Category Archives: Republican Party

News, Politics, Republican Party, Russian Investigation, Trump, US

Donald Trump is under investigation for ties to Russia. What happens now?

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Monday’s intelligence hearing highlighted the ‘big gray cloud’ of suspicion hanging over the White House. Here’s what happened – and what to expect

Watch highlights from Monday’s congressional hearing

Spencer Ackerman in New York
Wednesday 22 March 2017 07.31 GMT

 

A presidency under open-ended investigation for its ties to Russia. A director of the FBI, himself key in aiding the president’s election, not only confirming that inquiry but refuting the president’s claim of illegal surveillance by his predecessor.

The first open hearing into Donald Trump’s alleged Russia connections on Monday ensured that the US president will operate under a cloud of suspicion until either the various inquiries deliver credible public conclusions or Trump leaves office, whichever comes first.

Testimony from the FBI director, James Comey, indicated that for Trump, the allegations are no weather pattern, lasting for a finite time, but rather the climate for his presidency – what the House intelligence committee chairman, Devin Nunes, a Republican who was also a Trump transition official, angrily called a “big gray cloud”.

Here are critical questions for understanding that climate.

Where do the inquiries go next?

The next big calendar date for the public hearings is 28 March, when two Obama-era intelligence officials, the ex-director of national intelligence James Clapper and the ex-CIA director John Brennan, will appear before the House panel.

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News, Republican Party, US

Maine Voices: Republican Party has lost its way

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The party’s current pro-life stance boils down to a religious disagreement that conservatives should avoid.

BY RICHARD BEDARDSPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM

COLUMBIA FALLS — What thoughts should an elderly, agnostic Republican share with others in regard to the state of the party of his grandfather, when the party leadership seems comfortable with alternative facts and doublespeak?

Elderly I am; agnostic in all things, religious and political, and I did register as a Republican. So, why all the confusion in recent years, which has only gotten worse in the past several months?

It is impossible to again have a youthful mind with limited knowledge and experience, unless one seriously considers a lobotomy. Therefore, we are destined to become older, and hopefully a teeny bit wiser.

One knows everything at the age of 17, upon graduating from high school with honors and scholarships, then suddenly discovers in, say, five-year increments, that there is so much more to learn.

After many such increments, the awareness grows that one knows so, so little, and that the best state of mind is being agnostic in nearly everything, if one is ever to have peace of mind.

The only other label that one could change is to leave the Republican Party and again become independent, or join another party. Or stay in the party and try to contribute to an image that we could all again be proud of. Silence is not what makes a democracy healthy and strong!

For example: Why am I left with the feeling that the abortion issue seems to almost boil down to a religious issue, one that our party should stay out of – no matter what religion is currently involved? The soft-speaking, elderly lady on the other end of the phone conversation asked if I was “pro-life.” My response was: “I most certainly am, and I have never met anyone during my lifetime who was not pro-life.”

I followed by saying, “If this call is for the purpose of raising money to increase education for women so that they may be better informed to help them prevent an unwanted pregnancy, then count me in.” After a long silence, she again spoke in a kind, soft voice and said, “Thank you,” before hanging up the phone.

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Fake News, News, Politics, Republican Party, US

Kellyanne Conway’s “triple standard”: A game of two half-truths and a lie

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The Trump mouthpiece’s newest catchphrase tries to paint conservative women as victims of the feminist left

Kellyanne Conway’s "triple standard": A game of two half-truths and a lieEnlarge(Credit: Getty/Brendan Smialowski/Bryan R. Smith/ Chip Somodevilla/Salon/Mireia Triguero Roura)

Last weekend, Kellyanne Conway sat down with “CBS This Morning” for an in-depth one-on-one interview designed to make the political operative described by Samantha Bee as President Donald Trump’s “omnipresent spokes-cobra” seem less of a sentient Two Truths and a Lie drinking game and more like an actual human. In this interview, Conway appeared to be testing the waters for a new Kellyanne Katchphrase™ when she claimed that she and other conservative women are subject to “a triple standard” by the media, specifically “traditional feminist outlets.”

