then they get a call from Trump
Business Insider
Allan Smith
4 hrs ago

After one of freshman Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz's first appearances on cable news, he got a call from someone offering some advice.
"Don't let people talk over you," President Donald Trump told Gaetz, the congressman recalled in a recent interview.
From one of his biggest fans, Gaetz has received compliments on a new haircut, backup on an argument, or pointers on his presence.

"He did make mention of the fact that he thought I had found a calling in television, which is high praise from someone who found a calling in television," Gaetz told Business Insider.

Gaetz was one of four Republican members of Congress who told Business Insider that Trump often likes to give them a call moments after they appear on cable news.

It is no secret that the president is a frequent consumer of the medium. A quick peek at his Twitter feed on any given day shows him often reacting to a segment on the "Fox & Friends" morning show, promoting a Fox News host's program or upcoming interview on the network, or slamming coverage from competing outlets like CNN.

The New York Times reported in December that Trump spends between four and eight hours a day watching television, though he has insisted that he does "not watch much television."


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http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-watches-tv-fox-news-calls-republicans-2018-2
March 2, 2018

Secret Documents From Russias Election Trolls Leak

Exclusive: Secret Documents From Russia’s Election Trolls Leak
An online auction gone awry reveals substantial new details about how the Kremlin-backed troll farm ginned up IRL protests and targeted specific Americans to push their propaganda.

BEN COLLINS
GIDEON RESNICK
SPENCER ACKERMAN
03.01.18 9:02 PM ET


The Kremlin-backed troll farm at the center of Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election has quietly suffered a catastrophic security breach, The Daily Beast has confirmed, in a leak that spilled new details of its operations onto obscure corners of the internet.

The Russian “information exchange” Joker.Buzz, which auctions off often stolen or confidential information, advertised a leak for a large cache of the Internet Research Agency’s (IRA) internal documents. It includes names of Americans, activists in particular, whom the organization specifically targeted; American-based proxies used to access Reddit and the viral meme site 9Gag; and login information for troll farm accounts.

Even the advertisement for the document dump provides a trove of previously unknown information about the breadth of Russia’s disinformation effort in the United States, including rallies pushed by IRA social media accounts that turned violent.

While special counsel Robert Mueller’s recent conspiracy indictment against the IRA showed a sophisticated organization aimed at targeting U.S. voters with disinformation, the seller appears not to have understood the implications of the auction.

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“The leaks show that Russian imposter accounts targeted activists for specific causes the Kremlin-backed troll farm wanted promoted. On the target list: the daughter of one of Martin Luther King’s lieutenants.”
While the date of the auction could not be independently confirmed, the authenticity of the leak can. The leaked documents list screen names connected to a number of American citizens who were used as unwitting proxies by the Russians. The Daily Beast was able to track down four of those citizens, whose names have not been previously revealed. The leak contains precise dates in 2016 in which the IRA-created account Blacktivist reached out to those U.S. citizens, plus a short description of the conversations. The Daily Beast spoke to those citizens, and confirmed they interacted with the Blacktivist account in the ways described by the IRA in the document. In one case, the American even provided screenshots of his interactions with the Russian troll trying to dupe him.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-secret-documents-from-russias-election-trolls-leak?ref=home?ref=home
February 28, 2018

USA Today Turns To Conspiracy Theorist Jerome Corsi To Advocate Arming Teachers

USA Today Turns To Conspiracy Theorist Jerome Corsi To Advocate Arming Teachers
By Jared Holt | February 28, 2018 10:54 am

USA Today published an op-ed in favor of arming teachers today, and apparently, the best person they could get to take that stance was Jerome Corsi, the crackpot conspiracy theorist who works as a “journalist” for Infowars. USA Today presented Corsi as a legitimate “investigative reporter” with no mentions of his role spreading conspiracy theories, from the “Swift Boat” attacks on John Kerry to racist birther allegations about Barack Obama to his recent forays into the pedophilia-obsessed “Storm” conspiracy theories.

