COMEY: Rushbo – Comey confronted; Costa & Dawsey – Giuliani recruited; Durden – Nunes, Gowdy, & Goodlatte explode; Jalonick et al., Comey memos; Scarborough – Mueller warns about fake news.
OIL: Melloy – Trump blasts OPEC; DiChristopher – Oil stockpiles.
LEADS: Wilhelm – Feminism; Washington Times – China trade; Nolte – Californians (59%) want them deported; Savransky – Gingrich; Smith – *Bucks insanity.
HEALTH CARE: Hannity – Josh Umber Site.
RECOMMENDED: Mark Levin 04-20-18; EllworthforGovernor – Ellsworth2018.com; Best Actor – Churchill show times. Chappaquiddick times –
“Socialism is the theory that the desire of one man to get something he hasn’t got is more pleasing to a just God than the desire of some other man to keep what he has got.”
A Little Book in C Major, New York, NY, John Lane Company (1916) p. 51. H.L Mencken
COMEY:
Rushbo: “Conservative Journalist Confronts Comey”
“RUSH: Grab sound bite number 23 and play it again. This is Laura Loomer. She comes from the James O’Keefe shop, Project Veritas. She’s now acting independently. She showed up at Comey’s book signing event at Barnes & Noble in New York last night.
“LOOMER: How is it ethical to brief the president of the United States on an unverifiable and salacious dossier, and how is it ethical leadership to not tell him that his political opposition, Hillary Clinton, paid for that? You are not an ethical leader!
MAN: Ma’am, you’re gonna have to leave.
RUSH: All right. Now, she’s got a little bit of a tweet storm, modified tweet storm going on right now. And she says people have told her all her life she’s not good enough, never gonna amount to anything, and yet she woke up today to two links on Drudge from this event. And so she’s telling anybody and everybody, be what you want to be, be the best you can be and do it. Don’t listen to people who tell you you can’t do it.
“That’s ever so true, folks. Do not seek out people who failed at anything and take their advice. They’re just gonna try to get you to join them in the failure. Do not waste time, especially if it’s something you know you want to do. Talk to the people who have succeeded in it. Talk to people who are successes in it and get advice or help from them, but don’t waste your time with people who failed at it. They have nothing for you, unless they know why they failed and can give you some positive advice in that way.
“But this is one of the tweets in her storm. ‘Every single reporter who attended Comey’s book launch at Barnes & Noble last night and is attacking me should have their journalist card revoked for bending over and not blinking an eye when Comey and his staff said they will prescreen the questions people can ask.’ So at these book signings, which Comey’s charging money to attend, they’re prescreening all the questions, and people got mad at her for asking.
“She’s also saying that people are accusing her of acting like a liberal. And her reaction, her answer to that was, ‘No, no, no, I’m not acting like a liberal. Liberals don’t ask tough questions.’ . . .”
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2018/04/19/conservative-journalist-confronts-comey/
Robert Costa & Josh Dawsey, WaPo: “Giuliani says he is joining Trump’s legal team to ‘negotiate an end’ to Mueller probe”
“Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a combative former prosecutor and longtime ally of President Trump, told The Washington Post on Thursday that he has joined the president’s legal team dealing with the ongoing special counsel probe.
“‘I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller,’ Giuliani said in an interview.
“Trump counsel Jay Sekulow said Thursday in a statement that Giuliani is joining the team along with two former federal prosecutors, Jane Serene Raskin and Marty Raskin, a couple who jointly run a Florida-based law firm.
“‘Rudy is great,’ Trump said in the statement issued by Sekulow. ‘He has been my friend for a long time and wants to get this matter quickly resolved for the good of the country.’ . . .”
Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge: “Nunes, Gowdy And Goodlatte Go Nuclear After Comey Memos Released”
“Facing an imminent Congressional subpoena, the Department of Justice finally turned over James Comey’s now-infamous memos Thursday night – which were promptly leaked and published by AP.
“We already know that Comey’s leak to the press was illegal – as the FBI’s chief FOIA officer, David Hardy, gave a sworn declaration to Judicial Watch in which he says that all seven of Comey’s memos were classified at the time they were written, and they remain classified.
“Perhaps most disturbing is that James Comey’s memos do not make a compelling case for obstruction whatsoever – which Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein (who Comey said “I didn’t have confidence” in), used to launch the special counsel investigation headed by former FBI Director Robert Mueller.
