As far as Nunes can tell, none of us have even met with Trump

[PerkingFaintly]

Devin Nunes Gets A Pretty Basic Fact Wrong In Defending His Memo
Nunes suggested that Donald Trump had never met with George Papadopoulos. There's a photo of them sitting at the same table.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/devin-nunes-memo_us_5a788b57e4b01fe513a60603

And we certainly didn't have a national security meeting right here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3150505-The-one-in-which-Trump-orders-his-staff-to-fire-Mueller-and-they-give-him-the-finger?pg=1

Nicholas Kristof‏Verified account
@NickKristof

The Trump administration was in such a rush to deport Syed Jamal, beloved chemistry professor in Kansas, that it whisked him off by government plane. Now after a judge's stay, the plane is refueling and bringing him home. As brutal as it is incompetent.

'An update to Ivanka Trump’s financial disclosure report reveals that she and her husband, Jared Kushner, have taken on millions of dollars in additional debt over the past year, Politico reported Tuesday.

Trump’s updated disclosure form shows that Kushner appears to have tapped three different lines of credit since he began working at the White House.

The changes up the couple’s debts from a range of $19 million to $98 million to being valued at between $31 million and $155 million, according to Politico.'

thehill.com/homenews/administration/373718-kushner-adds-millions-more-in-debt-since-joining-white-house

'Long before the U.S. intelligence community arrived at its the conclusion that the Russians were trying to influence the presidential election, Steele had already sussed out the basic ingredients of the campaign. In June 2016, he already knew about ties between the Kremlin and Trump aides (specifically Carter Page and Paul Manafort), and he knew that Russian hackers had stolen documents from the Democratic National Committee that they planned to use against Hillary Clinton. Former CIA agent John Sipher has noted that several of Steele’s early assertions “turned out to be stunningly accurate.”'

www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2018/02/14/christopher-steele-is-a-hero-and-americans-owe-him-their-thanks/?utm_term=.674cd98dd969

A Virginia family farm has drawn a furious reaction for putting up a sign saying “resist white supremacy.”
twitter.com/ddale8/status/963768332586573824

www.washingtonpost.com/local/resist-white-supremacy-a-sign-a-farm-and-the-fury-that-followed/2018/02/13/47e7dfa2-10e0-11e8-9065-e55346f6de81_story.html

Manu Raju‏Verified account
@mkraju
Trey Gowdy tells @NewDay that his committee, House Oversight, launched an investigation last night into Rob Porter situation - and has questions for the FBI
Gowdy added: "I would want to know from Don McGahn and Gen. Kelly and anyone else what did you know, from whom did you hear it, to what extent did you hear it and what actions, if any, did you take. the chronology is not favorable from the White House."

Asha Rangappa
@AshaRangappa_
Of course they do. Do they want to suggest that it's up to the FBI to determine who obtains a clearance in the WH? Because if so, I can guarantee you there will be few occupants left after that assessment.

Naveed Jamali
@NaveedAJamali
I will say this @AshaRangappa_ it’s time for the adjudication folks to start DENYING clearances. They are guilty of not saying NO and playing political football they need to do their job and asses risk regardless of whose son-in-law’s SF86 they are reviewing 😡

Maggie Haberman
@maggieNYT
Several White House aides have described a diffuse situation as opposed to a more precise one last year when the focus of attacks was either Priebus or Bannon. Most think the people directly involved in retaining Porter are lying to some degree.

The morale was already quite low in the Kelly era for several staff. But this is worse than it’s been since Charlottesville. And after dismissing Kelly dismissal talks as spread by Mooch/others, ppl close to Kelly now realize it’s coming from Trump.

BUT it is hard for these people to discern whether this is Trump venting or whether he is moving closer to actually making a move.

Also

Simon Rosenberg
@SimonWDC
Of all the Trumpian scandals, why is the Porter one enduring, sticking around, hard for the WH to manage? My prediction - there is much more to come, stuff we are not seeing yet. Kushner perhaps, but feels like there is something else going on too.

More racism/white supremacy

Emily G, Cville.
@EmilyGorcenski
Holy actual fuck. Reading through the Discord logs and they are SPECIFICALLY TALKING ABOUT RUNNING ME OVER.

