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Francisco 2.0

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by Francisco 2.0

  1. https://www.themaven.net/theresurgent/erick-erickson/a-congressman-s-profanity-laced-tirade-in-a-safeway-grocery-store-SeHI2l5bIECGQn4gmnzGaw/?full=1

     

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    One of the President's congressional defenders has privately decided he hates Trump and wants to unload.

    "If we're going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker," said the congressman as we roamed the aisles of a Safeway grocery store together. I haven't been in a Safeway since my family moved home from Dubai in 1990. The congressman did not want to be seen with me on Capitol Hill. He needed to get some stuff anyway and decided he'd let me walk with him through the cereal and dairy selections at the Safeway near my hotel. He is not happy with President Trump. He was never a die hard Trump supporter. He supported him in the general and never expected him to win. But he did. So the congressman, whose district Trump won, has been a regular supporter on Fox News and elsewhere defending the President. He is happy to be quoted, so long as I don't name him. He says he just needs to vent. I suggest what we're doing is one of the reason's Trump won -- a congressman says nice things in public and bad things in private.

    "Everybody does this sh*t," he says. It's his turn. We have known each other for years and have been promising to connect this week while I'm passing through DC. So this is it. I'm passing along his comments, not endorsing them.

     

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    "I read you writing about this, about wanting to say nice things when you can and criticize when you need to. He may be an idiot, but he's still the President and leader of my party and he is capable of doing some things right," he says before conceding it's usually other people doing the right things in the President's name. "But dammit he's taking us all down with him. We are well and truly f**ked in November. Kevin [McCarthy] is already circling like a green fly circling sh*t trying to take Paul's [Ryan] job because nobody thinks he's sticking around for Nancy [Pelosi]. She's going to f**k up the cafeteria again too. [Lord's name in vain], at least I'll probably lose too and won't have to put up with that sh*t." He won't lose. His district is very Republican.

    What's the problem, though? Well, get ready…

    "It's like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really f*cking stupid Forrest Gump. He can't help himself. He's just a f**king idiot who thinks he's winning when people are b*tching about him. He really does see the world as ratings and attention. I hate Forrest Gump. I listen to your podcast and heard you hate it too. What an overrated piece of sh*t movie. Can you believe it beat the Shawshank Redemption?"

    We deviated to Stephen Speilberg for a moment and I had to remind him Robert Zemeckis, not Speilberg, directed it. Then I had to point out his taste in coffee sucks and suggested better. Moving right along…

    "Judiciary is stacked with a bunch of people who can win re-election so long as they don't piss off Trump voters in the primary. But if we get to summer and most of the primaries are over, they just might pull the trigger if the President fires Mueller. The sh*t will hit the fan if that happens and I'd vote to impeach him myself. Most of us would, I think. Hell, all the Democrats would and you only need a majority in the House. If we're going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker. Take him out with us and let Mike [Pence] take over. At least then we could sleep well at night," he said before going off on a tangent about how the situations with Russia and China scare him. Then, "You know having Mike as President would really piss off all the right people, too. They think they hate Trump. Mike is competent," at which point he sighs and laments that there were, in his mind, more than a dozen competent choices in 2016.

    So the implication is they wouldn't vote for impeachment if they might be opposed in primaries, I asked. He confirmed he does not think the votes are there to impeach the President if any of the Judiciary Committee members are facing primary opponents. But get through that and, if Mueller is fired, he thinks so and thinks a majority of the House would vote to impeach President Trump.

    "I say a lot of shit on TV defending him, even over this. But honestly, I wish the motherf*cker would just go away. We're going to lose the House, lose the Senate, and lose a bunch of states because of him. All his supporters will blame us for what we have or have not done, but he hasn't led. He wakes up in the morning, sh*ts all over Twitter, sh*ts all over us, sh*ts all over his staff, then hits golf balls. F*ck him. Of course, I can't say that in public or I'd get run out of town."

    The congressman's base loves the President. And we're done. He feels better having let it all out. It was a funny conversation with a few additional remarks about the President's personal life I dare not print.

    And yes, I agree, it is bad form to say all this in private while publicly praising the President. Welcome to Donald Trump's Washington. Everybody does this sh*t here.

