Fusion GPS Must Produce Bank Records, New White House Book Draws Trump's Fury, NYC Sued Over Cops' "Consensual" Sex w/Handcuffed Teen: AM Links

• A federal judge has denied the request of consulting-firm Fusion GPS to block the U.S. House Intelligence Committee from demanding its bank records related to the Trump-Russia dossier.

• Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff's released-today book about the Trump administration's first year, continues to command frenzied attention—including multiple threats of lawsuits from the president.

Theory: Trump is getting a cut of the profits from this book the sales of which he is massively boosting.

— FaintGlimmerofHopehat (@Popehat) January 4, 2018

• Canadians are mad that a mandatory $2.40 increase in the minimum wage has led fast-food giant Tim Hortons to reduce employee benefits and cut paid breaks.
• The 19-year-old New York City woman who was allegedly raped by NYPD police while handcuffed in the back of their van has brought a lawsuit against the city. (The cops admitted to the sex, but claimed it was consensual.)
• Prison kitchens have a #MeToo moment? A former employee with Ohio prison-kitchen contractor Aramark is suing the company for allegedly ignoring her claims of sexual harassment by a kitchen superior and allowing him to retaliate against her. Aramark has seen a bevy of complaints against employees in the past few years for everything from selling contraband items in prison to inappropriate sexual conduct with prisoners and rape.
• French President Emmanuel Macron is getting a lot of pushback on his plan to regulate "fake news."

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Comments

[Bee Tagger]

French President Emmanuel Macron is getting a lot of pushback on his plan to regulate "fake news."

Why don't they just go dutch and have the government handle half of the censorship and private industry the other half?

[Libertarian]

You know who else went Dutch?

[Rat on a train]

Kaiser Wilhelm?

[Tom Bombadil]

William of Orange?

[Vernon Depner]

Reagan?

[Tom Bombadil]

Musical Youth. But only on the left hand side.

[MP]

Lena Dunham?

[$park? leftist poser]

Roger Miller?

[$park? leftist poser]

Roger Miller?

Leroy Pullins?

[Mike Laursen]

I have to applaud your musical reference so obscure the dude has no entry in Wikipedia. It always makes my day when I find out about something too obscure for Wikipedia to know about.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

I second that. Amazing -- I can hear the difference when I know it's there, but if it had come on the radio by chance, I never would have guessed. I actually like his version a little more than Roger Miller's -- he sounds nuttier.

[Episteme]

The island of Manhattan?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

"Canadians are mad that a mandatory $2.40 increase in the minimum wage has led fast-food giant Tim Hortons to reduce employee benefits and cut paid breaks."

No. Kidding. I think Canadians have lost their minds. I know. I live among them. And not in the wild.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Katherine Wynne is doing what all left-wing parasitical ignoramuses do: Bully Tim Horton franchisees.

I swear these people....

[Rhywun]

They should threaten to pull out and let the shops be converted to Dunkin Donuts. *shudder*

[A Cynic's Guide to Zen]

Sure is fucked being a woman these days. Totally fucked, all the time. Thanks ENB for the fucking reminders of how fucking fucked it is out there for ladies.

[Jerryskids]

Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff's released-today book about the Trump administration's first year, continues to command frenzied attention?including multiple threats of lawsuits from the president.

Hillary Clinton is prepared to file an amicus brief in support of the lawsuits.

[A Cynic's Guide to Zen]

Wasn't that destroyed in the evidence burn housefire a few days ago?

[Libertarian]

The fire was in the Secret Service area. We can only assume an agent fell asleep with a couple hookers with a lit joint in his hand.

[Ska]

*analyzes CV for compatibility with new Secret Service jobs*

[Libertarian]

"Canadians are mad that a mandatory $2.40 increase in the minimum wage has led fast-food giant Tim Hortons to reduce employee benefits and cut paid breaks."

Hortons hears a "who could have seen that coming?"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh, you.

[FlameCCT]

^^^ is why we need a like or thumbs up button!

[A Cynic's Guide to Zen]

Why not just hang out in the reddit/facesperg-o-sphere?

[Roger the Shrubber]

[Roger the Shrubber]

Eh, good enough.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

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[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Oops, screwed that one up

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

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[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Wow, this one is huge. Sorry.

