What Does Mueller Have? Memo Hints at Damaging Russia Info from Cohen

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A sentencing memo written by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s legal team is sparking interest with hints about what President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen may have told prosecutors investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. . .

“Cohen provided the [special counsel’s office] with useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to its investigation that he obtained by virtue of his regular contact with Company executives during the campaign,” Mueller wrote in his memo.

Cohen has admitted lying to Congress about how long he worked on the Trump Tower Moscow project and repeating the falsehoods to the media. But Mueller’s team doesn’t just consider this self-protection. It was a “deliberate effort” to publicly present a “false narrative” in the hopes of limiting the scope of the various Russia investigations, Mueller’s team wrote in the memo.

While the memo does not go into great details, it does provide new information about one of the earliest known contacts between Russia and a Trump campaign associate. In fall 2015, Cohen was months into his work on a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow when an unidentified Russian national proposed a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This person, prosecutors say, claimed to be a “trusted person” in Russia who could offer the Trump campaign “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level.”

This person sought to connect the Trump business project with the campaign, saying the meeting could have a “phenomenal” impact on the proposed tower in Moscow. There is “no bigger warranty in any project than the consent of” Putin, the person told Cohen. (Read more from “What Does Mueller Have? Memo Hints at Damaging Russia Info from Cohen” HERE)

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Facebook Censors Photo That Depicts Santa Claus Kneeling to Honor Baby Jesus

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Facebook has covered over a posting of a picture of Santa Claus kneeling before the Baby Jesus, warning viewers that the photo “may show violent or graphic content.”

A second warning beneath the obscured image of Santa on bended knee, reverentially adoring the Christ Child states, “This photo was automatically covered so you can decide if you want to see it.” . . .

Facebook explains on its site what it means by “Violence and graphic content:” . . .

The image in question — of the Savior of the World as an infant and a popularized version of a saint — was originally posted on December 1, 2015, with this accompanying poem explaining the touching illustration:

My dear precious Jesus, I did not mean to take your place,
I only bring toys and things and you bring love and grace.
People give me lists of wishes and hope that they came true;
But you hear prayers of the heart and promise your will to do.
Children try to be good and not to cry when I am coming to town;
But you love them unconditionally and that love will abound.
I leave only a bag of toys and temporary joy for a season;
But you leave a heart of love, full of purpose and reasons.
I have a lot of believers and what one might call fame;
But I never healed the blind or tried to help the lame.
I have rosy cheeks and a voice full of laughter;
But no nail—scarred hands or a promise of the hereafter.
You may find several of me in town or at a mall;
But there is only one omnipotent you, to answer a sinner’s call.
And so, my dear precious Jesus, I kneel here to pray;
To worship and adore you on this, your holy birthday.

(Read more from “Facebook Censors Photo That Depicts Santa Claus Kneeling to Honor Baby Jesus in Manger” HERE)

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DOJ Wants to Keep Justification for Raiding Reported Clinton Foundation Whistleblower Secret

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By The Daily Caller. The Department of Justice is requesting that the justification of an FBI raid on a reportedly recognized whistleblower’s home remain secret, according to a letter from U.S. Attorney Robert Robert Hur.

The letter was sent to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on Dec. 7 in response to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Nov. 30 request to unseal court documents that would show the FBI’s rationale for the raid.

The documents could potentially reveal whether the bureau and the magistrate who signed the court order allowing the raid, Stephanie A. Gallagher, knew that the subject was, according to his lawyer, a recognized whistleblower. . .

The documents Cain possessed reportedly showed that federal officials failed to investigate potential criminal activity regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and the Russian company that purchased Uranium One.

Cain gave the documents to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who had a senior official from his office hand-deliver them to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, according to Cain’s layer, Michael Socarras. (Read more from “DOJ Wants to Keep Justification for Raiding Reported Clinton Foundation Whistleblower Secret” HERE)

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Ned Ryun: Why Are There No Consequences for Clinton Foundation Abuses?

By Fox News. Last week news broke that whistleblowers on the Clinton Foundation had come forward over a year ago regarding potential abuses, including “quid pro quo” behavior, “conflicts of interest” and the paying of personal business with Foundation funds. Some former federal investigators have even said there is strong evidence of potential criminality.

There have always been questions about the Clinton Foundation’s actual purpose and behavior over the years. Of course we can’t forget the Uranium One situation during the Obama years in which, while Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) board approved giving Russia the rights to 20 percent of our uranium and then magically, $145 million shows up in the Clinton Foundation from interests with ties to Uranium One.

What is not as well known is that there were other concerning business transactions while Hillary was Secretary of State: between 2010 and 2012, Hillary Clinton’s State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to nearly two dozen foreign countries, whose governments had conveniently given anywhere from $54 to $141 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Now, commercial arms sales to foreign countries happen all the time. What’s unusual about the size of the sales Hillary approved in that two year period is that they represented nearly “double the value of American arms sales made to the those countries and approved by the State Department during the same period of President George W. Bush’s second term.” (Read more from “Ned Ryun: Why Are There No Consequences for Clinton Foundation Abuses?” HERE)

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Trump’s Possible New Chief of Staff

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President Trump is looking for a new chief of staff to replace John Kelly, and there’s a good chance he might pick hard-line conservative Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.