[cw: slurs]

Thread here:
mobile.twitter.com/EmilyGorcenski/status/963775344707817473

And

How the Right Co-Opts Frederick Douglass, - it always takes a village and the GOP is hell bent on destroying it...

<a class="break-all" href="https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/opinion/right-coopts-frederick-douglass.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&referer=t.co/EwsIiTzKA1?amp=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/opinion/right-coopts-frederick-douglass.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&referer=t.co/EwsIiTzKA1?amp=1

And

Jeff Bryant
@jeffbcdm
Heads Up: Republican lawmakers in N Carolina want to break up large school districts w/ histories of racial integration efforts and return them to their segregated past (link: bit.ly/2Gc3WqP ) #NewJimCrow

NC lawmakers will consider dividing school districts, including Wake County

<a class="break-all" href="http://amp.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article199908649.html#click=t.co/djN80wboYF" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">amp.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article199908649.html#click=t.co/djN80wboYF

Ida Bae Wells
@nhannahjones
This is absolutely terrible. Countywide school systems are what have allowed the South to be the most integrated party of the country for four decades. This is clearly a move to resegregate schools.

And

The Hill
@thehill
Trump closing dozens of refugee resettlement offices: report (link: hill.cm/jfEzgip )

And

@washingtonpost
Applebee’s admits customers were racially profiled

t.co/UoSfVny2Js?amp=1

I left off some of a thread:

Ida Bae Wells
@nhannahjones
This is absolutely terrible. Countywide school systems are what have allowed the South to be the most integrated party of the country for four decades. This is clearly a move to resegregate schools.

Further, in a nation that funds schools through local property tax, this will lead to even more economic disparities in schools, as under this funding system countywide districts are most equitable as poor towns and rich towns in a county all receive access 2 equally funded schls

It’s telling that supporters say transplants aren’t used to not having small school systems run by towns. Those transplants are from the North where school seg accomplished through maintaining highly fractured local school districts— white suburban ones surrounding blk seg ones

Up North you can avoid integration by moving to an all-white town that operates its all-white school system. In the South with its countywide school systems, you can move to all-white town and still have to send your kid to school w black kids from the city.

Many of these countywide systems were created by court order, merging black city systems with white county systems in order to force desegregation. The dismantling of these would be on par with our dismantling of school desegregation efforts writ large.

Russian Twitter trolls stoked KKK fears at Mizzou during 2015 protests, report says

amp.kansascity.com/news/local/article200011139.html?__twitter_impression=true

ProPublica
@ProPublica
Whoa: Russian Twitter trolls masterminded a tweet that fueled erroneous reports that the Ku Klux Klan was patrolling Mizzou’s campus during the 2015 student protests at the University of Missouri.

And

Putin Holds Military Exercises on Islands Claimed by Japan

www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-02-14/putin-s-arms-buildup-puts-abe-on-defensive-in-islands-dispute?__twitter_impression=true

Molly McKew
@MollyMcKew
While the Kremlin has been whining and complaining re annual US military exercises with South Korea, Russian forces built up presence on islands disputed with Japan. Setting conditions to force concessions from Japan in upcoming talks.

And

Wendy Siegelman
@WendySiegelman
Speaking at the trial of Ukraine’s ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, ex-Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov said he “knows for sure” Putin pushed forward the seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014

www.rferl.org/amp/putin-personally-ordered-crimea-annexation/29039553.html?__twitter_impression=true

And

Julia Davis
@JuliaDavisNews
#Russia's state TV is suspiciously reluctant to address reports that U.S. strikes in #Syria killed hundreds of Russian contract soldiers. @yavlinsky throws both hosts for a loop when he questions relative silence in Russian state media & the #Kremlin's refusal to provide details.

Molly McKew
@MollyMcKew
Such a narrative dilemma: they want to spin up outrage over the imperialist American targeting of Russian "peacekeepers" -- but to do so they have to admit they've been lying to Russian people re deployments, casualties.
Hence. Silence.

