Even if you subpoena us, we won't turn up on the Trump threads

[PerkingFaintly]

Oh whoops, here we are.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3180160-Trump-talk-HOW-MUCH-for-that-inauguration?pg=1

Way to make Shakespeare cry:

According to the recording, Trump told guests at a fundraising dinner in Missouri: “Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please.’

“Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in – ‘Donald we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed … So he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know … I had no idea.

“I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid … And I thought they were smart.”

Trump went on: “I said, ‘You’re wrong Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope, we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case I feel differently,’ I said, ‘but I don’t believe it.’ I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said, ‘Check because I can’t believe it.’ ‘Well, sir, you’re actually right. We have no deficit but that doesn’t include energy and timber … And when you do, we lose $17bn a year.’ It’s incredible.”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/15/donald-trump-admits-made-up-facts-justin-trudeau

What does half of this text even mean?

Laura Kuenssberg
‏*@bbclaurak*
No 10 releases joint statement from UK, US , Germany and France calling on Russia to explain itself and provide full details of Novichock programme to OPCW, chemical weapons watchdog

And

www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russia-to-respond-very-soon-to-british-decision-to-expel-its-diplomats/2018/03/15/89e27b4a-2839-11e8-b79d-f3d931db7f68_story.html

White Supremacists Are Increasingly Spreading Their Message With Public Banners

www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/us/white-supremacist-banners-adl.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Yes, I was boggling at that.

Is this a man you'd ask to run a whelk stall?

medicinal you should post! More people should post!

Although a word of caution: I lurked for ages, posted minimally to begin with and now only answer to “pain” in real life

Amy Siskind
‏*@Amy*_Siskind
A gutted State Department with no real head is just the latest example of Trump seizing power. He is leaving federal agencies and WH positions unstaffed while he unilaterally makes decisions. We are swerving towards authoritarianism at a quickening rate now

Heather C Richardson
‏*@HC*_Richardson
Yes. This. And it is imperative we continue to push back against it. The quicker pace is because he knows his days are numbered and his back is against the wall.

Sir John False Affairs

No, no. The affairs are true.

Loving the Shakespeare!

!

NBC News
‏*@NBCNews*
BREAKING: U.S. Treasury imposes sanctions against 19 Russians over interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, including some indicted in Mueller investigation.

Ari Melber
@AriMelber
Note the role of Bob Mueller — he acted against these Russians first, now after delay, Trump admin sanctioning some of the same Russians. And thus acknowledging facts in Mueller indictment

U.S. Treasury imposes sanctions against 19 Russians

Oh, dear. Not another firing?

It's going to be Trump, his kids (although even that is being rumoured not to last too much longer), Kelly AC and Ted Nugent left running the country.

White House disregarded Republican investigators’ requests. The GOP has been reluctant to fight back.

www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article205270699.html

he White House has refused to comply with all three investigations by the Republican-controlled House into the questionable behavior of President Donald Trump’s top aides, including Cabinet secretaries and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. And Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are being criticized for accepting no for an answer rather than subpoena the documents.

The investigations involve three of the biggest controversies at the White House since Trump took office — aides using private email for government business, spending taxpayer money on costly private airplane travel and holding interim security clearances for long periods of time while handling the nation’s secrets.

Now, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee wants to go further. Rep. Elijah Cummings, sent a pair of letters to chairman Trey Gowdy this week urging him to issue subpoenas for documents about private emails and travel. He sent a similar one last week pushing for a subpoena for records on security clearances. The committee’s majority must approve subpoenas.

“During his tenure as Oversight Committee Chairman, Rep. Gowdy has sought information from the White House in three separate investigations, but the White House has defied the committee’s requests every time — with absolutely no repercussions,” Cummings told McClatchy. “It is now clear that the White House will not respond to this committee unless it is compelled to do so. Unfortunately, Republicans continue to wall off the Trump administration from real oversight.”

Gowdy, a Republican from South Carolina has not issued a subpoena in his first nine months as chairman, though he threatened to issue subpoenas to agencies in October after some failed to turn over travel records. By comparison, Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Darrell Issa of California issued 7 and 15 subpoenas respectively in their first six months as chairmen, according to the committee. Both Republicans served as chairman when Democrat Barack Obama was president.