     

    • Like 2
  2. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/04/10/european-commission-raids-murdochs-fox-hq-london/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

     

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    The British offices of the Murdoch entertainment empire 21st Century Fox have been raided by investigators from the European Commission, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

    It is understood that competition watchdogs gained access to the company’s offices in Hammersmith, west London, early today to seize documents and computer records. 

    The precise nature of the confidential investigation, which is believed to be in its early stages, is unclear. The building is home to Fox Networks, the company’s channels business.

     

     

  3. 7 minutes ago, Chooky said:

    Why did everyone stop talking about this scandal?

     

    DXKx03KW0AAIoVo.jpg:large

    Look at that tan suit.  Just look at it.  That's the color those muslim sons a bitches wear every day.  

  4. 4 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

    I have to tell you--I'm powerfully uncomfortable with raiding lawyers' offices.  I recognize that in a lot of circumstances, the lawyer isn't acting as a lawyer, and so the materials aren't privileged.  But an investigator needs to be real circumspect about that kind of thing.

    Good point.

    I'd have to think whatever Mueller & Co. dredged up was serious enough that they referred this on.  I can't see those folks being cavalier.  

     

  5. 1 minute ago, Vince_McCoy_Williams said:

    He has more money now than in the past, but whatever fits your narrative

    And you know this how?

    He's never released tax returns, so your knowledge of his personal finances are what he has told the public, and given his track record there, it's open for skepticism.  

    I couldn't care less how much money he has (or doesn't have).  I'd rather him be truthful...remember the "gonna release the tax returns" before, during and after the election? Yeah.  

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/times-donald-trump-release-tax-returns-article-1.3061868

     

     

     

    • Like 1
  6. 42 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

    His far north, off the strip Las Vegas hotel that doesn’t have a casino is the most underrated of his “art of the deal” business fails.  

     

    18 minutes ago, Grade of D as in David said:

    Good thing they opted out of the casino part. Then he would have bankrupted 3 casinos instead of 2.

    He couldn't get a gaming license for his place in Vegas.

    Speaking of his Vegas timeshare/condo dwelling that passes as a "luxury hotel"; it has higher standards on hiring practices than the White House:

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hotel-to-employees-dont-hire-relatives?ref=home

     

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    Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, has presented all kinds of headaches for his White House. Forget the multiple federal investigations into the Kushner family businesses; his manifold financial interests have presented scores of potential conflicts of interest, impairing both men’s reputations and damaging the public view of Kushner’s family brand.

    This all would have been avoided if Trump had followed the rules governing his Las Vegas hotel, which largely bar giving top jobs to family members.

    We know about those rules because Property of the People, an advocacy group specializing in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation, obtained the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas employee handbook as part of a FOIA request of the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB heard a case related to allegations of union-busting at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, and Property of the People FOIA’d the hearing transcripts as well as all the exhibits that were entered.

    One of those exhibits—entered on Nov. 18, 2015—was the hotel’s Associate Handbook, which includes all the rules employees at the hotel had to follow. The handbook as it was entered in court is published in full below.

    The handbook has strong words about hiring family members.

    “While TIHLV [Trump International Hotel Las Vegas] does not wish to deprive itself of the services of potentially valuable Associates by establishing a policy excluding the employment of relatives, it must be acknowledged, that such employment can result in the appearance of a conflict of interest, collusion, favoritism, and other undesirable work environment conditions,” the handbook says. “Therefore, management reserves the right to limit the employment of relatives in situations within the company if a conflict of interest is deemed to exist.”

    The handbook bars relatives from working “under the direct or indirect supervision of a relative.” It also bars relatives from working “in situations that create the possibility of conflicts of interest,” without the written approval of senior management officials.

     

     

  7. Seems awfully similar with Whitewater.

    https://www.salon.com/2018/04/05/exclusive-scott-pruitt-trumps-epa-chief-involved-in-shady-2011-real-estate-deal/?preview=true&preview_id=14882425&preview_nonce=97d9028e3e#.Wsqwo2OQ_t0.twitter

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    In 2011, Pruitt and his wife, Margaret, bought a property in Tulsa, Oklahoma, just days before a court ruled that it had been fraudulently transferred by a Las Vegas developer who was on the hook for a $3.6 million loan default. Pruitt, who was then Oklahoma attorney general, apparently flipped the property for a $70,000 profit four months later, selling it to a dummy corporation set up by a major campaign contributor, Kevin Hern.

