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masterofd1saster · 10 months ago

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CJ current events 11jan24

How not to deny something

Rep Lauren Boebert and her ex-husband Jayson Boebert had minor domestic dispute at a restaurant on Saturday in Silt, Colorado.

In a statement to The Denver Post from her campaign manager, Boebert said, “This is a sad situation for all that keeps escalating and another reason I’m moving. I didn’t punch Jayson in the face and no one was arrested.”

I think I would have said

Jayson and I were married for 18 years. We have been blessed with four sons and one grandchild. When a marriage like this must end, it's not surprising that emotions run high. Neither of us was arrested. Neither of us was cited by police. Neither of us wants the other prosecuted. Mostly, we want to resolve our differences amicably and privately.

Rep Boebert is a lightning rod for every leftist and elitist in the country. If you drink beer, you probably like her. If you can imagine saying "what a delightful chablis," you probably hate her. Either way, the Denver Post and papers like it have been fervently praying for her to lose an election.

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Helpful advice from BB

9 Hilarious Pranks To Pull On The FBI Agents Tapped Into Your Phone Line

Try a few of these classic pranks the next time you're on the phone:

Say the school board protest has been moved somewhere else: When the FBI sends a whole SWAT team to the wrong location, they'll look SO STUPID! HA!

Mess with their heads by saying "Trump is an insurrectionist dictator" alongside "Trump is our savior": They won't know whose side you're on.

Say "Hey, FBI agent, is your refrigerator running?": When they answer "Yes," then say "Well, you better go catch it!" then hang up and laugh. GOT 'EM!

Identify yourself as Hunter Biden and pretend you're ordering a Ukrainian hooker: They'll hang up faster than you can say "bribery scam."

Sing a few bars of a Beatles song every few minutes so they can't play the recording in court: Licensing fees cost a fortune.

Create a fake accomplice named "Mike Rotch": They'll have to officially enter it into court records and it'll be read out loud. It'll be hilarious.

Say "Hey, are those some catholic nuns over there across the street praying at the abortion clinic? Why, I do believe they are!": Then sit back and watch those guys go crazy falling over themselves to go tackle some old ladies.

Call anyone on January 6th and say "The plan is a go. Execute Operation MAGA.": This one is a lot of fun, but you may end up in solitary for a few decades.

Say "asphinchtersayswhat": What?

If you're going to be under federal surveillance, you might as well get a few laughs out of it along the way. Have fun!

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BB again

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Drugs are cool!

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WXIX) - A 16-year-old student was arrested after police say he assaulted his teacher. A few minutes after 2:15 p.m. Thursday, Colerain Township police said school resource officers were notified that a teacher was assaulted by her teen student inside a Colerain High School classroom. An initial investigation led officers to find out the student “ingested an unknown drug” before becoming “distraught,” Colerain Township police wrote in their report. The 16-year-old then assaulted the teacher and a classmate before running out of the classroom, police explained. The teacher was punched “multiple times in the head,” according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office. The teacher was taken by EMS to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. At the hospital, the prosecutor’s office said the teacher had her skull cap removed to prevent damage from swelling. The Cleveland Clinic describes this as a “major brain surgery.” Family members tell FOX19 NOW she has yet to wake up. Responding officers later found the 16-year-old student in the school’s career center lobby, the police report states. The student appeared to be hallucinating and had a self-inflicted head injury**** https://www.fox19.com/2024/01/05/colerain-hs-student-arrested-after-teacher-assaulted-classroom/

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Good job there, FBI

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There's trashy, and then there's

A Missouri teacher has been charged with statutory rape for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old student while other students served as “lookouts” — with the boy’s father also facing a felony charge for condoning the disturbing relationship. Laquey High School math teacher Hailey Clifton-Carmack, 26, was arrested in Garden Ridge, Texas, on Friday after she “was suspected of fleeing the State of Missouri” to avoid arrest warrants, according to law enforcement. Allegations of the sex crimes committed by Clifton-Carmack first arose on Dec. 7, 2023.*** Clifton-Carmack — a recently divorced mother of two — would often wear “tight or low-cut shirts” to show off her “headlights” and “tight leggings that ‘showed off her camel toe,’” according to court documents. The witness told investigators the victim was the reason “her divorce was pushed through” and that “Hailey had wanted a divorce due to her husband only wanting to ‘do butt stuff,'” the court document revealed.*** In a shocking twist, new charges have been brought against the boy’s father, who allegedly revealed to others that he was aware of his son’s illicit relationship with the teacher. Mark Creighton was arrested on Thursday on charges of endangering the welfare of a child. On Wednesday, a second witness revealed they told the teen’s father of the alleged wrongdoings, to which he replied he was aware Clifton-Carmack and his 16-year-old son were in a “sexual relationship,” according to court documents.*** The father also allegedly shared he knew that his son and the math teacher used other students as “lookouts” to have sex during school hours. Creighton “knew of the relationship of his minor child and the 26-year-old teacher, and instead of reporting the information, he continued to cover for them and allowed the relationship to continue” and “even allowed Hailey to come over to his residence and see the victim while he was present,” according to prosecutors.*** https://nypost.com/2024/01/09/news/missouri-teacher-slapped-with-rape-charges-after-having-sex-with-teen-while-using-other-students-as-lookouts-boys-dad-busted-for-allowing-relationship-docs/

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Canada rocks!

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/military-police-threaten-to-charge-sex-worker-who-offers-discounts-to-canadian-soldiers

Military police are threatening to charge a sex worker who offers discounts to Canadian soldiers and senior leaders are warning troops to stay away from the Kingston-area woman. But such efforts have backfired and sex worker Christina Lea Gilchrist tells this newspaper that she is being inundated with messages from military personnel interested in the services she provides. The selling of sex in Canada is legal but military police allege Gilchrist broke the law with the “unlawful use of military uniforms,” according to police documents. “Upon review of your website, it was noticed that you were not only advertising your services wearing a military uniform which is a controlled piece of clothing, but also displaying other parties engaging in sexual acts while also in uniform,” military police stated in a message sent to Gilchrist on Dec. 18. But Gilchrist, who offers discounts to Canadian Forces personnel, pointed out she has repeatedly stated in her advertising that she is not nor has never been a member of any military. “I’ve never walked around in public pretending to be a soldier,” she explained. “People in movies dressed up as soldiers aren’t impersonating soldiers, so why do (military police) think that I am?”***

To be fair, we generally don't let private entities use our uniforms in advertising. If you look at the NFCU commercial with two Marines chasing a card thief, their name and service tapes are blurred.

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United States and California Announce Diesel Engine Manufacturer Cummins Inc. Agrees to Pay a Record $1.675 Billion Civil Penalty in Vehicle Test Cheating Settlement

The Justice Department, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), California Air Resources Board (CARB) and California Attorney General’s Office today released the details of a proposed settlement with diesel engine maker Cummins Inc. for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and California law. Beyond agreeing to pay a $1.675 billion civil penalty – the largest ever assessed in a Clean Air Act case – Cummins has agreed to spend more than $325 million to remedy the violations, which included the use of software “defeat devices” that circumvented emissions testing and certification requirements. Under the settlement, Cummins must complete a nationwide vehicle recall to repair and replace the engine control software in more than 600,000 RAM 2500 and RAM 3500 pickup trucks equipped with the company’s diesel engines. Cummins will also extend the warranty period for certain parts in the repaired vehicles, fund and perform projects to mitigate excess ozone-creating nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted from the vehicles and employ new internal procedures designed to prevent future emissions cheating. In total, the settlement is valued at more than $2 billion.*** “Cummins installed illegal defeat devices on more than 600,000 RAM pickup trucks, which exposed overburdened communities across America to harmful air pollution,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This record-breaking Clean Air Act penalty demonstrates that EPA is committed to holding polluters accountable and ensuring that companies pay a steep price when they break the law.” *** https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-and-california-announce-diesel-engine-manufacturer-cummins-inc-agrees-pay

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Other people get flattened, but Ray gets straight probation?

An Arizona man at the center of the Capitol attack’s most persistent conspiracy theories was sentenced Tuesday to a year of probation for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Ray Epps, 62, pleaded guilty in September to one count as part of a deal with Justice Department prosecutors. He admitted to engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds after storming the Capitol.*** Epps was also ordered Tuesday to pay $500 in restitution and to serve 100 hours of community service. Prosecutors requested six months in prison for Epps, who they said engaged in a “rugby scrum-like group effort” to shove past police officers.*** https://thehill.com/homenews/4397624-ray-epps-jan-6-conspiracy-theories-sentenced/

Is it still a theory if he receives the lightest sentence so far? https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/media/1331746/dl?inline looks like only one other defendant received only a year probation, Eliel Rosa. Some people, e.g., Christopher Worrell, received 10 years in prison.

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Buy an air conditioner with an eternal warranty

A former Oregon Department of Human Services employee, Zakary Glover, 30, pleaded guilty [Jan. 9, 2023] to violating the civil rights of a woman with developmental disabilities who was in his care by engaging in sexual misconduct with her.*** Glover worked as a direct support crisis specialist for the Office of Developmental Disabilities Stabilization and Crisis Unit. On Nov. 2, 2021, Glover transported an adult woman in his care to an outing in Salem, Oregon. The victim suffers from severe autism and epilepsy, cognitive delays and very limited verbal ability. Staff members responsible for her care communicate by showing her picture books, displaying YouTube videos or drawing pictures. During the outing, Glover detoured down a dead-end road in Aumsville, Oregon. Glover parked the van and then, using force, attempted to and did cause the victim to engage in a sexual act without her consent. After doing so, Glover forcefully grabbed her and then positioned his body in a way that allowed him to attempt to force her into another non-consensual sexual act. Glover admitted that the victim did not consent to any of the sexual activity. Among other offenses, his conduct constituted attempted aggravated sexual abuse. A sentencing hearing is set for April 30. *** https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-oregon-state-employee-pleads-guilty-federal-civil-rights-charges-after-violating

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That's it?

I'm a former prison inmate - here are the common habits that could land YOU behind bars

Amanda Dove, who was previously convicted for armed robbery, took to TikTok to share the fascinating insight with her 887,000 followers. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12940323/Former-prison-inmate-common-habits-jail.html

Her top three are don't lie on your food stamp applications, don't shoplift, and don't hack into your ex's social media.

Personally, I think Chris Rocks advice in https://youtu.be/uj0mtxXEGE8 is the best I've ever heard. His list starts at 34 seconds.

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queensafira · 6 years ago

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Reality Winner, N.S.A. Contractor Accused in Leak, Pleads Guilty

WASHINGTON — Reality L. Winner, a former Air Force linguist who was the first person prosecuted by the Trump administration on charges of leaking classified information, pleaded guilty on Tuesday as part of an agreement with prosecutors that calls for a sentence of 63 months in prison.

Ms. Winner, who entered her plea in Federal District Court in Augusta, Ga., was arrested last June and accused of sharing a classified report about Russian interference in the 2016 election with the news media.

Ms. Winner, who is now 26, has been jailed since her arrest and wore an orange prison jumpsuit and white sneakers to the hearing. Her decision to plead guilty to one felony count allows the government both to avoid a complex trial that had been scheduled for October and to notch a victory in the Trump administration’s aggressive pursuit of leakers.

“All of my actions I did willfully, meaning I did so of my own free will,” Ms. Winner told Chief Judge J. Randal Hall on Tuesday. Throughout the hearing, Ms. Winner kept her hands behind her back while she answered questions about whether she understood the terms of the plea deal.

#news #reality winner #Russian hacking #our democracy is in trouble #they prosecuted her faster than they investigated Trump #When will it be Mueller Time?#politics #my post

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giftofshewbread · 4 years ago

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Cry Out to God

By Daymond Duck Published on: April 18, 2021

On Apr. 7, 2021, Jean Worland posted an article titled “America just died a little…”

It was written by an unknown writer, and I want to pass on some of what the writer said.

It looks like the Deep State is controlling everything in Washington (Congress, the FBI, the CIA, the Justice Dept, the Pentagon, the Military) plus Silicon Valley, the social media, cable news, and more.

The Clintons have never been prosecuted for destroying e-mails, phones, servers, etc. (add to that pedophilia, and more).

