Daily Kos

Open thread for night owls: Top 1% gained $21 trillion since 1989; bottom 50% lost $900 million

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 8:00 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 20:00

Jake Johnson at Common Dreams writes—'Eye-Popping': Analysis Shows Top 1% Gained $21 Trillion in Wealth Since 1989 While Bottom Half Lost $900 Billion:

Adding to the mountain of statistical evidence showing the severity of U.S. inequality, an analysis published Friday found that the top one percent of Americans gained $21 trillion in wealth since 1989 while the bottom 50 percent lost $900 billion.

Matt Bruenig, founder of the left-wing think tank People's Policy Project, broke down the Federal Reserve's newly released "Distributive Financial Accounts" data series and found that, overall, "the top one percent owns nearly $30 trillion of assets while the bottom half owns less than nothing, meaning they have more debts than they have assets."

The growth of wealth inequality over the past 30 years, Bruenig found, is "eye-popping."

"Between 1989 and 2018, the top one percent increased its total net worth by $21 trillion," Bruenig wrote. "The bottom 50 percent actually saw its net worth decrease by $900 billion over the same period."

"Enormous crisis," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) tweeted in response to Bruenig's analysis.

"We have the worst inequality in this country since the 1920s," wrote Jayapal, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "Three wealthiest people in America have as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent."

**Indivisible’s list of Resistance Events & Groups**

TOP COMMENTS • HIGH IMPACT STORIES

QUOTATION

“No point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment should be continued. Shall any man be above Justice?” ~~George Mason (1787)

TWEET OF THE DAY

On Sunday we set a new record for the longest stretch in history that Congress has not raised the minimum wage. #RaiseTheWage #Vote & while we're at it #ImpeachTrump https://t.co/5YFHdSdujz
— Molly Shack (@mollyshack) June 15, 2019

BLAST FROM THE PAST

On this date at Daily Kos in 2003—McKiernan's dilemma:

Lt. Gen David McKiernan faces a problem as old as Iraq: how to keep the tribes and various factions under control.

His methods have involved sweeps and nightly patrols in a war which may go on as long as Americans are in Iraq.

The White House and Defense Department are using loaded words like terrorists and Baathists, which may sound nice on Fox News, but does little to explain how complex the politics of Iraq are.

One must keep in mind Saddam used a complex series of bribes and a secret police establishment to work his magic. He rarely acted overtly, except when needed. But even he couldn't prevent a full-scale Shia uprising and many of the secret dead come from that period.

The US faces a grim series of realities and some military choices.

On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: It's another lol/yolo/nm Friday! Trump’s trying for another war, but without Secretaries of Any of the Necessary Departments. Kellyanne Conway gives the Hatch Act the finger. Again. The rule of law is so dumb. We should just get rid of it, everywhere.

Embedded Content

RadioPublic|LibSyn|YouTube|Patreon|Square Cash (Share code: Send $5, get $5!)

Daily Kos T-Shirt Ad — LINK TO DAILY KOS STORE

Second ethics investigation pummels Republican congressman who's already vulnerable in 2020

Jeff Singer for Daily Kos Elections

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 7:45 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 19:45

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 11: U.S. Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) talks to members of the media as he walks through the Statuary Hall at the Capitol October 11, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. On the 11th day of a U.S. government shutdown, President Barack Obama spoke with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) on the phone and they agreed that they should keep talking. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) — Arizona GOP Rep. David Schweikert

On Wednesday, the Office of Congressional Ethics released a report detailing its investigation alleged ethics violations by Republican Rep. David Schweikert’s former chief of staff, Oliver Schwab, and it does not paint a pretty picture of Schweikert’s office. The Arizona congressman is currently under investigation by another body, the House Ethics Committee, and the Arizona Republic writes that the committee’s probe “is believed to overlap significantly with the matters outlined in the report on Schwab.”

