President Donald J. Trump speaks during an event at Fort Drum, New York, on August 13. President Trump visited the U.S. Army post to recongize Soldiers before signing the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019, which supports the Army’s six modernization priorities that will enable the Army to achieve its Vision by 2028. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Thomas Scaggs)
President Donald Trump on Wednesday donated his second quarter salary to a new Small Business Administration initiative to help veteran entrepreneurs, the second time this year he has given money to federal veterans initiatives, according to the White House.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced the donation at a White House briefing on Wednesday. Linda McMahon, head of the Small Business Administration, accepted the $100,000 check, saying the funds “would be put to good use.”
Agency officials plan to use the money to launch a new seven-month training program for transitioning troops looking at starting their own businesses. The program will be based on the existing Emerging Leaders Initiative, but tailored to veteran-specific needs.
The existing program includes classroom instruction as well as “opportunities for small business owners to work with experienced coaches and mentors, attend workshops, and develop connections.” McMahon called it a significant resource for veterans shifting from military to civilian life.
White House officials requested a fiscal 2019 budget for the SBA of nearly $840 million, but McMahon said the $100,000 donation from the president represented an important contribution to their work.
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to forgo the traditional Oval Office salary and instead donate that money to various federal departments.
Earlier this year, White House officials announced Trump’s first quarter salary for 2018 would be given to the Department of Veterans Affairs for caregiver support programs focused on “mental health, peer support, financial aid, education and research.”
Previous donations by Trump went to the Department of Transportation for infrastructure repair, the National Park Service for battlefield preservation, the Department of Education for support programs and the Department of Health and Human Services for opioid management programs.
I wonder how much more this President has to give to veteran causes in order to catch up with all the money and support given by the Clinton Foundation? I still say we are getting a pretty damn good bang for our buck, I believe President Trump is only paid $1.00 a year. Best buck I have spent in a long time.
United States Capitol Police (USCP) arrested a suspect yesterday on charges he allegedly posted private and identifying information on Wikipedia about a Republican senator, an act known as doxing. The incident occurred last Thursday, shortly after Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
USCP released the following statement:
Today, the United States Capitol Police arrested the Suspect who allegedly posted private, identifying information (doxing) about one or more United States Senators to the internet.
Jackson A. COSKO, age 27, of Washington, D.C., has initially been charged with 18 USC § 119 Making Public Restricted Personal Information; 18 USC § 1512(b)(3) (Witness Tampering); 18 USC § 875(d) (Threats in Interstate Communications); 18 USC §1030(a)(3) (Unauthorized Access of a Government Computer); 18 USC § 1028(a)(7) (Identity Theft); DC Code § 22-801(b) (Second Degree Burglary), and DC Code §22-3302 (b) (Unlawful Entry).
The investigation will continue and additional charges may be forthcoming.
Cosko was recently an unpaid intern for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), according to Roll Call, which also reported:
[Cosko] previously worked for Democratic Sens. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and California’s Barbara Boxer, who has since retired. Cosko was most recently listed in the Senate directory phone book as Hassan’s “legislative correspondent/systems administrator.” His LinkedIn profile says he left Hassan’s office in May 2018.
This cowardly act is plainly intended to harass and intimidate the targeted Republican politician(s), and is especially dangerous considering the current poisoned political atmosphere in DC and elsewhere. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Mike Lee (R-UT) had personal and identifying information posted on Wikipedia.
Fox News reported that Cosko either worked or interned for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and for retired Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) as well.
From editorial cartoonist Chris Britt. How can a man do this to another man’s child? How can editors allow this to pass? What corrupt and wicked hearts they have.
UPDATE: For some reason, this image is being passed around to some people as if I approved of its message. If you’re going to send it around, please point out that I *abhor* this image.
UPDATE.2: Still getting e-mails from people denouncing ME for drawing that cartoon. Wild.
