Morning Spin: Rauner Tries To Raise Pressure On Republican Budget Plan

Trump had a challenging week. Sure, every week's tough when you're a toddler-level chode who owes a half billion dollars, have been adjudicated a rapist, are currently in court denying you paid a porn star hush-money and you should populate AHA brochures in the "what not to do" section to avoid heart disease. But I digress.

Since 2004, Crooks and Liars has been a leading voice in progressive politics and liberal commentary. For two decades, this fiercely independent site has provided intelligent analysis, uncompromising criticism of right-wing extremism, and a Haven for hilarious mockery of conservative hypocrisy. From eviscerating dishonest Fox News narratives to elevating underreported stories that cut against the mainstream media grain, Crooks and Liars' commitment to truth-telling has never wavered.

CNN is reporting that Hunter Biden's legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to Fox News for continuing to push the claims that Hunter Biden and his presidential father took bribes from the now disgraced Alexander Smirnov who was indicted for lying to the FBI. Now a first on CNN report, Hunter Biden's new strategy to push back against the years-long onslaught of attacks against him by conservative media. Lawyers for Hunter Biden are telling Fox News to correct the record on bribery allegations made by a discredited FBI informant or face a defamation lawsuit. CNN obtained a cease and desist letter sent to Fox last week. In it, Biden's legal team points to Fox hosts like Maria Bartiromo continuing to push claims that Hunter Biden and his father took bribes from Alexander Smirnoff, even after Smirnoff was indicted for lying to the FBI. [FOX CLIP] Bartiromo: Cheryl, you know, the issue around this charge against Smirnoff is that it may very well stop other whistleblowers from coming forward. This is an intimidation tactic.

She's baaaaack! Former crackpot Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann claims the World Health Organization has a satanic plan to create global governance. It appears Bachmann is a big Rothschild conspiracy theorist that comes from the dregs of QAnon. In my remarks, I'm going to have a chance to talk a little bit about that. If there's time to talk about the World Health Organization that is the health care arm of the United Nations, they're meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the end of May. And they have a plan. They have a satanic plan. And that plan is to create a platform for global governance. So we'll probably be talking about that. But here's the greatest thing. In the last few weeks, as maybe you felt the same thing, as despair has come upon your mind and been on your shoulders and weighted us down to the point where we thought we could never see it get as bad as what we've seen in these last few weeks, I have to tell you, the Holy Spirit has been speaking. And the still, small voice in my spiritual mind has been fluttering. It's like a fluttering, a fluttering that goes along with springtime, that says that there is a new thing that God is doing in our midst.read more

Look who's doubling down after most sane people reacted in horror to what she did. As we discussed here, South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem basically bragged about shooting a 14-month-old wirehair pointer in her soon to be released book, and rather than admit that what she wrote comes across as pretty cruel and heartless, to put it mildly, she's on the defensive. In her latest statement, Kristi Noem continues to blame the murder victim for his death.

Charlotte Pastor Loran Livingston blasted Trump and his mockery of the Bible. When you don’t read and pray. You, you say, “Wow, there’s a Bible out now that includes the Constitution and the Bill of rights! Isn’t that wonderful?”. No, no. It’s disgusting! It’s blasphemous! It’s a ploy! Are you kidding me?