Mark Corallo is set to tell Mueller about a conversation in which Hope Hicks assured Trump that Don Jr's emails about the Trump Tower meeting "will never get out," the NYT is reporting:https://t.co/68SLcIiclc pic.twitter.com/RTMKxb2jdZ
— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) February 1, 2018
You have to be a teenager to drive a car, but it’s okay for little kids to hunt with guns? I’m glad I don’t live in Wisconsin, I don’t have a Dayglo vest. Thanks, Gov. Walker:
Wisconsin’s nine-day gun deer hunting season starts this weekend, and this year, for the first time, children of any age will be able to hunt with a firearm while accompanied by an adult. Last Saturday, Gov. Scott Walker quietly signed into law a bill that lifted age and firearm restrictions on adults hunting with small children.
In Wisconsin, hunters need to be at least 14 years old and pass a hunter’s safety class to hunt alone, but the state’s mentoring program allowed children 10 and up to hunt with an adult. The new law eliminates this age restriction, as well as lifts a ban on hunters carrying multiple firearms when they’re hunting with children.
Licences for the children now able to hunt under the new law went on sale Monday, making Wisconsin the 35th state to have no minimum hunting age.
The bill was introduced in the state legislature in July, but its signing comes just weeks after two mass shootings and amid a national conversation about gun control.
One text that Page sent Strzok early on the morning of Nov. 9, 2016, has dominated the conservative media world this week, serving as a springboard for a Republican conspiracy theory suggesting that the nation’s premier law enforcement organization was plotting a coup against Trump within hours of his stunning victory.
“Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing,” Page, a FBI lawyer, wrote in the text to Strzok from her FBI-issued phone. “Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society.”
Republican lawmakers seized upon the “secret society” reference this week, claiming to see sinister motives, and it started popping up all over cable news chyrons. But, in fact, it was almost certainly a joke, a bit of gallows humor after an election that featured Russian interference.
So what was that “calendars” reference all about? Out of context, it’s a bit confusing. But the backstory is actually kind of funny. The New York Times first reported that the “calendars,” which the Times said had a “Russia theme,” were a gag gift for those working on the early Russia probe.
A source familiar with the text messages filled HuffPost in on the details. It turns out that, as a joke, Strzok had purchased calendars featuring “beefcake” photos of Vladimir Putin doing manly, tough-guy things like riding a horse.
Fox Business’ Stuart Varney really pushed the new “secret society” conspiracy theory created by Sen. Johnson or as he put it a “cabal” within the FBI that wants to destroy Trump to Fox News top legal analyst. Stuart Varney defends every conspiracy theory that supports Trump. That’s his job. The Fox Business host always brings on… Continue reading “Fox still pushing the alleged FBI plot to take Trump down”
According to Republican Congressman Patrick Meehan, the reason he “lashed out” at an aide upon learning that she was in a relationship (a move that many characterized as sexual harassment and he paid a huge settlement to the aide) was because of the stress he was facing from his constituents over Obamacare. Continue reading “Thanks, Obama!”
I keep looking for a silver lining here, but even passing CHIP without funding community health centers (which is where 40% or so of CHIP users get services) is only half a loaf:
Eleven states are on track to run out of CHIP funds before the end of February, and the situation gets bleaker in March, when half of states are expected to completely run out of guaranteed money, an analysis by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families found.
Community health centers, like CHIP, can’t wait another month for Congress to resolve the funding crisis — these centers serve anyone who needs care, regardless of their ability to pay or health condition. The National Association of Community Health Centers said they were “extremely disappointed” with the House bill and warned “health centers and their patients are facing considerable damage with each passing day while this matter remains unresolved.”
“Centers are being forced to execute contingency plans resulting in staff layoffs and site closures, and are scaling back critical services including prenatal care, dental services and opioid treatment programs,” NACHC said. “If not resolved soon, this funding cliff will result in a loss of care to approximately 9 million patients, closure of over 2,500 care delivery sites, and a loss of over 50,000 jobs.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., cited the lack of funding for community health centers as a chief reason she voted no. “In addition to seriously harming our armed forces, this bill fails to adequately support veterans or fund community health centers, and it leaves hundreds of thousands of Dreamers in a state of uncertainty. Enough is enough,” she said.
Paul Krugman offers this:
I just don't see this as a Democratic cave. Maybe you can argue that a prolonged shutdown would somehow get DACA now now now. But what they got was CHIP extension, a promise to get legislative play for Dreamers, and a chance to call foul in 3 weeks https://t.co/Z6LkZqdAiX
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 22, 2018
Also no link to wall or changes in legal immigration, at least so far
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 22, 2018
I yield to nobody in my desire to see Dems stand up to Trump. But I really, really don't understand the notion that they somehow just caved in. They took CHIP off the table; they got an agreement to hold a vote on DACA, and failing to honor that agreement will be bad for Rs 1/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 23, 2018
They also didn't fund the wall, and they didn't agree to any new restrictions on family-based immigration etc. And what they gave in return was three (3) weeks of funding. Why will their leverage be any less on Feb. 8th? This looks to me like a tactical victory. 2/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 23, 2018
If McConnell breaks his promise, if Trump vetoes the CR, that's all good news for the Dems. I admit that activist complaints are useful — they will help keep spines stiff — but let's be real 3/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 23, 2018
President Donald Trump reportedly asked lawmakers during a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday why so many people from “shithole countries”—referring to Haiti and countries in Africa—immigrate to the United States, The Washington Post has reported. Continue reading “Trump: Why are people from ‘shithole’ countries here?”
After the explosive preview articles and a rushed publish date, there was little question that this week’s bobbleheads would have little else to discuss but Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury”. But here’s the thing about the book: for as much as the Trump administration lashes out and denies it, Wolff isn’t writing anything that hasn’t been… Continue reading “Michael Wolff: It’s ’25th Amendment time’ and the GOP ‘knows it’”
WASHINGTON — The top Senate Democrat investigating Donald Trump’s Russia ties says he believes mounting Republican assaults on federal inquiries into the matter are “a lot of bluster” and only indicate that the probes “are getting closer and closer to connecting the dots.” Continue reading “Sen. Mark Warner slams GOP assaults on Trump-Russia probes”
This seems a bizarre waste of time and energy, but I’m sure it keeps the people in the cheap seats happy:
Just in: Grassley and Graham have made a criminal referral to DOJ about Chris Steele. Legal experts tell me this looks like a PR stunt, mostly because it's not clear that the senators have info that the FBI does not already have (and DOJ hasn't independently pursued charges) pic.twitter.com/J5RTkzI2Y2
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 5, 2018