“In response to the Comey memos, Congressional Committee chairs Devin Nunes (R-CA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Trey Gowdy (R-SC) fired off a scathing rebuke, in which they made it abundantly clear that the Mueller investigation is a farce based on yet another example of the FBI using a flimsy document to launch a politically motivated investigation. . .”
Mary Jalonick, Eric Tucker, & Chad Day, AP: “In Comey memos, Trump fixates on ‘hookers,’ frets over Flynn”
“. . . The 15 pages of documents contain new details about a series of interactions with Trump that Comey found so unnerving that he chose to document them in writing. Those seven encounters in the weeks and months before Comey’s May 2017 firing include a Trump Tower discussion about allegations involving Trump and prostitutes in Moscow; a White House dinner at which Comey says Trump asked him for his loyalty; and a private Oval Office discussion where the ex-FBI head says the president asked him to end an investigation into Michael Flynn, the former White House national security adviser.
“The documents had been eagerly anticipated since their existence was first revealed last year, especially since Comey’s interactions with Trump are a critical part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the president sought to obstruct justice. Late Thursday night, Trump tweeted that the memos ‘show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION.’
“The president also accused Comey of leaking classified information. The memos obtained by the AP were unclassified, though some portions were blacked out as classified. Details from Comey’s memos reported in news stories last year appear to come from the unclassified portions. . .”
Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times: “Robert Mueller’s warning: ‘Many’ news stories on Trump-Russia probe are wrong”
“What I have been telling all reporters is that many stories about our investigation have been inaccurate,” the Mueller spokesperson said. “Be very cautious about any source that claims to have knowledge about our investigation and dig deep into what they claim before reporting on it. If another outlet reports something, don’t run with it unless you have your own sourcing to back it up.”
“The statement was reported by the Daily Caller and confirmed by The Washington Times.
“The McClatchy story on Friday lit up liberal media outlets since, if true, it would confirm a major charge by the British ex-spy. Mr. Steele wrote that Mr. Cohen traveled secretly to Prague in August 2016 to meet Vladimir Putin aides to conspire to cover up Russian hacking of Democratic Party computers. In other words: Trump-Russia collusion.
There has been no official or press confirmation of Mr. Steele’s Prague allegation nor of a number of other Steele collusion charges. His work was financed by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/16/robert-mueller-many-news-stories-trump-russia-prob/
OIL:
John Melloy, CNBC: “Trump blasts OPEC, says cartel is keeping oil prices ‘artificially very high’ and that ‘will not be accepted’”
Gas – $2.96 Regular . . .
“Looks like OPEC is at it again,” Trump tweets. “Oil prices are artificially Very High!
WTI oil prices hit a three-year high above $69 a barrel this week.
“Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih responds that “Markets should determine price.”
Tom DiChristopher, CNBC: Oil soars 2.9% to 3-year high, settling at $68.47, as US crude stockpiles drop”
- Oil prices rose to more than three year highs on Wednesday, with U.S. crude topping $68 a barrel for the first time since December 2014.
- Futures extended gains after weekly government data showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 1.1 million barrels.
- The oil market has been supported by concerns about geopolitical tension and supply disruptions in crude-producing nations.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/us-crude-tops-68-for-the-first-time-in-more-than-three-years.html
LEADS:
Heather Wilhelm, NRO: “Today’s Sad Feminism — and Two Breaths of Fresh Air”
“. . .This week, two impressive women dominated American headlines. The first was Southwest Airlines pilot Tammie Jo Shults, hailed for her “nerves of steel” after guiding a crippled plane to safety when an engine exploded midair, sending shrapnel into the plane’s cabin and tragically killing a passenger. The second was widely loved former first lady Barbara Bush, who passed away at the age of 92.
“At first glance, the two women might seem wildly different. The examples set by both, however, could serve as a master class in what today’s often-wacky brand of feminism should strive to be.
“The 56-year-old Captain Shults, the New York Times reports, “learned to fly as one of the first female fighter pilots in the Navy three decades ago, piloting the F/A Hornet in an era when women were barred from combat missions.” She was a trailblazer, following her dream in an age when the idea of women flying fighter jets often earned dismissive scoffs. Growing up close to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, she watched jets in action and fell in love. . .
“ . . . In 1990, when Wellesley College invited Mrs. Bush to speak at its commencement — Wellesley, of course, is the prestigious college for women that counts Hillary Clinton among its alumnae — a protest riled the campus. “Wellesley teaches that we will be rewarded on the basis of our own merit, not on that of a spouse,” students noted in a petition. Bush, undaunted, came to speak.
