Prickly City by Scott Stantis for August 19, 2020

You just need a new president, as we all do.

One that recognizes his own responsibilities, rather than his own Perfection.

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#TraitorTrump

Careful Carman, this brings to mind Matthew 4 verses 1-11.

It never occurred to me that Carman may her last name, and her first name , Eric.

Carmen, you’ll probably die of heat stroke long before you get lonely. It’s probably 120 degrees out there, and no shade and no water.

The cacti are her friends after all she is in Prickly City!

Oh Dear, we all are.

“Love and understanding and small acts of kindness…” – Hey how about just for a day, we have a truce and avoid ad hominem stuff? ( Google suggests I correct the spelling to Eminem…)

Yeah, Carmen… It gets lonely when no one follows your ‘leadership’.

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A raft of big-name business groups is warning many employers won’t participate in President Donald Trump’s payroll tax deferral plan.

Calling it “unworkable,” they said in a letter Tuesday to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that it risks saddling their workers with large postponed tax bills they could have trouble paying back.

Someone earning $35,000 would see their biweekly pay go up by $83 this year, the groups wrote, but would owe $751 next year.

People earning $75,000 would see a $178-per-paycheck bump now, but would face a $1,609 tax bill next year.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation and the National Association of Manufacturers, among more than two dozen others, urged policymakers to instead to return to negotiating over a stalled coronavirus relief package in Congress.

“Many of our members consider it unfair to employees to make a decision that would force a big tax bill on them next year,” they said. “It would also be unworkable to implement a system where employees make this decision.”

“Therefore, many of our members will likely decline to implement deferral.”

✁

“We hope Congress and the administration come together on a path that supports workers instead of burdening hardworking Americans with a large tax bill next year,” the business groups wrote.

They included trade associations representing a swath of industries, including restaurants, drug stores, footwear companies, restaurants, contractors and winemakers.

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https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/08/18/businesses-payroll-tax-397777

Carmen… When no one wants to go where you are going…

It’s not ‘leadership’.

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The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Republican operative Paul Manafort posed a “grave counterintelligence threat” as President Trump’s campaign manager because of his contacts with Russians connected to Kremlin intelligence.

Manafort, a GOP lobbyist who also spent years working overseas in places such as Ukraine, was the chairman of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign until he resigned in August 2016 and was convicted of a host of crimes arising from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

A 996-page report released on Tuesday, the fifth and final volume of the committee’s inquiry into Russian meddling during the election between Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was unsparing in its assessment of Manafort,

….especially in regards to his close relationships with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska (who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin) and with Russian national Konstantin Kilimnik,

…about whom Mueller had said “the FBI assesses to have ties to Russian intelligence” and whom the senators concluded “is a Russian intelligence officer.”

“The Committee found that Manafort’s presence on the Campaign and proximity to Trump created opportunities for the Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and acquire confidential information on, the Trump Campaign,” the bipartisan report concluded.

“The Committee assesses that Kilimnik likely served as a channel to Manafort for Russian intelligence services, and that those services likely sought to exploit Manafort’s access to gain insight info the Campaign. (✁ for lack of space)

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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate-report-manafort-role-in-trump-campaign-posed-grave-counterintelligence-threat-due-to-russian-contacts

Just a reminder, William Barr was made U.S.A.G. on February 14, 2019.

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The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee made criminal referrals of Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, Erik Prince and Sam Clovis to federal prosecutors in 2019,

…passing along their suspicions that the men may have misled the committee during their testimony, an official familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The official confirmed reports in the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, which reported on the matter last week.

A criminal referral to the Justice Department means Congress believes a matter warrants investigation for potential violation of the law.

The committee detailed its concerns in a letter to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., in June 2019, the official said.

The Post reported that the letter was divided into two sections. One named those suspected of making false statements, The Post said: Bannon; Clovis, a co-chair of the Trump campaign in 2016; and Prince, a private security contractor.

A second section raised concerns about the testimony of other witnesses, including Trump Jr. and Kushner, whose statements were contradicted by Trump campaign aide Richard Gates, although it did not pointedly make a false-statements allegation, The Post reported.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/senate-made-criminal-referral-trump-jr-bannon-kushner-two-others-n1237155

I’d go for the quiet and the nature-nurture. The lonely part I’m used to.

Like ol’ guy?

“Commuting with Nature”: Zippy (alone in the woods) "Here I am, away from the hubub [sic] of civilization.

“Hubub.

“Hubub, hubub, hubub, hubub, hubub, hubub…”

Nature makes one lonely until you realize the world is not about you. Even in the desert, life abounds. You are not alone.

Where’s Winslow?

And NO Wi-Fi!!!!!

You may be lonely, but you’re not alone.

Carmen needs to learn you can be alone and not be lonely. I recently took an 8 day sabbatical without internet and didn’t watch any television. It was awesome. I did miss my daily comics fix though.

Ya just can’t please some folks.