Category Archives: Politics

Politics

Double Barrel Biden Now Romney’s Buddy

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For anyone from under a rock recently, Biden meeting with Romney, McCain, Graham, and Ryan goes to show there is not but BS difference in the two major parties. They are one in the same. Thank heaven President Trump won the primary and general, I shudder when considering the alternatives.

From AP by Steve Peoples dated 6/5/2017 entitled, “Former Dem Vice President Biden to headline Romney summit”:

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Just days after launching a new political action committee, former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden will join Republican officials and donors at a weekend retreat hosted by former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Biden will be interviewed by Romney during a Friday evening event in Park City, Utah, at the invitation-only summit, according to a Biden spokesman and participants briefed on the schedule. The speaker lineup for what is traditionally a gathering of Romney allies is packed with high-profile Republicans, among them House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain.

Ryan was Romney’s running mate in 2012.

Biden spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield confirmed Biden’s attendance on Monday ahead of the three-day conference, which starts on Thursday.

“Biden is attending because he believes in bipartisanship and the importance of keeping good lines of communication open across the aisle,” she said.

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The former vice president, 74, last week unveiled a political action committee that stoked fresh speculation he may seek the presidency in 2020. The committee, named American Possibilities PAC, allows him to raise money for candidates, pay for politically related travel costs and maintain relationships with donors.

In an email to supporters about the new organization, Biden said “the negativity, the pettiness, the small-mindedness of our politics drives me crazy.” He did not mention President Donald Trump by name but said that kind of politics is “not who we are.”

Romney was a prominent Trump critic in the months leading up to last fall’s election and many of his Republican allies were prominent voices in the “Never Trump” movement. In the weeks after the election, however, Romney sought to repair the relationship and was briefly considered a candidate to serve as Trump’s secretary of state.

Mitt Romney’s fifth annual Deer Valley political retreat is set for June 8-10 and will once again include the former presidential candidate’s 2012 running mate, now House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.
Trump declined an invitation to attend the annual gathering, which has featured Democrats such as David Axelrod in the past.

This year’s participants include several Trump skeptics. FedEx CEO Fred Smith has warned that Trump’s plans for trade would be “catastrophic” for the U.S. economy. Another participant, Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris, heads Trump’s manufacturing council, but he condemned Trump’s decision last week to withdraw from an international agreement to address climate change.

“We are honored once again to gather leaders of business and industry, innovators from across the globe, and political representatives from both sides of the aisle to discuss the future of American leadership,” conference executive director Matt Waldrip said.

Politics

Bernie Sanders, Socialist, Do What I Say, Not What I Do

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Like most socialists, Bernie loves to denigrate those who are successful and yet is perfectly fine with pulling in seven figures a year and owning three houses (how’s that for carbon footprint) for himself.  Of course my question is, what the hell did he do to warrant such income?  Oh, write a book championing “Our Revolution” and socialism.  What a great guy this bastard Bernie, TURD.

From breitbart.com dated 6/5/2017 by Penny Starrs entitled, “Bernie Sanders, the Senator Who Hates Rich People, Made More Than $1 Million Last Year”

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has always slammed people who are successful and enjoy wealth and the lifestyle it facilitates and that it is not right that they have more than the folks who are not successful and have fewer assets as a result — rhetoric that was ramped up when he was a candidate in the 2016 presidential campaign.

But recent reports by the media in his home state and also national reports reveal that while Sanders is not among his most-hated category of the top 1% of the nation’s wealthiest, he is not one of the less fortunate or even the Middle Class.

“Thanks in large part to his successful foray into authorship, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made more than $1 million in 2016,” the Vermont outlet Seven Days reported. “That’s according to his latest U.S. Senate financial disclosure, which he filed Sunday after receiving a 20-day extension.”

The Seven Days piece, published on Sunday and written by political columnist John Walters, states that a large chunk of that income came from a $795,000 advance for his best-selling book, “Our Revolution.”

