Spike Lee’s ‘BlacKkKlansman’ premiers today, and just in time

Wednesday night on her primetime show The Ingraham Angle, Fox News host Laura Ingraham whitesplained that “the America we know and love doesn’t exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people,” she said, in the form of documented and undocumented immigrants. Laura Ingraham’s Anti-Immigrant Rant Was So Racist It Was Endorsed by Ex-KKK Leader David Duke:

Minutes later, Duke tweeted praise for Ingraham.

“One of the most important (truthful) monologues in the history of MSM,” he wrote above a clip of Ingraham’s rant. He later deleted the tweet.

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Ingraham blamed the left for pushing out whites.

“From Virginia to California, we see stark examples of how radically, in some ways, the country has changed,” Ingraham said. “Now, much of this is related to both illegal and in some cases legal immigration that, of course, progressives love.”

Ingraham’s white grievances/white fears racist jeremiad is strangely perfectly timed for the premier of Spike Lee’s new film, BlacKkKlansman (opening in Tucson theaters today), a comedy based upon the true story of a black cop with the Colorado Springs Police Department in the 1970s who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan by posing as a rabid racist and anti-Semite. (The aforementioned David Duke is portrayed in the film). ‘BlacKkKlansman’ a masterful reality check from Spike Lee:

Screen Shot 2018-08-09 at 3.40.26 PM

Link to Movie Trailer.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter all that much if a movie is based on a true story or has sprung fully from the imagination of the screenwriter.

But in the case of Spike Lee’s searing, electric and sometimes flat-out funny “BlacKkKlansman,” knowing we’re seeing a dramatization of real-life events definitely helps — because if this were pure fiction, it would just seem too unbelievable.

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Another Thing About Those Devin Nunes Comments

Rachel Maddow last night played audio from Devin Nunes’ appearance at a fundraiser for Kathy McMorris Rodgers. Rodgers, the fourth ranking member in the Republican House caucus, is in a tough battle to retain her seat.

Nunes, with Rodgers seemingly on board, explained how the Rosenstein impeachment isn’t dead, it’s just on hold until the Senate confirms Kavanaugh. If the House impeached Rosenstein, you see, the Senate would have to table all other business during the Rosenstein’s trial.

Yes, that’s disturbing. Good on Rachel for reporting it.

But the other disturbing part of the story is the role Nunes was playing at the event.

Many readers here think of Nunes as nothing but a corrupt stooge for Trump.

Yet there he was, playing the headliner role at a fundraiser for the fourth ranking Republican in the House.

Were it an event to rally the folks like those we’ve seen at recent Trump rallies (my fave is the woman in the sleeveless flannel shirt flipping the bird at the camera), this would not be surprising. You’d expect Nunes to be popular with that crowd.

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A crony capitalist ‘kitchen cabinet’ at Mar-a-Lago runs the VA – the Trump swamp

Republicans and their allies (e.g., The Arizona Republic) generated public outrage in recent years over the Phoenix VA health-care system scandal: An Arizona Republic Investigation. It led to staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs being fired, and Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin resigning (or was he fired?) over his travel expense scandal. David Shulkin says he was fired. The White House says he quit.

So it is rather surprising that this new investigative report from ProPublica is barely receiving a mention today in the news. It appears that our “Dear Leader” has a crony capitalist “kitchen cabinet” at Mar-a-Lago — none of whom have military service or experience in running a large federal agency — being allowed to dictate policy and personnel at the VA. This is the next big VA scandal. The Shadow Rulers of the VA:

Last February, shortly after Peter O’Rourke became chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, he received an email from Bruce Moskowitz with his input on a new mental health initiative for the VA. “Received,” O’Rourke replied. “I will begin a project plan and develop a timeline for action.”

O’Rourke treated the email as an order, but Moskowitz is not his boss. In fact, he is not even a government official. Moskowitz is a Palm Beach doctor who helps wealthy people obtain high-service “concierge” medical care.

More to the point, he is one-third of an informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the VA from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The troika is led by Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who is a longtime acquaintance of President Trump’s. The third member is a lawyer named Marc Sherman. None of them has ever served in the U.S. military or government.

Yet from a thousand miles away, they have leaned on VA officials and steered policies affecting millions of Americans. They have remained hidden except to a few VA insiders, who have come to call them “the Mar-a-Lago Crowd.”

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Democrat AZ Mine Inspector Candidate Bill Pierce Will Protect Us from Soil and Water Contamination

 

Democratic Candidate for Arizona Mining Inspector Bill Pierce

In the very nicely air-conditioned offices of Legislative District Office 18 in Tempe, Arizona Mine Inspector Candidate Bill Pierce urgently conveyed that the Mine Inspector’s Office is in immediate need of greater oversight funding and staff so abandoned mines can be found and secured, current operating mines could be adequately inspected and monitored, and environmental contamination to our ground and water supply could be halted before potentially adversely affecting the lives of all the people dependent on sources like the Colorado River.

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Grifters gotta grift: the Trump swamp (updated)

Why has this crook not already resigned, or been fired? Oh that’s right, he works for America’s premier grifter, Donald Trump.

Dan Alexander at Forbes reports on Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross robbing his clients blind to build his fortune. New Details About Wilbur Ross’ Business Point To Pattern Of Grifting:

A multimillion-dollar lawsuit has been quietly making its way through the New York State court system over the last three years, pitting a private equity manager named David Storper against his former boss: Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The pair worked side by side for more than a decade, eventually at the firm, WL Ross & Co.—where, Storper later alleged, Ross stole his interests in a private equity fund, transferred them to himself, then tried to cover it up with bogus paperwork. Two weeks ago, just before the start of a trial with $4 million on the line, Ross and Storper agreed to a confidential settlement, whose existence has never been reported and whose terms remain secret.

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There are bigger allegations. Over several months, in speaking with 21 people who know Ross, Forbes uncovered a pattern: Many of those who worked directly with him claim that Ross wrongly siphoned or outright stole a few million here and a few million there, huge amounts for most but not necessarily for the commerce secretary. At least if you consider them individually. But all told, these allegations—which sparked lawsuits, reimbursements and an SEC fine—come to more than $120 million. If even half of the accusations are legitimate, the current United States secretary of commerce could rank among the biggest grifters in American history.

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