Trump 29: Divider In Chief or Liar In Chief? WHY NOT BOTH?

[Cartmann99]

On 2/20/2018 at 10:03 PM, onekidanddone said:

He does know it was an iceberg which brought down the Titanic right?

Not unless Fox News Blonde #7 or Hannity mentioned it.

[Rachel333]

So... give teachers guns.

 

[Rosalie]

Kushner Resists Losing Access as Kelly Tackles Security Clearance Issues

Spoiler

WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, is resisting giving up his access to highly classified information, prompting an internal struggle with John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, over who should be allowed to see some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets, according to White House officials and others briefed on the matter.

Mr. Kushner is one of dozens of White House officials operating under interim security clearances because of issues raised by the F.B.I. during their background checks, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the clearances. The practice has drawn added scrutiny because of Rob Porter, the former staff secretary who resigned under pressure this month after domestic abuse allegations against him became public.

Mr. Porter’s post entailed handling and reviewing the flow of documents to and from the president, which routinely includes highly classified material. He had been allowed to continue in the job for more than a year with a stopgap clearance even though the F.B.I. had informed the White House of the damaging accusations against him.

Mr. Kushner’s clearance has afforded him access to closely guarded information, including the presidential daily brief, the intelligence summary Mr. Trump receives every day, but it has not been made permanent, and his background investigation is still pending after 13 months serving in Mr. Trump’s inner circle.

Now Mr. Kelly, his job at risk and his reputation as an enforcer of order and discipline tarnished by the scandal, is working to revamp the security clearance process, starting with an effort to strip officials who have interim clearances of their high-level access. In a memo issued on Friday, Mr. Kelly said he would revoke top clearances for anyone whose background check had been pending since June 1 or earlier, and review such clearances every month thereafter.

Mr. Kushner, frustrated about the security clearance issue and concerned that Mr. Kelly has targeted him personally with the directive, has told colleagues at the White House that he is reluctant to give up his high-level access, the officials said. In the talks, the officials say, Mr. Kushner has insisted that he maintain his current level of access, including the ability to review the daily intelligence briefing when he sees fit.

But Mr. Kelly, who has been privately dismissive of Mr. Kushner since taking the post of chief of staff but has rarely taken him on directly, has made no guarantees, saying only that the president’s son-in-law will still have all the access he needs to do his job under the new system.

“As I told Jared days ago, I have full confidence in his ability to continue performing his duties in his foreign policy portfolio including overseeing our Israeli-Palestinian peace effort and serving as an integral part of our relationship with Mexico,” Mr. Kelly said in a statement the White House released on Tuesday in which he refused to address Mr. Kushner’s security clearance or elaborate on his memo.

“Everyone in the White House is grateful for these valuable contributions to furthering the president’s agenda,” Mr. Kelly said of Mr. Kushner. “There is no truth to any suggestion otherwise.”

It is unclear whether Mr. Kushner would need to review highly classified information. His current portfolio — which includes acting as an intermediary with Mexico, trying to forge Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, participating in an economic dialogue with China and working on revising the North American Free Trade Agreement — seems unlikely to involve major intelligence or national security secrets. But Mr. Kushner, by dint of his relationship with Mr. Trump, has wide-ranging access to the president and the information that he sees, and senior advisers to the president typically require such access to perform their duties.

The fact that the White House chief of staff would take the step of publicly denying that a policy change would harm the president’s son-in-law pointed up the tension in the West Wing after the Porter episode, particularly between Mr. Kelly on one side, and Mr. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, who had been close allies of Mr. Porter, on the other.

Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump have been critical of Mr. Kelly in conversations with the president, who spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., surveying people about whether he should fire his chief of staff. However, since Mr. Porter’s departure, one official said, Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump have told people around the White House that they have been vocal in their attempts to defend Mr. Kelly but are being treated unfairly in return.

One person familiar with Mr. Kushner’s thinking, who insisted on anonymity to describe it, denied that he felt personally targeted by Mr. Kelly or was agitating to have him removed. Another White House official denied that Mr. Kushner had ever raised the issue of the intelligence summary in his discussions with Mr. Kelly over his clearance.

