Idiocracy

The Washington Post reports: Asked during a Seoul news conference whether he would entertain “extreme vetting” on guns, Trump appeared irritated by the question and suggested it was not appropriate to talk about “in the heart of South Korea.” He then answered by saying “if we did what you are suggesting it would have made no difference three days ago.” …

Those people in Texas were literally praying in church when they were murdered. But prayer totally works. The Hill reports: Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in an interview broadcast Monday dismissed criticism of his tweet saying the Texas shooting victims “need our prayers,” arguing “prayer works.” “It’s disappointing. It’s sad and this is what you’ll get from the far secular left. …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump took time out of his trip to Asia to weigh in on Virginia’s gubernatorial election taking place on Tuesday, slamming Democratic candidate Ralph Northam as “weak.” Northam heads to the polls with a slight edge over opponent Ed Gillespie, who has targeted Northam over his opposition to statues depicting leaders of the Confederate …

Raw Story reports: Addressing how he first became acquainted with Japanese Prime Minister Abe — who Trump referred to by his first name, Shinzo — Trump made the off-hand comment, appearing to go off-script from his prepared remarks. “So my relationship with Shinzo got off to quite a rocky start because I never ran for office, and here I am,” …

EcoWatch reports: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service released a recommendation Wednesday to lift former President Obama’s uranium mining ban in the watershed of the Grand Canyon. The move was made in response to President Trump’s sweeping “energy independence” executive order in March to ease regulatory burdens on energy development. “This appalling recommendation threatens to destroy one of the …

CNN reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions is once again under scrutiny on Capitol Hill regarding his candor about Russia and the Trump campaign amid revelations that he rejected a suggestion to convene a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump last year. According to court filings unsealed this week, Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos suggested at …

NBC News reports: Fossil fuels can help prevent sexual assault, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Thursday. Perry described his belief at an energy policy event in Washington hosted by Axios and NBC News, while talking about how bringing power to African villages would save lives. “But also from the standpoint of sexual assault, when the lights are on, when you …

The Hill reports: National security adviser H.R. McMaster joins White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the White House for a briefing with reporters on Thursday. McMaster will likely address the federal government’s response to the deadly terror attack in New York City on Tuesday, in which 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov allegedly drove a truck on to a bicycle path, …

The Associated Press reported on Twitter just now that Sam Clovis has withdrawn his nomination to the top science post at the Department of Agriculture. The move comes after Clovis was linked to George Papadopoulos in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and hours after a blistering Washington Post story: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientist nominee, Sam Clovis, who now …

The New York Times reports: President Trump projected an air of calm on Wednesday after charges against his former campaign chief and a foreign policy aide roiled Washington, insisting to The New York Times that he was not “angry at anybody” and that investigations into his campaign’s links to Russia had not come near him personally. “I’m not under investigation, …

Via Mediate: Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will hold a briefing today to discuss the White House’s latest plans and administrative agenda. Today’s briefing is bound to revolve around the terror attack in New York which left eight people dead and others injured last night. President Donald Trump has reacted to the attack by issuing new calls for “extreme vetting” …

Vanity Fair reports: Until now, Robert Mueller has haunted Donald Trump’s White House as a hovering, mostly unseen menace. But by securing indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and a surprise guilty plea from foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, Mueller announced loudly that the Russia investigation poses an existential threat to the president. “Here’s what Manafort’s indictment tells me: …

Newsweek reports: George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his attempts to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from the Russians, claimed on his resume to have worked as a research assistant at the Hudson Institute for almost five years. His LinkedIn profile said he worked with three senior fellows from March 2011 through September 2015 and …

Mashable reports: Starbucks’ years-long war on Christmas is over. The coffee giant wasted no time getting into the Christmas spirit this year, releasing its new holiday-themed cups and holiday beverages on Wednesday. Goodbye, Halloween. Forget Thanksgiving. It’s Christmas time at Starbucks. The new line of festive liquid holders celebrates the 20th anniversary of the holiday cup, and while the company …

The Daily Beast reports: Former White House counterterrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka’s Ford Mustang was spotted parked on an Arlington, Virginia sidewalk on Tuesday. The car, made immediately recognizable by its vanity plates, which spell “ART WAR,” was pictured by a passer-by, who posted the photos on Twitter and noted that Arlington laws prohibit the parking of vehicles on pedestrian sidewalks. …

From the American Psychological Association: Nearly two-thirds of Americans (63 percent) say the future of the nation is a very or somewhat significant source of stress, slightly more than perennial stressors like money (62 percent) and work (61 percent), according to the American Psychological Association’s report, “Stress in America™: The State of Our Nation”. More than half of Americans (59 …

Deadline reports: President Donald Trump watched Fox & Friends Wednesday morning to get his early briefing on the latest about the previous night’s terror attack in lower Manhattan that left eight dead. In his morning tweets, Trump blamed the Senate’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer for the attack, pushed Trump’s immigration agenda, and twice plugged his pals at Fox News Channel’s …

The Hill reports: A new ad from the Republican National Committee (RNC) claims ObamaCare is “failing,” and blames Democrats for congressional Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace the law earlier this year. The ad points to “skyrocketing” insurance premiums as an example of ObamaCare failing, and hits Democrats for blocking “a better plan to repeal and replace Obamacare once and …

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is scheduled to deliver today’s lies at 2PM. Yesterday she opened with a rambling, bizarre math problem that generated widespread mockery. Today she is likely to continue to attack Robert Mueller’s investigation and pretend that federal prison-bound Paul Manafort was really just a temp and had nothing to do with the Trump campaign.

The AV Club reports: In what looks to be just the start of a late-night comedy feeding frenzy at the news that the first indictments have been handed down in Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation, Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, and Seth Meyers all took well-earned, long-delayed pleasure in mocking the crumbling House of Trump on Monday. On The Late Show, Colbert—whose …