'During his testimony at a Senate budget hearing, Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget director, told lawmakers that if he were still in Congress, he would not vote for the $4.4 trillion proposal he was presenting.'

secondnexus.com/news/mick-mulvaney-budget-proposal-vote/?utm_content=inf_677_1164_2&tse_id=INF_706628b0119611e8aee2c38307064ccc

Unlikely that they'll come in the dead of night for Mr & Mrs Knavs.

It's surprising examples like this haven't received more attention given efforts to cut legal immigration, esp for family members.
twitter.com/brianjameswalsh/status/963761435326210048

What's the immigration status of Melania Trump's parents?
www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/02/13/whats-the-immigration-status-of-melania-trumps-parents/

Trump proposes eliminating federal funding for PBS, NPR

President Trump's newly proposed budget includes a proposal to end federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), part of a package that includes $300 billion in new spending overall.

CPB provides federal funding for PBS and National Public Radio stations.

"The Budget proposes to eliminate Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) over a two year period," according to the proposal.
thehill.com/homenews/media/373434-trump-proposes-eliminating-federal-funding-for-pbs-npr

For those of you who were around for this.

REMINDER:
John Edwards was indicted for his attorney/friend (Fred Baron) paying $200K in Rielle Hunter's expenses in order to get her to cover up an affair during his presidential campaign.
twitter.com/jessefferguson/status/963629549421584385

Additional reminder: DOJ lost that case
twitter.com/bradmossesq/status/963764804367405056

Hi everyone, checking back in after a few weeks away. And whilst I've kept up with the US & UK news, Ive not been able to post.

But to Natsku most importantly, big congrats on your little boy! Great news (and I saw the news about your brother too, so pleased it's working out)

Looking forward to a big catch up on this thread.

for you Rousette, while you read. And to put in it...

Trying to catch up now I finally got a chance but so many pages and baby just woke up - anything really notable happened in the last week?

Thanks rousette

Tidying up loose ends...?

Warren addresses claims of Native American heritage.
Elizabeth Warren tells Native American group: "You won’t find my family members on any rolls, and I’m not enrolled in a tribe. . . I respect that distinction. I understand that tribal membership is determined by tribes — and only by tribes." bos.gl/5R1u5FT
www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2018/02/14/warren-addresses-claims-native-american-heritage/0VM3tX88fVxALoyZq9VvvJ/story.html

Now if only we can prove Jared likes a puff or two and hey presto! He's gone...

Third White House official resigns after being told he wouldn’t qualify for full clearance

George David Banks, who had served since February 2017 as special assistant to the president for international energy and environmental policy, told POLITICO that he was informed by the White House counsel’s office Tuesday that his application for a permanent clearance would not be granted over his past marijuana use.
www.politico.com/story/2018/02/14/third-white-house-official-resigns-after-being-told-he-wouldnt-qualify-for-full-clearance-409246

Hope the new boy is well Natsku and you and your family have had a chance to catch a breath or two.

A lot on Porter, security clearances (or their lack), horrible ICE activities and a budget that shows why Trump is so often bankrupt.

Oh, and some Stormy thrown in amidst the usual lies, secrets, omissions and dissembling.

Mueller is quiet.

thehill.com/homenews/administration/373843-white-house-official-resigns-after-learning-he-did-not-qualify-for

US lawmakers remained at loggerheads on Tuesday over an immigration overhaul as pressure mounted for Congress to act before the expiration of a program that protects hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants from deportation.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/13/dreamers-daca-immigration-congress-deadlock-trump

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/democrats-florida-election-win-trump-administration-republicans-switch-us-politics-a8210211.html

Warnings of every kind should be attached to this art.

Don't say I didn't warn ya.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alison-jackson-donald-trump-spoof-photos-sued-litigation-self-publishes-a7465041.html

30M

www.politico.com/story/2018/02/14/trump-military-parade-pricetag-409373

Actually, topical as it is, the art report is quite old. I wonder if she is still facing the wrath of Trump.

This is funny though.

www.apnews.com/7511e7654b2f476489be235327843280

NEW YORK (AP) — 'Stormy Daniels, the porn star whom President Donald Trump’s personal attorney acknowledges paying $130,000 just before Election Day, believes she is now free to discuss her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

A manager for the adult film actress told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Daniels believes Trump’s lawyer invalidated a non-disclosure agreement by publicly discussing the payment.'