https://twitter.com/i/events/1185250444198629376

In memoriam
Actor Bill Macy dies at age 97
Bill Macy, best known for his role alongside Bea Arthur in the sitcom Maude, has died at the age of 97.

https://nypost.com/2019/10/17/quid-pro-nothing-trump-accusers-dont-care-about-the-facts/

Quid pro nothing: Trump accusers don’t care about the facts
By Post Editorial BoardOctober 17, 2019 | 8:00pm

Everyone who already thought the case for President Trump’s impeachment was a slam-dunk went berserk Thursday, claiming that acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney had just admitted to a quid pro quo with Ukraine.

Except that what Mulvaney “admitted” is that the administration was doing what it should — pushing a foreign government to cooperate in getting to the bottom of foreign interference in the 2016 campaign.

White House held up Ukraine aid because Trump wanted probe into DNC hacking: Mulvaney
Which it couldn’t be: Ukraine didn’t know about the holdup until weeks after President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call with Trump.


Virtually every media outlet in America — certainly all those that jumped on Mulvaney’s remarks — has spent most of the last three years painting such foreign interference as the blackest possible crime.

In fact, all Mulvaney did was repeat yet again that Trump “was worried about corruption with that nation” — and specifically say those worries extended to cooperation in “the look-back to what happened in 2016.”

Asked if Ukraine’s uncertainty about probing those matters was linked to the US holdup of military aid, he said “yes” — clarifying hours later that it wasn’t a quid pro quo.

Billionaire Trump-loving governor took $125,000 in bailouts meant for struggling farmers: report

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/10/billionaire-trump-loving-governor-took-125000-in-bailouts-meant-for-struggling-farmers-report/

On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) received $125,000 in emergency stabilization payments for his farms, as part of the bailout program authorized by President Donald Trump to help farmers avoid losses due to the trade war with China.

Justice, a Trump-loving business magnate who briefly switched to the Democratic Party to run for governor of West Virginia and switched back to the GOP after the election, hardly fits the profile of a struggling farmer. He is worth $1.5 billion, and owns over 50 businesses, including a network of coal mines and the Greenbriar luxury resort, a popular gathering place for Republican officials.

But Justice is far from the only rich businessman to profit from the farm bailouts. A recent report from the Environmental Working Group revealed that of the $16 billion appropriated by the Department of Agriculture, 54 percent went to just the top one-tenth of farms, with 82 farmers receiving over $500,000 and several recipients actually living in large cities. The bottom 80 percent of farmers received less than $5,000 each, and farmers of color received almost nothing.

Justice is not even the only politician to benefit from the program. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), also a firm supporter of Trump, has applied for the bailouts multiple times.

At a rally in Texas, President Trump insisted he was smart to let Turkey attack America’s Kurdish allies, comparing the 2 warring sides to children on a playground

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1185035306170486785

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/17/us/illinois-correctional-officers-transgender-inmates/index.html

Prison workers under investigation for allegedly mocking transgender inmates in private Facebook groups

More than a dozen correctional employees in Illinois are under investigation after they were accused of mocking transgender inmates in private Facebook groups, state officials said.

Earlier this week, a review by Injustice Watch, a nonprofit journalism organization, found that at least 25 employees with the Illinois Department of Corrections -- including prison guards, a counselor and a parole officer -- have participated in online conversations that included degrading comments or disclosed medical information about transgender inmates in two private Facebook groups. The posts included references to transgender women as "it" and "he."

"Know matter way you look at it, it's a freak'n male inmate," a correctional officer commented on a post of a news story about an incarcerated transgender woman who had been suing several prison employees for cruel treatment and sexual assault.

"Transgender's are a f***** joke in my view," he added.

The private Facebook groups, "Behind the Walls - Illinois Dep't of Corrections" and "Behind the Walls ~ Illinois Department of Corrections," have each more than 4,000 members.

A spokeswoman with the department of corrections confirmed Thursday that a number of staff members are undergoing the disciplinary review process. Under the department's policies, employees who violate the code of conduct may face disciplinary action and some violations could lead to their firing.