[Leader Desslok]

Its both YUUUUGGGGEE and classy, so all is forgiven.

[Episteme]

YUGE, like Trump's hands, you'd better believe!

[Conchfritters]

Canadians are mad that a mandatory $2.40 increase in the minimum wage has led fast-food giant Tim Hortons to reduce employee benefits and cut paid breaks.

Hose heads.

[Rat on a train]

The cops admitted to the sex, but claimed it was consensual.

As are the beatings and shootings.

[Libertarian]

Well, it wasn't EXACTLY consensual, but it WAS democratic. There was a vote and the cops won, 2 to 1.

[Rat on a train]

The cops allegedly let two young men who were with her drive off, but forced the teen to remain with them.

Voter suppression!

[Zeb]

If they have her is custody, there is no consensual anything.

[Vernon Depner]

They had to rape her. She reached for her waistband.

[Jimbo]

She was concealed carrying a vagina!

[Libertarian]

"A federal judge has denied the request of consulting-firm Fusion GPS to block the U.S. House Intelligence Committee from demanding its bank records related to the Trump-Russia dossier."

"IT'S HAPPENING!"

[paranoid android]

Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff's released-today book about the Trump administration's first year, continues to command frenzied attention?including multiple threats of lawsuits from the president.

I know this gets said a lot, but every time I think Trump's reached the absolute limit for incompetence he boldly sets new world records. It's like they're trying to give Wolff credibility and a signal boost.

[Tom Bombadil]

First I've heard it.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Yeh, the Norks are going to the table to negotiate with the Sorks, ISIS has been quelled, the GDP is in the 3% range, tax reform, some decent implementations and overturning of Obama era bull shit.

Define 'incompetence' PA?

[Crusty Juggler]

Trump is the dreamiest.

[Jimbo]

So you're giving up Hillary and her sexy cankles? Men!

[Azathoth!!]

Incompetence.

Definition--

"Getting things done that libertarians have wanted for decades, while being Donald J Trump"

Incompetence.

[Jerryskids]

Personally, I may be suffering a popcorn overdose watching how fast the Trumpalos turned on Steve Bannon over allegations of him saying something negative about the Holy Family when the allegations were made by somebody they dismiss as a lying liar who made the whole thing up.

And comes now the Trump fluffers over at Fox News - It's fair to question why the details are being taken as gospel to the liberal media when respected reporters such as Haberman and Blake are questioning its content. That would be the NYT Maggie Haberman and WaPo's Aaron Blake, Exhibits A and B in fakiest fake news fakers suffering from TDS, now trotted out as "respected reporters".

How long before Trump starts whining about how terrible the Citizens United decision was and the Trumpalos whole-heartedly agree?

[FlameCCT]

It appears that you confuse the Progressive #NeverTrumper Republicans with the #MAGA Republicans.

[Rhywun]

He's got the media running around in circles like cats following a laser pen. And they fall for it every time. Sounds pretty competent to me.

[paranoid android]

http://news.gallup.com/poll/20.....roval.aspx

And at most 35-40% of people agree! I hate making political predictions, but at this rate it seems clear the midterms are going to be an absolutely massacre.

[Rhywun]

Depends on the economy.

Also, you might want to consider the media's impact in shaping public opinion on whether a president is "incompetent" or not. The media largely ignored the ample evidence provided by The One but are quite happy to pound home the same stories about Trump over and over again.

[Tom Bombadil]

"I hate making political predictions"

Please shut up.

[Lucius Fergeson]

At least post a poll that was actually somewhat correct this past election:
http://www.rasmussenreports.co.....rack_jan05

[Azathoth!!]

I hate making political predictions, but at this rate it seems clear the midterms are going to be an absolutely massacre.

It's okay, most people think that.

But hey, the Democrats NEED some serious turnover.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

He's playing 'em like a fiddle. Instead of talking about all the positive developments listed by Rufus above, they're talking about how divided and uncoordinated his administration is and how no one in DC respects him. Dude's a freakin' maestro.

[Azathoth!!]

Since you're among those 'getting played', it's amusing to watch you twitch on Reason.