“She spoke, interestingly enough, on the topic of diversity, and on the importance of pursuing your own dream, ‘not society’s dream.’ Moreover, she argued, despite our culture’s relentless focus on career achievement, ‘human connections — with spouses, with children, with friends — are the most important investments you’ll ever make. . . . At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a parent.’
One of Bush’s biggest applause lines came from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: ‘Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.’ . . .”
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/tammie-jo-shults-barbara-bush-rose-above-todays-feminism/
Washington Times: “Good news from the front”
“. . . Expanded trade with China over the past few decades has accomplished some good things, to be sure. Tens of millions of Chinese have been lifted out of extreme poverty, moving from field to factory, and a surfeit of inexpensive (and sometimes cheap) goods into the United States. The bounty available at Walmart, Target and on the virtual shelves of Amazon is largely there because of Chinese manufacture. It’s the tribute, you might say, that Communists have paid to capitalism.
“But the collateral damage to many Americans has been significant. Economists David Autor, David Dorn and Gordon Hanson tallied up the economic impact in the areas of the country most exposed to Chinese imports. They found significant declines in job growth. The economists looked at U.S. manufacturing and determined that Chinese competition has led to lower wages. No wonder the deplorables were upset, and expressed their anger at the polls.
“Trade between China and the United States has hardly been free. For years, Beijing artificially weakened its currency to make its exports more attractive, which is to say, cheap. China has subsidized its domestic industries in ways that shut out foreign competition. When foreign companies invest in China, they’re often forced to hand over prized intellectual property rights and set up joint ventures with Chinese companies. The result of this unbalanced relationship is a yawning trade deficit. Last year, the Chinese bought $130 billion worth of American exports. The United States bought $500 billion worth of Chinese goods. As the president might put it, ‘not good.’ . . .”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/19/editorial-china-blinks-in-the-tempest-over-tariffs/
John Nolte, Breitbart: “Shock Poll: 59 Percent of Californians Want Increased Deportations of Illegals”
“. . . California, which advertises itself as a progressive sanctuary state for illegal aliens, has been on the front-lines fighting against President Donald Trump’s push to finally enforce America’s immigration laws. From all of the reporting coming from our disgraced media, you would be led to believe that not only is all of California opposed to enforcing immigration law, but a majority of the American people. Hidden in this survey, however, is a truth our media never tells, as well as a number of other interesting finds.
‘While 59 percent of Californians believe it is very (24 percent) or somewhat (35 percent) important to increase deportations of illegals, in the bluer than blue Bay Area, that number holds at 60 percent. . .”
Rebecca Savransky, The Hill: “Gingrich compares FBI raid of Trump lawyer to Nazi secret police”
“. . . Gingrich said during an interview on Fox News that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has “not done his job” and has not supervised special counsel Robert Mueller.
“This whole thing is an absurdity. We’ve now had Paul Manafort and his wife in their pajamas at 3 in the morning having the FBI break down the door,” he said on Wednesday, referring to an FBI raid last year at the home of Trump’s former campaign manager.
“Cohen, the lawyer, had the door taken off of the hinges at 6 in the morning.”
He also tore into the Justice Department and said the country is supposed to have the “rule of law.”
“It ain’t the rule of law when they kick in your door at 3 in the morning and you’re faced with armed men. And you have had no reason to be told you’re going to have that kind of treatment,” he continued.
“That’s Stalin. That’s the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn’t be the American FBI.”
Kyle Smith, NRO: “People Are Losing Their Minds over Starbucks”
Disclosure – I’ve written and published Dead Cats, 3-7 days per week, for about seven years – I am a conservative and every issue was created and distributed in a Starbucks coffee shop . . .
“…Only via frazzled, race-drunk thinking can a (possibly) racist act on the part of one out of 238,000 Starbucks employees somehow become the fault of the whole company. Starbucks as a corporation is comparable to a midsize city: larger than Richmond, Va. Would you boycott Richmond because one person there had committed murder, much less because one person there was shown to be a racist? Unless it turns out that Starbucks’s training materials include the admonition, “Call the cops on any black people in your store who don’t buy anything,” I doubt the company as a whole is to blame.