Sanders also got $63,750 for an upcoming book, “Bernie Sanders’ Guide to Political Revolution,” a publication aimed at young readers and co-authored with Kate Waters, according to Seven Days. And Sanders received $6,735 in royalties for his 1997 memoir “Outsider in the House,” Seven Days reported.

“That’s more than $865,000 for peddling his working-class ideas,” Walters wrote. “Not bad.”

Add in an additional $2,521 Sanders earned last year in royalties from his 1987 spoken-word folk album, “We Shall Overcome.”

“Senate rules do not require members to report their government salaries on their annual disclosures, but all rank-and-file members earn $174,000 a year. That, combined with the more than $878,000 Sanders reported in his filing, puts the democratic socialist’s 2016 payday at roughly $1,052,000,” Seven Days reported.

And he actually made more, but it’s uncertain how much more:

“In addition to his take-home pay, publisher St. Martin’s Press paid all expenses on Sanders’ national book tour last November and December, which took him to 12 states and the District of Columbia. Disclosure of the total was not required, and Sanders did not provide it.”

“Then there’s a batch of retirement mutual funds held in the name of his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders,” the Seven Days piece states, adding that while “it’s impossible to ascertain the exact value of the retirement funds, but they are worth somewhere between $192,000 and $815,000.”

In the “liabilities” category, Sanders reports he has two mortgages — one worth between $250,001 and $500,000, the other worth between $100,001 and $250,000.

“Sanders’ most infamous real estate transaction — his 2016 purchase of a $575,000 lakefront home in North Hero — has been concealed behind an entity named the Islands Family Trust,” Seven Days reported. “In his Senate filing, Sanders discloses that he is “a co-trustee in a family trust created when we bought a summer home.”

Even with all these financial facts, there could be more to learn if Sanders released his tax returns, which he did not.

“During his 2016 presidential campaign, Sanders released only a summary of his 2014 tax return. As the fact-checking website PolitiFact noted, of all the candidates for president last year, ‘Sanders’ releases are less extensive than anybody’s but Donald Trump.’”

In an April article published by Newsweek entitled “Bernie Sanders Mocks Greedy Rich People, Is Also Rich,” the news about his summer home purchase was reported.

“Sanders and his wife, Jane, recently bought a summer home in Vermont on Lake Champlain to add to their houses in D.C. and Burlington, Vermont,” Newsweek reported. “Local magazine Seven Days reported in August the Sanders family paid about $600,000 for the lakefront home in North Hero, Vermont.

“We’ve traveled up to the islands many times over the years—almost always on day trips,” Jane O’Meara Sanders said about the summer home purchase. “We’ve been impressed with the North Hero community, eaten at the North Hero House and Shore Acres and have suggested them to friends who were looking for a beautiful place to stay or have dinner.

“St. Anne’s Shrine in Isle La Motte is my favorite church and it is nearby,” O’Meara Sanders said.

 

Government, Politics

CA Gov. Jerry ‘Moonbeam’ Brown Calls Angry Taxpaying Citizens, “Freeloaders”

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Hide illegals, hand out freebies, ignore/encourage drug abuse, and spend money like hell while calling non-lib protesters, “freeloaders”.  I left CA for good in December 1995.  Going through Moonbeam’s first governorship was painful enough.  Jerry Brown, TURD.

From constitution.com dated 5/17/2017 by Onan Coca entitled, “California’s Governor calls Angry Taxpaying Citizens “Freeloaders”“:

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A few days ago we told you that some of California’s voters had finally reached their breaking point and were fighting back against yet another massive tax increase in one of the nation’s most taxed states.

Californians are pushing back against the Democratic lawmakers who passed the largest gas tax in the state’s history last month.

Citizens have signed signatures for a recall effort against Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman for his vote in favor of for the Road Repair and Accountability Act, and another lawmaker is moving forward on an initiative to repeal the unpopular gas tax.

The law, passed April 6, imposes a 12 cents a gallon hike on citizens and raises the tax on diesel fuel by 20 cents a gallon. It also implements an additional charge to annual vehicle license fees ranging from $25 to $175 depending on the car’s value.