First, some background on both investigations. Last June, the Ethics Committee announced that the OCE was looking into both Schweikert and Schwab over allegations that Schweikert's campaign paid Schwab considerably more than congressional staffers are allowed to earn in outside income; Schwab resigned as chief of staff the following month.

In December, the Ethics Committee voted to expand its inquiry into Schweikert as it examined separate allegations that the congressman had used government resources to benefit his campaigns. Roll Call wrote at the time that the committee was investigating whether the congressman had pressured his congressional staff to perform political activities for him, and whether he’d “authorized compensation to an employee who did not perform duties commensurate with his House employment,” which reported Katherine Tully-McManus described as code for “off-the-books settlements” paid out to staffers.

It doesn't end there, though: The committee has also been looking into whether a congressional employee gave Schweikert or his campaign improper loans or gifts. In April, the committee publicly said that its investigation came about because the panel had "substantial reason" to believe Schweikert had misused congressional resources for his campaign, in violation of House ethics rules.

Wednesday’s report was issued by the OCE, an independent, nonpartisan agency that can refer matters to the House Ethics Committee, and while it focused on the charges against Schwab, it did not paint Schweikert in a favorable light.

Prepare for a campaign season overrun with deepfakes

Mark Sumner

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 7:20 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 19:20

A woman in Washington, DC, views a manipulated video on January 24, 2019, that changes what is said by President Donald Trump and former president Barack Obama, illustrating how deepfake technology can deceive viewers. - "Deepfake" videos that manipulate reality are becoming more sophisticated and realistic as a result of advances in artificial intelligence, creating a potential for new kinds of misinformation with devastating consequences. (Photo by Rob Lever / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Rob LEVER "Misinformation woes may multiply with deepfake videos" (Photo credit should read ROB LEVER/AFP/Getty Images)

The days in which a presidential campaign can be turned on its ear by a bit of leaked video, or the whole nation made extremely uncomfortable by a last-minute audio clip, are probably not over. But something has changed for 2020: A lot of what people both see and hear will likely be fake. Not fake as in “fake news,” but fake as in deepfakes, “highly realistic and difficult-to-detect digital manipulations of audio or video” (as defined by Robert Chesney and Danielle Citron), because the technology that started out in academia, then leaked out into a community obsessed with slapping celebrity faces onto porn videos, has matured into tools that make it possible to create video that has almost anyone saying, or doing, almost anything.

When the alarm bells were first sounded over the threat posed by deepfakes, many didn’t take the issue too seriously. After all, the videos being produced at the time seemed somewhat crude, often blurry, and just generally off. But the codes and tools for deepfakes have long been out there in the open source community, and hundreds of hands have contributed to tweaking, improving, and nudging the technology along. Some of those involved were academics intrigued by the techniques, some were programmers challenged to apply their coding skills, some were legitimate video producers who saw in the tool set possibilities for the industry. Some were just in it for the porn.

Many hands made for many improvements, and over the last two years tools have been produced that not only generate more realistic results, but have easier to use interfaces. Machine intelligence has picked up many of the difficult tasks of aligning facial features and generating expressions. Results that used to take the careful merging of multiple images by a skilled operator can now be produced by a casual user with just a few hours of learning the system.

As the recent incident with a purposely altered video of Nancy Pelosi demonstrated conclusively, neither our social media nor our traditional media are set up to reject something that either looks like a scoop or is already popular. It’s not a matter of whether false videos will have an impact in 2020; it’s just a matter of how great an impact it will be.

And don’t expect all these videos to be coming from snickering MAGA-hatted Trump fans in the United States. Because Trump fans from Russia are also likely to be in the game.

