The [s]First[/s] Only Trump term...so far

[Vince]

Trump got lots of wealth from his dad, not (just) a $1million loan.

But The Times’s investigation, based on a vast trove of confidential tax returns and financial records, reveals that Mr. Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day.

Much of this money came to Mr. Trump because he helped his parents dodge taxes. He and his siblings set up a sham corporation to disguise millions of dollars in gifts from their parents, records and interviews show. Records indicate that Mr. Trump helped his father take improper tax deductions worth millions more. He also helped formulate a strategy to undervalue his parents’ real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars on tax returns, sharply reducing the tax bill when those properties were transferred to him and his siblings.

These maneuvers met with little resistance from the Internal Revenue Service, The Times found. The president’s parents, Fred and Mary Trump, transferred well over $1 billion in wealth to their children, which could have produced a tax bill of at least $550 million under the 55 percent tax rate then imposed on gifts and inheritances.

Trump had 2 brothers and 2 sisters?

Too bad the press wasn't as interested in that when Trump was running in the primary and presented the safest bet for Hillary to win.

I don't care much at all for Trump, but the press is deserving everything they're getting.

[Leisher]

I don't believe anyone on either side of the Kavanaugh nomination.

I do hope they go ahead and push him through though. Why? The Dems will do this same shit to the next person, and I'd rather a conservative, I guess even him, be on the bench than a progressive.

That's not pro-R or anti-D, I just think the Supreme court should be conservative. They should be the brakes on the car that is the U.S.

[Leisher]

Republicans ask for therapy notes and lie detector test results for Ford.

I'm guessing the Democrats will staunchly refuse.

[Vince]

Republicans ask for therapy notes and lie detector test results for Ford.

I'm guessing the Democrats will staunchly refuse.

The judicial committee has the authority to subpoena them. They should. That's part of why the FBI expanded background check was so stupid (an obvious delay tactic). The FBI has no subpoena power in a background investigation. Only in a criminal investigation can they get a subpoena.

[GORDON]

Know what the problem with the Kavenaugh kerfuffle is?

The only way to ever get past it is for most people to realize... "You've got to get over this shit, and not let it ruin your life, because people are people and no one is perfect."


But we aren't heading in that direction. So this shit's only going to get worse. Everything is going to keep being sexual assault until enough people get brave enough to do a Thib and say, "bullshit."

[TheCatt]

FBI report being released in a closed room apparently?

Behind these doors is the area where the FBI report being held. This is as far as the press can go.

It's the Senate SCIF in the Capitol Visitors Center -- the secure area where senators will be able to read the report this morning in scheduled shifts. Judiciary Committee Republican staff got the first look at the FBI’s findings at 8 a.m.

Now, as of 9 a.m., Democrats took over the room.

It will rotate, every other hour, for the rest of the day.

[TheCatt]

That's not pro-R or anti-D, I just think the Supreme court should be conservative. They should be the brakes on the car that is the U.S.

I mostly agree. But I'm probably more Kennedy/Roberts, than Alito/Thomas. But better than another RBG.

My general preference would be a judge who knows the 9th amendment exists, but that's never going to happen.

[TheCatt]

US announces more charges against Russians.

The Justice Department on Thursday announced criminal charges against seven Russian intelligence officers, accusing them in a sprawling indictment of hacking, wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering as part of an effort to distract from Russia's state-sponsored doping program.

Three of the defendants were also charged in the hacking of US persons involved in the 2016 election, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division John Demers said during a news conference, but the current indictment does not arise out of special counsel Robert Mueller's work.
According to the indictment, all seven defendants are members of the GRU, a Russian Federation intelligence agency within the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian military. They are accused of sophisticated cyberintrusions and the victims were anti-doping agencies and officials, sporting federations, and nearly 250 athletes.

[TheCatt]

Betting on confirmation.

[Leisher]

I figure confirmation is guaranteed.

At this point nobody is switching sides. D voters hate Rs and everything they do and say. R voters hate Ds and everything they do and say. Might as well just continue voting along party lines.

[TheCatt]

I figure confirmation is guaranteed.

I don't love him, or even like him, but better him than another RBG, imho.

[Vince]

Heh... turns out the "boof" and "devil's triangle" smoking guns of lying under oath were confirmed under penalty of perjury by other classmates. Turns out that the classmate even took credit for inventing it in the yearbook. Crack reporting there media.

On the up side, this stunt has cost the Democrats about 4% points in the generic ballot going into the election. Provided the Republicans don't screw it hard, anally and without lube in the next 5 weeks which is probably a 50/50 proposition.

[TheCatt]

Heh... turns out the "boof" and "devil's triangle" smoking guns of lying under oath were confirmed under penalty of perjury by other classmates.

These I always found odd. Why people were using a 2010's urban dictionary to translate from 1982 made no sense to me.

[GORDON]

everyone's still mentally ill. I'm hoping for riots in DC.

[Leisher]

everyone's still mentally ill. I'm hoping for riots in DC.

Am I the only one who wouldn't be surprised to wake up one morning to discover there has been a coup?

I'm kind of rooting for it. Not really sure what else would remove the career politicians and two party system.

[GORDON]

People want an authoritarian government now, making sure people say and think only the proper things. The only way to disabuse them of that notion is to let them live under one, for a while.

Bring it on. Fuck it. I grow weary of their mewling.

[Leisher]

People want an authoritarian government now, making sure people say and think only the proper things.

Thing is an authoritarian government might make those people happy initially, but it will quickly go south as one person or one group starts making all the decisions about what's right and wrong. Governments like that, historically, haven't been very gay friendly...

Unemployment at a 49 year low.

First vote is a win for Kavanaugh. Next vote is Saturday.

Look who got arrested protesting Kavanaugh. Watch the video. WTF?

[Leisher]

The votes are there for confirmation.

Susan Collins apparently made a pretty impressive speech today about voting yes on Kavanaugh that has, of course, made her an immediate target for Dems.

Ford is on record saying she doesn't want Kavanaugh impeached. I wonder how much of this is Dems licking their wounds from the damage they've done to themselves in the polls?

[TheCatt]

Look who got arrested protesting Kavanaugh. Watch the video. WTF?

To be fair, Emily is hot

[Leisher]

Look who got arrested protesting Kavanaugh. Watch the video. WTF?

To be fair, Emily is hot

Crazy hot.

That video isn't doing Shumer any favors though, and she was already ugly. I just love that the arrests were staged.

Also, Kavanaugh is officially on SCOTUS.

Democrats name their scapegoat and it's hilarious.