Tag: Stephanie

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Slams Lee Zeldin As “The Architect Of The Big Lie”

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul(D) appeared on MSNBC’s 11th Hour (11/04/22) to essentially make her closing argument against her Republican challenger Lee Zeldin in the election slated for this coming Tuesday(11/08/22). You’ll remember Hochul, then Lt. Governor, took over when former Governor Andrew Cuomo was forced to step down amid sexual harassment allegations. Hochul is now seeking election to a full term.

Asked to comment about her challenger, Lee Zeldin, Gov Hochul didn’t mince words, telling New Yorkers that Zeldin was “the architect of the big lie”, which formed the basis of former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. She specifically said(0:50): “This is something that needs to come out. Lee Zeldin was described by Donald Trump as a brilliant lawyer. You know why? Because Lee Zeldin had sent text messages right when the question of the presidential election was out there. He sent messages helping strategize on how to create the big lie. So you think about the architect of the big lie, actually undermining our democracy, as well as being out there supporting the insurrectionists, refusing to certify Joe Biden’s election on the same day as the attack on the seat of our democracy. He is so extreme, opposes women’s right to choose, doesn’t support a single bit of gun safety legislation, says he’s tough on crime, but boy, is he soft on guns, so people need to know, that’s who’s running for Governor, trying to hide all that now, like ‘Oh no, he would never do all these things’. Come on, voters in New York are smarter than that.”

Gov Hochul then touched on one of the biggest questions related to Zeldin’s quest for the governorship, and that is, whether it’s all tied to a possible Trump pardon. Gov Hochul specifically said(1:46): “Being so close to Trump though, you got to wonder, does Donald Trump raise money for him, associate with him…Donald Trump is probably sizing up saying, boy, this guy could give me a pardon if he were the Governor.”

Asked whether a Governor Zeldin could derail all the investigations into Trump’s businesses currently being conducted by New York Attorney General Letishia James, Gov. Hochul said(2:26): “Absolutely. Tish James is one tough prosecutor, she’s a great friend, and I know she’s going to go to the mat, but if there’s a conviction, that’s when a Governor has the power to pardon or grant clemency. Donald Trump knows this because he granted a pardon to a guy who went to jail who defeated me for Congress, Chris Collins, so he knows all about how this game is played. Let them do what they want, their dirty tricks, get convicted, but then you got a friend in the Governor’s office who can pardon you. That’s what Donald Trump is banking on, that’s why he’s so supportive of Lee Zeldin, and people need to know that close connection between the two of them. Lee Zeldin was called one of Donald Trump’s earliest and staunchest supporters. That should mean something to New Yorkers.”

The interview then shifted to probably the biggest topic in the New York Governor’s race, and that is, crime. Asked what she has done to combat crime in New York, Gov Hochul said(3:46): “Last January in my state of the state address, January 5th, this is not an election conversion here. January 5th, you can go look at the records, I was talking about how people are feeling insecure, we need to reduce crime, we need to get more guns off the streets. Since I’ve been Governor, we have 8,000 more guns off the streets. Why? Because I took my police force, state police, and said we don’t need to give out as many tickets, let’s get them stopping the guns from flowing into our streets, and for the first time in decades, you have the Governor of New York, working in partnership with the Mayor of New York City…No Governor has spent more money than I have on public safety in history.”

Gov. Hochul also addressed the contentious bail issue, that her challenger Lee Zeldin has used to cast her as weak on crime–criminals getting arrested, only to be released back on the streets due to a lax bail system. Gov Hochul told host Stephanie Ruhle(6:48): “You mentioned the bail laws. The reason the New York state budget, my very first budget was nine days late, I wanted it on time, but I said I’m not leaving here until we deal with the repeat offenders you mentioned, who will keep taking things off the shelves in the drug stores every day, the bail laws now cover them. Anything with a gun, the bail laws now cover them. I gave more powers and discretion to judges and district attorneys than they had before. We made those changes in our law, but they’ve only been in effect a short time.”

Asked whether she thinks the perception that she’s weak on crime is in any way related to her gender, a sexist perception based on New York’s history of “alpha male, macho men” Governors, she responded(7:44): “People ought to know I’m as tough as hell. I’m from Buffalo. My father and grandfather were steel workers, grew up in a big, Irish Catholic, rough and tumble family. There’s no one tougher than I am, and I’ve been through hell and back in this job, and I loved every minute of it. But there’s no one tougher than me, and if anyone thinks that I’m soft on crime, look at what we’ve been doing. We have been aggressive about this, and so I’m breaking the mold perhaps, people haven’t seen a Governor who looks like me, I want to make sure that this becomes the norm. We have the toughest, I am a mother, I’m actually a grandmother, so this is personal to me when people have that fear, so I have my own toughness, but also that compassion and the empathy that perhaps others don’t have.”