The White House and Gowdy’s office did not respond to requests for comment. [...]

Joy Reid
@JoyAnnReid
Please read and share. Marielle Franco is a name you should know. Her death should be a wake up call.

www.instagram.com/p/BgV26hMlGW2/

Just now (well, a while back before I got interrupted)

US accuses Russia of 'deliberately targeted' cyber-attack on energy sector
US officials say malware was found in operating systems of several US energy companies and announces new sanctions against Russia

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/15/russia-sanctions-energy-sector-cyber-attack-us-election-interference

(unless it's old news - I can't keep track)

There was something about Russia and energy quite recently but not this, I don't think

From March 1st:

Russian Meddling on Social Media Targeted U.S. Energy Industry, Report Says

Posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were designed to influence energy policy, lawmakers say

www.wsj.com/articles/russian-meddling-on-social-media-targeted-u-s-energy-industry-report-says-1519902001

Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney
NEW: Dems say whistleblower documents show White House worked with outside conservatives like Newt Gingrich to orchestrate a "cleaning" of State Department career employees deemed not loyal to Trump's agenda.

Natasha Bertrand
‏*@NatashaBertrand*
Mike Carpenter, former deputy assistant secretary of defense w/responsibility for Russia, thinks the new sanctions amount to smoke and mirrors. >

Michael Carpenter
‏*@mikercarpenter*
These new sanctions are totally inconsequential. The previous administration had already sanctioned most of the entities and individuals designated today, so there's really nothing new here.

Furthermore, such narrowly targeted sanctions have little to no impact on the operations of Russia's intelligence services or its proxies, since these organizations don't transact (at least overtly) through the U.S. financial system.

Finally, they have no impact on Russia's economy at all. I suspect the Trump administration will cite these designations as evidence that it is getting "tough" on Russia but in this case it's all smoke and mirrors.

Trump: 'It certainly looks like' Russia behind attack on ex-spy

www.politico.com/story/2018/03/15/trump-russia-attack-spy-465500

President Donald Trump said Thursday it "certainly looks like" the Kremlin was behind the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in England last week, adding that the U.S. takes the matter "very seriously."

“It certainly looks like the Russians were behind it, something that should never ever happen and we’re taking it very seriously as I think are many others,” Trump said of the attack during a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Ireland in the Oval Office.

Trump added that he was in "deep discussions" with British Prime Minister Theresa May over how to respond to the attack on Sergei Skripal, an ex-spy, and his daughter in Salisbury last week.

The remarks came shortly after Trump's Treasury Department unveiled new sanctions on two dozen Russian entities and individuals for their meddling efforts in the 2016 presidential election.

The Trump administration ramped up its criticisms of Russia on Wednesday, with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley saying the U.S. believed Russia was "responsible" for the attack on Skripal, an action she said was worthy of retaliation from the U.N. Security Council.

Haley added U.S. officials stood “in absolutely solidarity” with Britain after the country expelled 23 Russian diplomats on Wednesday, a move it announced in response to nerve agent attack.

Trump's comments on Thursday were his most direct yet on the matter. The president had initially told reporters on Tuesday that he concurred with May's initial finding that Russia was likely behind the attack.

Manu Raju
‏*@mkraju*
Andy McCabe now meeting with Rod Rosenstein, making the case why shouldn't be fired from the FBI before his retirement, per @PamelaBrownCNN

More details about the state department purge

Emails reveal conservative alarm over ‘Obama holdovers’ in Trump administration

‘A cleaning is in order,’ wrote a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, as State Department officials reassigned a career diplomat of Iranian descent.

www.politico.com/story/2018/03/15/emails-trump-administration-alarm-over-obama-holdovers-465528

Exclusive: Trump finalizing opioid plan that includes death penalty for dealers

www.politico.com/story/2018/03/15/exclusive-trump-finalizing-opioid-plan-death-penalty-418488

Barron Trump's school joins others in call for gun reforms

apnews.com/amp/28151338346d4fe9870e1069615aa439?__twitter_impression=true

!!

Mueller Subpoenas Trump Organization, Demanding Documents About Russia

mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/us/politics/trump-organization-subpoena-mueller-russia.html