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Trump thought he was talking to a U.S. Senator. Instead, it was a prank caller with a podcast.

Wednesday night, as President Trump made his way to Wisconsin and then Washington, D.C. following a rally in North Dakota, he returned a phone call from Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. For several minutes, the two lawmakers discussed Trump’s abusive child separation policy, as well as his plans to fill Justice Anthony Kennedy’s soon-to-be-vacant seat on the Supreme Court.

Such conversations are, for good reason, private. And yet, you can listen to the entire exchange below for yourself. Why? Because the president of the United States, using state-of-the-art military equipment aboard the most secure airplane in the known universe, instead returned the phone call of a prankster with a podcast.

John Melendez — better known as “Stuttering John” to longtime fans of The Howard Stern Show, where he worked in various on and off-air capacities for more than 15 years — decided he would try to get Trump on the phone during a recent episode of his new podcast. As you might expect from a 90’s-era shock jock based in New York City, Melendez has a history with the Trump family, and recounted past instances of phoning the self-proclaimed billionaire for casual chitchat.

fter a series of conversations with various White House phone operators and support staff — first using his own name, then using pseudonyms like John Sterling (the New York Yankees’ radio play-by-play guy) and Sean Moore (a portmanteau of Sean Connery and Roger Moore) to pose as an aide from Sen. Menendez’s office — Melendez got through to a staff member, who informed him that Trump was in the middle of giving a speech, but would call back afterward.

After hanging up, Melendez was giddy he had gotten even that far without getting his cover blown. And in most White Houses, which employ a staff competent enough to Google the names of a U.S. senator’s office staff, that’s where the story might have ended.

But this White House employs the likes of Jared Kushner, who, according to a source inside the White House, was reportedly responsible for routing not-Menendez’s call directly to the president, bypassing the Office of Legislative Affairs, which would normally handle communications between lawmakers and the Executive Branch. That is how, minutes later, Trump dialed Melendez’s cell phone from Air Force One, and began talking to a person he believed to be Sen. Menendez himself.

U.S. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who is viewed as one of the leading contenders to replace him, has argued that presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investigations or even questions from a prosecutor or defense attorney while in office.

Kavanaugh had direct personal experience that informed his 2009 article for the Minnesota Law Review: He helped investigate President Bill Clinton as part of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s team and then served for five years as a close aide to President George W. Bush.

Having observed the weighty issues that can consume a president, Kavanaugh wrote, the nation’s chief executive should be exempt from “time-consuming and distracting” lawsuits and investigations, which “would ill serve the public interest, especially in times of financial or national security crisis.”

If a president were truly malevolent, Kavanaugh wrote, he could always be impeached.

Kavanaugh’s position that presidents should be free of such legal inquiries until after they leave office puts him on the record regarding a topic of intense interest to Trump — and could be a central focus of his confirmation hearing if Kavanaugh were nominated to succeed Kennedy, legal experts said.

The president is facing several legal challenges, including a civil defamation lawsuit filed by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on his reality show, “The Apprentice,” who has said Trump groped her. Earlier this month, New York’s highest court rejected Trump’s attempt to halt discovery in the suit, paving the way for the president to be deposed.

At the same time, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is in a standoff with Trump’s lawyers over his request to interview the president for his investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign — a fight that could end up before the Supreme Court.

If Kavanaugh is the nominee, “this will be a very central topic of questions from members of the Senate,” said Stephen Vladeck, professor of constitutional law at the University of Texas School of Law. “He is a staunch defender of executive prerogative. The question is just how far he would go in cases really testing whether there is any limit to that theory.”

Many said

No telling what Russia will gain with the Trump/Putin summit.

What is "Many's" first name?

It's not worth telling you

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez BUSTED: Working “Girl from the Bronx” Grew Up in Wealthy Neighborhood[/quote]
They all lie. Some get caught. She has been caught.

Quote:

Around the age of five, Alexandria’s architect father Sergio Ocasio moved the family from the “planned community” of Parkchester in the Bronx to a home in Yorktown Heights, a wealthy suburb in Westchester County. The New York Times describes her childhood home as “a modest two-bedroom house on a quiet street.” In a 1999 profile of the area, when Ocasio-Cortez would have been ten years old, the Times lauded Yorktown Heights’ “diversity of housing in a scenic setting” – complete with two golf courses.

…

Westchester County – which the Washington Post, in a glowing profile on Ocasio-Cortez, describes as only “middle class” – ranks #8 in the nation for the counties with the “highest average incomes among the wealthiest one percent of residents.” According to the Economic Policy Institute, the county’s average annual income of the top one percent is a staggering $4,326,049.

Yorktown Heights, specifically, offers a sharp contrast from Bronx living. According to USA.com, the town’s population is 81 percent white, and median household income is $96,413 – nearly double the average for both New York state and the nation, according to data from 2010-2014.

Does this sound like a woman that grew up with a “working class” family? I’d venture a guess that an architect father did not struggle to make ends meet in a wealthy suburb.

There is nothing wrong with a Father who does his best to provide for his family. But Bronx residents are being grossly misled.

http://www.dcclothesline.com/2018/06/30/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-busted-working-girl-from-the-bronx-grew-up-in-wealthy-neighborhood/

What will Donald Trump be able to achieve at a summit with Vladimir Putin? Little. Russia will by no means withdraw from Crimea. It will continue to support rebels in eastern Ukraine, as well as President Bashar Assad and Iranian troops in Syria. Trump will not be able to much, if anything, when it comes to Putin's "Russia first" policy.

The Kremlin leader, on the other hand, can expect a great deal from a Russian-American summit. When he and Trump meet to talk about international issues, TV images the world over will covey the same message: two politicians negotiating on an equal footing. Putin will score poins with this summit, with or without results.

What the hell has Germany ever done to protect the freedom and independence of Ukraine, or, for that matter, to eject Putin from Crimea?

Germany is Putin's prime facilitator in Europe, even to the extent of championing the joint construction of an oil pipeline under the Baltic to enable Russian gas exports to bypass Byelorussia and Poland .

Major league hypocrisy here.

The voices of hundreds of thousands of people rang nationwide on Saturday calling for the reunification of hundreds of children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Protesters chanted “shut detention down!” as they marched in New York City’s Foley Square while in El Paso, Texas, hundreds marched toward the Paso Del Norte (Santa Fe) Bridge that crosses into Juarez, Mexico. More than 600 events were planned across the country.

Dallas protest organizer Michelle Wentz says opposition to the policy has seemed to cross political party lines. She called it a "barbaric and inhumane" policy.

Saturday's rallies are getting funding and support from the American Civil Liberties Union, MoveOn.org, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and The Leadership Conference.

Tweeting from New Jersey, Trump said that Democrats "are making a strong push to abolish ICE, one of the smartest, toughest and most spirited law enforcement groups of men and women that I have ever seen." He urged ICE agents to "not worry or lose your spirit." Trump also tweeted on Saturday that he was backing ICE agents and that there was “zero chance” of ICE being abolished.

What the hell has Germany ever done to protect the freedom and independence of Ukraine, or, for that matter, to eject Putin from Crimea?