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Trump Admin Set To Cut Food Stamps For 3 Million Families

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A troubling Bloomberg piece (shared by Yahoo) says the Trump administration is set to do away with a provision that allowed most states to automatically enroll welfare recipients for food stamps, a move that will lead to more than 3 million poor households losing their food stamps. This is especially troubling given the fact that the Trump administration not only enjoys record Evangelical support but also recently gave extremely generous tax cuts to the wealthiest of Americans, some of whom have recently confessed to some sections of the media that they don’t even know what to do with the extra money–the quintessential war on poverty. As expected, several 2020 presidential candidates have already jumped on this issue.

As it currently stands most states automatically enroll people who qualify for other federally funded welfare programs into food stamps, and rightfully so. In most states for example, people who qualify for federal housing are also automatically enrolled for food stamps. It is this “automatic enrollment” by states that is at issue, with the Trump administration moving to put an end to it. The argument by the Trump administration is that automatic enrollment is leading to a lot of people getting food stamps even though they don’t meet the federal qualification standards. This they argue, is wasteful and you guessed it–a strain on the national debt. Yeah, the same Trump administration which vigorously pushed for deficit-busting tax cuts for the rich is now worried about food stamps for the poor.

Bottom line folks, valid policy differences arise between fiscal conservatives and economic liberals all the time and a forceful argument can be made that the Trump administration is perfectly within its rights to move in and streamline the criteria for determining who qualifies for food stamps. The problem for the Trump administration however and the record number of Evangelical Christians who support it is that it is very hard to defend a policy that strips millions of poor families of food stamps because of worries about the national debt when just recently you supported a trillion dollar tax cut for the wealthiest Americans knowing full well it would put a huge dent on the national debt. This is the epitome of either cruelty, greed, or both.

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What Happened At Trump & Epstein’s “Calendar Girls” Party In 1992?

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In the midst of Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex trafficking scandal and the growing questions about his ties to President Trump, a New York Times bombshell today revealed that in 1992, Trump and Epstein hosted an exclusive “Calendar Girls” party at Maralago that had 30 attendees, with Trump and Epstein being the only men.

At any other time this could have been dismissed as just another irrelevant story about Trump’s well known past. However given recent revelations in Epstein’s indictment by the Southern District of New York which portray him as someone who serially sought out under age girls for sex, this “Calendar Girls” party at Maralago takes a whole new meaning. Specifically, it is now incumbent upon the New York Times journalists who wrote this bombshell piece to go back and find out who these “Calendar Girls” were and more importantly, what Trump and Epstein did at this party.

All too often the mainstream media stumbles upon a very good story only to walk away from it without sufficient follow up. This “Calendar Girls” story is a perfect example of a consequential story that deserves a follow up.

Bottom line, given Epstein’s troubling record of molesting young girls, the public deserves to know whether the 1992 “Calendar Girls” party at Maralago was yet another scene of Epstein’s numerous crimes.

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Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Implicated In Epstein’s Sex Trafficking Scheme

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The Miami Herald reports that a ruling by a federal appeals court in New York(2nd Circuit) has dramatically increased the chances that documents related to Trump’s friend Jeffrey Epstein’s sex case will soon be unsealed. Importantly, some of the documents at issue could draw a direct link between Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Hotel.

According to the Miami Herald piece, one of Epstein’s key accomplices in the sex trafficking scheme, a British socialite named Ghislaine Maxwell, recruited then 16 year old Virginia Roberts Giuffre who was working at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago spa to become a masseuse for Epstein. Giuffre alleges that she was later made to engage in several sex acts by people in Epstein’s circle including famous Harvard University professor Alan Dershowitz. According to Giuffre, Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell used the masseuse pitch to lure numerous other underage girls as young as 13, into their sex trafficking operation where they were sexually assaulted by influential people in Epstein’s circle.

British Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pictured above with Jeffrey Epstein

After Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s explosive allegations, Ghislaine Maxwell called her a liar. Guiffre sued Maxwell in 2015 for slander. Maxwell settled the lawsuit in 2017 resulting in Guiffre getting paid millions. It is documents in this settled lawsuit that the Miami Herald and other U.S. media houses want unsealed, and appear close to victory. Ghislaine Maxwell is opposing release of the said records. Apparently the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has given Maxwell until March 19, 2019 to show cause as to why documents in the lawsuit should not be made public.

