Washington (CNN) Vice President Mike Pence is standing by a March statement that he first learned of now-fired national security adviser Michael Flynn’s ties to Turkey from media reports, despite renewed scrutiny and revelations President Donald Trump’s transition team was made aware far earlier.
…snip…
But questions about what Pence knew and when are swirling thanks to new media reports about what Flynn revealed to Trump’s transition team, which Pence oversaw.
From CBS News:
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was not aware that his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had worked to further the interests of the government of Turkey before appointing him, the White House says.
The comments came two days after Flynn and his firm, Flynn Intel Group Inc., filed paperwork with the Justice Department formally identifying him as a foreign agent and acknowledging that his work for a company owned by a Turkish businessman could have aided Turkey’s government.
Filed under FBI, humor, Justice Department, movies, parody, politics, Republicans, Russia, satire, snark, Wordpress Political Blogs
From Slate Magazine:
When Sen. Marco Rubio took that awkward break from his State of the Union response to take a sip of water, some questioned whether it would mean the end of his political career. Instead, Rubio has shown how to capitalize on a viral sensation—even one that made him look bad—to raise some cash. The Florida senator has now raised more than $100,000 for his Reclaim America political action committee by offering a branded water bottle to anyone who donates $25 or more.
Original movie poster
(Click on image for larger version)
I have questions, kids. For example:
Polish Spring? What’s wrong with American Spring or, at the very least, Freedom Spring?
Is Marco Rubio a Rethuglican because he has the same ears as Dumbo? Seriously, I wouldn’t want to stand next to him in a strong windstorm.
Does he have any other credentials other than being Cuban?
Why does Dumbo Rubio love PACs so much? Keep reading, kids…
Filed under Florida, humor, movies, parody, politics, Republicans, Senate, snark, Wordpress Political Blogs
From the guardian:
[Grover] Norquist holds no elected office but is one of the most powerful figures in Washington, head of a lobbying and activist group Americans for Tax Reform. Democrats blame him for the impasse over deficit reduction.
The Democratic senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry described him as the “13th member” of the 12-member congressional super-committee given the task of drawing up a plan to reduce the country’s $15tn national deficit.
Kerry and other Democrats complained that Norquist’s name was repeatedly invoked by the Republicans, and the word “pledge” came up over and over again.
Filed under Congress, Democrats, humor, John Kerry, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, Ronald Reagan, Senate, snark, Wordpress Political Blogs
From Joan Walsh at Salon:
Another day, another story about Newt Gingrich profiteering. Well, three stories, actually.
The Washington Post reported this morning that a Gingrich “think tank,” the Center for Health Transformation, collected at least $37 million from health care industry groups, who were promised “access to Newt Gingrich” and “direct Newt interaction” in exchange for their cash. Also in exchange for their cash, perhaps, Gingrich took some interesting positions on health care reform: He supported the “individual mandate” that Americans buy insurance (or post a bond to cover unanticipated illness) as well as measures to encourage “end of life” planning. He ditched both positions, of course, once he realized they were unpopular with the Republican base.
Filed under humor, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, Scandals, snark, television, Wordpress Political Blogs
From John Cassidy at THE NEW YORKER:
Take the ludicrous suggestion that Freddie Mac, the smaller of the two government-sponsored mortgage giants, may have expected Newt to do some lobbying on its behalf when, in 2006, it paid him the very modest sum of $300,000. Any fair-minded person would agree that Newt quashed this idea during one of last week’s debates. He explained that Freddie’s executives hired him for his expertise as a historian, adding that he warned them to stop lending money to folks who couldn’t repay their loans. In Newt’s own words: “My advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, ‘We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do.’ As I said to them at the time, this is a bubble. This is insane. This is impossible.”
That explanation was more than good enough for me. But darn it if a couple of quibbling scribblers from Bloomberg News didn’t put out a report yesterday, quoting former executives of Freddie Mac saying that Newt was hired “to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it.”
Filed under Barack Obama, humor, movies, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, Scandals, snark, Wordpress Political Blogs
From THINK PROGRESS:
Large manufacturers and chemical producers have lobbied ferociously to stop the National Institutes of Health from classifying formaldehyde as a carcinogen. A wide body of research has linked the chemical to cancer, but industrial polluters have stymied regulators from action.
Last year, the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer reported that billionaire David Koch, whose company Georgia Pacfic (a subsidiary of Koch Industries) is one of the country’s top producers of formaldehyde, was appointed to the NIH cancer board at a time when the NIH delayed action on the chemical. The news was met with protests from environmental groups. Faced with mounting pressure from Greenpeace and the scientific community, Koch […] offered an early resignation from the board in October.
Yesterday, the NIH finally handed down a report officially classifying formaldehyde as a carcinogen […]
Filed under David Vitter, humor, James Inhofe, movies, parody, politics, Republicans, snark, Wordpress Political Blogs