The best part is that you don't even realize that you're being laughed at.

[Tom Bombadil]

Motion from the floor:

That the definition of rape be amended to include any and all sexual acts by a policeperson upon a detained or arrested person regardless of the age or consent of the victim.

[Vernon Depner]

We have that rule for schoolteachers and students in our state, to prohibit sex with of-age superseniors.

[Zeb]

I'd go with that.

Best case for these cops is that they were accepting a bribe, which should get them fired and charged with a crime. But a presumption that sex with a person in custody is rape seems like a good rule for cops.

[Rat on a train]

White Privilege

[Crusty Juggler]

Wake me when they have invent a penis purpling.

[MP]

#balltag

[Tom Bombadil]

Wake me when they have a invent of a typing and a sense making.

[Jimbo]

You can that say again!

[Fist of Etiquette]

A federal judge has denied the request of consulting-firm Fusion GPS...

Looks like they took a few wrong turns in that request!

[paranoid android]

I'm starting to wonder how many advisers Trump has left that are at all honest with him. You'd think there'd be at least one person in the room who could try to explain prior restraint to him before he started threatening Wolff; though it would probably be difficult without pictures.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...including multiple threats of lawsuits from the president.

I don't think this is an application of The Streisand Effect as everyone is going apeshit over this thing already.

[Cyto]

What continues to surprise me is that he keeps making bufoonery work. I am beginning to suspect that the reason for this is that his opponents, though better spoken in their multitudes, are even more incompetent.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Canadians are mad that a mandatory $2.40 increase in the minimum wage has led fast-food giant Tim Hortons to reduce employee benefits and cut paid breaks.

And minimum wage earners seem like the type to understand economics.

[Fist of Etiquette]

(The cops admitted to the sex, but claimed it was consensual.)

(There is no scenario in which this could have been considered consensual.)

[Rhywun]

Considering that I am the one paying for the resulting vacation time, they'd be stupid not to pursue a little rape on the job.

[Roger the Shrubber]

'Was that wrong? 'Cause I gotta say, at my last job...'

[Fist of Etiquette]

A former employee with Ohio prison-kitchen contractor Aramark is suing the company for allegedly ignoring her claims of sexual harassment by a kitchen superior and allowing him to retaliate against her.

There is no scenario in which the management of a prison contractor is not populated solely with dirtbags.

[Tom Bombadil]

There is no scenario in which there is no scenario.

[Fist of Etiquette]

French President Emmanuel Macron is getting a lot of pushback on his plan to regulate "fake news."

Looks like he needs a partner to tag in.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Rufus: Psst. Macron Pass the brie.

Macron: Ah. A civilized man.

Rufus: Of course.

/Wipes it on Macron's face.

[A Cynic's Guide to Zen]

He likes his wine like he likes his women. Old, dusty, and dry as the Sudan.

[Tom Bombadil]

Thanks for keeping it...

(dons Depends)

brie-f

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

That pun is so full of holes ....

[Jimbo]

Very cheesy, to be sure.

[Leader Desslok]

I would pay to watch that.

[Cyto]

"The sex was consensual"

Is it even remotely possible to legally consent while under arrest and in handcuffs? To anything?

A contract signed under those conditions would certainly be void. Makes me wonder why searches can be voluntary under those conditions.

[Rhywun]

Of course not. But that's all the king's men have got and there's a good chance it will work, so why not go with it.

[Stormy Dragon]

FCC waters down the definition of broadband:

The FCC is Preparing to Weaken the Definition of Broadband

You know, because of the massive increase in infrastructure investment we're gonna see because of the net neutrality rollback.

[Rhywun]

Won't someone please think of the human rights of the poor rural internet user suffering from a lack of subsidized broadband?!?!

[Stormy Dragon]

Won'y someone please think of the profits of the poor giant corporation who accepted billions of dollars to build out rural infrastructure and just pocketed instead?!?!

[Rhywun]

I'm not going to defend them either, assuming your word on those accusations is accurate.

My point stands. I've been paying rural subsidies for every damn utility all my life.

[Sevo]

"Won'y someone please think of the profits of the poor giant corporation who accepted billions of dollars to build out rural infrastructure and just pocketed instead?!?!"

