Robert De Niro as “Robert Mueller” and Ben Stiller as “Michael Cohen”
Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller reprised their “Meet The Parents” roles for this week’s “Saturday Night Live” cold open, with De Niro playing Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Stiller playing Trump attorney Michael Cohen.
In a throwback to the movie’s lie detector test scene, with Mueller interrogates Cohen about his work for the President.
The skit even included lines pulled straight from the film.
Stiller: “You can milk anything with nipples.”
De Niro: “Really? I have nipples. Can you milk me, Mr. Cohen?”
When Cohen accuses Mueller of bias, Mueller denies the allegation noting that his team uses codenames for the President and his family to prevent personal opinions from coloring the work of his team.
Trump’s codename is “Stormy’s little bitch,” Ivanka Trump is “Girlfriend,” and Erik and Donald Jr. are “Two Fredos.” Cohen is tagged “Dead Man Walking.”
Says De Niro’s Mueller, “Now you listen to me, you little weasel, I don’t know what rights you think you have but you broke the law and now we’re gonna catch all you little Fokkers.”
Donald Trump woke up this Sunday morning on a mission – to help James Comey sell as many books as possible when Comey’s memoir, A Higher Loyalty, is released on Tuesday.
From some tried-and-true “Crooked Hillarys” and a “Slimeball!” thrown in for good measure, Trump tried to create his own reality denying he ever asked Comey for his loyalty.
Since Trump now likes the phrase “Mission Accomplished!” so much, I’ll point out that his Twitter rant took Comey right to #1 on the Amazon book charts.
Check out the fevered meltdown below.
Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe. In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!
The big questions in Comey’s badly reviewed book aren’t answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didn’t they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe’s $700,000 & more?
Comey throws AG Lynch “under the bus!” Why can’t we all find out what happened on the tarmac in the back of the plane with Wild Bill and Lynch? Was she promised a Supreme Court seat, or AG, in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and grandkids talk (give us all a break)!
Six police officers arrest two men at a Philadelphia Starbucks for asking to use the restroom
The arrest of two black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks has gained national attention as cellphone video footage has gone viral showing six officers handcuffing the men whose only crime seems to have been asking to use the bathroom while waiting for a friend.
According to reports a white female manager called the police.
A chagrined Starbucks CEO has now issued an apology to the men saying company training “led to a bad outcome.”
In a statement to Starbucks customers and employees Saturday, CEO Kevin Johnson acknowledged “a disheartening situation in one of our Philadelphia-area stores this past Thursday, that led to a reprehensible outcome.”
Cellphone videos captured the tense moment Thursday afternoon when at least six Philadelphia Police Department officers stood over two seated black men, asking them to leave. A man named Andrew Yaffe arrives to tell police that the two men were waiting for him. The officer says that they were not complying and were being arrested for trespassing.
Lauren Wimmer, the attorney for the two men, told The Washington Post that her clients told a Starbucks employee that they were waiting for Yaffe. Shortly after, a white female employee called the police, Wimmer said.
The two men, whom she declined to identify, were taken to a police station, fingerprinted and photographed. One officer suggested that they faced charges for “defiant trespassing,” Wimmer said. They were held for nearly nine hours before they were released, she said, after prosecutors said they would not pursue charges.
Benjamin Waxman, a spokesman for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, said the office decided that there “wasn’t sufficient evidence to charge [the men] with a crime.”
In his statement, Johnson said the video was hard to watch and that he hopes to meet the two men to offer “a face-to-face” apology, adding that the company’s practices and training “led to a bad outcome — the basis for the call to the Philadelphia police department was wrong.”
“Our store manager never intended for these men to be arrested and this should never have escalated as it did,” Johnson said.
An official at Starbucks told the WaPo that there is no official company-wide policy on asking member of the public to leave. Apparently store managers are left to make such decisions.
Why this store manager decided to let this incident escalate to such a degree is not clear.
The official went on to say the handling of this matter was not how most store managers would have handled the situation.
As a white male, I’ve spent hours and hours in Starbucks all over the world. I’ve never been asked to leave.