UPDATE.3: WILL YOU RIGHT-WING IDIOTS WHO THINK THAT I, ROD DREHER, DREW THAT CARTOON AND/OR APPROVE OF IT PLEASE GET A FREAKING CLUE?!
I’m closing comments on this thread, because I’m tired of dealing with these morons.
UPDATE.4: This just came in from the publisher of the Illinois Times:
There appears to be a great deal of confusion surrounding the recent Chris Britt cartoon featuring Judge Kavanaugh’s daughter. I saw that you shared it on your website and I know it has been shared on various other social media sites and attributed to our publication. However, we did not publish this cartoon, either in our paper or on our website. Chris posted it to his own Facebook page and tagged us in it, which we asked him to remove as soon as we became aware of it.
Chris Britt is not an employee of ours, he is a nationally syndicated cartoonist. While we have published other cartoons of his, we had not seen this particular one and had no knowledge of it until the death threats and hate mail started pouring in. I saw it for the first time myself yesterday.
I would be glad to speak with you about this situation if you would like to talk directly, but I am hoping that you will be willing to issue a clarification on your site. If people have issues with the cartoon, they can certainly take it up with Chris, but we had no knowledge of this cartoon and were not a part of promoting it. I happen to agree with you that children should be left out of political discussions.
So stop writing to them about it. The fault is Chris Britt’s, not the newspaper’s.
An article in the WSJ has me wondering what the requirements for claiming to be Republican are and what kind of hogwash is being sold by politicians.
By Geoffrey Norman:
For a small state, Vermont has a way of getting noticed. It was the first state to recognize same-sex civil unions and the first to experiment with a single-payer health-care system. Two Vermont politicians—Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Gov. Howard Dean—have sought the White House in recent years. This year, Vermont Democrats made Christine Hallquist the first transgender candidate for governor in any state.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and his Democratic challenger, Christine Hallquist, in Tunbridge, Sept. 14. PHOTO: DON EMMERT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Ms. Hallquist’s Republican opponent, Gov. Phil Scott, has gone from being one of the nation’s most popular governors to one of its least liked. The reason? Guns. In the days following the February school shootings in Parkland, Fla., a Vermont boy threatened a similar massacre. In April, Mr. Scott signed legislation allowing guns to be taken from people who pose an “extreme risk” of violence and those arrested on suspicion of domestic violence. The law also expanded background checks, banned bump stocks and limited magazine capacity.
Not long ago, this would have been unthinkable in Vermont. As a House candidate in 1990, Mr. Sanders—who even then called himself a “socialist”—managed to snag the endorsement of the National Rifle Association. He understood how rural Vermonters felt about guns. His opponent supported a ban on “assault rifles.” It cost him the election.
Vermont has become more liberal as people from neighboring states settle here. Still, signing that legislation cost Mr. Scott his claim on the affections of old-time Vermonters. He has a background in the construction business, and he raced cars at a dirt track called Thunder Road. He gained popularity by promising to hold the line on taxes and focus on jobs so that children the state had spent lavishly to educate wouldn’t leave once they graduated.
These were familiar themes. The number of students in Vermont’s schools has declined by some 20% since 1997. School spending has gone up 48%, and the ratio of teachers to students is among the lowest in the nation. The bill comes due in the form of property-tax rates that are more than 50% higher than the national average and climbing.
The economy has been anything but dynamic. For years the labor force shrank as young people departed and their parents retired. There are 16,000 fewer people in the workforce than there were in 2009. Employers complain they can’t find qualified people to take jobs. The Scott administration will soon begin offering $10,000 payments to telecommuters who move to Vermont. It’s generous, but it may not be enough if the Legislature keeps raising taxes.
A state-government shutdown was averted this summer when Mr. Scott opted not to veto a bill raising taxes. The Democratic-controlled Legislature insisted on a tax hike even though Vermont had a $55 million budget surplus for 2018. Were it not for the damage to his favorability ratings from the gun legislation, Mr. Scott might have had the political capital to stand up to lawmakers on taxes.
