Christine Blasey Ford Cartoons

Vandalism suspect says he's 'happy' about damage outside local Republican Party headquarters

The Winnebago County Republican headquarters in Rockford, Ill., was vandalized last weekend. The words "rape" and "shame" were painted on the building's façade. (State Rep. John Cabello)

A suspect linked to vandalism outside a local Republican Party office in Illinois -- where the words "rape" and "shame" were painted -- boasted of his alleged crimes in a TV interview just hours later, saying he thinks the vandalism was "great" and he's "happy" someone did it.
Timothy Damm, 42, was detained Sunday and taken into custody Monday after police found him carrying cans of spray paint in a shopping bag, according to reports. He was charged with criminal defacement to property and resisting a police officer after he danced on a table in the police interview room, stripped down to his underwear and refused to sit in the holding room, which forced the police to restrain him in handcuffs, WTVO-TV reported. He's facing up to three years in prison if convicted.
But before his arrest and as the police were beginning the investigation, Damm did an interview with the local TV station about the act of vandalism, presenting himself as a neighbor who was troubled by last week's hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
"I think it's great," Damm said during an interview. "I haven't been great with the Republicans right in my neighborhood, but somebody labeled them for what they are. I'm happy about that."
"I'm an artist myself. It's hard to not focus on the beauty [of the vandalism.] It's not about that," he continued, adding that the vandal had gotten their message across to the Republicans. "I think they did... Republican equals rape. That they support rape, they encourage rape, and if you rape someone, they will defend you."

"I haven't been great with the Republicans right in my neighborhood, but somebody labeled them for what they are. I'm happy about that."
— Timothy Damm, the suspect behind the vandalism

Damm is accused of spray painting word "rape and "shape" on multiple sides of the Winnebago County Republican Headquarters’ facade with multiple colors. The date 9/27/18 was also painted on the building, in reference to the date Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning her allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh.
At a news conference Tuesday, Winnebago State's Attorney Joe Bruscato said "It is inexcusable to use senseless criminal actions to advance a debate."
Republicans condemned the act of vandalism. "We can have our differences. We can have good spirited debate. I hope whoever is responsible for this will be brought to justice," state Rep. John Cabello, a Republican, said in a Facebook post. "You are a coward for doing it unless you come forward!"

"We can have our differences. We can have good spirited debate. I hope whoever is responsible for this will be brought to justice. You are a coward for doing it unless you come forward!"
— Republican state Rep. John Cabello

Republican state Sen. Dave Syverson said the vandalism “falls under the realm of a hate crime,” although he acknowledged it fell outside the scope of the legal definition. He also speculated that “with the amount of damage around [the] entire building, it’s clear this was not done by one person [but] was planned and organized.”
The Winnebago County Republican Party also issued a statement Sunday, blaming Democrats for inciting hate against the party and urging to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
"Hate has no place in the political process. Violence has no place in the political process. Our party is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, not the party that spawned the Klu Klux Klan or enforced segregation. We do not seek to capitalize on victims' lives or memories to advance a purely political agenda, as seen in the past month by Sen. Feinstein and our own Sen. Durbin," the party's statement read.
"The Winnebago County Republican Central Committee Headquarters is located in the building in which seven women work each day. It’s the place in which over two dozen female precinct committeeman meet to fulfill their commitment to our community. They should not have to be afraid because some people could not control their hate," it continued.

"When you cannot succeed on facts or issues, you degrade to insults and violence. Is it any wonder, after months of attack ads in this state and the move toward 'guilty until proven innocent' in the U.S. Senate, that this type of violence has found its way to Rockford?"
— The Winnebago County Republican Party

"There were no similar actions taken against any Democratic headquarter when Bill Clinton was accused of rape and sexual assault. … When you cannot succeed on facts or issues, you degrade to insults and violence. Is it any wonder, after months of attack ads in this state and the move toward 'guilty until proven innocent' in the U.S. Senate, that this type of violence has found its way to Rockford?
“We call on Republicans and conservatives to take a look at these walls, and make sure to go to the polls this fall.”
Fox News' Kaitlyn Schallhorn contributed to this report.

Trump-Mueller interview negotiations stall as 2 more prosecutors leave Russia probe

Sources tell Fox News that President Trump's outside legal counsel is 'pleased with the progress' in talks with Robert Mueller's office about a possible interview with the president; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports.

