monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Perhaps the wise, all-knowing, all-seeing Finn can 'splain that to us.

When it comes cybersecurity scandals, as tough as Congress is on private companies like Equifax and Facebook, you might be surprised to learn that they've been quietly dealing with a scandal of their own. Some claim it's the most important investigation you've never heard of in Washington D.C. It involves the FBI, an Inspector General, 42 members of Congress, and five Pakistani American IT workers.

LOL! Sore Loser Leftists Try Moving to Canada. Get Rejected For Being Deadbeats…

Defend the US educational system, as it goes down the drain and our children fall further and further behind children throughout the rest of the world, because somehow, no matter how vapid (and simultaneously financially ruinous) it becomes, it is a l
Liberal institution and therefore any criticism by conservatives must be dismissed or mocked.

It really is time for me to take a long break from any and all political threads here,

Don't blame you a bit. With your role on the board being the one who vigorously defends the indefensible

The Transparent Positioning of Brennan, Clapper and Comey…

Each of the three heavily corrupt officials engaged in the most substantive abuse of their intelligence positions for political purposes. Each of them weaponized their offices against their political opposition. The scope and severity therein is a story yet to surface; and unlike prior examples of weaponizing the DOJ and IRS, there is no administration in place to protect them from investigative sunlight.

Therefore the Comey, Clapper and Brennan defense strategy is to position themselves politically and lean on their like-minded media allies for support. Their adversarial posture is intended to draw the Trump administration into political combat, thereby diminishing any investigative outcomes behind a false shield of political prosecution.

. As far as Trump and a job at RT he won't be able to start until early 2025

He'll have to finish his jail time in a federal penitentiary

Canada has always been the more level-headed country in North America.

Below are some of Wolf’s harshest jokes from the evening:

On Sarah Huckabee Sanders:

“I have to say I’m a little star-struck. I love you as Aunt Lydia in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ Mike Pence, if you haven’t seen it, you would love it.”

“Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited, because I’m not really sure what we’re going to get. You know, a press briefing, a bunch of lies or divided into softball teams. ‘It’s shirts and skins, and this time don’t be such a little b—-, Jim Acosta!’ ”

[The 2018 White House correspondents’ dinner is still a hot ticket — even without Trump]

“I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. She burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.”

“And I’m never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you know? Is it Sarah Sanders, is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is it Cousin Huckabee, is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? What’s Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know. Aunt Coulter.”

On Kellyanne Conway:

“She has the perfect last name for what she does, Conway … You guys have got to stop putting Kellyanne on your shows. All she does is lie. If you don’t give her a platform, she has nowhere to lie. It’s like that old saying, if a tree falls in the woods, how do we get Kellyanne under that tree? I’m not suggesting she gets hurt. Just stuck. Stuck under a tree.”

On Ivanka Trump:

“There’s also, of course, Ivanka. She was supposed to be an advocate for women, but it turns out she’s about as helpful to women as an empty box of tampons. She’s done nothing to satisfy women. So, I guess like father, like daughter.”

On the White House correspondents’ dinner:

“This is long. This has been long.”

On being 32 years old:

“Ten years too young to host this event and 20 years too old for Roy Moore.”

On being a woman:

“It’s 2018 and I’m a woman, so you cannot shut me up. Unless you have Michael Cohen wire me $130,000.”

On the media:

“I know there’s a lot of people that want me to talk about Russia and Putin and collusion, but I’m not gonna do that, because there’s also a lot of liberal media here, and I’ve never really wanted to know what any of you look like when you orgasm.”

On Trump missing the dinner:

“Of course, Trump isn’t here, if you haven’t noticed. He’s not here. And I know, I know, I would drag him here myself, but it turns out the president of the United States is the one p—- you’re not allowed to grab.”

On Trump’s wealth:

“People call Trump names all the time. And look, I could call Trump a racist or a misogynist or xenophobic or unstable or incompetent or impotent. But he’s heard all of those, and he doesn’t care. So tonight, I’m going to try to make fun of the president in a new way, in a way that I think will really get him. Mr. President: I don’t think you’re very rich. Like, I think you might be rich in Idaho, but in New York you’re doing fine.”

