Tag: TRUMP

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Trump Admin Set To Cut Food Stamps For 3 Million Families

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UNITED STATES – MAY 7: Supporters listen as Rep. Donald McEachin, D-Va., holds a news conference with faith leaders to “urge lawmakers to reject proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the Farm Bill” on Monday, May 7, 2018. (Photo By Sarah Silbiger /CQ Roll Call)

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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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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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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The FBI Must Investigate Kavanaugh’s Debt

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After the last minute maneuver by GOP Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona that led President Trump to order the FBI to look into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a partisan divide has emerged as to what exactly the FBI is allowed to look into.

Naturally the Republicans, fearful that a full blown FBI probe into Kavanaugh’s background will dig up damaging info, are advocating a “limited scope” inquiry in which they want the FBI to look into Dr Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations only. The GOP argument, presented today by White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway is that the FBI inquiry should not be a “fishing expedition.” Democrats on the other hand want a full blown FBI probe into all the sexual misconduct allegations made against Kavanaugh(4 so far), plus a look into whether he perjured himself during this and previous confirmation hearings.

One issue however that is strangely left out of the mix is the Kavanaugh family debt. According to a Yahoo News article, the Kavanaughs have racked up tens of thousands of credit card debt spanning all the 12 years preceeding 2017. According to the Yahoo News piece, there are conflicting explanations given by Kavanaugh and the Trump White House as to the origins of the Kavanaugh family debt.

Another very interesting tidbit from the Yahoo piece is that in 2017, a year before Trump nominated Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court, the credit card debt suddenly disappeared. Again, there are conflicting versions as to how the Kavanaugh family debt got cleared, with Kavanaugh saying one thing and the Trump White house saying something else. So there are conflicting stories from Kavanaugh and the Trump White House regarding both the origin and disappearance of his credit card debt.

Kavanaugh’s finances strangely never came up during his confirmation hearings. It goes without saying however that a judge’s finances are always an important line of inquiry especially as relates to recusals that may be necessitated by financial conflicts of interest.

Bottom line now that the FBI has a week to look into Kavanaugh’s background, Dems must insist that the feds also clear up discrepancies regarding the Kavanaugh family debt. Simply put, the FBI should find out what exactly led to the Kavanaugh family debt and what exactly cleared it up.

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Signs Of Russian Money Laundering In Trump’s Inauguration

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An interesting Rachel Maddow segment points out that a guilty plea by GOP Lobbyist Samuel Patten in the ongoing TrumpRussia investigation raises new troubling questions about the mysterious money flow surrounding Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

Maddow has previously reported extensively on the strange money flow surrounding Trump’s inauguration but the latest guilty plea by the said GOP operative provides specific details that take allegations of Russian money laundering at Trump’s inauguration way beyond the speculative level. As a matter of fact, details of Patten’s plea deal speak to a slam-dunk Russian money laundering scheme.

Here’s how the Russian money funneling scheme played out. GOP operative Sam Patten has a shell company in DC. Patten got a yet unnamed U.S. citizen to “donate” $50,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee. Patten’s shell company then reimbursed the unnamed U.S. citizen the $50,000. A Ukrainian with ties to a prominent Russian oligarch and who is also at the center of the ongoing Manafort case then reimbursed Sam Patten with a $50,000 drawn from a Cypriot bank. Cyprus is a well known haven of Russian money laundering meaning the said $50,000 that flowed into Trump’s inauguration could well have been laundered money.

There have been a lot of questions especially by Maddow about the whereabouts of the monies raised for Trump’s inauguration–an estimated $107 million. Maddow for example questioned why Trump’s inaugural committee never gave a detailed accounting of how the $107 million came in and what it was spent on–very odd.

With Sam Patten’s plea deal pointing heavily towards money laundering, expect Natasha Bertrand(Yours Truly’s MSM fave) and other journalists who’ve been excellent at TrumpRussia reporting to dig into Trump’s inaugural committee for answers to serious questions that still linger. For example How many other Patten-like “donations”  were made to Trump’s inauguration? Did this money find its way into GOP/RNC coffers–including to GOP members of congress? If so, did GOP/RNC know the source of the funds? As you can see there are numerous questions that need to be answered regarding the mysterious Trump inauguration funds.

Yours Truly recently wrote about how Trump’s GOP has degenerated into a criminal enterprise and stories like Sam Patten’s only work to support that argument. Bottom line Dems and the mainstream media must dig into this story to find out how much laundered Russian money has landed into GOP coffers.  Simply put House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell and GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel must be questioned about dirty Russian money flowing into GOP coffers.

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