Our new Virginia data shows just how rough a ride GOP is in for in this fall's legislative elections

Jeff Singer for Daily Kos Elections

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 6:55 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 18:55

Virginia2019StateHouseSpecialMasterCourt-DrawnMapby2016PresidentialMargin.png

Virginians went to the polls Tuesday to choose nominees for this November’s state elections, when all 40 seats in the state Senate and all 100 in the House of Delegates will be up. Republicans hold just a 21-19 majority in the Senate and an equally thin 51-49 edge in the House, so Old Dominion Democrats have the chance to take control of both chambers of the legislature while also holding the governorship for the first time since early 1994.

Democrats got a major boost in this quest when federal judges struck down the House map for discriminating against black voters and redrew part of it ahead of this year’s elections. The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet ruled on a GOP appeal seeking to displace the new map, but it’s very unlikely that it’ll interfere now that the primaries have passed.

However, Virginia Democrats still have plenty of obstacles ahead of them this fall, especially given the cavalcade of misery surrounding Gov. Ralph Northam and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who’ve steadfastly refused to resign in the face of separate scandals that broke in February. Democrats also need to defend some key House seats in order to take control of the chamber. Still, 2019 gives Democrats their best chance in a generation to finally win the legislature.

Below is a look at the Senate and House battlegrounds for this November. Daily Kos Elections previously crunched the numbers for the 2016 presidential election for every district in the Virginia legislature (using the new lines for lower chamber).

Now, for the first time, we have results of the 2017 gubernatorial election, where Northam beat Republican Ed Gillespie 55-45, calculated for each district in the Senate and the House. Particularly worrisome for Republicans is the fact that Northam almost universally performed better than Hillary Clinton, exceeding her margins in 85 House districts and 35 Senate seats—and almost all of the seats where he did not are uncompetitive.

Renewable energy capacity surpasses coal in the United States for the first time

Mark Sumner

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 6:30 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 18:30

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY ELLA IDE - A picture taken on June 13, 2015 shows wind turbines part of a wind farm near Oristano in Sardinia. Thousands of solar panels glint in the sun, but the prized farmland beneath lies barren: while Sardinia revels in a renewable energy boom, the long arm of organised crime is sullying the island's clean power ambitions. Across Italy, cities and towns are embracing hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, wind farms, solar panels, steam generators and biomass plants, thanks largely to generous state subsidies which have proved a honeypot for profiteers. Sardinia, famed for lush plains and emerald waters but racked by poverty and unemployment, has jumped at the chance to boost the economy by converting its long months of sunlight and the region's coal-mining expertise into green energy. AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE (Photo credit should read GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has published its regular update on United States energy infrastructure through the month of April 2019. And in that month something significant happened—for the first time in history, the amount of energy capacity held by renewable sources exceeded that of coal.

The difference for April is the very definition of tiny, if anything measured in gigawatts can be called tiny. At that time, natural gas was the big winner, accounting for 531.08 gigawatts of capacity, or 44.44% of the U.S. total. Next up on the overall list is coal, with 257.48 GW and 21.55%. But that’s not the whole story. If you add up the renewable sources—hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass—the total comes to 21.56% of the U.S. capacity. By the smallest of margins, renewables edged out coal.

That may seem like a number so small as to be a statistical fluke. And it might be, except for what ongoing changes to the nation’s electrical grid are showing. Since January, 1,545 MW of new wind power has come on line. So has 1,473 MW of new electricity from solar. Over that period, coal has added nothing. And even that’s not the case, because coal has added less than nothing, as coal plants continue to be retired.

In projections for just the next three years, FERC expects wind power to increase by over 101,000 MW—more than the total capacity now on hand. Solar is targeted to increase by 84,000 MW, which is over twice what’s already out there. And in those same three years, coal’s production capacity is expected to shrink by another 12,400 MW as aging, uneconomic plants continue to be closed. Demand for coal is down by 40% in a single decade and dropping, appropriately enough, like a stone.

By 2022, solar and wind will be producing over 30% more power than coal. And that’s without adding in hydro or any other renewable source.

Five old white men turn small Texas town into 'sanctuary city for the unborn'

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 6:05 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 18:05

White men of Waskon vote on symbolic anti-abortion measure.