Democrats in the state legislature forced the measure along party lines.

Well, it seems that the actions of these TAXPAYING VOTERS has angered the tinpot dictator who leads California’s liberal fascist oligarchy. Sure, California’s citizens are ALREADY among the most tax-burdened in the nation. Sure, the poor dupes who live there pay 1/3 of their income to the federal government, and 1/3 of their income to the state government… but at least the government “let’s” them keep the last 1/3 of their money! Governor Brown wants to know just how much of their own money those greedy, hardworking, taxpayers think they deserve?

When asked about the effort of his citizens to unseat a few Democrats in an effort to keep them from ramming through these any more tax increases, Governor Brown began spouting more illogical and irrational commentary. He called the people footing the bill for all of his tax increases “freeloaders” and said that the Republicans wanted to force people to drive on “gravel roads” again.

“Roads require money to fix,” Brown said during a Friday visit to Orange County. “Republicans say there’s a magic source of money — it doesn’t exist. … You want to borrow money and pay double? Or do nothing? Or take money from universities?”

“The freeloaders — I’ve had enough of them,” Brown said, adding that the approved tax and fee hikes bring those charges to the level they were 30 years ago if adjusted for inflation. “They have a president that doesn’t tell the truth and they’re following suit.”

Except that the state GOP has offered a solution to the road funding issue:

Republicans says budget cuts should be made to fund road maintenance. A failed GOP plan proposed last year would have tapped into cap-and-trade money used to lower greenhouse gas emissions, cut Caltrans positions and eliminated other positions that have been vacant. It identifies other funding sources, but doesn’t specify what programs would be cut if that money was diverted to roads.

Brown said the plan is unrealistic.

The GOP plan was “unrealistic” because it used money the California government was already wasting on other ridiculous issues. More “realistic” simply take more of the money from the already heavily tax-burdened citizens of California.

Kira Davis perfectly sums up the incongruity of Brown’s “freeloader” commentary:

Let’s review this statement, in case you’re having trouble interpreting his meaning. If you work and pay taxes, if you struggle to pay your most basic bills while “owing” the California government a third of your paycheck (or more), Jerry Brown thinks you’re a freeloader.

The 1,000,000 citizens in Los Angeles county alone who collect food stamps provided by taxpayers are not freeloaders. The millions of illegal immigrants being harbored in California’s sanctuary cities to the cost of taxpayers are not freeloaders. Illegal immigrants being provided “free” legal help by the state on the backs of taxpayers are not freeloaders. The bloodsuckers in the Sacramento legislature who get paid $178 a day in per diem funds on top of their bloated salaries just for walking in the door to their job every day are not freeloaders.

No, you – the burdened, law-abiding taxpayer are the freeloader for simply asking the government of California be more fiscally responsible with the money they already have instead of stealing more of your money without your consent to pay for programs that are already funded but have been raided for pet projects and personal enrichment.

Governor Brown claims we’ll all be driving on gravel roads if we don’t give up our incomes at gunpoint as he is demanding.

Dear California Republican, why are you still living on the fascist West Coast?

Do yourselves a favor; pack up your belongings and move to Idaho, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, or Utah. Sure, the beaches may not be as nice but the living is far easier and the governments are far smaller.

Politics

Rob Quist, Democrat Candidate for Montana U.S. Rep Is All Hat and No Cows

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Interesting how politicians, in addition to being ignorant, are among the biggest liars (TURDs).  Part of the reason is because voters are so damn dumb (see previous posts).  For instance, here’s this TURD, Quist, trying to pass himself off as representing the people of Montana when in fact he has lied about financial dealings, he has lied about real estate he owns, he has lied about being a hunter/fisherman,  and he has produced ads that are an anathema to firearms safety, proving he is a fake.  Rob Quist, TURD.  Don’t fall for Quist’s BS.

