July 6, 2017

How Trump could "punish" Amazon / WaPo owner Jeff Bezos for revealing the fake Time mag cover

Vox’s Matthew Yglesias warned shortly after the election that the Trump administration would use the AT&T-Time Warner to influence CNN’s coverage.

“Trump is not going to crush the free media in one fell swoop,” Yglesias wrote. “But big corporate media does face enough regulatory matters that even a single exemplary case would suffice to induce large-scale self-censorship. AT&T, for example, is currently seeking permission from antitrust authorities to buy Time Warner — permission that Time Warner executives might plausible fear is contingent on Trump believing that CNN has covered him ‘fairly.'”

He also warned that Trump could make good on his promise to punish Jeff Bezos, who owns both the Washington Post and Amazon, for unfavorable reporting by pressing a Federal Trade Commission investigation of the online retailer’s predatory pricing.

Trump last week threatened Bezos with “internet taxes” after the Post reported that at least four of the president’s golf properties display fake Time magazine covers featuring him.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/trump-white-house-seeks-to-leverage-pending-merger-with-cnns-parent-company-to-silence-network-report/

July 5, 2017

Rubio can't find office space due to protests. Staff at Starbucks, living on Unicorn Frappuccinos?

Rubio’s Tampa staff forced to work out of Starbucks because protesters prevent him from finding office space



http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/rubios-tampa-staff-forced-to-work-out-of-starbucks-because-protesters-prevent-him-from-finding-office-space/

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Rubio and his staff were kicked out of Tampa’s Bridgeport Center on Feb. 1 because the weekly demonstrations by activists seeking to “pressure Rubio on a variety of issues” disrupted other tenants and cost the buildings’ owners too much money.

Now, a spokesperson for Rubio says they’re still working on finding a replacement for one of the largest areas in the Republican senator’s district.

In the interim, Rubio and his two-person staff have “improvised,” taking meetings in cafes, libraries and “other public spaces” — an arrangement that the Times noted presents its’ own issues.

“Constituent services often involves working with documents that contain personal information,” the report stated. “Where are those files being stored? Is there a security concern about staff toting them back and forth to meetings? If so, how is that being addressed? And where is staff working when they’re not with constituents?”

July 5, 2017

David Corn has a question for Nikki "Shock & Awe Shucks" Haley

David Corn? Verified account
@DavidCornDC

David Corn Retweeted Evan Rosenfeld
How do you think NK would respond? Reminder: Seoul is 35 miles from the border.

Evan Rosenfeld ?Verified account
@Evan_Rosenfeld

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has said US is prepared to use military force against North Korea "if we must."

https://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/882690834956791808

https://twitter.com/Evan_Rosenfeld/status/882684902302527493

July 5, 2017

23% of Polish citizens confident in Trump, but they're going to fake cheering crowds anyway.

Now reports out of Poland suggest that the Polish government has figured out a way to make Trump feel comfortable in their country — by busing in people to cheer him.

According to the Associated Press, Polish news agencies are reporting that the Polish government “promised the White House a reception of cheering crowds as part of its invitation” to the president, and is going so far as to “bus in groups from the provinces to hear Trump’s speech.”

The White House did not respond to the AP’s questions about whether it received assurances that the Polish government would bus in cheering people to make Trump’s visit to the country more pleasant.

Finding Poles who are willing to come out and cheer the president might be easier said than done, however. A recent Pew poll found that just 23 percent of Polish citizens were confident in Trump’s leadership, whereas 58 percent of Polish citizens had previously expressed confidence in former President Barack Obama’s leadership.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/poland-promises-to-create-cheering-crowds-to-appease-trump-during-visit-reports/

July 5, 2017

14-year-old boy takes family SUV, picks up buddies, buys fireworks, they have a Roman candle fight..

SKYWAY , Wash. - A 14-year-old boy, who took his parents' SUV for a joyride to get fireworks, wound up accidentally torching the vehicle outside the family's home Tuesday morning.

***

According to the King County Sheriff's office, the boy took the family's SUV without permission, picked up some friends, went to buy fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July then returned home.

Deputies said the boys were having a Roman candle fight, shooting the fireworks at each other in the front yard, when one of the flames shot through an open window on the family's SUV.

