May 23, 2018

TX-07: Lizzie Fletcher defeats Karen Moser for Democratic nomination

https://twitter.com/texastribune/status/999120613628432385?s=21

May 23, 2018

Reporter physically assaulted at EPA event

NEW YORK (AP) — A reporter for The Associated Press was grabbed by the shoulders and shoved out of an Environmental Protection Agency building by a security guard Tuesday for trying to cover a meeting on water contaminants in which some reporters were welcomed and others were not.

An aide to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt later called to apologize to AP reporter Ellen Knickmeyer and said the incident is being looked into. Knickmeyer, who said she was not hurt, was later let into the meeting when the EPA reversed course and opened it to all reporters.

Representatives from CNN and E&E News, which covers energy and environment issues, were also initially barred from the meeting.

Even for an administration with a contentious relationship with the press and a president who has put the phrase “fake news” into the lexicon, Tuesday’s events were unusual.

Pruitt had convened what he called a national summit on dangerous chemicals that have been found in some water systems. Some 200 people attended, including representatives of states, tribes and the chemical industry and environmentalists.

Pruitt’s remarks at the meeting were listed on his public schedule and described as being open to the press on a federal daybook of events.

Knickmeyer said she called Monday about the event and was told by EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox that it was invitation-only and there was no room for her. She said she showed up anyway, and was told by a security guard that she couldn’t enter. She said she asked to speak to a representative from the press office, was refused and told to get out. Photos of the event showed several empty seats.



https://apnews.com/7c5ce52b316a4c91930a0998cd613115?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

May 22, 2018

CA-GOV: Tossup for Second Spot Between Cox And Villaraigosa

A new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll in California shows Gavin Newsom (D) leading the gubernatorial race with 21%, but with the race between John Cox (R) and Antonio Villaraigosa (D) for second place unpredictable and volatile.

“With the second slot up for grabs and a substantial bloc of undecided voters two weeks from the election, Newsom’s campaign has unleased a barrage of ads in an attempt to manipulate the primary vote. The strategy aims to influence who he’ll face in the general election, with Cox — a conservative out of step with California’s left-leaning voters on many issues including immigration policy — among his top choices.”

A wildcard: 39% are still undecided.


https://politicalwire.com/2018/05/22/volatile-race-for-second-spot-for-california-governor/

May 22, 2018

At least five pedophiles are tied to Trump.

https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/971917442216808452

May 22, 2018

Has anyone watched the 'Looming Tower' on Hulu?

It's a series about the events leading up to 9/11. For the entire hour, it takes me back to the Nairobi Embassy Bombing, the USS Cole, September 11 and the 2004 hearings. So God help me, my blood fucking boils again over the lengths the CIA went to avoid working with the FBI, and Condi Rice's refusal to take Al Qaeda seriously.

May 22, 2018

School resource officer tells gay teen she's going to Hell

Writing over at the ACLU’s website, graduating senior Liv Funk chronicles being called homophobic slurs by her classmates, as well as one male student who physically abused her by hitting her with his skateboard.

The bullying got so bad that she finally went to her school’s resource officer — but she found to her horror that he wasn’t about to do anything to help her.

“He said that if I’m going to be an open member of the LGBT community that I should prepare for things like this,” she writes. “The officer said that being gay was a choice, and it was against his religion. He said that he had homosexual friends, but because I was an open homosexual, I was going to hell.”


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rawstory.com/2018/05/gay-teen-says-went-school-resource-officer-getting-bullied-told-shes-going-hell/amp/

May 22, 2018

Former Our Revolution staffer says Nina Turner fired her over the DREAM Act

https://twitter.com/leahmcelrath/status/998733165345869824

May 22, 2018

White House aides intentionally compose Trump tweets with grammatical mistakes

White House staffers who sometimes compose President Trump’s tweets intentionally include grammatical errors to mirror the president’s style, The Boston Globe reported Monday.

The Globe, citing two people familiar with the process, reported that staffers will use hallmarks of Trump’s own manner of tweeting, such as unnecessarily capitalized words and fragmented sentences.

