Endangered GOP lawmaker Darrell Issa hides out on roof while avoiding angry constituents

Raw Story
May 30, 2017


Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was spotted on the roof of his district office building on Tuesday looking out at a crowd of angry constituents that he had avoided on his way into the building.

A photo of Issa on the roof was posted by Mike Levin, a California Democrat who is running to unseat the nine-term congressman in 2018.

In the photo, Issa appears to be holding a phone and filming all the hundreds of protesters who lined up across the street from the building.

"Yes, this is really Darrell Issa on the roof of his district office building," Levin wrote.
"Too afraid to come speak with assembled constituents below."

See photo + tweets
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/endangered-gop-lawmaker-darrell-issa-hides-out-on-roof-while-avoiding-angry-constituents/

In your opinion, best girl group ever?

Senators locked in turf battle over Russia probes

The Hill
May 29, 2017


Senators are locked in a turf battle as they plot their way forward in dueling investigations on Russian election interference.

Two Senate panels - the Judiciary and Intelligence committees - are conducting separate probes into the 2016 White House race, ties between President Trump's team and Moscow,
and former FBI Director James Comey's firing.

But with new allegations against the administration leaking almost daily, the two committees are increasingly bumping elbows as they fight for the same information.

Leaders on the Judiciary Committee, which has oversight of the FBI, say their requests for information are being stonewalled.. Comey declined to testify publicly before their panel.

"We're trying to get (Comey) before the Senate Judiciary Committee but we haven't had any luck," committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told reporters during a conference call.
"Of course we could subpoena him but we don't want to make that move until we have to."

Grassley and ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) also want the FBI to hand over any of Comey's memos, and have requested either Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe brief their committee.

A spokesman for Grassley didn't respond to a request for comment on if the committee had heard back on either requests.
But Feinstein said this week that they hadn't gotten a response to their call for memos on Comey's meetings with Trump and other top officials.

The Senate Intelligence Committee's probe hasn't had such setbacks.
Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and ranking member Mark Warner (D-VA) were given broad subpoena authority and issued the latest round against Michael Flynn, Trump's ousted national security advisor.

More:
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/335366-senators-locked-in-turf-battle-over-russia-probes

In your opinion, best Doo-Wop song ever?

Reported Talks by Jared Kushner With Russia Would Be "Good Thing," Trump Official Says

New York Times
May 28, 2017


WASHINGTON -- John F. Kelly, President Trump's homeland security secretary, on Sunday defended a reported effort by Jared Kushner, the president's embattled son-in-law and key advisor, to establish a secret channel with Russia during the transition, calling it "a good thing."

"Any information flow into the government and then considered by the government, I won't criticize that," Mr. Kelly said on ABC's "This Week."
"All of these lines of communication are a positive thing, in my opinion,"

Mr. Kelly's remarks came amid news that Mr. Kushner was a focus of investigations into possible collusion between Russia and Mr. Trump's associates during the campaign and transition, a development that has consumed an already-beleaguered White House.

The president, home again after a nine-day trip overseas, quickly turned his Twitter account back into a political weapon on Sunday, assailing what he called the
"fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media."

Mr. Trump's administration has been straining to contain the fallout from news reports that Mr. Kushner spoke in December with Russia's ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, about establishing a secret channel to Moscow to discuss the war in Syria and other matters.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/28/us/politics/trump-returns-to-us-and-to-berating-newsmedia-on-twitter.html

Dion DiMuccis "lost album"

May 26, 2017

Earlier this month, one of my all-time favorite rock & rollers, Dion DiMucci, released an album called "Kickin' Child:The Lost Album 1965"

The 15 songs on the album were recorded during Dion's time at Columbia Records in sessions that started in the spring of 1965 and intensified during September and October with a group called The Wanderers, which included The Belmonts' drummer, Carlo Mastrangelo.

Columbia didn't release the full album but put out a few songs, including the title track, as singles.

Dion, now 77, tells "Billboard" that hearing the full album again recently eased a lot of feelings about it being passed over by the label.

"I just forgot about this album," Dion says.
"There were a lot of bad relationships that got very convoluted up at Columbia with me - what they expected from me."

The frustration led him to leave the label.
"I left Columbia in the mid '60s...I had a guaranteed contract for like $100,000 a year...And I just let it go...And I wasn't a rich man," he says.
"There were a lot of bad vibes around the whole thing."

Fast forward to 2017.
Dion is listening to a finished copy of the album and says hearing it again made all the bad feelings go away.
"I'm coming across Alligator Alley about three, four weeks ago, and Rob Santos,
(V.P. for A & R for Sony Music and Legacy Recordings) sent me a mastered copy of the album and I'm listening to it on my way home...And it just seemed to lift..
The cloud lifted and I heard the music," he said.

