Let’s make this an open thread for GA-6. Sounds like Ossoff’s a long shot to go over 50%, but let’s see what happens. I had good luck with the NYT coverage last time, so I’ll give a link here.
C.R.E.A.M.
Social Notes Open Thread: What Do the Simple Folk Do?
Ivanka Trump getting a plate of food before 2017 Passover seder Monday night in Whistler, BC Canada (Source: @J_Insider) pic.twitter.com/jIoXfrhpzh
— Rabbi Jason Miller (@RabbiJason) April 13, 2017
… The couple celebrated Passover at the Four Seasons Whistler in Canada, according to an article and exclusive photo in Jewish Insider…
The Four Seasons Resort is hosting “Pesach on the Mountain,” a 10-day kosher ski vacation, billed as “an exclusive Pesach vacation that offers supreme accommodations” on its website. The 2017 accommodations were sold out. Passover tourism is common, as the holiday requires the observant to remove all leavened products from their homes, use separate dishes that only come out once a year, and deep clean their cooking equipment.
Trump and Kushner are not the first orthodox Jews to serve in an administration. But it’s unclear whether the couple’s travel is in line with previous administration officials, since the couple has a much higher profile. It’s unusual in the first 100 days of an administration, especially as many White House staffers and high-level officials have logged long hours and most weekends…
Here’s hoping ‘Empress Melania’ agreed to give up her weekend, or we’re due for some more headline-making tweets by tomorrow evening.
No Trump senior staff are on Air Force One, and none are meeting him in Florida this Easter weekend, a White House aide tells @jeneps.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 13, 2017
Trump drops #MOAB then flies to Palm Beach on a Thursday afternoon for an extended golf weekend trip to Mar-a-Lago. pic.twitter.com/yyp25YKiYg
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) April 14, 2017
(The White House Easter Egg Roll isn’t until Monday, and it’s still not clear whether Melania will be there. Most schools take a vacation week, I’m told, so Barron’s schedule shouldn’t be an issue.)
Social Notes Open Thread: What Do the Simple Folk Do?Post + Comments (261)
We’re not in Kansas anymore
After last night’s strong performance in Kansas-4, there are a couple more special elections coming up. You all know about Jon Ossoff in GA-6. You can donate here.
There’s another special election in May in MT (statewide, it’s a small state) and the Democratic candidate there, Rob Quist, sounds great. Let’s throw him some money too.
Everything is dust in the wind
Cray, if true.
> @BryanLowry3 reports: A GOP circulating in the district shows Estes up only 1 https://t.co/vqIhkkwIK6
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) April 11, 2017
Knowing nothing else, I'd say a good result for Dems in KS-04 would be losing by 20 or less. This type of result would be tidal wavesque. https://t.co/JkpfcK7Cex
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) April 11, 2017
Trump won this district by 27 points.
Thanks to everybody who kicked in — we raised $2500 for Democrat James Thompson in this race. It’ll be exciting to see what happens tomorrow. There are no moral victories in politics, but a closish race tomorrow should scare the fuck out of Congressional Republicans and convince them to shelve at least parts of their destructive agenda.
The Tell: “To Charm Trump, Paul Manafort Sold Himself…”
How Paul Manafort sold himself to Trump: a 'killer' with no 'Washington baggage' who would work for free, memo shows https://t.co/xKwn4ltk7A
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) April 8, 2017
Of course a perennially hand-to-mouth con man like Donald Trump would immediately snatch at any offer of assistance from a conveniently-placed, self-advertised “killer” with all the right enemies (like establishment GOP assassin Karl Rove!). It’s the photo which the NYTimes chose to place at the top of its story…
….On Feb. 29, 2016, Mr. Manafort, the former lobbyist and Republican operative who now sits at the nexus of investigations into Russia’s meddling in the presidential election, reached out to Mr. Trump with a slick, carefully calibrated offer that appealed to the candidate’s need for professional guidance, thirst for political payback — and parsimony.
The letters and memos provide a telling glimpse into how Mr. Trump invited an enigmatic international fixer, who is currently under investigation by United States intelligence services, a Senate committee and investigators in Ukraine, to the apex of his campaign with a minimum of vetting. The answer? Through family and friends, handshakes and hyperbole.
Mr. Manafort, who has not been accused of any crimes — and who denies any wrongdoing in his political, business and investment dealings — is nonetheless a central figure in the investigation into the interactions of Trump campaign officials with foreign governments. How he got to know Mr. Trump, and how he rose from overseeing the candidate’s operations at the Republican convention to the entire campaign, is very likely to be a focus during coming Senate hearings about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government…
… But who is that aspirational C. Montgomery Burns handing Manafort a suspiciously thick wad of notes? Why, it’s Stephen Miller, currently right-hand mannikin to the much-reviled Steve Bannon!
One might suspect that Jared Kushner, for all his dewy youth, did manage to learn certain lessons about kneecapping the competition from his father, the convicted felon.
Or maybe he’s just an aficionado of GOP tricksterism who’s read up on the Pumpkin Papers…
Effin’ Millenials and their ‘retro’ fads. I could’ve lived a happy life without the current Kremlinology revival.
The Tell: “To Charm Trump, Paul Manafort Sold Himself…”Post + Comments (121)
Thursday Evening Open Thread: Seems Longer Than That, Doesn’t It?
BREAKING: Pres Trump on AF1:
"I think we’ve had one of the most successful 13 weeks in the history of the presidency."— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) April 6, 2017
? (Its been 11 weeks) https://t.co/jdZ7g7oX5a
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) April 6, 2017
Donald Trump's travel expenses in 10 weeks cost US taxpayers as much as Barack Obama spent in two years https://t.co/hmFiVcomnR
— Mike Elgan (@MikeElgan) April 6, 2017
Per Cummings spox, this is what he actually said in his Oval Office meeting with Trump pic.twitter.com/Kvsjxdu73R
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 6, 2017
Which Rep. Cummings knows — as do we all — is not gonna happen.
This is on every single godsdamned Republican, down to the lowliest school board committee member and drainage department monitor. Thanks a whole fucking bunch for giving this monster his big chance, GOP!
Apart from continuing to #Resist, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Thursday Evening Open Thread: Seems Longer Than That, Doesn’t It?Post + Comments (185)
Numbers of Interest: “New database details White House officials’ finances”
Coolest visualization you'll see this week: the Mercer-Bannon-Trump web 'o money, via @zubakskees/@publici https://t.co/KggQ5MN0fs pic.twitter.com/T57k2TllyT
— Dave Levinthal (@davelevinthal) April 4, 2017
From the Center for Public Integrity:
On Friday night, the White House began releasing financial disclosures for scores of key employees — including familiar names such as Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway and Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon.
Reporters from dozens of news organizations, including the Associated Press, the New York Times, ProPublica and the Washington Post, then compiled and reported on the documents, which the White House released one-by-one.
The Center for Public Integrity compiled data from those disclosures into a searchable, sortable database, which provide a window into the wealth, assets and business interests of many of the people closest to President Donald Trump. The Center for Public Integrity’s news developer, Chris Zubak-Skees, extracted these details from more than 90 reports, released in PDF format, using a software tool he created…
No doubt all kinds of interesting details might be extracted; Bannon has a dozen lines on the database, but Jared Kushner has no fewer than 265…
unmute pls pic.twitter.com/srbVPvkzEn
— (=^???^=) (@kirayusa) March 29, 2017