Obama, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Rice, and others have never been prosecuted for spying on Trump, falsely accusing Trump officials, etc.

Soros is never prosecuted for funneling money to groups that riot, loot, destroy property, etc.

Durham’s report on the Russian Collusion myth has never come out.

I will add that:

Dianne Feinstein was on the Senate Intelligence Committee (and even chaired it for a few years) while employing a Chinese Communist as her office manager and driver, and her husband was getting wealthy trading with China, and nothing was done about it.

Eric Swalwell was on the House Intelligence Committee with access to all of America’s intelligence when it was discovered that he had slept with a Chinese spy that helped get him elected. Nancy Pelosi (whose husband also got rich trading with China) refused to remove him, and even reappointed him, and nothing has been done about it.

There is plenty of evidence of election fraud, but the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, refused to hear most of it (and now the Shadow government wants to pack the court so they can get away with everything they have done in the past and everything they plan to do in the future).

Biden says “no Amendment (to the U.S. Constitution) is absolute,” signaling the Shadow Government’s plans to destroy freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and disarm America so they can do what they want, and no one can resist them.

Things are not hopeless because persecution causes God’s people to cry out to God, and when enough do that, He rescues them.

Here are several reasons why I believe the global situation will worsen, cause more of God’s people to cry out, and soon result in Christians being caught up (Raptured).

One, concerning the days of Noah (wickedness): on Apr. 9, 2021, it was reported that experts have confirmed that the abandoned laptop computer at a Delaware repair shop belonged to Hunter Biden, and there is no evidence that the information on it is not true or that it is “Russian disinformation.”

Tony Bobulinksi has verified the accuracy of e-mails on the computer, the work order that was signed when the laptop was left at the repair shop contains Hunter Biden’s signature, and Hunter now acknowledges that “it could be his.”

The laptop contains evidence that Hunter and his dad (Pres. Joe Biden) potentially betrayed America, and Hunter was a sex abuser and drug addict.

Despite this strong evidence, it looks like Hunter and Joe are going to get away with their crimes.

Two, on Apr. 4, 2021, Pope Francis sent a letter to the spring meeting of two globalist groups, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Francis called for a new system of global government, a new system of social order (a godless world religion), everyone on earth to be vaccinated for Covid, and wealth redistribution (a new economic system; The Great Reset) so poorer countries can help pay for programs to fight “climate change.”

Francis’ call to restructure the world mentioned “the common good” (the way he often refers to world government) several times; it totally ignored Jesus, and mentioned God only one time.

These three global systems (world government system, world religious system, and world economic system) will be established, and the role of God and Jesus will be ignored while they are setting it up.

It is incredible that the leader of a religious organization that is located in a city on seven hills is playing an important role in this.

Three, in Jan. 2021, the state of California passed a law requiring officials to jail prisoners according to their gender identity.

On Apr. 6, 2021, it was reported that 261 prisoners that were jailed as men have said they are women, requiring them to be transferred to women’s cells.

Some officials believe some prisoners could be lying about their gender in order to be jailed with women, and this will increase sexual violence and pregnancies in prisons that house women.

Connecticut and Massachusetts have passed similar laws.

Four, the Biden administration is pushing the Green New Deal, and some of those behind it want U.S. citizens to eat less meat.

This passage of Scripture has come to my mind, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth” (I Tim. 4:1-3).

Five, concerning the Mark of the Beast: on Apr. 11, 2021, the Soufriere Volcano on the Caribbean Island of Saint Vincent was erupting and approaching a possible danger level.

Officials decided to use cruise ships to evacuate the island, but they would only allow those that have been vaccinated to board the ships.

Unvaccinated people that wanted to be vaccinated immediately could be, but they would still not be allowed to board the ships because their vaccination could cause them to have side effects.

Six, many that follow current events have seen reports that Covid is mutating, and there could soon be a need for vaccinated citizens to be vaccinated with new vaccines.

We have also seen calls for “vaccine passports” and other ways to track and identify those that have been vaccinated.

On Apr. 5, 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. will not require citizens to use vaccine passports, but he believes the private sector (businesses, schools, etc.) will require proof of vaccination if citizens want to use them (buy and sell, get an education, have a bank account, seek medical care, etc.).

Moreover, it was recently reported that one of Biden’s senior advisors said the Biden administration is already providing guidance to the private sector on this issue.

We don’t know how long it will take, but there is good reason to believe that new vaccines and tracking systems could eventually lead to the Mark of the Beast.

Seven, on Apr. 7, 2021, it was reported that former Vice Pres. and Chief Scientist for Allergy and Respiratory Research at Pfizer, Dr. Mike Yeadon, said governments, media and big tech are lying to the public about Covid.

Yeadon said they are planning to produce billions of vaccines for Covid “variants,” and regulatory officials are planning to approve those vaccines without testing them to see if they are safe for the public.

This former Pfizer executive added that he cannot think of any reason to vaccinate potentially billions of people with untested vaccines they don’t need unless it is being done to reduce the population of the earth.

On Apr. 10, 2021, a study of 400 people in South Africa found that more vaccinated people are getting the new strain of Covid than unvaccinated people.

On Apr. 12, 2021, it was reported that official government documents in the U.K. show that the next round of Covid deaths may be higher among people that have already been vaccinated than among people that haven’t been vaccinated because Covid will spread faster among careless, over-confident vaccinated people than among more careful, unvaccinated people.

On Apr. 13, 2021, the CDC recommended a pause in vaccinations with the Johnson and Johnson (J & J) vaccine while they investigate reports of unusual blood clots in six women between the ages of 18-48 (J & J denied that the clots were linked to its vaccine).

Eight, many readers are asking me for advice on whether they should be vaccinated or not, and I am not qualified to answer that question.

A reader sent the link below to me, and those that are considering a vaccination might want to watch this video before they make up their mind.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/01/bill-sardi/horrific-latent-deaths-predicted-among-the-elderly-by-genetics-professor-after-immunization-with-rna-vaccines/

The video is less than 5 minutes long, but please pay attention.

When the video ends, keep watching, and a second video will start that contains the opinions of many doctors and experts (28 min. and 34 sec.), and what they say sounds extremely important.

Finally, if you want to go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Thursday, November 19, 2020

Most expensive cities (CNBC) Zurich and Paris have displaced Singapore and Osaka in a recent report on the world’s most expensive cities. The two Asian cities previously joined Hong Kong at the top of the rankings. That’s based on The Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Worldwide Cost of Living index which shows how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the prices of goods and services in more than 130 cities as of September 2020. According to the report, Zurich and Paris’ jump to first place was due to the strengthening of the Swiss franc and the euro. “The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the weakening of the U.S. dollar while western European and north Asian currencies have strengthened against it, which in turn has shifted prices for goods and services,” said Upasana Dutt, head of Worldwide Cost of Living at The EIU. New York City is used as the base city in the index. The top ten: Zurich, Paris, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tel Aviv, Osaka, Geneva, New York, Copenhagen, Los Angeles.

U.S., Canada, Mexico to extend border restrictions until late December (AP) U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico are expected to remain closed to non-essential travel until Dec. 21 at the earliest amid a rising number of U.S. coronavirus cases, officials in Washington and Ottawa told Reuters on Wednesday. Mexico’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the decision later on Wednesday in a post on Twitter. The restrictions were first put in place in March to control the spread of the virus and have been extended on a monthly basis ever since. In Ottawa, a Canadian government source said the travel restrictions in place at the Canada-U.S. land border would remain in effect for at least another month.

Recession With a Difference: Women Face Special Burden (NYT) For millions of working women, the coronavirus pandemic has delivered a rare and ruinous one-two-three punch. First, the parts of the economy that were smacked hardest and earliest by job losses were ones where women dominate—restaurants, retail businesses and health care. Then a second wave began taking out local and state government jobs, another area where women outnumber men. The third blow has, for many, been the knockout: the closing of child care centers and the shift to remote schooling. That has saddled working mothers, much more than fathers, with overwhelming household responsibilities. “We’ve never seen this before,” said Betsey Stevenson, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan and the mother of a second grader and a sixth grader. Recessions usually start by gutting the manufacturing and construction industries, where men hold most of the jobs, she said. The triple punch is not just pushing women out of jobs they held, but also preventing many from seeking new ones.

U.S. to Drop Case Against Mexican Ex-Official to Allow Inquiry in Mexico (NYT) The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to drop drug trafficking and corruption charges against a former Mexican defense minister to allow Mexican officials to investigate him, Attorney General William P. Barr announced Tuesday in an abrupt reversal a month after the official was arrested in Los Angeles. The official, Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, had been Mexico’s defense minister from 2012 to 2018 and was accused of taking bribes in exchange for protecting cartel leaders. But Mr. Barr and Mexico’s attorney general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, stopped short in a statement of promising any charges in Mexico. In a court filing, prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration had determined that preserving its relationship with Mexico prevailed over pursuing the case. “The United States has determined that sensitive and important foreign policy considerations outweigh the government’s interest in pursuing the prosecution of the defendant, under the totality of the circumstances, and therefore require dismissal of the case,” they wrote in asking a judge to dismiss the charges.

Biden’s DIY transition proceeds without Trump assistance (AP) President Donald Trump’s refusal to cooperate with his successor is forcing President-elect Joe Biden to seek unusual workarounds to prepare for the exploding public health threat and evolving national security challenges he will inherit in just nine weeks. Blocked from the official intelligence briefing traditionally afforded to incoming presidents, Biden gathered virtually on Tuesday with a collection of intelligence, defense and diplomatic experts. And as the worst pandemic in a century bears down on the U.S. with renewed ferocity, the current administration is blocking Biden from collaborating with its response team. Biden’s representatives instead plan to meet directly with pharmaceutical companies this week to determine how best to distribute at least two promising vaccines to hundreds of millions of Americans, the biggest logistical challenge to face a new president in generations. The moves reflect how Biden is adjusting to a historically tense transition. With no sign that Trump is prepared to facilitate soon a peaceful transfer of power, Biden and his team are instead working through a series of backup options to do the best they can to prepare for the challenges he will face as soon as he takes office in January.

When Trump Goes, Can the Democrats Hold It Together? (NYT) The Democratic Party is struggling with internal contradictions, as its mixed performance on Election Day makes clear. Analysts and insiders are already talking—sometimes in apocalyptic terms—about how hard it will be for Joe Biden to hold together the coalition that elected him as the 46th president. The intraparty dispute burst out full force on Nov. 5 during a three-hour House Democratic Caucus telephone meeting. Moderates angrily lashed out at liberals, accusing them of allowing divisive rhetoric such as “defund the police” and calls for socialism to go largely unchallenged. Those on the left pushed right back, accusing centrists of seeking to downgrade the demands of minorities, including those voiced at Black Lives Matter protests. Abigail Spanberger, who represents the 7th Congressional District in Virginia—which runs from the suburbs of Richmond through the exurban and rural counties in the center of the state—voiced her instantly famous critique of the liberal wing of her party during the phone call: “We have to be pretty clear about the fact that Tuesday—Nov. 3—from a congressional standpoint, was a failure,” she told her Democratic colleagues. “The number one concern that people brought to me” during the campaign “was defunding the police.” And “We need to not ever use the words ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again because while people think it doesn’t matter, it does matter. And we lost good members because of that.” Representative Rashida Tlaib, whose Michigan district is among the poorest in the country, and who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America—directly countered Spanberger and other moderates: “To be real, it sounds like you are saying stop pushing for what Black folks want.” Other Democrats who describe themselves as democratic socialists, including the former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, have become a substantial Democratic constituency.

Pandemic media syndrome? (Scientific American) According to Claudia Wallis, of Scientific American, recent studies have shown that the pandemic’s toll on mental health has been even worse than experts expected, especially among young adults. Roxane Cohen Silver, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, found that “increased engagement with media coverage of the outbreak” is a major driver of anxiety among people of all ages. “If people are engaged with a great deal of media, they are more likely to exhibit and report distress, but that distress seems to draw them further into the media,” Silver says. “It’s a cyclical pattern from which it is difficult to extricate oneself.”

