Mitch McConnell Calls the Founding Fathers ‘Socialists’

This looks like a socialist cabal to Senator McConnell.

On Fox News, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Laura Ingraham that a House propsal to grant statehood to the District of Columbia is “full-bore socialism.” If you haven’t been keeping score at home, residents of DC pay Federal Income Taxes but don’t have voting representation in Congress. The signers of the Declaration of Independence weren’t as comfortable with Taxation Without Representation as Mitch is. Neither are Washingtonians.

Trump Press Secretary resigns. Will anyone notice?

White House Press Secretary and renowned prevaricator Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave her thankless job right before July’s big MAGA Bund Rally. Mrs Sanders held only two White House Press Briefings in 2019, the last on March 11th. She spent lots of time in the White House north driveway, so maybe she’ll get into the driveway repair business back in Arkansas.

More:

“Sarah Huckabee Sanders, A Liar, to Resign as White House Press Secretary,” Eoin Higgins, Common Dreams

“Sarah Huckabee Sanders Leaving White House at the End of the Month,”Peter Baker and Katie Rogers, New York Times

“Sarah Sanders’ legacy: The death of the White House press briefing,” Brian Stelter, CNN

“The White House does not need to hire another person to lie for the president,” Heather Timmons, Quartz

Trump’s Worst Nightmare

President Trump agreed to allow Robert Mueller to testify before the House Judiciary Committee until he didn’t. What changed his mind? The thought of square-jawed Robert Mueller III, decorated war hero, former Assistant Attorney General and FBI Director, testifying on television, in a Brooks Brothers suit, with all America watching, and becoming an instant TV star. That would really rattle our Reality TV President.

More:

“Trump Doesn’t Want Mueller To Testify Because It’ll Get Media Coverage,” Nicole Lafond, TalkingPointsMemo

Related:

“House Republicans want Mueller to testify despite Trump opposition,” Kyle Cheney and John Bresnahan, Politico

“AG Bill Barr believes special counsel Robert Mueller should be allowed to testify,” Katherine Faulders and Mike Levine, ABC News

“Trump’s Opposition to Mueller Testimony Poses a Test for Barr,”Charlie Savage and Katie Benner, New York Times

“Trump ‘no conceivable basis to stop Mueller from testifying,’ according to legal experts,”Alex Henderson, Salon 

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Stephen Moore, Trump Fed Nominee, Withdraws

Following the lead of pizza czar Herman Cain, Trump Federal Reserve Board nominee and alimony cheat Stephen Moore has withdrawn himself from consideration. In his bid to exert influence on the independent central bank regulatory agency, President Trump is having difficulties finding stooges with any degree of plausibility.

More:

“Stephen Moore says people don’t want to debate his economic ideas, but those are bad, too,” Matt O’Brien, Washington Post

“Why Stephen Moore’s Fed Bid Failed,” David A. Graham, The Atlantic

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Trump Steaks in the Meatpacking District

Photographer-artist-provocateur Andres Serrano has assembled an array of 1,000 Trump-related objets in an exhibition called “The Game: All Things Trump” at 409 W 14th Street, in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Mr. Serrano has been assembling his collection for thirty years, and organized the exhibition to show that President Trump “didn’t appear out of nowhere.” Exhibits include a slice of cake from Donald and Melania’s 2003 wedding, Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, remnants of the Trump Shuttle, and a Trump University diploma.  “I wanted to paint a portrait of Donald Trump using his own brushes,” Mr. Serrano told the Washington Post.

The show’s title is drawn from the 1989 Milton Bradley board game “Trump: The Game,” released with the tagline “It’s not whether you win or lose, but whether you win!”

More:

“All things Trump: behind Andres Serrano’s memorabilia museum,” Nadja Sayej, The Guardian

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Adam Schock Legal Shocker

Adam Schock, the disgraced former GOP congressman, fraudster, and ticket scalper indicted on 24 felony counts, reached a sweetheart deal with Federal prosecuters in Chicago on Wednesday without actually pleading guilty. He agreed to pay a $25,000 FEC fine, will repay his campaign committees $67,956, and fork over unpaid 2010–2015 taxes and taxes on the $42,375 he made by scalping sports tickets. Mr. Schock has already repaid Congress $40,000 for redecorating his House office as Downton Abbey and $88,000 in phony mileage expense claims. In the “deferred prosecution” arrangement, if Aaron Schock doesn’t re-offend for six months, charges will be dropped and his criminal record wiped clean. He won’t rule out another run for public office.