The boys were unable to get the firework out of the car before the dash went up in flames and fire engulfed the car.

http://news3lv.com/news/local/teens-joyride-to-get-fireworks-ends-up-familys-van-torched-in-front-yard

July 5, 2017

Fox's Gregg Jarrett (via Olbermann): Mental illness doesn't invoke the 25th Amendment

Keith Olbermann?Verified account
@KeithOlbermann

Keith Olbermann Retweeted Fox News

Reminder after limo incident: @FoxNews which already has a "so what if Trump colluded" backup plan, also has a "so what if he's insane" one

https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/882635731818221569

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/882065898697261060

Fox News?Verified account
@FoxNews

.@GreggJarrett: "Even if somebody does suffer from a mental illness, that doesn't invoke the 25th amendment." #Hannity

July 5, 2017

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) records video inside Auschwitz gas chamber

A Republican lawmaker is coming under criticism for recording videos at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, including a segment filmed inside the Nazi gas chambers and crematorium.

“This is why homeland security must be squared away, why our military must be invincible,” Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) declared as he stood in front of ovens used to cremate prisoners.

The Auschwitz‑Birkenau Memorial and Museum wrote on Twitter that Higgins shouldn’t have used the scene of so many murders as a “stage.”

Higgins, a former police officer who now sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, made headlines last month when he wrote on Facebook that “all of Christendom... is at war with Islamic horror” and called for killing any “radicalized Islamic suspect.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clay-higgins-auschwitz_us_595c9960e4b0da2c7325cb9d

July 5, 2017

Trump voter fighting cerebral palsy fears life would be "destroyed" by massive Trumpcare cuts

Trump voter fighting cerebral palsy fears life would be ‘destroyed’ by massive Trumpcare cuts

The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell reports that 36-year-old Trump voter Bradley Ledgerwood is worried about proposed cuts to two programs that have helped him survive ever since he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of just two years old: Medicaid and legal aid.

Medicaid, whose future spending would face an $800 billion cut under the GOP’s health care bill, delivered funding to help his mother quit her job so she could take care of him full time. And the federally-funded Legal Aid of Arkansas helped Ledgerwood pay for a successful legal appeal when the Arkansas Department of Human Services abruptly cut his allotted care-giving hours in half.’

While the Medicaid cuts in the GOP health bill have been well documented, Rampell also notes that Trump’s proposed budget would completely eliminate federal funding for the Arkansas Legal Aid program.

Without the help of both programs, Ledgerwood tells Rampell, he would have wound up in a nursing home.

“That would destroy my life,” he said.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/that-would-destroy-my-life-trump-voter-battling-ms-fears-massive-trumpcare-and-gop-budget-cuts/

July 5, 2017

Pope "infuriated" after cops raid drug-fueled "gay orgy" at Vatican priests apartment

According to the New Zealand Herald, Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano is reporting that Vatican police raided an apartment in June at the former palace of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to break up an orgy taking place.

“The occupant of the apartment is alleged to be a priest who serves as a secretary to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and a personal adviser to the Pope,” the New Zealand Herald explains.

Police were alerted to the alleged orgy after neighbors became suspicious about the behavior of people going into and out of the apartment. When police entered the apartment, they discovered illegal drugs, as well as men engaging in sexual activity.

Il Fatto Quotidiano reports that Pope Francis was “infuriated” by news of the alleged orgy, and the publication suggested that the scandal may force Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio into retirement.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/pope-infuriated-after-cops-raid-drug-fueled-gay-orgy-at-vatican-priests-apartment-report/

July 5, 2017

GOP consultants linked to Trump and Pence exploiting DNC staffer's murder to sell wrinkle cream

GOP consultants linked to Trump and Pence exploiting DNC staffer’s murder to sell wrinkle cream



http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/gop-consultants-linked-to-trump-and-pence-exploiting-dnc-staffers-murder-to-sell-wrinkle-cream/

A Republican consulting firm previously hired by both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence is promoting conspiracy theories about the murder of a DNC staffer to hawk wrinkle cream.

Websites linked to the Prosper Group digital consulting firm are sending out emails linking the Seth Rich murder to an “anti-aging” product supposedly developed by Fox News host Sean Hannity’s wife, reported The Daily Beast.

“Sean Hannity’s Wife Drops Bombshell Amidst Fox News Murder Investigation!” blares the email’s subject line, and it links to a “message from our sponsor” describing how Hannity’s coverage of the DNC staffer’s 2016 slaying had put the Fox News host under media scrutiny that uncovered the product.

“What journalist (sic) found about (Hannity’s wife) Jill’s net worth is even more mindblowing,” the ad claims, and goes on to promote a skin cream called Parisian Secret that produces “anti-aging results that before now were only possible through surgeons.”