The interview then shifted to the “tightening polls” being parroted by Fox News and other rightwing media outlets. Gov. Hochul dismissed these bogus polls as gimmicks commonly employed by Republicans to raise more money for their candidate based on the false perception that they are on the brink of victory. Gov Hochul specifically said, regarding the “tightening polls”(10:43): “All you have to do is see the name Trafalgar. It’s going to show that we’re neck and neck , or that Lee Zeldin is beating me today. Our own polls show that that’s wildly wrong, but you’re making money. You’re getting super billionaire donors like Ron Lauder to dump millions ans millions and millions of dollars in negative ads against me to prop up your election because you gave them a fake poll. Democrats are too honest to do that, we’re not playing that game, and so that’s what’s going on here. I think that is having an effect, but I don’t care, I’m not intimidated by them, by their polls, their money, I have my faith in New Yorkers, and I know they’ll do the right thing. All I need to win on this election, is Democrats turning out. We have enough Democrats, but they get complacent…That’s when you get in trouble. We cannot let that happen.”

Gov. Hochul finished with this powerful message(11:17): “I’m calling on all New Yorkers to stand up, defend your democracy against a Trump-loving, climate change denier, election denier, abortion denier-denying abortion rights, that’s who’s on the ballot. It’s time people understand that.”

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Former AG Holder Re January 6th:”I Think We’re Going To See Indictments Here”

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Former AG Holder on MSNBC’s 11th Hour show (07/15/22)

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder(Obama) appeared on MSNBC’s 11th Hour w/Stephanie Ruhle(07/15/22) where he dropped a bombshell, telling host Ruhle that his vast experience as a public corruption prosecutor at DOJ, leaves him with a strong “feel” that we will see indictments for Trump’s political allies, and possibly Trump himself, over their efforts to thwart the peaceful transfer of power after Trump lost the 2020 election.

Holder said that as a career public corruption prosecutor, “you get a feel for these things after a while.” For the record, many political pundits and legal analysts have said the same thing on cable TV shows. Reasonable people will agree however, that it is quite different, and highly notable, when it comes from a career public corruption prosecutor like Holder, who recently headed the DOJ.

11th Hour host Stephanie Ruhle:“Merrick Garland, the Attorney General is under huge pressure to act, especially as these hearings unfold. You once had his job…should he act?”

Former AG Holder(video at 0:30):“I think to the extent that I could offer a little advice to the folks at the Justice Department, I would say that maybe you need to find a way in which you can appropriately reassure the American people that the Justice Department is on the case. You know, I was a prosecutor, started my career in the public integrity section, where we looked at, and prosecuted official corruption cases, political corruption cases, and you get a feel for these things after a while. And I got to tell you that on the basis of what I’ve heard, what I’ve read about this whole January 6th matter, I think we’re going to see indictments here. I don’t know if they are going to involve ultimately, the president, but I think those near to him have criminal liability, I think people outside the White House are going to be potentially indicted as well, and as I said, that feel that you get as a public corruption prosecutor makes me think that DOJ is going to ultimately return indictments in connection with the attempt to stop the transfer of power back in January.”

There’s no other way to interpret former AG Holder’s remarks on MSNBC’s 11th Hour other than, his vast experience as a public corruption prosecutor at DOJ gives him total confidence that indictments will be handed out to Trump’s political allies, and possibly Trump himself, for their efforts to thwart the peaceful transition of power following the 2020 election.

One only hopes that when former AG Holder says “people outside the White House”, he’s referring to the likes of Reps Marjorie Taylor Green, Matt Gaetz, or even Senators Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, or in the case of Texas, AG Ken Paxton and other Texas super Trumpers. As Trump famously says, “We’ll see what happens.”

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Is It Time To Go To Non-Partisan Primaries To Address Growing Polarization?

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A segment on MSNBC’s 11th Hour w/ Stephanie Ruhle(06/22/22) delved into the very interesting discussion as to whether, given the staggering levels of polarization in the country, we should change adopt a non-partisan primary voting system. Ruhle’s guest Nick Troiano, Executive Director of Unite America, says this change, which is already in place in several states, notably Alaska, would incentivize candidates to look for support beyond their party affiliation thus making them more likely to seek bipartisan solutions to problems. Unite America is a national organization trying to bridge the growing partisan divide by supporting political reforms and candidates who put people over party.