Five old white men voted this week to make Waskom, Texas, a “sanctuary city for the unborn.” The picture up there pretty much says it all, but the smugness on display in the video will outright make you sick.

“It’s all in an effort to make it to the Supreme Court and win,” NBC News 6 reported. Even though the city can’t afford a lawsuit and really, guys? C’mon, it’s not like Waskom, Texas, population 2,200 or so, is the only place trying to spark a case that will lead to the Trump Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. With no abortion providers in the East Texas city and all those other abortion bans from places that can afford a lawyer, this looks a little bit like grandstanding for attention.

Supporters of the measure say it’s intended to be preventative, because apparently they believe there’s an abortion-industrial complex intending to open a clinic in every Texas town of 2,000.

Waskom does not appear to be the kind of sanctuary city that seeks to protect children who are born and breathing.

Michael Flynn's sentencing to be delayed ... again

Mark Sumner

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 5:40 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 17:40

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 18: Former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn leaves the Prettyman Federal Courthouse following a sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court December 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. Flynn's lawyers accepted the judge's offer to delay sentencing for lying to the FBI about his communication with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller has recommended no prison time for Flynn due to his cooperation with the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

At this point it’s safe to say that no one understands the legal strategy driving former national security adviser Michael Flynn. And that probably includes Michael Flynn.

After Flynn fired the entire legal team that had been with him through his guilty plea and cooperation with the special counsel’s office, and then replaced it with Fox News regular and creepy T-shirt entrepreneur Sidney Powell, many observers assumed that Flynn was about to withdraw his guilty plea and end his agreement with the government. That would fit with the advice that Powell has voiced dozens of times, and would go along with a note Flynn floated back in December suggesting that he had been entrapped by the FBI—a note that earned the ex-general a rip-roaring scolding from District Judge Emmet Sullivan.

However, Powell stepped into court on Friday along with federal prosecutors to hand the judge a joint request for a 60-day delay in sentencing. The indication is that Flynn will continue his cooperation agreement, and will be back to see Judge Sullivan in August. In the meantime, he may appear as a witness in the government’s case against his former business partner and unregistered agent of the Turkish government, Bijan Rafiekian.

Flynn is still being pushed by, let’s say, alt-experts to pull the plug on cooperation and fight his likely-to-be-zero-days sentence. So … sure. He may do that. Honestly, it seems unlikely that Flynn hired Powell, who makes her living attacking Mueller and the “deep state,” because he intends to go gentle into that slap on the wrist.

But who knows? Maybe Flynn thinks Powell’s record of slinging insults at Sullivan will make things better. Somehow. Anyway, the days of writing about Michael Flynn’s sentencing hearing have definitely come to a middle.

'I hope to God they get somebody in there': Trump's anti-immigrant policies divide Arizona's GOP

Kerry Eleveld

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 5:15 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 17:15

MESA, AZ - OCTOBER 19: President Donald Trump welcomes Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz, to the stage during a rally at the International Air Response facility on October 19, 2018 in Mesa, Arizona. McSally is the republican candidtate for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake. President Trump is holding rallies in Arizona, Montana and Nevada, campaigning for Republican candidates running for the U.S. Senate. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images) — Then-Rep. Martha McSally appeared with Donald Trump in Mesa, AZ, last fall as she campaigned for an open U.S. Senate seat. She lost.

Arizona hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1996, but a combination of changing demographics and Donald Trump's policies have put it solidly in play for 2020.

“I hope to God they get somebody in there,” Tim Maiefski, a loyal Republican voter, told The New York Times of finding a GOP primary challenger to Trump. Trump won by Arizona in 2016 by more than 3 points, but his approvals in the state have plummeted 26 points since he took office, from +20 to -6 points.

