Feds seized as many as 16 cell phones from Donald Trump's lawyer, who once bragged that he was part of the Russian mob.

Courtesy of The New York Post:  

Manhattan federal prosecutors seized as many as 16 cell phones when the FBI raided the home, office and hotel room of President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen. 

Prosecutor Thomas McKay made the ​astonishing revelation wh​ile telling a judge ​Thursday ​that the feds are on track to hand over seized​ ​materials to Cohen’s lawyers by May 11. 

In explaining the process, McKay said the feds have already turned over the contents of four phones and one iPad. 

McKay said the feds will turn over the “remainder of the phones seized” on Friday — before adding that they have “about a dozen” left. 

Among the devices seized are two BlackBerrys, suggesting Cohen has been holding on to his electronics for many, many years. 

The startling revelation promptly attracted the attention of porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, who called Cohen’s phone hoarding “BIGLY bad.”

"Bigly bad" indeed. Because you KNOW that stored on those phones is information which will incriminate Donald Trump. Bigly!

Can you even imagine needing that many phones?

What could be the possible reason?

Wait, this next story might clear that up.

Courtesy of Business Insider:  

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's embattled personal lawyer, once bragged that he was part of the Russian mob, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to The Journal, Cohen once told someone at a former friend's wedding that he belonged to the Russian mob.

Now the Business Insider article also contains a quote from a friend of Cohen's who doubts the veracity of this story, which brings me to this Rolling Stone's article:  

Cohen joined the Trump Organization in 2006, and eventually became Trump's personal lawyer, a role once occupied by Roy Cohn, Senator Joseph McCarthy's heavy-lidded hatchet man during the Red Scare who advised Trump in the 1980s. Michael Cohen's bare-knuckled tactics earned him the nickname of "Tom," a reference to Tom Hagen, the consigliore to Mafia Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. He grew up on Long Island, the son of a physician who survived the Holocaust in Poland, and like Tom Hagen spent a childhood around organized crime, specifically the Russian Mafiya. Cohen's uncle, Morton Levine, was a wealthy Brooklyn doctor who owned the El Caribe Country Club, a Brooklyn catering hall and event space that was a well-known hangout for Russian gangsters. Cohen and his siblings all had ownership stakes in the club, which rented for years to the first Mafiya boss of Brighton Beach, Evsei Agron, along with his successors, Marat Balagula and Boris Nayfeld. (Cohen's uncle said his nephew gave up his stake in the club after Trump's election.)

So to be clear, the Feds found more than a dozen phones in Cohen's possession, who clearly has ties to the Russian mob, and whose only real client is Donald Trump. a man who is under investigation for Russian collusion during the election. 

Does anybody else see pieces falling onto place here?

Kids sue Florida Governor Rick Scott for endangering their future by not combating climate change.

Anybody else ever get the feeling that Dick Scott is a reptile? Maybe that is why climate change does not bother him.

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

A group of kids is suing Florida Gov. Rick Scott, claiming he “endangered” their future and violated their constitutional rights by not doing anything to combat climate change. 

The youngsters filed their lawsuit on Monday in Leon County Court. 

“It is the responsibility of the state to uphold the constitution, and these young people have a fundamental right to a stable climate system,” said Guy Burns, lead counsel for the eight plaintiffs, most of whom are teens.

The youths are being represented by the Oregon-based nonprofit organization Our Children’s Trust, which is supporting similar suits from children across the country. 

They range in age from 10 to 20 years old — and include climate change activists Levi Draheim and Delaney Reynolds, who expressed their outrage in a statement. 

“The reason that I’m a part of this lawsuit is because I believe that the climate change crisis is the biggest threat that my generation will ever have to face,” Reynolds explained. 

“Right now we live in what I like to call the state of denial because the state of Florida is doing nothing to address climate change, but everything to cause it. That is completely immoral,” she said. “If we ever want to have a future of living here in Florida, if my children ever want to live here in Florida, we need to start working together to implement solutions for climate change or the state of Florida won’t exist.”

Damn, these kids today are nothing short of amazing.

I think I am going to start relaxing about the future. It seems to be in pretty good hands. 

Reporter responsible for Trump's "Best Sex" headline admits that she does not know if Marla Maples even said it.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter: 

My most memorable experience with Trump was sitting in the office of New York Post editor Jerry Nachman, an award-winning, street-wise savant who drank in information with the same gusto he gulped down countless cups of coffee. This was the heyday of the Donald/Ivana divorce, in 1990, when I was the Post's TV and radio columnist. The dueling Post and New York Daily News were documenting the couple's very public breakup. Ivana Trump, via Liz Smith, had won a front-page story — and public sympathy — at the News, portrayed as the spurned wife losing her husband to the younger Marla Maples — and Donald didn't like it. 