But the memo, deliberately or otherwise, has shone an unflattering light on Mr. Kushner, raising questions about whether he can be effective in his post and how much authority he has. That debate threatens to complicate what Mr. Kelly has acknowledged is a long-overdue effort inside the White House to get a handle on the clearance process, a national security imperative over which top officials appear to have placed little priority after Mr. Trump took office.

“We should — and in the future, must — do better,” Mr. Kelly said in his memo last week.

The questions surrounding Mr. Kushner’s clearance are particularly acute because of the possibility that his extensive contacts with foreign actors — including travel, meetings with leaders overseas and multiple business ventures — might be relevant to the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Mr. Kushner initially failed to disclose scores of those contacts on the standard form required for all prospective government officials, and has since amended his submission, substantially delaying his background check.

That meant that his background information was not submitted in its entirety until June, after the June 1 cutoff that Mr. Kelly set in his memo.

Under the new policy, anyone holding interim clearance to see top secret or sensitive compartmented information whose background investigation had been pending since then is to be stripped of that access by Friday. Even if Mr. Kushner was not in that initial group, the document suggested that his status would soon be reviewed, and that his access going forward would be subject entirely to Mr. Kelly’s discretion.

“Similar reviews will occur monthly for long-outstanding adjudications,” Mr. Kelly wrote. The new rules, he said, would “limit access to certain highly classified information for those individuals working with interim clearance status absent explicit chief of staff’s office approval, which would be granted only in the most compelling circumstances.”

 

[apple1]

5 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

So... give teachers guns.

 

Actually - CNN played video - an actual real-live video - of you saying what you said.

 

[iweartanktops]

35 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

So... give teachers guns.

 

Right, and this 

What a disturbing way to start the day. 

[Howl]

All it takes is one or two really strong high-school kids to disarm the teacher and use that weapon however they like.  Just sayin'. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Since we are concerned that the manbaby hasn't had a pep rally for a while: "Conservatives’ annual conference will toast Trump with critics out of sight"

Spoiler

Thousands of conservative activists will converge on a Washington-area resort this week for their movement’s largest annual gathering — and more than ever, they’ll focus on what the Trump administration is doing right.

Both President Trump and Vice President Pence will deliver speeches at the four-day Conservative Political Action Conference, on Friday morning and Thursday morning respectively. A half-dozen members of the administration will give remarks or sit for interviews, including White House counsel Donald McGahn and “the FCC’s courageous chairman,” Ajit Pai, as he’s identified in the agenda.

Conservative critics of the administration, and most members of Congress, will be elsewhere. Even more than in 2017, when Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch raised Republican spirits, this year’s conference, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland, is structured as a celebration of GOP power and Trump-style nationalism. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) won’t be there; neither will Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a sometime CPAC speaker before he became a critic of Trump.

“There’s no question that there are still people opposed to Trump,” said Matt Schlapp, the president of the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC. “But it’s not 50/50 — on TV they usually oversample the Trump critics. In all candor, most of those people, even if they don’t like Trump personally, have come to respect the fact that he’s governing on a conservative agenda.”

Like nearly every CPAC, the run-up has been marked by controversy. Dinesh D’Souza, an author and filmmaker who has promoted his work at previous conferences, won’t be speaking after the ACU called his tweets mocking students who have lobbied for gun control “indefensible.”

Wayne LaPierre, the fiery executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, will give his now-traditional speech; versions of the agenda put online this week left his name off, as a precaution against protests. On Wednesday, the conservative American Principles Project scrambled to change a panel on “suppression of conservative voices on social media” after the ACU barred Jim Hoft, the founder of the conspiracy-prone news site Gateway Pundit, from attending.

More controversial, among conservatives, is a prominent Thursday morning speaking slot — less than an hour after Pence — for Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, the youngest member of France’s far-right political dynasty. The announcement of Le Pen’s appearance made international news, in part because she had dramatically “quit” politics last year, and in part because her National Front party favors policies — universal health care, a lower retirement age — that are anathema to the U.S. conservative movement.