From missoulian.com dated 5/5/2017 by Tom Lutey entitled, “Hunting records of U.S. House candidates released“:

In TV ads, Montana’s U.S. House candidates have been blasting away at televisions. But only one is licensed to hunt anything else, according to state records.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks records show that Democrat Rob Quist hasn’t had a hunting or fishing license for at least 16 years. Electronic records of hunting and fishing licenses begin in 2002. Republican Greg Gianforte has had multiple fishing and hunting licenses during the same period.

“An outdoor way of life, particularly hunting and fishing, is part of who we are,” Gianforte said. “I believe it’s an individual’s personal choice whether they want to hunt or fish, but I think most of them would want to have a representative that understands their lifestyle.”

Asked why Rob Quist was the right candidate for hunters and anglers if he doesn’t hunt or fish, the Quist campaign issued the following statement:

“Greg Gianforte sued the people of Montana to block public stream access and donated thousands of dollars to dark money groups seeking to sell off Montana’s public lands, Rob has been advocating for keeping Montana’s public lands public his entire career.”

Gianforte filed a lawsuit against the state in 2009 to get the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to move an easement that crossed the northern edge of his property north of Bozeman. Gianforte lives next to the 76-acre Cherry River Fishing Access site on the East Gallatin River. The easement allowed the public to walk further upstream from Cherry River. Gianforte said his property was being damaged.

The state was never served with the lawsuit. The dispute was resolved after an FWP visit to the site in July 2009 led to trail and fence upgrades that did a better job keeping users off the rest of the Gianforte property and the agency updated records on the easement boundaries, according to state documents acquired by the Lee State Bureau.

Quist has said groups like PERC, a Bozeman-based economic research group that promotes market-based incentives for conservation and stewardship, are out to privatize public lands. The group was founded by former Montana State University economists. He also singled out the conservative Heritage Foundation, which supports more state input on developing energy resources on federal lands.

Hunting and fishing are make-or-break issues for a key minority group of Montana voters. Democrats used the 2009 lawsuit as their point of attack on Gianforte in his unsuccessful 2016 bid for governor.

It’s Quist this election cycle being targeted in TV ads for supporting universal background checks and a gun registry for automatic weapons. Quist made the comments during a March 27 interview with Montana Public Radio. Automatic weapons are already registered, Quist told The Gazette Tuesday during a joint editorial board meeting with Gianforte.

Universal background checks would close the loophole on gun show sales where, because private sellers aren’t federally licensed, background checks aren’t required.

On TV ads, Quist uses a lever action rifle to blast a television playing an attack ad accusing the Creston country bluegrass singer of being anti-gun.

Gianforte told The Gazette he opposes the transfer of federal public lands to states. He said Wednesday evening that as a representative he would try to improve access to federal lands where roads have been closed.

“We’ve had over 20,000 miles of our roads gated in Montana and I would work to reverse that,” Gianforte said.

Gianforte has made his hunting a big part of his social media presence. Wild game is what the family eats, he said. On Twitter, he even shared a photo of a 20-pound sausage stuffer, his outdoorsy Christmas gift to his wife Susan.

Quist does have support from a hunting and fishing group. The Montana Sportsmen Alliance has endorsed Quist as the right candidate for Montana. Member Joe Perry, of Conrad, said Quist is the right choice because the Democrat will oppose the transfer of federal lands to states. Perry said he doesn’t trust Republicans to do the same. Montana’s GOP has written its support of federal lands transfer into its party platform.

Yet in an email from the President of the largest gun ownership organization in Montana, Gary Marbut, President of The Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) critique’s Quist’s TV ad:

There are numerous and some serious problems with the TV gun ad by Montana congressional candidate Rob Quist:

1)  Quist keeps his ammo in his shirt pocket.  No experienced rifleman or real cowboy would ever do that.  Every time he’d bend over, that ammo would fall in the dirt.

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2)  Quist has his finger on the trigger when he’s not intending to shoot.  EVERY kid who ever took Hunter Safety knows that this is a violation of the essential Rules of gun safety.  This is dangerous and a bad example for youth and others.

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3)  Shooting a television set?  Only a punk would do this.  It leaves a mess of broken glass and possibly hazardous waste to pollute and clutter the environment.  That’s littering!  Pack it in, pack it out.  But it’s guaranteed that Quist never retrieved all the junk from this TV-for-TV shoot; only the larger pieces, at best.