Troiano told 11th Hour host Ruhle(video at 1:22):“I think we spend a lot of time focused on who we elect, not enough time focusing on how we elect, because it’s the systems of our elections that are really pushing our parties further and further apart, and I think our politicians, as a result, are much more polarized than we the people. We’re not seeing the types of solutions and bipartisan policy making in Congress as the American people want and deserve, and the core reason of that is because of our system of partisan primaries. In the last election, it was only 10% of Americans who elected 83% of Congress, because the vast majority of our elections are decided not in the general election in November, but in the primary election, and that problem is getting even worse this election cycle after the latest round of redistricting. We’re going to have the least competitive elections of our lifetime. It’s going to lead to the least accountable Congress of our lifetime. So if we want different outcomes out of Congress, we have to change the process, and fortunately, there’s a growing movement to do that at the state level all across the country.”

Below are some of United America‘s suggested reforms

Troiano singled out the primary system in Alaska as the “best example” of what should be emulated nationwide, if we are going to address the growing polarization problem. He said: “Senator[Lisa]Murkowski was one of the 14 Republicans who voted to advance the bipartisan gun legislation. She’s the only Republican up for election this year, and what’s notable is that this is the first time where the Senator doesn’t face a partisan primary. She’s standing for election in front of all Alaskan voters because in 2020, Alaskans adopted a ballot measure that replaced both parties primaries with a single non-partisan primary. So all the candidates compete in one election, all the voters get to participate on that ballot, the top four finishers go to the general election and through an instant runoff, whomever wins the majority of support gets elected, and so it gives voters more voice and choice in elections, and it incentivizes candidates and leaders to campaign and be responsive to the whole constituency, not just the 10% who may vote in a partisan primary. Now imagine if additional states were to adopt this reform, we can have dozens of our elected leaders in Congress finally being able to be responsive to the majority of Americans and not the political extremes.”

Troiano also said non-partisan primaries would encourage more people to throw their hats into the political ring without fear of being labeled “spoilers”, something he acknowledged, keeps a lot of otherwise good candidates from both parties, on the sidelines.

Bottom line folks, non-partisan primaries is a very interesting suggestion indeed, which Yours Truly hopes, will be given serious consideration given the crippling levels of polarization in our politics today. Simply put, when the likes of Boebert(CO) and MTG(GA) start showing up in Congress, then reasonable people will agree, that the selection system is surely broken!!

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NYT’s Maggie Haberman Ensnared In Feud Over Trump Inaugural Funds

Melania Trump with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff

In case you missed it, the Trump inaugural saga has taken a new, and very interesting twist lately, with now Twitter-active Stephanie Winston Wolkoff taking a direct shot at Maggie Haberman and Ken Vogel of the New York Times(NYT), as being part of the plot to throw her under the bus.

You’ll remember that after the bombshell revelation that a staggering $40 million of Trump’s inaugural funds had mysteriously disappeared, there was an effort by Trump’s allies to pin the blame on then First Lady Melania Trump’s Senior Advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. Stephanie Wolkoff talked about this effort to throw her under the bus at an appearance on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show on September 1, 2020.

In the interview, a visibly upset Stephanie Wolkoff told host Maddow, that then First Lady Melania Trump basically told her she had to be the fall person for the Trump inaugural scandal. Wolkoff specifically said, “Melania and the [Trump]White House had accused me of criminal activity, then publicly shamed and fired me, and made me their scapegoat. At that moment in time, that’s when I pressed record. She was no longer my friend, and she was willing to let them take me down, and she told me herself, that this is the way it has to be. She was advised by the attorneys at the White House that there was no other choice because there was a possible investigation into the presidential inauguration committee….At first I really did think maybe she would come to my aid? Maybe she would tell the truth? She turned her back, she did. She folded like a deck of cards., and I’m shocked she did it.”

This 05/23/2021 tweet however, shows that Stephanie Wolkoff is not only going after Trump and his allies in her effort to set the record straight regarding Trump’s inaugural, she’s also calling out NYT’s Maggie Haberman and Ken Vogel, as being part of the plot to destroy her. This, if proven, could turn out to be a huge scandal unto itself, given the fact that many liberals still blame the New York Times for Trump’s ascension to the White House. Specifically, many liberals believe NYT’s excessive coverage of the “email scandal”, weakened Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the final stretch of the 2016 campaign.