Discussions between Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office and President Trump's legal team over the conditions of a possible presidential interview are ongoing, but have "not terribly advanced" from where they were a couple of weeks ago, a source familiar with the talks told Fox News Tuesday.
Also, The Associated Press reported that two prosecutors detailed to the Russia investigation for the past year are returning to their duties in other parts of the Justice Department. They join two other attorneys who left the team, assigned to investigate potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, over the summer.
Fox News' source said negotiations hit a snag when The New York Times reported on Sept. 21 that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had discussed secretly recording Trump and enlisting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office. Rosenstein has called the Times report "inaccurate and factually incorrect" and at least one source has told Fox News that Rosenstein intended his comment about recording Trump to be sarcastic.
"This Rosenstein thing really threw them for a loop," the source said in discussing the report's effect on the talks. Trump is tentatively scheduled to meet with Rosenstein at the White House later this week to discuss the report.
Trump's legal team previously proposed to Mueller that any presidential interview be limited to written questions and answers about allegations of Russian collusion with members of the Trump campaign. They also signaled opposition to questions about potential obstruction of justice, though the source told Fox News the president's attorneys now have left open the possibility of entertaining such questions "as long as they can be answered without jeopardy."
Mueller spokesman Peter Carr told the AP that prosecutor Brandon Van Grack already has returned to the Justice Department's national security division but will continue to be involved in cases to which he was assigned. That would include the investigation into former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, who is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
Prosecutor Kyle Freeny will end her detail to the special counsel later this month and will return to her position in the Justice Department's money laundering section, Carr said.
Van Grack and Freeny were on the teams prosecuting Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
The departures are the latest indication that Mueller's team is wrapping up parts of the investigation and focusing its efforts on critical remaining strands, including an active grand-jury probe of longtime Trump associate Roger Stone.
Elements of the Mueller investigation remain active, but other parts of the investigation have been referred to other offices of the Justice Department or largely taken over by them.
Prosecutors in Manhattan, for instance, secured a guilty plea in August from Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, while prosecutors with the U.S. attorney's office in Washington have been assigned to the special counsel's case against 13 Russians charged in a hidden but powerful social media effort to sway American public opinion.
The U.S. Attorney's office in the District of Columbia also prosecuted W. Samuel Patten, who pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent in a case referred by Mueller's office.
Other lawyers who left the Mueller team earlier this year included computer crimes prosecutor Ryan Dickey, who worked cases against a Russian social media troll farm and 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking Democratic groups during the campaign, and Brian Richardson.
Richardson was part of a team that prosecuted former Skadden Arps attorney Alex van der Zwaan for lying to the FBI while the team was investigating Manafort and others involved in his Ukrainian work. Van der Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days behind bars.
Fox News' John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

DA who lost Kate Steinle case, called Trump a 'madman' says he won't seek re-election

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon speaks during a news conference in San Francisco, Dec. 9, 2014. (The Associated Press)

George Gascon, the San Francisco district attorney who failed to win a murder conviction in the trial of a homeless illegal immigrant charged in the shooting death of Kate Steinle in 2015, announced Tuesday that he won't seek re-election.
Gascon, who clashed with candidate Donald Trump over the case -- and in 2017 referred to President Trump as a tweeting "madman" who ignited a media frenzy -- cited the need to care for his 90-year-old mother in Southern California as his reason for not running again after his second term expires next year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“At this time, I simply cannot be the son I want to be and seek a third term,” Gascón said in a statement. “My career means a great deal to me. But success in the world with a family in chaos is not a choice I am willing to make.”
Gascon was heavily criticized by Trump and conservatives after the July 2015 fatal shooting of Steinle, a 32-year-old San Francisco resident who was fatally shot while walking along the city's waterfront with her father and a friend.
Soon after her death, it was revealed that her alleged killer, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 45, a Mexican national, had been released from a San Francisco jail under the city’s "sanctuary city" law rather than being turned over to immigration authorities.
He had been deported five times prior to Steinle’s death.
Gascon accused Trump of seizing on the case to push an anti-immigrant agenda, accusing Trump of instigating a media circus around Garcia Zarate’s trial.
Prosecutors argued that Garcia Zarate intentionally killed Steinle on Pier 14. Defense lawyers said that shooting was accidental and the bullet ricocheted off the ground and hit Steinle.
A jury acquitted eventually Garcia Zarate of murder and manslaughter charges but convicted him on a weapons charge. A juror called the shooting a “freak accident.”
After the verdict, Trump tweeted it was a “complete travesty of justice” and a “disgrace.”
Garcia Zarate faces a second round of charges from federal authorities, including being a felon in possession of a firearm and being an alien in possession of a firearm.
Gascon was appointed district attorney in 2011, after his predecessor -- current U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. -- left to serve as the state attorney general.
He previously served as the San Francisco’s police chief from 2009-11.
During his tenure, Gascon faced criticism for championing progressive reforms. He endorsed Proposition 47, a 2014 ballot measure designed to alleviate prison overcrowding in the state and reduce certain crimes to misdemeanors.
He also clashed with pro-police groups for being the only law enforcement official in the state to support a failed bill that would have created a stricter standard for when police officers can use deadly force.
His decision to not prosecute officers in high-profile police killings have also drawn scorn from some communities of color and police brutality protestors, the chronicle reported.
Gascon cited a dramatic reduction violent crime during his time as police chief and district attorney.
“It is difficult to step away, especially when we are experiencing so much success and progress,” Gascon said. “I am flattered by the robust and diverse support for my campaign and it will be hard to walk away from that. But, at this time in my life, it is the only choice I am certain I can live with.”