Sitting in Nachman's office while he was editing one of my pieces, I heard his secretary yell, "It's Donald." Nachman motioned me to "shhh" and put Trump on speaker. "Those fucking bitches," Trump bellowed. "I want a front-page story tomorrow." 

Jerry calmly replied, "Donald, you just don't demand a front-page story. There has to be a story." "For all the newspapers I've sold for you, you should give me one." "That's not how it works." "What gets a front-page story?" Donald asked. 

The veteran newsman contemplated the question. "It's usually murder, money or sex." Donald fired back: "Marla says with me it's the best sex she's ever had." Nachman's face lit up like a firecracker. "That's great!" he said. "But you know I need corroboration."

"Marla," Trump yelled into the background. "Didn't you say it's the best sex you ever had with me?" From a distance, we heard a faint voice: "Yes, Donald." Only years later did we learn that Trump sometimes impersonated voices to reporters. I still can't be sure whether the voice in the room was really hers.

I think most people simply assumed that this quote was bullshit, but it is interesting that it was Trump himself who came up with the wording and that the reporter only relied on a faceless voice for confirmation.

That is some shitty reporting right there.

But then again who gave a fuck when Trump was simply some publicity obsessed rich asshole living in New York?

Still it irritates me that there are still some so-called "journalists" who report on Trump in much the same fashion today.

That's right, I'm looking at you Fox News.

So yesterday Donald Trump tried to write the Washington Post's headline for them.

The Fake News Washington Post, Amazon’s “chief lobbyist,” has another (of many) phony headlines, “Trump Defiant As China Adds Trade Penalties.” WRONG! Should read, “Trump Defiant as U.S. Adds Trade Penalties, Will End Barriers And Massive I.P. Theft.” Typically bad reporting!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 5, 2018

Well, SOMEBODY is a little thin skinned about this upcoming trade war with China.

Unfortunately for Trump the Washington Post focuses on the facts.

Besides they likely remember what happened the LAST time that Trump wrote a headline.

Talk about fake news.

Under constant attack from the Parkland students and pro-gun law advocates, the NRA aggressively increases its advertising.Update!

Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune:  

Immediately after the horror of the February 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the National Rifle Association halted all of its digital advertising, including ads on YouTube, banner ads on websites, and Facebook ads. 

Within four days, though, the NRA had returned in force, increasing its advertising aggressively on Facebook, and spending so widely and indiscriminately that its ads on YouTube showed up on videos for school-age kids. According to a previously unpublished review by Pathmatics, a company that scrapes data from online ads, the NRA spent more than six times as much on digital ads after the Parkland shooting than it did in the weeks before it. Its average daily spending in the 24 days before Parkland was $11,300, according to Pathmatics. In the 24 days after its silent period, that average jumped to $47,300.

Nearly all of the increase was on social media, primarily Facebook, where the NRA took its spending from an average of $4,400 a day in the three weeks prior to Parkland to $34,000 a day in the three weeks after the silence. Florida was heavily targeted in the post-tragedy ad burst. The state went from ninth most targeted in January to third between mid-February and mid-March. 

The NRA didn’t change its message – the ads were the same as before the shooting. The message was just pushed much harder. For the past year, the NRA had been ranked No. 706 by Pathmatics on its list of top YouTube video advertisers. In the period since Feb. 21, the gun-rights group jumped into the top 100 at No. 92.

The NRA did not stop with simple pro-gun advertisements, they also sent their spokespeople and Right Wing supporters out to attack the Parkland students.

In fact Laura Ingraham even went so far as to attack one of the student's grade point average.

David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018

Wait, seriously?

That seems like a rather pathetic attempt to undermine a teenager's credibility.

Hogg's sister, displaying far more maturity than Ingraham, responded with this:

How low are your ratings @IngrahamAngle that you have to start attacking my brother’s grades to get attention? If you ask me, he is more articulate than you and has far better character. Man, that’s real low even for you. Coming from a 14 year old, please grow up. #NeverAgain https://t.co/CgUVeGRfxP

— Lauren Hogg (@lauren_hoggs) March 28, 2018

For his part social media savvy David Hogg simply tweeted this:

Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers ... Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018

And yes that has started a boycott.