But if Maiefski, who thinks Arizona's economy is dependent on immigrant labor, represents the business side of the GOP spectrum, Arizona's anti-immigrant extremist wing has also been resurgent during Trump's tenure. After GOP Sen. Martha McSally parted ways with Trump over his Mexican tariff threat, she suffered a bruising round of criticism last week during a telephone town hall.

“We’re being invaded,” the Tuscon caller asserted, mystified that Republicans hadn't "stuck together" on the tariff threats Trump ultimately backed down on.

The extremist forces Trump has unleashed and caters to almost exclusively could pull him further to the right at the expense of voters who gave him a chance in 2016. In 2018, Democrats, fueled by both anti-Trump sentiment and swing voters, won two statewide races: a hotly contested U.S. Senate seat and the secretary of state post.

McSally was the GOP candidate who lost that Senate race and was later appointed to her current seat when the late Sen. John McCain passed away. In her reelection bid next year, she will potentially face off against former astronaut Mark Kelly to keep that seat, one several critical races that will determine which party controls the upper chamber.

Trump hasn't figured it out yet, but his divisive nativist policies aren't helping McSally one bit. As he will surely continue to woo the extremists and stoke their ire, McSally will be left to walk the line between nativism and pro-business policies backed by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. It could potentially be a recipe for disaster for both her and Trump in 2020.

Republican-pushed Obamacare 'alternatives' are (predictably) turning into a haven for fraud

Hunter for Daily Kos

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 4:50 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 16:50

What's that? These plans will be a haven for Maude? Sorry, never heard of her.

As part of their obsessive efforts to undermine the health insurance reforms included in what they derisively billed "Obamacare," House and Senate Republicans (and, of course, Trump) made a big push to expand the usage of "alternative" health insurance plans that do not come with the same protections as Affordable Care Act-compliant versions. Some people want cheaper, non-comprehensive insurance, went the angry claims. If consumers are willing to take on the risk of insurance that may not actually cover what other laws now mandate it cover, then letting them do it is the only proper flag-waving patriotic thing to do.

As predicted, these short-term "alternative" insurance plans have become a haven for fraud and hucksterism, with consumers finding out only after the fact that no, their insurance won't be paying their medical bills after all.

According to the complaint, Health Insurance Innovations participated in a scheme involving Simple Health, another Florida company, whose agents sold them the flimsy coverage. Simple Health was recently shut down by the Federal Trade Commission after regulators accused it of being “a classic bait and switch scheme,” according to court filings.

That's from a Florida lawsuit that plaintiffs hope to turn into a larger class action claim against an "alternative" insurance provider—in this case, one that they claim was working closely with a partner company now shuttered for fraud. It is the precise sort of rampant abuse of customers that the Affordable Care Act intended to shutter with specific mandates of what must be covered by health insurance plans, eliminating a longstanding industry pattern of crafting "junk" insurance plans that cost less than competing plans, but come with sizable restrictions on coverage disclosed only in the fine print of impenetrable walls of text. Didn't read page sixty-two on your way to the emergency room, dear customer? Not our problem.

The Republican "plan" was to do precisely this: bring back noncomplaint insurance plans under the veneer of providing "short term" coverage, thus prying more Americans out of Obamacare-compliant plans and weakening the Obamacare-compliant market. If consumers want to "take the risk" of purchasing insurance that is not entirely insurance, Republicans said, let them.

The obvious problem is that many of the Americans being steered into those plans don't know that they're taking that risk, and insurance brokers selling those products have enormous incentive to make sure they don't find out. Republicans knew that. They pushed for the plans anyway.

Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Resistance FRIDAY!

Bill in Portland Maine

Community

Friday June 14, 2019 · 4:26 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 16:26

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…

Late Night Snark: Collusion Delusion Edition

"[Today] is Flag Day, and it's also our president's birthday. Donald Trump turns 73. He's the oldest president ever. How is Donald Trump only 73? It feels like he's been president since '73. … Melania's planning to hide inside a cake. She's not gonna jump out, though—she's gonna stay in there a couple years until the coast is clear."