Today’s edition of USA Today included a column by Corsi titled “Arm qualified, willing teachers and staff,” in which Corsi argues that allowing teachers to bring concealed weapons into classrooms is a solution to school shootings. This is how USA Today identified Corsi at the end of the column:

Investigative journalist Jerome R. Corsi is author of Killing the Deep State: The Fight to Save President Trump.
What this short bio of Corsi conveniently omits, however, is Corsi’s employment with an outlet poised to be banned from YouTube after smearing Parkland shooting survivors as “crisis actors” and which achieved national infamy for conspiracy theories surrounding the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school. USA Today also fails to mention Corsi’s extensive history of making insane claims as a “journalist” with no proof whatsoever. Like his employer, Corsi has received a personal suspension from live streaming on YouTube and is one strike away from being banned for his reckless creation and promotion of conspiracy theories.

In 2004, Corsi wrote a book promoting unfounded “Swift Boat” claims that John Kerry had lied about his military service. As a “reporter” for the conspiracy theory outlet WorldNetDaily, Corsi later became a chief proponent of the “birther” conspiracy theory about Barack Obama, culminating in the publication of his book “Where’s the Birth Certificate?”

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http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/usa-today-turns-to-conspiracy-theorist-jerome-corsi-to-advocate-arming-teachers/
February 26, 2018

Jim Carrey paints image of bloody schoolgirl on American flag in response to Florida school shooting

Jim Carrey paints image of bloody schoolgirl on American flag in response to Florida school shooting

Jim Carrey, who has recently put his work in Hollywood on hold to focus on painting, shared an original piece on Twitter Sunday in response to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14. And the painting is drawing mixed reactions.

The painting depicts a seemingly dead schoolgirl sprawled out on the America flag soaked in blood. Her bloodied school supplies, as well as footprints are sprawled all around her.

https://twitter.com/JimCarrey/status/967878042025566208/photo/1

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“Yeah, I think no one can really escape that aspect of life at this moment – the feeling of loss of control,” he said. “I’ve given up control in a lot of ways, and kind of the idea of self in general, but I still tweet and draw political cartoons and play the part of Arjuna who has to fight the battle in Bhagavad Gita.

"It’s not a battle I want to fight, but you’ve got to play the part. Every day at some point there’s pretty much a peaceful acceptance of what’s going on in my life right now, but I also tune in to the Republican – what could I call on it? – war on logic, intelligence and compassion at least once a day.”
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/celebrity/jim-carrey-paints-image-of-bloody-schoolgirl-on-american-flag-in-response-to-florida-school-shooting/ar-BBJCNcm?li=BBnb7Kz
February 18, 2018

TeaPain's - The Tale of the Black Caviar (animated short on Russia-gate)

Swamp Tales
Published on Feb 16, 2018

The Tale of the Black Caviar
Chapter I





The Crawler Page character is a riot

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Early comments:

Brent Busch
Brent Busch
1 day ago
This is gold man. Paul Manatee and Rick Gators......
REPLY
15


Kelly S
Kelly S
1 day ago
Crawler Page :')
REPLY
9


View all 2 replies
Anthony Barat
Anthony Barat
2 days ago
Nice! Keep fighting the good fight brother!
REPLY
10


brujaja Aknot Wrought
brujaja Aknot Wrought
1 day ago
Haha, awesome! You have just the right tone of voice, it conveys a sense of veracity. Can't fake that.
REPLY
4


Connie Super
Connie Super
1 day ago
CRISSAKES!I love It!!!!!!
REPLY


Philip Nemer
Philip Nemer
1 day ago
I follow Tea Pain. He has been right about Trump from day 1 and he is hilarious.
REPLY
3


Amanda Blount
Amanda Blount
1 day ago
Holy cow this is fantastic! I love the graphics you made for this! So creative!
REPLY
3


Patrick
Patrick
1 day ago
Brother TPain is the MAN - thank you T.


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