US Politics November 2017

Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary in the Trump administration, shares business interests with Vladimir Putin’s immediate family, and he failed to clearly disclose those interests when he was being confirmed for his cabinet position.

Ross — a billionaire industrialist — retains an interest in a shipping company, Navigator Holdings, that was partially owned by his former investment company. One of Navigator’s most important business relationships is with a Russian energy firm controlled, in turn, by Putin’s son-in-law and other members of the Russian president’s inner circle.

Some of the details of Ross’s continuing financial holdings — much of which were not disclosed during his confirmation process — are revealed in a trove of more than 7 million internal documents of Appleby, a Bermuda-based law firm, that was leaked to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The documents consist of emails, presentations and other electronic data. These were then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists — a global network that won the Pulitzer Prize this year for its work on the Panama Papers — and its international media partners. NBC News was given access to some of the leaked documents, which the ICIJ calls the “Paradise Papers.”

...Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said members of Congress who were part of Ross’ confirmation hearings were under the impression that Ross had divested all of his interests in Navigator. Furthermore, he said, they were unaware of Navigator’s close ties to Russia.

“I am astonished and appalled because I feel misled,” said Blumenthal. “Our committee was misled, the American people were misled by the concealment of those companies.” Blumenthal said he will call for the inspector general of the Commerce Department to launch an investigation.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/leaked-documents-show-commerce-secretary-concealed-ties-putin-cronies-n817711

good luck blumenthal

Donald Trump found in a dog's ear pic.twitter.com/q0K6sdpg1G

— Faces in Things (@FacesPics) November 4, 2017

well that’s a uniquely upsetting image

Here's a tweedledum-fat profile picture of him to clear your mind:
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/11/05/us/06PREXY/06PREXY-superJumbo.jpg

At this rate this may be the first president with his first Lil' Scoot. Lil' Scoot One.

OK, I know the URL refers to the plane behind him but the fact that the Times tagged that photo "06PREXY-superJumbo" is cracking me up.

Ha, that was my thought, too!

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Sen. Rand Paul is recovering from five broken ribs and bruises to his lungs, and it is unclear when he will return to Washington, aides said Sunday, signaling that injuries he sustained Friday are far more severe than initially thought.

Fat Trump is fat, but he ain't no William Howard Taft.

give him time

hmmmm grown adults doing fat jokes, cool

William Howard Taft was no joke.

if you switch the first letters of his name around, it is a joke, albeit an oblique one: Hilliam Toward Waft

hmmmm grown adults doing fat jokes, cool

Mmmmm grown adults doing utopia, cool.

re TX: "This isn't a guns situation."

Oh this is funny:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bannon-protegee-gets-a-new-job-in-the-white-houseand-its-not-going-well

Donald Trump’s special assistant Julia Hahn has a new job in the White House—and, so far, it’s not going according to plan.

After Steve Bannon was ousted from the Trump White House in mid-August, his former Breitbart employee and fellow Donald Trump aide Seb Gorka wasn’t far behind. Next, White House official Andrew Surabian, a Bannon adviser and Trump campaign vet, left the West Wing to go join the former chief strategist’s outside political operation.

That left Hahn, a former Breitbart staffer and Bannon protégée, to fend for herself in a White House that appeared to be shedding Breitbart alumni and Bannon-associated personnel.

...

Hahn also still works closely with Miller, particularly when pitching outlets on immigration-related stories. And recently, the two of them have been talking to journalists at conservative publications, trying to sell them on a possible deal framework that the White House has been preparing on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the President Barack Obama- era program ended by Donald Trump that give legal protections to undocumented minors.

...

But Miller and Hahn have had trouble making the sale. Though President Trump is supportive of their approach, the deal does not include the White House’s promised border wall. Beyond that, some conservative reporters have flat-out told the White House that they will not get behind any deal that includes DACA protections, and that they don’t believe Miller and Hahn are selling a “poison pill” at all.

This includes Hahn’s former employer.

Meantime, the Rand Paul story...is strange.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/06/562289911/sen-rand-paul-recovering-from-broken-ribs-after-assault

Let the conspiracy fun begin.

Greedo-like fish food kerfuffle:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/06/562271753/dont-be-koi-theres-something-fishy-about-that-trump-abe-photo

lol that we all fell for this story

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/russia-fake-twitter-facebook-posts-accounts-trump-election-jenna-abrams-20171103.html

Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn followed both accounts. His son, Michael Flynn Jr., shared a tweet from the Abrams account just days before the election.