"I had (previously) heard it as a very negative kind of thing...I put it in kind of a box."
But all that changed.
"I'll be honest with you...I was really appreciating it...The cloud lifted like vapor.
It just lifted right out of my head...And I heard the music loud and clear like it was present to me...It wasn't a novelty...It was rich...It was artistic...It was heartfelt..
It was live...It was the real deal...And I said, 'Man this stuff is good.'
And I was proud of it."

More:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7728696/dion-talks-lost-1965-album-his-decision-to-release-it-52-years-later-exclusive




DION PAYS HOMAGE TO GUITAR ROCK GIANTS
(From transcript of 11/4/2008 Fresh Air interview)

TERRY GROSS:
This is Fresh Air..I'm Terry Gross...Fans who love Dion's hits from the '50s & '60s like "The Wanderer," "Runaround Sue," and "Teenager in Love," were surprised to hear his two recent albums paying tribute to the blues musicians that influenced him...Now, Dion has a new CD called "Heroes: Giants of Early Guitar Rock"
It pays tribute to some of his contemporaries, most of them are no longer with us, people like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Roy Orbison, and Gene Vincent.
Dion, welcome back to Fresh Air..It's really great to have you back.
Did you know Eddie Cochran?

DION:
I did...He and I played the Palace Theater on 46th Street & Broadway back in his heyday...It was, you know, the late '50s and (he was a) great looking guy...
He wore this tan suit, had this orange guitar, you know, that Chet Atkins Gretsch guitar with the whammy bar on it that Bixby invented in the '50s...And he'd come out, man, take that stance and get it on, you know?...He was like, he was a little guy, was about five-foot-two."

Listen to complete 11/4/2008 Fresh Air interview, including Dion playing several of his songs on acoustic guitar:
(Sorry, I was unable to post a link to this great 2008 Fresh Air interview with
Dion DiMucci...If someone else has a newer, faster computer than I do, please post the link in a reply)
Meanwhile, you can hear the entire 2008 Fresh Air interview with Dion by doing a Google search of "Dion Pays Homage To Guitar-Rock Giants: NPR"


Re; Dion and The Belmonts
"As Dion & The Belmonts' songs rose nationally, they began touring in the U.S. beginning in 1958.
On one tour in early 1959, they were part of the "Winter Dance Party" featuring
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper.
On February 2, 1959, after playing the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa,
Buddy Holly had arranged to charter a plane to fly the performers to their next gig.
Dion, however, decided not to ride with the group because of the expense.
Shortly after midnight, however, on February 3rd, 1959, the plane carrying the other members of the tour crashed not far from Clear lake, Iowa, killing Holly, Valens, the Big Bopper and the pilot.


Dion's autobiography is called:
"The Wanderer: Dion's Story" by Dion with Davin Seay DiMucci
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/dion-with-davin-seay-dimucci/the-wanderer-dions-story/

Divided Republicans May Find It Hard To Pass Any Budget

New York Times
May 23, 2017


WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans greeted President Trump's first full budget on Tuesday with open hesitation or outright hostility.
But it was not clear that they could come up with an alternative that could win over conservatives and moderates while clearing a path for the tax cuts and policies they have promised for years.

The budget battle ahead mirrors the continuing health care fight in which concessions to Republican moderates alienate conservatives, while overtures to conservatives lose moderate votes.

But with Republicans in full charge of the government, the onus is on their leaders to reach a budget agreement in a manner of weeks that would ease passage of the president's promised tax cuts as well as a new spending plan that would reshape the government in a Republican mold.

"It's now up to the Congress to act," Mr. Trump said in his budget message,
"I pledge my full cooperation in ending the economic malaise that has, for too long, crippled the dreams of our people..The time for small thinking is over."

More + links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/us/politics/congress-budget-republicans.html

Here Are All The Times Donald Trump Promised Not To Cut Medicaid

Romper.com
May 22, 2017


On Monday, White House sources teased President Donald Trump's plan to jeopardize the health coverage of 74 million Americans.

Although Trump repeatedly promised to not cut Medicaid while on the campaign trail, his proposed budget plan will slash a whopping $800 million dollars from the program.

If the president's plan succeeds, it will leave a devastating number of children, as well as disabled and elderly citizens, uninsured.

The proposed 2018 budget plan..comes on the heels of House Republicans' May 4 vote to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act.
In these already uncertain and frightening times, Trump's budget comes as another blow to middle class and low-income families who depend on Medicaid to survive.

What's even more upsetting is that the president assured voters this nightmare scenario would not happen.

Two years ago, on May 21, 2015, Trump told the right-wing publication
The Daily Signal:
"I'm not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid...Every other Republican is going to cut, and even if they wouldn't, they don't know what to do because they don't know where the money is...I do."

Trump even went so far as to brag about his allegiance to saving Medicaid, tweeting that he was the "first & only GOP candidate" to pledge there would be
"no cuts" to the life-saving program.

"I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid..Huckabee copied me."
-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2015

(The Romper.com article ends with the following statement)
"Unfortunately, it has become increasingly clear that the president's 'word' boils down to nothing at all..The only hope for a fully-funded Medicaid now lies with a
GOP controlled Congress."