Vermont governors serve two-year terms, and no incumbent has been defeated for re-election since 1962. But Mr. Scott was challenged from the right in the Republican primary. His opponent’s campaign was fueled by hostility to the gun bill and he got more than 30% of the vote with turnout exceeding expectations. Mr. Scott himself said he was surprised his opponent’s share of the vote wasn’t higher.
So now Mr. Scott is running against a transgender candidate promising free college tuition, universal health care, paid family leave and a $15 minimum wage. Ms. Hallquist was equivocal when Mr. Scott pressed her in a debate on how she planned to pay for all of it. Perhaps, she said, the state could halve what it spends on its prison population. As for the possibility of a payroll tax, she said: “I’m not afraid of having a tax to be civilized and do those things but we’ll figure ways to fund things in whatever the best way possible is, but that is a collaborative decision. That’s why the governor should be working collaboratively with the Legislature to figure out how to do the right thing.”
There once were some politicians who ran a campaign saying, “Everything that should be up is down and everything that should be down is up”. I am not sure what defines a Republican or a Commie Pinko Hag anymore.
The rest of the campaign promises to be similarly tedious. Though Mr. Scott has been wounded, he is generally expected to win. But, then, these haven’t been good times for expectations in American politics.
Nor, particularly, for Vermont, which would like to pay people to come and enjoy its special “quality of life,” but where the malaise of the heartland manifests itself in the usual, depressing ways. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2014 nearly 5% of women who gave birth in Vermont hospitals had opioid use disorder—the highest, by far, in America, with the national average at 0.65%.
That’s not a first to be proud of.
Mr. Norman is a writer living in Vermont.
A Republican Gun Grabber and a Weiner Denier are who the people of Vermont have set their hopes and dreams upon? They need someone who is proud of their penis or at least someone who likes peni. I don’t think putting someone into office that will reach out and grab people by their Glock is a good idea. Here is a good idea for example:
Dick “Da Nang” Blumenthal loves to speak Latin, he must be waiting for the FBI investigation to be over before he busts out some slang Austroasiatic language he learned while in the bush.
At last week’s fiery hearing probing sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal lectured the Supreme Court nominee on the implications of telling even a single lie.
“Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus,” Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Kavanaugh, reciting a Latin phrase. “It means ‘False in one thing, false in everything.’”
But Blumenthal’s own difficult history with the truth is coming back to haunt him amid the Kavanaugh fight, with President Trump and Republican senators slamming him for inflating his military service during the Vietnam War.
In the 2000s, when Blumenthal served as Connecticut’s attorney general, he began to claim that he served in the Vietnam War. Blumenthal, repeatedly, has touted his experience during the war.
“When we returned [from Vietnam], we saw nothing like this,” Blumenthal reportedly said in 2003.
“We have learned something important since the days I served in Vietnam,” The New York Times quoted Blumenthal as saying in 2008.
“I served during the Vietnam era,” Blumenthal reportedly said at a Vietnam War memorial in 2008. “I remember the taunts, the insults, sometimes even the physical abuse.”
But Blumenthal didn’t serve in Vietnam. He reportedly obtained at least five military deferments between 1965 and 1970. He eventually served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, but did not deploy to Vietnam.
President Trump takes another swing at Dick.
“You have the great Vietnam War hero—who didn’t go to Vietnam—[Sen. Richard] Blumenthal,” Trump said at a rally Monday evening. “How about Blumenthal? We call him ‘Da Nang Blumenthal.”
“For 15 years as the attorney general of Connecticut, he went around telling war stories,” Trump said. “’People dying left and right—but my platoon marched forward!’ He was never in Vietnam. It was a lie. And then he’s up there saying, ‘We want the truth from Judge Kavanaugh.’ And you’re getting the truth from Judge Kavanaugh.”
Senator Cotton also chimed in.
Amid the hearing, though, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran, hit Blumenthal for his credibility.