4)  Muzzle direction?  Quist points his rifle directly at the cameraman AND every viewer, another obvious violation of essential Rules of gun safety and another very bad example.  Both Quist (who approved this ad, it declares) and the director appear to be clueless about gun safety and the impact of this ad on others, especially youth looking for an example to follow.

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5)  Shooting at picture of a real person.  Quist shoots at a picture of Quist, readily identifiable, on the TV.  This practice is prohibited at most responsible shooting ranges because it’s bad PR for the gun-owning public. (From the published Range Rules of the Deer Creek Shooting Center:  “11. PROHIBITED TARGETS: Targets intended to depict real, identifiable, individual people are prohibited.”)

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6)  Beyond the target.  Every rancher has had to repair fence wires cut by bullets from irresponsible shooting.  It happens.  Quist shooting at the fence beyond the target is another Rules violation (Be sure of your target and what’s beyond.)

7)  Eye and ear protection.  Quist ignores the standard requirement for eye protection and ear protection when shooting, another bad example.

8)  Then there’s Quist’s rifle.  It looks awfully clean for an allegedly third generation rifle.  I have a Winchester Model 94, .30-30 that belonged to my father that’s not nearly as pretty and unblemished as the one in the Quist ad, because mine was actually used.  Is this really a third-generation rifle, or actually a new rifle only obtained as a prop for the ad shoot?

Quist (“APPROVED BY ROB QUIST.”) and whoever designed this ad appear to be pretty clueless about firearms in the real Montana world.  They seem to have gotten their information about guns from the artificial world of TV and movies.

The ad producers would likely say, “Gary is just sniping about irrelevant details.  This is supposed to be about the message.”  NO!  Gun safety is absolute, at least within the genuine Montana gun culture.  Real flesh-and-blood people get shot and die because clueless and careless others don’t follow the Rules of gun safety.  As for any “message,” the “message” I get from this ad is:  Irresponsible, uninformed, unreal, untrue, disingenuous, fake.

Those of us who diligently try to educate others about the essential Rules of firearm safety are frustrated by public figures and would-be leaders who so flagrantly violate The Rules, and violate good land stewardship, as a bad example to others.  Anti-gun people claim they’re for “gun safety,” yet they freely violate The Rules to publicize bad examples, thereby promoting dangerous practice, not gun safety.  They are dangerous to Montana.

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association

Government, Politics

Sen. Rand Paul On Comey, Spooks and Obozocare, Oh My!

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Here is an excellent interview with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) re: all the politicization and BS around the firing of Comey, the invasive power that the ‘investigative’ community has in the U.S. (which we all knew was coming with the Patriot Act), and Obozocare ‘repeal’.  Sen. Paul, one of the few usually sane voices in Congress, IMHO.

From foxnews.com dated 5/10/2017 entitled, “Paul: Dems Pushing a ‘Huge Myth’ About Trump Collusion With Russia“:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he’s seen no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, accusing Democrats of pushing a “huge myth.”

Paul said Democrats will now clamor for a special prosecutor to look into the matter following the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

“I don’t think there’s been any facts presented that anybody broke the law. … I don’t think there’s any evidence that anybody broke the law,” he said on “Fox & Friends” today.

Paul said he has not even heard an “accusation” on what crime Democrats believe may have been committed.

“[Democrats] were for getting rid of Comey too, but now they’re gonna say it’s all about this Russia investigation, which hasn’t produced one iota of evidence,” said Paul.

He said Comey’s firing “could not happen soon enough,” calling out Democrats for criticizing the move despite previously declaring they had lost faith in Comey after his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

Government, Politics

Nancy Pelosi, TURD

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Speaking of blood sucking politicians.  Pelosi is actually very representative of her constituents.  What’s yours is theirs and what’s theirs is theirs…including your blood, sweat, and money.  Can anyone say, “Marxist”, bat shit crazy, blood sucker?  (No offense meant toward bats.)