Sweden’s coronavirus strategy (Washington Post) Even Sweden appears to be abandoning the Swedish model. On Monday, the country’s authorities banned gatherings of more than eight people as they grappled with the second coronavirus wave surging through much of Europe. The new restrictions followed other protocols coming into effect this week, including protective measures around nursing homes and bans on alcohol sales at restaurants and bars after 10 p.m. The shift in tone is noteworthy given Sweden’s notorious light-touch approach to the pandemic. “It is a clear and sharp signal to every person in our country as to what applies in the future,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said during a news conference Monday. “Don’t go to the gym, don’t go the library, don’t have dinner out, don’t have parties—cancel!” Hospitalizations are rising faster in Sweden than any other European country, and Sweden’s per capita death rate is several times higher than those of its Nordic neighbors Finland, Denmark and Norway.

Amid pandemic, Belgrade street kids find comfort at refuge (AP) In a small, brightly-colored backstreet house in Belgrade a teenage girl is drying her hair, while two others eat lunch in the kitchen. A group of boys are having their temperatures checked at the entrance as a precaution against coronavirus. It’s another busy day for Svratiste, or Roadhouse, Belgrade’s first daily drop-in center for street kids that for years has been a rare oasis of warmth and comfort for the Serbian capital’s most vulnerable inhabitants. Since opening in 2007, Svratiste has welcomed hundreds of children—some as young as five—who have come here to warm up, wash or eat. With social isolation growing and the economic situation worsening in the pandemic, the center’s role has become even more significant. Apart from providing food and clothes, the Svratiste team has also sought to help the children socialize and get to know their town by visiting playgrounds, cinemas and theaters. A key effort has been to include them in the education system and make sure they stay. During the pandemic, the center helped with online classes that most children have no means of following. One of their success stories has been Bosko Markovic, now 18, who first came to Svratiste five years ago. With the center’s help, Markovic has finished high school and now has his eyes set on becoming a policeman, he told the Associated Press. “They (Svratiste) have made me a better person,” he said proudly.

Pompeo To Visit Israeli West Bank Settlements During Farewell Tour (Foreign Policy) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Israel today as he continues his whistle-stop tour of U.S. allies. Before he heads to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, he is planning on making history. Pompeo will visit two Israeli settlements both considered in violation of international law, one in the Golan Heights and one in the West Bank. By doing so, he becomes the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit either site. His de facto endorsement of the Israeli occupation stands in contrast to the outgoing Obama administration’s moves in 2016, allowing passage of a United Nations Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory illegal by abstaining from (rather than vetoing) the vote. His visit also comes as Israel plans to expand a settlement in East Jerusalem, despite outcry from the United Nations and European Union.

Reassured by Biden Win, Palestinians Will Resume Cooperation With Israel (NYT) The Palestinian Authority said Tuesday that it was resuming its cooperation with Israel, ending six months of financial hardship for tens of thousands of West Bank residents and signaling relief over the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. It was one of the first clear signs that anticipation of a new administration in Washington is having an effect on international relations. The Palestinian announcement undid a set of stringent measures imposed by Mahmoud Abbas, the authority’s president, in May in a desperate protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to unilaterally annex large portions of the occupied West Bank. The Trump administration had indicated it would support some form of annexation, which would have imposed Israeli sovereignty over land that the Palestinians have counted on for a future state. Mr. Abbas cut off security coordination with Israel, raising fears that attacks might go unprevented. He also severed civilian ties, including those that help Palestinians travel into Israel for work or medical treatment. Most painful of all to his own people, Mr. Abbas stopped accepting routine transfers of more than $100 million a month in taxes that Israel collects on the Palestinians’ behalf, funds that account for more than 60 percent of the authority’s budget. The lack of funds forced salary cuts for tens of thousands of public-sector employees, compounding what was already a devastating economic crisis because of the pandemic. “Praise God, I feel so relieved,” Rami Kitaneh, 35, a nurse at the Hugo Chavez Ophthalmic Hospital in the central West Bank, said Tuesday night. “I gave up so much since the start of the crisis, but now I can breathe.”

Security officials worry Israel and Saudi Arabia may see the end of Trump as their last chance to go to war with Iran (Business Insider) European intelligence officials are alarmed about the possibility of military action towards Iran in the waning days of the Trump administration. Concern that Trump—who has pushed for maximum pressure on Iran—or a combination of Israel or Saudi Arabia creating a military confrontation in the waning days of the administration has been a concern for over a week, according to three European intelligence officials who spoke with Insider. The news that last week the president requested a list of military options from his military and diplomatic advisors has sent these concerns into overdrive. One fear is of unilateral action by the US to force a military clash that might make it impossible for the incoming Biden administration to return to the 2015 joint nuclear agreement that traded sanctions relief on Iran for an end to its nuclear weapon programs, all three officials said. They declined to speak on the record in exchange for their candid views on the situation.

People go hungry in Ethiopia’s Tigray as conflict marches on (AP) People are going hungry in Ethiopia’s rebellious northern Tigray region as roads are blocked, airports are closed and the federal government marches on its capital in a final push to win a two-week war. “At this stage there is simply very little left, even if you have money,” according to an internal assessment by one humanitarian group, seen by The Associated Press. The assessment, based on a colleague who managed to get out, said people “will stay where they are, there is no place in Tigray where the situation is any different and they cannot cross over into the other regions of Ethiopia because of fear of what would be done to them.” For more than a week, the United Nations and other aid organizations have been warning of disaster. Long lines formed outside shops within days of the Nov. 4 announcement by Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that a military offensive had begun in response to an attack by Tigray regional forces on a military base. Trucks laden with food, fuel and medical supplies have been stuck outside the region’s borders. Banks in Tigray were closed for days, cutting off humanitarian cash transfers to some 1 million people. And even before the fighting, a locust outbreak had been destroying crops. Over 27,000 Ethiopians have fled into neighboring Sudan, burdening villages that have been praised for their generosity, though they have little to give.

#headlines #news

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massielandnetwork · 3 years ago

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Important Economic Trends During Anarchy

2021 – Let the Games Begin

15. A Christian Secession – Distortions are Bubbling

Did you enjoy “Happy Birthing Person Day”? I gave the Love of My Life a bouquet of her favorite flowers. It would have been interesting to visit a card shop and see how many Birthing Person Day versus Mother’s Day cards were on the racks. “Birthing Person” is probably only useful as a tool to identify idiots like the Demented Marxists (DMs) in control of our Congress.

Perhaps Melinda Gates should be the U. S. Attorney General. She is the only person that has displayed any moral backbone of those connected with Jeffrey Epstein and his pedophilia gang. Epstein constantly bubbles to the surface like methane gas from a land fill and yet no one has been prosecuted for the crimes committed. At least Melinda is publicly cleaning Billy’s plow. I wonder what she would do with Hunter’s laptop?

Meanwhile the Keystone Kops (aka FBI and Department of Justice) are fully committed to prosecuting Americans that were upset about election fraud in DC on January 6 while giving free rides to Antifa that destroyed Billions of Dollars of property in numerous USA cities. They have Hunter Biden’s laptop and all of Epstein’s video/data along with his female accomplice but are unable identify any laws broken? Do the DOJ/FBI/DM’s get together for MOVIE NIGHT with Biden’s and Epstein’s libraries? Who do you think is now collecting the blackmail payments?

Gas lines, a middle east war (did you see the videos of Israel’s Iron Dome defending against 130 rockets form Hama?), rising inflation– this does feel familiar. The price of corn is up 120%, soybeans are up 60% and wheat is up 40% over last year so food prices are going to soar. The “D Team” is in charge (Democrats, aka Demented Marxists). I have yet to identify a D Team member that has accomplished anything in real life. Build Back Better must mean Trash First.

In a bright spot, Martha’s Vineyard has voted in favor of a huge windmill farm thus marking the first time The Elites have abused themselves. Those Chinese made windmills are 900 feet tall (the equivalent of a 90-story building), noisy, plus there are reports of serious vibrations. Not to mention ugly like a solar farm. This should be fun to watch. If you own property there, sell.

Pre-Wuhan Virus, the American economy was humming. Economic growth was the strongest in decades, unemployment was the lowest in decades, and businesses were growing but running with lean inventories practicing “Just in Time” supply pipeline management. With the abrupt shutdown, toilet paper became scarce because folks overreacted buying multiple years’ worth of toilet paper. The toilet paper manufacturers went into overtime producing the maximum supply trying to catch up with demand. Today, toilet paper is in such surplus that “Free Toilet Paper” is a giveaway inducement for other goods. That was an artificial distortion of the market where the short-term demand for toilet paper exceeded supply.

The same dynamic is in play in steel, OSB board, drywall, computer chips, even labor, in fact almost everywhere. Our economy is experiencing distortions so prices are rising to balance supply with demand. Many of the shortages are artificially created by our DM government paying folks NOT to work thus depriving business of the labor they need to expand their production. The DMs in control of Congress, the White House, and the various government agencies seem amazed that if you pay people not to work, they do not work. Incompetence.

Signs advertising for workers are everywhere yet unemployment is increasing. Actually, the number of folks on the government dole is increasing. Government is not the answer to the problem, IT IS THE PROBLEM. The only solution is less government.

Meanwhile, everything costs significantly more than one year ago. The Fed says it is temporary because as workers return to their jobs, more productivity will come online and prices will decline. Theoretically, that is correct but prices tend to be “Sticky” going down. Furthermore, that analysis does not take into account the increased cost of energy, materials, etc.

The fact … this is the front edge of serious inflation. We have discussed for some time that the alternatives were rapid economic growth (Trump’s agenda) or devaluation/inflation (Biden and his fellow DM’s agenda). Trump’s agenda would have created wealth, the DM’s agenda brings only pain. Those of us that lived through the Stagflation of the late 1970’s have seen this nasty combination before when Jimmy Carter was President. Cinch up your saddle, this will be ugly.

Here are some critical economic events.

1. U. S. Steel canceled their planned $1.5 Billion investment in a new manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania. They join Ford in canceling Billion Dollar investments in manufacturing here in the US. Biden’s investment partner, China, wins again. Are you tired of losing yet?

2. Ransomware attacks are up because the wealth of the USA makes us particularly great target. But Biden and his fellow DMs have the answer just like about the crisis at our southern border? “Crisis? I do not see a crisis.” Dementia has a benefit.

3. Green energy is not economically viable without enormous government (taxpayer) support which is a red flag to any thinking person. The current gas shortages are caused by ransomware but is a foretaste of government by Green Energy illusionists/ DMs.

Keep watching the activity about the fraudulent election last November.

1. Michigan – The Antrim County investigation results are in and they prove massive fraud. The bulldog attorney that is pursuing that investigation despite DM threats has filed with a court seeing to EXPAND the audit. Previously the Michigan Supreme Court previously ruled that the Michigan Secretary of State exceeded her authority when she approved a variety of changes to the state’s election laws. Was the “certified” election in Michigan a fraud? YES.

2. The Arizona legislature authorized recount of 2.1 Million votes in Maricopa County, Arizona is rolling despite the DMs attempt to prevent it. I have read that the Department of Justice has 100 attorneys assigned to shut down the audit. Do you find it interesting that the DM’s do not want the election audited?

3. Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg gave $400 Million to localities for the election so long as his group could run those elections. Facebook needs regulation.

4. Lawsuits have been filed and counter filed by Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Dominion (the voting machine company). Stay tuned, much more to come.

121 days into the DMs’ coup (the longest four months EVER), I am already tired of losing and exhausted with self-important politicians and bureaucrats who in the real world would be recognized as idiots. Here are some recent events that will impact our economic future:

1. The Fed says they are going to continue their Quantitative Easing (QE) or another 2+ years. The stock market has realized that inflation is here. The Fed knows any reduction in QE will mean higher interest rates. Higher interest rates mean a slower real estate market and ultimately lower prices for real estate and financial assets.

2. It was reported on Wednesday that the annual inflation rate for April was 4.2%. As the rate of inflation continues to increase, the financial markets will raise interest rates faster than The Fed anticipates or force The Fed to greatly expand their QE. Watch the 10-year Treasury. Without QE, interest rates would be higher today. Various sources estimate that by the end of 2021 the 10-year Treasury will be 2.5% to 3.0% and mortgage rates will increase to 4.0% to 4.5%. Those may be low.

3. When Bubbles burst, shortage becomes surplus overnight. Unsustainable things continue until that unpredictable moment when they stop. In a financial crisis “Cash is King”. Get prepared.