Meadows would like the job; he said in a statement, according to Politico, “Serving as Chief of Staff would be an incredible honor. The President has a long list of qualified candidates and I know he’ll make the best selection for his administration and for the country.” Politico notes that Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), his closest friend in Congress, have championed Trump’s cause by initiating counter-investigations of the FBI and how the bureau has conducted the Russia investigation. Jordan said of Meadows, “I think he’d be great. Mark understands how Capitol Hill works. He’s a smart guy. This decision is between the president and Mark, but I think he’d do an outstanding job.”

One White House official told Politico, “He’d have a keen sense of what to do, what groups to engage with, what events to hold, going into a hyperpolitical time. He also knows oversight better than most. Going into a Democratic House takeover, he would know tools Republicans have at their disposal to push back on Democrats better than anyone.”

Meadows has his supporters in Congress, among them, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who stated, “Meadows understands the oversight process, the media and how to pick fights we can win,” adding he’s doing “all I can to encourage the president to pick him … I lobbied the president the best way I know how. I made the Meadows case on Fox News.” Gaetz said on Fox News, “It’s one of the reasons I think President Trump needs to pick Mark Meadows to be his chief of staff, because Mark fully understands the facts and the timeline and will make sure the White House is prepared to go toe-to-toe with a far more politically engaged James Comey,” (Read more from “Trump’s Possible New Chief of Staff” HERE)

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Watch: CNN Reporter Appears to Use Sexual Slur, Immediately Claims He Doesn’t Know What It Means

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By Don Lemon. CNN’s Don Lemon immediately walked back an apparent sexual slur that he used on Wednesday night while appearing on a segment on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time.”

The segment originally started out with Cuomo talking about PETA’s list of “anti-animal language” and then transitioned into talking about “more serious things.”

At the end of the segment, Lemon told Cuomo: “Don’t be a chickenhead.”

The term “chickenhead” is a slang derogatory term that is used to describe someone who likes performing oral sex on a man and is considered to be especially degrading toward women.

(Read more from “Watch: CNN Reporter Appears to Use Sexual Slur, Immediately Claims He Doesn’t Know What It Means” HERE)

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THROWBACK: Don Lemon Didn’t Just Victim-Blame–He Perpetuated Multiple Rape Myths

By TIME. On Tuesday, CNN’s Don Lemon interviewed Joan Tarshis, one of more than a dozen women who have come forward over several years to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault. These allegations resurfaced after a comedian pointedly commented on them during a routine. This, in turn, prompted Barbara Bowman to ask publicly in an op-ed in The Washington Post, “Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?” Former supermodel Janice Dickinson is now the 15th woman to come forward with allegations.

The allegations are hardly new, and the interview could have been an occasion for a serious and nuanced conversation about rape, about how survivors respond to and survive assault and about well-documented techniques used by serial abusers. Instead, what proceeded was appalling. Lemon, in a few brief lines, blamed the victim for not stopping her assault, while also managing to subtly convey a whole series of rape myths.

Lemon’s most repugnant suggestion was this: “You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex.” He went on to clarify that he meant the “using of the teeth” as a “weapon” to stop the alleged assault. Put crassly, “Why didn’t you bite his dick if you didn’t want to perform oral sex?” Lemon continued, “If you didn’t want to do it…” In other words, “you really wanted it.” (Read more from “THROWBACK: Don Lemon Didn’t Just Victim-Blame–He Perpetuated Multiple Rape Myths” HERE)

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‘Baby Jane Doe’ Funeral Held for Newborn Found, as Cops Still Searching for Relatives

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More than four months after a newborn girl was found dead in a cardboard box along a Southern California highway, community members came together Thursday to pay their respects as authorities continue the search for the girl’s relatives.

A group of donors raised funds to provide a burial service for the girl, who’s known as “Baby Jane Doe.”

She was discovered July 27, wrapped in a t-shirt with stripes and a floral pattern near Interstate 15 in Corona, located east of Los Angeles.

Jon Castillo, a Corona police chaplain, led about 70 people in prayer near the tiny, flower-draped casket Thursday, the Press-Enterprise reported.

“Every person who walks the planet is born in God’s image, and she had inherent value and worth,” he told those gathered at the service. (Read more from “‘Baby Jane Doe’ Funeral Held for Newborn Found, as Cops Still Searching for Relatives” HERE)

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Not Obama’s State Department Anymore: Trump’s State Department Blasts Iran Full-Force

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On Sunday, the Trump administration’s State Department, a far cry from the Obama State Department’s sycophantic dealings with Iran, targeted the Iranian government with a series of blunt tweets that pointed out the corruption of Iranian officials, even referring to Iran’s Supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, as a “so-called holy man.” The State Department wrote, “Today is #AntiCorruptionDay. Sadly, for the Iranian people, their government is full of corrupt hypocrites. Take Ayatollah Khamenei, who has a tax-free hedge fund worth billions. This so-called holy man devours property from religious minorities, then funnels the cash to IRGC.”