Now you might think that NRA members would be embarrassed by all of this and perhaps be less supportive, but you would be incorrect.

Courtesy of the New York Post: 

Contributions to the National Rifle Association’s political action committee tripled in February amid public attacks against the organization following the Feb. 14 high school shooting in Parkland, Fla. 

Supporters of the Second Amendment donated about $779,000 in February to the NRA’s political arm, the Political Victory Fund, according to recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. 

The figure marked a more than threefold increase compared to January, when the PAC received nearly $250,000 in donations, and was the fund’s second-best month over the last year.

Well I guess if you define your manhood by the size of the metal penis extender you have strapped to your body it is a little hard to shame you about anything.

P.S. Okay just like an hour after I wrote this post Laura Ingraham caved under pressure and apologized to David Hogg on Twitter.

Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David...(1/2)

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018

Really? If you think he should be proud of a 4.2 grade average than why did you say that nasty shit in the first place?

In my mind these Right Wing trolls attack these Parkland kids at their peril, because these teenagers know exactly how to use social media to deal with idiots like them.

Update: I think this belongs here.

"This kid's not scared. He's not scared of the NRA. He's not intimidated and scared by Laura Ingraham ... Half the Republican party is hiding under the table, under their bed. They're so scared ... Not these kids, though" - @SteveSchmidtSES w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/QZE5I6zmv3

— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) March 29, 2018

Very well said.

Cambridge Analytica is under siege. And that's good news.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

British investigators on Friday night searched the London offices of Cambridge Analytica, the data-analytics company that harvested data from 50 million Facebook users to develop psychological profiles on behalf of political campaigns, including that of President Trump. 

About 20 investigators from Britain’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office, descended on the company’s offices on New Oxford Street after obtaining a search warrant from the High Court. 

“We are pleased with the decision of the judge, and the warrant is now being executed,” the office of the information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said in a statement. “This is just one part of a larger investigation into the use of personal data and analytics for political purposes. As you will expect, we will now need to collect, assess and consider the evidence before coming to any conclusions.” 

Last Saturday, the same day The New York Times and The Observer of London published a detailed look at the company’s use of Facebook data, Ms. Denham’s office announced an investigation into “the circumstances in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used.”

What is that passage in the Bible about reaping what you sow again?

If that were not enough bad news for Cambridge Analytica, they are also on Robert Mueller's radar.

Courtesy of the AP:

Special counsel Robert Mueller is scrutinizing the connections between President Donald Trump’s campaign and the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which has come under fierce criticism over reports that it swiped the data of more than 50 million Facebook users to sway elections. 

Mueller’s investigators have asked former campaign officials about the Trump campaign’s data operations, particularly about how it collected and utilized voter data in battleground states, according to a person with direct knowledge of the line of inquiry but not authorized to discuss it publicly. 

The investigators have also asked some of Trump’s data team, which included analysts at the Republican National Committee, about its relationship with Cambridge Analytica, according to two former campaign officials. The campaign paid the firm just under $6 million for its work in 2016, according to federal records.

And there is plenty to go after here, as this company had connections not just to the Trump campaign, but also past and current members of the Trump Administration.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

In an interview with the New York Times, Wylie says that Bolton’s PAC was alarmed by polling trends showing that more and more Americans viewed war unfavorably — and it wanted to construct an advertising campaign aimed at reversing those views. 

“The Bolton PAC was obsessed with how America was becoming limp wristed and spineless and it wanted research and messaging for national security issues,” said Wylie, a data expert who was a key figure in the founding of Cambridge Analytica. “That really meant making people more militaristic in their worldview. That’s what they said they wanted, anyway.” 

Bolton’s PAC hired Cambridge Analytica months after it was founded in 2014, and the firm’s work with Bolton’s group became an example that it used to pitch potential clients about the value of its data harvesting model. 

Emails viewed by the Times suggest that former Trump political strategist Steve Bannon had some role in setting up contacts between Bolton and Cambridge Analytica, as an email from a Cambridge Analytica employee sent to Bolton specifically mentioned Bannon in its subject header.

 I am guessing that Cambridge is out of the data analysis business for the time being at least.

And this is a warning shot to any others who may want to adopt their business model. 

Now with people actually looking forward to it Trump pushes back date for his "fake news awards."

The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th, rather than this coming Monday. The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Trump announced last week that he would present “The Most Dishonest & Corrupt Media Awards” on Monday to highlight reporters who run with what he calls "fake news." 