“We are constantly going back to where I sat, the presumptive negativity of what I wore, or what I said, and I do think it’s a triple standard,” Conway told correspondent Norah O’Donnell. “People talk about a double standard of what a woman wore or said, but the triple standard is that conservative women are cast aside many times by traditional feminist outlets and individuals who control most of the media.”

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Healthcare, News, Obama Care, Republican Party, Trump, US

Trump supporters in the heartland fear being left behind by GOP health plan

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Republican proposal would upend a healthcare system in Indiana that covers many low-income people – in a program that Mike Pence put in place

Pam Martin flips through a binder of healthcare papers for the disabled brother she takes care of.

Pam Martin flips through a binder of healthcare papers for the disabled brother she takes care of. Photograph: Justin Gilliland for the Guardian

Janice Phelps, a 60-year-old disabled factory worker in Evansville,Indiana, knows how expensive healthcare is.

Each month, shots for her severe asthma cost $3,000. Quarterly injections for knee pain cost $3,200. Medication for depression costs $900. She has had seven back surgeries, two shoulder surgeries, and two knee surgeries since 1985. The largest public health programs in America – Medicaid and Medicare, which aid the poor and the elderly – paid for nearly all of it.

Yet, those programs are now threatened by the men she voted for: Donald Trump and former Indiana governor Mike Pence.

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Healthcare, News, Obama Care, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Now or never on ObamaCare repeal? Despite pressure, GOP divided on bill

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Chad Pergram

By

Congressional Republicans may find inspiration from the King of Rock and Roll when comes to passing their replacement bill for ObamaCare.

Imagine Elvis Presley crooning his 1960 number one single, “It’s Now or Never.”

“We have a choice,” proffered House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, one of the authors of the health care blueprint. “We can act now or we can keep fiddling around and squander this opportunity to repeal ObamaCare.”

In 2009 and 2010, Republicans railed against Democrats as they relied almost exclusively on their own members to approve ObamaCare. Now Republicans are going it alone to repeal ObamaCare and adopt their own health care package. But some conservative lawmakers and interest groups alike are upbraiding the GOP legislation. It only takes a few renegades in both the House and Senate to incinerate the plan.

“It’s ObamaCare-lite,” argued Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “We have to admit we are divided on replacement.”

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News, Republican Party, US

George Clooney Just Said What No One Else Dares To About Trump And The Press

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BY NATALIE DICKINSON
PUBLISHED ON

World-famous actor George Clooney just called out the Trump administration, labeling them the “real” Hollywood elite. He took particular aim at the President and his Chief Strategist, Stephen Bannon and defended actress Meryl Streep for her comments at this year’s Golden Globes.

Trump’s faux-populism platform decried the “Hollywood elites” as being out of touch with the American people, attempting to discredit the celebrities that flocked to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s side.

But Clooney rightfully pointed out it’s Trump and Bannon who are the real elites in an interview with France’s Canal+.

“When Meryl [Streep] spoke, everyone on that one side said, ‘Well that’s elitist Hollywood speaking.’ Donald Trump has 22 acting credits in television. Collects $120,000 a year from his Screen Actors Guild pension fund. He is a Hollywood elitist.

Steve Bannon is a failed film writer and director. That’s the truth, that’s what he’s done. He wrote a Shakespearean rap musical about the L.A. riots that he couldn’t get made. He made a lot of money off of ‘Seinfeld.’ He’s elitist Hollywood, I mean that’s the reality.”

Clooney then turned to Trump’s war with the press and his attacks on the First Amendment:

“We have a demagogue in the White House. We need the fourth estate, which is journalists, to hold his feet to the fire.

They didn’t do a very good job during the campaign. And they haven’t done a particularly good job yet. But those things will change.”

The idea that Donald Trump is a man of the people is the biggest political scam perpetrated in American history since Republican voters were somehow convinced that George W. Bush was somehow a “political outsider.”

Donald Trump is a representation of the very worst of the American wealthy elites who view their compatriots as nothing more than a means to the end. Bannon, a former Goldman executive, is similarly connected to the ruling elites that have outright purchased the Republican Party and plot to squeeze every last cent from the American middle class. Clooney’s comments are spot on and are sure to make President Trump glower in anger.