“That this particular corporation has been at pains to publicize its concern with race tensions — at one point in 2015 even encouraging employees to write ‘race together’ on customers’ cups while sponsoring a series of anti-racism articles in USA Today — has caused some chortling among conservatives. The lesson there is that no matter how loudly you declare yourself one of the good guys, it’ll be forgotten when the mob assembles. Any money spent buying indulgences in the church of racial enlightenment buys you no insurance against cries of racism.
“When that cry goes up, everyone wants in on the action. So, on Monday, a mob of protesters shut down the Philadelphia Starbucks in question for more than three hours. Any nonracists in the mood for a cup of Starbucks java had to go elsewhere. Why punish them? Why harass all the good people at that location for the actions of someone who doesn’t even work there anymore? And if it’s the arrest that’s the most bothersome part of the story, why train your fury mostly on baristas rather than cops?
“Local politicians rushed to join the fray: ‘Starbucks has issued an apology, but that is not enough,’ Philly mayor Jim Kenney said, adding that he had ordered the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations to investigate. Starbucks was open to dialogue with the demonstrators — Camille Hymes, a regional vice president for the company, offered to talk to them on Monday at the Philly store — but they refused. “We know that you don’t have the power to change everything. You’re just a figurehead, but we’re going to get to those in power, and we’re going to make sure that we shut you down,” a demonstrator replied in a moment captured on a video.
“Then the leadership of Starbucks unwisely granted the mob’s premise — that the entire company is tied to the action of the Philadelphia employee — when it announced it would close every store in the chain (that’s 8,000 stores) on May 29 to train 175,000 employees in how to avoid racial bias. This centralized the manager’s action instead of distancing the corporation from it. It’s as though the entire city of Richmond vowed to undertake a reeducation program every time one of its citizens commits a crime. The move guaranteed that ‘Starbucks’ and ‘race’ will continue to be linked in the public imagination for weeks to come. . .”
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/starbucks-anti-racism-protests-race-frenzy/
HEALTH CARE:
Hannity: Josh Umber Site
“Josh Umber free market program: Standard fee: $50/month for an adult, $10 per child; no limit on number of visits; medication is purchased in bulk and sold to the patient at a 90% discount.
“The map below contains a listing of public addresses and website links to 607 DPC practice locations in 47 states + DC (we still have not located any DPC practices in North Dakota, South Dakota, or Iowa,). Website readers should note that these practices met our three part definition of DPC, although they may not always self-describe as DPC. Both “Pure” DPC practices and DPC hybrids are included in the mapper, and they are now color coded! I’m happy to report that over 70% of the practices in the mapper are known to be pure.
http://www.dpcfrontier.com/mapper/
RECOMMENDED:
Convention of States: Free Pocket Guide
‘I support the Convention of States Project; a national effort to call a convention under Article V of the United States Constitution, restricted to proposing amendments that will impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its power and jurisdiction, and impose term limits on its officials and members of Congress.”
https://conventionofstates.com/
Mark Levin, 04-20-18
On Thursday’s Mark Levin show, The Department of Justice’s Inspector general sent a criminal referral regarding Andrew McCabe to the U.S. attorney office. This means that James Comey will now be a witness if charges are brought because McCabe has said that he leaked and Comey knew about it.
“Also, the DOJ’s internal watchdog put out a report on leaks from the Clinton email investigation. Comey’s friend is hinting that this report could be damning for Loretta Lynch. So, McCabe is a liar and was caught; his defense in part is that Comey made me do it. Comey says Lynch made me do it. Meanwhile we have a special councel investigating President Trump, not Comey, McCabe or Lynch. So far this inspector general is getting more information about who did what than Robert Mueller is because Mueller has no interest in Lynch, Comey, McCabe, Hillary or the DNC.
“Later, the long-held official policy of the Department of Justice is that a sitting president of the United States cannot be indicted, according to official DOJ memoranda. So, if a sitting president can’t be indicted how can he be a target of an investigation?
“Finally, Rep Ron DeSantis calls in to discuss attacks ads against him during his run for Governor.”
http://www.marklevinshow.com/2018/04/19/april-19-2018/
Laura Ellsworth for Guv’
Chappaquiddick Show Times – Regal Oaks Stadium 24 – Map
11:40am, 1:25pm, 4:20pm, 7:25pm, 10:10pm
Best Actor – Churchill film: “The Darkest Hour.”
Regal show times at https://www.regmovies.com/movies/darkest-hour/B00472806”867