    Hern, a successful Tulsa businessman and the finance chair of the Oklahoma Republican Party, has been a major donor to Pruitt and other Republican candidates in the state over the years. According to records on file with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, Hern contributed $3,500 to Pruitt between 2010 and 2014, and has given a total of $33,625 to Oklahoma candidates since 2006.

    Hern attended Pruitt’s Senate confirmation hearing in January 2017 and posted about it on his Facebook page. He is now a Republican candidate for Congress in Oklahoma’s 1st congressional district.

    The circumstances surrounding Pruitt’s apparent sweetheart deal remain murky.

    In 2010, an affiliate of Rialto Capital Management (RCM), a company based in Miami, sued a developer named Keith Lyon in Arizona federal court for defaulting on a $3.6 million loan that Lyon had guaranteed in 2007 with a number of Las Vegas and Tulsa properties. RCM won a $2 million judgment against Lyon and other defendants on Aug. 25, 2011. 

    Lyon then apparently vanished, after transferring 27 of those properties in 2009 to entities controlled by a woman named Pamela Rex (formerly Pamela Rooks), a fitness model who had lived with Lyon from 1998 to 2008. 

    RCM then sued Rex for fraud under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, seeking $4.7 million in damages, claiming that Lyon had fraudulently transferred the properties and other assets worth $7.5 million to Rex for no monetary payment.

    One of those properties was at 1801 Forrest Drive in Tulsa, which was transferred to the Rooks Trust, an entity solely controlled by Pamela Rex. Pruitt bought the vacant lot from the Rooks Trust on Aug. 16, 2011 — just 10 days before the federal court judgment against Lyons — for $415,000.

     

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    Four months later, on Dec. 22, 2011, Pruitt sold the property for $485,000 — a $70,000 profit — to a previously unknown company called KNJ Construction, LLC. That entity was set up by Kevin Hern two days before the sale and has been inactive ever since.

    Evidence suggests that Pruitt planned the quick turnaround on the property in advance. On Sept. 1, 2011, about two weeks after the purchase, Pruitt and his wife took out a short-term, 15-month mortgage from Security Bank in Tulsa. Hern built a luxury house on the property after purchasing it from Pruitt, and sold it 18 months later for $1.7 million. 

     

  8. 2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    I understand one of the problems in OK is the voters passed a resolution in the 80s or 90s that required at least 75% of the legislation to raise taxes.  This ensures that you will never have new taxes even when a decent majority are calling for it.  

    What a stupid idea.  No surprise that OK voters put that in place and I bet they smiled as they walked out of the voting booth: we got them liberals now.

    State Question 640, which was voted into existence in March 1992.  It was a knee-jerk reaction to House Bill 1017, which was passed in 1990 and signed into law by Governor Henry Bellmon (R).  HB 1017 was an educational reform bill; aside from teacher raises, it imposed class size limits, addressed school consolidation, alternative certification for teachers, early childhood programs and academic curriculum.

    Quote

    State Question 640 was a citizen-initiated ballot measure that was approved by Oklahoma voters in a special election in March 1992 with 56.2 percent of the vote. The measure amended Article 5, Section 33 of the Oklahoma Constitution to add restrictions on how revenue bills can become law. Under SQ 640, a revenue bill can only become law if: (1) it is approved by a 3/4th vote of both legislative chambers and is signed by the Governor; or (2) it is referred by the legislature to a vote of the people at the next general election and receives majority approval.

     

  9. 4 hours ago, RPM said:

    No Sprinklers in Upper Floors of Trump Tower

     

    Trump tweeted that the fire was “Very confined (well built building).”

    Asked if that assessment was accurate, Nigro said, “It’s a well built building. The upper floors, the residence floors, are not sprinklered.”

    Fire sprinklers were not required in New York City highrises when Trump Tower was completed in 1983.

    Subsequent updates to the building code required commercial skyscrapers to install the sprinklers retroactively, but owners of older residential highrises are not required to install sprinklers unless the building undergoes major renovations.

    The 664-foot Trump Tower has 58 stories, though the top floor is numbered 68.

