Steve Thomas
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Posts posted by Steve Thomas
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New Trump Rule Could Create ‘Bomb Trains,’ Environmentalists Say
The administration has a ‘wildly unsafe’ plan to transport liquified natural gas on railroads, with tanks carrying enough explosive power to level a city, according to a new lawsuit
By Tessa Stuart
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bomb-trains-1046481/
“A new Trump administration rule relaxing guidelines that govern the transport of liquefied natural gas could create “bomb trains” with enough explosive power to level whole cities, environmental groups say. A coalition of organizations led by the nonprofit Earthjustice has sued the administration, challenging the rule, which is scheduled to go into effect on Monday.
Separately, 14 states and the District of Columbia are also suing the Trump administration to review the rule and declare it unlawful. The National Transportation Safety Board and the National Association of State Fire Marshals oppose it as well.
Under the new rule, trains would be allowed to transport up to 30,000 gallons of liquified natural gas (LNG) per tank, significantly more than has ever been allowed in the U.S., and there will be no restrictions on the number of LNG tanker cars in a particular train, nor on the routes these trains may travel, so they will be free to pass through dense population centers.
According to figures cited in Earthjustice’s challenge, just 22 tank cars could produce the equivalent energy of the Hiroshima bomb.
The rule change, fast-tracked by the administration after being introduced by Trump in an executive order in April 2019, comes as part of the president’s reckless agenda to expand America’s fossil fuel exports.
But shifting LNG transport to the railways could be a catastrophe, the lawsuits assert. “There’s a very good reason liquefied natural gas has never been shipped by rail in this country, and that’s because it’s wildly unsafe,” said Joseph Otis Minott, executive director of the Clean Air Council, which joined the lawsuit with Earthjustice. “I don’t want these dangerous trains going through my neighborhood, and trust me, you don’t either.” “
Steve Thomas
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David,
Why do you think the two Cubans and the person introduced to her as Leon, part company after leaving Sylvia Odio's?
Up to that point, the trio had been traveling together, and Leopoldo told Sylvia that"we" are going on a trip, and that "we" will come back and visit you again when "we" return.
Mrs. ODIO. Yes; oh, excuse me, I forgot something very important. They kept mentioning that they had come to visit me at such a time of night, it was almost 9 o'clock, because they were leaving for a trip. And two or three times they said the same thing.
They said, "We may stay until tomorrow, or we might leave tomorrow night, but please excuse us for the hour." And he mentioned two or three times they were leaving for a trip. I didn't ask where, and I had the feeling they were leaving for Puerto Rico or Miami.
Mr. LIEBELER. But they did not indicate where they were going?Mrs. ODIO. And he said, "It is so easy to do it." He has told us. And he (Leopoldo) used two or three bad words, and I wouldn't repeat it in Spanish. And he repeated again they were leaving for a trip and they would like very much to see me on their return to Dallas.
Steve Thomas
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22 minutes ago, Ron Ecker said:
You've given me an idea. Instead of watching that live crime show this week, I'll spend the next two nights watching "The Godfather" movies.
Ron,
I swear to God that if Trump starts wearing a ring and holding out his hand for people to kiss it, I'm outta here.
Steve Thomas
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6 minutes ago, Kathy Beckett said:
Ron, I'm with you! I cannot stomach hearing or viewing anything trumpland for more than a minute or two. I
Oh, I don't know Kathy.
I've enjoyed their lineup:
A second son currently investigation for bank fraud,
A former campaign manager who just got arrested for mail fraud and wire fraud,
A woman who wants the police to racially profile her five year old son and who doesn't think women should be allowed to vote,
A former Florida DA to took a $25,000 bribe to drop the Trump University case,
The upcoming First Daughter who financed her real estate ventures with Cartel Drug and Iranian National Guard money...
The list goes on.
Steve Thomas
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24 minutes ago, David Andrews said:
In this Kenosha photo, we've apparently gone back to the days of shields with spikes hammered through them, like barbarians carried in 1950s Roman Empire movies. Perhaps the situation warrants barbarism:
David,
To me, it seems apropos that he's standing next to a garbage dump.
Steve Thomas
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Nature abhors a vacuum.
Now that the Republican Party, through its official Party Platform, has declared that , until 2024, they have no platform or policy ideas other than to worship Donald Trump, they have opened the doors to QAnon supporters and those who watch Dog the Bounty Hunter, Duck Dynasty, Swamp People, Bachelor and professional wrestling and think it's real, to fill that vacuum.
Almighty Deity help us all.
