Strategy on Far Left Makes it Impossible for Trump to Govern

Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump have been trading insults over the past couple of days.

It began on March 20, when Biden, 75, was giving a speech to students during an anti-sexual assault event at the University of Miami. He said, “A guy who ended up becoming our national leader said, ‘I can grab a woman anywhere and she likes it.’”

Biden went on to say, “They asked me if I’d like to debate this gentleman, and I said ‘no.’ I said, ‘If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.’” Biden took things even a step further saying, “I’ve been in a lot of locker rooms my whole life. I’m a pretty damn good athlete. Any guy that talked that way was usually the fattest, ugliest SOB in the room.” 

Biden was referring to recorded comments by Trump, 71, that surfaced during the 2016 election, in which he bragged about his power to make sexual advances to women. 

Thursday morning, Trump responded to Biden’s comments on twitter saying, “Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault. He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way. Don’t threaten people Joe!” 

It’s comments like these that make the U.S. look small and petty to outsiders. Really, doesn’t a former Vice President and the current President have more important matters to focus on?

Continuing Investigation into the Mueller Leaks

When will the leaks stop? The most recent leak in the Mueller investigation was reported Wednesday night. It said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the FBI investigated Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year for misleading lawmakers about his contacts with Russians. This is according to three unnamed people with knowledge of the matter. 

The investigation, which examined statements Sessions made last year during his confirmation process to become attorney general, was authorized by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, according to the unnamed people, who asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive matter. 

Sessions came under criticism from Democratic lawmakers after denying that he had indeed had contacts with Russians during his confirmation process. Sessions later acknowledged that he had met at least twice in 2016 with Sergey Kislyak, who was then Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. Sessions has defended himself by saying he didn’t recall meeting with Kislyak.

A Statement from Sessions’ Lawyer Chuck Cooper, made it seem like they had no idea that Sessions was under investigations for these claims. Cooper’s statement read, “The Special Counsel's office has informed me that after interviewing the attorney general and conducting additional investigation, the attorney general is not under investigation for false statements or perjury in his confirmation hearing testimony and related written submissions to Congress.”

Austin serial bomber, Mark Conditt, made 25-minute confession tape

Police discovered a 25-minute recording on Austin bombing suspect, Mark Conditt's cellphone when police recovered his body Wednesday morning. Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said he considers it a “confession.” 

At a news conference on Wednesday, Police Chief Manley said that Conditt talks on the recording in great detail about the differences among the bombs he built. He said the tape is “the outcry of a very challenged young man.” In his confession, Conditt described the components of seven bombs he built including, authorities believe, the one he used to kill himself and detailed the differences among the bombs, Manley said. 

However, what was not on the recording was the motive behind the bombings. Manley said, "I know everybody is interested in a motive and understanding why. And we're never going to be able to put a (rationale) behind these acts." Conditt did not make any references suggesting involvement with terror groups or that the bombings were hate crimes.

Trump Hits China with Tariffs.

President Trump on Thursday signed a memorandum directing the U.S. Trade Representative to impose an estimated $50 billion in tariffs on China, which will go into effect in at least 45 days. 

“We have spoken to China and we are in the midst of a very large negotiation,” Mr. Trump said. “We will see where it takes us. In the meantime, we are sending a Section 301 action.”

Section 301 refers to the investigation into China’s state-led, market-distorting efforts to force pressure, and steal U.S. technologies and intellectual property, according to White House Principal Deputy Secretary Raj Shah. 

Mr. Trump said he has asked Chinese officials to immediately reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China by $100 billion. 

The Treasury department has until 60 days from memorandum's signing to submit recommendations for a final list of tariffs.

Limiting China’s ability to invest in the U.S. technology industry Thursday, saying the moves were a response to Beijing’s history of forcing U.S. companies to surrender their trade secrets to do business in China. The president directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer to announce a proposed list of products to be hit with tariff increases within 15 days. 

Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg Apologizes

Mark Zuckerberg, 33, Facebook CEO, apologized in a CNN interview for the Facebook data that was collected by users, and had possible impact on the 2016 presidential election. Mark Zuckerberg apologized to the public for not putting certain policies in place early on to ensure that user data is protected. "I wish we'd taken those steps earlier," Zuckerberg told CNN’s Laurie Segall. "That ... is probably the biggest mistake that we made here." He went on to apologize for waiting so long to tell people what had happened. 

"I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I'm responsible for what happens on our platform," Mark Zuckerberg said. "We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward." 

Facebook has now taken steps to prevent anything like this from happening again. For example, they have further restricted developers' access to user data, including automatically removing access for any app the user hasn't opened in at least three months. 

The controversy wiped away nearly $50 billion from Facebook's stock price earlier this week and prompted politicians on both sides of the Atlantic to call for Zuckerberg to testify. 

Facebook is now facing lawsuits from investors and users as well as a "delete Facebook" movement. The latest member of the latter: Brian Acton, the cofounder of WhatsApp, which Facebook acquired for $19 billion in 2014.

Premium Member Video Submission:

James Cook, Sunnyside, NY: Hello Bill. Thank you so much or the opportunity to do this, to speak here. I know in the past we have had some dynamic first ladies, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, have done some much for the country. It seems like the president’s wife Melania Trump is so much in the background. And I just feel that she could do so much more to advance the President’s agenda, to help the Trump administration. I was just wondering if you had some specific advice for Melania, how she could come out on the shadows more and really get involved in what’s happening in her husband’s administration? Thanks so much.

Mail Time!

• With the appalling state of the media, do you believe future Republican Presidents will have to endure the absolute hatred and disrespect we are witnessing for President Trump? Thank you for everything you do and keep up the good work.

• How does the Stormy Daniels story she wants to tell benefit Americans? She is hurting the President’s family & friends more than she is helping the rest of us. 

• The best advice you gave Trump was to form a team to fight the endless media attacks and stop trying to defeat them with personal tweets. He should have listened.

Word of the Day: Ninnyhammer