Friday, December 22, 2017

“It’s possible that these GOP players are being blackmailed or threatened” Based on hacked emails, Sarah K. gives best response to explain how Lindsey Graham, Orrin Hatch & others are humiliating themselves on TV


Just dropping this here: The first week of August, along with two partner firms, he succeeded in acquiring Brooklyn’s Watchtower complex, owned for decades by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, for $340 million.


Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry line diamonds are embroiled an alleged money laundering scheme, report says


Shrinking. Slashing. Erasing. Ignoring. Trump’s toolkit for wrecking government as we know it.


More than 40 former US Attorneys & GOP officials have signed a letter of support for the #MuellerInvestigation. Republicans in Congress must act to ensure that the course of justice is not impeded by the administration.


Jared Kushner’s Business Empire Is a House of Cards... The First Son-in-Law has more in common with the president than we thought.


Kushner Deutsche Bank records requested by special counsel


The Historical List of Shame

The Historical List of Shame

My latest: One Hundred Years of Chekism This week, Putin & his Kremlin celebrated 100 years of lawless brutality.


Bitcoin has no fundamental value as an asset -- no stream of future income, no ultimate assurance of liquidity, and no alternative use


The top 15 Democratic presidential candidates for 2020, ranked


RIS @JulianAssange conspired with @MashiRafael and @PutinRF to exfiltrate @Snowden BEFORE he stole America's secrets


The real impact of an unregulated campaign finance is on policy, and the proof is in this year’s tax bill that was just passed


Washington state says Comcast stole at least $73 million from subscribers over 5 years


BREAKING: Steve Bannon and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski have been sent letters requesting they testify to House Intel panel in early January, per @HouseInSession


Today when Trump arrives at Mar-a-Lago, he will have officially spent over 20% of his presidency at his golf courses, wasting $91,655,424 in taxpayer dollars on his travels to them. Playing golf, drinking a dozen or more diet cokes a day, lounging around like he’s in retirement.


Crucial read: how China has attempted to recruit intelligence assets to cover up for its hacking, industrial espionage, and macroeconomic fraud.


Breaking: President Trump signs into law $1.5 trillion tax overhaul


.@MarkWarner tells @axios that based on witness testimony and documents that he has seen behind closed doors, the Russia probe is "the most important thing I will ever work on. I feel that more strongly today than even a year ago."


.@SenateMajLdr: "One thing you can say about this year: It was pretty partisan."


Breitbart editor in chief explains that he believed Moore accuser Leigh Corfman but that they had to discredit her to protect Trump


The question on everyone's mind is how did we get into this political mess, and how do we get out of it?


France is banning fracking and oil extraction in all of its territories.


NY Rep. @JerryNadler has known President Trump for 40 years. He tells @chrislhayes what he's learned:


Layoffs are stunning steelworkers who, just a year ago, greeted Trump’s election as a new dawn for their industry


"Like Sally Yates, Robert Mueller and many others, Deputy Director McCabe is a guardian of democracy"


McConnell privately saying GOP could lose both House and Senate in 2018: report


Trump Just Pulled Off the Greatest Long Con in History


That time Angela Merkel brought a map to explain to Trump the geopolitical ambitions of Putin's Russia. A look at the new Cold War that just one side is fighting.


Tennesseans with a valid gun permit will be allowed to bring weapons into the renovated legislative office building in Nashville—but hand-held signs are prohibited because they're "a serious safety hazard.”


DOJ withdraws Obama-era guidance on employment integration for individuals with disabilitie


^ @JohnBrennan May 23, 2017: "I encountered intel that revealed contacts & interactions between Russian officials & people involved in Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of KNOWN [!!!] Russian efforts to suborn those individuals."


"Trump is, for whatever reason, either intimidated by Putin, afraid of what he could do, or what might come out of these investigations... It’s either naiveté, ignorance, or fear." ~Fmr CIA Dir John Brennan


Trump administration imposes sanctions on son of Kremlin official linked to Trump Tower meeting


NEW: Ex-Farenthold aide told House Ethics last week she was regularly asked by congressman and chief of staff to perform campaign-related duties, even though she never volunteered w/ or was paid by campaign, source say


Haley sends "friendship" invites to nations that didn't vote against Trump Jerusalem move in U.N.


Hundreds of toxic Superfund sites could be damaged by climate change, causing major risk to surrounding areas: report


Sen. Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wants to have public hearings for Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr.


Congress is set to go home without long-term solutions for CHIP, DACA, or federal spending,


How Russia wields prisons as a weapon against its political opponents


Pelosi demands GOP let Trump-Russia probe continue: "America's democracy and national security are at stake"


The GOP Knows The End Is Near


The Trump administration is considering separating families to combat illegal immigration


Ben Carson blasts Trump and Sessions’ war on drugs


Republicans warn Trump of 2018 bloodbath


One of Wilbur Ross' senior aides still holds stakes in a company with ties to Putin.


Former Rep Pete Hoekstra calls such reports "fake news". Videotape says otherwise.


Before Alex Kozinski, before Harvey Weinstein, before Bill Clinton ... there was Clarence Thomas. @GrahamDavidA looks back at the scandal that focused attention on sexual harassment


.@SenKamalaHarris and I today called on President Trump to declare the Southern California wildfires a major disaster and make federal assistance available to wildfire victims.


JUST IN: Putin says U.S. intends to break Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty


McConnell: Entitlement reform is a nonstarter in the Senate in 2018


Rhona Graff, longtime Trump assistant, to be interviewed by House Intelligence Committee


Top Intel Dem: Nunes is doing Trump's work in Russia investigation


The Trump Administration to Restaurants: Take the Tips!