Fake News, News, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

‘Last Night in Sweden’? Trump’s Remark Baffles a Nation

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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 00:41
‘Last Night in Sweden’


Video At a campaign-style rally in Florida on Saturday, President Trump issued a sharp critique of Europe’s refugee policies, ticking off a list of places that have been struck by terrorists. But he also mentioned Sweden, which has not been target of recent terrorist attacks.

 SEWELL CHAN
FEBRUARY 19, 2017

LONDON — Swedes reacted with confusion, anger and ridicule on Sunday to a vague remark by President Trump that suggested that something terrible had occurred in their country.

During a campaign-style rally on Saturday in Florida, Mr. Trump issued a sharp if discursive attack on refugee policies in Europe, ticking off a list of places that have been hit by terrorists.

“You look at what’s happening,” he told his supporters. “We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?”

Not the Swedes.

Continue reading ‘Last Night in Sweden’? Trump’s Remark Baffles a Nation →

Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Kellyanne Conway Just Humiliated Herself And The Trump Team Live On The Today Show

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BY BRETT BOSE
PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 14, 2017


President Donald Trump’s freakish mouthpiece, Kellyanne Conway, is known as a master of political spin. You can’t trust a word that comes out of her mouth, and she constantly changes the direction interviews are going while avoiding the tough questions with fanciful rhetoric. But it also cannot be denied that she is good at her job…

That is, until today.

In the wake of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s resignation yesterday, Conway was busy trying to defuse the situation via her preferred medium of television interviews. However, even Trump’s favorite deceptive spinster couldn’t argue her way out of the hole that Flynn has dug for himself and Trump administration.

Rest of article including video :  Continue reading Kellyanne Conway Just Humiliated Herself And The Trump Team Live On The Today Show →

Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Trump knew of Flynn Russia phone call issues ‘weeks ago’

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24 Hours – was Flynn’s tenure a record?

President Donald Trump knew weeks ago there were problems with Michael Flynn’s Russia phone calls, a White House spokesman has said.

The president had been “reviewing and evaluating this issue on a daily basis”, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said at a news conference.

Mr Trump had previously said he was unaware of the reports about Mr Flynn.

But he ultimately asked for Mr Flynn’s resignation based on a “trust issue” and not a legal one, Mr Spicer added.

Republicans have joined congressional calls for an investigation into Mr Flynn’s contacts with Russia.

“The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable incidents is what led the president to ask General Flynn for his resignation,” Mr Spicer said.

Mr Flynn resigned over allegations he discussed US sanctions with a Russian envoy before Donald Trump took office.
The retired army lieutenant-general initially denied having discussed sanctions with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, and Vice-President Mike Pence publicly denied the allegations on his behalf.
Mr Flynn later said he could not recall whether he discussed the sanctions.
When exactly did Trump know? Continue reading Trump knew of Flynn Russia phone call issues ‘weeks ago’ →

Constitution, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Drain the Swamp — Kellyanne Conway Just Broke a Federal Ethics Law on National TV

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In the middle of an interview, Kellyanne Conway did a spontaneous PR spot for Ivanka Trump to hawk her merchandise on live TV — a violation of federal law.

Trump’s top adviser was answering a question about the president when she deviated from the topic and started talking about Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, and her experience of helping to run the Trump Organization while also developing a clothing and accessories line bearing her name. Then, after a minute-long buildup, and while Fox & Friends Host Steve Doocy was trying to interject to ask another question, Conway told viewers to “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff.”

Video

Conway appears to have violated a longtime ethics law in which federal employees are barred from using their office to endorse products. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) Director Walter Shaub posted a reminder of the rule to the OGE’s website shortly after Donald Trump tweeted his support for LL Bean as President-elect, encouraging his followers to buy their products. One of the planks of the rule is that executive branch employees are barred from “endorsing any product, service, or company.”

Continue reading Drain the Swamp — Kellyanne Conway Just Broke a Federal Ethics Law on National TV →

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