In other news, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said today that Trump won't meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unless he takes "concrete steps" to denuclearize first. If that's the criteria, the meeting will never happen.
Meanwhile, Vanity Fair reports that Trump is going to replace most of his senior staff in the coming weeks including John Kelly and H.R. McMaster. I think we've heard that before though.
Finally, the ACLU has filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government for separating immigrant families seeking asylum at the border without due process or justification for separating them.
The lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and filed in U.S. District Court in southern California, expands on the claim of a single Congolese asylum seeker filed last week. Ms. L, as she is referred to in the complaint, had been detained in San Diego while her 7-year-old daughter was sent to Chicago four months ago by federal authorities. But on Tuesday, just days after the initial lawsuit was filed, Ms. L was released.
The class action seeks to represent all adult parents in immigration custody who have a minor child separated from them without a hearing to prove the parent is unfit to care for them.
===============================================================
Here are some other stories that caught my attention this week:
Infamous "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to 7 years in federal prison.
Opioid overdoses increased by 30 percent between 2016 and 2017 according to the CDC. Wisconsin (109%) and Delaware (105%) saw the largest increase in overdoses, followed by Pennsylvania (81%). Stop voting for politicians who want you dead.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against transgender employees even for religious reasons. There isn't a single federal appeals court that has ruled against transgender rights. At least not yet.
United Airlines has canceled their plans to replace employee bonuses with a random drawing for membership in the Jelly of the Month Club.
House Republicans are still investigating Fast and Furious. Really.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke reportedly spent $138,670 to replace a door. That makes Ben Carson's expensive chairs look small-time.
Another 200,000 Puerto Ricans (not counting those who have already fled) are expected to move to the mainland United States by the end of 2018. That's a lot of potential voters.
Members of the National Economic Council are anonymously threatening to quit if Trump replaces with Gary Cohn with Peter Navarro as his top economic adviser. That's probably a good idea, because Navarro is a nutcase who dreams of crashing the economy.
Ohio-based auto parts manufacturer Dana Inc. (one of the largest suppliers) is making moves to relocate their headquarters to Britain for lower tax rates. Yes, lower than the rates just passed by Republicans in Congress. There is no bottom.
And last but certainly not least, Michael Isikoff (Yahoo News) and David Corn (Mother Jones) have released excerpts from their upcoming book Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump which tells us the rumored "pee tape" may not have even been the first time Trump enjoyed water sports.
Before he traveled to Moscow in 2013 for the Miss Universe pageant, Trump met his contacts in Las Vegas at a club that featured a lot of it.
The Act was no ordinary nightclub. Since March, it had been the target of undercover surveillance by the Nevada Gaming Control Board and investigators for the club’s landlord — the Palazzo, which was owned by GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson — after complaints about its performances. The club featured seminude women performing simulated sex acts of bestiality and grotesque sadomasochism — skits that a few months later would prompt a Nevada state judge to issue an injunction barring any more of its “lewd” and “offensive” performances. Among the club’s regular acts cited by the judge was one called “Hot for Teacher,” in which naked college girls simulate urinating on a professor. In another act, two women disrobe and then “one female stands over the other female and simulates urinating while the other female catches the urine in two wine glasses.” (The Act shut down after the judge’s ruling. There is no public record of which skits were performed the night Trump was present.)
I had no idea Sheldon Adelson owned a pee club or that Trump visited it with Alex Soros, the son of George Soros.
Republicans love George Soros, right?
Have a good weekend.