—Jimmy Kimmel

"During an interview on ABC he just straight-up admitted that if he had the opportunity to collude with a foreign government again in 2020 he would definitely do it. This guy has no shame. If Trump had been president during Watergate, he would've left a business card at the break-in."

Celebrity Appresident Update: Hucka-byeee! Sarah Sanders OUT. Who will be the next to go?
---The Daily Show

—Seth Meyers

"For the last two years every word out of this guy's mouth was 'no collusion.' He personally dictated the statement about Don Jr.'s Trump Tower meeting, saying it was about adoption, so we wouldn’t know it was about collusion. He spent two years, according to Robert Mueller, obstructing justice so we wouldn’t know the truth on his level of collusion. Then George Stephanopoulos says, 'Hey, if a foreign government wants to collude, would you do it?' 'Sure! I mean, who wouldn't collude? I love colluding! Y'know, if I ever had another daughter I'd name her Colludanka.'"

—Stephen Colbert

"Joe Biden promised that if elected he'll cure cancer. Which explains why just this morning President Trump came out in support of cancer: 'Good cells on both sides, both sides!' He's sick of the media demonizing cancer."

—Conan O'Brien

"Finally, a straight old white man gets a break!"

—Best Actor in a play (Network) winner Bryan Cranston accepting his Tony Award

Your west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

Poll

1924 votes Show Results

Who won the week?

Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer, who ruled that the last abortion clinic in Missouri could stay open pending resolution of a licensing dispute

Election Systems & Software: the elections equipment provider will stop selling paperless electronic voting systems and called on Congress to pass a law mandating paper trails

The House Oversight Committee, for passing a measure holding Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress

Scott Warren of the humanitarian group No More Deaths, who goes free after his trial for giving migrants food, water and shelter ended in a hung jury (8 of 12 voted "not guilty")

Jon Stewart, for raking Congress (read: Republicans in Congress) over the coals after tromping up to Capitol Hill yet again to get funding for 9/11 first responders' health care

Canada, for announcing bans on captivity of dolphins and whales for entertainment purposes, and single-use plastic bags, plates, straws, and cutlery

The 180 corporate CEOs who signed their names to a full-page ad asserting that abortion restrictions threaten "the health, independence, and economic stability of our employees and customers."

Sports fans, as the US women's soccer team scores the most goals in a single World Cup game (13), St. Louis wins their first Stanley Cup, and Toronto wins the NBA championship

Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA), for responding to Republican congressmen ranting about abortion by calling them "sex-starved males" on the House floor

The Prince of Whales

1924 votes Vote Now!

Who won the week?

Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer, who ruled that the last abortion clinic in Missouri could stay open pending resolution of a licensing dispute

44 votes

Election Systems & Software: the elections equipment provider will stop selling paperless electronic voting systems and called on Congress to pass a law mandating paper trails

116 votes

The House Oversight Committee, for passing a measure holding Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress

269 votes

Scott Warren of the humanitarian group No More Deaths, who goes free after his trial for giving migrants food, water and shelter ended in a hung jury (8 of 12 voted "not guilty")

348 votes

Jon Stewart, for raking Congress (read: Republicans in Congress) over the coals after tromping up to Capitol Hill yet again to get funding for 9/11 first responders' health care

604 votes

Canada, for announcing bans on captivity of dolphins and whales for entertainment purposes, and single-use plastic bags, plates, straws, and cutlery

104 votes

The 180 corporate CEOs who signed their names to a full-page ad asserting that abortion restrictions threaten "the health, independence, and economic stability of our employees and customers."