More + links + photos:
Google: "Here's All The Times Donald Trump Promised Not To Cut Medicaid"
(For some reason, I was unable to post a working link to this article)

Paul Ryan tries to deflect on leak that implicates him in a Russian cover-up

Daily Kos
May 19, 2017


Speaker Paul Ryan is trying out the Trump regime's favorite defense against damning news - focus on the leaker rather than on the content.
In this case, it's the release of a transcript with a slip of the tongue from Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy about Donald Trump being on Vladimir Putin's payroll, a "joke" that Ryan immediately threatened all of those present to forget even happened.
Ryan is in full deflection mode trying to cover up what he and others in Republican leadership - we're looking at you, Mitch McConnell - knew about Russia's interference in the election on behalf of Trump and when they knew it.

Friday morning, Ryan told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt the recording was
"a cause of concern" for him and other Republicans.

Read more:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/5/19/1664116/-Paul-Ryan-tries-to-deflect-on-leakthat-implicates-him-in-a-Russia-cover-up




But wait - there's more about Paul Ryan being involved in "a Russian cover-up"
There is evidence that Paul Ryan actually used hacked Russian information against Democrats in the 2016 election.
The following thread was posted on DU two days ago
"When Comey testifies, will he be asked about Ryan's use of hacked Russian info against Dems?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016185408

The above thread was based on a DU OP posted Feb. 17, 2017, regarding a New York Times article from Dec. 13, 2016
"Democratic House Candidates Were Also Targets of Russian Hacking"

A super PAC tied to Paul Ryan used material provided by Russia's hacking of the DNC and the DCCC.
It wasn't just Hillary Clinton being attacked.
It wasn't just Trump benefiting.
There's potentially more collusion than just between Trump's team and Russia.
Yes, this was reported in mid-December, but it bears repeating.

By September, Guccifer 2.0 had expanded his releases to include documents related to House races in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio, Illinois, and North Carolina, working with individual bloggers like Miscellany Blue in New Hampshire.
Guccifer 2.0 even posted a cache of confidential documents focusing on Ben Ray Lijan (D-N.M.) the chairman of the DCCC
After the first political advertisement appeared using the hacked material, Rep. Lujan wrote a letter to his Republican counterpart at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) urging him not to use this stolen material in the 2016 campaign.
"The NRCC's use of documents stolen by the Russians plays right into the hands of one of the United States' most dangerous adversaries," Lujan's August 29 letter said.
"Put simply, if this action continues, the NRCC will be complicit in aiding the Russian government in it's effort to influence American elections."
(House Minority Leader) Pelosi sent a similar letter in early September to Mr. Ryan.
Neither received a response.
By October, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a "super PAC' tied to Mr. Ryan, had used the stolen material in another advertisement, attacking (another Democrat) during the general election in Florida.
Ashlee Strong, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan, said he did not control how the material was used in the ad, although she did not dispute that the material had been stolen as part of an act of Russian espionage.
"Speaker Ryan has said for months that foreign intervention in our elections is unacceptable," she said in a written statement.

More:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028671176

When Comey Testifies, Will He Be Asked About Ryan's Use of Hacked Russian Info Against Dems?

(From OP posted February 17, 2017)
"Paul Ryan & Republican Establishment Used Hacked Info From Russia Against Democrats"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028671176

Let's not forget that a super PAC tied to Paul Ryan used material provided by Russia's hacking of the DNC and DCCC.
It wasn't just Hillary Clinton being attacked.
It wasn't just Trump benefiting.
There's potentially more collusion than just between Trump's team and Russia.

(From 2016..same thread)
Guccifer 2.0 even posted a cache of confidential documents focusing on Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat of New Mexico, the Chairman of the DCCC, who faced no serious challenger this year, Mr. Lujan said it was a clear effort to send a message to the party leadership - that the hackers wanted to hurt Democrats at all levels of the party, from lesser known races in Florida to the leadership.
After the first political advertisement appeared using the hacked material, Mr. Lujan wrote a letter to his Republican counterpart at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) urging him not to use the stolen material in the 2016 campaign.
"The NRCC's use of documents stolen by the Russians plays right into the hands of one of the United States' most dangerous adversaries," Mr. Lujan's Aug. 29 letter said.
"Put simply, if this action continues, the NRCC will be complicit in aiding the Russian government in it's effort to influence American elections."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a similar letter in early September to Mr. Ryan.
Neither received a response.
By October, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC tied to Mr. Ryan, had used the stolen material in another advertisement attacking (another Democrat) in the general election in Florida.
Ashley Strong, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan, said he did not control how the material was used in the ad, although SHE DID NOT DISPUTE THAT THE MATERIAL HAD BEEN STOLEN AS AN ACT OF RUSSIAN ESPIONAGE.
"Speaker Ryan has said for months that foreign intervention in our elections is unacceptable," she said in a written statement.

Read entire 12/13/2016 New York Times article:
(Click on link at the DU link posted above)