TWO FROM TAL @ CNN: DACA Rebirth & Dems Appeal To Ryan On Russian Interference

White House seeks to rekindle immigration debate on Hill

By Tal Kopan, CNN

The White House is quietly feeling the waters on trying for another push on immigration legislation as President Donald Trump continues to up the rhetoric on the issue.

Trump focused on border security and immigration last week, tweeting repeatedly about the need for congressional action and ordering the deployment of the National Guard to the border.

But sources say the there’s more than just tweets, that the White House has been quietly reaching out to allies on the Hill to explore what might be doable. Still, that outreach has to date not included any Democrats and has been unfocused, leaving it unlikely the effort could muster the votes it would need to pass.

“I think there is a real attempt to figure something out — I don’t think they actually know what they want — but there’s a legitimate want to do something on this,” said one senior GOP aide of the White House’s outreach efforts.

The aide characterized the outreach more as floating ideas than coming up with a game plan, and noted that the White House doesn’t seem to be building a coalition to pass the bill yet. Another GOP source agreed any talks are more exploratory than organized.

“It is frustrating that things are so unclear and it would be better to have a coalition that the White House is part of in these conversations, to be a little bit more specific,” the aide said.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican who has worked on unsuccessful bipartisan efforts to save the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy Trump ended, said on Fox News on Monday that there could be another opportunity.

“The President wants to do a DACA deal — border wall money plus other border security measures are very much on the table,” Graham said. “Our southern border is porous. It needs to be rebuilt strongly and the DACA kids need to have certainty their lives. I hope this President can find Democrats to work with him.”

More: http://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/politics/immigration-white-house-legislation-push/index.html

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Dems directly appeal to House Speaker Paul Ryan on election hacking

By Tal Kopan, CNN

The top Democrats on six of the House’s key committees are appealing directly to Speaker Paul Ryan to help them obtain documents from the Trump administration related to election hacking during the 2016 contest.

In a letter sent to the speaker Tuesday morning, the highest-ranking Democrats on the House Oversight, Judiciary, Homeland Security, Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and House Administration committees implored Ryan to intervene in their ongoing efforts to get the Department of Homeland Security to turn over documents related to the targeting of state election-related systems by Russian hackers.

The Democrats asked the department in October to provide copies of the notifications it sent to the 21 states it identified as the target of Russian government-linked attempts to hack voting-related systems and other related documents.

The Democrats wrote when they did not get adequate responses on an ensuing back-and-forth, they asked House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy to issue a subpoena, but he did not respond.

The Speaker’s office did not immediately respond to CNN request for comment.

Calling the administration’s response “woefully inadequate,” the group said they’ve “exhausted” the options at the committee level and asked Ryan to “personally intervene to protect the integrity and authorities of the House of Representatives.”

More: http://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/politics/election-hacking-letter-ryan-dems/index.html

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Who knows what will happen. But, for “my $.02,” I doubt that either of these has “legs.” First, Trump has “less than zero credibility” on DACA. Second, the House GOP appears to have no desire whatsoever to get to the bottom of the Russia interference, probably correctly fearing that the fingerprints of Trump, his family,  and/or his cronies will be all over the place. They might even find the connection to Putin’s personal lobbyist, “Agent Devon.”

No, I don’t have any “hard evidence.” In the end, it’s possible that Mueller will largely exonerate Trump. I know that many believe that 1) Trump isn’t subtile enough to have done anything “under the table,” and 2) if he had actually manipulated the election, he would have proudly tweeted credit for it by now.

But, the great rush to “close out” the Russia investigation and turn the attention elsewhere, along with clear Russia ties to some associated with the campaign who tried to hide those ties, and clear evidence of Russian meddling to elect Trump certainly is enough “smoke” to suggest that we might eventually find “fire.”

