Category: Republicans

Undocumented Immigrant Trump Trashed Acquitted in Killing of Kate Steinle

November 30, 2017
Bad PoliticsConservativesCrime and PunishmentDonald TrumpLegalRaceRacismRepublicans
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Jose Ines Garcia Zarate

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate (SFPD)

An undocumented immigrant from Mexico who Donald Trump trashed in an August 2016 campaign speech has been found not guilty of murder and manslaughter charges in the killing of Kathryn Steinle.

The man on trial, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, was found guilty only of possession of a firearm by a felon.

The jury also found him not guilty of assault with a firearm.

From the New York Times:

The backlash to his release into the community crescendoed when Donald J. Trump invoked Ms. Steinle’s killing as he campaigned for president. Mr. Trump rallied national support for his hard-line immigration agenda, which ultimately helped to catapult him into office.

In a major speech on immigration in August 2016, Mr. Trump argued that “countless innocent American lives have been stolen because our politicians have failed in their duty to secure our borders and enforce our laws.”

Mr. Trump then named several young people who he said had become victims of policies he considered failures. Among those he named was Ms. Steinle, who Mr. Trump said had been “gunned down in the sanctuary city of San Francisco, by an illegal immigrant, deported five previous times.”

“And they knew he was no good,” Mr. Trump said of the man who had shot her.

Except The Donald was wrong.

Again.

And again.

Donald Trump Betrays America. He Must Be Stopped.

November 12, 2017
AmericaBad PoliticsBarack ObamaConstitutionDonald TrumpHillary ClintonRantRepublicans
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The GOP must get on board with stopping Donald Trump. The man is selling out this country piece by piece.

He must be impeached. As soon as possible.

From his Twitter rants today.

Trump’s latest Tweets

Trump’s latest Tweets

Why does Trump want to be Kim Jong-un’s friend?

why does he trust Putin over American intelligence?

Why is he still obsessed with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? Why does he feel so inadequate?

Why is he still in office?

New Jersey First Lady Nabbed In Distracted Driving Crackdown

November 4, 2017
LegalRepublicans
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New Jersey First Lady Mary Pat Christie

New Jersey First Lady Mary Pat Christie. (NJ.GOV)

Mary Pat Christie, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s wife, was nabbed during a “statewide crackdown on distracted driving,” according to NJ.COM:

A statewide crackdown on distracted driving ordered by Gov. Chris Christie’s attorney general earlier this year led to a surprising catch in New Jersey’s first lady, Mary Pat Christie, NJ Advance Media has learned.

To her credit, unlike others with influence in Trenton, the first lady did not play the “Do you know who I am?” card after being pulled over, dash cam video of the traffic stop shows.

 

As it turns out, how the first lady wound up getting that ticket is perhaps more interesting than why.

 

After New Jersey traffic fatalities jumped 8 percent in 2016, state Attorney General Christopher Porrino requested and received $1.2 million in federal grant money to launch a campaign against texting and other distracted driving that was behind the rise.

Bloomberg also has the story:

NJ Advance Media reports Mary Pat Christie was stopped while driving with a cellphone in her hand on April 10 in Bernardsville by a police officer assigned to the grant-funded program that targeted texting and other distracted driving.

She didn’t identify herself as Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s wife. But she did tell the officer she wasn’t making a call. The officer told her she could not have the phone in her hand while driving.

The officer told her she was getting a ticket because he was on the distracting driving grant detail.

She pleaded guilty and paid a $250 fine.

Trump’s Early Ties To Moscow Become More Clear

August 28, 2017
ConservativesDonald TrumpElectionsEthicsRepublicans
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Donald Trump smug smile
From the New York Times:

A business associate of President Trump promised in 2015 to engineer a real estate deal with the aid of the president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, that he said would help Mr. Trump win the presidency.

The associate, Felix Sater, wrote a series of emails to Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, in which he boasted about his ties to Mr. Putin and predicted that building a Trump Tower in Moscow would highlight Mr. Trump’s savvy negotiating skills and be a political boon to his candidacy.

“Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Mr. Sater wrote in an email. “I will get all of Putins [sic] team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”

“Our boy?” Is Donald Trump really some group’s “boy?” And what do they want from him in return?