The department is also working on a new social media policy, the spokeswoman said.
CNN has attempted to reach the officers named in Injustice Watch's report.
Rob Jeffreys, acting director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, said his agency recently implemented mandatory training on implicit bias and transgender care for the agency's employees.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/world/climate-environment/climate-change-qatar-air-conditioning-outdoors/


Qatar, the world's leading exporter of liquefied natural gas, may be able to cool its stadiums, but it cannot cool the entire country. Fears that the hundreds of thousands of soccer fans might wilt or even die while shuttling between stadiums and metros and hotels in the unforgiving summer heat prompted the decision to delay the World Cup by five months. It is now scheduled for November, during Qatar's milder winter.

The change in the World Cup date is a symptom of a larger problem — climate change.

Already one of the hottest places on Earth, Qatar has seen average temperatures rise more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times, the current international goal for limiting the damage of global warming. The 2015 Paris climate summit said it would be better to keep temperatures "well below" that, ideally to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

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To survive the summer heat, Qatar not only air-conditions its soccer stadiums, but also the outdoors — in markets, along sidewalks, even at outdoor malls so people can window shop with a cool breeze. “If you turn off air conditioners, it will be unbearable. You cannot function effectively,” says Yousef al-Horr, founder of the Gulf Organization for Research and Development.


Al Janoub stadium is one of eight soccer stadiums that Qatar is prepping for the 2022 World Cup.

Engineering professor Saud Ghani designed the open-air stadium’s air-conditioning system.

Small vents push cool air at ankle level inside the stadium.



So far, Qatar has maintained outdoor life through a vast expansion of outdoor air conditioning. In the restored Souq Waqif market, a maze of shops, restaurants and small hotels, three- to four-foot-high air-conditioning units blow cool air onto cafe customers. At a cost of $80 to $250 each depending on the quality, they are the only things that make outdoor dining possible in a place where overnight low temperatures in summer rarely dip below 90 degrees.

Recently, the luxury French department store Galeries Lafayette opened in a shopping mall that features stylish air-conditioning grates in the broad cobblestone walkways outside. Each of the vents, about 1 by 6 feet, has a decorative design. Many of them hug the outside of buildings, cooling off window shoppers looking at expensive fashions. Though nearly deserted in the heat, by 5 p.m. some people begin to emerge to sit outside places like Cafe Pouchkine.

Speaking with reporters Thursday at the White House, Mulvaney acknowledged Trump held up Ukraine aid partly for political reasons.

"Get over it," he said. "There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy."

"That is going to happen," he added. "Elections have consequences."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mulvaney-acknowledges-trump-held-ukraine-aid-political-reasons-get-over-n1068256

Donald Trump Jr. listened Wednesday night as Fox News host Sean Hannity scrutinized Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, suggesting the son of former vice president Joe Biden had opportunities in other countries only because “they’re really buying favor with the father.”

“Of course they are,” Trump Jr. chimed in. “When you’re the father and your son’s entire career is dependent on that, they own you.”

Trump Jr.'s Wednesday remarks sparked collective head-scratching and ridicule, but it’s a critique he and his brother Eric Trump have repeatedly voiced in recent days — much to the increasing annoyance of critics, including Comedy Central host Trevor Noah, who are vexed by the pair’s apparent lack of self-awareness.

“Now, let’s be clear, I’m not defending Hunter Biden,” Noah said on his show Wednesday. “All I’m saying is the last people who should be talking about the blurred lines of family names and political influence are the people currently running their home office from the White House.”

In a statement emailed to The Washington Post on Thursday, a spokesman for Trump Jr. pushed back against the criticisms calling them “nothing more than a straw man argument being used by Democrats and their friends in the media to protect Joe Biden’s failing presidential campaign.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/17/donald-trump-jr-nepotism-sean-hannity-hunter-biden/

Trump Jr.'s comments did little to sway detractors on Wednesday, as a short clip of his interview quickly went viral. By early Thursday, the 26-second video had been viewed more than 1.25 million times.

“Local arsonist lectures on fire safety measures,” one person tweeted.