I'm calling bullshit. Cite missing.

[Stormy Dragon]

The Book Of Broken Promises: $400 Billion Broadband Scandal And Free The Net

By the end of 2014, America will have been charged about $400 billion by the local phone incumbents, Verizon, AT&T and CenturyLink, for a fiber optic future that never showed up. And though it varies by state, counting the taxes, fees and surcharges that you have paid every month (many of these fees are actually revenues to the company or taxes on the company that you paid), it comes to about $4000-$5000.00 per household from 1992-2014, and that's the low number.

You were also charged about nine times to wire the schools and libraries via state and federal plans designed to help the phone and cable companies.

You'd think this would actual be more common knowledge here given it was the Clinton administration's fault, but apparently "libertarians" prefer to ignore government corruption if addressing it might involve telling a corporation they did something wrong.

[$park? leftist poser]

Under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act, the FCC is required to consistently measure whether broadband is being deployed to all Americans uniformly and "in a reasonable and timely fashion." If the FCC finds that broadband isn't being deployed quickly enough to the public, the agency is required by law to "take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market."

What the ever loving fuck is this noise?

[Stormy Dragon]

Comcast, Verizon, etc. enjoy being monopoly providers. FCC is fiddling with the numbers so they can continue that monopoly status and not be forced to allow competitors into the market.

[$park? leftist poser]

You don't get it, do you?

[Stormy Dragon]

Actually I do get it. Problem is you think being pro-corporation is the same as being pro-market.

[$park? leftist poser]

If Comcast and Verizon have monopolies, why is Comcast competing with Verizon and Dish to provide me with broadband Internet access in my town? Why is Verizon competing with Charter and Dish in the next town over? Why is Verizon competing with Cox and Dish two towns over? Why is Verizon competing with Sprint and AT&T to provide mobile communications in my state?

Why do you believe that the government giving these evil corporations the power to become "monopolies" can be solved by adding more government?

[Stormy Dragon]

50 million US homes have only one 25Mbps Internet provider or none at all

FCC reports have found that about three-quarters of the country's developed census blocks lack any high-speed broadband choice. The household analysis found a slightly better, but still troubling, situation, with nearly half of the 118 million US households lacking any wired Internet choice at the FCC's broadband standard of 25Mbps. (One caveat: this new analysis examined only download speeds, whereas FCC reports define broadband as services offering both 25Mbps download speeds and at least 3Mbps uploads.)

About 54.5 million households had access to at least two wired providers offering 25Mbps speeds, and 6.9 million had access to three such providers. The data goes up to June 2016.

[$park? leftist poser]

FCC reports have found that about three-quarters of the country's developed census blocks lack any high-speed broadband choice.

And somehow this is my problem, via government taking from me, to solve.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

I live on a dirt road in the boonies, on a hill so steep that it has scared off Home Depot delivery trucks, and yet have a ton of net choices:

Satellite (Exede @ 8Mbps, HughesNet @ 25Mbps)
Local radio-relay towers @ 8Mbps
Cell phone hotspots @ 5Mbps.

They ain't super terrific, but they are fast enough and they work. I knew the drawbacks of living here, which include 25 miles from the nearest emergency room, volunteer fire departments, sheriff an hour away is lucky.

Sometimes people just have to take the ups and downs and be responsible for making decisions. There are zillions of businesses I despise, including quite a few I do business with. I can't imagine life is possible without having to suck it up a lot. If I were a hermit down by the river, life would suck worse. If I didn't do business with every sucky business, life would suck worse.

Go pound sand.

[Libertarian]

This sounds hokey.

"Virginia Tech features 12 separate LGBTQ organizations"

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/40615/

[Rhywun]

They should just give each letter its own group. That would better reflect how the real world works at least.

[Leader Desslok]

Golf clap for the pun.

[Stormy Dragon]

Coda to the Roy Moore campaign:

As you may recall, one of the weirder bits in the last week was Roy Moore's wife suddenly announcing that they couldn't be antisemitic because they had a Jewish lawyer. Well, the identity of the lawyer in question has been revealed. Spoiler alert, he's a christian who thinks all non-orthodox Jews are lying about their religious faith:

Roy Moore's wife reveals their 'Jewish attorney' and he's a Christian

[Stormy Dragon]

And as a bonus, he thinks Mormons are a cult too.