“I don’t see what makes Marion Le Pen a good representative of conservatism,” said Ben Shapiro, a conservative columnist, author, and sometime Trump critic who is speaking at CPAC. “I’m optimistic that young people are interested in conservatism, not just the faux philosophy of ‘nationalist populism.’ ”

Schlapp brushed off the controversy, saying that Le Pen, like Britain’s Nigel Farage, will give CPAC attendees a broader sense of what’s happening in conservative politics. Several panels and speakers will focus on the left’s perceived threats to free speech, on campus and elsewhere.

“I’m not personally close to her, but for three years in this job I’ve had people tell me that she represents a new voice in that country,” Schlapp said. “So we’re testing the waters, and we’re going to let her speak. I’m interested to hear her, but from who I’ve talked to and what I’ve read, she’s more aligned with conservatives than with her party.”

Beyond Trump’s speech, there will be several CPAC panels defending the president from accusations of wrongdoing. The conservative Capital Research Center will lead two discussions for those who want to “learn more about the entire Russian investigation and how it remains unsubstantiated,” and one of the conference’s main-stage panels will bring conservative reporters together to discuss “unmasking the deep state.”

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who has argued that it should investigate the Obama administration instead of Trump’s campaign, will give the conference’s closing address.

“Most of us believe we’ve wasted a year of our lives chasing down a story that has no basis in fact,” Schlapp said. “No, we’re not going to run down whether someone on the Trump campaign sent an email to someone with a Russian accent.”

 

[fraurosena]

I agree, Great People and Great American Patriots love their country.

But what you don't seem to realize is that without citizens, there is no country. So the primary care a Great Person and a Great Patriot has, is for the citizens of their country. The NRA is part of the weapons industry. Weapons are tools. Tools used to kill people. Tools used to kill citizens. It's what they're for. They serve no other purpose other than to kill and/or maim. Therefore anyone who is part of the weapons industry is by definition NOT a great person and NOT a great patriot, as they care not a whit for the country and it's citizens, but only have love for money, money and more money.

 

[Alisamer]

21 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

I agree, Great People and Great American Patriots love their country.

But what you don't seem to realize is that without citizens, there is no country. So the primary care a Great Person and a Great Patriot has, is for the citizens of their country. The NRA is part of the weapons industry. Weapons are tools. Tools used to kill people. Tools used to kill citizens. It's what they're for. They serve no other purpose other than to kill and/or maim. Therefore anyone who is part of the weapons industry is by definition NOT a great person and NOT a great patriot, as they care not a whit for the country and it's citizens, but only have love for money, money and more money.

 

The country IS the people. Without people, it's just land. Maybe Herr Tangerine's real estate background contributes to his lack of care for the people? He doesn't seem to care much for the land either, come to think of it, but he probably does see it as a money maker. I think if he didn't have some people trying to reign him in he'd have put a big gold "Trump" sign on every government building and started renting out the White House as a new Trump Hotel property while he lived it up in NY and FL. 

I fully believe that this whole administration is a publicity stunt gone wrong. He didn't want the presidency, he wanted his own TV network or at least his own show where he could spew his views unchallenged. I hope he ends up in prison somehow, but if not I give it a month or less after he's out of office before his next big TV venture is announced.

[onekidanddone]

22 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

The country IS the people. Without people, it's just land. Maybe Herr Tangerine's real estate background contributes to his lack of care for the people? He doesn't seem to care much for the land either, come to think of it, but he probably does see it as a money maker. I think if he didn't have some people trying to reign him in he'd have put a big gold "Trump" sign on every government building and started renting out the White House as a new Trump Hotel property while he lived it up in NY and FL. 

I fully believe that this whole administration is a publicity stunt gone wrong. He didn't want the presidency, he wanted his own TV network or at least his own show where he could spew his views unchallenged. I hope he ends up in prison somehow, but if not I give it a month or less after he's out of office before his next big TV venture is announced.

So much for supporting the families and victims. The anguish  of mothers, fathers, partners,  children who have buried their precious ones cut down buy gun violence all over this country. 

