Random Politics & Religion #24

I'm American of course I wanna fight. It's why we aren't Canadian!

WTF is a covfefe?

.....wait, don't tell me Trump said something stupid again.....

WTF is a covfefe?

.....wait, don't tell me Trump said something stupid again.....

WTF is a covfefe?

.....wait, don't tell me Trump said something stupid again.....

Josi's next username?

probably was a typo

It could have been called a typo if it was actually a complete sentence or something. Instead it looked like he was drunk.

Viva la covfefe!

Hillary Clinton may not run for office again, but she's not staying silent — especially about the 2016 election.
Speaking at Recode's 2017 Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Clinton gave an unfiltered assessment of the 2016 campaign that ended with her unexpected loss to Donald Trump.
"I take responsibility for every decision I made, but that's not why I lost," she said. "I think it's important we learn the real lessons of this last campaign."
She lost, she told Recode's Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, because of unfair media coverage, an "unprecedented" campaign waged against her by a foreign adversary, James Comey's decision to re-open her email probe, criticism of her candidacy that she claimed bordered on misogyny, and a prevailing sentiment that she would be victorious, which hampered voter turnout.
Here's a look at what exactly she said about the factors that contributed to her loss:
Russia's Attempts at Sabotage
Clinton noted that she had no control of the Russians, which she said "weaponized" technology against her. She cited the deluge of false articles that circulated on Facebook in the months preceding the election that were "connected to the 1000 Russian agents," and WikiLeaks, which spent the month before the election releasing a daily trove of emails from her campaign Chairman John Podesta. Google searches for WikiLeaks, she said, were highest in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, swing states crucial to her victory that she narrowly lost.
But, she said, the Russians couldn't have acted unilaterally; they had to have had support from Americans.
"How did they know what messages to deliver?" she asked about the Russians. "Who told them? Who were they colluding with?"
Media Coverage of Her Private Email Server
Although Clinton acknowledged that she wouldn't have used a private email server when she was Secretary of State if she were given a do-over, she said the coverage surrounding the server and the investigation were relentless and damaging. "[The media] covered it like Pearl Harbor,"she said of her emails. "I didn't break any rule; nobody said don't do this. I was very responsible, and not at all careless. You end up with a situation that was exploited."
Ultimately, Clinton said, the emails were what she called a big "nothing burger" — one that she said her campaign was able to "put to bed" in July when former FBI Director's James Comey declined to press charges. But the coverage, she argued, combined with decision to re-open the email probe on October 28th, doomed her candidacy.
Media Coverage of Her Goldman Sachs Speeches
Both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump criticized Clinton's decision to give paid speeches to Goldman Sachs after she ended her tenure as Secretary of State, decrying that she embodied the establishment and would need to answer to Wall Street as President.
But Clinton defended her decision to give the speeches, explaining that they were among the many speeches she gave to multiple groups, and pointing out that Swisher and Mossberg had Goldman Sachs at the conference she was currently speaking at.
"Why do you have them [Goldman Sachs] here?" she asked Swisher.
Swisher responded that the bank had paid.
"They paid me," said Clinton. "Men got paid for the speeches they made. I got paid for the speeches I made. It was used and I thought it was unfairly used but it was part of the background music."
The Democratic National Committee Had Bad Data
Not even members of her own party were immune from Clinton's criticism. She complained that when she became the Democratic nominee, she inherited a data machine from the Democratic National Committee that she described as "bankrupt" and "on the verge of insolvency."
"I inherited nothing from the Democratic Party," she said.
By contrast, Clinton noted, her opponent had access to the resources and data of the Republican National Committee — a sentiment the RNC immediately took note of and began circulating:
Twitter Feed:Hillary Clinton Praises RNC, Trashes DNC, Calling It “Nothing,” “Bankrupt,” Had “Mediocre” Data
Everyone Thought She Would Win No Matter What
Clinton said one of the problems with her candidacy was that everyone thought she would win. Although she initially said she was more skeptical than most people, she told an audience member that she eventually did think her victory was assured.

The House Intelligence Committee issued seven subpoenas on Wednesday, in a sign that its investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election is advancing in scope and intensity, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Republican-led committee issued four subpoenas related to the Russia investigation, targeting President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Mike Flynn, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and their businesses. The committee is also investigating possible ties between Trump associates and Russia.

The other three subpoenas were issued to the National Security Agency, the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency for information about a procedure known as “unmasking.” The subpoenas are related to questions about how and why the names of the president’s associates were unredacted and distributed within classified reports by Obama administration officials during the transition between administrations.

Wednesday’s requests were the first subpoenas issued by the House committee in the Russia probe so far and showcase the continuing divide within the committee over the direction of the probe. Democrats are seeking an aggressive investigation into Mr. Trump and his associates, and Republicans are pushing for a probe into the unmasking.