Steve Thomas
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Deleted
Steve Thomas
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Trump Has Now Moved $2.3 Million Of Campaign-Donor Money Into His Private Business
By Dan AlexanderForbes Staff
"Donald Trump continued to shift money from his donors to his business last month, as his reelection campaign paid his private companies for rent, food, lodging and other expenses, according to a review of the latest Federal Election Commission filings. The richest president in American history, who has yet to donate to his 2020 campaign, has now moved $2.3 million of contributions from other people into his private companies.
The most recent expenses look familiar. The president accepted $38,000 in rent last month through Trump Tower Commercial LLC, the entity that owns his Fifth Avenue skyscraper. Since Trump took office, his campaign has paid that company $1.5 million, more than any other property in the Trump empire, according to an analysis of federal filings. The Republican National Committee also coordinated with the campaign to pay Trump Tower Commercial LLC an additional $225,000.
Trump’s machinations have been going on for years now. Forbes first reported on money moving from his reelection campaign to his business in 2018. The amount has more than doubled since then."
“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff is what I would tell you,” Kellyanne Conway said “I’m going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody.” (March, 2017).
Steve Thomas
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- Donald Trump, Jr. -
““Joe Biden is basically the Loch Ness monster of the swamp.”
I stand with Loch Ness and all the lochs of Scotland.
Steve Thomas
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34 minutes ago, David Andrews said:
Are we really paying police for these services? Are we paying them to grab guys by their shirts and bust seven caps in them, like some steroidal action-movie hero?
Mayberry had it right.
Give the cops one bullet and make them put it in their shirt pocket.
Steve Thomas
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I, myself, can't wait to hear The Honorable Ivanka Trump.
Her two brothers didn't get to be Honorables.
"Here’s a complete list of Republican National Convention speakers
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/rnc-2020/article245175815.html
Thursday:
President Donald J. Trump; The Honorable Ben Carson; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR); House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23); Representative Jeff Van Drew (NJ-02); The Honorable Ivanka Trump; ..."
Sounds like a petty good gig. How do you get in on that action?
Steve Thomas
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4 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:
The Republican Party declares itself to be a Personality Cult.
Oh, and by the way, the Media is a bunch of big old bad meanies.
Steve Thomas
The more I think about this, the more insane it becomes.
We've just had a major political party stand up and say to the entire world, "We stand for absolutely nothing, and won't until 2024." What are they going to do if Trump loses?
What's Republican candidate do in 2022? "Vote for me. I'm a Republican and we don't stand for anything!"
Steve Thomas
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The Republican Party declares itself to be a Personality Cult.
Oh, and by the way, the Media is a bunch of big old bad meanies.
Steve Thomas
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Melania Trump renovated the Rose Garden.
She took out all the roses.
https://twitter.com/search?q=%22Rose+Garden%22
-QUOTE-
"Everything the Trumps touch dies."
Steve Thomas
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White House threatens to veto Democrats' bill to provide more money to USPS
By Jason Hoffman, Maegan Vazquez and Caroline Kelly, CNN
Updated 8:35 PM ET, Fri August 21, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/21/politics/white-house-veto-usps-funding/index.html
“The White House issued a veto threat on Friday for House Democrats' proposed bill that would provide $25 billion to the US Postal Service.
The bill is expected to pass on Saturday largely along party lines, with Democrats supporting it. House GOP leaders are pushing their members to oppose the legislation, and it is not likely to be considered in the Republican-controlled Senate.“
Steve Thomas
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20 minutes ago, Steve Thomas said:
Keep your eyes out for corruption involving Bannon’s Build the Wall Project and Fischer Construction of North Dakota.
Steve Thomas
Steve Bannon and Louis DeJoy: Different wings of Trump's empire of corruption
“With Bannon indicted and DeJoy hauled before Congress, Trump's corrupt regime may be coming unglued at last.”
By Heather Digby Parton
August 21, 2020 1:56PM (UTC)
“Trump claimed on Thursday that he was always against the private wall project that got Bannon into trouble, but his image was all over the group's website and Donald Trump Jr. is on video endorsing it. One of the board members, Kris Kobach —who headed Trump's short-lived "voter fraud" commission and keeps losing elections back home in Kansas — is also on video claiming that Trump told him the project had his blessing."
"One of the more suspicious connections with this scam was Trump's relentless insistence that a North Dakota construction firm called Fisher Industries should get the contract for the official border wall. According to this Washington Post story from May of 2019, Trump demanded that the military award the job to this obscure company even after its bid had been rejected by the Army Corps of Engineers, which alarmed Homeland Security officials about the appearance of corruption. And guess what?
Even as Trump pushes for his firm, Fisher already has started building a section of fencing in Sunland Park, N.M. We Build the Wall, a nonprofit that includes prominent conservatives who support the president — its associates and advisory board include former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon, Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince, ex-congressman Tom Tancredo and former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach — has guided an effort to build portions of the border barrier on private land with private funds.