Celebrity chef Jose Andres offered a free lunch at any of his popular restaurants to winners, and the watchdog group American Oversight planned to hand out “Most Dishonest and Corrupt” awards to Trump administration officials on Monday as a response to Trump's plans.

Some folks got themselves a little excited about the possibility of being singled out for one of these "honors."

For instance The Daily Show took out a full page ad in the New York Times.
.@realdonaldtrump, prove you're not semiliterate by reading our full-page ad in the Failing @nytimes! #InItToWinIt #TheFakies #Fakies2018 pic.twitter.com/sSVqah4rlx

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 5, 2018

While Stephen Colbert bought advertising space in Times Square.

Tonight! My desperate bid to get Trump’s disapproval! #TheFakies pic.twitter.com/7exZSesI8m

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) January 4, 2018

Now I am a little torn over all of this.

On the one hand these comedians have given Donald Trump positive attention, and clearly he is excited about stringing them along now. 

But on the other hand if he focuses on putting together another reality show like this, he will be too distracted to keep tearing down the country.

Yep, that's a conundrum alright.

Trump lawyers send cease and desist order to Steve Bannon to keep him from making disparaging remarks that are already in a book by Michael Wolff. Seems a little late to me.

No, no, no, no. no. no!

Courtesy of ABC News: 

The letter comes after excerpts from a forthcoming book by journalist Michael Wolff were made public Wednesday, causing a stir. 

Trump attorney Charles J. Harder of the firm Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP, said in a statement, "This law firm represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent." 

In the letter to Bannon, Harder, writes, "You [Bannon] have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, knowing that they would be included in Mr. Wolff’s book and publicity surrounding the marketing and sale of his book."

You know a confidentiality agreement may work for keeping things quiet during a campaign, but when Bannon worked in the White House he was then employed by the American people, not Donald J. Trump.  So he was no longer bound by an NDA he may have signed in years past.

And if he sent a letter like this to Bannon, did he also send one to his daughter?

Courtesy of the New York Post:

Daughter Ivanka Trump often makes fun of her dad’s comb-over to friends and delights in explaining how the crazy coiffure comes together, according to “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.” 

“She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate — a contained island after scalp-reduction ­surgery — surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray,” journalist Michael Wolff writes in the book, out Jan. 9. 

“The color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men — the longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trump’s orange-blond hair color.”

Oh that's going to leave a mark.

Apparently at least one of Trump's attorneys realized that you cannot stop a book by attacking its sources.

NEW this am: Trump attorneys send cease-and-desist letter this morning to Wolff and book publisher @HenryHolt demanding they stop publication and issue an apology to @realDonaldTrump for defamatory statements made thus far.

— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) January 4, 2018

Okay let's all hold our breath waiting for this to happen.

And if Trump's attorneys want to pursue this line of attack they may want to keep this in mind:

Michael Wolff has tapes to back up quotes in his incendiary book — dozens of hours of them. 

Among the sources he taped, I'm told, are Bannon and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh. 

I imagine that Wolff and his publishers are desperate for Trump to try and sue them, as that will ensure that this book is a bestseller. 

No the time to stop this book was while Michael Wolff was wandering the White House gathering the information, not after huge chunks have already been leaked to the media.

I can hardly wait to buy my copy.

In new book, Steve Bannon calls Trump Tower meeting "treasonous," and claims Mueller will get Trump by focusing on "money laundering."

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, reportedly based on more than 200 interviews with the president, his inner circle and players in and around the administration, is one of the most eagerly awaited political books of the year. In it, Wolff lifts the lid on a White House lurching from crisis to crisis amid internecine warfare, with even some of Trump’s closest allies expressing contempt for him. 

Bannon, who was chief executive of the Trump campaign in its final three months, then White House chief strategist for seven months before returning to the rightwing Breitbart News, is a central figure in the nasty, cutthroat drama, quoted extensively, often in salty language. 

He is particularly scathing about a June 2016 meeting involving Trump’s son Donald Jr, son-in-law Jared Kushner, then campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in New York. A trusted intermediary had promised documents that would “incriminate” rival Hillary Clinton but instead of alerting the FBI to a potential assault on American democracy by a foreign power, Trump Jr replied in an email: “I love it.” 

The meeting was revealed by the New York Times in July last year, prompting Trump Jr to say no consequential material was produced. Soon after, Wolff writes, Bannon remarked mockingly: “The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor – with no lawyers. They didn’t have any lawyers. 

“Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.”

Well there goes Junior, right under the bus.

But if you think Bannon is planning to spare is former boss, well you would be mistaken.

Bannon has criticised Trump’s decision to fire Comey. In Wolff’s book, obtained by the Guardian ahead of publication from a bookseller in New England, he suggests White House hopes for a quick end to the Mueller investigation are gravely misplaced. 

“You realise where this is going,” he is quoted as saying. “This is all about money laundering. Mueller chose [senior prosecutor Andrew] Weissmann first and he is a money-laundering guy. Their path to fucking Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr and Jared Kushner … It’s as plain as a hair on your face.”

Bannon went on to say that he himself had no interactions with any Russians, and does not feel he will need the services of a lawyer at any time soon.

And in the book Bannon is only ONE of the many sources inside the Trump White House that were willing to spill their guts.

And Trump buddies as well. Here is what one of Trump's oldest associates told a friend about the Donald: 

Wolff writes that Thomas Barrack Jr, a billionaire who is one of the president’s oldest associates, allegedly told a friend: “He’s not only crazy, he’s stupid.”

Certainly hard to argue with that assessment.

Here is what New York Magazine reported about this book:

Even though the numbers in a few key states had appeared to be changing to Trump’s advantage, neither Conway nor Trump himself nor his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — the effective head of the campaign — ­wavered in their certainty: Their unexpected adventure would soon be over. Not only would Trump not be president, almost everyone in the campaign agreed, he should probably not be. Conveniently, the former conviction meant nobody had to deal with the latter issue. 

As the campaign came to an end, Trump himself was sanguine. His ultimate goal, after all, had never been to win. “I can be the most famous man in the world,” he had told his aide Sam Nunberg at the outset of the race.

.......

Not only did Trump disregard the potential conflicts of his own business deals and real-estate holdings, he audaciously refused to release his tax returns. Why should he? Once he lost, Trump would be both insanely famous and a martyr to Crooked Hillary. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared would be international celebrities. Steve Bannon would become the de facto head of the tea-party movement. Kellyanne Conway would be a cable-news star. Melania Trump, who had been assured by her husband that he wouldn’t become president, could return to inconspicuously lunching. Losing would work out for everybody. Losing was winning. 

In the end perhaps nobody was as surprised by Trump's victory, than Trump himself. (With the possible exception of Hillary Clinton.)

And once he won he had no idea what to do with that victory:  

From the moment of victory, the Trump administration became a looking-glass presidency: Every inverse assumption about how to assemble and run a White House was enacted and compounded, many times over. The decisions that Trump and his top advisers made in those first few months — from the slapdash transition to the disarray in the West Wing — set the stage for the chaos and dysfunction that have persisted throughout his first year in office. This was a real-life version of Mel Brooks’s The Producers, where the mistaken outcome trusted by everyone in Trump’s inner circle — that they would lose the election — wound up exposing them for who they really were.

Is anybody else having and out of body experience right now? Because I am having an out of body experience.

This is what we have all suspected all along, and here it is in black and white from Trump White House sources themselves.

The two articles have way too much information to adequately summarize here, including that the idea of Ivanka becoming the first female president was seriously touted, so I strongly suggest that you read them thoroughly.

Who knew that Wednesday was going to be such a big news day?

Nikki Haley announces that the US will cut 285 million dollars from the UN budget right after 120 nations criticize Donald Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

UN Ambassador Nikki Haley announced Sunday that the United States negotiated a $285 million cut in the United Nations’ “bloated” budget for next year. 

“The inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well known,” Haley said in a statement from the US Mission. “We will no longer let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked.”

Haley added that the “historic reduction” in spending is a step in the right direction and that the US would make many other moves toward a more efficient and accountable UN. 

“In addition to these significant cost savings, we reduced the UN’s bloated management and support functions, bolstered support for key US priorities throughout the world and instilled more discipline and accountability throughout the UN system,” the statement said.

Haley said that she also hopes to make further cuts to the UN in the future.

Now Trump has been talking about how unfair it is that America pays so much to the United Nations essentially since launching his campaign in 2015.

However this announcement comes only days after this happened.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The U.S. will cut its 2018 contribution to the United Nations by $285 million—nearly 25 percent—an announcement that comes days after more than 120 nations criticized the United States for its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

Ambassador Nikki Haley made the announcement Sunday, but specifically blamed the world body for its budgetary excesses without making a specific reference to last week's vote on President Donald Trump's controversial Jerusalem decision.