The NRA must have gotten to him after his vow to introduce gun control measures. They must have threatened to pull the money, or maybe even some hidden blackmail.  He thinks people will just forget what he said just  yesterday.  Yea, don't bet on it. The kids are in control now, and their memories ain't short. They are looking at you Donny, and the aren't go anywhere.

ETA: I've cut way back on my Twitter, and won't read  his any way, so I any brave FJer wants to report back on the responses I'd be grateful 

[fraurosena]

Ask, and ye shall receive, @onekidanddone.

Here's the original twit-tweet:

and here's Adam Schiff's response:

And Ed Krassenstein's:

And Robert Shehan's:

And then Scott Blogs dug up an old twitler twit-tweet:

Which was wrong of course. He wants assault rifles in the classrooms, not guns. Sheesh!

[GrumpyGran]

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Since we are concerned that the manbaby hasn't had a pep rally for a while: "Conservatives’ annual conference will toast Trump with critics out of sight"

  Reveal hidden contents

Thousands of conservative activists will converge on a Washington-area resort this week for their movement’s largest annual gathering — and more than ever, they’ll focus on what the Trump administration is doing right.

Both President Trump and Vice President Pence will deliver speeches at the four-day Conservative Political Action Conference, on Friday morning and Thursday morning respectively. A half-dozen members of the administration will give remarks or sit for interviews, including White House counsel Donald McGahn and “the FCC’s courageous chairman,” Ajit Pai, as he’s identified in the agenda.

Conservative critics of the administration, and most members of Congress, will be elsewhere. Even more than in 2017, when Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch raised Republican spirits, this year’s conference, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland, is structured as a celebration of GOP power and Trump-style nationalism. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) won’t be there; neither will Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a sometime CPAC speaker before he became a critic of Trump.

“There’s no question that there are still people opposed to Trump,” said Matt Schlapp, the president of the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC. “But it’s not 50/50 — on TV they usually oversample the Trump critics. In all candor, most of those people, even if they don’t like Trump personally, have come to respect the fact that he’s governing on a conservative agenda.”

Like nearly every CPAC, the run-up has been marked by controversy. Dinesh D’Souza, an author and filmmaker who has promoted his work at previous conferences, won’t be speaking after the ACU called his tweets mocking students who have lobbied for gun control “indefensible.”

Wayne LaPierre, the fiery executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, will give his now-traditional speech; versions of the agenda put online this week left his name off, as a precaution against protests. On Wednesday, the conservative American Principles Project scrambled to change a panel on “suppression of conservative voices on social media” after the ACU barred Jim Hoft, the founder of the conspiracy-prone news site Gateway Pundit, from attending.

More controversial, among conservatives, is a prominent Thursday morning speaking slot — less than an hour after Pence — for Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, the youngest member of France’s far-right political dynasty. The announcement of Le Pen’s appearance made international news, in part because she had dramatically “quit” politics last year, and in part because her National Front party favors policies — universal health care, a lower retirement age — that are anathema to the U.S. conservative movement.

“I don’t see what makes Marion Le Pen a good representative of conservatism,” said Ben Shapiro, a conservative columnist, author, and sometime Trump critic who is speaking at CPAC. “I’m optimistic that young people are interested in conservatism, not just the faux philosophy of ‘nationalist populism.’ ”

Schlapp brushed off the controversy, saying that Le Pen, like Britain’s Nigel Farage, will give CPAC attendees a broader sense of what’s happening in conservative politics. Several panels and speakers will focus on the left’s perceived threats to free speech, on campus and elsewhere.

“I’m not personally close to her, but for three years in this job I’ve had people tell me that she represents a new voice in that country,” Schlapp said. “So we’re testing the waters, and we’re going to let her speak. I’m interested to hear her, but from who I’ve talked to and what I’ve read, she’s more aligned with conservatives than with her party.”

Beyond Trump’s speech, there will be several CPAC panels defending the president from accusations of wrongdoing. The conservative Capital Research Center will lead two discussions for those who want to “learn more about the entire Russian investigation and how it remains unsubstantiated,” and one of the conference’s main-stage panels will bring conservative reporters together to discuss “unmasking the deep state.”