What does Vladimir Putin want in return?

Rolling Stone Ranks Anthony Scaramucci’s 10 Days in the White House

Anthony Scaramucci
August 1, 2017
Bad PoliticsBarack ObamaBusinessConservativesDonald TrumpEthicsGovernmentRepublicansWhite House
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Anthony Scaramucci

Anthony Scaramucci

Yes, it happened.

Turning Left readers are always very well informed, so this is not a breaking story.

Anthony Scaramucci was fired by President Donald Trump.

Rolling Stone ranks his 10 days in the White House, from “biblical murder analogies to denials of auto-fellatio, the Mooch’s brief tenure will be, at the very least, memorable.”

There was a false report today that Scaramucci’s wife was leaving him, filed for divorce, because he posted nude photos of her and loved politics more than she.

But that was satire.

What’s real?

Anthony Scaramucci lasted 10 days in the White House.

Here are notable firings and resignations from the Trump Administration, from our friends at LATimes.com:

  • Anthony Scaramucci, Director of communications (fired), 10 days
  • Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff (resigned), 189 days
  • Derek Harvey, National Security Council Middle East advisor (fired), 186 days
  • Michael Short, Assistant press secretary (resigned), 186 days
  • Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, White House director of communications (resigned), 182 days
  • Walter Shaub, Director of the Office of Government Ethics (resigned), 180 days
  • Robert Iger, Advisory council (resigned), 133 days
  • Elon Musk, Advisory council (resigned), 132 days
  • Mike Dubke, Director of communications (resigned), 85 days
  • K.T. McFarland, Deputy national security advisor (reassigned), 177 days
  • James B. Comey Jr., FBI director (fired), 109 days
  • Angella Reid, White House chief usher (fired), 105 days (and the only Person of Color on the list)
  • Katie Walsh, Deputy White House chief of staff (resigned), 69 days
  • Craig Deare, National Security Council senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs (fired), 26 days
  • Mike Flynn, National security advisor (resigned), 22 days
  • Sally Yates, Acting attorney general (fired), 10 days

That’s a list to rival, well, any previous administration.

More details here.

Candidate Donald Trump, The Don, Donnie “Make-America-Great-Again” T., boasted that he knew the best people. He would hire only the best people.

But he’s treating the West Wing like an episode of that little-watched The Apprentice, even calling the Cabinet Room as the “boardroom.”

Donald Trump, the most insecure man in America, governing, if you can call it that, out of spite for President Obama.

Who is next to go?

Bingo, anyone?

next to go, Trump administration

Who will be next to go in the Trump Administration.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders: The Eyes Have It

Sarah Huckabee Sanders' eyes
July 11, 2017
ComedyConservativesRepublicansStrange
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Sarah Huckabee Sanders' eyes

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has eyes for you.

A friend suggested this to me, and it creeped me out royally.

Try this.

Above, a picture of Sarah Huckabee Sanders not answering questons. Sarah is the principal deputy press secretary in the Trump White House.

Whatever that is.

The Trump White House, I mean.

What a mess.

But, seriously, try this.

Cover one of Sarah’s eyes in the photo above. Start with the right eye — as you are looking at the photo.

Weird, right?

Now, cover the left eye.

<waiting…>

Did you jump in your seat at what you saw?

As my friend says, “One of her eyes looks like she wants to murder you, and the other eye looks like she can’t believe she has to deal with this bullshit every day.”

Had me rolling with laughter.

And then I stopped.

And covered the left eye again.

And quivered where I sat.

Donald Trump Calls Out Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh Responds

June 1, 2017
Anti-ScienceBad PoliticsDonald TrumpEnvironmentEthicsGlobal WarmingRepublicansScience
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Donald Trump smug smile

Donald Trump mentioned Pittsburgh today, and that was a mistake.

The Bumbler In Chief called out Pittsburgh today when he announced that he would ditch the Paris Agreement.