A great piece of land remains The Best investment long term unless the DMs get us to full-fledged Marxism. Capitalism builds wealth, Marxism/Socialism consumes it in self destruction. Pray for a return to honest elections in the USA. God is in control. Men make plans, but God ALWAYS wins.

“Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.”

(1 Peter 2:12) New Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press)

Stay healthy,

Ned

May 12, 2021

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ladystylestores · 4 years ago

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Atlanta police shooting of Black man ruled homicide: Live updates | George Floyd protests News

The medical examiner had ruled the police shooting of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta on Friday was a homicide, in a killing that has fuelled debate over the use of force by the police.

Atlanta’s police chief resigned on Saturday hours after the killing of Brooks, who had fallen asleep in his car while waiting in line at a fast food drive-through restaurant. Authorities said he resisted arrest and was shot during a struggle.

One of the four former Minneapolis police officers who was charged over the death of George Floyd has been released on $750,000 bail.

Floyd, a Black man, died on May 25 after a policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. His death has sparked calls across the US for policing reforms and triggered global protests.

Here are the latest updates:

Monday, June 15

06:45 GMT – UK PM Johnson defends Churchill, criticises ‘distortion of our history’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the United Kingdom cannot “photoshop” its cultural landscape and complex history as doing so would be a distortion of its past, amid an ongoing row over the removal of statues of historical figures.

“If we start purging the record and removing the images of all but those whose attitudes conform to our own, we are engaged in a great lie, a distortion of our history,” Johnson wrote.

Johnson also defended Winston Churchill and said it was “absurd and deplorable” that the former prime minister’s monument should have been in any danger.

On Monday, Johnson also announced a new commission that will examine the racism and the disparities experienced by minority ethnic groups in education, health and the criminal justice system.

A worker cleans the Churchill statue in Parliament Square that had been spray painted with the words ‘was a racist’ [Dan Kitwood/Getty Images]

06:35 GMT – Football must take ‘giant leap’ to fight racism: Neville

Former England international Gary Neville says words are not enough to combat racism in football and that he is “ashamed” he did not fight harder against it when he was a player.

The former Manchester United defender made the comments in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

“Forget campaigns. Forget words. It has to be actions,” Neville said ahead of the Premier League’s restart on Wednesday following a three-month stoppage due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to take a giant leap rather than minute steps each year.

“I’m not going to hide away from it. We need education, we need protocols and processes in place which basically reverse what’s been happening in our country.”

Former England international Gary Neville said words are not enough to combat racism [File: Getty Images]

03:52 GMT – Trayvon Martin’s mother joins protest for racial equality

The mother of Trayvon Martin joined hundreds of demonstrators at a rally in Miami, demanding racial equality following the death of George Floyd last month at the hands of a white police officer in Minnesota.

Sybrina Fulton joined the demonstrators who carried signs that read “Stop Killing Us” and “We Are All Equal” at the Torch of Friendship, a 60-year-old monument erected as a welcoming beacon to the city’s Latin American and Caribbean neighbours. The protest organised by several churches was one of several across Florida on Sunday.

Fulton’s unarmed son, Trayon Martin, was killed by a neighbourhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, while walking back from a central Florida convenience store in 2012.

02:05 GMT – Brooks shooting declared a homicide

The Fulton County medical examiner’s office has ruled the death of Rayshard Brooks a homicide caused by gunshot wounds to the back.

An autopsy conducted on Sunday showed that the 27-year-old died from blood loss and organ injuries caused by two gunshot wounds, an investigator for the medical examiner said in a statement. The manner of his death was homicide, it added.

Brooks’s fatal encounter with police came after an employee of a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta phoned authorities to say that someone had fallen asleep in his car in the restaurant’s drive-through lane.

Anger in Atlanta over fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks

Sunday, June 14

20:50 GMT – Report says Black people most arrested for Chicago curfew violations

A new report says Black people made up 75 percent of those arrested in Chicago for alleged violations of a curfew put in place following demonstrations over George Floyd’s death.

The Chicago Sun-Times analysed police data from the first five days of the curfew imposed on May 30 and lifted on June 7.

The racial disparity in Chicago, where Black people comprise about 30 percent of the population, drew criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

A Chicago police spokesman says the department’s curfew enforcement was “universal” regardless of race or neighbourhood.

A protester holds a sign during a protest over the death of George Floyd in Chicago on May 30 [Nam Y. Huh/The Associated Press]

20:40 GMT – Macron says colonial statues will not be removed

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to stand firm against racism, while also insisting that France would not take down statues of controversial, colonial-era figures, as he addressed the issues for the first time since George Floyd’s death in the US.

In a televised address to the nation on Sunday evening, Macron called for the nation’s “unity” at a key moment when the country is trying to put the coronavirus crisis behind it while being shaken by a series of protests against racial injustice and police brutality.

Echoing American protesters, demonstrators in France have expressed anger at discrimination within French society, particularly toward minorities from the country’s former colonies in Africa.

20:20 GMT – Beyonce demands justice for Breonna Taylor in letter to Kentucky attorney general

Performer Beyonce has written a letter to the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was fatally shot when police raided her home in Louisville in March.

“Three months have passed – and Breonna Taylor’s family still waits for justice. Ms Taylor’s family has not been able to take time to process and grieve. Instead, they have been working tirelessly to rally the support of friends, their community and the country to obtain justice for Breonna,” Beyonce wrote.

The letter goes on to demand that the officers involved be charged, that the investigation and prosecution be transparent, and that the Louisville police department’s response to the killing be investigated.

US police shoot and kill Black people at twice the rate of whites: Report

19:40 GMT – District attorney to decide this week if officer in Brooks shooting will be charged

The Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has said a decision on whether charges will be brought against the officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks will be made this week.

Howard, speaking to CNN, said Brooks “did not seem to present any threat to anyone”.

“The fact that it would escalate to his death seems unreasonable,”he added.

Howard said the charges of murder, felony murder or voluntary manslaughter are all being considered.

19:00 GMT – High-ranking house Democrat says Brooks incident ‘did not call for lethal force’

House of Representatives majority whip James Clyburn has said the Rayshard Brooks incident did not call for deadly force.

“You wonder, sometimes, when you’re dealing with an issue like this out here for two or three weeks, and then you see a police officer still being insensitive to the life of a young African American man,” the South Carolina Democrat told CNN’s State of the Union.

“This did not call for lethal force. And I don’t know what’s in the culture that would make this guy do that. It has got to be the culture. It’s got to be the system,” he said.

Meanwhile, the US Senate’s only African American Republican, Tim Scott, in an interview with CNN, called the incident “far less clear” than the widely-condemned killing of George Floyd or other cases of police brutality.

US: Protests after Black man killed by police in Atlanta, Georgia

18:20 GMT – Systemic racism slows economic growth: Dallas Fed chief

Systemic racism and high unemployment levels among Black and Hispanic Americans create a drag on the US economy, Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan has said.

“A more inclusive economy where everyone has an opportunity will mean faster workforce growth, faster productivity growth and will grow faster,” Kaplan said on CBS’s Face the Nation.

Kaplan added he agreed with his counterpart at the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, Raphael Bostic, the Fed’s only African American policymaker, who on Friday called for an end to racism and laid out ways the US central bank can help.

17:40 GMT – Trump moved Tulsa rally date after learning about Juneteenth

President Donald Trump did not know the significance to Black Americans of the date and location he chose for his first campaign rally since the coronavirus pandemic more than three months ago, key Republican supporters of the president in Congress have said.

Trump had scheduled the rally for June 19, known as Juneteenth because it marks the end of slavery in the United States. Tulsa, Oklahoma, the location for the rally, was the scene in 1921 of one of the most severe white-on-black attacks in American history.

Black community and political leaders denounced the move and called on Trump to reschedule. He resisted until late on Friday when, in a rare turnabout, Trump tweeted that he had moved the rally to this Saturday, June 20, out of respect for the view of supporters and others who had asked him to.

“The president moving the date by a day once he was informed on what the Juneteenth was, that was a good decision on his part,” said Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator, adding he did not know if Trump’s planners knew the significance of the date.

Can U.S. and Europe learn from each other on racism? | Inside Story

17:00 GMT – At least seven Minneapolis police quit, seven more resigning: Report

At least seven Minneapolis police officers have quit and another seven are in the process of resigning, citing a lack of support from department and city leaders as protests over George Floyd’s death escalated.

Current and former officers told The Minneapolis Star Tribune that officers are upset with Mayor Jacob Frey’s decision to abandon the Third Precinct station during the protests.

Demonstrators set the building on fire after officers left. Protesters also have hurled bricks and insults at officers, numerous officers and protesters have been injured, and the state has launched a civil rights investigation into the department.

Minneapolis police officers stand in line while facing protesters demonstrating against the death of George Floyd outside the 3rd Precinct Police Precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota [Kerem Yucel/AFP]

16:30 GMT – Vermont governor says Black Lives Matter mural vandalised

A Black Lives Matter painting in front of Vermont’s state house has been vandalised in what the governor has described an “an effort to fuel hate and division”.

Governor Phil Scott, in a tweet, said the vandalism had been discovered early Sunday morning. He added he had instructed state police to aid local authorities in the investigation.

“This act of vandalism only reinforces that we’re not immune to racism, divisiveness and hate in Vermont,” he wrote. “We must redouble our efforts to dismantle systemic racism and bigotry, and stay united as Vermonters.”

Early this morning, in an effort to fuel hate and division, the Black Lives Matter painting in front of the State House was vandalized. This painting serves as an important reminder to make equity a priority and use this movement to drive real action and long overdue change. 1/3

— Governor Phil Scott (@GovPhilScott) June 14, 2020

15:50 GMT – Lone Black Republican Senator says he is open to ‘decertification’ of bad police

Tim Scott, the only black Republican member of the US Senate, has said he is open to exploring whether to enact a new law that would decertify bad police officers as part of a larger law enforcement reform package.

Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, Scott said a new policy to decertify police who engage in misconduct could be a compromise as he negotiates with Democrats, who have called more drastic measures such as ending the “qualified immunity” legal doctrine which helps shield officers from liability.

“I think there’s a way for us to deal with it,” said Scott, who has been tapped by the Republican leadership to oversee the drafting of new policing reform legislation. “Decertification would be a path that I would be interested in looking at.”

15:20 GMT – Video shows moments before deadly shooting of Rayshard Brooks

Footage released by investigators of the deadly police shooting of Rayshard Brooks shows Brooks telling officers he is not armed and consenting to a pat down before he is killed.

Brooks had been reported to police for sleeping in the drive-through of Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta on Friday night. After telling Brooks to pull off to a side of the parking lot, the officers ask him if he is armed.

“I just have money for gas and that’s it,” he responds. When asked if they can pat him down, Brooks consents: “Absolutely that’s fine”.

After checking Brooks for weapons, the officers then administer a sobriety test, which Brooks reportedly failed.

As they attempt to hand cuff him, a scuffle ensues. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, surveillance footage from Wendy’s and witnesses cell phone footage “indicate” Brooks took one of the officer’s tasers during the scuffle. At one point, Brooks, as he flees, appears to fire the taser at officer Garrett Rolfe, who then fires his gun three times at Brooks, fatally hitting him.

Anger in Atlanta over fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks

14:50 GMT – Italians deface statue of journalist who had 12-year-old Eritrean bride

Protesters have scrawled ‘’rapist’’ and ‘’racist’’ on the statue of a late Italian journalist who had acknowledged having had a 12-year-old Eritrean bride while stationed in the Italian colony in the 1930s.

The statue of Indro Montanelli, inside a Milan park that bears his name, has been a flashpoint in Italy’s Black Lives Matter protests, which have put renewed focus on Italy’s colonial past. Activists are also pushing for Italy to grant automatic citizenship to those born in Italy to parents who are permanent residents.

Montanelli, who died in 2001 at 92, was one of Italy’s most revered journalists, honored by the Vienna-based International Press Institute in 2000 as among the 50 World Press Freedom Heroes.