From downtrend.com by Brian Anderson dated 5/3/2017 entitled, “Nancy Pelosi Says Letting People Keep Money They Earn Is Stealing“:

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If you ever had any doubt that democrats consider your money theirs, Nancy Pelosi just erased that. According to her, if you are “allowed” to keep the money you earn, that’s really stealing from poor people who didn’t earn it. I know this is some dizzying liberal logic, but that’s how they like things. Their hope is to make things so confusing that you can’t tell how bullshit it all is.

The House Republicans are once again trying for an ObamaCare repeal and replace. This newest version would put $130 billion in a high risk pool over 10 years to cover poor people with existing conditions. In addition to that, another $8 billion over 5 years was tacked on to help out people who can’t afford health insurance.

Because Nancy Pelosi can’t math and hates everything that isn’t from her own party, she flipped her lid according to The Hill.

“What you would need is probably about $200 billion over 10 years. What they’ve done is $8 billion over five years. If you divide that by the number of people who have a pre-existing medical condition, you get about [$200 or $300] a year,” said Pelosi.

First off, not everyone with a pre-existing condition can’t afford health insurance, and secondly the GOP is offering up $146 billion over 10 years, which isn’t that far away from the randomly stated $200 billion Pelosi claims is needed.

Despite that, she predicts death and destruction:

“It’s a joke. It’s a very sad, deadly joke,” she said.

Now here’s where the House Minority Leader says it is a crime for you to keep your own money. She says the Republicans want to rush through an ObamaCare repeal because they need the money to offer a tax break.

“They’re in a hurry because they need this money to give a tax break to the wealthiest people in our country. This bill will have the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of our country — Robin Hood in reverse. That is the goal of their tax bill, but they need this money from your healthcare in order to do that,” Pelosi said.

Stay with me on this one Nancy: ObamaCare raised taxes and caused most working people to spend more money on shittier coverage. Repealing this ridiculous law means that working people will be able to keep more of their money. Also, offering a tax break means that working people will be able to keep even more of that money that they earn.

Poor people are not entitled to the fruits of other people’s labor. Letting people keep more of the money they earn is not stealing from poor people because that money was never theirs in the first place. See how that works?

Stealing and redistribution of wealth would be if the government passed a law that forced people to by a product from a private company at inflated prices so that same product could then be given for free to lazy people who have made shitty life choices. You know, kind of like ObamaCare.

I understand Pelosi’s confusion here, she is after all a democrat. In their warped way of thinking, every dollar you earn belongs to them so they can make it rain on the poor in the least efficient and productive way possible.

Government, Politics

Voters, TURDs

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According to Real Clear Politics, based on seven different polling agencies, the Congressional approval rating has not been above 20% since late 2011 through 2016.  The average Congressional approval rating has been 18.9% since 2009.  During that same period the disapproval rating has averaged 68.6%.  Let that sink in, voters approve of their U.S. elected officials less than 20% of the time.

Yet, incumbents (the TURDs you already elected that are screwing you) have had a 96 percent re-election rate.  In fact, in 2016, 97 percent of the House members and 93 percent of the senators were re-elected to continue their screwing the U.S. public/voters, voting for unsustainable spending thus eventual financial collapse of the U.S., involving us in endless wars and circumventing/disregarding our Constitution.

What the HELL is wrong with you TURDs?!

us-voter

Politics

Rob Quist is Not a Musician, Quist Is a Joke

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Rob Quist is the Democrat nominee running for Montana’s U.S. House seat.  The clown not only under-reported by $57,000 his 2016 income, but has defaulted on a $10,000 bank loan, refused to pay thousands to a contractor he hired, and has had three state tax liens from 2007, 2011, and 2012 which were just settled last year (I wonder who settled them?)  Montana, does Rob Quist really represent you and your values?  Rob Quist, TURD.

Rob Quist plans to run for Zinke seat

The joke’s on you, Montana.