It did not go unnoticed that Mr. Schock, the Prince of Peoria, avoided jail time, while another former Illinois Congrssman, Jesse Jackson Jr., was sentenced to 30 months in prison for misusing campaign funds.

More:

“Ex-congressman Aaron Schock strikes deal to avert prosecution,” Matt Zapotosky, Washington Post

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Serial Flag Molester In 2-Hour Hostage Situation

On Saturday, a 72-year-old flag molester held a crowd of conventioneers hostage for over two hours at a Maryland hotel while he delivered an expletive-laced rant. The situation concluded without casualties, and the perpetrator’s unhinged utterances were fact-checked. The miscreant had been observed groping the national banner three years ago in Florida and at a meeting last year where he boasted of separating children from their mothers.

There is no national registry for violators of the Flag Code of the United States.

More:

“The 7 most bizarre moments from Trump’s long-winded CPAC rant,” Amanda Sakuma, Vox

“The 7 Most Bewildering Moments From Trump’s CPAC Speech,” Andrew Kragie, The Atlantic

“15 Claims From Trump’s Speech to CPAC, Fact-Checked,” Linda Qiu, New York Times

“Trump’s unhinged CPAC speech should concern us all,” Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

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Trump Prepares National Emergency Declaration

After temporarily freeing the 800,000 hostages and temporarily reopening the federal government after six weeks of shutdown, President Donald Trump is said to be preparing a Declaration of National Emergency in case Congress doesn’t give him $5.7 billion for his border wall by Valentine’s Day. He’ll declare an emergency because of the grave threat of invasion by savage caravans of duct-tape-wielding rapists at the US-Mexico border. Funding for the wall will come from Mexico Trump’s daddy Deutsche Bank Russian oligarchs the loose change under the Pentagon‘s couch cushions, and money slated for 50 disaster relief projects including some in Texas and Florida, states that voted for Trump in 2016. The man is a political genius.

More:

“Legal and practical hurdles would await Trump emergency declaration,” Wesley Morgan, Politico

“A ‘National Emergency’ Is Not An Option To Save Trump From Failure,” Elie Mystal, Above the Law

“The US border situation isn’t a national emergency, Pentagon officials tell Congress,” Heather Timmons, Quartz

Updates:

“‘I want him to declare an emergency’: Eric Trump urges his father to use executive power to build a border wall,” Timothy Bella, Washington Post

“Trump: ‘Good Chance’ I’ll Declare National Emergency for Border Wall,” Daily Beast

“Trump teases national emergency declaration could come during SOTU,” John T. Bennett, Roll Call

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It’s On! State of the Union, February 5th.

After yanking the rug out from under Donald Trump’s January 2019 State of the Union address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited the president to harangue a joint session of Congress on February 5th and he accepted.

Attention new members of Congress: each of you may invite one guest to observe the State of the Union from the visitors’ balcony. One of you must invite Stephanie Clifford, a Republican and a working Mom also known as Stormy Daniels. She even knows the guy who’ll be talking.

Related:

“Democrats tap Georgia’s Stacey Abrams to deliver the response to Trump’s State of the Union address,” Felicia Sonmez, Washington Post

“The State of the Union is … perhaps outdated?” Jason Dick, Roll Call

Updates:

“Undocumented Immigrant Who Worked for Trump Will Attend His State of the Union,” Matt Stevens, New York Times

“Capitol Police announce street closures, restrictions for State of the Union address,” Michael Burke, The Hill

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The Lonely Quest of Howard Schultz

On Sunday, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told 60 Minutes he was considering a 2020 run for president as an independent. This whipped up a hot latte froth of indignation among Democrats, who see Schultz as a 2020 spoiler, undercutting their candidate and re-electing Donald Trump.

More:

“‘Crappuccino’: Twitter Users Roast Ex-Starbucks CEO’s Presidential Plans,” Ed Mazza, HuffingtonPost

Updates:

“Ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz admits causing ‘hate, anger’ with 2020 talk,” Martin Pengelly, The Guardian

“Trump tweets that Howard Schultz lacks the guts and smarts to be president,” John Wagner, Washington Post

“A third-party centrist candidate like me could win the presidency in 2020,” Howard Schultz, USA Today

“Howard Schultz Is Fully Capable of Winning the 2020 Election … for Trump,” Eugene Robinson, RealClear Politics