Mr. Trump tweeted early Thursday: “The big story is the ‘unmasking and surveillance’ of people that took place during the Obama Administration.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee also is examining suspected Russian involvement in last year’s campaign. That panel is expected to hear testimony as early as next week from former FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing the agency’s Russia investigation until Mr. Trump fired him on May 9. Russia has denied interfering with the election and Mr. Trump has denied that his associates colluded with the Russian government.

Mr. Comey is expected to testify Mr. Trump asked him to back off the investigation of Mr. Flynn, according to a person familiar with the matter. The panel’s request for Mr. Comey’s testimony was sparked by his abrupt dismissal by Mr. Trump and allegations that Mr. Trump may have been trying to interfere in the continuing investigation. The president has denied the allegations. Mr. Flynn was forced to resign in February after misleading senior White House officials about his conversations in December with the Russian ambassador.

The probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now headed by former agency director Robert Mueller, who was tapped by the Justice Department to serve as a special counsel.

The House investigation suffered a setback when its Republican chairman Devin Nunes was forced to step aside in April after an ethics complaint was filed over his handling of classified materials. Mr. Nunes remains the chairman of the committee but recused himself from the Russia inquiry.


Mr. Nunes signed all seven subpoenas despite his recusal, according to people familiar with the matter. A GOP congressional aide said that the unmasking investigation was now considered separate from the Russia probe, allowing Mr. Nunes to act on his own authority even while recused.

Democrats on the committee criticized the move, saying they didn’t consent to the unmasking subpoenas. “This action would have been taken without the minority’s agreement. Any prior requests for information would have been undertaken without the minority’s knowledge,” said a senior Democratic committee aide.

Democrats are seeking an aggressive probe of Mr. Trump and his associates, including questions about whether they had any contact with Russian agents.

Republicans on the committee are pushing for an investigation of how the names of Trump campaign officials became exposed in classified intelligence reports based off intelligence community intercepts, as well as questions about how classified information about Mr. Trump’s associates was given to the media.

Mr. Nunes first raised the issue of unmasking in March based on information he received from the White House.

Typically, information about Americans intercepted in foreign surveillance is redacted, even in classified reports distributed within the government, unless a compelling need exists to reveal or “unmask” them. Unmasking requests aren’t uncommon by top intelligence community officials but Republicans want to know whether any of the unmaskings of Trump campaign officials during the transition were politically motivated.

The most recent subpoenas to the intelligence agencies seek information on any requests made by former national security adviser Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power for names to be unmasked in classified material. The three didn’t personally receive subpoenas, the people familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Brennan, Ms. Rice and Ms. Power didn’t respond to requests for comment. Ms. Rice in April told CNN she never did anything “untoward” with intelligence collected on American citizens, including Trump aides working on the transition.

Ms. Power hasn’t previously been reported as a potential witness in the probe so her inclusion in the subpoenas may mean Republicans are broadening their areas of investigation.

Unmasking is typically restricted to high-level officials to safeguard the privacy of Americans caught up in U.S. government spy operations directed at foreign targets. Typically, only top officials within the intelligence agencies and the administration have the ability to ask for unmasking, which is approved by the agency that controls the information.

Officials have acknowledged the names of some Trump aides were revealed in the classified documents, and Republicans have questioned whether it might have been improper.

The four subpoenas related to the Russia investigation are aimed at Mr. Flynn and his business Flynn Intel Group LLC, as well as Mr. Cohen, a former Trump Organization attorney, and his law firm. “If subpoenaed, I will work with my lawyers to cooperate with the various investigations,” Mr. Cohen said. An attorney for Mr. Flynn didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Both have declined to voluntarily cooperate with the probe but Mr. Flynn is complying with a Senate subpoena for his business records.

The House panel also recently sent a letter to former White House press aide Boris Epshteyn asking him to voluntarily submit information to the committee. Mr. Epshteyn briefly served as special assistant to the president in the Trump administration before departing his post earlier this year. A lawyer for Mr. Epshteyn made the request public on Wednesday.

“Like many others, Mr. Epshteyn has received a broad, preliminary request for information from the House Intelligence Committee,” an attorney for Mr. Epshteyn said Wednesday.

He added: “This is a voluntary request. Mr. Epshteyn has not been subpoenaed nor do we anticipate that he will be. We have reached out to the committee with several follow up questions and we are awaiting their response in order to better understand what information they are seeking and whether Mr. Epshteyn is able to reasonably provide it.”

How accurate is that prediction?

The prediction is completely wrong. When we compare January 2017 to July 2077, there will be a huge double-digit rise in temperatures across the United States due to the effect of man-made climate change.