You know if a Mafioso did not like it that a restaurant owner was not playing ball, he might say something like "This is a nice place, would be a shame if something happened to it." 

In a way this is essentially how Trump does things on a more national level.

UN members failed to kiss the emperor's ring and now he punishes them by cutting into their finances.

This is not how American presidents deal with the United Nations.

This is how dictators lose empires.

Trump's Chief of Staff John Kelly said that the Civil War had good people on "both sides." Now why does that sound familiar?

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

President Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly on Monday night praised Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and said that “both sides” in the Civil War fought in good faith. 

Kelly was speaking during an interview on Fox News when he made the comments, defending the historical significance of the Confederacy. 

“Robert E. Lee was an honorable man. He was a man who gave up his country to fight for his state,” Kelly told the network about the Southern general in the bloody war between the North and the South. 

The Civil War was fought after the South seceded from the Union mostly due to a disagreement over slavery. 

“The lack of the ability to comprise led to the Civil War,” Kelly said.

I'm sorry, in the disagreement over whether or not it is right to own another human being, where is the compromise?

Black folks should only be slaves until age eighteen?

Or only every other black person should be owned by a white man?

This "good people on both sides" argument is of course the same one that Trump made after a white supremacist ran over protesters in Charlottesville, and several others were beaten and even shot at.

Apparently this is an official White House talking point when it comes to defending Confederate soldiers and their statues.

I had essentially given up on any idea that John Kelly had any integrity after he attacked and lied about Rep. Frederica Wilson, and this own proves that I was right to do so.

First up in the Mueller indictment sweepstakes is former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business associate. Update!

WATCH: Paul Manafort walking into FBI headquarters with his attorney. pic.twitter.com/Ebo1jPZqUH

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) October 30, 2017

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Paul Manafort surrendered to federal authorities Monday morning, after a person close to the case said the first charges were filed in a special counsel investigation. 

The charges against Mr. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, were not immediately clear but represent a significant escalation in a special counsel investigation that has cast a shadow over the president’s first year in office. Also charged was Mr. Manafort’s former business associate Rick Gates, who was also told to surrender on Monday, the person said. 

Mr. Manafort walked into the F.B.I.’s field office in Washington at about 8:15 a.m. with his lawyer. 

Mr. Gates is a longtime protégé and junior partner of Mr. Manafort. His name appears on documents linked to companies that Mr. Manafort’s firm set up in Cyprus to receive payments from politicians and businesspeople in Eastern Europe, records reviewed by The New York Times show. 

Mr. Manafort had been under investigation for violations of federal tax law, money laundering and whether he appropriately disclosed his foreign lobbying.

I think a lot of people were putting their money on Paul Manafort from the moment we first heard about these upcoming indictments.

This Rick Gates guy is a complete surprise to me but I was just watching MSNBC and they were  explaining how deeply involved he was with the Trump campaign, the planning of the inauguration, and a Trump SuperPac right up until the spring of this year.

So though he may not be a familiar name to most of us, he was in it up to his armpits.

These are clearly only the first indictments that the Mueller team has in the chamber, and we can only speculate as to who's up next.

However what this does show without a shadow of a doubt is that Robert Mueller did not come to play. He is going to take these criminals down one by one, and there is nothing that Trump or his associates can do to stop him.

Update: Sources are now saying that this indictment contains 12 counts focused on conspiracy and money laundering.

Update 2: According to the indictment this investigation has been going on for at least a year. Mueller was only assigned to be the Special Counsel since May.

Update 3: From CNN:  

The indictment against the Manafort and Gates contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. 

The charges do not cover any activities related to the campaign, though it's possible Mueller could add additional charges.

That part about adding additional charges is being echoed by essentially every news outlet besides Fox News right now. 

They're still waiting for the Hillary indictments to be handed down.

Donald Trump is now in a fight with NBA superstars.

LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

Courtesy of the New York Post:

NBA star Stephen Curry was dis-invited from the White House on Saturday by President Trump.

Curry, a Golden State Warriors guard and two-time NBA MVP, said Friday he would vote against the team visiting Trump’s White House to celebrate the team’s 2017 championship. 

That was enough for Trump to decide against inviting him.

Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

Not going to the White House would send a message, Curry told reporters, “that we don’t stand for basically what our president has — the things that he’s said and the things that he hasn’t said at the right times — that we won’t stand for it.”

That tweet of Trump's also pissed of  NBA superstar LeBron James:

U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!

— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 23, 2017

Getting called a bum by LeBron James, damn you have to be a real fuck up to earn that kind of shade!

But the fact is that Donald Trump is a racist Nazi sympathizer, and there is no WAY that he should expect black team members to want to have their pictures taken with him.

At this point I am surprised that there are ANY black folks who still want to be associated with him. 

Judge blocks Sarah Palin's plans to perform opposition research on two dozen reporters for the New York Times.

Courtesy of the New York Post:

A Manhattan federal court judge will decide by the end of this month whether to dismiss a defamation lawsuit Sarah Palin filed against the New York Times for accusing the former Alaska governor of inciting gun violence. 

In the meantime, Judge Jed Rakoff suspended discovery, blocking Palin’s lawyers from grilling two dozen Times reporters to prove the Gray Lady is biased against her. 

Clearly the judge recognized this as a fishing expedition and that the entire point of this case is to embarrass and bully the New York Times and its reporters. 

I still think that this case will get thrown out, but if it doesn't I seriously doubt its outcome will prove satisfying to either Palin or her lawyers.

Sarah Palin wants to subpoena close to two dozen New York Times reporters for her lawsuit.

Courtesy of the New York Post: 

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin plans to subpoena close to two dozen New York Times reporters, editors and other workers as part of her defamation lawsuit against the newspaper, it was revealed in court documents Wednesday.

In a motion arguing that the case be dismissed, lawyers for the New York Times complained that Palin’s legal team has served notice that she plans to subpoena “twenty-three non-party current and former Times reporters, editors and other employees – most of whom had nothing to do with the editorial at issue.” 

The subpoenas are part of Palin’s effort to obtain “documents that might reveal, among other things, their ‘negative feelings’ toward her,” The Times told the judge. 

Palin’s legal team also intends to ask the paper to produce “every internal communication it has had about her since 2011,” they said. 

The Times complained about Palin’s discovery requests in a Manhattan federal court filing reiterating its request to have Palin’s defamation lawsuit tossed.

Well this is clearly a fishing expedition.

My new theory is that somebody is bankrolling this lawsuit in the hopes of finding embarrassing information about these reporters in order to smear them and undermine their credibility.

And that sounds like something well heeled Trump supporters might be willing to invest in.

More voters trust Donald Trump than trust the media covering his presidency. Because facts simply don't matter anymore.

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

President Trump has largely eroded America’s trust in the national political media during his first few months in the White House, according to a new poll. 

On the eve of Trump’s 100th day in office, a new national poll by Morning Consult finds that more voters trust the president than the reporters covering his administration on a daily basis. 

Thirty-seven percent of voters believe the White House has been more forthright than the media, versus 29 percent who favor the press. Another 34 percent were unsure or had no opinion. 

Trump has made media criticism a staple of his administration, often claiming that mainstream outlets are egregiously biased and guilty of disseminating “fake news.”

And that is how you dumb down America folks.

Undermine public education.

Push religion on the masses.

And convince people that the press is biased against a certain political party and their candidates. 

The next thing you know you have a disaster, which we have now come to know as the Trump presidency.

Chair of the House Oversight Committee, who was champing at the bit to investigate Hillary Clinton if she won the election, has no intention of investigating Donald Trump.

Fair? Wait who said I had to be fair?

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

Back in October, Representative Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House Oversight Committee, had big plans for 2017. After leading the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, he positioned himself to be President Clinton’s greatest foe in Congress, bragging to the Washington Post that he would spend the next four years probing her alleged misdeeds. 

“It’s a target-rich environment,” Chaffetz said. “Even before we get to Day One, we’ve got two years’ worth of material already lined up. She has four years of history at the State Department, and it ain’t good.” 

Even after the election, Chaffetz said he had a “duty and obligation” to continue investigating the former secretary of State. However, he claimed his committee would investigate President-elect Trump with equal fervor. “I am optimistic that a Trump administration would actually be cooperative,” Chaffetz said. “The Obama administration has given us the stiff arm every single step of the way. I think a new administration would actually work with us to quickly get to the truth, learn what we need to learn and then fix it.” 

It’s unclear why Chaffetz thinks the candidate who refused Chaffetz’s call to release his tax returns will be more responsive as president, but so far the Utah congressman isn’t even asking for a response.

So the fact that Donald Trump plans to continue overseeing his business while President, does not raise any red flags?

How about the fact that there is overwhelming evidence that the Russian government hacked government computers in order to help him get elected?

Nothing?