 

From missoulian.com dated 5/2/2017 entitled “Montana Dem in US House bid underreported income by $57K“:

The Democratic candidate for Montana’s sole U.S. House seat, a cowboy poet and musician running for public office for the first time, underreported $57,000 in income when he filed federally required financial disclosure statements two months ago.

Rob Quist has garnered national attention in his bid to become the first Democrat to hold the congressional post in 20 years, but he has come under scrutiny for a history of financial difficulties.

Quist’s campaign filed a new disclosure statement with the U.S. House last week after The Associated Press sought an explanation for discrepancies in his initial disclosure document and on his 2016 income tax returns. Federal ethics law requires congressional candidates to file a one-time accounting of their personal finances.

Montana voters go to the polls May 25 to fill the seat vacated by Ryan Zinke, who resigned to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet as Interior secretary. Quist and two others who have never held public office are vying for the post — Libertarian Mark Wicks and Republican Greg Gianforte, a wealthy technology entrepreneur who ran unsuccessfully for governor last year.

Quist campaign spokeswoman Tina Olechowski said the updated disclosure was routine, asserting that Quist and his wife did not have a full accounting of their income when he completed his initial report. His original statement was stamped received on March 8 and processed by the House clerk a week later.

“Rob and Bonni amended their personal financial disclosure after they filed their 2016 tax returns so it has the most updated information,” Olechowski said.

She said he had planned to revise his disclosure forms even before the AP began making inquiries.

His updated disclosures show Quist and his wife made about $136,000 in 2016. The original report identified about $79,000 in income, while a copy of Quist’s 2016 tax return released to the AP by his campaign listed a total income of $64,805.

The number of concerts Quist reported went from 11 in the first report to 34, including a spot at Red Ants Pants festival.

Bonni Quist’s income for the current year increased $7,791.

The smaller figure reported to the IRS includes adjustments for business expenses, while his disclosure statement is supposed to list all income sources.

Quist’s financial woes have led to increased scrutiny after revelations that he defaulted on a $10,000 bank loan, did not pay thousands of dollars to a contractor he hired and faced three tax liens from the state over $15,000 in unpaid back taxes.

The liens covered 2007, 2011 and 2012 and were settled last May with the Department of Revenue. Quist has not shared tax returns for those years.

“Once again, Rob Quist was caught not telling the truth, and it’s long past time he release his tax returns for the years in question and finally come clean with Montanans about his trail of tax liens, unpaid debts and underreporting income,” said Gianforte spokesman Shane Scanlon. “Quist has shown a disturbing pattern of dishonesty, and that record speaks for itself.”

Quist provided AP his tax returns for the past two years, offering a limited glimpse of his finances. In 2015, he and his wife reported $17,504 in income. In 2016, the couple owed $11,484 in federal taxes and $2,030 in state taxes.

During his run for governor, Gianforte released tax returns from 2005 through 2014, showing cumulative income of $220.5 million and total payments of nearly $35 million for state and federal taxes.

He also had a tax lien from 1993 when he lived in New Jersey. The $3,600 lien was settled three months later.

In 2015, Gianforte and his wife, Susan, had an income of $6.5 million, according to a copy of that year’s tax return provided to the AP.

His campaign said his 2016 return was not available because he filed an extension with the IRS. Financial disclosures filed with the U.S. House show his earned income was at least $164,000, with assets ranging between $96 million and $328 million.

Politics

Comey: Classified Hillary Clinton Emails Were In Fact Forwarded To Anthony Weiner

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It really would take a TURD to vote for the TURD…thus in fact you really may be dumb if you voted for Shillary.  God knows Trump is no paragon of intellectualism and honesty but Shillary?  Really??!  Anthony Weiner the sextextexpert.  These are a few of the G rated images (try to find the other images.  For the most part they have really been wiped clean off the Internet yet were prevalent a year or so ago).

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From washingtonpost.com dated 5/3/2017 by Devlin Barrett and Karoun Demirjian entitled, “Comey says classified Clinton emails were forwarded to Anthony Weiner“.