     

    Trump lobbied against changing the code for fire sprinklers; claimed he couldn't afford to install them in all his buildings:

    https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/08/nyregion/giuliani-calls-for-high-rise-sprinklers.html

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    Although New York has taller towers and more high-rise residents than any other city in the nation, no sprinklers are required in apartment buildings here. Landlords and developers like Donald J. Trump have lobbied against sprinklers as unnecessary and expensive, costing up to $4 per square foot, or thousands of dollars for each apartment. New York instead has required that new construction be fire resistant.

    https://nypost.com/1999/01/04/survivor-of-culkin-fire-a-crusader/

    Quote

    Trump has called a dozen council members to lobby against sprinklers, including Speaker Peter Vallone. He has also donated $5,000 to retire Vallone’s campaign debt, and personally telephoned committee chairman Archie Spigner, and Walter McCaffery, the sponsor of the bill.

    Trump says he can’t afford to install sprinklers in all his buildings.

    Trump is now putting up a 90-story high rise at 875 U.N. Plaza that has no sprinklers in the building plans the city has approved.

    “I would inform Trump there must be sprinklers in every apartment and hallway,” Rose responded.

     

     

  10. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/06/pruitt-was-the-kato-kaelin-of-capitol-hill-505658

     

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    Scott Pruitt was only supposed to be living in the Capitol Hill condominium that has become a focal point of his latest ethics controversy for six weeks last year while he got settled in Washington – but the new Environmental Protection Agency administrator didn’t leave when his lease ended.

    Instead, he asked the lobbyist couple who became his disgruntled landlords to revise his lease several times, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. 

    The couple, Vicki and Steve Hart, became so frustrated by their lingering tenant that they eventually pushed him out and changed their locks. After trying to nudge Pruitt out of their home over the course of several months, the Harts finally told Pruitt in July that they had plans to rent his room to another tenant. 

    “The original arrangement was that he would be there living out of a suitcase … and it just kept going and going,” said one of the people with knowledge of the arrangement.

    The condo, in which Pruitt rented a bedroom for $50 a night, has attracted the attention of the EPA’s inspector general, which said Thursday it was considering opening an investigation. The agency is already reviewing Pruitt’s taxpayer-funded first-class travel, his use of a special hiring authority to grant raises to aides and his spending on a soundproof phone booth for his office.

     

    Quote

    That favor turned into a headache for the couple when Pruitt repeatedly asked to extend his lease. “There were gentle questions regarding, OK, when are you going to leave and what have you ... and they even started sending him ads of places close by that he could rent,” said the first person. 

    “Scott Pruitt is the Kato Kaelin of Capitol Hill. He is the long-term house guest who takes advantage of his hosts and refuses to take a hint about when it’s time to leave,” the second person said. 

    A spokesman for Pruitt did not immediately reply to a request for comment. 

    The Harts eventually told Pruitt, who had to be reminded repeatedly to pay his rent, that they had plans to rent the room to somebody else — and that he needed to find another place to live, according to the people familiar with events. They also informed him in early August that they were changing the locks on their door.

     

  11. 3 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

    I don't understand why the the evangelicals push for Trump's impeachment so Pence can move in.  It seems Pence is much more in line with their agenda.  I would think congress would see Pence as more malleable and easy to predict/control.

    Or do they know Pence is as deep in this as Trump is?  

     

    Pence is as personable as a salt shaker.  They know he couldn't lead them to the promised land, no matter what.  

     

    EDIT:  Team R in the House and Senate would be ok with it, but Pence as the headliner in 2020?  Laughable.  

  12. 3 minutes ago, SmokeyBear1861 said:

    Ok assume you are right, they are busting the Russian/Trump mafia here and haven't leaked a bit of their evidence yet.

    When does the investigation end? 

    When? Give me a ball park. Because right now, it has been 14 months, and it looks a lot like this is just a circus to keep the swamp around for cover-ups. It has already been exposed that the FBI was in contact with the Obama white house, using a phoney FISA warrant to spy on the opposition running for president. 

    Just tell me when, because as much as you want to save my comments and throw them back at me when Trump is impeached, I would like to save your predictions and giggle as 2018 turns into 2019, then into 2020. You can't sit there and say they are going to investigate this for more than 4 years, wouldn't that be interfering with an election? You going to have a "special council" investigating the president during both terms of his presidency? 

    Ken Starr was put on the job in August of 1994.  His gig lasted nearly 5 years.  I'm assuming at that time you had zero issues with how long that process lasted.

