August 12, 2017

Protesters shouting "Heil Trump" today

https://twitter.com/funder/status/896410967092940802

August 10, 2017

Watch Manafort push woman news reporter's hand away

https://twitter.com/funder/status/895433575708868609

August 7, 2017

Bots accounted for 1/3 pro-Trump Twitter activity during 2016 debates

https://thenextweb.com/artificial-intelligence/2017/07/28/study-bots-accounted-for-a-third-of-all-pro-trump-twitter-activity-during-the-debate/#.tnw_FvMNlwuJ



This semi-coherent baboon, for one night last October, reigned supreme; but was it of his own doing? Regardless of what the news outlets say — or your sensibilities tell you — for one night, Trump was king — at least on Twitter. But as with all things surrounding the 2016 Presidential election, it might not be that simple.

A University of Oxford study indicates he may have had some help in the form of pro-Trump Twitter bots. These deplorable-bots (can we make that a thing?) tweeted approximately 576,178 times, accounting for nearly a third (32.7 percent) of all pro-Trump posts that evening and in the four days to follow.

To identify the bots, researchers looked for accounts that exclusively posted messages containing hashtags associated with a particular candidate. There were over a dozen hashtags used for each of the candidates to help identify bot activity.

The top three for Trump were:

#AmericaFirst
#deplorable
#NeverHillary


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To be fair there were Hillary bots too but they were minimal compared to Trump. And the Trump bots are still on Twitter and need to go.

August 5, 2017

Russian influence over GOP goes back as far as Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff

I am so glad this is all coming out now. You can't fix corruption until it is brought out into the bright light of day.
This article is from 2005

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During its five-year existence, the U.S. Family Network raised $2.5 million but kept its donor list secret. The list, obtained by The Washington Post, shows that $1 million of its revenue came in a single 1998 check from a now-defunct London law firm whose former partners would not identify the money's origins.

Two former associates of Edwin A. Buckham, the congressman's former chief of staff and the organizer of the U.S. Family Network, said Buckham told them the funds came from Russian oil and gas executives. Abramoff had been working closely with two such Russian energy executives on their Washington agenda, and the lobbyist and Buckham had helped organize a 1997 Moscow visit by DeLay (R-Tex.).


The former president of the U.S. Family Network said Buckham told him that Russians contributed $1 million to the group in 1998 specifically to influence DeLay's vote on legislation the International Monetary Fund needed to finance a bailout of the collapsing Russian economy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123001480.html

August 5, 2017

New Report Ryan and Mcconnell took millions from Russian oligarch tied to Putin

If McConnell and Ryan are indicted along with Trump and Pence does a Democrat get to be president?


http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/04/new-report-reveals-mcconnell-ryan-took-millions-russian-oligarch-tied-putin/

A series of top Republican elected officials have just been exposed for accepting outsized donations from one of the world’s richest men, Leonid “Len” Blavatnik. Blavatnik is a Ukrainian-born businessman whose fortune comes from owning a company purchased by Putin’s Rosneft, the state-run Russian oil company cited in the infamous Russian “pee tape” dossier.

Americans have asked why Congressional Republicans continued to defend President Trump’s secret relationship with Putin and their collision in last year’s elections, and these massive Super PAC donations could help explain why.

The Dallas News just issued a stunning report based on public records recently uncovered by the Democratic Coalition, that the Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority leader McConnell have taken a Putin-connected billionaire Blavatnik’s cash:

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Donald Trump and the political action committees for Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich and John McCain accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank.

August 1, 2017

Fox News Busted As Fake News As Fox Worked With Trump On Seth Rich Conspiracy Story

Source: Politicus USA


The Fox News Channel and a wealthy supporter of President Trump worked in concert under the watchful eye of the White House to concoct a story about the murder of a young Democratic National Committee aide, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The explosive claim is part of the lawsuit filed against Fox News by Rod Wheeler, a longtime paid commentator for the news network.

According to the lawsuit, Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer met at the White House with Wheeler and Butowsky to review the Rich story a month before Fox News ran the piece.

On May 14, about 36 hours before Fox News’ story appeared, Butowsky left a voicemail for Wheeler, saying, “We have the full, uh, attention of the White House on this. And tomorrow, let’s close this deal, whatever we’ve got to do.”

The lawsuit is evidence that the Trump White House is planting fake news in conservative media outlets, but equally as important is the idea that conservative media, like Fox, are working with the White House to spread fake news.

Read more: http://www.politicususa.com/2017/08/01/fox-news-busted-fake-news-fox-worked-trump-seth-rich-conspiracy-story.html

July 27, 2017

This type of advertising will win us elections!

https://twitter.com/funder/status/889684286986743808

I already donated to one about Mitch Mcconnell. I'm going to give to this one too.

Too many people do not realize how much their reps affect them beyond the local level. They need to be informed of things like their reps who blocked job bills and tried to take away their health care.

July 24, 2017

Veep is just disgusting now.

I understand that a person who is incredibly self-centered can be funny in a show. But Veep is taking it to a new low. I just finished Season 6 and I don't even think I want to watch Season 7.

The character of Selina Myer is so sociopathic it is not even funny anymore. To the point she can't even pick up her own grandchild and won't do anything unless it involves her benefit is just too much to take. Watching someone be so mean is not funny anymore.

July 21, 2017

Just thought of this. If Mueller gets Trump's tax returns they can also

be accessed from the Freedom of Information Act.

I don't see why that information would be classified.



"Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Guidelines
A. The Scope of the Freedom of Information Act
All IRS records are subject to FOIA requests. However, FOIA does not require the IRS to release
all documents that are subject to FOIA requests. The IRS may withhold information pursuant to
nine exemptions and three exclusions contained in the FOIA statute.
The Freedom of Information Act applies to records either created or obtained by an agency and
under agency control at the time of the FOIA request. Agencies within the executive branch of the
federal government, including the Executive Office of the President and independent regulatory
agencies are subject to the FOIA. State governments, municipal corporations, the courts,
Congress and private citizens are not subject to the FOIA.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/irs_foia_guide.pdf

July 15, 2017

Pope Francis close confidantes published a scathing rebuke of fundamentalism

The article attacks the decades-old partnership between two strands of American Christianity ― fundamentalist evangelicals and Catholics who are brought together by the “same desire for religious influence in the political sphere.” Although these two groups differ on a number of theological issues, they have come together since the 1980s and 1990s over issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, according to the AP.

One of the most worrisome aspects of this alliance for the pair is how it encourages hatred of different ethnicities and conflates Islam with terrorism. This view of the world stands in stark contrast to Pope Francis’ interfaith outreach and his repeated calls to build bridges, not walls.

“The most dangerous prospect for this strange ecumenism is attributable to its xenophobic and Islamophobic vision that wants walls and purifying deportations,”


Spadaro and Figueroa wrote that the desire of these Christian fundamentalists is to “submit the state to the Bible with a logic that is no different from the one that inspires Islamic fundamentalism.”


Much more at link





http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/popes-confidantes-pen-blistering-critique-of-steve-bannons-view-of-christianity_us_5968e8a3e4b0d6341fe8706c?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000016&section=politics