monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Fitzpatrick’s bill had actually passed the Republican-controlled Senate, but not before Montana Republican Chairman Rep. Jeff Essmann distributed an “emergency report” blatantly admitting his concern that the change would advantage Democrats. “All mail ballots give the Democrats an inherent advantage in close elections,” he wrote, “due to their ability to organize large numbers of unpaid college students and members of public employee unions to gather ballots by going door to door.” In other words, Republicans can only win if it’s harder for more people to vote.

Any more big NEWS to report?

A decade ago, O’Reilly himself pushed for advertisers to drop media outlets after they mentioned his 2004 sexual harassment settlement with former associate producer Andrea Mackris, calling them “smear merchants” and even accusing one of defending child predators.

Quote:

"armada."

Of course it was Trump who used that term. Of course it was.

Trump has no relationship to the truth. Nor, actually, to leadership. He does pretending. It's theater.

The Alex Jones who told his legions of "Infowars" listeners that bogus stories about the U.S. government being behind the 9/11 attacks and about Hillary Clinton operating a pedophile ring out of a Washington D.C. pizza joint is really "a performance artist."

That's according to Jones' own lawyer — not the mainstream media that the right-wing radio jock derides as "fake news."

"He's playing a character" and is nothing like his online persona, attorney Randall Wilhite reportedly insisted in a Texas courtroom at a pre-trial hearing ahead of the right wing radio jock's custody battle with ex-wife Kelly Jones.

Judging Jones by his Infowars performances would be like judging Jack Nicholson by his depiction of the Joker on "Batman," Wilhite told state District Judge Orlinda Naranjo last week, the Austin American-Statesman reported. . . .

The advertisers are the ones paying the money, not the viewers, and more and more of them think advertising with O'Reilly harms their reputation.

Perhaps Trump fancies himself as another "performance artist" like Alex Jones

The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave

Why can’t our immigration authorities deport the hordes of illegal felons in our cities?

Some of the most violent criminals at large today are illegal aliens. Yet in cities where the crime these aliens commit is highest, the police cannot use the most obvious tool to apprehend them: their immigration status. In Los Angeles, for example, dozens of members of a ruthless Salvadoran prison gang have sneaked back into town after having been deported for such crimes as murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and drug trafficking. Police officers know who they are and know that their mere presence in the country is a felony. Yet should a cop arrest an illegal gangbanger for felonious reentry, it is he who will be treated as a criminal, for violating the LAPD’s rule against enforcing immigration law.

The LAPD’s ban on immigration enforcement mirrors bans in immigrant-saturated cities around the country, from New York and Chicago to San Diego, Austin, and Houston. These “sanctuary policies” generally prohibit city employees, including the cops, from reporting immigration violations to federal authorities.

Such laws testify to the sheer political power of immigrant lobbies, a power so irresistible that police officials shrink from even mentioning the illegal-alien crime wave. “We can’t even talk about it,” says a frustrated LAPD captain. “People are afraid of a backlash from Hispanics.” Another LAPD commander in a predominantly Hispanic, gang-infested district sighs: “I would get a firestorm of criticism if I talked about [enforcing the immigration law against illegals].” Neither captain would speak for attribution.

• In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.
• A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the 20,000-strong 18th Street Gang in southern California is illegal; police officers say the proportion is actually much greater. The bloody gang collaborates with the Mexican Mafia, the dominant force in California prisons, on complex drug-distribution schemes, extortion, and drive-by assassinations, and commits an assault or robbery every day in L.A. County. The gang has grown dramatically over the last two decades by recruiting recently arrived youngsters, most of them illegal, from Central America and Mexico.

CA confronts a Prop. 47 crime wave

Nearly a year after California voters overwhelmingly agreed to lessen sentences and release inmates convicted of minor crimes, statistical and anecdotal evidence has cast doubt on the wisdom of Proposition 47.

“In the 11 months since the passage of Prop. 47,” the Washington Post reported, “more than 4,300 state prisoners have been resentenced and then released. Drug arrests in Los Angeles County have dropped by a third. Jail bookings are down by a quarter. Hundreds of thousands of ex-felons have applied to get their previous drug convictions revised or erased. But along with the successes have come other consequences, which police departments and prosecutors refer to as the ‘unintended effects.'”