On euphemisms:

“[Trump] loves white nationalists, which is a weird term for a Nazi. Calling a Nazi a white nationalist is like calling a pedophile a ‘kid friend.’ Or Harvey Weinstein a ‘ladies’ man.’ Which isn’t really fair. He also likes plants.”

On the vice president:

“Mike Pence is what happens when Anderson Cooper isn’t gay.”

On Democrats:

“Democrats are harder to make fun of because you guys don’t do anything.
People think you might flip the House and Senate this November, but you guys always find a way to mess it up. You’re somehow going to lose by 12 points to a guy named Jeff Pedophile Nazi Doctor.”

On the Trump administration:

“I did have a lot of jokes about Cabinet members. But I had to scrap all of those because everyone has been fired. You guys are going through Cabinet members quicker than Starbucks throws out black people.”

On Mitch McConnell:

“Mitch McConnell isn’t here tonight. He had a prior engagement. He’s finally getting his neck circumcised. Mazel.”

On CNN:

“The most useful information on CNN is when Anthony Bourdain tells me where to eat noodles.”

On MSNBC:

“I watch ‘Morning Joe’ every morning. We now know Mika and Joe are engaged. Congratulations, you guys. It’s like when a #MeToo works out.”

On Megyn Kelly:

“What would I do without Megyn Kelly? Probably be more proud of women. Megyn Kelly got paid $23 million by NBC. Then NBC didn’t let Megyn go to the Winter Olympics. Why not? She’s so white, cold and expensive, she might as well be the Winter Olympics. And by the way, Megyn, Santa is black. The weird old guy going through your chimney was Bill O’Reilly.”

On newspapers:

“I’m not going to go after print media tonight because it’s illegal to attack an endangered species.”

On the media:

“You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you use to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him. I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric. But he has helped you. He’s helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster, and now you’re profiting off of him. And if you’re going to profit off of Trump, you should at least give him some money, because he doesn’t have any.”

On the world outside of the White House correspondents’ dinner:

“Flint still doesn’t have clean water!”

For the life of me I can't see what in the world everyone is outraged about the correspondent dinner.

You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you use to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him. I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric. But he has helped you. He’s helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster, and now you’re profiting off of him. And if you’re going to profit off of Trump, you should at least give him some money, because he doesn’t have any.”

This was everything for me👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

“Flint still doesn’t have clean water!”

Pompeo and Palestinians Have ‘Nothing to Discuss’ Amid Gaza Crisis

TEL AVIV, Israel — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came to Israel Sunday in the midst of the worst crisis in relations between Israelis and Palestinians in years, but he did not meet a single Palestinian representative and mentioned them publicly once.

For decades, American diplomats saw themselves as brokers between the two sides, and secretaries of state typically met Palestinian representatives on regional tours like this one. When relations between the two sides deteriorated, the United States sought to bridge the divide.

No more.

No one at the State Department called Palestinian leaders to ask for a get-together with Mr. Pompeo, according to Palestinian officials. And that may be because the Americans knew the answer they would have gotten: No.

Infuriated by President Trump’s decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, paving the way for the United States to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested holy city, Palestinian leaders have cut off political contacts with the Trump administration. They say the White House can no longer be considered an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

“There’s nothing to discuss,” said Xavier Abu Eid, a senior official of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Negotiations Affairs Department.

In a remarks Sunday in Tel Aviv while standing next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Pompeo mentioned that the boundaries of Jerusalem should still be the subject of negotiations between the parties. “We remain committed to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace that offers a brighter future for both Israel and the Palestinians,” he said.

But the escalating protests along the border between Gaza and Israel — which have led to hundreds of injuries and 46 deaths and have generated global sympathy for the Palestinian cause — went unmentioned.

“No meeting in Ramallah on his first visit sets an ominous tone about prospects for any progress, or even dialogue, with the Palestinians,” said Daniel B. Shapiro, an American ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration.