If the federal appeals court goes on to unseal these documents, which at this juncture appears a certainty, this would be devastating news for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago hotel, especially if multiple minors from the hotel were channeled into Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.

Bottom line, as Yours Truly said in an earlier post, the Epstein sex case is one that begs for sunlight. It is in everybody’s interest, including Epstein, that everything involved in his sex trafficking scheme be exposed even if that means granting him immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony. Simply put, Epstein’s victims should not be denied justice simply because Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme may have implicated powerful politicians from both sides of the political divide.

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Kushner Accused Of Selling State Secrets

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Author Sarah Kendzior, a regular conributor on MSNBC’s AM Joy Show repeated an explosive allegation she has made time and time again–that Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner is using his position in the White House to gain access to top state secrets and then selling/sharing them. The author says Kushner is a major national security problem who needs to be indicted.

Author Sarah kendzior told AM Joy host Joy Reid, “I have to say this is like the 12th time I have been on your show talking about Jared Kushner and the fact that he lied on his clearance forms, he’s done illicit dealings, he’s giving away state secrets and that he is a massive national security risk, and so is Ivanka Trump. The only way that we will be able to finally stop having this conversation on national TV is if he is indicted. That’s what needs to be done….” 

National security expert Malcolm Nance, also echoed similar sentiments regarding Kushner on the same AM Joy show. He told Joy Reid, “Jared Kushner’s problem is…he is trading intelligence for favors. And the one thing we know he did is Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia said, bragged publicly that Jared Kushner brought him the names of all the tax cheats in Saudi Arabia and he carried out that massive sweep of Princes and billionaires and then extorted almost a trillion dollars of money that was being withheld out of them. And that came from U.S. intelligence.”

Think about that folks, top-secret U.S. intelligence is being used in Saudi Arabia to extort trillions of dollars. This would be very troubling under any other previous U.S. administration, but it is exceptionally troubling when it happens under the Trump administration which is already littered with corruption scandals. One has to wonder if some of the extorted trillions of dollars did not end up “rewarding” the U.S. players up to and including Kushner, who facilitated the transfer of this sensitive U.S. intelligence to MBS

It is shocking that in a country where we have the Department of Homeland Security, a humongous department of the federal government ostensibly dedicated to protecting the country from threats both foreign and from within, even an extremely serious allegation that a senior White House official is selling state secrets is not enough to trigger a massive crackdown into who’s involved. Many Americans fully share Author Sarah Kendzior’s outrage as to why nothing is ever done to address the serious national security threat posed by Kushner and hopefully very soon the good folks at the Department of Justice will act on these concerns . Not long ago national security threats were a bipartisan issue. It appears in the age of Trump, even that tradition is thrown out of the window.

Bottom line House Democrats and the mainstream media need to get to the bottom of Kushner and Ivanka’s security clearance saga. It is very important that the public know exactly why intelligence officials were opposed to Kushner being granted a security clearance and whether Kushner has done anything to allay those concerns. Simply put, there was a lot of public skepticism when Trump brought Kushner and Ivanka to work in the White House(Nepotism). Now that their continued presence in the White House is a serious national security risk, they must be compelled to either answer serious questions about their security clearance, or leave the White House.

***UPDATED on 09/21/23 to include this 09/20/23 interview Saudi Crown Prince had with Fox News’ Bret Baier. MBS addresses the Kushner question at the 26 minute mark***

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The Trump Epstein Connection

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In case you missed it MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell yesterday had a segment in which Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) read in the U.S. Senate, an excerpt from an old Washington Post piece in which Trump is quoted as talking very favorably about his friend and accused child predator Jeffrey Epstein, including their mutual taste for women “on the younger side”.

Trump reportedly said about Epstein, “He’s a lot of fun to be with. Its even said that he likes a lot of beautiful women as much as I do and many of them are on the younger side.”

This of course comes against the backdrop of news reports of a ruling by a federal judge that prosecutors who handled Epstein’s case violated the law by not conferring with his victims before arriving at his super sweetheart deal which saw him avoid jail time.

