Guns and the Girl: The National Rifle association, which gave $21 million to the Trump presidential campaign, claims it’s going broke because of restrictions placed on its business partners by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The NRA claims it has suffered tens of millions of dollars in damages. The governor retorted on Friday,  “If I could have put the NRA out of business, I would have done it 20 years ago.”

On the internet, some wags have offered “thoughts and prayers,” mocking the reaction of the pro-gun lobby after mass shootings.

Cuomo banned financial institutions and insurers in New York from doing business with the NRA. In a lawsuit, the NRA accuses Cuomo and the state of violating the organization’s right to free speech.

The fight largely centers on an NRA insurance program called “Carry Guard,” that would pay the legal fees of a policy holder who fires a gun in self-defense. New York levied heavy fines on some of the underwriters, claiming they “unlawfully provided liability insurance to gun owners for acts of intentional wrongdoing.”

This may not be the NRA’s biggest problem. Federal investigators say the 29-year-old woman they’ve accused of being a Russian agent used the gun rights cause and the NRA as a Trojan Horse to gain access to influential conservatives. Maria Butina, who arrived as a graduate student, certainly went to the head of the class. There are pictures of her with the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre, former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal,  former Sen. Rick Santorum, and Donald Trump Jr. She had Thanksgiving dinner last year at the country home of South Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Sanford.

Her entrée was greased by a professed love for guns and American gun rights.

Portlandia: In a clash between Portland, Oregon’s racist history and its latte-sipping present, right wingers and anti-fascists tussled in the streets yesterday while police used flash-bang grenades to try to keep things under control.

Alt-right demonstrators affiliated with the groups Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys were confronted by opponents chanting “Nazis go home!”

Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson told a Portland television station, “We’re here to promote freedom and God. That’s it. Our country is getting soft.”

Pants on Fire: President Trump was busy on Twitter yesterday bragging about the effectiveness of his trade tariffs. He wrote, “Tariffs are working far better than anyone ever anticipated.” He repeated one claim he has made in speeches, saying, “Plants are opening all over the U.S., Steelworkers are working again, and big dollars are flowing into our Treasury.”

Well, it just ain’t so. Trump has said on separate occasions that US Steel announced that it is opening six or seven new plants. They have made no such announcement.

Also, think about the timing. Trump signed his order for tariffs on foreign steel in early March. Roughly three and a half months ago. How long do you think it might take to decide to build a steel plant, finance it, build it, hire workers, and start selling steel that has “big dollars” flowing into the treasury?

It hasn’t happened and the President saying so doesn’t make it true.

The Drone Supremacy: Like something out of a Jason Bourne movie, would-be assassins yesterday tried to kill Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro with explosive-laden aerial drones. Maduro was attending a military ceremony in the capital, Caracas, when at least two bombs went off near him.

National guardsmen standing at attention broke ranks and ran. Maduro’s security guards quickly surrounded Maduro and deployed folding ballistic shields. First time we’ve seen that.

Maduro was not hurt. He later blamed right-wing elements in Venezuela and Colombia, including the Colombian president. “All the investigations point to Bogotá,” he said, “They have tried to kill me today.”

He certainly has his enemies. Despite running an oil-rich country, Maduro has presided over food shortages and an inflation rate expected to reach 1 million percent this year.

The Roundup: Amazon announced that it will no longer allow third party retailers to sell items with Nazi symbols on them through the platform. — The NY Times reports that facial tattoos, one known as “job stoppers,” are going mainstream. Justin Bieber has one. — Russia has named the martial arts and action-movie actor Steven Seagal to be a special cultural envoy to the United States. Seagal’s grandmother was born in Vladivostok and he likes Russia.

He once said in an interview that he believes Vladimir Putin “is one of the greatest world leaders, if not the greatest world leader, alive today.”

He should never be allowed to write his own lines.

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