PWS

04-10-18

SATURDAY SATIRE FROM ANDY BOROWITZ @ THE NEW YORKER: “Texas Weighs Ban on Women”

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/texas-weighs-ban-on-women?mbid=nl_Borowitz 032318&CNDID=48297443&spMailingID=13173267&spUserID=MjQ1NjUyMTUwNjY5S0&spJobID=1362047596&spReportId=MTM2MjA0NzU5NgS2

“Texas Weighs Ban on Women

AUSTIN (The Borowitz Report)—Republican lawmakers in the Texas State Senate are proposing a precedent-setting new bill that would make it illegal for women to live in the state.

Senator Harland Dorrinson, one of the many pro-life lawmakers backing the woman ban, crafted his bill after witnessing Senator Wendy Davis filibuster an anti-abortion bill last month.

“That was our moment to say, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” he said. “This comes down to a choice between life and women, and we choose life.”

Senator Dorrinson said his bill would call for a twenty-foot woman-proof fence to be constructed along the borders of the state.

“Women are great at talking, but not at climbing,” he observed.

But another G.O.P. state senator, Cal Jamson, believes that the total ban on women goes “too far” and is proposing a less draconian bill that would allow some women to remain in the state as guest workers.

“Texas needs women to cook, clean, and cheerlead,” he said. “If they show that they can do those things and stay out of politics, there could be a pathway to citizenship.”

Get the Borowitz Report delivered to your inbox.

Photograph by George Rose/Getty.”

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WARNING: THIS IS “FAKE NEWS” BUT COMES WITH MY ABSOLUTE, UNCONDITIONAL, MONEY BACK GUARANTEE THAT IT CONTAINS MORE TRUTH THAN THE AVERAGE TRUMP TWEET OR SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS NEWS BRIEFING, AND ALSO MORE FACTUAL ACCURACY THAN ANY REPORT PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF “AGENT DEVON!”

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Yup. Definitely sounds like the Texas GOP. We are definitely seeing a blurring the line between satire and the simply incredible daily dishonesty and disingenuousness of the Trump GOP. Trump is killing almost everything American. Will American political satire be among the casualties?

PWS

03-24-17

CRIME/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP: “NO DOUBTER” – ANYONE WHO THINKS THAT VALDI PUTIN DIDN’T HELP ELECT TRUMP IS BADLY MISTAKEN – Just Read Mueller’s Latest Indictment! – I’ve Got It for You!

 

Russian Indictment

 

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So, now you know why:

  • Trump fears the truth;
  • Sessions runs around the country trashing Dreamers, asylum seekers, lawyers, empowering MS-13, and promoting his White Nationalist agenda while not lifting a finger to prevent Russian meddling in our elections;
  • DHS is headed by a lightweight sycophant who is more concerned about deporting gardeners and maids and “kissing up” to Trump’s racist agenda than about protecting our country from the active threat by Russia;
  • We’re standing by and letting Russia run all over us on the world stage;
  • Vladi is just delighted with the performance of his “Puppet President,” “Agent Devon,” and a host of GOP “Fellow Travelers;”
  • Trump and his cohorts are out to destroy the career civil service because career civil servants owe allegiance to our Constitution rather than to Trump and his corrupt minions.

Wake up, folks, and vote the GOP out of office, on all levels, before it’s too late for America!

PWS

02-15-18

MATTHEW NUSSBAUM @ POLITICO: WILL VLADI EVER GET TIRED OF WINNING? – NOT LIKELY IF THE “PUPPET PRESIDENT,” “AGENT DEVON,” AND VLADI’S GOP “FELLOW TRAVELERS” HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT! — “This memo just plays right into that. … This is exactly what Putin had in mind.”

