(Oops) U.S. Energy Secretary Duped Into Fake Interview With Russian Comedians

Tillerson takes time off as State Dept. refuses to say he is happy in his role

Haha, the rats are fleeing the sinking ship.
Tillerson's job- gut Russians sanctions and get Exxon into Russian oilfields. Absent that, what's the point of being in DC?

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/politics/tillerson-not-considering-resigning-vacation/index.html

Amid reports Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is frustrated and considering resigning, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert refused to say Tuesday whether Tillerson is happy in his current role.
Tillerson is also taking time off at a time when the US faces multiple foreign policy challenges.
Nauert dodged a question about Tillerson's feelings over the White House's involvement in foreign policy decisions.

"The Secretary, as do all other Cabinet officials, meets with the President and the President's national security advisers and Cabinet members. That is something that's normal, that's customary. They sit down, they have a healthy dialogue and conversations about the heaviest and the weightiest foreign policy issues," she said.

Parliamentarian deals setback to Republican healthcare bill

McTurtle is going to be pissed!

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/343234-parliamentarian-deals-setback-to-gop-healthcare-bill

Major portions of the Republican bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare will require 60 votes, according to the Senate parliamentarian, meaning they are unlikely to survive on the floor.

The parliamentarian has advised senators that several parts of the bill could be stripped out, according to a document released Friday by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee. (Read the ruling here.)

The provisions that would likely be removed include polices important to conservatives, such as restrictions on tax credits being used for insurance plans that cover abortion.

Language in the bill defunding Planned Parenthood for a year also violates the rules of reconciliation, according to the parliamentarian. Republicans are using those rules to try and pass the bill with only a simple majority.

Holding Your Ground Against Austerity: Lessons from the Illinois Budget Deal

Instead of caving to lowered expectations, Illinois residents came together like never before. Social-service providers who normally remain apolitical rallied in the streets, not to advocate for one budget line item over another, but to say the wealthy should pay their fair share so we can expand services instead of cutting them. A group of residents being hurt by the budget impasse marched 200 miles to Springfield. Unions strengthened alliances with community organizations. The Grassroots Collaborative, Fair Economy Illinois, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Grassroots Education Movement, the Fight for 15 and others advanced aspirational demands during a period that could have easily been purely defensive.

In the midst of the crisis and chaos created by Gov. Rauner, we pushed an Illinois progressive agenda farther than ever before and made historic progress. Illinois became the first state to pass a $15 minimum wage in both the upper and lower houses. The Illinois Senate passed a bill to close the carried-interest loophole by placing a privilege tax on Wall Street money managers, becoming the first legislative body in the country to do so. Together, a broad coalition passed a bill to give Chicago an elected representative school board, something that Chicago parents have been demanding for decades. The General Assembly also passed the Illinois Trust Act that would expand protections of Illinois immigrant community running directly counter to Gov. Rauner’s anti-immigrant, anti-refugee policies.

We’ve made important strides toward a bold vision. What we still need to do is build the power to fully achieve that vision, by organizing with people in all parts of Illinois. To this end, Grassroots Collaborative is experimenting with building progressive statewide infrastructure, beginning with developing grass-roots leaders and engaging sporadic voters of color in Peoria. Working families, women and people of color must be at the center of our agenda. And unless we build meaningful relationships across the state, Rauner will continue to manipulate a racist anti-Chicago narrative and keep the state divided against itself.

Right-wing media are freaking out as anti-LGBTQ hate groups are called out

In a July 13 National Review article, senior writer and former ADF senior counsel David French called SPLC a “dangerous joke” that spreads “vicious hate.” French claimed that ADF was labeled a hate group “merely because [its members] advocate for orthodox Christian principles and the liberty to live those principles.” He also suggested that there are only two forms of extremism that SPLC should track -- “racist terrorists and white supremacists” -- and concluded that “media outlets who use the SPLC to assess Christian speech expose only their own bias and incompetence.”

Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist, declared that ABC News reporters “smeared Christians who believe the Bill of Rights secures religious liberty as a ‘hate group’” and argued that ADF “is not a hate group at all, but a civil liberties organization that battles for religious liberty.” Hemingway went on to warn the media against using SPLC’s designations in the future, threatening that they would be turning “journalism into anti-religious propaganda on behalf of a partisan group” and could potentially “be perceived as enemies of average Americans.”

Katrina Trinko, managing editor of The Daily Signal, wrote that SPLC’s designations put “conservatives’ safety at risk” of persecution and violence by the left, and that “once again, the mainstream media is demonstrating it doesn’t care about the impact of extremist rhetoric on conservatives.” Right-wing outlet The Daily Caller published a post about ADF’s demand that ABC News retract its story, writing that SPLC “frequently smears conservatives as ‘extremists.’” It also published tweets from conservatives who “blasted the media coverage of ADF as an obvious example of media bias.”

During the July 14 edition of his show, Fox News prime-time host Tucker Carlson called SPLC a “totally discredited but extremely rich left-wing organization” that attempts to “shut down legitimate debate by labeling ideas it disagrees with as ‘hate speech.’” Carlson asserted that NBC News and SPLC “think they’re in charge” of deciding “which ideas are legitimate and which ideas are so dangerous we must suppress them.” Carlson also hosted ADF Vice President Kristen Waggoner, who asserted that ABC and NBC had committed “journalistic malpractice,” and she and Carlson both said SPLC is a “scam.”

Karen Budd-Falen, the Bundy familys lawyer, may be Trumps pick to manage federal lands

Now Trumpco is trolling anyone to the left of Rand Paul.

https://www.salon.com/2017/07/18/karen-budd-falen-the-bundy-familys-lawyer-may-be-trumps-pick-to-manage-federal-lands/

Yale historian warns Trumps rise perfectly mirrors frightening ascent of Fascism & Nazis in 1930's

Eric Trump Leaves Plate Of Seared Foie Gras Outside Bedroom Door Of Despondent Donald Trump Jr.

WASHINGTON—After gently knocking on his brother’s door and insisting he really should eat something, Eric Trump left a plate of seared foie gras outside a despondent Donald Trump Jr.’s bedroom door, sources said Wednesday. “Hey, Donny, you sure you don’t want a little supper?” said Trump, telling his brother that he might be feeling sad, but that didn’t mean he had to go all day on an empty stomach. “It’s got pear puree and beluga caviar, too. We know how much you like that. Okay, how about I just leave this right here, and you can have some anytime you get hungry? And, hey, we saved you a blackberry mousse torte. It’ll be in the fridge whenever you feel like coming down.” Despite insisting he wasn’t hungry and wanted to be left alone, Donald Trump Jr. had at press time opened his door halfway, brought the plate into his room, and quietly closed the door behind him.

It's been a looong week...And now for something completely different.

Trump's alarming environmental rollback: what's been scrapped so far