Prominent Asian-American Republican Ready to Leave GOP

A Republican representative in Hawaii, cited as a rising star on the right, told NBC News Thursday she no longer felt she was in the position to defend the GOP, one day after her colleagues ousted her as House minority leader.

Rep. Beth Fukumoto, who served as the Hawaii House minority leader since 2014, said she became the subject of intense criticism from her caucus after her participation in the Women's March in Honolulu on Jan. 21, where she spoke out against the racism and bigotry that had become associated with the Republican Party, as well as the rhetoric and actions of President Donald Trump.

"There were many little girls watching [the election] who walked away believing that you can bully people and still win," Fukumoto told NBC News. "And what I said at the march was that regardless of who we voted for in the election, it was all of our responsibilities to show those same kids that in the end kindness and respect should always win."

Within 24 hours of her speech, Fukumoto said she was receiving calls and texts from her colleagues to meet, as well as fielding calls for her resignation for speaking out against the president.

On Wednesday, all but one of Fukumoto's colleagues voted to remove her from her leadership position...

If she leaves the Republican Party, Fukumoto told NBC News she would look to join the Democrats.


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/hawaii-republican-leader-vocal-trump-opposition-ready-leave-gop-n716071?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_aa

George Takei: Every Democratic senator should read the letter tomorrow!......Call your Dem tomorrow!

George TakeiVerified account
?@GeorgeTakei

Following
More

You know what? Every Democratic Senator should stand up and read Coretta Scott King's letter tomorrow. Every. Single. One.




https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei

Senate GOP's effort to shut Warren up backfires

Washington (CNN)The Senate has silenced Elizabeth Warren.

And by doing so, majority Republicans just handed the liberal firebrand a megaphone -- further elevating President Donald Trump's fiercest and most prominent critic in the Senate and turning her into a Democratic hero.

"They can shut me up, but they can't change the truth," Warren later told CNN's Don Lemon.

The rebuke of Warren came as the Massachusetts Democrat read a letter that Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., had written 30 years ago opposing the nomination of Jeff Sessions for a federal judgeship.

Sessions -- now an Alabama senator -- is Trump's nominee for attorney general. Warren opposes him, and cited King's letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1986. "Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens in the district he now seeks to serve as a federal judge," King wrote then.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/07/politics/elizabeth-warren-silenced/index.html

Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku member, 18, dies after falling ill prior to concert

TOKYO (TR) – An 18-year-old member of the all-girl idol group Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku died Wednesday morning, one day after falling ill prior to a concert, reports Fuji News Network (Feb. 8).

At around 5:00 a.m., the parents of Rina Matsuno telephoned emergency services to request an ambulance to transport for their daughter to a hospital. She was confirmed dead shortly after arrival. The cause of death has not been determined.

According to Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku’s official site, the group’s account announced the cancellation of a concert in Osaka on Tuesday two hours before it was set to start due an undisclosed illness suffered by Matsuno. She then returned to her home in the capital to recuperate.

Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku, which debuted in 2012, is an eight-member group that regularly plays concerts and appears on television. As a protegee group to fellow idol unit Momoiro Clover Z, they made their debut in 2012.


http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2017/02/08/shiritsu-ebisu-chugaku-member-18-dies-after-falling-ill-prior-to-concert/

Brand new "Marvel Iron Fist" trailer released.

Trump mostly upset that Spicer was imitated by a WOMAN on SNL.

As the press secretary for a president who's obsessed with how things play on cable TV, Sean Spicer’s real audience during his daily televised press briefings has always been an audience of one.

And the devastating “Saturday Night Live” caricature of Spicer that aired over the weekend — in which a belligerent Spicer was spoofed by a gum-chomping, super soaker-wielding Melissa McCarthy in drag — did not go over well internally at a White House in which looks matter.

More than being lampooned as a press secretary who makes up facts, it was Spicer’s portrayal by a woman that was most problematic in the president’s eyes, according to sources close to him. And the unflattering send-up by a female comedian was not considered helpful for Spicer’s longevity in the grueling, high-profile job in which he has struggled to strike the right balance between representing an administration that considers the media the "opposition party," and developing a functional relationship with the press.

"Trump doesn't like his people to look weak," added a top Trump donor.

Trump’s uncharacteristic Twitter silence over the weekend about the “Saturday Night Live” sketch was seen internally as a sign of how uncomfortable it made the White House feel. Sources said the caricature of Spicer by McCarthy struck a nerve and was upsetting to the press secretary and to his allies, who immediately saw how damaging it could be in Trump world.


http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/melissa-mccarthy-sean-spicer-234715

Melania admits in court docs intent cash in on new office.

Melania Trump filed her third defamation suit against the Mail Online over an August 2016 article that ​accused her of having once been a prostitute, arguing for the first time that it ruin​ed her “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to cash in on the presidency.

​”Mail Online’s conduct was extreme and outrageous in falsely making the scurrilous charge that the future First Lady of the United States worked as a prostitute,” reads the Manhattan Supreme Court suit, filed ​Monday ​by her lawyer Charles Harder, who won Hulk Hogan a $140 million verdict against Gawker in a Florida case financed by billionaire Trump supporter Peter Thiel.

​”Plaintiff had the unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person…to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world,” the Manhattan suit says.

“These product categories would have included, among other things, apparel, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, hair care, skin care and fragrance,” according to the $150 million filing.


http://nypost.com/2017/02/06/melania-trump-sues-mail-online-for-claiming-she-was-an-escort/

Welcome to the Trump Family Superbowl Party

Tweet of the Game

(((Harry Enten)))Verified account
?@ForecasterEnten

Following
More

John Lewis's team just stole that ball from Trump's team. I guess he was right about crime

New Logan Trailer With Hugh Jackman Drops During Super Bowl (VIDEO)