@Starbucks The police were called because these men hadn’t ordered anything. They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the other white ppl are wondering why it’s never happened to us when we do the same thing. pic.twitter.com/0U4Pzs55Ci
First, to once again express our deepest apologies to the two men who were arrested with a goal of doing whatever we can to make things right. Second, to let you know of our plans to investigate the pertinent facts and make any necessary changes to our practices that would help prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again. And third, to reassure you that Starbucks stands firmly against discrimination or racial profiling.
In the coming days, I will be joining our regional vice president, Camille Hymes—who is on the ground in Philadelphia—to speak with partners, customers and community leaders as well as law enforcement. Most importantly, I hope to meet personally with the two men who were arrested to offer a face-to-face apology.
We have immediately begun a thorough investigation of our practices. In addition to our own review, we will work with outside experts and community leaders to understand and adopt best practices. The video shot by customers is very hard to watch and the actions in it are not representative of our Starbucks Mission and Values.
Creating an environment that is both safe and welcoming for everyone is paramount for every store. Regretfully, our practices and training led to a bad outcome—the basis for the call to the Philadelphia police department was wrong. Our store manager never intended for these men to be arrested and this should never have escalated as it did.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney issued a statement which read, in part:
“I am heartbroken to see Philadelphia in the headlines for an incident that — at least based on what we know at this point — appears to exemplify what racial discrimination looks like in 2018. For many, Starbucks is not just a place to buy a cup of coffee, but a place to meet up with friends or family members, or to get some work done. Like all retail establishments in our city, Starbucks should be a place where everyone is treated the same, no matter the color of their skin.
Most interesting line from @Starbucks CEO “Our store manager never intended for these men to be arrested..”. Would be interesting to hear what he/she thought would happen once police were called on 2 black men. https://t.co/YkUuykIK46
Note to Starbucks CEO: I spend $10+ on my Grande Frap and select sandwich almost daily and I find it hard to find a seat sometimes because of people on their mac books for hours using free WiFi not buying anything and I don’t see them arrested. Can you guess race?
FX recently dropped the first full preview of Ryan Murphy’s upcoming new series Pose, which plays across the landscape of drag ball culture in 1980s New York City.
The series initially made headlines after announcing five transgender actors in trans roles as series regulars – Indya Moore, Angelica Ross, Hailie Sahar, Dominique Jackson, and M.J. Rodriguez – easily the most ever cast in a TV series.
The series also stars TV veterans James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek), Kate Mara (House of Cards), Murphy regular Evan Peters, and Tony Award-winner Billy Porter (Kinky Boots).
According to press materials, Murphy looks to journey across 1986 NYC finding the intersections of the downtown literary scene, the ball culture and the lavish luxe of the emerging Trump era.
Pose premieres Sunday, June 3 on FX. Watch the preview below.
While Donald Trump was ordering the missile strike on Syria last night, McClatchyDC was reporting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has found evidence that Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, did travel to Prague in August/September of 2016 at the height of the presidential campaign.
Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spy’s report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
It would also be one of the most significant developments thus far in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of whether the Trump campaign and the Kremlin worked together to help Trump win the White House. Undercutting Trump’s repeated pronouncements that “there is no evidence of collusion,” it also could ratchet up the stakes if the president tries, as he has intimated he might for months, to order Mueller’s firing.
Cohen denied the allegations last year saying he has “never been to Prague” in his life. He famously produced his passport which showed no stamp of entry into Prague.
But the new reports posit that Cohen may have traveled on private jet to Germany and entered the Czech Republic from there. Because both countries are in the so-called Schengen Area in which 26 nations operate with open borders, a passport would not have been necessary for entry.
The infamous Steele dossier has been declared “debunked” in great part by Trump loyalists because of Cohen’s passport defense. The logic seems to be if that one aspect of the report was untrue then the entire dossier must be a lie.
“Bad reporting, bad information and bad story,” Cohen tweeted, calling out McClatchy reporter Peter Stone by name.
“No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven!”
Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone @McClatchyDC. No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven! https://t.co/ra7nwjUA0X
Rumor has been swirling for months that Cohen flew into Germany by private jet in early September 2016 and went on to Prague by train or bus—now Mueller has evidence it may be true >> https://t.co/EvUoQB5fBG
BREAKING: From Day 1 this feed has been about the Steele Dossier—and tonight the *one* allegedly false item in the Dossier now appears to *also* be true. So the current status of the Dossier is that much of it has been proven true and none of it dispelled. https://t.co/ipa207fydH
Broadway Bares: Game Night, the annual striptease spectacular benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, will take place June 17 at 9:30 PM and midnight at the Hammerstein Ballroom (311 West 34th Street).
The performances, featuring more than 150 of the most talented dancers in New York City, will put a seductive spin on games you know and love, from a pulsating poke at pinball to saucy virtual reality video games.
Created in 1992 by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell, Broadway Bares has raised more than $17.4 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Tickets for Broadway Bares range from $50 to $3,000. For more information, visit BroadwayCares.org.
Donald Trump tweeted “Mission Accomplished!” Saturday morning after U.S. led military strikes in Syria in response to a suspected gas attack on the rebel-held city of Douma last weekend.
Warplanes and ships from the United States, Britain and France launched more than 100 missiles at three chemical weapons storage and research facilities near Damascus and Homs, the officials told reporters, in an operation that President Trump and Pentagon leaders hailed as a success.
“A perfectly executed strike last night,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!”
Still, even as Mr. Trump lauded “our great Military,” the reality was that, for the second time in just over a year, he had sent missiles crashing into Syrian military targets, adding American firepower to one of the most complex and multisided conflicts in a generation.
Beyond the immediate question of whether the strikes actually accomplished the stated goal of diminishing Syria’s capacity to make and use chemical weapons, the new strikes posed the risk of drawing the United States more deeply into a conflict in which Russia and Iran have more invested than ever in keeping Mr. Assad in power.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced the strikes would increase Syria’s resolve to “fight and crush terrorism in every inch” of the country.
A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!
The “Mission Accomplished” comment reminded many of President George W. Bush’s woefully tone-deaf 2003 “mission accomplished” moment.
President Trump doesn’t seem to realize that “Mission Accomplished!” has a certain echo to it. The Middle East tends to draw things out a little longer than politicians expect. pic.twitter.com/dR9qI7kCtX
Many hard-line Trumpers were dismayed that Trump, who promised an anti-interventionist approach during the 2016 presidential campaign, moved forward with the attack at all.
Ann Coulter spent the evening retweeting criticism of the strikes while Alex Jones had a melt-down on Info Wars:
On the 40th anniversary of the massive movie musical hit, GREASE, Billboard Magazine‘s Chuck Arnold remembers the impact of the film’s music. An excerpt from Billboard:
In the past two years, soundtracks to musical films like The Greatest Showman, La La Land and Beauty and the Beast have scored big on the Billboard 200 chart. But even those success stories can’t compare to the blockbuster Grease soundtrack, which everyone was hopelessly devoted to after it was released 40 years ago on April 14, 1978. The double-LP companion to the smash movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John—which didn’t hit theaters until two months later, on June 16—was certified 8-times platinum (and has sold more than 6 million copies since the start of the Nielsen Music era in 1991), notched four top five hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (“Grease,” No. 1; “You’re the One That I Want,” No. 1; “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” No. 3; “Summer Nights,” No. 5), and earned an album of the year Grammy nod. Whether you’ve ever seen the screen romance of ’50s high-school sweethearts Sandy and Danny, chances are you’ve heard some of the music from one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time. “I think the songs are timeless,” Newton-John tells Billboard. “They’re fun and have great energy. The ’50s-feel music has always been popular, and it’s nostalgic for my generation, and then the young kids are rediscovering it every 10 years or so, it seems. People buying the album was a way for them to remember those feelings of watching the movie and feelings of that time period. I feel very grateful to be a part of this movie that’s still loved so much.”
