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After Yesterday’s Disastrous Press Briefing White House Mysteriously Cancels Today’s

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The White House late Tuesday morning mysteriously canceled the “daily” press briefing after Monday’s absolutely disastrous one held by Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah. No reason was given for the cancellation.

But the Trump White House is facing even greater scrutiny this week than usual. Due today is the President’s formal disclosure, mandated by law, of any “liabilities that exceeded $10,000 at any time during calendar year 2017.” That would include any payments made to Stormy Daniels or any other potential payments to any other possible mistresses.

Trump is also under heightened scrutiny and facing increasing outrage over his astonishingly tone-deaf tweets in support of a Chinese cell phone manufacturing giant that the U.S. government banned from selling its goods. Trump promised to lift sanctions that he says are putting ZTE out of business. ZTE has been identified as violating American trade controls against Iran and North Korea and accused of engaging in cyber espionage against Americans.

Also odd is the First Lady’s sudden kidney surgery on Monday, which the President did not attend. The White House is refusing to discuss it, other than to issue a short press release. An administration spokesperson actually cited HIPAA regulations, claiming they prevented her from talking about Melania Trump’s operation.

“I am not going to expand beyond the statement I put out. The First Lady is in good spirits and she is resting. There are HIPAA laws to consider, but she also deserves personal privacy,” Stephanie Grisham, communications director for the the first lady, told CNN Tuesday “when asked why the routine procedure would require a multi-day hospital stay.”

Monday’s press briefing itself was a disaster.

Of the now 60 or more Palestinians killed by Israel forces, the White House insisted Hamas was entirely to blame. The dead include at least eight children and even an infant.

Raj Shah came up empty when pressed on who authorized two far right wing extremist pastors to preach at Monday’s opening celebration ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Shah told reporters he just didn’t know how they came to be invited to speak.

One, Pastor Robert Jeffress, has said that Jews are going to hell. Also, anyone who practices any religion other than Christianity – including those of the Islamic and Mormon faiths. And, gay people.

The other, John Hagee, once said Hitler was fulfilling God’s plan when he slaughtered millions of Jews.

Shah said he did not know who invited them. He did not offer to find out, nor did he even condemn the pastor’s remarks. He merely questioned that they had made them, and said they don’t reflect the Trump White House’s positions.

 

 

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NOT HOW THIS WORKS

Caitlyn Jenner Slammed for Claiming She’s Qualified to Be Governor Because She’s ‘Sold $1 Billion of Exercise Equipment’

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3 years ago

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May 11, 2021

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Republican Caitlyn Jenner‘s latest interview is driving more criticism of her campaign for governor of California.

Asked what training she has that would make her qualified to be governor Jenner told CNN, “I have been in the entrepreneurial world.”

“People think that that you’ve been in show business, think of you as a reality star, certainly I’ve done that. But entertainment is a business. And you have to run that business. But I’ve also done other things,” Jenner insisted.

“You know, we sold a billion dollars of exercise equipment on television. Aviation companies. I’ve just always been involved being an entrepreneur.”

Her background did not seem to impress many, especially after Donald Trump’s presidency.

 

 

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Top Trump Allies in Full Freak-Out Mode Threaten Facebook Over Board’s Ban: ‘Supreme Court Should Overturn’

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3 years ago

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May 5, 2021

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After the Facebook Oversight Board released its decision that banning then-President Donald Trump over his comments on the January 6 insurrection – including determining that he had “created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible” – was appropriate, top Trump allies are in full outrage mode.

Mark Meadows, the former Chair of the powerful House Freedom Caucus and former Ranking Member of the powerful House Oversight Committee who traded all that to become President Trump’s fourth and last White House Chief of Staff, went ballistic, threatening the social media giant.

“It’s a sad day for America,” Meadows told Fox News. “It’s a sad day for Facebook because I can tell you a number of members of Congress are now looking at do they break up Facebook, do they make sure that they don’t have a monopoly?”

Charlie Kirk, the head of the pro-Trump activist group Turning Point USA, which took in $28.5 million in the fiscal year ending June 2019, is close friends with Donald Trump, Jr., and once “interviewed” President Trump (photo).

Kirk seemed to think that the Facebook Oversight Board is part of the U.S. federal courts system (it is not), and that based on exactly no law, the U.S. Supreme Court should intervene to overturn the “outlawing” of Trump by an independent committee to a private company.

House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy accused Facebook of shilling for Democrats.

Every day almost all of the top 10 shared links, thanks to Facebook’s algorithms, are from the far right:

Sen. Ted Cruz, who just had dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, fear-mongers that there’s nothing to stop Facebook from silencing liberals, ignoring the fact that no liberals have ever incited an insurrection.

Sen. Tom Cotton called it “Orwellian,” ignoring that what’s actually Orwellian is Donald Trump declaring that “The Big Lie” will now mean the election was “fraudulent.”

 

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Trump-Loving God-Fearing MyPillow CEO Claims First Amendment Right to Lie About Voting Tech Companies

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3 years ago

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April 19, 2021

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MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is building a high-profile legal team to defend him against a billion-dollar defamation suit that he hopes will land before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The staunch Donald Trump ally has hired veteran First Amendment attorney Nathan Lewin and is getting advice from Alan Dershowitz for his defense against Dominion Voting Systems, which alleges that Lindell defamed the company with baseless claims about the 2020 election, reported The Daily Beast.

“I want to take this all the way to the Supreme Court,” Lindell has repeatedly said. “I’m not stopping.”

The 85-year-old Lewin helped prosecute Jimmy Hoffa for Bobby Kennedy’s Justice Department, and later represented Jodie Foster, former attorney general Edwin Meese, President Richard Nixon and John Lennon, and Dershowitz — who defended Trump during his first impeachment — gave a preview of Lindell’s defense.

“Our position is that Dominion is the government, for purposes of the First Amendment,” Dershowitz said. “The government delegated to them the most important governmental function, mainly counting votes in a presidential election, and they are therefore subject to criticism in the exact same ways that the government would be subject to criticism in that situation, and criticism of how the government conducted a presidential election is the highest bar protecting the First Amendment right to criticize such action.”

Dershowitz is not an attorney of record in the case, but he confirmed that he’s been helping Lindell’s team craft a defense.

“I’ve been on conference calls repeatedly with [Lindell’s] legal team, sometimes Lindell is on, sometimes he’s not,” Dershowitz said. “My role is to come up with ideas as they pertain to the First Amendment. I give them cases, and I suggest First Amendment theories — my role is limited to advising on the First Amendment issues at hand.”

 

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