“.@SenBlumenthal lied for years about serving in Vietnam, which is all you need to know about his courage & honesty. Maybe he should reconsider before questioning Judge Kavanaugh’s credibility,” Cotton tweeted.
Dick speaks.
During the Kavanaugh hearing, Blumenthal said “the core of why we are here today really is credibility.”
Blumenthal’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment. Shocking. Dick Blumenthal is part of the swamp that needs drained. Dick has zero credibility.
“The Ford-Kavanaugh hearing consumed most of Thursday, and unsurprisingly we learned nothing from the spectacle. Christine Ford remains unable to marshal any evidence for her claim of a sexual assault. Brett Kavanaugh continues to deny the charge adamantly and categorically, and with persuasive emotion.
Something enormous nonetheless has shifted over the past weeks of political ambushes, ugly threats and gonzo gang-rape claims. In a Monday interview, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski noted: “We are now in a place where it’s not about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is qualified.” Truer words were never spoken. Republicans are now voting on something very different and monumental—and they need to be clear on the stakes.
To vote against Judge Kavanaugh is to reject his certain, clear and unequivocal denial that this event ever happened. The logical implication of a “no” vote is that a man with a flawless record of public service lied not only to the public but to his wife, his children and his community. Any Republican who votes against Judge Kavanaugh is implying that he committed perjury in front of the Senate, and should resign or be impeached from his current judicial position, if not charged criminally. As Sen. Lindsey Graham said: “If you vote ‘no,’ you are legitimizing the most despicable thing I have seen in my time in politics.”
The stakes go beyond Judge Kavanaugh. A “no” vote now equals public approval of every underhanded tactic deployed by the left in recent weeks. It’s a green light to send coat hangers and rape threats to Sen. Susan Collins and her staff. It is a sanction to the mob that drove Sen. Ted Cruz and his wife out of a restaurant. It is an endorsement of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who kept the charge secret for weeks until she could use it to ambush the nominee with last-minute, unverified claims. It’s approval of the release of confidential committee material (hello, Spartacus), the overthrow of regular Senate order, and Twitter rule. It’s authorization for a now thoroughly unprofessional press corps to continue crafting stories that rest on anonymous accusers and that twist innuendo into gang rapes. A vote against Brett Kavanaugh is a vote for Michael Avenatti. No senator can hide from this reality. There is no muddy middle.
The print edition is available at newsstands this morning. The entire article is worth your time. “Due process”, the element of legal proceedings that protects even the most heinous criminal from the lynch mob, is under severe threat now. Read the article, read it twice, tell others about it.
It was nearly like the OJ trial- where ever I went with media present, the embarrassing confrontation was playing. How Judge Kavanaugh kept himself in check and didn’t reach over and, never mind. One bright point stood out, however, and it came from a surprising source. The Senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, used his time instead of questioning Kavanaugh, to make some very pointed comments about his perception of the hearing. This is a don’t miss.
It is definitely the end of summer, and all this summer stuff that we take for granted is going be replaced by the noise of crazy people crashing through underbrush on their hasty path to get a goose for the dinner table or a buck for the antlers.
Okay, I like turkey, but in the fall, I have no interest at all in going out and tangling with an overexcited turkey cock who thinks you’re another turkey cock chasing his hens and wants to rip you a new one.
I think it’s best to let all you shoot-shoot-bang-bang people have a go at what makes you happiest: shoot the peasants, hogs, turkeys, ducks, bucks, pheasants, or geese, but you’d better make sure they are ready for the oven or the firepit before you show up at my place. I am not gutting those things for you.
It is, after all, open peasant season, now that midterm elections are rolling around. I fully expect to see a few heads on platters with apples stuck into those choppers, or even bits of wholesome roadkill when available. It’s entirely possible that some people whose agendas are not met may have to eat crow.
Enjoy the day and the coming weekend, and good hunting to you!