Naturally after the federal judge’s decision many questions about Epstein’s case are popping up chief among them, whether the public has a right to know more about the details of Epstein’s infamous case. Is it for example in the public’s interest that Epstein disclose the political figures(Democrat or Republican) who accompanied him in his infamous escapades with underage girls? Given the fact that many public officials have been forced to relinquish their seats because of pressure from the #MeToo movement, doesn’t the public have a right to know what public officials, past and present, Epstein hang out with? These are just some of the questions that will need to be addressed after the federal judge’s bombshell ruling.

Bottom line as a wise man once said, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” It is in the best interests of everybody involved that Epstein come out and explain what happened in his infamous escapades and the politicians who participated in them. Granting him immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony is something that needs to be seriously considered. It however cannot be left unsaid that because there may be very powerful individuals from both political parties implicated in Epstein’s scandal, the public may never get to the bottom of what really happened.

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Paxtons Are A Symbol Of Texas GOP’s Corruption

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Texas Attorney-General and his wife State Senator Angela Paxton

A lot has been made about the corruption of the Trump administration and Republicans generally at the national level, and deservedly so. Very little however is said about the entrenched corruption among Republicans at the state level, especially in so-called “Red States” like Texas that have a GOP trifecta–control of the Judiciary, Legislature and Executive Branch.

Hopefully this bombshell piece by Texas Tribune will open the door to more coverage of the entrenched GOP Corruption in the Lone Star State and other “Red States”

The Texas Tribune piece above goes into great detail about how State Senator Angela Paxton’s new bill opens her up to charges of corruption. So in order to avoid redundancy, Yours Truly will do what he does best–cut to the chase and tell grassroots Democrats what is corrupt/swampy about Senator Paxton’s bill.

You will remember that in 2015, Texas Attorney-General was indicted and charged for violating a Texas securities law–essentially giving investment advice that he was not authorized to give. In Texas, as in many other states, one is required to register with the state board before giving investment advice. Giving investment advice without registering with the state board is a third degree felony in Texas (2-10 years jail). There are many reasons for the state board registration requirement, key among them curbing corruption/self dealing. If I am a major shareholder at a large Texas company, and I am advising someone/ a corporation to make a major investment in the same company, the folks at the Texas state board can easily sniff out the self dealing because they will have records of all my financial entanglements. Simply put, it is a very important anti-corruption measure to have investment advisers register with the Texas state board.

Angela Paxton the wife of Texas AG Ken Paxton ran for office in 2018 and was elected Texas State Senator for Senate District 8(SD 8). One of her first actions as a Texas legislator was introducing Senate Bill 860 (SB860) which among other things, seeks to make it legal for someone to give investment advice without registering with the Texas state board–the same thing her husband is currently in trouble for. It’s not hard to see why the naked self-dealing/corruption that is inherent in Sen Paxton’s SB860 has sparked outrage in Texas. Sadly however, this is just a sample of the kind of entrenched corruption that is commonplace in “Red States” like Texas that never get the mainstream media attention they deserve. Hopefully from here on out the Texas Tribune and other major Texas publications will expose instances of public corruption like the one exhibited by the Paxtons. Yours Truly will certainly make #TexasSwamp a major topic of debate especially as we approach the 2020 elections.

Bottom line if Democrats hope to turn Texas blue, they have to make the entrenched GOP Corruption a key campaign issue in 2020 and beyond. Maybe just maybe this may be the key to Democrats capturing the coveted US Senate seat currently held by John Cornyn in 2020.

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GOP Gutted IRS’ Ability To Go After Rich Tax Cheats

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An investigation by ProPublica has revealed that since 2010 congressional Republicans have systematically gutted the IRS’ budget for the express purpose of dramatically reducing its ability to pursue rich tax cheats, while at the same time ramping up the agency’s ability to go after the working poor who claim earned income credit. If there was ever a classic case of GOP’s war on poverty, this shocking finding by ProPublica certainly is.

