Trump's Executive Order To Undo An Executive Failure



Donald Trump did the impossible. In that, he said it was impossible to end his own policy of cruelly separating families at the border until, for political reasons, he was forced to.




Corey Lewandowski's Life In Two Words: Womp Womp



Corey Lewandowski might be Donald Trump's most immoral campaign manager. And that club includes Paul Manafort and Steve Bannon.




Stephen Miller Takes A Victory Lap On Family Separation



Stephen Miller (Peter Grosz) shares his feelings (or lack thereof) with Stephen Colbert.




Kirstjen Nielsen Goes Out For Mexican Food



All of Kirstjen Nielsen's advocating for caging children on the southern border made her hungry for some Mexican food.

Trump officials have taken actions that closely resemble measures contained in drafts of half a dozen executive orders and other proposals submitted by coal tycoon Robert E. Murray in the early days of the administration, according to documents released by the Energy Department.

In two instances, the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency took steps within a month similar to Murray’s ideas to roll back what he called “anti-coal” policies.

The Energy Department recently drew up a plan also advocated by Murray to impose a state of emergency to avoid the closure of ailing coal and nuclear plants.

The Environmental Protection Agency has taken steps to revoke or alter some of the other regulations Murray wanted changed, though some of his proposals have not been adopted and he is not the only coal executive to seek federal assistance.

In letters and a meeting with Energy Secretary Rick Perry on March 28, 2017, the Murray Energy chief executive urged the rollback of “anti-coal” measures, called on President Trump to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, proposed legislation that would fill in $7 billion of pension shortfall with federal tax dollars and requested the curtailment enforcement by mine regulators.


More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-officials-acted-on-energy-policies-suggested-by-coal-tycoon-documents-show/2018/06/06/77685792-69ce-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.658125267549



Robert E. Murray, right, chief executive and founder of Murray Energy, in a meeting with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, center, on March 29. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

Seth takes a closer look at Trump shamelessly lying to defend his administration's cruel family separation policy.

Fred Judges a Book by Its Cover: The Gray Ghost by Clive Cussler



Fred Armisen guesses the plot of Clive Cussler's The Gray Ghost using only the book's cover.

Now We Know Who's Willing To Defend Caging Children



It's a game of morality limbo as Kirstjen Nielsen, Jeff Sessions and Laura Ingraham see if they can go as low as Donald Trump.




Why Is Trump So Hot On The Space Force?



The President instructed the Pentagon to create the Space Force, a sixth branch of the military. Presidents can't do that.




Profiles In Discourage: The 'Gay Nazi' Candidate



The LGBTQ community has been erroneously blamed for plenty of things throughout history. Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Scott Lively, though, is taking it to a whole new level.




This Cloud Either Looks Like Trump Or...



Not everyone saw the president when they looked at the viral Donald Trump-shaped cloud.

(CNN) Faced with a burgeoning political, policy and human rights crisis on the country's southern border, the White House turned to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to quiet the firestorm.

It didn't work. At all.

Nielsen, a protege of White House chief of staff John Kelly and a hardliner on immigration along the lines of President Donald Trump, tried and failed -- badly -- to explain why the forced separation of families trying to enter the country illegally was, well, not the Trump administration's fault.

There was a lot wrong with what Nielsen said -- and how she said it. Here are five things (and you can see the full transcript here):

1. She offered a technical response to a deeply emotional issue

From the start, Nielsen was all facts and figures -- all aimed at making the case that family unit arrivals, particularly from Central America, have soared in recent years. (She's right; they have.) But this is not a purely numbers issue. It's an emotional one too. It's about seeing little kids taken from their parents and wondering how your son or daughter would react in that situation. Hearing the cries of small children desperate to find someone -- anyone -- who can take them to a relative. This issue isn't just about dry policy-making. It's about people too. And Nielsen never even nodded to that fact.


Much more (Includes video): https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/18/politics/kirstjen-nielsen-press-conference/index.html

Republican lawmakers join the chorus of outrage over the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant families, but Fox News pundits continue to cheer the president on.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds an impromptu press briefing to answer burning questions, like "Was there ever a time that Trump liked Germany?"

Fred Judges a Book by Its Cover: Dreams of Falling by Karen White



Fred Armisen guesses the plot of Karen White's Dreams of Falling using only the book's cover.




Seth Gets Ejected from the Show



Seth gets ejected from the show by an umpire and a relief host is called in to replace him.

Utilities say coal, nuclear power units still to be shut

Competition from renewables, natural gas keeps up pressure

President Donald Trump has ordered a rescue of the nation’s struggling coal and nuclear power industries, but that doesn’t mean utilities are reconsidering the shutdown of unprofitable plants.

Many power generators contacted said Trump’s June 1 announcement hasn’t altered their plans to retire old units even as the administration dangles the prospect of using emergency powers to force grid operators to buy power from struggling plants.

“I will tell you it is not a matter of if we are going to retire our coal fleet in this nation, it’s just a matter of when,” Ben Fowke, Xcel Energy Inc.’s chief executive officer, said June 6 at a utility trade group conference. The company announced later that day that it would retire two coal-fired units in Colorado and add thousands of megawatts of capacity from renewable power and natural gas.

That trend has been underway for years. Since 2010, nearly 40 percent of the capacity of the nation’s fleet of coal-fired power plants has either been shut down or designated for closure, according to the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a trade-group that represents coal-fired utilities and mining companies such as Peabody Energy Corp., and Murray Energy Corp.

<snip>

Trump ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry on June 1 to take immediate action to stem further coal and nuclear plant closures in the name of national security. The Trump administration argues that the loss of coal and nuclear plants is harming the dependability of the U.S. power grid and its ability to recover from storms or cyber attacks.



Much more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-18/coal-plants-keep-shutting-despite-trump-s-order-to-rescue-them