    • Like 3
  13. http://okcfox.com/news/fox-25-investigates/state-confiscates-beer-meant-for-teachers

     

    Quote

    OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Agents with the state's alcoholic beverages agency say a Facebook ad promising free beer for teachers led to a raid.

    The ABLE Commission raided Patriarch Craft Beer House and Lawn after they announced they had two kegs of beer ready for teachers. In a Facebook post Sunday, the beer house said “We believe in and support our local public school teachers!! Starting at 3:00 Tuesday, we’ve split the bill with Roughtail Brewing to offer free pours of “Respect Party,” a Belgian table beer from RT! Come help us kill 2 kegs EPS teachers!! (Side note, other school districts are welcome as well. Just wanted to show love to our home town teachers!)”

    An officer with the ABLE Commission saw the ad and the agency told FOX 25 he did not recognize the name on the beer label. That led the officer to go to Patriarch on Tuesday where they found two kegs of high-point beer that were not properly registered.

    According to the ABLE Commission the brewery had not paid a “brand registration fee” for the beer that was to be given away to teachers. So, the ABLE officers took the donated teacher beer and issued a citation to Patriarch.

    Patriarch said it had no comment on the ABLE Commission's action, but posted Wednesday that a brewery came forward with cans of “light” beer for teachers.

    The ABLE Commission added that it is against the state’s “Happy Hour” laws for bars to give away high-point beer or liquor to anyone, even teachers.

    Patriarch will have a chance to contest the citation once the ABLE Commission files its formal case.

     

  14. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/381922-evangelical-leaders-planning-sit-down-with-trump-over-stormy-daniels

     

    Quote

    Several evangelical Christian leaders are planning a sit-down with President Trump in June over allegations that his lawyer paid adult-film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in 2016 for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump more than a decade ago.

    Several sources familiar with the negotiations between top faith leaders and the Trump White House told NPR that the president is expected to meet to take questions from supporters and evangelicals on June 19 at his Washington, D.C., hotel.

     

    "We're very concerned" about the allegations, the leader of one ministry told NPR. 

    "There's things that are like fingernails on the chalkboard to people of faith. That's not who we are; that's not a 'fruit of the Spirit'; that's not leading with humility," said another person familiar with the talks.

    Trump has denied the alleged affair with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and on Thursday also denied having any prior knowledge of his personal lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels. The payment, Daniels says, was to keep her from discussing the alleged affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election. 

    One source working to set up the meeting with the White House told NPR that it sprung from concerns about Republicans' performance heading into this year's midterm elections.

    "It is a concern of ours that 2018 could be very detrimental to some of the other issues that we hold dear," they said.

    The faith leaders hope to find a way to galvanize right-leaning support heading into the fall, when Trump will not be on the ballot but his agenda will face a test as voters decide whether to protect GOP majorities in both chambers of Congress.

    "Let's reconvene," one NPR source said, "and let's see what we can do to encourage enthusiasm — beyond Trump, so to speak."

    Recent polls suggest Democrats could hold as much as a 10-point lead over generic Republican opponents heading into the fall, while a plurality of voters said they also want to see Democrats retake the Senate.

     

  15. https://www.axios.com/trump-us-is-badly-represented-in-wto-6e3bae8d-db2a-4361-b5dd-2dc0e0b7f7f4.html?utm_source=sidebar

     

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    President Trump said Friday that the World Trade Organization "is unfair" to the U.S., unlike China, who he claims gets "tremendous perks and advantages" for their status as a developing nation. Note: China has responded to the U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods by filing a complaint through the WTO.

     

     

    Narrator:    There are no definitions of "developed" or "developing" countries within the WTO. Countries in the WTO are designated on the basis of self-selection, per the WTO website. The WTO cannot determine what China designates itself as.

  16. 4 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    As an infrequent FN viewer I’ve been very confused who diamond and silk were.  I’ve read they were YouTube personalities/celebrities.  I follow a few YouTube channels so I know it’s a real thing and many of them have millions of video views within day(s) of releasing a new video.  They can communicate to large numbers of people.

    diamond and silk?  They get a few thousand per video.   I don’t pretend to say that I could release a video that would get 2000 views in a few week so they have me beat but they are not much more than the equivalent of a relatively heavy Facebook user with many friends.  And Fox News puts them in regularly?   I wonder why they get invited back so often?

    If you can't figure this out, well, I'm not sure exactly what to tell you.

     

     

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