• Alabama Senator Doug Jones has become the 46th co-sponsor to The Equality Act, which seeks to add ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’ protections to existing civil rights laws. Jones says his (hottie) openly gay son Carson’s coming out helped shape his political views on LGBTQ rights.
• Amazon video just got that much more gay as the streaming giant has just added dozens and dozens of LGBTQ films that screened at Outfest in L.A. to Amazon Prime.
• A recent report by Goldman Sachs analysts pointed out that curing diseases doesn’t make nearly as much money for Pharma companies as creating drugs that treat (but don’t cure) chronic illnesses. The statement adds fuel to the conspiracy theory that should cures for diseases like AIDS might be discovered, they might be withheld in favor of “treatment” drugs.
• The Maine House of Representatives has approved legislation that would protect LGBTQ youth from so-called “ex-gay therapy.”
• It appears Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, liked to record conversations with associates. Folks in TrumpLand are worried some of those recordings which might have been included in the Monday raid on Cohen’s offices, contain material damaging to Trump.
• Olympian Adam Rippon opened last night’s GLAAD Media Awards by calling his bestie Gus Kenworthy onstage and explaining, “I’ve had such a big year, but my biggest achievement so far is finally getting Gus to come out of his shell. Four years ago he was afraid to kiss his boyfriend after he won silver in Sochi. Now, he’s unleashed.”
Gus agreed saying, “Literally, I’ll kiss anybody.” And with that laid a big smooch on Adam.
According toThe New York Times, the report by the Justice Department inspector general concludes that former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe repeatedly misled investigators.
The inspector general said that when investigators asked whether he had instructed aides to provide information in October 2016 to a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. McCabe said he did not authorize the disclosure and did not know who did.
But Mr. McCabe did approve the F.B.I.’s contact with the reporter, according to the review.
The newspaper article delved into a dispute between F.B.I. and Justice Department officials over how to proceed in an investigation into the financial dealings of the Clinton family’s foundation. It revealed a sensitive meeting during which Justice Department officials declined to authorize subpoenas or grand jury activity.
The inspector general also concluded that Mr. McCabe’s disclosure of the existence of the ongoing investigation in the manner described in the report violated media policy of the F.B.I. and Justice Department and constituted misconduct.
In a statement, Mr. McCabe said that he had full authorization to share this information with the media. Mr. McCabe also said that he did not intentionally mislead investigators.
Even though McCabe stepped down from his position in January, he was officially fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions less than two days before becoming eligible for his full federal pension after spending more than 20 years in government service.
Donald Trump’s thumbs couldn’t wait to take to Twitter writing in perfectly calm, reverent tones, “He LIED! LIED! LIED!”
Seriously, folks – this reads more like a meltdown than a presidential message.
DOJ just issued the McCabe report – which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey – McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!
This primal (Twitter) scream — “McCabe is Comey!!” — lays bare POTUS’s view of the FBI as a personal legal threat, a source of incriminating witnesses, rather than a nonpartisan law enforcement agency. https://t.co/TVqVE0W6z5
A true thing seems to be that McCabe and Comey thought it was a mortal lock that Clinton was going to win, didn’t see the harm in coloring outside the lines at her expense, and lost their careers to the man who profited most from their misconduct. https://t.co/I8CyBOeXYA
Dear @realDonaldTrump: Pleased to see you take lying so seriously. Perhaps you should apply the standard you put on McCabe to yourself and other Administration officials.
Also, how come you pardoned Scooter Libby, who was convicted because he LIED! LIED! LIED! https://t.co/QcBZ7lTtcs
Trump obviously didn’t read full report, which makes clear that Comey and McCabe had contrasting accounts of what happened. At one point, Comey asked McCabe to drop off a call about Clinton emails on Weiner laptop and had to recuse himself from 2nd probe https://t.co/aBvOkxiObY
It should be noted that James Comey’s descriptions of his conversations with Trump helped sink McCabe. So Trump’s argument here doesn’t hold a ton of weight. pic.twitter.com/GLV6WqIhFX
