GOOD MORNING, BLOGTOWN! Used to have a little, now I have a lot. No matter where I go, I know where I came from (from the Bronx!) LET’S GO TO PRESS.
In “what’s good for the goose, is good for the gander” news: A Portland man has already gathered 300,000 signatures to take away health care benefits from Congress.
Even if Portland City Council passes the mayor’s new “exclusion policy”—that would allow them to kick out people who disrupt their meetings—it won’t go immediately into effect. Because is this thing even legal?
The Justice Department has decided to charge two Russian spies and two hackers for breaking into 500 Yahoo user accounts back in 2014. (Still waiting on news, also expected out today, about whether or not the JD are actually investigating Trump’s suspected ties to Russia.)
UGGGHHH OKAY, let’s talk about the Trump tax return/Rachel Maddow thing: America was LIT last night when Maddow announced via Twitter she had Trump’s tax returns (“seriously”), and then got FURIOUS when she did her usual thing of laying historical groundwork for 20 minutes before saying what were in the returns. (In her defense, her reporting on Trump’s connections to Russian oligarchs is very important and you’ll be seeing it again when impeachment time rolls around. So don’t be too pissy about it.) Anyway, the tax returns in question were only two pages from 2005 that showed he saved a lot of money using this thing called an “alternative minimum tax.” CORRECTION: Actually the AMT stops rich people from using various tax breaks to pay nothing—which is why Trump wants to get rid of it. BUT! The big news—at least to me—was that it showed that if Trump has nothing illegal to hide (as he continually says) WHY NOT SHOW ALL THE TAXES like former presidents? And we should be just as mad at the GOP who isn’t forcing him to do so. Get angry at them, not Rachel.
You should release ALL his taxes and totally p0wn her! https://t.co/i1W1ldXFSe
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) March 15, 2017
So even though the White House admitted these tax forms were actually Trump’s, here’s what the president had to say about them:
Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, “went to his mailbox” and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2017
(Pssst. Actually it wouldn’t surprise me (or a lot of other people) if Trump was the one to drop them off.)
But the most hilarious aspect of Maddow’s show? HOW FOX NEWS LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS OVER IT.
An unlikely ally in the fight to get to the bottom of Trump’s ties to the Russians? The very eager Republican senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham.
This just in from Politico: “FBI Director James Comey has agreed to appear at a public House Intelligence Committee hearing next Monday on the investigation into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election, Chairman Devin Nunes told reporters Wednesday.”
After the release of those half-damning CBO numbers, Republicans are scrambling for changes in their health care replacement bill.
However, Trump loyalists on the far right are screaming about the GOP’s health care replacement bill as well, and are warning the president that it is, as Admiral Ackbar once noted, “A TRAP!!”
Yes, it has come to this: President Trump is in a war with Snoop Dogg over a music video.
Eight naval officers including an admiral are being charged with bribery in the curiously titled “Fat Leonard” sex-for-secrets scandal.
And now… THE WEATHER: Another soaker of a day with a high of 57, but expect a dry day tomorrow.
And finally, we now learn the secret behind the funniest and cutest meme of last week: The BBC interviewee who was interrupted by his hilarious, dancing kids.
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As much as it pains me to say it, that’s not how the Alternative Minimum Tax works. If he hadn’t paid the AMT, his tax bill would have been much, much lower.
It wasn’t his 2015 returns, it was his 2005 return summary. It tasted like nothing-burger washed down with bitter irony. The only person it served was Lord Felternethers.
Go back to high school and relearn American History. You need a refresher course on etiquette as well as manners regarding public officials who have been voted into office. Everyone is fine with a good debate but lies and untrue facts you spout about elected officials should be highlighted for what they are, TRASH.
LStL absolutely, we should stick to the truth:
Trump is a misogynistic pig with highly questionable moral character and a sociopathic tendency to lie out his ass about things like “wiretapped phones,” “Muslims celebrating on rooftops on 9/11,” and “I’ve never met (_______fill in the Russian_______).” Eye on the ball, right?