July 23, 2017

FBI investigating South Carolina Statehouse corruption

The FBI has joined the ongoing Statehouse corruption probe, raising the specter of potential federal charges in an investigation that already has ensnared four South Carolina lawmakers and exposed allegations of money laundering, influence peddling and other misconduct.

Two former State Ports Authority officials told The Post and Courier they have been interviewed by both FBI agents and state investigators about the agency's dealings with influential political operatives, including embattled consultant Richard Quinn and his son, state Rep. Rick Quinn.

Those officials are Catherine Templeton, who briefly worked for the port and is now seeking the Republican nomination for governor, and Pat McKinney, a former SPA chairman who pushed this year to suspend the agency's dealings with Richard Quinn.

In an interview with The Post and Courier, Templeton also revealed for the first time she was fired from her $235,000-a-year post after just five weeks on the job in 2015 — a move she contends was tied to her “asking the right questions about the wrong people,” including Quinn.

more

http://www.postandcourier.com/politics/fbi-investigating-south-carolina-statehouse-corruption-could-expand-scope-of/article_954c1d06-6ca5-11e7-953d-9f2de89f849c.html

July 23, 2017

Sunday's Non Sequitur Toon - Don't miss it!

July 22, 2017

The Manhattan Hillbillies

July 22, 2017

Danziger Toon - Who's going to own the failure of the failure?

July 22, 2017

Japan Pictures Likely Show Melted Fukushima Fuel

New images show what is likely to be melted nuclear fuel hanging from inside one of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima reactors, a potential milestone in the cleanup of one of the worst atomic disasters in history.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc., Japan’s biggest utility, released images on Friday showing a hardened black, grey and orange substance that dripped from the bottom of the No. 3 reactor pressure vessel at Fukushima, which is likely to contain melted fuel, according to Takahiro Kimoto, an official at the company. The company sent a Toshiba-designed robot, which can swim and resembles a submarine, to explore the inside of the reactor for the first time on July 19.

“Never before have we taken such clear pictures of what could be melted fuel,” Kimoto said at a press briefing that began at 9 p.m. Friday in Tokyo, noting that it would take time to analyze and confirm whether it is actually fuel. “We believe that the fuel melted and mixed with the metal directly underneath it. And it is highly likely that we have filmed that on Friday.”

more

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-22/japan-pictures-likely-show-melted-fukushima-fuel-for-first-time

July 21, 2017

The video the new White House Communications Director doesnt want you to see

Donald Trump has selected investor Anthony Scaramucci to be his new White House Communications Director. Scaramucci is expected to be a pugnacious defender of the president.

It wasn’t always this way.

In 2015, Scaramucci appeared on the Fox Business Network to talk about politics. They played a clip of Donald Trump attacking “hedge fund guys.”

Scaramucci responded with an extended rant against Trump, calling his new boss “another hack politician” and “anti-American.” He said Trump’s rhetoric is “very, very divisive.”

more with video

https://thinkprogress.org/anthony-scaramucci-video-bashes-trump-5de113380b87

Somebody should slip this in the WH TV feed......

July 21, 2017

Ben Carson is glad everyone is mad at Trump so they forget about him

As anyone with a brother or sister knows, it's always great when your parents are mad at your sibling because then your own shenanigans go unnoticed. It just so happens it works that way in politics, too.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson admitted to The Washington Examiner that he has found the silver lining to the Trump administration's ongoing scandals: "Let me put it this way," Carson said. "I'm glad that [President] Trump is drawing all the fire so I can get stuff done."

more

http://theweek.com/speedreads/713530/ben-carson-glad-everyone-mad-trump-forget-about

July 21, 2017

Maxine Waters congratulates Sean Spicer for having 'more guts than Jeff Sessions'

Maxine Waters?Verified account
@MaxineWaters

Congratulations Sean Spicer. You've got more guts than Jeff Sessions!

https://twitter.com/MaxineWaters/status/888428995779448832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fspeedreads%2F713530%2Fben-carson-glad-everyone-mad-trump-forget-about

July 21, 2017

Texas now has zero staff political cartoonists, as Houston Chronicle fires Pulitzer winner

IT’S COME to this: Texas, the second largest state in the union — and the home of so many historically colorful political voices — lacks a single staff editorial cartoonist.

Nick Anderson, the veteran Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Hearst-owned Houston Chronicle, got word last week that his position had been eliminated.

Which raises the question: Why part ways with one of your most prominent political voices?

“The odds caught up with me,” Anderson wrote last week on Facebook, speaking to the decades-long thinning out of America’s staff-cartooning ranks. “Ironically, thanks to social media, my cartoons are seen more widely than ever.”

more

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/07/20/texas-now-has-zero-staff-political-cartoonists-as-houston-chronicle-fires-pulitzer-winner/

Cartoonists are some of the last truth-tellers in the MSM. Some examples of his work:

July 21, 2017

Super Discount!