A municipal employee cleans a statue of a famous Italian journalist Indro Montanelli after it was stained with red paint and tagged with the inscription “racist, rapist” [Miguel Medina/AFP]

14:15 GMT – Berlin demonstrators form human chain in message against racism

Demonstrators are forming a planned nine-kilometre (five-mile) chain in Berlin in a message against racism, among a range of other protests.

Organisers of Sunday’s “Indivisible” demonstration were told to require participants to wear masks, and protesters were also asked to maintain social distancing.

They were linked by coloured ribbons, forming what organisers called a “ribbon of solidarity” that stretched southeast from the Brandenburg Gate to the Neukoelln neighbourhood. Police said people appeared to be keeping up with safety protocols.

Berlin recently lifted coronavirus-related limits on the number of people who can attend demonstrations, though people are still required to keep at least 1.5 metres (5 feet) apart in public.

People participate in the Unteilbar (indivisible) Solidarity Chain demonstration in Berlin, Germany [Omer Messinger/EPA]

13:30 GMT – Family seek answers in death of Black man found hanging from tree in California

Amid protests against racial mistreatment and injustice across the US, protesters and the family of a 24-year-old Black man found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, California have called for answers.

On Saturday hundreds of people marched in Palmdale following the death of Robert Fuller who was found hanging from a tree near city hall early on Wednesday. During the demonstration, Los Angeles Supervisor Kathryn Barger formally called for an investigation into the death by the state’s attorney general.

Authorities initially said the death appeared to be a suicide but are awaiting the results of an autopsy.

“Everything that they’ve been telling us has not been right,” Fuller’s sister, Diamond Alexander, who was among the protesters said, the New York Times reported. “We’ve been hearing one thing. Then we hear another. And we just want to know the truth.”

“My brother was not suicidal. He wasn’t,” she added.

Hello, this is Joseph Stepansky in Doha taking over from my colleague Linah Alsaafin.

12:25 GMT – Fox News apologises for running digitally altered images in Seattle protest coverage

Fox News has apologised for running digitally altered and misleading photos on stories about Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ).

The zone had been taken over by protesters after Seattle police abandoned the East Precinct. Fox News website ran a photo of a man standing with an assault rifle in front of a smashed retail storefront, but the image was actually a mash-up of photos taken by different photographers from different days.

On Saturday, Fox issued an apology in an editor’s note on its website, sayings its home-page photos “did not clearly delineate” the splicing together of multiple images from different locations. “Fox News regrets these errors,” the note stated.

12:00 GMT – Tokyo marches in solidarity with George Floyd protests

Protesters pose for a photograph at Yoyogi Park after a peaceful Black Lives Matter march in Tokyo, Japan [Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images]

Holding handmade signs that read “Black Lives Matter”, hundreds of people marched peacefully in Tokyo on Sunday, highlighting the outrage over the death of Floyd.

Mitsuaki Shidara, who works for a food maker, was in the crowd at Yoyogi Park, where the march began. He said Japan has plenty of discrimination problems, but they are overlooked.

“We are all human first, but we are divided by nationality, gender, religion, skin colour,” Shidara said, “What’s happening in the US shows racism is going on, even after 400 years,” said Shidara.

11:40 GMT – Fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks: What we know so far

The killing of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, late on Friday outside a fast food restaurant in the US city of Atlanta has triggered protests and forced the city’s police chief to resign.

Police were called to the Wendy’s restaurant after a complaint that Brooks had fallen asleep in his car while waiting in the drive-through line, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), which has opened an inquiry into the shooting, said on Saturday.

The GBI said Brooks failed a sobriety test and police attempted to take him into custody. A struggle between Brooks and the officers over a police taser followed.

The GBI initially reported that the father of four, who had celebrated the birthday of his eight-year-old daughter earlier on Friday, was shot during the struggle.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2018 at 5:04 pm and is filed under History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2018/08/31/who-is-bruce-ohr-and-why-is-donald-trump-saying-nasty-things-about-him/

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vbass1 · 7 years ago

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Donald Trump's contempt for women assumes many forms. Here is one:

Read the post at the American Constitution Society blog here

Out of Trump's 29 U.S. Attorney Nominees, 28 Are Men

by Dan Froomkin and Victoria Bassetti, Brennan Center Contributor

Donald Trump's contempt for women assumes many forms. His selection of nominees to serve as U.S. attorneys around the country has proven to be one of them: Of the 29 people he has nominated for U.S. attorney positions, 28 are men.

Fully 25 are white men. There's one Asian-American woman, one African-American man, one Asian-American man and one Native American man.

By contrast, at a similar point in his presidency, Barack Obama had nominated 20 U.S. attorneys, 11 of whom were white men. There were five women – four white and one Asian-American — as well as three African-American men and one Asian-American man.

Trump's U.S. attorney nominees are an even less diverse bunch than his other top-level nominees -- although they, too, are an overwhelmingly white and male group. The Partnership for Public Service, which tracks 570 key positions that require Senate confirmation (not including the 93 U.S. Attorney positions), calculates that of the 213 people Trump has nominated so far, 169 – or 80 percent -- are men. The Partnership doesn't track race.

The extraordinary statistics for Trump's U.S. attorney nominees – 97 percent male, 86 percent while male – hearken back to a much earlier era of U.S. history, and are raising serious concerns.

“There has been a striking lack of diversity so far in President Trump's nominations for federal prosecutors," said Vanita Gupta, the former acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, who is now president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

"U.S. attorneys are the lead federal law enforcement position in communities across the country and they have an enormous impact on communities of color. Our diversity is part of what makes America great, and our government should reflect the communities it serves,” Gupta said.

In 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was widely mocked for insisting that he consulted "binders full of women" before making key hires. "Trump has binders full of men," said Caroline Fredrickson, president of the American Constitution Society. "You don't nominate 97 percent men if your candidate pool isn't essentially all male."

"The more diversity of views you have when these decisions are made, the more justice you can deliver," said Joyce White Vance, a career federal prosecutor who was one of the first five U.S. attorneys Obama nominated. She served until the eve of Trump's inauguration.

"The idea is that you're selecting the most qualified person in each community for this position," she said. "I'm sure in many of these communities there were highly qualified women as well as people from other diverse communities."

Vance noted that the decision-making about U.S. attorney nominees typically involves the state's U.S. senators, the attorney general and the deputy attorney general.

"One possible takeaway from these numbers is that women aren't being viewed as leaders in law enforcement," she said.

Vance said she treasured a picture taken at Loretta Lynch's swearing-in as the second female U.S. attorney general in April 2015. Lynch is surrounded by 20 women U.S. attorneys and acting U.S. attorneys – "and that wasn't even all of us," Vance said.

U.S. attorneys will have a major role in executing the new priorities of the Trump administration which, as we understand them so far, include tougher drug sentencing, more civil asset forfeiture and searching for nearly nonexistent voter fraud.

Although Trump is moving at a vastly slower pace in nominations in general than Obama – Obama had sent a total of 373 nominations to the Senate by this point, compared to 226 for Trump -- he is going at a faster pace when it comes to U.S. attorneys. That is likely because Trump in March demanded that the 46 remaining U. S. attorneys who had been appointed under President Obama resign effective immediately.

The Obama administration, by contrast, eased out Bush appointees over the course of the first year.

Trump's massive purge notably included Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, who was fired after he refused to quit. Bharara had earlier been assured by Trump that he would stay on, but one day before the purge had declined a personal phone call from the president as an inappropriate breach of protocol.

ProPublica reported in June that Marc Kasowitz, then Trump’s personal lawyer in the Russia investigation, took credit for getting Bharara fired.

One small consolation to progressive observers of Trump's U.S. attorney picks is that although the nominees are overwhelmingly white and male, most don't appear to be the kind of partisan extremists some had feared Trump would select.

"I'm glad to see that many of the nominees are people with career experience in the Justice Department. That's always very reassuring," Vance said.

Barbara McQuade is a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan – and was one of the 46 forced out by Trump in March.

"It is concerning that only one out of nearly a third of the 93 U.S. attorney nominees is a woman, but this administration has 65 U.S. attorney nominations to go, so I will reserve judgment," McQuade wrote in an email.

"Still, one wonders what might be behind the numbers. Are fewer women seeking to serve as U.S. attorney in this administration? Does the administration favor candidates with a philosophy about criminal and immigration law that is skewing toward male candidates? I am not sure how to explain it, but will be curious to see how the numbers shake out when all 93 are nominated."

Indeed, two thirds of the nominees are yet to come.

"What you would hope is that there would be an internal correction by the administration," Vance said.

"If you have just a little bit of self-awareness, people who don't look like you start to look more qualified."

Trump's one woman U.S. attorney nominee is also the only one that, in an unusual break with protocol, he insisted on meeting personally: Jessie K. Liu, who would serve as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

But Trump's insistence on meeting with her face to face likely had more to do with the fact that she might be in a position to prosecute him and his staff someday, rather than her gender.

#Trump #DOJ #women #Department of Justice #jeff sessions #sexism

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go-redgirl · 6 years ago

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Jeff Sessions Delivers: DOJ Nails Senate Intel Committee’s Security Chief as Deep State Leaker Breitbart ^ | June 7, 2018 | Ian Mason

Senior Justice Department officials announced late Thursday criminal charges against Senate Intelligence Committee’s long-time director of security James Wolfe.

The indictment charges Wolfe with making false statements to the FBI and details how Wolfe passed classified information, including presumably information related to one-time Trump campaign aide Carter Page, to a series of media outlets, confirming long-standing suspicions of the career intelligence community’s complicity in leaks. The three-count indictment charges Wolfe with separate instances of making false statements to the FBI, not directly charging him for leaking classified information, but appearing to detail how he did allegedly leaked classified information to reporters and then allegedly lied about it to the FBI.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com .

INDIVIDUALS COMMENTS/POST:

Finally

1 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎37‎:‎00‎ ‎AM by PapaBear3625

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To: PapaBear3625

Watkins broke the Carter Page angle of the “Russia investigation” back in April 2017 with a story called “A Former Trump Adviser Met With A Russian Spy.” In it, Watkins claimed, “The revelation of Page’s connection to Russian intelligence — which occurred more than three years before his association with Trump — is the most clearly documented contact to date between Russian intelligence and someone in Trump’s orbit.”

It looks like Ali Watkins might have been the "honey pot".

2 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎39‎:‎15‎ ‎AM by PapaBear3625 (Big governent is attractive to those who think that THEY will be in control of it.)

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To: PapaBear3625

But, but Sessions is not doing anything.

3 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎40‎:‎05‎ ‎AM by bcr100 (Its)

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To: PapaBear3625

Credit where it’s due.

Now more, and faster. Much, much more and much, much faster.

4 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎40‎:‎20‎ ‎AM by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)

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To: PapaBear3625

Good rootin’ shootin’ partner! I told them mean-old FReepers you’d come thru!! (Words of Granny)

5 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎40‎:‎31‎ ‎AM by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Democracy: The cliff's edge of Marxism)

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To: PapaBear3625

Woah, he did this one thing. Hey, remember Bill Paxton’s quote from Aliens when told that Weaver/Ripley has been brought in because “she saw an alien once”?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lozoHJ5QU3I

6 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎42‎:‎36‎ ‎AM by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)

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To: Lurker

That was weird to read.

7 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎42‎:‎54‎ ‎AM by madison10

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To: PapaBear3625

I like how the feds noted that he used ‘secure’ applications to leak the info...and then lied to the FBI about being a leaker (he should have had enough brains to know that the FBI wasn’t ‘fishing’ at that point).

Now what becomes of all the other Trump Haters, and their ‘secure’ messages they’ve been sending to try to undercut Trump. Maybe WhatsAp isn’t quite as secure from government snoops as advertised. Tisk tisk.

I know one thing, if I were one of them, I’d sing FOR SURE. It would probably mean the difference between spending a few years in jail and then having to start a new career, versus DECADES in jail and a totally ruined life.

8 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎45‎:‎42‎ ‎AM by BobL (I drive a pick up truck because it makes me feel like a man)

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To: bcr100

He only moved because of this

https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3661427/posts

9 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎46‎:‎43‎ ‎AM by Enlightened1

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To: PapaBear3625

My 1% just went up to 2%. (That Sessions is playing 4D chess)

10 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎47‎:‎06‎ ‎AM by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)

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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

It’s a start. But a small fish. Before we get too excited let’s see how many Big Fish criminal referrals are made from the coming IG report.