China defends handling of Ivanka trademark requests

BEIJING — China is defending its handling of trademark applications from President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her company, saying that all such requests are handled fairly.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang was asked about the trademarks Wednesday, a day after The Associated Press reported that Ivanka Trump had won provisional approval for at least five marks since her father's January inauguration. Three of those approvals were granted on April 6, the day Ivanka Trump and her husband sat next to Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife for dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Lu said China follows the law in granting trademarks and "the principle of giving equal protection to foreign trademark holders."

Asked about the timing of the April 6 approvals, Lu said: "There are perhaps some media engaging in hyping certain gossip to hint at something undisclosed. I can tell you that they will never succeed."

Beyond the provisionally approved trademarks, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has 16 registered trademarks in China and more than 30 pending applications, according to China's Trademark Office database. They collectively cover a wide range of goods and services, including cosmetics, jewelry, leather handbags, luggage, clothes, shoes, retail, spa and beauty services. Other countries where the company has pending and registered trademarks include Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Israel, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

Sales of Ivanka Trump's brand, which she no longer manages but still owns, hit record levels in 2017 by some measures despite boycotts and several stores limiting her merchandise. U.S. imports, almost all from China, shot up an estimated 166 percent last year, according to Panjiva Inc., which tracks international imports to the United States.

In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Ivanka Trump brand said the 2017 Chinese trademarks were filed defensively to prevent counterfeiters or squatters from using her name.

Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are trusted advisers to the president. Criminal conflict-of-interest law prohibits federal officials from participating in government matters that could impact their own financial interest or that of their spouses. Some argue that the more Ivanka Trump's business broadens its scope, the more it threatens to encroach on the couple's ability to deliver credible advice on core issues like trade, intellectual property and the value of the Chinese currency.

Asked about Ivanka Trump's role in U.S.-China relations, Lu said: "We always think highly of the people who are committed to promoting China-U.S. friendship and cooperation, whether they are from the government or society, and we commend their efforts.

For many years, reporters have received press releases from the White House touting various initiatives with "what people are saying" collections. It's a straightforward exercise: the White House will collect praise from various corners, package it together, and send it out as proof of a proposal's merit. The goal is to convince others in media that an administration's idea has been well received and is generating positive "buzz."

And while this has been a common tool for Democrats and Republicans alike, Donald Trump's White House did something yesterday that no one's ever seen: it sent out a press release touting praise from itself. The headline read: "Senior Administration Officials Praise President Donald J. Trump's 'Buy American, Hire American' Executive Order." It proceeded to quote four members of the president's team saying nice things about the president's latest executive order.

Let that sink in for a minute: White House officials alerted the media to the fact that other White House officials praised a new White House policy.

Evidently, Team Trump couldn't find praise from anyone else, so it was compelled to highlight positive remarks from itself.

Imagine if Hillary had won the presidency and Chelsea won some kind of deal like that after Hillary meeting with President Xi Jinping. The rumors would have been flying off the internet pages and twitter like wildfire.

HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) -- Neil Bush, younger brother of President Bush, detailed lucrative business deals and admitted to engaging in sex romps with women in Asia in a deposition taken in March as part of his divorce from now ex-wife Sharon Bush.

According to legal documents disclosed Tuesday, Sharon Bush's lawyers questioned Neil Bush closely about the deals, especially a contract with Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., a firm backed by Jiang Mianheng, the son of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, that would pay him $2 million in stock over five years

Imagine if Hillary had won the presidency and Chelsea won some kind of deal like that after Hillary meeting with President Xi Jinping. The rumors would have been flying off the internet pages and twitter like wildfire.

@glitterbag,
Actually, that was an interesting exercise. This stuff is all over RW media-land. And it ain't anywhere else. It's is the mechanism by which these folks have landed in an alternate universe and that's hit home whenever one chases down some such claim or story.

Oh wait, you were referring to the crackpots who thought they could install a government contrary to the one the voters put in place. Sorry, I'm on too many topics and got confused.

Sorry Baldy, Im not answering questions from crackpots today.

@Baldimo,
Don't be a sorehead, maybe I'll deal with you later this week. Sheesh