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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I don't know if this has been posted yet, but David Pecker, Trump Ally and head of American Media Inc., has been granted immunity in exchange for information on violation of Federal Election Laws Trump and Cohen violated
. Specifically, he helped pay for the Silence Money Stormy Daniels and another Woman were given to not reveal their affairs during the Election. His Immunity means he has to give every detail he can about said Silence Money, including his roll in it, in order to avoid prison time.
It feels like the Dam is rearing to burst; please let it happen before November!
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/08/23/day-581/
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/08/23/day-581/
1/ Trump "would consider" pardoning Paul Manafort, according to Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt, who interviewed Trump. "I think he feels bad for Manafort," Ainsley said. "They were friends." Manafort was convicted on eight counts bank and tax fraud. The White House maintains that Trump is not currently looking to pardon Manafort. (Reuters / Mediaite / Politico)
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/403197-manafort-juror-one-holdout-prevented-ruling-on-all-18-counts
Top Republicans in the Senate are warning Trump that it would be a mistake to pardon Manafort. "It would be an enormous mistake and misuse of his power to pardon," said Sen. Susan Collins. The second-ranking Republican senator, GOP Whip John Cornyn also said that a pardon "would be a mistake." Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said that a pardon "would be very damaging to the presidency and to his position as president." (The Hill)
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/403062-republicans-warn-trump-against-manafort-pardon
2/ Trump claimed that "flipping" and cooperating with prosecutors is "not fair" and should "almost be outlawed." Trump complained during an interview with Fox News about former confidants who testified against him to mitigate their own legal troubles. "It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal." Trump continued: "It almost ought to be outlawed. It's not fair." Trump also attacked Jeff Sessions, questioning his character for recusing himself in the Russia investigation, and asking "What kind of man is this?" and that the "only reason I gave him the job" was because he felt "loyalty" to Sessions for signing on to the campaign. "I put in an attorney general who never took control of the Justice Department." (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/23/politics/trump-flipping-outlawed/index.html
3/ David Pecker was granted immunity by federal prosecutors for providing information about Cohen and Trump in their criminal investigation into hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen Mc Dougal during the 2016 presidential campaign. In exchange for immunity, the CEO of American Media, Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, met with prosecutors and shared details about payments Cohen arranged to Daniels and Mc Dougal, including Trump's knowledge of the deals. Late last night, Trump tweeted: "NO COLLUSION - RIGGED WITCH HUNT!" It's unclear what prompted the tweet. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
4/ Betsy De Vos is considering a plan to allow school districts to use federal funding to buy guns for teachers, according to multiple people with knowledge of the plan. The plan, if enacted, would be unprecedented and would reverse a longstanding position of the federal government that federal funding should not be used to outfit schools with weapons. Congress passed a $50 million-a-year school safety bill in March that specifically prohibited using the money to buy firearms, but De Vos is apparently looking to a program in federal education law that doesn't mention a specific prohibition on purchasing weapons with federal education funding. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/us/politics/betsy-devos-guns.html
Notables.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/23/politics/china-us-tariffs/index.html
After claiming on Wednesday that it experienced an attack on its voter database, the DNC now says the apparent phishing attempts were a "test." The DNC released a statement late Wednesday night claiming that it believes the phishing attempt was part of an unauthorized test of its Vote Builder system by a third party. "We, along with the partners who reported the site," the DNC statement reads, "now believe it was built by a third party as part of a simulated phishing test on Vote Builder." The statement continues: "The test, which mimicked several attributes of actual attacks on the Democratic party's voter file, was not authorized by the DNC, Vote Builder nor any of our vendors." (ABC News)
Trump asked Sec. of State Mike Pompeo to study the "seizing land from white farmers" and the "large scale killing of farmers" in South Africa. The BBC found in November that there was "no reliable data to suggest farmers were at greater risk of being murdered than the average South African." South Africa responded and accused Trump of seeking to sow division in the country. The redistribution of land in South Africa was a fundamental principle of the African National Congress (ANC) after the fall of apartheid. Now, 24 years after apartheid ended, government figures show that white people (who make up 9 percent of the population) own 72 percent of the farmland held by individuals. (BBC / Reuters)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-asked-pompeo-look-south-african-land-032314925.html
Here something for some really needed levity: What would happen if Trump shot Michael Cohen in broad daylight:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/23/trump-michael-cohen-broad-daylight
One of the jurors in Paul Manfort's trial claims just one holdout juror prevented Manafort from being convicted on all 18 counts. Paula Duncan, who identifies as a Trump supporter, said the single holdout juror could not come to a guilty verdict on 10 of the charges, leading Judge T.S. Ellis III to declare a mistrial on those 10 counts.
Her logic is that of a cultist. "Yes he's obviously guilty, but this is nothing more than a witch hunt"
And she can claim she kept "politics seperate" all she wants. She seems to be lying about that.
How can someone be this stupid?
So now DeVos is trying to break the law too. Sure, she's a terrible person with terrible ideas for schooling and really terrible relations with seedy and shady organizations (like her Brother's Private Militia), but I wasn't expecting her to actively break the law in her office. Guess I shouldn't be expecting anyone still in Trump's circles to not be actively trying to break the law.