The reaction from Pittsburgh has been a fast and furious rebut.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Pittsburgh is hogging the national spotlight, and it’s being shone on the city courtesy of President Donald Trump, who in a climactic moment about the climate, made the alliterative assertment that, when it comes to which accords he’ll agree to, he “was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”

Which was surprising to Pittsburghers, because It’s worth noting that in November’s presidential election, Allegheny County and Pittsburgh were won by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

So far, reaction has been swift.

And then there were the tweets, these from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto:

And the voices go on from there.

Trump Sells Out Israel To Impress Russians

Donald Trump smug smile
May 16, 2017
Bad PoliticsDonald TrumpEthicsGovernmentRepublicansTerrorismWhite House
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Donald Trump smug smileThe secret intelligence Donald Trump boasted about in front of his Russian buddies?

It came from Israel.

Israel.

The lives that could be lost. The dangers we could face.

From the NYTimes:

The classified intelligence that President Trump disclosed in a meeting last week with Russian officials at the White House was provided by Israel, according to a current and a former American official familiar with how the United States obtained the information. The revelation adds a potential diplomatic complication to the episode.

Israel is one of the United States’ most important allies and a major intelligence collector in the Middle East. The revelation that Mr. Trump boasted about some of Israel’s most sensitive information to the Russians could damage the relationship between the two countries. It also raises the possibility that the information could be passed to Iran, Russia’s close ally and Israel’s main threat in the Middle East.

The potential for catastrophic fallout from the child in the White House, the child dying to impress others, is incredible.

I’m scared now.

Trump Campaign Chair in Kentucky County Arrested On Child Sex Trafficking Charges

April 22, 2017
ConservativesCrime and PunishmentLegalRepublicans
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Donald Trump, Tim Nolan

Donald Trump and Tim Nolan.

Well, here’s the ugly:

Tim Nolan, a local Republican political figure and the former chair of the Trump campaign for Campbell County, Kentucky, has been arrested and charged with “felony human trafficking of a minor, felony inducing a minor to engage in sex, and a third count of giving alcohol to a minor,” according to an indictment filed in Boone County, KY earlier this week.

According to the The River City News, who obtained the indictment on Friday, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear has charged Nolan with “human trafficking (a class B felony), first degree unlawful transaction with a minor (a class C felony), and third degree unlawful transaction with a minor (a class A misdemeanor).”  All of the alleged felonies were committed in 2016, while he was chair of the Campbell County arm of the Trump campaign.

Nolan is also a former judge.

More ugly:

According to the indictment, obtained by The River City News, Nolan is accused of subjecting a minor under the age of 18 to “commercial sexual activity”. He is also accused of inducing a minor to engage in sexual activity. Nolan is also accused of providing alcohol to a minor.

More here.

Daniela Vargas Released From ICE; SPLC, Others, Celebrate

March 10, 2017
Bad PoliticsCivil RightsEthicsimmigrationRepublicans
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Daniela Vargas

Daniela Vargas

No doubt to the consternation of President Donald Trump (it still aches to type that, to say it), Daniela Vargas has been released from ICE. The freedom of the 22-year-old #Dreamer was heralded by the Southern Poverty Law Center:

We’ve just won an important legal victory.

Today, Daniela Vargas, a 22-year-old aspiring math teacher, was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. A week ago, she had been detained by immigration agents moments after speaking publicly about immigrants’ rights.

It was a transparent attempt to chill free speech and intimidate immigrants who speak up. We filed a habeas petition to force her release and to stop her deportation.

“We’re joining the community in celebrating the release of our client, Dany Vargas,” said SPLC Deputy Legal Director Naomi Tsu.

“But we will continue to challenge the unconstitutional actions of ICE agents in this case and will not rest until she is no longer under threat of deportation. It is counterproductive and harmful to our communities for ICE to be targeting aspiring young people in this country and we urge ICE to release other immigrant youth held in detention.”

Read more about Dany’s case and the SPLC’s efforts to ensure detained immigrants have access to counsel.

Sincerely,

Your friends at the SPLC

“A transparent attempt to chill free speech and intimidate immigrants who speak up” indeed. This was ugly and wrong.

As is the Trump-declared war on immigrants.

It must stop.

More about Dany’s case here. Read. Celebrate tonight. Remember the many, many who do not make the news.