Just in case you thought the State Department was only targeting Khamenei, think again. They were taking no prisoners. They followed with more tweets targeting more officials. They next tweeted, “This #AntiCorruptionDay Iranians have much to despair about. Their government is full of corrupt hypocrites. Meet Sadegh Mahsouli—The Billionaire General. Somehow he had a knack for winning lucrative construction and oil contracts from IRGC businesses. He is now worth billions.”

That was followed by tweeting, “Unfortunately, this #AntiCorruptionDay is a reminder for Iranians that their government is full of corrupt hypocrites. Meet Grand Ayatollah Makaram Shirazi—The Sultan of Sugar. He made millions flooding the market with expensive imported sugar, putting Iranian people out of work.”

(Read more from “Not Obama’s State Department Anymore: Trump’s State Department Blasts Iran Full-Force” HERE)

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Of Course: TIME Magazine Releases Finalists for ‘Person of the Year’ with ‘Separated Families’ Nominee

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TIME magazine has narrowed down its list of finalists for the magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year, and its progressive bias is clearly showing (again).

This year, the shortlist includes Russian President Vladimir Putin, special counsel Robert Mueller, Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford, the March for Our Lives anti-gun activists, and Jamal Khashoggi — all hot topics for the anti-Trump press this year. President Donald Trump makes the list too, but he was picked in 2016 and was a finalist in 2017 as well.

But the most egregiously biased nominee by far is “separated families,” a category for the more than 2,000 families affected by the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy to discourage illegal immigration.

Don’t forget that the media crisis over family separation was built on lies, just like the last time TIME made this issue its cover story.

(For more from the author of “Of Course: TIME Magazine Releases Finalists for ‘Person of the Year’ with ‘Separated Families’ Nominee” please click HERE)

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Ocasio-Cortez Says She Plans to Pay Her Interns. Here’s How Much per Hour.

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By Townhall. A few days ago Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) said she believes it’s time for her colleagues to pay interns. She came to the realization when she visited a diner in Washington, D.C. for a late night dinner and most of the staff were Capitol Hill workers at their second job.

Now, she says she’s going to “walk the walk” by paying her interns at least $15 an hour. . .

(Read more from “Ocasio-Cortez Says She Plans to Pay Her Interns. Here’s How Much per Hour.” HERE)

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‘Democratic Socialist’ Ocasio-Cortez to Pay Interns $15 per Hour

By Fox Business. Newly-elected New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced she will pay her interns $15 per hour, in what she calls an effort to “walk the walk” and have her policies match her political viewpoints. . .

A 2017 study by an advocacy group called Pay Our Interns found that 51 percent of Senate Republicans offered paid internships, compared with 31 percent of Democrats.

Meanwhile, young staffers in the House of Representatives had dismal pay prospects: Only 8 percent of Republicans – or 19 of 238 – paid interns, while 3.6 percent of Democrats, or 7 of 193, did so.

The study also concluded that internships in D.C. cost $6,000, on average.

A list of who was not paying young staffers included lawmakers like California Sen. Kamala Harris, Virginia Democrat Mark Warner and New York Democrat Chuck Schumer – all of whom have voiced support for raising the federal minimum wage. (Read more from “‘Democratic Socialist’ Ocasio-Cortez to Pay Interns $15 per Hour” HERE)

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You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch: Arsonist Goes on Christmas Decoration Burning Spree

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A 29-year-old South Carolina man whom some might describe as being as cuddly as a cactus and as charming as an eel sought to steal Christmas from his fellow neighbors by allegedly lighting fire to their decorations.

According to The State, the real-life Grinch, known to police as Cameron Lewis Baun, allegedly “burned down the Christmas decorations [in a] suburban Charleston neighborhood.” Baun was arrested on Friday after police received a call about a crazed arsonist setting fire to multiple properties in the Arbor Walk community in Summerville. . .

As to what motivated Baun to go on the alleged arson spree remains unclear at this time. Police have not yet ruled out Baun’s intense hatred for Christmas as a possibility … or his heart being two sizes too small. Regardless of the motive, somewhere along the line, police say he got an idea …

As noted by Newsweek, Baun is just one of many Grinch-like figures who are accused of trying to ruin Christmas with their own brand of Grinchery this year. In New York, a substitute teacher lost her job when she told a class of first-graders that Santa Claus did not exist. Parents were so outraged that the school principal issued a public apology.

“As a father of four myself, I am truly aware of the sensitive nature of this announcement,” said Principal Michael Raj, “I am sending this letter so that you are aware of the situation and if the conversation comes up at home over the next few days you can take appropriate steps to maintain the childhood innocence of the holiday season.” (Read more from “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch: Arsonist Goes on Christmas Decoration Burning Spree” HERE)

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