Staff members reportedly do not intentionally misspell words or names.

It is generally known that Trump does not write all of his own tweets.

The Globe reported that when Trump isn’t tweeting about a topic himself, aides will provide the president with a few sample tweets they could send from his account. He will select one and occasionally make edits.

A White House spokesman declined to comment to the Globe for the story.

Trump’s tweets tend to include typos from time to time, with some more egregious than others. Tweets that include misspelled words are usually deleted and replaced with a corrected message.

Twitter users were quick to mock the president on Saturday when he misspelled his wife’s name upon her return from the hospital.

“Great to have our incredible First Lady back home in the White House. Melanie is feeling and doing really well,” Trump tweeted, before deleting it and correcting it to Melania.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/388721-wh-aides-intentionally-compose-trump-tweets-with-grammatical-mistakes?__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true

May 22, 2018

For Now, We'll Trust That Rod Rosenstein Is Playing the President* Like a Five-Cent Violin

Every day that Robert Mueller and his tunnel rats continue to labor under the foul mire that is this administration* is a day when the White House loses. Every day in which Mueller goes home at night still in the same job is a day when the president* is one day closer to possibly losing his.

So it’s easy to read too much into the meeting late Monday afternoon when deputy AG Rod Rosenstein and FBI director Chris Wray dropped by the White House to talk to the president* in response to the latest administration* fever dream about how the previous administration had gone all Gordon Liddy on the Trump campaign—and just because that campaign was lousy with crooks, mountebanks, and influence-pedding in a dozen different languages.

So, Rosenstein and Wray dropped by and, when the meeting was over, the three principals issued a very curious statement. It stated that the DOJ’s inspector-general will expand his ongoing investigation to include “tactics” employed by the FBI in its investigation of the Trump campaign. Further:

"It was also agreed that White House Chief of Staff Kelly will immediately set up a meeting with the FBI, DOJ, and DNI together with congressional leaders to review highly classified and other information they have requested."

Nobody seems to know what that second part means. The intelligence community would be out of its mind to hand over material vitally important to its investigation to the leakiest White House since before they put the roof on the joint. At the same time, it seems that Rosenstein et.al. have agreed to give to the administration* material that the FBI has fought tooth-and-claw to keep from the congressional Republicans.

For the moment, I’m going to give Rosenstein credit for being a gifted bureaucratic infighter and survivor who has played the president* like a five-cent violin. (There are precedents supporting this view to be found just this morning.) There are a dozen ways for Rosenstein to slow-play the review of any classified documents. I think the president* got played on behalf of all of us.


https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a20854643/rosenstein-trump-meeting-wray/?src=socialflowTW

May 22, 2018

South Carolina Democrat refuses to quit congressional race after abuse discovery

Archie Parnell, a Democratic congressional hopeful who earned national attention after nearly winning in deep red South Carolina last year, is resisting pleas to withdraw after his campaign staff discovered that he physically abused his ex-wife in the 1970s.

In divorce records obtained by The Post and Courier, Kathleen Parnell said the marriage deteriorated after two years in 1973 because of "unwarranted accusations" from her husband.

In October 1973, Archie Parnell, then a University of South Carolina student, was locked out of some friends' apartment to protect Kathleen Parnell, who was staying there. At 2 a.m., Archie Parnell used a tire iron to break a glass door, the complaint said. He made more unspecified accusations to Kathleen Parnell before striking her several times. She said she was beaten again later that evening.

After the "acts of physical cruelty," Kathleen Parnell said she feared for her life and did not want to stay married. She obtained a restraining order against Archie Parnell after seeking the divorce, according to court documents. The divorce was finalized in early 1974.

Confronted with the court records by aides last week, Parnell did not deny the allegations. But even as his staff fled the campaign en masse, he refused to drop out of the race Monday.


https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/top-south-carolina-candidate-refuses-to-quit-congressional-race-after/article_a6548188-5d27-11e8-a155-bf21652315cd.html