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who has argued that it should investigate the Obama administration instead of Trump’s campaign, will give the conference’s closing address.

“Most of us believe we’ve wasted a year of our lives chasing down a story that has no basis in fact,” Schlapp said. “No, we’re not going to run down whether someone on the Trump campaign sent an email to someone with a Russian accent.”

 

Also, we'll have a panel discussing the absolutely true story of a young boy and girl who became lost in a forest and were lured into Hillary Clinton's cabin where she threatened to eat them. Luckily the young boy left a trail of bullet holes made with his AK-15, in tree trunks so they were able to find their way home.

There will also be a discussion of a young girl who was out for a walk to her grandmother's house and was confronted by Barrack Obama, who threatened to eat her but luckily her grandmother has a .457 and was able...

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump is right back where he started, and that’s a problem for the GOP"

Spoiler

After a momentary upward blip in the polls (Was it the holidays? A lower presidential profile? A non-disastrous State of the Union? The tax bill hype?) voters have gone right back to disliking President Trump — a lot. The latest Quinnipiac poll has the president’s approval rating down to 37 percent (with 58 disapproving), compared to a 40-percent approval rating on Feb. 7. And by a margin of 67 percent to 24 percent, they want him to release his tax returns.

In a demonstration that tribal loyalty predominates over obvious observation, “Trump has not been loyal to his spouse throughout his marriage, American voters say 56-18 percent, with 26 percent undecided. Republicans are the only group to say Trump has been loyal.” Really, Republicans, you think that, or do you not permit yourself even a moment of honesty? “Voters also say 66-30 percent, including 58-37 percent among men, that Trump does not respect women as much as he respects men. Again, Republicans are the only group taking Trump’s side.” And once again, as a group, Republicans seem to have given up any powers of discernment.

The numbers are truly awful for the president:

American voters say 57-41 percent that Trump is not fit to serve as president. There is a wide gender gap, with men divided 49-49 percent on whether Trump is fit. Women say 65-33 percent he is not fit.

There is also a gender gap as voters say 65-27 percent that the Trump administration does not do a good job handling issues that have a significant impact on women. Men say no 59-32 percent and women say no 71-22 percent.

Voters disapprove 59-22 percent of the way the Trump administration handled the case of Rob Porter, a White House aide dismissed after accusations of domestic violence. Someone accused of domestic violence by several people should not receive a security clearance, voters say 73-17 percent. Voters say 57-40 percent they do not like Trump’s policies and say 61-30 percent they do not like him as a person. American voters say 56-36 percent that Trump acts more like an autocrat than a typical American president.

When it comes to Russia, voters are capable of overlooking his antics, the poll found.

“American voters think 76-18 percent, including 55-35 percent among Republicans, that the Russian government did try to influence the 2016 presidential election, the highest number so far for this question. A total of 68 percent of voters are ‘very concerned’ or ‘somewhat concerned’ that the Russian government might try to interfere in the 2018 elections. Voters disapprove 57-30 percent to Trump’s response to the threat of Russian interference in the 2018 elections.”

To the extent the GOP-led House of Representatives has stuck with him, one would think it could leave Republicans open to the serious attack that they have failed to respond to the Russian threat.

Looking more closely at the data, one is struck by several phenomena. First, young voters really, really don’t like Trump. Seventy percent of voters under the age of 35 said they don’t approve of his performance — 60 percent of which said they strongly disapprove. Nearly 80 percent of younger voters dislike the Republican Congress.

Second, Trump’s support among white voters without college degrees has eroded. They approve of the job he is doing by only a slim 47- to 45-percent plurality. They certainly don’t like the president as a person (39 percent like/50 percent dislike), and a majority (59 percent) of these voters want him to release his tax returns, 44 percent of which believe he hasn’t done so because he has something to hide. Also, majorities do not believe he respects women, think the White House mishandled the Rob Porter situation, and think that Russia interfered with the 2016 election. A large plurality (46 percent) said he has mishandled the Russia scandal, and 50 percent believe he acts more like an autocrat than he does a typical president.