Jared Kushner pushed Fisher Industries as well, but in the end the firm didn't get the government contract. It ended up building a small piece of the private wall that has been described faulty and flawed. Trump distanced himself from the We Build the Wall project last month, apparently out of the blue, saying he never believed in it in the first place.
None of this smells right: He spent months pushing the government to award that company a multi-billion-dollar contract, and suddenly their shoddy work makes him "look bad."”
Steve Thomas
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/02/texas-border-wall-private/
“He built a privately funded border wall. It's already at risk of falling down if not fixed.
Trump supporters funded a private border wall on the banks of the Rio Grande, helping the builder secure $1.7 billion in federal contracts. Now the "Lamborghini” of border walls is in danger of falling into the river if nothing is done, experts say.”
by Jeremy Schwartz and Perla Trevizo, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica July 2, 20205 AM
“Tommy Fisher billed his new privately funded border wall as the future of deterrence, a quick-to-build steel fortress that spans 3 miles in one of the busiest Border Patrol sectors.
Unlike a generation of wall builders before him, he said he figured out how to build a structure directly on the banks of the Rio Grande, a risky but potentially game-changing step when it came to the nation’s border wall system.
Fisher has leveraged his self-described “Lamborghini” of walls to win more than $1.7 billion worth of federal contracts in Arizona.
But his showcase piece is showing signs of runoff erosion and, if it’s not fixed, could be in danger of falling into the Rio Grande, according to engineers and hydrologists who reviewed photos of the wall for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. It never should have been built so close to the river, they say.
Just months after going up, they said, photos reveal a series of gashes and gullies at various points along the structure where rainwater runoff has scoured the sandy loam beneath the foundation.”
“The Mission private wall project, Fisher’s second following a similar undertaking outside El Paso, is a little known but crucial part of the effort to help President Donald Trump meet his campaign promise to build 450 miles of “big, beautiful wall” by the end of 2020. For the administration, Texas remains the biggest challenge. That’s because the Rio Grande has served as a natural divider, and, unlike other states, most land abutting it is privately owned.”
"Fisher’s strategy was years in the making. Soon after the 2016 election, he became a frequent guest on Fox News, where he caught the attention of Trump. Last year, The Washington Post reported that the president “latch(ed) on” to Fisher’s claims of speed and quality and “aggressively pushed” for the firm in conversations with top Homeland Security officials.
But Fisher’s border wall business got off to a rocky start, despite paying a lobbying firm tens of thousands of dollars to push for contracts. In 2017, the firm, founded in 1952 and best known for large highway projects, had its wall prototype rejected by the Department of Homeland Security. It later attempted to join an elite group of preapproved border wall bidders, but it was again turned down by the Army Corps of Engineers, which said it failed to meet its requirements or obtain the necessary regulatory approvals.
In response, Fisher sued the department and was added to the list of preapproved bidders thanks to White House pressure, administration officials told the Post last year.
Fisher was also aided by a close relationship with freshman U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who advocated for the company with Trump and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Fisher and family members donated at least $24,000 during Cramer’s victorious 2018 bid, according to campaign finance records. Cramer’s spokesperson did not return emails for comment."
Keep your eyes out for corruption involving Bannon’s Build the Wall Project and Fischer Construction of North Dakota.
Steve Thomas
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“A federal judge on Friday denied President’s Donald Trump’s bid to temporarily block a ruling allowing a subpoena for his tax returns and other financial records.
The ruling came a day after the judge rejected Trump’s latest attempt to stop the Manhattan District Attorney’s office from enforcing a subpoena issued to his accounting firm.
Trump’s lawyers on Thursday had filed a request for an emergency stay pending an appeal of that ruling.
But Judge Victor Marrero wrote in his order Friday that Trump “has not demonstrated that he will suffer irreparable harm.””
Steve Thomas
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Steve Bannon jokes about going to St. Tropez in the south of France on his new million dollar yacht using the Wall money.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1296820737521717248
Steve Thomas
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4 hours ago, Tommy Tomlinson said:
Something just occurred to me, and I'm not sure whether it warrants another thread. I don't think so, since it follows on the path that this discussion has been heading... but can anyone tell me about Hosty and the DPD?
If he was on "Oswald Watch" did he have any contacts or friends in the DPD?
Was he in an official liaison with DPD?
Or, maybe, was there any inter agency tension? Sort of "Get off our patch!" stuff?Anything on this would be greatly appreciated.Sneed's interview with Roy Westphal
Tommy,
You might ask and see if anyone has a copy of Larry Sneed's book, No More Silence.