Aaron David Miller, a former negotiator for the United States in the Middle East, said Mr. Pompeo’s seeming indifference toward the Palestinians “at the very least suggests a casual disregard of the Israeli-Palestinian explosion that may be building and the U.S.’s inability or unwillingness to influence the course of events.”

Instead of discussing the Palestinian issue, Mr. Pompeo’s focused message on his sweep through the region has been a denunciation of Iran. He met with Saudi leaders on Saturday and Sunday morning, and they all agreed that Iran is a destabilizing force. He met on Sunday afternoon with Mr. Netanyahu, who blistered Iran alongside Mr. Pompeo.

And on Monday, he is scheduled to meet King Abdullah of Jordan in Amman, when Iran is again likely to be the most important subject of conversation.

In two weeks, Mr. Trump is expected to walk away from the Iran nuclear accord, which he has denounced as “the worst ever.” Countering Iran has become one of the few unambiguous policy themes of the administration.

Mr. Trump and his advisers disagree on how to confront Moscow. A potential trade war with China has caused deep unease across the Midwest. The administration’s policy on Syria is in flux. And North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, is suddenly looking like a statesman.
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But there is consensus that Iran needs to be opposed, and Mr. Pompeo hammered away at them Sunday.

“We remain deeply concerned about Iran’s dangerous escalation of threats to Israel and the region, and Iran’s ambition to dominate the Middle East remains,” Mr. Pompeo said beside a delighted Mr. Netanyahu. “The United States is with Israel in this fight. And we strongly support Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself.”

As for the nuclear accord, “President Trump made it pretty clear: This deal is very flawed,” Mr. Pompeo said.

“He’s directed the administration to try to fix it,” he said. “And if we can’t fix it, he’s going to withdraw from the deal. It’s pretty straightforward.”

Mr. Netanyahu agreed. “Mr. Secretary,” he said, “I think the greatest threat to the world and to our two countries — and to all countries — is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons, and specifically the attempt of Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.”

United States officials and international inspectors agree that Iran is abiding by the nuclear deal, which has substantially degraded the country’s ability to pursue nuclear weapons. Iranian officials have said the country may restart its nuclear program if the United States withdraws from the nuclear accord.

On May 14, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel, the United States will formally open its embassy in Jerusalem, and a host of American dignitaries are expected. Mr. Trump has suggested he may come.

But that opening also coincides with the time that Palestinian protests are expected to crest, coming on the eve of the Palestinian commemoration of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled their homes and became refugees during the hostilities surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.

The first senior American official to feel the Palestinians’ furor over the Jerusalem decision was Vice President Mike Pence, who postponed what was expected to be an emotional visit over the Christmas holidays after several Christian leaders in the region refused to meet him. When he finally made it in January, the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, boycotted him.

Since nothing has been done to assuage the Palestinians in the meantime, Mr. Pompeo could have expected the same treatment.

“We refused to see Mr. Pence twice,” said Nabil Shaath, an Abbas adviser on international relations. He added: “We have declared our position and we don’t accept an American role in unilaterally controlling the peace process. To us, Trump is irrelevant, whether he announces the deal of the century or not.”

On Monday, the Palestine National Council, the P.L.O.’s legislative body, is scheduled to hold its first formal meeting in nine years. If Mr. Pompeo had a strategy to bridge the divide, he could hardly have picked a better moment to address the movement’s leadership.

Instead, he will fly home Monday after seeing King Abdullah.

Other than that, if laughs are what you were looking for—most of her bit just wasn’t really funny, reflected by groans by the audience.

Everyone who told Wolf to read the room is missing the point: The room, and the misplaced notion of a “special” night to celebrate the “special” relationship between the press and the presidency that brought everyone to it on Saturday, is precisely the problem.

Crazed Haters Unbound

Last night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a disgrace. “Comedian” Michelle Wolf was vulgar and partisan. I know, that is par for the course at these events, but Wolf went far beyond the pale.

Actually, they don’t. For the most part they are a disgrace to their profession. They have betrayed the longstanding ideals of objectivity and accuracy, and thereby have brought political journalism into disrepute with most Americans.