Third, a large majority (62 percent) said that Jared Kushner shouldn’t be playing a significant role at the White House, and even a majority of white voters without college degrees (54 percent) think it’s inappropriate.

If not for white men, the president’s numbers would be in the gutter. Eighty-one percent of African Americans, 54 percent of Hispanics and 55 percent of white women strongly disapprove of Trump’s performance. If Democrats were to campaign on an agenda of demanding transparency from Trump and his family, holding Russia to account for its election interference (and protecting our voting apparatus), protecting “dreamers” and border security, and reasonable new gun-safety laws, they may find an outpouring of support — especially among young, female and nonwhite voters.

In sum, although Trump has ticked up a few points now and then, public perception of him and his policies remain overwhelmingly negative. Since he is not one for self-reflection, it is unlikely he’ll undergo a remake, even if his party loses big in November. Republicans may then face the prospect — if he isn’t forced out — of running with a grossly unpopular president at the top of the ticket. They might want to start taking impeachment seriously; it might be their only hope in 2020.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Good god what will he invent next? Golfing?

[apple1]

Stupid.

I guess somebody should have made him a cheat sheet (like he had in that "listening session") that said, "Remember, there are already ratings systems in place for movies, TV, and video games."

[47of74]

I see Donnie Butt Plugs just attempted a shake down of California. 

Quote

President TrumpDonald John TrumpAccuser says Trump should be afraid of the truth Woman behind pro-Trump Facebook page denies being influenced by Russians Shulkin says he has White House approval to root out 'subversion' at VA MORE said Thursday that he is thinking of pulling federal immigration enforcement officers from California over the state's sanctuary policies.

"Frankly it's a disgrace, the sanctuary city situation," Trump said at a White House meeting on school safety.

Trump said California is uncooperative with federal law enforcement, particularly when it comes to dealing with gang crime.

If federal agencies were to "pull out" of the state, Trump said, "you would have a crime mess like you've never seen in California.

I say attempted because I get the feeling that would backfire spectacularly for him if he tried it.  And probably any number of Californians are saying "Is that a promise" right about now. 

[fraurosena]

Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[JMarie]

12 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

So... give teachers guns.

 

20% of teachers plus a couple of retired cops/military, all with guns.  Schools will be super duper safe!

[onekidanddone]

Just say'n

 

[fraurosena]

Because of course.

Immigration agency removing 'nation of immigrants' from mission statement

Quote

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) altered its mission statement on Thursday by taking out a reference to the U.S. as a "nation of immigrants." 

The new mission statement reads: "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administers the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values."

The agency said the new mission statement focuses on the priorities of "fairness, lawfulness and efficiency."

"The agency’s new mission statement was developed and debuted within the agency by USCIS Director Cissna during his first conference with USCIS senior leadership from around the world," a USCIS official told The Hill. "It reflects the director’s guiding principles for the agency. This includes a focus on fairness, lawfulness and efficiency, protecting American workers, and safeguarding the homeland. These key priorities are reflected in the agency’s new mission statement.

"The statement speaks for itself and clearly defines the agency’s role in our country’s lawful immigration system and commitment we have to the American people," the official added.

The previous mission statement read: "USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system."

USCIS is the administrative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, which includes appellate review.

USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna also defended the changes in an email to staff on Thursday.

"In particular, referring to applicants and petitioners for immigration benefits, and the beneficiaries of such applications and petitions, as ‘customers’ promotes an institutional culture that emphasizes the ultimate satisfaction of applicants and petitioners, rather than the correct adjudication of such applications and petitions according to the law," he wrote. 

 

[Howl]

18 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

The NRA must have gotten to him after his vow to introduce gun control measures.

I'm sure SCROTUS got a personal call from Wayne LaPierre threatening to cut off the flow of Russian money to his re-election campaign. 

Mueller is looking carefully at the NRA as a conduit for Russian money in the 2016 election. This hit the news  January 18, 2018 with this McClatchy DC Bureau report FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump   

The NRA contributed about 30 million to Trump's campaign, using an arm of the NRA that is not required to disclose donor names. 