Excerpt from ProPublica’s 12/11/2018 piece

This troubling ProPublica revelation comes as many working families are getting ready to file their 2018 taxes and yes–claim their earned income credit. It is sickening to learn that as the working poor are looking forward to getting their income tax refunds so they can catch up on their bills, congressional Republicans have primed the IRS to target them with audits, while letting the rich tax cheats avoid IRS scrutiny. This is absolutely sickening and House Democrats and the mainstream media must get to the bottom of this shameful attack on the poor by the GOP.

This chart from the same ProPublica piece says it all. Notice how sharply audits of those who earn $500K or more(typically Republicans) have dropped compared to the other income groups. As the article correctly points out, it is the rich who cheat on their taxes more which means IRS auditors should concentrate more on them as opposed to the poor.

The incoming House Democratic majority owes it to its voters to investigate this troubling state of affairs at the IRS. For the record, the ProPublica piece points out that it is not the IRS that is at fault here but rather congressional Republicans who have made them go after poor filers claiming earned income credit. Nobody is advocating that the IRS turn a blind eye to poor people fraudulently claiming EIC. However it is only fair that the IRS also go after rich tax filers who by far do most of the tax cheating.

Bottom line it is in everyone’s interest that the ability of the IRS to go after all tax cheats, rich and poor, is fully restored. Where, as here, Republicans have turned this powerful agency into a weapon to attack poor working families, while at the same time neutering its ability to go after rich tax cheats, House Democrats have a duty to step in and restore the agency to its full investigative capacity. Specifically, House Democrats must fully furnish the IRS with the tools it needs(experienced auditors) to aggressively go after rich tax cheats. It is simply immoral to have this powerful agency go after poor working families while the rich tax cheats get off scot-free.

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Staggering $40 Million Of Trump’s Inaugural Funds Missing

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President Donald J. Trump’s Inauguration Ceremony, Jan 20, 2017

In case you missed it, a stunning segment on OutFrontCNN with Erin Burnett said that a staggering $40 million dollars of Trump’s inaugural funds have just disappeared. Citing a Pro Publica report, host Erin Burnett said, “We know that they[Trump’s Inaugural Committee] raised $107 million from donors….Of the $107 million, we to this day do not know where $40 million of it went. How is that possible?” Erin Burnett is not alone in her outrage. A lot of Americans are shocked at how this level of public corruption has gone unanswered(no prosecution) for 2 years.

An even more troubling revelation from the bombshell OutFrontCNN segment is that Ivanka Trump who doubles up as Presidential daughter and Adviser apparently was in the middle of the price negotiations between the Trump Inaugural committee and the Trump Organization raising obvious conflict of interest questions–self-dealing. The Trump Organization apparently extremely overcharged the Trump Inaugural Committee for rooms, meals and event space at Trump Hotel in DC and there are emails showing that Ivanka Trump was in on the price negotiations.  

This is hands down one of the biggest stories of the week but it has strangely received very little mainstream media attention. It is mind-boggling how $40 million dollars can just disappear in thin air–outright theft/embezzlement– and two years later nobody is either sitting in jail for it, or fighting a criminal indictment. Can you imagine if this happened under the Obama administration and the Obama family was suspected of having embezzled inaugural funds? 

This is by all objective standards a shocking case of public corruption. But you don’t have to take Yours Truly’s word for it, listen to what Richard Painter, the Ethics Chief under the George W. Bush administration told OutFrontCNN host Erin Burnett; “It’s shocking. Somebody’s stealing money….somebody’s putting money in their own pocket…$40 million dollars unaccounted for, that is a telltale sign of fraud…criminal activity is very likely. If we had seen any amount of money missing in the Bush inaugural committee I would have called people into my office and said I want to find out exactly where that money is, and better find out fast because it could be a crime…”

Bottom line folks when incidents of blatant corruption by public officials go on for this long without any legal consequences, the spotlight shifts from the corrupt act itself to who we are as a society. In this case it raises the question as to whether certain people are above the law. There is absolutely no way that two years after a suspected theft/embezzlement by members of any other previous U.S. administration, one that was widely reported by the mainstream media and has a lot of documentary evidence, would not have yielded indictments already.

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Will Dems Subpoena Justice Kennedy’s Son Over Deutsche Bank?