Hillary Clinton emails containing classified information were forwarded to former congressman Anthony Weiner, the director of the FBI testified Wednesday as he defended his handling of politically sensitive probes surrounding the last year’s presidential race.
Under questioning from the senior Democrat on the committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), James B. Comey revealed more details about how Clinton’s emails ended up on Weiner’s computer.
Weiner, a New York Democrat, was married to a top aide to Clinton, Huma Abedin. Weiner was being investigated separately for possible inappropriate communications with a minor.
“Somehow, her emails were being forwarded to Anthony Weiner, including classified information,” Comey said, adding later, “His then-spouse Huma Abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding emails to him for him to print out for her so she could deliver them to the secretary of state.”

The two were investigated for possible mishandling of classified material, but the FBI ultimately dropped the matter without seeking charges because they could not show either of them intended to violate the law, Comey said.

 

“Really the central problem we had with the whole email investigation was proving people… had some sense they were doing something unlawful. That was our burden and we were unable to meet it,’’ he said.

The director defended his decision to notify Congress that he had reopened the Clinton email probe just days before the election, saying he was forced to choose between saying something or concealing what he knew — or, as he put it, “between really bad and catastrophic.’’

He added: “It makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election.”

Comey said he has been interviewed by the Justice Department’s inspector general as part of an internal investigation into how the FBI handled the Clinton case.

“I want that inspection, I want my story told,’’ he said. “If I did something wrong, I want to hear that.’’

But he added that he still thinks he behaved appropriately and had no regrets about his decisions.

“Lordy, has this been painful,’’ he said. “I’ve gotten all kinds of rocks thrown at me and this has been really hard, but I think I’ve done the right thing at each turn.’’

 

Comey has been under intense pressure from both Republicans and Democrats to explain his decision-making, and he faced more criticism in Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearing was scheduled to conduct general congressional oversight of the FBI, but politically sensitive investigations quickly became the focus of lawmakers’ questions.

The chairman of the committee, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), opened the hearing by saying that “a cloud of doubt hangs over the FBI.” He demanded that the bureau reveal more about how it has handled the probes.

“We need to know whether there was anything improper going on between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or if these allegations are just a partisan smear campaign that manipulated our government into chasing conspiracy theories,” Grassley said.

Comey began his prepared testimony by praising the work of the FBI, citing the recent successful investigations of bomb threats against Jewish community centers, hacking networks and doctors accused of female genital mutilation.

“I love this work, I love this job, and I love it because of the mission and the people I get to work with,’’ he said.

Grassley’s first question to Comey was about leaks, asking Comey if he had ever been an anonymous source for stories about Clinton or Trump.

“Never,’’ Comey said. Asked if he had authorized someone else to speak anonymously to reporters about those cases, the director said no.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Comey what threat Russia posed to future U.S. elections. “In my view the greatest threat of any nation on earth given their intention and their capability,’’ Comey answered, adding that while Russia did not alter vote tallies in 2016, they have tried to do so in other countries and he said U.S. officials should expect them to try to do so in future U.S. elections.

“One of the lessons that particularly the Russians may have drawn from this is that it works,’’ Comey said.

Democrats repeatedly pressed Comey about his decision to notify Congress just days before the election that he was reopening the probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server for her work as secretary of state. Democrats are particularly upset about that decision because after the election, Comey acknowledged that the FBI had begun secretly investigating in late July whether any Trump associates might be working with Russian officials to meddle with the presidential campaign.

“It’s still very unclear — and I hope, director, that you will clear this up — why the FBI’s treatment of these two investigations was so dramatically different,” Feinstein said.

The FBI has already concluded that Russian intelligence hacked into Democratic computer systems and email accounts, stealing information that was published by WikiLeaks during the campaign.

Asked about WikiLeaks, Comey said he thought the anti-secrecy group was engaged in something more sinister than journalism.

“To my mind, it crosses a line when it moves from being trying to educate the public and instead becomes about intelligence porn, quite frankly,’’ said Comey. A “huge portion’’ of WikiLeaks’ activities “has nothing to do with legitimate news activity,’’ he said, “… but is simply about releasing classified information to damage the United States of America.’’