Lots of other reports as well.  Here are two more: 

MUELLER’S PROBE IS DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO A REPUBLICAN RED LINE (Vanity Fair)

FBI investigates whether Russia banker used NRA to fund Trump campaign – report (The Guardian) 

 

 

 

[GrumpyGran]

2 minutes ago, Howl said:

I'm sure SCROTUS got a personal call from Wayne LaPierre threatening to cut off the flow of Russian money to his re-election campaign. 

They've got him by the balls. If this money funnel happened, the NRA can definitely tie him to Russian money. In reality, Dumpy is a bowling pin. The NRA is the whole bowling alley. They don't care if the world knows they took money from Russia.

But someone needs to get him squared away on the message because he's flailing on this guns and schools thing.

[Howl]

Quote

"It reflects the director’s guiding principles for the agency. This includes a focus on fairness, lawfulness and efficiency, protecting American workers, and safeguarding the homeland."

As its name implies, Department of Homeland Security is already tasked with safeguarding the homeland.

Dog whistle statement for nativists xenophobes white nationalists. This has Stephen Miller's nasty little paw prints all over it. 

[AnywhereButHere]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-43152496

Quote

Human rights group Amnesty International has accused Donald Trump of "hateful" politics and of being a threat to human rights.

"President Trump takes actions that violate human rights at home and abroad," the group said.

Amnesty put Mr Trump in the same group as the leaders of Egypt, Russia, China, the Philippines, and Venezuela.

Yeah, I'm just so, so proud of my country right now... 

It makes me sick.

[JMarie]

So much to digest this morning!

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/23/politics/trump-latest/index.html

Quote

Congress is currently trying to come up with an immigration deal that addresses DACA as well as President Trump's demands for a wall.

He brought up that wall today, telling the conservative crowd not to worry, "you're getting a wall."

This prompted the chant we heard over and over during the 2016 campaign: "Build that wall!"

Quote

President Donald Trump had a message for his speechwriters on Friday: These prepared remarks are “sort of boring.”

This came around 20 minutes into his CPAC speech where he has clearly gone off script... a lot.

“By the way, you don't mind if I go off script a bit, because it's sort of boring,” Trump told the crowd.

Quote

President Trump, days after the deadly school shooting in Florida, said if Democrats take power of Congress, the party “will take away your Second Amendment.”

The comment has long been an attack line for Trump, but stood out given the national conversation on guns and last week’s deadly shooting.

The riff was followed by a call and response on whether the audience of conservative activists in Maryland at CPAC would rather have the Second Amendment or tax cuts.

"They will take away your Second Amendment," Trump said. "Remember that, they will take away those massive tax cuts and they will take away your Second Amendment."

Quote

It's been more than a year since the 2016 election, but the conservative crowd is still talking about Hillary Clinton.

While touting his work in his first year as President, he brought up "cooked" Clinton, and the crowd responded loudly with the campaign chant: "Lock her up! Lock her up!"

One man in the crowd yelled, "You said you would!"

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President Trump brought up the 2018 midterm elections, telling supporters they couldn't let Republicans get "clobbered" by Democrats, who will "take away those massive tax cuts" and repeal the Second Amendment.

"Historically, if you win the presidency, you don't do well two years later. And you know what, we can't let that happen," he said, telling the conservative crowd, "You can't get complacent."

"People get complacent. It is a natural instinct. You just won, and now you're happy and you're complacent," Trump said. "Don't be complacent. Don't be complacent. If they get in, they will repeal your tax cuts, they will put judges in that you wouldn't believe, they'll take away your second amendment, which we will never allow to happen, they'll take away your Second Amendment."

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"I think we have a group of people that want to do the right thing. The NRA is composed of people I know very well. These are people, great people, patriots that love our country. The NRA wants to do the right thing. I've been speaking to them. They do want to do the right thing," Trump told reporters as he left for CPAC.

At the conservative conference yesterday, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre came out swinging with an inflammatory speech. He branded those who want tighter gun laws as freedom-hating "European-style" socialists and tragedy opportunists.

The organization's spokeswoman, Dana Loesch, said Thursday that "many in legacy media love mass shootings" because "crying white mothers are ratings gold."

That last line makes me the most angry.