11 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎50‎:‎36‎ ‎AM by tennmountainman ("Prophet Mountainman" Predicter Of All Things RINO...for a small fee.)

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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

“Woah, he did this one thing. “

Okay, but where do you start? .... At the beginning.

“Quack, quack, quack” (just getting his ducks in a row)

Act 1, Scene 1. (I hope)

12 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎51‎:‎07‎ ‎AM by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)

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To: Enlightened1

LOL

13 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎51‎:‎38‎ ‎AM by bcr100 (Its)

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To: BobL

I hope he gets some sort of a prosecution deal and tells on all of the democrats he was appeasing.

14 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎51‎:‎40‎ ‎AM by Preachin' (I stand with many voters who will never vote for a pro abortion candidate.)

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To: bcr100

True. How about charging Wolfe with espionage and treason instead of the milktoast lieing to the FBI bullcrap. Looks like that law was written for two reasons. To harrass the innocent and give the guilty a lightweight charge when they are guilty of much greater offenses.

15 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎56‎:‎15‎ ‎AM by ping jockey (mohamed sucks)

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To: PapaBear3625

Clicking through the morning shows, I noticed only CBS reported this story. I may have missed it on NBC and ABC.

It wasn't the first story and there was no urgency.

This story is being downplayed if not buried.

16 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎58‎:‎06‎ ‎AM by yesthatjallen

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To: PapaBear3625; Liz; bitt; LucyT; ransomnote; generally

https://www.nytco.com/ali-watkins-joining-washington-bureau/

Ali Watkins, who covers intelligence and national security for Politico, will cover national security, starting Dec. 18. Read more in this note from Elisabeth Bumiller, Amy Fiscus and Mark Mazzetti.

We’re thrilled to announce that Ali Watkins of Politico is joining the Washington Bureau as a national security reporter.

Ali, who covers intelligence and national security for Politico, has had a series of important scoops. She broke news that Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser, met with a Russian spy in 2013. She also had exclusive new details on China’s harassment of American spies. Last month, she was the first to reveal the name of the Russian woman, Olga Vinogradova, who met with the former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos during the 2016 campaign.

Ali arrived in Washington in 2013 as an intern covering national security for McClatchy, where she was part of a Pulitzer-finalist team that uncovered the C.I.A.’s spying on Senate Intelligence Committee computers.

After McClatchy, Ali covered national security for The Huffington Post and then Buzzfeed before going to Politico.

Ali got her journalism degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, where she covered crime for The Temple News, the campus newspaper, and The Philadelphia Daily News.

She grew up in Pennsylvania and lives in Washington with her dog, Kellan. In her free time, she boxes and rides motorcycles.

She starts Dec. 18. Please welcome her.

17 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎8‎:‎59‎:‎49‎ ‎AM by ptsal ( Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - M. Twain)

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To: Enlightened1

B.S. That “breaking news” post yesterday references a comment from Devin Nunes more than a month ago. LOL.

18 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎9‎:‎00‎:‎02‎ ‎AM by Alberta's Child ("I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's.")

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To: Preachin'

“I hope he gets some sort of a prosecution deal and tells on all of the democrats he was appeasing”

Yep, I doubt he sat in on meetings where sensitive info was discussed, it was feed to him. The Rat Senators will show their hand trying to get ahead of it just like Brennan and Clapper have recently.

19 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎9‎:‎00‎:‎15‎ ‎AM by DAC21

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To: Lurker

Now more, and faster

There is no "faster". You're asking for an aircraft carrier to turn like a speedboat. These things will happen when they happen and not before they happen.

20 posted on ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2018‎ ‎9‎:‎01‎:‎39‎ ‎AM by Tonytitan

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djgblogger-blog · 7 years ago

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The real IRS scandal has more to do with budget cuts than bias

http://bit.ly/2HbCyy5

youtube

Members of the tea party movement seen rallying outside the Capitol in 2013. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Conservatives have been seething since 2013 over what they say was an unfair effort by the IRS to scrutinize right-leaning organizations more closely than other groups seeking nonprofit status.

As a report from the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration released in 2017 shows, the IRS did flag some conservative groups. But it also paid the same kind of extra attention to liberal organizations with words like “occupy” and “progressive” in their names between 2004 and 2013.

Those findings should have settled the question. While there was extra scrutiny, there was no liberal bias among the federal employees who determine whether new organizations that want to operate as nonprofits are legitimate – and therefore eligible for the tax-exempt status that goes with that designation. Rather than moving on, the Trump administration moved to make amends with the conservatives who believed they were wronged by partisan bureaucrats.

As a former IRS lawyer who now researches nonprofit regulation, I was relieved to see the claim that the government exclusively targeted conservative organizations officially debunked. I believe this report ought to have ushered in a serious discussion about a real problem: The IRS is too cash-strapped to conduct oversight of nonprofits of all kinds. And the tax agency remains severely underfunded, even after some modest budget boosts to implement the new 2017 tax law.

A false narrative

This so-called “scandal” over what conservatives saw as the persecution of right-leaning nonprofits erupted at a meeting of Washington tax lawyers in May of 2013.

Someone asked Lois Lerner, then the director of the IRS Exempt Organization Division, to address concerns over how it had treated conservative social welfare organizations – nonprofits that may do unlimited lobbying.

She then apologized to tea party supporters for inappropriately using names to screen their applications and said her colleagues “didn’t use good judgment.” Since I was there, I was stunned to see how The Wall Street Journal covered this exchange because it struck me as very misleading.

The paper indicated that Lerner had admitted to “targeting” the tea party movement, which she didn’t do. It quoted her saying there was no partisan rationale, but most of the article was about conservative complaints regarding political bias.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, like many journalists, covered the now-debunked IRS scandal regarding politically motivated scrutiny as ‘outrageous’ news in 2013.

Taking the Fifth

As is clear by now, the government never exclusively gave conservative groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names more trouble than many others in a similar situation. Yet politicians and even late-night comedians like Jon Stewart bought and spread this false narrative.

Lerner made things worse by seeming to hide something when she took the Fifth when lawmakers tried to grill her. I think she did this because her attorneys believed testifying might put her at some risk of prosecution for perjury, not for “targeting” the tea party.

More investigations by congressional committees, the inspector general for tax administration and the FBI ensued, along with lawsuits against the IRS and its employees.

In fact, however, rather than proving that the IRS had picked on conservative groups, these inquiries detected managerial shortcomings. Nevertheless, Republicans proposed new laws to curb nonprofit regulation.

Congressional conservatives also tried and failed to impeach former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, who had nothing to do with vetting nonprofit applications. Koskinen, who I believe did not need the job, did yeoman’s work trying to make the agency function better without adequate funding. In my view, he didn’t deserve to be treated with such scorn.

Unfortunately, the Justice Department entered into an ill-advised multimillion-dollar settlement and consent order with these conservative organizations in late 2017 to ostensibly right a wrong that was unclear at best. And in early April, a US$3.5 million settlement cleared a legal hurdle.

Yet as the 2017 report documents and plenty of earlier information indicated, the IRS paid extra attention to aspiring nonprofits that spanned the national political spectrum by zeroing in on “green energy” and “border patrol” groups alike – not just rightward-leaning ones.

IRS official Lois Lerner. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Equal-opportunity mismanagement

Nonetheless, I believe the inspector general was onto something in 2013, when it issued a report that criticized how Lerner’s team handled this paperwork. The IRS was taking an average of 574 days to process applications from tea party groups and sometimes asking intrusive questions unrelated to the question of tax exemption.

The agency’s staffing shortage doesn’t excuse regularly leaving aspiring nonprofits in limbo for more than a year. Since new charities, social welfare organizations and other nonprofits depend on a nod from the IRS to gain traction, the tax agency needed to find a way to respond faster despite budget constraints.

Even so, as the report shows, groups with terms like “occupy” or “progressive” in their names, in some cases, waited three years or longer for the IRS to process their applications for nonprofit status. This slow-walking wasn’t partisan.

Regardless of the wait, most groups eventually gained nonprofit status.

This latest document still doesn’t clarify whether the IRS applied the appropriate scrutiny – and there’s no legal definition of what that might be. Nor does it say how many conservative and liberal organizations have sought tax-exempt status or whether the percentage of groups the IRS denied was consistent across ideological lines.

Underfunding the IRS

I believe these long waits have more to do with budget cuts than bias. The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional agency, recognized in 2014 that the tax agency’s budget and staff were too small to handle its nonprofit oversight responsibilities.

The situation has only deteriorated since then.

The overall IRS budget fell by about 18 percent in inflation-adjusted terms from 2010 to 2017, from $14 billion to roughly $11.5 billion.

Congress recently did bump up IRS funding from $11.2 billion to $11.4 billion and provided $320 million for the agency to implement the highly complex new tax law. But the total still falls short of what the IRS needs.

Even with that new money, the agency will still employ fewer people than it did in 2010. The number of its employees dedicated to auditing and vetting the nonprofit sector fell about 5 percent from 2010 to 2013, the GAO found.

This long-term trend, which began two decades ago, has eroded oversight.

The number of aspiring nonprofits gaining tax-exempt status rose over the past decade as rejections fell. The number of denials plummeted from 1,607 in 2007 to merely 37 in 2016.

Automating exemption

The IRS had in recent years reduced its nonprofit approval backlog with its new 1023-EZ form, which lets new charities spending less than $50,000 a year automatically get tax-exempt status. However, anecdotally and sadly, I’m hearing that the processing time for even this simple form is increasing.

Furthermore, this fix has opened a new avenue for fraud and abuse. The taxpayer advocate found that 34 percent of the groups granted tax-exempt status this way in 2015 and 26 percent of those green-lighted in 2016 weren’t eligible.

As the IRS tries to recover the credibility it lost in a fabricated scandal, automatically approving all these applications may create more serious problems.

Singer Michael Bolton crooned a satirical tribute to the IRS on ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,’ objecting to the agency’s budget cuts.

Editor’s note: This article is an updated version of an article The Conversation published on Oct. 22, 2017.

Philip Hackney worked at the Office of the Chief Counsel of the IRS in its Exempt Organizations branch of its Tax Exempt Government Entities division from 2006-2011. He left in April of 2011.

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backroombuzz · 7 years ago

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Latest Conservative Political News