Okay how about the fact that he is allowing his daughter to sit in on meetings with foreign heads of state?

Still nothing?

Well what about the fact that the House Democrats wrote a letter asking for an investigation in Trump's financial holdings to see if there were any potential conflicts of interest?

So that doesn't rise to the level of requiring an investigation either?

Would it help if Trump was caught using a private e-mail server?

Nah, it wouldn't would it?

No, unless Donald Trump changed his last name to "Clinton" and suddenly became a Democrat there is literally nothing he could do to convince the Republican led oversight committee to launch an investigation.

And that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about whether Donald Trump is likely to be impeached or not.

Taxpayers could pay over 3 million dollars annually to house Secret Service in Trump Tower.

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

The Secret Service is in negotiations with the Trump Organization to take over two vacant floors in the gilded 68-story Fifth Avenue tower, law enforcement sources told The Post. 

The federal agency and the NYPD plan to run a 24/7 command post out of the space that would be housed at least 40 floors below Trump’s $90 million penthouse triplex, where wife Melania and their 10-year-old son Barron will continue to reside at least through the spring, sources said.

So we already know that protecting Trump and his family in New York is currently costing over a million dollars a day.  

How much  more will it cost to house these Secret Service agents in the Trump Tower?The lease deal alone could cost more than $3 million a year, based on prevailing rates in the building. 

The Post reported earlier this week that the 17th floor at Trump Tower is available. The floor is currently being marketed in three, 3,000- to 5,000-square-foot parcels at up to $105 per square foot. 

At that rate the federal government would be paying $1.5 million a year for just one floor and double that for two levels of Trump Tower offices.

So not only will Trump refuse to put his financial holdings in a blind trust, because apparently conflict of interest laws don't apply to him, but now taxpayers are expected to directly pay one of his companies to house his security detail?

This guy is actually turning the presidency, which has long been considered the pinnacle of public service, into a crass money making operation.

You know these Trump voters are a special kind of stupid aren't they?

According to Donald Trump's senior advisor Sarah Palin is not in line to get a cabinet position.

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

Sarah Palin’s isn’t in the running for a cabinet job in the Trump administration — at least as far as the senior adviser to his transition team is aware. 

“I know that they’re close and that she’s been a great, loyal friend and adviser to him throughout the campaign, but I haven’t seen her as part of the cabinet mix,” Kellyanne Conway told Fox News’ “The Kelly File” on Monday night. 

Conway quickly added: “But that doesn’t mean that she’s not.”

Okay I think that last bit was a CYA move on Conway's part. But if she is not hearing anything then it is unlikely that there is any talk, which is essentially what I have assumed all along.

I just don't see Palin as wanting to do anything that requires so much work on her part.

Plus of course there is the confirmation process.

However I do think that Palin expects to be compensated by Trump is some way, and I would imagine that it would come in the form of a TV gig or a role as some kind of spokesperson.

Conway also added that Palin would have Trump's ear and that he might seek out her counsel, so there's another terrifying thought to keep us awake at night.

Donald Trump calls media heads to a meeting, apparently so he can yell at them in person.

Donald Trump called CNN’s Jeff Zucker and Wolf Blitzer, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and David Muir, NBC’s Chuck Todd, CBS’ Charlie Rose, Fox News’ Bill Shine, MSNBC's Katy Tur, to name just a few for a verbal shellacking.

Here is what happened according to the New York Post: 

“It was like a f−−−ing firing squad,” one source said of the encounter. 

“Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said, ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” the source said. 

“The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing-down,” the source added.

Another source had this to say:

“Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful, dishonest media who got it all wrong.’ He addressed everyone in the room, calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars,” the source said.

Damn! Well so much for the traditional honeymoon period between the new president and the press, this guy is slapping the bride around even before the ceremony.

Trump also went after a few individual reporters:

“Trump didn’t say [NBC reporter] Katy Tur by name, but talked about an NBC female correspondent who got it wrong, then he referred to a horrible network correspondent who cried when Hillary lost who hosted a debate — which was Martha Raddatz, who was also in the room.”

Jesus what a dick!

Clearly Trump could not care less about the kind of press coverage he will receive once he becomes president.

And why should he?

After all he spent this last year convincing his supporters that the media was corrupt and terrible at their jobs, and since the majority of the people are now getting their "news" from fake news outlets what's the downside of turning the legitimate news outlets against him?

Didn't Hitler also take control of the German press, before taking it over and turning it into his own propaganda outlet?

Yes he did.