Judd Legum
✔
@JuddLegum
Donald Trump Jr.'s resume:

1. Ski bum

2. Executive Vice President for the Trump Organization, his father's company

3. Judge on the Apprentice, his father's TV show

4. Anti-nepotism activist https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1184122037280874499 …



Spooky STEMLORD
✔
@upulie
Irony has died and asked not to be reincarnated again. Satire has been annihiliated https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1184647737050062848 …

Andrew Lawrence
@ndrew_lawrence
An actual quote from Don Jr about Hunter Biden: "When you're the father and your sons entire career is dependent on that, they own you"

Trump has awarded next year’s G-7 summit of world leaders to his Miami-area resort, the White House said

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-has-awarded-next-years-g-7-summit-of-world-leaders-to-his-miami-area-resort-the-white-house-said/2019/10/17/221b32d6-ef52-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html

President Trump has awarded the 2020 Group of Seven summit of world leaders to his private company, scheduling the summit for June at his Trump Doral golf resort outside Miami, the White House announced Thursday.

That decision is without precedent in modern American history: The president used his public office to direct a massive contract to himself. The G-7 summit draws hundreds of diplomats, journalists and security personnel and provides a worldwide spotlight.

The announcement that the president’s club would host the international summit comes as Trump is in the midst of twin crises that are consuming his presidency — a hasty and confused American retreat in Syria and a growing impeachment inquiry in Congress.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who announced the decision, said the administration was not worried about the appearance of a conflict of interest, while he touted what the president’s resort has to offer.

FAIRFAX, Va. - The first indication that 83-year-old Elsie Cruey could be kicked out of her apartment came in an email in June.

The subject line read, "Notice of Lease Violation."

Within the email, in red, impossible-to-miss print, appeared this warning: "Failure to immediately comply with the required action will result in all remedies available under the lease contract, including negatively impacting the ability to remain in the community."

So, what had the grandmother of five (and great-grandmother of five) done? Had she not paid her rent on time? Had she failed to keep her place clean? Was she using the apartment to conduct illegal business?
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Her violation, according to that email, was that she had taken too many cookies from a community event. That's right. She was warned that she could lose her home because of cookies. The email outlined her offense, her supposed confession and her responsibility going forward:

"On 06/12/2019 - The Resident was stopped from taking a partial gallon of milk by the Assistant Community Manager at Breakfast," it reads. "During Mix and Mingle the Resident was observed by the Community Manager taking a plate full of cookies."

"On 06/13/2019, the resident and Community Manager had a conversation and the resident admitted to taking the cookies and having them with milk before bedtime."

"The Resident must immediately cease taking and/or attempting to remove food, beverages and other service items from the community events."

Cruey gets upset whenever the conversation turns to that email. The apartment complex, called Overture Fair Ridge, is intended for people age 62 and older, and since moving there in May 2018, she has formed friendships. She insists her friends baked those cookies and gave them to her to try. She says the Mix and Mingle was at 4:30 p.m., too late to eat them, so she shared them with two women the next day.

"I don't appreciate them sending notes about me and lies about me," Cruey says on a recent afternoon as she sits in her tidy, one-bedroom apartment.

She was the daughter of a coal miner and the wife of a soldier. She has known poverty and has raised three children while worrying about her husband's safety. She doesn't easily get emotional. But on this day, her daughter Sandra Cruey sits on a nearby sofa and watches her mother wipe away tears. At first, she dabs them gently with a tissue that she quickly tucks out of sight. Later, she rubs them with her palms.

Elsie Cruey hasn't told many of her friends what she has known for a month: She may soon have to leave.

On Sept. 16, another email arrived. This time, it contained a letter that held the title "Notice of Lease Termination" and described a violation as "not remediable."

This one, like the previous one, was sent to Sandra Cruey because her name is on the lease. A copy was also left on her mother's door. It informed them that they needed to "surrender and vacate possession to the premises" by Oct. 17.

Or put more simply, Elsie Cruey is expected to pack up and get out by Thursday. If she doesn't, the letter advises, the landlord will take the matter to a court.

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One former Overture resident, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity because she still has friends who live there, says Cruey's situation is not unique. She describes other residents receiving lease violations for cursing or taking an extra pork sausage at the free breakfast that is offered. She says people worry these violations will cause their rents to go up and some stay home out of fear they might get evicted.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/83-year-old-might-get-kicked-out-of-apartment-for-14539572.php