Latest Breaking Conservative Political News For Tuesday, February 27, 2018

BluePillSheep.com knows there's never enough time in the day to search for the best Conservative News and Opinion articles. Along with our stories on BluePillSheep.com, on this page, we linked stories from some of our favorite political websites publishing quality news and information. We don't think of these sites as our competition, we believe they are colleagues. Together, we are all working to help spread the truth and expose the Democrat hypocrisy that we all know far too well. Conservative Political News For Tuesday, February 27, 2018 Canada Doesn't Have Mass Shootings? Let's Check The Headlines Scarborough Rips Dems For Not Backing Feinstein: ‘Identity Politics’ Will Be ‘Undoing of Democrats’ Sheriff Israel The 2nd Worst POS In Broward County Living and Dying by Identity Politics The Four Broward Cowards Should Just Kill Themselves Georgia: Barrow County sheriff defends “Islam in America” training Illinois Man Armed with AR-15 Stops Knife Attack at Neighbor's Home David Hogg Is Fair Game for Critics Get Chris Cillizza A Dictionary So He Can Look Up "Definitive" Princeton only Ivy to refuse free pass for gun control protesters Joy Behar on CPAC: Conservatives Have a ‘Penchant for Nazis Now’ Liberal UCLA student stabs free speech ball, runs away Heritage Foundation: 64% of Trump's agenda already done, faster than Reagan Police: Syracuse student claimed to have 'skills of a school shooter' in Snapchat video NRA Responds To Corporations Kowtowing To Liberals Sessions says DOJ will investigate alleged FISA abuses Terry McAuliffe Vows To Take On Trump In 2020 Jennifer Lawrence Admits Dems Made 'Huge Mistake By Chastising Trump Supporters' SINKING SHIP: CNN Falls Below The Hallmark Channel In Prime Time Viewership Google Appears to Remove All Shopping Search Results for Guns — Even Water Guns, 'Guns and Roses,' 'Burgundy' Parkland Victims Didn't Get Help For 45 Minutes As Broward Cowards Refused To Go In MSNBC Says Criticizing FBI Is A High Crime AZ funds 'freedom schools' to counter liberal hegemony on campus Stockton Anti-Gun Violence Protest Becomes Violent Florida Police Chief Has Brutal Response to Fla. Deputy: 'Quit' if You Won't Run Toward Gunfire Republican Shot by Dem Urges Dems to Focus on Mental Illness, Not Guns South Carolina Lawmaker Holds Drawing for Teachers to Win New Handgun FreedomWorks Applauds Lawsuit Charging ObamaCare Unconstitutional Due to Tax Reform Judge orders Charlottesville to uncover Confederate statues Chart of the day: More guns, less gun violence between 1993 and 2013 Delaware Considers Allowing Students to ‘Choose’ Their Race, Gender Without Parental Consent In South Dakota, it is about pleasing the Chamber, about low wage workers and fear PA-18 Special Election Moves from Lean Republican to Toss Up Top Obama-Era State Dept. Official Had Ties with Clintons, Trump Dossier Author Americans Blame Government More Than Guns for Florida Massacre Justices Vote Immigrants Can Be Detained Indefinitely Without Bond Story of Trump Stopping a Mugging Resurfaces After Liberals Mock Him Conservative Political News For Monday, February 26, 2018 US probe into Ukraine 'lobbying' by former EU officials The Schiff Memo Harms Democrats More Than It Helps Them Lawyers For The DNC Argue That 'Primary Rigging' Is Protected By The First Amendment Florida Gun Show sees 'record number' of attendees despite gun control debate NSA wanted to use the Espionage Act to prosecute a journalist for using FOIA The Baltimore effect: What gun-grabbers don’t want to debate Dems Push Steep Federal Gun Tax Hike FL House Speaker Richard Corcoran: Suspend Broward Co Sheriff Scott Israel for Incompetence, Dereliction of Duty Florida school shooter called cops HIMSELF after mom died In Islam, apparently, it is OK to beat your children, too Broward’s Cowards | National Review Parkland Shooting Survivor Calls on Broward County, FL Sheriff Scott Israel to Resign Ohio Takes Child from Parents Because They Refused to Allow Her to Become Transgender BUSTED: Anchor Releases Audio Proving Michael Wolff Faked Earpiece Malfunction After Trump Affair Question (VIDEO) CRINGE: David Hogg Asks Fake News Legend Dan Rather For Career Advice Live On CNN (VIDEO) Watch Mark Levin’s opening segment to his NEW SHOW on Fox News!! United Airlines Cut Ties with NRA, Maintains Them with Planned Parenthood AUSTRALIA: Another Muslim migrant welfare queen gets caught living in luxury Boycotts Against NRA Have Backfire Effect, Galvanize Conservatives Stop Lying To Those Kids and Telling Them They're Going To Win The Gun Debate Planned Parenthood Spends Almost 10X More Money Buying Political Influence Than the NRA Meanwhile, The Democrats Feel Comfortable Pushing Single-Payer Now Woman who crashed into security barrier near White House claims Trump is her fiancé Media Blackout: DACA Recipient Threatens To Commit Mass Shooting At New York High School The problem with white guys these days is that they think there's something wrong with being white guys Chris Rochester - As Unions Sound Alarm on SCOTUS Labor Case, Here's What Wisconsin's Experience Shows North Korea's Winter Olympics Cheerleaders "Forced Into Sexual Slavery" Back Home What Will Gun Controllers Do When Americans Ignore an ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban? Read the full article

#Conservative #GunControl #Gunrights #LatestPoliticalNews #Maga #Memo #news #NRA #Parkland #PresidentTrump #Trump #Trumpnews

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everettwilkinson · 7 years ago

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TRUMP’s dozens of nominations — MAGGIE and GLENN on how John Kelly ‘grates’ on POTUS — THE HARVEY RELIEF WRANGLING — Is OBAMACARE repeal dead? – WEEKEND READS — B’DAY: Lisa Barclay

Good Saturday morning. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP announced more than three dozen White House appointments late Friday night. He tapped Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine to run NASA and Pennsylvania Rep. Tom Marino to become the next drug czar. Marino previously turned down the position citing a family illness.

THESE NOMINATIONS will spark special elections in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. Both seats are solidly conservative. But special elections are tricky. You never quite know what you’re going to get.

Story Continued Below

BRIDENSTINE’S APPOINTMENT won’t be without controversy. Florida Playbooker Marc Caputo scooped that both Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida voiced early opposition to his pick.

CAPUTO: “Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson wouldn’t say if they’d buck the president and vote against Bridenstine, who was nominated Friday. But they suggested the GOP congressman’s political past would needlessly spark a partisan fight in the Senate that could ultimately damage NASA. Bridenstine also trashed Rubio during last year’s GOP presidential primary, although Rubio said he doesn’t hold that against the congressman.

“The bipartisan pushback against Trump’s nominee for NASA administrator underscores the importance of the agency to Florida, home of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Nelson, as a member of Congress in 1986 flew on a Space Shuttle Columbia mission; he also has a home on what’s known as the state’s Space Coast. ‘The head of NASA ought to be a space professional, not a politician,’ Nelson said in a brief written statement to POLITICO.” http://politi.co/2vzkGYf

RICHARD GRENELL, former spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, was also nominated to be the next ambassador of Germany. Full list of last night’s appointments http://politi.co/2wvr9R7

**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/2lQswbh

SCHOCK UPDATE — “Prosecutors deny probing Schock’s sexuality,” by Josh Gerstein: “Prosecutors are denying claims that they improperly investigated former Rep. Aaron Schock’s sexuality as they probed allegations that he used his office and campaign funds for personal purposes. In a late-night court filing Friday, prosecutors rejected Schock’s lawyers arguments that such inquiries into the former lawmaker’s personal life were part of a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct so outrageous that the criminal case against the Illinois Republican should be thrown out.

“The prosecution team denied investigating Schock’s sexuality, but said it did need to establish the nature of his relationship with a Panamanian diplomat because his travels with her appeared related to campaign expenses the government believed may have been unrelated to his campaign. ‘We fully agree with Defendant Schock that his sexuality is completely irrelevant in this criminal matter,’ prosecutors Timothy Bass and Eugene Miller wrote in the filing in federal court in Urbana. ‘It was not of interest to the government, and the government did not inquire about it.’” http://politi.co/2vAj68A

–AN INTERESTING NUGGET FROM THE LEGAL WRANGLING – From a recent government filing: “[I]n late 2013 … Schock accused a former staffer of inappropriately accessing his friend’s (Karla Gonzalez’s) social media account and falsely advised the former staffer that the FBI and Capitol Police were investigating the matter. As a result of Defendant Schock’s accusation and false representation of a law enforcement investigation, the former staffer retained legal counsel and incurred legal fees of more than $10,000, which were paid by the former staffer’s father. Defendant Schock later acknowledged, after being confronted by the former staffer’s father, that his statement of a law enforcement investigation was false, stating in an email to the staffer’s father that ‘I apologized and offered to take care of things,’ and he agreed to reimburse the staffer’s father for $7,500 of the legal fees.”

INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE — NYT A1, “Forceful Chief of Staff Grates on Trump, and the Feeling Is Mutual,” by Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman: “President Trump was in an especially ornery mood after staff members gently suggested he refrain from injecting politics into day-to-day issues of governing after last month’s raucous rally in Arizona, and he responded by lashing out at the most senior aide in his presence. It happened to be his new chief of staff, John F. Kelly. Mr. Kelly … reacted calmly, but he later told other White House staff members that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country. In the future, he said, he would not abide such treatment …

“The question now is how long Mr. Kelly will stay, with estimates ranging from a month to a year at the most. … The president, for his part, has marveled at the installation of management controls that would have been considered routine in any other White House. ‘I now have time to think,’ a surprised Mr. Trump has told one of his senior aides repeatedly over the last few weeks. Mr. Kelly cannot stop Mr. Trump from binge-watching Fox News, which aides describe as the president’s primary source of information gathering. But Mr. Trump does not have a web browser on his phone, and does not use a laptop, so he was dependent on aides like Stephen K. Bannon, his former chief strategist, to hand-deliver printouts of articles from conservative media outlets.

“Now Mr. Kelly has thinned out his package of printouts so much that Mr. Trump plaintively asked a friend recently where The Daily Caller and Breitbart were. … While Mr. Trump still reaches out to allies outside the administration … more often than not it has been through the White House switchboard and not on his personal phone. And Mr. Kelly has usually listened in on the calls, according to two people with direct knowledge.” http://nyti.ms/2wsmVeO

— “John Kelly Pushing Out Omarosa for ‘Triggering’ Trump,” by The Daily Beast’s Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng: “Newly minted White House chief of staff John Kelly has sought to put a dent in the influence of one of President Donald Trump’s most famous advisers: Omarosa Manigault. The former Apprentice co-star—who currently serves as the communications director for the Office of Public Liaison—has seen her direct access to the president limited since Kelly took the top White House job in late July … In particular, Kelly has taken steps to prevent her and other senior staffers from getting unvetted news articles on the president’s Resolute desk—a key method for influencing the president’s thinking, and one that Manigualt used to rile up Trump about internal White House drama.” http://thebea.st/2vzZfWU

REUTERS’S JIM OLIPHANT: TRUMP’S EMPATHY TEST — “For a man who prefers to project a glowering brusqueness, Donald Trump’s trip to Houston on Saturday provides him with the opportunity to show a warmer, more empathetic side — and perhaps connect with some Americans critical of his presidency. Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, became known as the ‘comforter-in-chief’ for his role in consoling victims of mass shootings and terror attacks. But the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey marks the first large-scale national tragedy under Trump’s watch.” http://reut.rs/2xF4GBr

“The White House said Trump will first travel to Houston to meet with flood survivors and volunteers who assisted in relief efforts and then will move on to Lake Charles, Louisiana, another area hammered by the storm. Trump first visited the region on Tuesday, but stayed clear of the disaster zone, saying he did not want to hamper rescue efforts. Instead, he met with cabinet members, state and local leaders, and first responders. He was criticized, however, for not meeting with victims of the worst storm to hit Texas in 50 years, and for largely focusing on the logistics of the government response rather than the suffering of residents.” http://reut.rs/2xF4GBr

TRUMP’S SATURDAY — THE PRESIDENT is traveling to Ellington Field, Texas, where he will visit with people impacted by the hurricane. He then will head to a Harvey relief center and meet with members of the Texas congressional delegation. He then goes to Chennault International in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he meets with “members of the county emergency operations center, National Guard and Cajun Navy.”

FOR YOUR RADAR — REUTERS: “Russia’s Putin won’t attend U.N. General Assembly” http://reut.rs/2x0zSOs

****** A message from the American Bankers Association: It’s no secret that banks help create jobs and economic growth by lending to America’s employers. But America’s banks themselves employ thousands of women and men. Can you guess how many? Is it 200,000, 1 million or 2 million? Find out: http://politi.co/2wc3FR6 ******

THE LATEST ON HARVEY RELIEF — “White House rejiggers Harvey request as dollars dwindle,” by Jen Scholtes, Sarah Ferris, and Rachael Bade: “The federal government is burning through cash even faster than the White House estimated in responding to Hurricane Harvey, prompting the Trump administration to revamp its emergency funding request. The White House sent a formal plea to lawmakers Friday evening seeking $7.85 billion as a down payment in aid for areas ravaged by the superstorm — nearly $2 billion more than the administration estimated earlier in the day.

“The total includes $7.4 billion for [FEMA’s] disaster relief account and $450 million to support the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program for small businesses and homeowners. The White House warned that further delays in raising the debt limit could jeopardize recovery efforts, after previously cautioning that action would be needed by month’s end to avoid a downgraded credit rating and, ultimately, default.

“‘Indeed, if the debt ceiling is not raised, it may not be possible to outlay the requested supplemental appropriations or funds for other critical Government operations,’ White House budget director Mick Mulvaney wrote in the request. The House is expected to pass its first installment of hurricane aid next week, but congressional leaders are still talking with the Trump administration about process and timing in the Senate.” http://politi.co/2vSutUI … Mulvaney’s letter http://politi.co/2vzB2Aa

— TOP REPUBLICAN LEADERS have been telling us that the easiest way to get this through is to lift the debt ceiling at the same time.