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President Trump with Justice Anthony Kennedy(Retired)

In the days following the June 2018 announcement by Justice Anthony Kennedy that he was retiring from the Supreme Court, there was rampant speculation that his resignation was not entirely voluntary but rather that the Trump administration engineered/even forced him out for fear that the GOP may lose their U.S. Senate majority to the Democrats in the November 2018 elections. In essence, the Trump administration did not want Justice Kennedy to retire at a time when Democrats controlled the Senate because that would make it difficult for any Trump SCOTUS nominee to be confirmed.

Speculation that the Trump Admin forced out Justice Kennedy took a whole new turn after the New York Times did a bombshell piece revealing that Justice Kennedy’s son Justin Kennedy had been a longtime financier for Trump. Specifically, that Justin Kennedy was Trump’s financier at the troubled Deutsche Bank which has come under international scrutiny over allegations that it is the bank of choice for Russian money launderers.

Justin Kennedy, the son of Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy

Justin Kennedy was apparently the global head of real estate capital markets at Deutsche Bank which leaves absolutely no doubt that he would be the point man at Deutsche Bank for Trump’s vast real estate empire. Part of the bombshell The NYT piece read;“During Mr. Kennedy’s tenure, Deutsche Bank became Mr. Trump’s most important lender, dispensing well over $1 billion in loans to him for the renovation and construction of skyscrapers in New York and Chicago at a time other mainstream banks were wary of doing business with him because of his troubled business history.” 

With Special Counsel Mueller increasingly zeroing in on Trump’s business ties to Russia and news that German authorities recently raided the troubled Deutsche Bank, the question now being raised is whether with their new found majority in the House, Democrats will subpoena Trump-related Deutsche Bank records and specifically whether they will call Justin Kennedy to testify about his financial dealings with Trump.

Justin Kennedy’s testimony in Congress could also lay to rest the lingering speculation as to whether his dad was forced by the Trump administration to resign from the U.S. Supreme Court before the November 2018 elections. For more on this topic Yours Truly suggests that you check out this must read thread, which also raises questions about Justice Kavanaugh’s involvement in Justice Kennedy’s abrupt decision to retire.

Justin Kennedy’s testimony in Congress could also lay to rest the lingering speculation as to whether his dad was forced by the Trump administration to resign from the U.S. Supreme Court before the November 2018 elections.

Bottom line given the serious questions being raised about Deutsche Bank’s ties to President Trump and its troubling history as a conduit for Russian money laundering, it would be Congressional malpractice if House Democrats did not call Justin Kennedy to testify about his role at the troubled bank and specifically, find out what criteria Deutsche Bank used to justify loaning Trump so much money when other “mainstream” banks declined to do so. Was Russia the source of these loans to Trump?. Grassroots Democrats would also like to know whether Kavanaugh played any part in Justice Kennedy’s retirement–essentially engineering his own ascendancy to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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GOPers Oppose Move To Release Trump-Putin Summit Docs To Congress

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Yesterday while the mainstream media was consumed (rightfully so) with Hurricane Florence coming ashore and Senator Dianne Feinstein referring a sexual misconduct incident involving Kavanaugh to the FBI, something very significant happened in Congress.

Turns out Republicans in the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday voted down a proposal by Democrats that would have required the Trump White House and the State Department to release to congress all records related to the infamous Helsinki, Finland summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin—aka the Treason Summit. The voting was 23-18 straight party line. The segment from C-Span is available here.

There have been a lot of concerns, especially by members of the U.S. Intel community as to what transpired in that room between Trump and Putin, specifically whether Trump made concessions to Putin that would be detrimental to U.S. national security. Even Dan Coats, the current Director of National Intelligence(DNI) under Trump reportedly has no idea what transpired between Trump and Putin in Helsinki–an unprecedented and quite troubling scenario.

One would assume congressional Republicans for the sake of our national security would want details of the Trump-Putin meeting to be made available at least to members of congress but in yet another shocking move, they voted against the Dem initiative and by extension, against the country. Consequently Yours Truly is forced to make yet another “HANDY LIST” of these 23 shameful Republicans in the House Foreign Affairs Committee so everybody in America knows who they are.

Even more importantly almost all if not all of these 23 shameful Republicans are up for re-election this November. See if any of them is your rep and make sure to vote for their Dem challenger!!

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