Christine Blasey Ford ex-boyfriend says she helped friend prep for potential polygraph; Grassley sounds alarm

In a written declaration released Tuesday and obtained by Fox News, an ex-boyfriend of Christine Blasey Ford, the California professor accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, directly contradicts her testimony under oath last week that she had never helped anyone prepare for a polygraph examination.
The former boyfriend, whose name was redacted in the declaration, also said Ford neither mentioned Kavanaugh nor mentioned she was a victim of sexual misconduct during the time they were dating from about 1992 to 1998. He said he saw Ford going to great lengths to help a woman he believed was her "life-long best friend" prepare for a potential polygraph test. He added that the woman had been interviewing for jobs with the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office.
He further claimed that Ford never voiced any fear of flying (even while aboard a propeller plane) and seemingly had no problem living in a "very small," 500 sq. ft. apartment with one door -- apparently contradicting her claims that she could not testify promptly in D.C. because she felt uncomfortable traveling on planes, as well as her suggestion that her memories of Kavanuagh's alleged assault prompted her to feel unsafe living in a closed space or one without a second front door.
Ford "never expressed a fear of closed quarters, tight spaces, or places with only one exit," the former boyfriend wrote.
However, on Thursday, Ford testified, "I was hoping to avoid getting on an airplane. But I eventually was able to get up the gumption with the help of some friends and get on the plane." She also acknowledged regularly -- and, in her words, "unfortunately" -- traveling on planes for work and hobbies.
And Ford explicitly told Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Thursday that she had a second front door installed in her home because of "anxiety, phobia and PTSD-like symptoms" that she purportedly suffered in the wake of Kavanaugh's alleged attack at a house party in the 1980s -- "more especially, claustrophobia, panic and that type of thing."
In a pointed, no-holds-barred letter Tuesday evening that referenced the ex-boyfriend's declaration, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley demanded that attorneys for Ford turn over her therapist notes and other key materials, and suggested she was intentionally less than truthful about her experience with polygraph examinations during Thursday's dramatic Senate hearing.
"Your continued withholding of material evidence despite multiple requests is unacceptable as the Senate exercises its constitutional responsibility of advice and consent for a judicial nomination," Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote.
Under questioning from experienced sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell last week, Ford said that she had "never" had "any discussions with anyone ... on how to take a polygraph" or "given any tips or advice to anyone who was looking to take a polygraph test." She repeatedly said the process was stressful and uncomfortable.
But in his declaration, the ex-boyfriend wrote that, "I witnessed Dr. Ford help [Monica L.] McLean prepare for a potential polygraph exam" and that Ford had "explained in detail what to expect, how polygraphs worked and helped [her] become familiar and less nervous about the exam," using her background in psychology.
Mitchell, in a report Sunday, said Ford's case was even weaker than the typical "He said, she said" situation and pointed out numerous discrepencies in her version of events in the past several weeks, concerning everything from how many people were at the purported party to when it occurred and how she found her way home. Mitchell also noted that none of the witnesses Ford identified as having attended the party could back up her version of events.
Some of the apparent inconsistencies, Grassley wrote, could possibly be addressed if Ford's legal team turned over all video or audio recordings produced during her own August polygraph examination. Ford passed that polygraph, and in a handwritten statement she wrote prior to the test, she indicated "there were 4 boys and a couple of girls" at the gathering.
FORD'S POLYGRAPH RESULTS SHOW KEY INCONSISTENCY -- HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE AT THE PARTY?
But in Ford's letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in July, she gave a different tally, writing instead that the party "included me and 4 others." Under oath on Thursday, Ford for the first time mentioned that a fourth boy was at the party, but that she could not remember his name.
Grassley also demanded Ford's attorneys hand over notes from her 2012 therapy sessions in which she claimed to have discussed her alleged sexual assault decades ago. The senator said it was "not justified" any longer for Ford to cite privacy and medical privilege given that she has relied on them extensively as a kind of corroborating evidence to implicate Kavanaugh.
On Thursday, Ford claimed she could not say definitively whether she had shared those notes with The Washington Post approximately two months ago, as opposed to describing them abstractly.  The Post wrote that it had reviewed a "portion" of Ford's notes.
Additionally, Grassley requested copies of communications between Ford and the media describing her allegations, saying that the legal team's failure to provide Ford's full correspondence with The Washington Post suggested a "lack of candor."
In a separate letter to Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, who also sits on the Judiciary Committee, Grassley wrote, "The accuser freely admits to having no evidence whatsoever that Judge Kavanaugh even attended this party. … We’ve reached a new level of absurdity with this allegation."
The scathing letters come as Fox News has learned from a source that the FBI may wrap up its investigation into misconduct accusations against Kavanaugh as soon as late Wednesday, potentially clearing the way for a final Senate vote on his confirmation within days.
If the FBI's report is indeed delivered to the White House on Wednesday, Fox News expects a vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation could come as soon as Saturday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., must first satisfy a number of procedural and parliamentary hurdles before a vote can be held, including filing a cloture petition, which must remain pending for a full day, in order to formally end debate on Kavanaugh's nomination. McConnell has vowed to hold a vote by the end of the week.
WATCH: GRAHAM VOWS TO PROBE WHY FORD CLAIMED IGNORANCE ABOUT GOP OFFER TO TESTIFY IN CALIFORNIA
The uncorroborated sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh have faltered in recent days, as the credibility of his three most prominent accusers -- Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick -- has come under question. Democrats increasingly have focused their arguments on Kavanaugh's temperament during Thursday's hearing, as well as whether he lied under oath about references in his high school yearbook.
Kavanaugh acknowleged sometimes having "too many" beers in high school and college, but some Democrats have suggested he lied by not going further and admitting that he had "blacked out." None of Kavanaugh's classmates has said he blacked out, although some have come forward to suggest it's likely that he did at some point.
For his part, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Monday called out what he said were transparent stall tactics in a fiery floor speech.
"If you listen carefully, Mr. President, you can practically hear the sounds of the Democrats moving the goalposts," McConnell said. He added later: "Their goalposts keep shifting. But their goal hasn't moved an inch. Not an inch."