[Rhywun]

If I'm reading that right, he's still a Jew.

[Stormy Dragon]

Yes, but it's telling that the only Jewish person the Moore's can apparently stand is one who has abandoned his faith and denounces the rest of his ethnicity.

[Rhywun]

Maybe he's the only Jew they could find. How many can there be in Alabama?

[A Cynic's Guide to Zen]

This is that old "Ideology = Ethnicity" canard, you Islamophobic Racists.

[Rhywun]

Heh. Don't look at me. They started it.

[Brandybuck]

I'm starting to see memes complaining about black being bused in from out of state for vote for Doug Jones. Sigh. Every time I think a Democrat has plumbed the inky depths of idiocy, along comes a Republican to prove me wrong.

[Leader Desslok]

Not to worry, once one side sets a new record for idiocy the other side will instantly say "challenge accepted."

[Tom Bombadil]

Jesus was a Jew.
He was also a Christ.
(see, Jesus tap dancing Christ)

Christians are followers of Jesus fucking Christ.
Therefore, Christians are Jews.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Splitters hardest hit.

[Brandybuck]

There is indeed a strain of Christian theological thought that explicitly says this.

[colorblindkid]

Can anybody explain to me why the Fusion GPS Trump Dossier isn't Russian collusion? Somebody paid a company to get dirt on Trump, and their sources were the Russians. Is it because they hired a company to do it instead of directly? Like wtf.

The goalposts have moved so far. The only thing possibly illegal or unethical about Trump's Russia scandal is if he had direct knowledge of the DNC or Hillary hacks. Everything else was just sleazy typical opposition research.

[Tom Bombadil]

No, nobody can explain it.

It is exactly what Trump was accused of doing, except Trump wasn't doing it.

If there weren't so many corrupt players in the investigative side of this shit-show, this thing would come back to bite the Dems in a major way. Maybe it still will.

[Stormy Dragon]

Why don't we put both Hillary Clinton AND Donald Trump in jail?

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

The greatest compromise ever.

[Brandybuck]

Canadians are mad that a mandatory $2.40 increase in the minimum wage has led fast-food giant Tim Hortons to reduce employee benefits and cut paid breaks.

I remain befuddled at progressives' complete inability to foresee consequences. You didn't need to be a Criswell to see this thing coming. The exact details may have been murky, the the fact that raising the wages would not have been a social freebie was beyond obvious.

It's not that progressives can't imagine. They have very good imaginations. They just can't imagine that their knee jerk emotional fits are at odds with the most basic of economics.

Now I do feel sympathy for many of their employees, who were probably lied to and sold a bill of goods that the world owed them their every desire, many of whom might be stuck with worthless college degrees in victim studies or other squishy subjects. But I have no sympathy for the shitmongers who push idiot ideas like this. Emotional feelz are good, but temper them with a bit of rationality. Sheesh.

[Rhywun]

I remain befuddled at progressives' complete inability to foresee consequences.

Half of them know better and are just evil. These tend to be politicians (e.g. Andrew Cuomo who is on record admitting that his high taxes are destroying the state's economy) or rich liberals.

The other half tend to be low wage earners and quite probably don't know any better. I remember me at that stage and I was a liberal idiot too. Then I started paying real taxes.

[A Cynic's Guide to Zen]

Nothing creates trust like mutual suffering.

Nothing creates angst like superior suffering.

[Tom Bombadil]

I am only stunned that the law which mandated the increase in minimum wage didn't also devote a healthy subsection to all the penalties to be levied on employers who make "adjustments" .

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Attempts to regulate speech online walk a fine line, which critics says can amount to censorship.

Aside from the shoddy grammar, the bozos seem to be almighty timid: regulation of speech IS censorship, it's the very definition of censorship, and I can't imagine being so fearful of voicing the truth that I would quote some anonymous "critics" in such roundabout tip-toe ways.

If the "press" has one duty, it's to speak truth to power, to watch governments like a hawk, to speak out using their power when government tries to abuse its powers. If I were dictator for a day, I'd yank these guys' press license for such timidity.