Ask them if they could copy or scan the paragraph of Sneed's interview with Roy Westphal where Westphal talks about the use of informants and the cooperation or lack thereof between the FBI and the Dallas Police Criminal Intelligence Division.
In essence, what Westphal said was that the FBI had their informants, and the DPD had theirs, and there wasn't much sharing going on.
Steve Thomas
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4 hours ago, Bill Fite said:
I was living in Denver when the huge forest fire south of the city struck. I got up the morning it hit not knowing what it was and thought that the orange hazy sky was an indication that the world was ending. Strangely I didn't feel fear, just curiosity.
Hope it rains.
Bill,
I was living just outside of Glenwood Springs when the Storm King Mountain fire hit.
Pretty scary stuff.
Steve Thomas
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California severely short on firefighting crews after COVID-19 lockdown at prison camps
By Ryan Sabalow and Jason Pohl
July 04, 2020 05:00 AM , Updated July 06, 2020 02:34 PM
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article243977827.html
“This week, state prison officials announced they had placed 12 of the state’s 43 inmate fire camps on lockdown due to a massive outbreak at a Northern California prison in Lassen County that serves as the training center for fire crews.
Until the lockdown lifts, only 30 of the state’s 77 inmate crews are available to fight a wildfire in the north state, prison officials said.”
Steve Thomas
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2 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:
Leavelle seems to relish the interview attention and the applause he gets when he is first introduced and after the interview wraps up. He's a celebrity!
In my mind he was a dark time one who's shared negligence resulted in the greatest truth destroying loss to the American people in our history.
I believe Leavelle lied to me when I asked him back in 2003 who was the Secret Service agent who was present during Oswald's first interrogation on 11/22/63.
Steve Thomas
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6 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:
Feds charge ex-Trump official Steve Bannon with criminal fraud in crowd-funded border wall campaign
Kolfager had bigger things in mind with respect to the donor list.
From The Daily Beast:
"Kolfage’s pitch to the Republican consultant, who does digital fundraising for Republican candidates, suggests that Kolfage was seeking to rent the list to other vendors that work with political campaigns, rather than to the campaigns directly. That’s a common arrangement for digital fundraising vendors, but it makes it difficult to track down which, or how many, campaigns have rented the We Build The Wall list.
But at least one political candidate appears to have done so. The Daily Beast reported last year that Kris Kobac—the former Kansas Secretary of State, and We Build The Wall general counsel—sent a fundraising email to that list asking for donations to his ultimately failed 2020 Senate campaign. Legal experts told The Daily Beast at the time that that solicitation almost certainly violated federal campaign finance laws, either by failing to disclose that the campaign had paid for its use of the list, or by constituting an illegal in-kind contribution from the nonprofit to the campaign. The ethics watchdog group Common Cause subsequently filed legal complaints against both Kobach’s campaign and We Build The Wall over the fundraising appeal."
Steve Thomas
The inevitable end result of our last 56 years
in Political Discussions
Posted · Edited by Steve Thomas
Notice to the Public - Closure for 2020 Acceptance of Presidential Nomination Wednesday, August 26 to Friday, August 28
August 22, 2020
https://www.nps.gov/whho/learn/management/temporary-area-closures.htm
The entire Ellipse and its side panels, roadways and sidewalks, E Street and its sidewalks between 15th-17th Streets, and the White House Sidewalk on Thursday, August 27, 2020 and Friday, August 28, 2020. Additionally, a temporary closure of First Division Monument and State Place, Sherman Park and Hamilton Place will be imposed from Wednesday, August 26, 2020 to August 28, 2020 as delineated in the attached map and as further delineated by fencing.
Specifically, there will be a temporary closure to the public of the below-listed areas adjacent to the White House Complex from approximately 8:00 a.m. on August 26, 2020, through approximately 2:00 a.m. on August 28, 2020:
Sherman Park, to include interior sidewalks (the west sidewalk on 15th Street, NW, will remain open to pedestrian traffic); and
First Division Park, to include interior sidewalks (the east sidewalk on 17th Street, NW, will remain open to pedestrian traffic).
Additionally, the following areas in the vicinity of the White House Complex also under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service will be subject to a temporary closure to the public from approximately 8:00 a.m. on August 27, 2020, through approximately 2:00 a.m. on August 28, 2020:
The Ellipse, including its side panels, roadways, and interior sidewalks;
E Street, NW, from 15th to 17th Streets, NW, to include the adjacent sidewalks along the above-mentioned parks, and south fence line of the White House grounds; and
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, between 15th Street and 17th Street, NW, to include the White House North fence line.
A map illustrating the closed park areas and the closed areas under other jurisdictions is attached. Violation is prohibited.
The People's House is closed to the People.
Steve Thomas