132 votes

Sports fans, as the US women's soccer team scores the most goals in a single World Cup game (13), St. Louis wins their first Stanley Cup, and Toronto wins the NBA championship

18 votes

Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA), for responding to Republican congressmen ranting about abortion by calling them "sex-starved males" on the House floor

107 votes

The Prince of Whales

182 votes

Ivanka made at least $4 million just from Washington Trump hotel last year

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 4:00 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 16:00

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 26: (L-R) Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and his daughters Tiffany Trump and Ivanka Trump cut the ribbon at the new Trump International Hotel October 26, 2016 in Washington, DC. The hotel, built inside the historic Old Post Office, has 263 luxry rooms, including the 6,300-square-foot 'Trump Townhouse' at $100,000 a night, with a five-night minimum. The Trump Organization was granted a 60-year lease to the historic building by the federal government before the billionaire New York real estate mogul announced his intent to run for president. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) — Such business acumen.

Good business sense in our country consists of being born into wealth, and then placing your capital into investments that are rigged by the system to create more wealth for you. Bloomberg reports that, according to White House financial disclosures, Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump, made $4 million dollars last year from investments in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. She and her husband Jared Kushner “earned between $28.8 million and $135.1 million.” According to Bloomberg, Kushner also reported a similar debt total to last year’s, between $27 million and $135 million. What a coincidence.

This is the hotel where fossil fuel executives, sheikhs, and other powerful interests have spent their money in a transparent pay-to-play scheme built into the Trump administration. The Department of Justice announced in April that Trump hotels would be exempt from the foreign emoluments clause banning government officials, including the president, from receiving gifts and financial gain from foreign powers. This is good news for Donald and Ivanka and Jared, as their entire business model is dependent on absolute corruption and moral bankruptcy.

E-mails show climate science-denying Trump adviser pressured NASA chief to alter website entries

Meteor Blades

Daily Kos Staff

Friday June 14, 2019 · 3:35 PM PDT

2019/06/14 · 15:35

Physicist William Happer arrives for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York, NY, USA on January 13, 2017. Credit: Albin Lohr-Jones / Pool via CNP - NO WIRE SERVICE - Photo by: Albin Lohr-Jones/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images — William Happer, another Trump minion who is spending tax money to spread the lie that there is no climate crisis

In case you missed previous coverage, there’s a particularly loathsome environmental adviser named William Happer now serving as president of the Trump regime’s National Security Council. In an interview a decade ago, Happer, a former Princeton physics professor, trashed the work of climate scientists with this gem:

“This is George Orwell. This is the ‘Germans are the master race. The Jews are the scum of the earth.’ It’s that kind of propaganda” [...] “Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Every time you exhale, you exhale air that has 4 percent carbon dioxide. To say that that’s a pollutant just boggles my mind. What used to be science has turned into a cult.”

Happer still believes this grotesque gibberish. He’s still trashing climate scientists. And according to the Associated Press, emails uncovered via an FOIA request by the Environmental Defense Fund show that he wasn’t happy with one-time science-denier Jim Bridenstine’s change of mind after he took over as NASA administrator. Happer pressured him to change or eliminate climate-change references on NASA websites and other materials, something the space agency has not done. The emails show that Happer discussed the matter with Hal Doiron and Thomas Wysmuller, both advisers at one of the nation’s most aggressive attackers of climate science and scientists, the Heartland Institute, which has received funding from Koch Industries and other fossil fuel sources. Ellen Knickmeyer and Seth Borenstein report:

“Puzzling,” says the May 2018 exchange between William Happer, now a member of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, and Thomas Wysmuller of the Heartland Institute, which disavows manmade climate change. Their exchange calls scientifically established rises in sea levels and temperatures under climate change “part of the nonsense” and urges the NASA head — who was copied in — to “systematically sidestep it.” [...]

In February, he emailed NASA deputy administrator James Morhard, relaying a complaint about NASA’s websites from an unidentified rejecter of man-made climate change. “I’m concerned that many children are being indoctrinated by this bad science,” said the email that Happer relayed. (Happer’s own message was redacted from the records obtained by the environmental group.)

Newer
Older

RSS