E.P.A. Officials, Disheartened by Agencys Direction, Are Leaving in Droves


^ @RepAdamSchiff: GOP smear campaign against FBI will encourage Trump to think he can replace Rosenstein w/someone who will tell Mueller he can't look into whether the Russians laundered money through the Trump Org or guaranteed loans to them

ICYMI

When Has Trump Been Accused of Rape or Attempted Rape? Allegations Include a Child, His Wife and a Business Associate

ICYMI

The Craziest Political Moments Of 2017


Trump twice told his Pensacola rally this month that he had 32,000 people at his election-eve rally in Michigan. The capacity of that Michigan arena was 4,200.


"We are not stakeholders. We are not interest groups. We are sovereign nations within the United States as identified in the U.S. Constitution."


Once again, Ivanka Trump shows off her cluelessness


Video: I call on you to stop the war


If Congress doesn’t renew CHIP, care will be out of reach for 160,000 panicked MA kids. Sitting in the hospital now with my newborn son, this couldn’t feel more unconscionable. This cannot wait another day


Puerto Rico governor vows to mobilize Latinos against Republicans after passage of "devastating" tax bill


“You’re a f*cking liar!” Ivanka shrieked at Bannon after he called her the "queen of leaks" in a WH meeting also attended by Jared Kushner & Trump. Oh. So the WH admin & Trump family only tell the truth when they're screaming at one another


'The senator from Kentucky is now working for Putin': John McCain slams Rand Paul for blocking Montenegro from joining NATO

ICYMI

Judge rejects Disney and Twenty-First Century Fox's request for a protective order on sensitive information in the AT&T-Time Warner merger trial


Putin's new bond caters to rich Russians who are spooked by sanctions


How the net neutrality repeal will hurt small businesses — including anyone who sells things on sites like Etsy


Judge dismisses lawsuit accusing Trump of violating Emoluments Clause


The Tax Bill’s Automatic Spending Cuts

ICYMI

Remember this chart next time you hear Republicans say they're struggling to find money for health insurance for children but their tax cuts are easily affordable.


A meeting involving President Trump and his top advisers devolved into a heated exchange between his former campaign adviser and the White House political director


New cover story: Is Donald Trump’s dark Russian secret hiding in Deutsche Bank’s vaults?


The U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration released harassment settlement figures from the Office of Compliance (OOC) involving Senate employing offices from 1997-2017.


One top Chinese official claimed that the U.S. overstepped its authority


No uranium. Can I repeat that. No uranium left the United States or is going to leave the United States


Trump taunts Democrats as he touts tax reform win


Just increasing supply, or just regulating rents, won’t solve the urban housing crisis, writes


Congress passes temporary spending bill to prevent Christmas government shutdown


Russian hackers targeted more than 200 journalists globally


The budget bills making their way through Congress include huge cuts to the EPA—jeopardizing our air, our water, and our health for generations. A quarter of the EPA’s staff could be lost. That is outrageous and it cannot stand.


.@nikkihaley: U.S. "will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation...We will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more."


UK's Boris Johnson to Russia: Stop destabilizing Europe or else


Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have reached a deal with the Treasury Dept. allowing them to keep $3 billion in profits to serve as a cushion against losses expected after Trump signs his tax bill


Opinion: President Trump may be holding off from firing the special counsel, Robert Mueller. That doesn’t mean he’s safe.


Rep. Schiff: Devin Nunes is doing the work of the White House, rather than doing the work of the House Intel. Committee


“My assessment is that Trump is actually working directly for the Russians.”


Bannon on George H.W. Bush: "He's a pervert"


Trump’s transition team reportedly looked for Flynn to send encrypted messages during the transition and just prior to his conversations with the former Russian ambassador to the United States, according to emails obtained by Gizmodo.


Franken rips Trump, tells GOP senators to "stand up for truth" in final floor speech


JUST IN: Trump deputy chief of staff leaving White House: report


MINI-THREAD: New CNN poll about RUSSIA just came out... The main takeaways are: Mueller has a higher job approval than Trump, the American people take this seriously, and they don't believe what Trump says.


Trump appointee would force teen refugee to bear rapist's child

Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney at the ACLU's reproductive freedom project, talks with Rachel Maddow about the fight to defend the reproductive rights of undocumented teens from Trump-appointed anti-abortion zealots in the Office of Refugee Resettlement.


Wyden emphasizes need to follow Trump money in Russia probe

Senator Ron Wyden talks with Rachel Maddow about why it's important for Trump Russia investigators to be able to follow Trump's money, and why the distraction of the holidays is reason to be vigilant for Trump sneakiness.


Wait, did Rep. Adam Schiff just drop a big hint?

Rachel Maddow shares a piece of her interview with Rep. Adam Schiff in which he raises the question of whether Russians laundered money through the Trump Organization or guaranteed loans for the Trump Organization.


Report: Documents show W.H. lawyer told Trump Flynn broke law

Rachel Maddow shares a report from Foreign Policy that White House counsel Don McGahn informed Donald Trump that Mike Flynn had broken the law, though the official White House line was that McGahn had said the opposite.


First two nuclear reactors in U.S. since 1978 approved to continue, despite massive cost overruns.


Here was my response on @AC360 last night to @Jim_Jordan's conspiracy theories, laying out how FBI investigations actually work.


Charlottesville renames street after woman who was killed while protesting white supremacist rally


Sessions ends Obama-era policy encouraging courts to avoid slapping massive fines on poor defendants