There’s no other way any reasonable person can interpret Stephanie Wolkoff’s tweet other than NYT’s Haberman and Vogel were doing Trump’s bidding when they wrote the referenced piece. This is especially so considering Wolkoff’s invocation of “SETUP. COVERUP. TAKEDOWN” in her tweet. For the record, accusations of “access journalism” against then White House reporter for the New York Times, Maggie Haberman, persisted throughout Trump’s presidency. Stephanie Wolkoff is not the first person drawing that inference.

Bottom line folks, Yours Truly is not accusing Maggie Haberman or Ken Vogel of any wrongdoing. By all accounts, these are serious journalists, who exhibit a high level of professionalism(my personal opinion). What Yours Truly is simply pointing out, is what any reasonable person presented with Stephanie Wolkoff’s recent tweet would conclude, and that is, Haberman and Vogel were in on the plot by Trump’s allies to throw her under the bus. It would be in everybody’s interest, especially Wolkoff who suffered greatly as a result of the Trump inaugural saga, if Haberman, Vogel or even the New York Times management, addressed this issue.

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Melania’s Spox Says Trump’s Behavior Doesn’t Affect “Be Best” Campaign

In case you missed it, Melania Trump’s Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham just did an interview on CNN where the host Christi Paul asked her about President Trump’s behavior vis-a-vis Melania’s “Be Best” campaign. Grisham gave one of the most ridiculous explanations I’ve ever heard on TV to which host Christi Paul shockingly never pushed back on/inquired further into.

CNN Host:How does she[Melania] balance her platform[“Be Best”] against some of the things that he[Trump] does?

Grisham: “I think that honestly one thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other, and she is focused on helping children. She has said many times that her husband is an adult, he is the President of the United States and he knows what he is doing, and she’s focused on “Be Best”, she’s focused on helping children, children are the ones who are impressionable right now and so she’s going to go out there and do the best that she can to help them succeed.”

The only way to interpret Stephanie Grisham’s explanation is that even though American children are impressionable, they never look up to the President of the United States, which as I said earlier is a totally bogus explanation that host Christi Paul should have vigorously pushed back on.

Bottom line Trump’s troubling behavior as President has serious ramifications up to and including its corrosive effect on our children. Where, as here, a mainstream media host gets an opportunity to raise that issue, it is only proper that they fully explore it–ask follow-up questions and push back when necessary. Even though Christi Paul is ordinarily a great host(among my CNN faves), she failed miserably on this Stephanie Grisham interview–sorry Christi.

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Board Member At CBS Drafted Kathy Griffin An Apology Letter To Trump



A bombshell revelation that an executive at CBS, one Arnold Kopelson drafted an apology letter for Kathy Griffin to send to Trump in order to save her media career has reignited the debate about Trump’s grip on the mainstream media.

After Trump’s upset victory in the 2016 elections, many liberals(fairly or unfairly) pinned the blame on the mainstream media which they accused of “creating Trump” with their constant coverage of his campaign rallies. Up until now however, the “creating Trump” accusation has been just that, an accusation(no concrete proof). This revelation however that a CBS executive asked Kathy Griffin to send an apology letter to Trump in order to save her career, certainly raises serious questions as to just how much grip Trump has on the mainstream media heads.

Many liberals, the loudest being Rosie O’Donnell, have lashed out at the mainstream media for what they perceive as an enabling, even abetting attitude towards Trump. Stories that would have made headline news and possibly even sunk previous administrations somehow never get the coverage they deserve. One such seriously under-reported story, which Yours Truly highlighted recently is Melania Trump’s Senior Adviser and personal friend Stephanie Wolkoff receiving $26 million from Trump’s inaugural funds. Under any other administration this would have been major “Breaking News” by all the major networks(CBS, ABC, NBC) but strangely, not so with the Trump administration.


Now that we have an executive at CBS who believes a Trump critic (Kathy Griffin) needs to send an apology letter to Trump in order to save her media career, serious questions need to be asked as to what else they(networks) are willing to do/or not do to placate Trump. Do they for example bury “bad” stories about Trump to make him happy? These are not hypothetical radical left-wing questions anymore and CBS needs to fully address them.

Bottom line there needs to be further discussion about this bombshell revelation that a CBS board member felt Kathy Griffin should send an apology letter to Trump in order to save her career. Mainstream media has a lot of “splainin” to do. The silver lining?–Yours Truly is slowly but surely filling the void created by the hapless mainstream media. What MSM refuses to cover, we most certainly will!!