Matthew Nussbaum reports:

POLITICO

The Nunes memo and Putin’s long game

imageMatthew Nussbaum

Vladimir Putin might get tired of winning. Ever since the U.S. intelligence community discovered the Russian operation to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and aid President Donald Trump’s victory, some Republicans have been laboring to undermine…

READ ON POLITICO.COM

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The greatest threat to American democracy doesn’t come from abroad or even from MS-13. No, it comes from the GOP “dupes and stooges” that were (remarkably) elected to protect our country, as it turns out, from themselves! But, their desire to protect and further their own kleptocracy dwarfs any small amount of allegiance they might have to the “common good.”
Will Putin be able to “close the deal” before American voters finally wake up to the danger they have elected?
PWS
02-03-18

START YOUR SATURDAY OFF RIGHT WITH “SATURDAY SATIRE” FROM COURTSIDE – THE BOROWITZ REPORT – “Former Hippies Put in Horrible Position of Rooting for F.B.I.!”

ANDY BOROWITZ FROM THE NEW YORKER:

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/former-hippies-put-in-horrible-position-of-rooting-for-fbi?mbid=nl_Borowitz%20020218&CNDID=48297443&spMailingID=12864882&spUserID=MjQ1NjUyMTUwNjY5S0&spJobID=1340173025&spReportId=MTM0MDE3MzAyNQS2

“Former Hippies Put in Horrible Position of Rooting for F.B.I.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Former hippies across the United States have been put in the unbearable position of rooting for the F.B.I., hippies have confirmed.

From Vermont to California, erstwhile hippies bemoaned a nightmare scenario that has forced them to side with a law-enforcement agency they have despised since the Summer of Love.

“I always dreamed I’d spend my retirement surrounded by my grandchildren, telling them that the F.B.I. were fascist pigs,” Carol Foyler, a former hippie who lives in Santa Cruz, said. “That dream has been shot to hell.”

Her husband, Mick, nodded his head in sad agreement. “We were so happy when pot was legalized in California,” he said. “But the fact that we’re now on the same side as the F.B.I. has ruined even that.”

Now in their seventies, the Foylers are spending their days doing things they never dreamed possible when they traipsed through the mud at Woodstock: going door to door in Santa Cruz, asking other former freaks to sign a pro-F.B.I. petition.

“Donald Trump has wrecked America’s standing around the world, spread misogyny and bigotry, ravaged the environment, and endorsed a child molester,” Carol said. “But making people like us support the F.B.I. is the most unforgivable thing he’s done.”

  • Andy Borowitz is the New York Times best-selling author of “The 50 Funniest American Writers,” and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes the Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news, for newyorker.com.”

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WARNING: THIS IS “FAKE NEWS” BUT COMES WITH MY ABSOLUTE, UNCONDITIONAL, MONEY BACK GUARANTEE THAT IT CONTAINS MORE TRUTH THAN THE AVERAGE TRUMP TWEET OR SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS NEWS BRIEFING, AND ALSO WITH MORE FACTUAL ACCURACY THAN ANY REPORT PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF “AGENT DEVON!”

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To get serious for just a second, after three and one-half decades spent working in the U.S. Department of Justice, under Administrations of both parties, I can testify that the Trumpsters’ assertion that there is a “pro-Democrat bias” in the FBI doesn’t pass the “straight face test.” The FBI is highly professional, but is, and always has been, one of the most “consistently conservative” law enforcement agencies in the U.S.

To further illustrate the totally disingenuous absurdity of the Trump/GOP claim, keep in mind that all of the top officials in the DOJ — AG Sessions, DAG Rosenstein, AAG Brand, and FBI Director Christopher Wray — are recent Trump political appointees confirmed by a GOP-controlled Senate. Indeed, Sessions, Rosenstein, and Brand all served the DOJ in prior GOP Administrations.

It’s more than a little insulting that Trump and his GOP enablers think the American people are too dumb to see what they are doing — trying to “derail” the Mueller investigation before it gets to the bottom of the Trump Campaign’s already-established contacts with the Ruskies and the case for obstruction of justice against Trump which is unfolding and gaining strength and credibility every day right in plain view.

But, then again, enough gullible folks fell for the “Great Con Man” to put our country in this peril in the first place! Vladi must be on “Cloud 9.” America is “self-destructing” and he barely has to lift a finger. Just hope that Trump and the GOP can remain in power long enough to finish the job for him.

PWS

02-03-18