New Medicare Health Insurance Card

In the United States, Medicare is a national health insurance program, now administered by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services of the U.S. federal government but begun in 1966 under the Social Security Administration. United States Medicare is funded by a combination of a payroll tax, premiums and surtaxes from beneficiaries, and general revenue. It provides health insurance for Americans aged 65 and older who have worked and paid into the system through the payroll tax. It also provides health insurance to younger people with some disability status as determined by the Social Security Administration, as well as people with end stage renal disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 

So my question is if you would like for immigrants that come to America to learn English and assimilate, how in the hell are they going to do that when the United States Government also prints it in Spanish on the back of the Medicare card?

Blumenthal Da Nang Cartoons

Flake slams GOP, says he feels like he doesn't belong to any political party

Flake the Snake

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake criticized the Republican Party on Monday for mistaking "opponents for our enemies," and said he sometimes feels like he doesn't belong to any political party.
"I sometimes feel like a man temporarily without a party," Flake said during a speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, the Washington Post reported
He went on to decry the Republican Party in his speech, saying members of the party have "given in to the terrible tribal impulse that first mistakes our opponents for our enemies" that lead the party to becoming "seized with the conviction that we must destroy that enemy."
Flake's remarks came days after the dramatic showdown in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During his Monday speech, Flake reiterated his support for the FBI investigation, but stressed that it must be a "real investigation."
"It does no good to have an investigation that just gives us more cover," Flake said, according to the Post. "We actually need to find out what we can find out. And we have to realize that we may not be able to find out everything that happened."

"It does no good to have an investigation that just gives us more cover. We actually need to find out what we can find out. And we have to realize that we may not be able to find out everything that happened."
— Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake

The Trump administration has been criticized for allegedly limiting the scope of the probe, despite Trump's claims that the FBI has "free rein" to conduct the investigation as they see fit.
"They [the White House] cannot say, 'Oh hey, only interview the people in their neighborhood on one side of the street.' Or 'Only interview people from a certain period of their life,’" Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said during an appearance of CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “You let the men and women of the FBI, the professionals, do their jobs.”