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A Handy List Of Trump’s 2017 Inaugural Committee Members


In light of Sam Patten’s plea deal in the ongoing TrumpRussia investigation which has reignited questions about possible Russian money laundering during Trump’s 2017 inauguration, it is only fair that the public see the faces of the members of Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee. It is these folks, almost all of them billionaires, who presided over the highly questionable $107 million raised for Trump’s inauguration.


It will be very interesting to see whether these billionaires will be held accountable either by congress or the Mueller probe. Surely one of them knows why Stephanie Wolkoff, a friend and Senior Adviser to First Lady Melania Trump was paid $26 million for “event planning”.

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$26 Million Of Trump’s Inaugural Funds Was Paid To Melania’s Friend

Stephanie Wolkoff & Melania Trump

A recent plea deal by a GOP operative Sam Patten in the ongoing TrumpRussia investigation has brought renewed attention to the very questionable funds that flowed into Trump’s inauguration–a reported $107 million. Yours Truly recently wrote about this.



What Yours Truly failed to point out and has been brought to his attention is that part of these mysterious inauguration funds– a cool $26 million–went to a firm belonging to Melania Trump’s friend Stephanie Wolkoff for “event planning”. 


At the time of the $26 million payment, Stephanie Wolkoff was a Senior Adviser to First Lady Melania Trump, which by itself raises a whole host of ethical questions which you would think would attract a lot of mainstream media attention. Strangely it hasn’t.

Bottom line as we dig deeper into the mysterious $107 million that was pumped into Trump’s inauguration, we must also get to the bottom of the $26 million that was paid to Melania’s friend for “event planning”. This is such an exhorbitant expense that it fits the pattern often witnessed in money laundering cases.


It cannot also be left unsaid that the same mainstream media which hounded Hillary Clinton over the whitewater land deal is yet to ask Melania a single question about this mysterious $26 million that her friend got for “event planning”—the hapless MSM indeed!!

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ALEC Sought To Be Exempted From Texas’ Open Records Laws

We now know about how GOP Super Donors Koch Brothers have enlisted the services of American Legislative Exchange Council(ALEC) in their efforts to change the U.S. Constitution. ALEC essentially comprises wealthy corporate lobbyists who influence State GOP lawmakers into passing their(ALEC’s) preferred pieces of legislation. As Yours Truly pointed out in an earlier post, often times ALEC just hands down bills written by their lobbyists to State GOP legislators for passage “as-is”–a flagrant subversion of our democratic process.


Most of the voting public is unaware of this travesty surrounding ALEC and State GOP lawmakers thanks in large part to the hapless Mainstream Media. It is clear however that if the public were to find out that they elect state representatives only for them to be taken over by ALEC when they reach State Capitols, there would be bipartisan outrage(both Democrats and Republicans). Well it turns out that ALEC is fully aware that its activities would enrage a lot of Texas voters in particular so much so that in 2013 they asked then Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to make them immune from Texas’ Open Records Laws.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott

Think about that folks, ALEC has so much conscience of guilt about its activities, that it wanted AG Abbott to keep its communications with Texas legislators secret. Even more troubling is that a Texas House Rep Stephanie Klick (Rep-Fort Worth) actually fought to keep her communications with ALEC secret. She argued that her communications with ALEC should be kept secret citing the “deliberative process” exemption to Texas’ Open Records Laws.

Government corruption watchdog Center for Media and Democracy wrote a letter to then Texas Attorney General  Greg Abbott challenging ALEC’s and Rep Klick’s stances that their communications should be exempt from Texas Open Records laws. Now Yours Truly is not an attorney and so is not in a position to assess the merits or demerits of Texas Rep Klick’s “deliberative process” argument. However just from a public optics standpoint, it looks very bad that here you have an elected State Rep who appears intent on going around Texas’ open records laws to keep secret her interaction with lobbyists. It reeks of corruption whichever way one slices it and goes against the spirit of Texas’ sunshine-in-government laws.

Texas State Rep Klick is running for re-election this November. Her Dem challenger for Texas House District 91, Jeromey Sims must confront her on her ALEC stance. Specifically he should call on her to release her communications with ALEC that she sought to keep secret, if she hasn’t done so already. Regardless of whether she ended up releasing the documents or not, the Dem challenger should confront her for her demonstrated hostility towards Texas’ Open Records Laws. Simply put, any Texas politician who does not favor Texas’ Open Records Laws has no business being in the State Capitol. 

Texas State Rep Stephanie Klick

Bottomline, as we approach Midterms 2018, Texas Dems must expose this corrupt affair between Koch outfit ALEC and the Texas GOP. 

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