Also, I've heard, but I can't confirm, that Michael Cohen was told to make payments to Russian Hackers by Trump himself. Like I said, I can't find anything to 100% confirm this yet, but if that's true, then Trump absolutely needs to be kicked out of the White House.
Edited by DingoWalley1 on Aug 23rd 2018 at 3:40:13 PM
Re: the Manafort jury, all we really know is that this particular Trump supporter wasn't the hold-out; without knowing the political leaning of the jurynote there's no actual way to know if was a Trump cultist, Libertarian, or Brogressive.
So clearly we can blame all of this on *checks magic 8-ball* Julian Assange!
Reading tropes such as You Know What You Did
Trump's culture police and the defense force of the GREAT AND GLORIOUS FOREVER LEADER PRESIDENT FOR LIFE PERFECT IN EVERY WAY CAN SAY OR DO NO WRONG JUST ASK THEM THEY'LL TELL YOU keep asking for evidence of his wrongdoing. Would the president admitting to the crime suffice?
As Farron Cousins explains here Faux & Fiends gave the opportunity to have their most favorite person in the whole wide world on the show to try and evade accountability. Instead he admitted to paying money for his affairs. And I can just see the Trump News Network acting as some embassy or legal representative or bodyguards to shield their boyfriend from the nasty law enforcement officials.
Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than YoursStill, even if that woman wanted to convict, you have to be a bit at awe at the logic of "Just because the investigation actually turned something up, doesn't mean there's anything to it."
Especially when admitting there was some actual shady business doesn't even necessarily mean that Trump himself was directly involved (although that's still certainly possible/likely).
I want to answer tobias coment here:
"f the President commits a crime, people expect to see an immediate response. Because these scraps just add to the general investigation and don't, say, result in an immediate Impeachment hearing and/or Trump being walked out of the White House in handcuffs, people may lose confidence that there was anything really there at all."
Another reason is the sensacionalism about this stuff, people expect a big new that shock them to the core, so if it dosent that means is not that bad.
This of course create the idea that unless a news dosent ove you it means is not important, we are judging news the same way with are deal fiction.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"It’s kind of surreal (but not at all suprising), whenever I remember how Massachusetts still has a sensible, genuinely Center-Right (well relative to Massachusetts, anyway) Republican Party. Like this editorial I found really shows that.
‘’’EDITORIAL: Gov. Baker is clear choice for GOP’’’
Lively, who somehow managed to convince enough delegates at the Republican State Convention to put him on the ballot, makes no bones about his wholehearted support of President Trump, vocal anti-gay activism, and vehement opposition to LGBT rights.
Lively would be considered a far-right fringe candidate just about anywhere, never mind in liberal-leaning Massachusetts. He simply serves as an unavoidable inconvenience who'll disappear on Sept. 5.
In his four years as the chief executive officer of the commonwealth, Baker has lived up to his fiscally conservative, socially conscious label.
He's conducted himself in the best interests of all citizens, not just a particular political party or point of view. He's demanded accountability and transparency from every government office and agency.
Baker's also demonstrated, like previous holders of this office, that a Republican governor and Democrat-dominated Legislature can have a productive working relationship, based on collegiality and respect.
This dynamic has allowed the governor and lawmakers to help turn "Taxachusetts" into an inviting environment for business. As a result, Massachusetts took in $1.1 billion more in tax revenue than projected in fiscal 2018, and has maintained that higher-than-anticipated pace in fiscal 2019. The state's jobless rate in June remained steady at 3.5 percent, compared to the 4 percent national unemployment figure.
The team of Gov. Baker and Lt. Gov. Kayrn Polito also inherited a dysfunctional MBTA, beset with financial, personnel and mechanical problems that had been allowed to fester over several years. Since taking charge, the "T," under the oversight of the Baker-designated Management and Financial Control Board, has made strides by reducing its massive deficit and improving its on-time performance.
The Baker administration also took aim at this state's opioid-abuse epidemic. Anti-drug initiatives supported by Baker, the Legislature and medical community — including prescription monitoring, educational outreach, and funding for 1,100 more treatment beds — has made a positive impact.
The governor also proved to be a staunch backer of law enforcement and legal immigration, by assisting in the defeat of a bid by the more-liberal Senate to turn Massachusetts into an illegal-alien friendly, sanctuary state.....
.....In gearing up this campaign, Baker asked voters for another four years to complete unfinished business, including keeping a fragile transit system on track, strengthening the tools needed to control the opioid epidemic, ensuring a more efficient Registry of Motor Vehicles, and addressing the high cost of residential real estate by loosening zoning restrictions that limit construction of new housing.
We believe Gov. Baker has earned the right to finish what his administration set out to do. Baker's popularity rating is the highest of any sitting governor in the nation, a sign that his balanced, open approach to government is working wonderfully for Massachusetts' 6.6 million residents.
The state is headed in the right direction and we see no need to change things.
On Sept. 4, say no to bigotry and yes to fiscal and social responsibility by voting for Charlie Baker in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
http://www.lowellsun.com/editorials/ci_32082280/gov-baker-is-clear-choice-gop
I mean, were this not Massachusetts, this crazy might actually have a chance of winning. As it is, it’s just a race to see who gets crushed by Governor Baker.
Edited by megaeliz on Aug 23rd 2018 at 9:22:44 AM

I lost much respect for the Enquirer when Trump paid them to bury his story.
Shame!
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.