Someone more conspiracy-minded might suspect collusion, but I really think these dudes are dumb enough that they were wholeheartedly endorsing stupid divisive russian troll crap

I can't wait to find out what went down with the Rand Paul story. The silence is deafening. What would cause a neighbor to sucker tackle Rand Paul hard enough to break ribs? And a fellow physician, at that. My first guess is ... there's a spouse involved? Because it scans pretty retaliatory.

there's nothing more petty and rage-inducing than neighborhood squabbles

Sure, but usually at a picnic after a few beers. Rand was mowing the lawn and his neighbor came flying at him from behind!

Maybe he had asked Rand to not mow his lawn because he was trying to watch TV, and Rand was all "live free or die, asshole!" So the dude paused his movie, went outside and tackled him.

obviously watching football

Maybe Paul was just doing an unforgivably-shitty job of mowing his lawn, did you ever think of that.

Is anybody else casting Michael Stuhlbarg in the role of the tackling neighbor

there's nothing more petty and rage-inducing than neighborhood squabbles a Trump presidency.

― mh, Monday, November 6, 2017

maybe liberals are just haters. it's not like rand paul faked his american birth certificate or anything

These stories provide a couple more details but not much:

http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article182927486.html

http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/bg-man-charged-with-assaulting-paul-at-senator-s-home/article_e0d36d03-f357-5161-8267-3aa317e978c7.html

My favorite bit, of course:

Boucher is a Bowling Green anesthesiologist and pain specialist who developed a product called Therm-a-Vest, a cloth vest partially filled with rice and secured by Velcro straps that is designed to relieve back pain by delivering heat directly to the areas of the back where most pain is felt.

Boucher applied for a patent for the vest in 2003 and has marketed it through the QVC shopping channel.

"Hey Senator you never delivered on your endorsement, now you'll have cause!" *tackle*

'pain specialist'

Also assuming Paul actually lost consciousness, 'anesthesiologist'

the 'anesthesiologist's patented body slam

how historically ironic that an ayn rand libertarian freak like senator paul may not be in the senate in time to cast a vote to further entrench american neo-feudalism via insane tax cuts

he was probably "no" vote anyway

Is anybody else casting Michael Stuhlbarg in the role of the tackling neighbor

― El Tomboto, Monday, November 6, 2017 8:05 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Stuhlbarg should be Rand Paul

https://49.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_likzx3lbbI1qavsh3o1_500.gif

What’s that « the definition of insanity... » line again? pic.twitter.com/Gn6sXn5JpX

— Remi Brulin (@RBrulin) November 6, 2017

It would only fit the definition if Rubio expected to get different results.

“So my relationship with Shinzo got off to quite a rocky start because I never ran for office, and here I am,” Trump remarked. “But I never ran, so I wasn’t very experienced. And after I had won, everybody was calling me from all over the world. I never knew we had so many countries.”

OMFG, GTFO

Why can't he just die. Just die. Please. Just die.

It never occurred to me that there were so many countries in the world because none of them are named like Trumpsylvania or Trumpland so why would I even be interested.

back then, world didn't want me
now i'm hot, world all on me, i said
back then, world didn't want me
now i'm hot, world all on me, i said
back then, world didn't want me
now i'm hot, world all on me

Were we expecting a Flynn thing today or no? jw

News about Flynn was they had plenty on him to make an arrest, but I haven't seen anything saying an actual arrest would be happening.

An update on Rand's situation! Uh.

NEW: statement from lawyer of alleged @RandPaul attacker, Rene Boucher: #RandPaulAttack pic.twitter.com/AsYIE9kc1j

— Brooke Singman (@brookefoxnews) November 6, 2017

Some more talk:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/new-details-rand-paul-assault-sneak-attack-possible-political-dispute-n818021?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

Alleges they hadn't spoken in years, plus a property dispute.

I don't condone just indiscriminately beating the shit out of libertarians but I'm uh not exactly shedding tears over here

Rand was out there with a leaf blower moving all the leaves from his yard into the other guy's

If only there had been a good guy with a gun

There's probably like a nine inch wide strip abutting the dude's yard that Paul passively aggressively refuses to mow where the grass is like four feet high now and, y'know, at a point enough is enough already.