— “Harvey is likely to be the second-most costly natural disaster in U.S. history,” by L.A. Times’ Don Lee: “Between the shutdown of oil refineries and chemical plants, impaired roads and ports, and widespread damage to homes, businesses and cars, the economic toll from Hurricane Harvey is now being estimated as the second-costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, trailing only the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Some economic researchers, including the national forecasting firm Moody’s Analytics, are putting the price tag of Harvey at $81 billion to $108 billion or more, most of that in damage to homes and commercial property.” http://lat.ms/2wp9JqW

–“Storm deaths: Death toll from Harvey tops 50,” by Houston Chronicle’s Cindy George, Margaret Kadifa, and Lindsay Ellis: “More than 50 people – including a veteran Houston police officer – have died or are feared dead in the Houston area and beyond in flooding or circumstances connected to Tropical Storm Harvey, according to local officials. … Local officials expect the grim discoveries of additional bodies once the floodwaters retreat and the streams, rivers and bayous go back into their banks.” http://bit.ly/2vTjPx0

THIS COULD BE A PROBLEM — “Trump’s ‘Dreamers’ decision could roil shutdown, debt talks,” by Rachael Bade and Heather Caygle: “Congressional Republicans are worried that a decision from President Donald Trump to rescind protections for so-called Dreamers could undercut fall negotiations with Democrats to keep the government open and avoid a federal default. The White House said Friday that Trump would announce Tuesday whether he would nix President Barack Obama’s executive action granting legal status to those who immigrated to the U.S. as children, known as ‘Dreamers.’ Republicans have long panned the so-called Deferred Action for Children Arrivals, or DACA, as an unconstitutional overreach.

“But now is not the time to blow up the program, GOP leadership sources in Congress caution. Doing so, they worry, could antagonize Democrats in a month where the GOP desperately needs their help to raise the debt ceiling and keep the government open. Senior Republicans have also spoken privately of a potential bipartisan accord later in the year that would codify DACA legislatively, in return for a down payment on Trump’s border wall with Mexico. While many agree it’s unlikely and perhaps wishful thinking, they worry Trump ending the program would make such a deal impossible.

“In an interview with WCLO in his hometown of Janesville, Wis., Friday, Speaker Paul Ryan cautioned Trump against killing the program. The Wisconsin Republican said Obama did ‘not have the authority to do what he did,’ but also argued that Congress — not Trump — has to ‘fix’ the matter. ‘[T]here are people who are in limbo,’ Ryan said. ‘These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don’t know another home. And so I really do believe there that there needs to be a legislative solution.’” http://politi.co/2iPGGIA

BREITBART: “WHITE HOUSE SIGNALS CAVE: NOT PUSHING CONGRESS FOR BORDER WALL FUNDING, WON’T SHUT DOWN GOVERNMENT,” by Adam Shaw: http://bit.ly/2esDzRD

DEATH OF OBAMACARE REPEAL? — “Moment of truth arrives for Obamacare repeal,” by Rachana Pradhan and John Bresnahan: “In a potential death knell for efforts to repeal Obamacare — at least this year — the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that Republicans face a Sept. 30 deadline to kill or overhaul the law with only 50 votes, Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee said Friday. Congress is facing fights in September over boosting the federal debt limit, government funding, defense programs and the FAA, among other issues. Adding another Obamacare repeal battle to that schedule could prove too much for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has all but said he’s moving on from health care. In search of a badly needed legislative victory, McConnell and other Senate Republicans have shifted their focus instead to tax reform.” http://politi.co/2ws2O0c

MIKE SCHMIDT and MAGGIE HABERMAN — “Mueller Has Early Draft of Trump Letter Giving Reasons for Firing Comey”: “The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has obtained a letter drafted by President Trump and a top political aide that offered an unvarnished view of Mr. Trump’s thinking in the days before the president fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey. The circumstances and reasons for the firing are believed to be a significant element of Mr. Mueller’s investigation, which includes whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice by firing Mr. Comey. The letter, drafted in May, was met with opposition from Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, who believed that its angry, meandering tone was problematic … Among Mr. McGahn’s concerns were references to private conversations the president had with Mr. Comey, including times when the F.B.I. director told Mr. Trump he was not under investigation in the F.B.I.’s continuing Russia inquiry.

“Mr. McGahn successfully blocked the president from sending the letter — which Mr. Trump had composed with Stephen Miller, one of the president’s top political advisers — to Mr. Comey. But a copy was given to the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, who then drafted his own letter. Mr. Rosenstein’s letter was ultimately used as the Trump administration’s public rationale for Mr. Comey’s firing, which was that Mr. Comey had mishandled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. … [In May] Mr. McGahn met … with Mr. Trump and told him that if he fired Mr. Comey, the Russia investigation would not go away. Mr. Trump told him … that he understood that firing the F.B.I. director might extend the Russia investigation, but that he wanted to do it anyway.” http://nyti.ms/2grUtR4

CYBER WAR — NYT A1, “Russian Election Hacking Efforts, Wider Than Previously Known, Draw Little Scrutiny,” by Nicole Perlroth, Michael Wines and Matt Rosenberg: “The assaults on the vast back-end election apparatus — voter-registration operations, state and local election databases, e-poll books and other equipment — have received far less attention than other aspects of the Russian interference … Yet the hacking of electoral systems was more extensive than previously disclosed, The New York Times found. … [H]ackers breached at least [three] providers of critical election services well ahead of the 2016 voting.” http://nyti.ms/2vT84qh

WEST WING DEPARTURE LOUNGE — “Longtime Trump aide Keith Schiller tells people he intends to leave White House,” by CNN’s Dana Bash, Noah Gray and Jeremy Diamond: “Schiller has told associates within the last two weeks that he plans to leave the White House at the end of September or in early October … Schiller has told people his primary reason for leaving was financial … Schiller earns a $165,000 annual salary at the White House — a downgrade from his annual earnings before he followed Trump to the White House. … White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the story was ‘not true’ and declined to comment further. Schiller … earned $294,000 … last year.” http://cnn.it/2vA8s1N

–@JenniferJJacobs: “Longtime Trump aide Keith Schiller to exit post as Oval operations dir end of Sept, I’m told. Lined up job in private sector that pays more.”

Jeremy Diamond

THE JUICE …

— CONDI RICE headlined a fundraiser for Ed Gillespie last night at Dan and Sonya Runde’s McLean, Virginia, home. The invite http://bit.ly/2vzCvXr

–COREY LEWANDOWSKI is heading to London later this month to be the keynote speaker for a small off-the-record dinner organized by a macro research firm. The Sept. 13 dinner will likely be attended by portfolio managers and traders from asset managers and hedge funds, according to a source familiar with the dinner. When asked which firm was organizing the dinner and if they were paying for his time, Lewandowski texted “No” and didn’t respond to further questions.

PHOTO DU JOUR: Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn, left, walks away from reporters after doing television interviews at the White House on Sept. 1. | | Alex Brandon/AP Photo

WASHINGTON INC. — “How Washington lobbyists fought flood insurance reform,” by Zach Warmbrodt and Theo Meyer: “The catastrophic weather in Texas has thrown the spotlight on the federal government’s troubled flood insurance program, which is nearly $25 billion in debt after huge payouts following Katrina, Sandy and other devastating hurricanes. But as Houston starts the long process of recovering, lobbyists in Washington have already maneuvered to slow lawmakers efforts’ to overhaul the National Flood Insurance Program and protect their industries’ profits.

“The powerful home builders’ lobby helped kill a proposal that would have phased out coverage for new construction in high-risk areas. The National Association of Realtors blocked an attempt to rein in discounted insurance rates that homeowners can get when their flood risk increases. And the American Bankers Association has warned of a ‘regional foreclosure crisis’ if Congress axes coverage for homes with excessive claims.

“Lawmakers who want to reel in the program are finding that they must appease the influential industry groups whose support they need to move forward. ‘We want to have a vibrant construction industry,’ said Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), who’s pushing for a greater private-sector presence in the flood insurance market. ‘We want to have a vibrant real estate industry. That’s all great. But we’re incentivizing building in high-risk areas, which is a moral hazard.’” http://politi.co/2exujzw

HMM — “Fire Spotted at Russian Diplomatic Building in D.C.,” by Jana Winter in Foreign Policy: “The Trade Representative of the Russian Federation, located on Connecticut Ave. in northwest Washington, is one of several diplomatic buildings being shuttered as part of a tit-for-tat with Moscow. The building serves as both an office and a residence for Russian diplomatic staff. Smoke and flames in the back were clearly visible starting late-afternoon Friday, and staff could be seen dumping what appeared to be paper into the fire.” http://atfp.co/2esijLX

GOOD NEWS FOR RAHM – “CPD: August shootings down 45 percent from last year,” by Chicago Sun Times’ Mitchell Armentrout: “Shootings declined by 45.4 percent in August and murders were down by 47.4 percent compared to the same month last year, according to Chicago Police statistics. This August saw more than 300 people wounded in shootings, along with at least 52 deaths ruled homicides, according to data kept by the Chicago Sun-Times. Police still touted it as the sixth straight month to see a decline in shootings over the previous year, the city’s longest such stretch in four years.” http://bit.ly/2ew1rYd

THE ROKITA PILE ON CONTINUES — “Former aides to GOP lawmaker describe toxic work environment,” by AP’s Brian Slodysko in Indianapolis: “Staffers in tears. Pay cuts for small mistakes. Aides who walked out of the office — and never came back. Working for four-term Republican Rep. Todd Rokita of Indiana is an exacting job with long hours, made more difficult by a boss known for micromanaging and yelling at his staff, according to 10 former aides who spoke to The Associated Press. … [E]ven in Congress … Rokita’s behavior is outside the norm, according to the former aides, most of whom have worked for other elected officials. …

“During the 2010 campaign, a worker was booted from a staff meeting and instructed to clean Rokita’s vehicle, which included scrubbing the carpets, according to two people with direct knowledge of the incident. The reason? A volunteer driver had body odor the night before, they say. Rokita’s campaign said the congressman did not recall the incident. … Some say he turned angry over small details, like the kind of letterhead used on office or campaign documents. …

“A Jasper County teacher asked Rokita to leave his high school civics class in November 2016 after a talk that was supposed to be about the Constitution got off on the wrong foot, according to two students. Rokita had asked the class if they were taught about ‘American Exceptionalism.’ But when a number of students seemed puzzled by the concept, he had a testy exchange with their teacher, Paul Norwine, whom he criticized for not including it in the curriculum, the students said. Tensions eased and the talk proceeded, but the class was dumbfounded. … Rokita’s campaign did not dispute the students’ account.” http://bit.ly/2grWHQy

–FLASHBACK — John Bresnahan and Rachael Bade, Aug. 18: “The agonizing, 8-page memo on how to chauffeur a congressman: Pity the poor aide charged with driving Rep. Todd Rokita around his district”: http://politi.co/2vTylF3

WHAT JAKE IS READING — “Romney, Clinton and others counsel a panicked political reporter on fatherhood,” by WaPo’s Ben Terris: “From the various politicians and D.C. denizens I spoke with, it’s clear that today, the smartphone is the greatest impediment to being a good parent (Maggie Haberman, a star Trump chronicler for the New York Times and mother of three, said she once filed an entire story on her BlackBerry from her son’s kindergarten graduation ceremony). Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has gone to some extreme measures to combat this problem. In 2013, Flake took two of his sons on a trip to a deserted island, where they would survive by spearing fish and scavenging for coconuts. ‘It was worth the risk just to have time without cellphones, without electronics,’ Flake, 54, said. ‘Just to have five or six days with their dad.’ But what about being a good dad for the other 360 days of the year?

“Flake says the best advice he ever got about that came shortly after he first arrived to Congress, and it came from his Arizona congressional colleague, now-former senator Jon Kyl (R). ‘He told me to involve my kids as much as I can in this job,’ Flake said. ‘They were either going to resent this life or revel in it.’ This past summer, one of Flake’s sons served as a page in the Senate. ‘It’s great,’ Flake said. ‘Not only did I get to see him more, but he had to call me sir!’” With cameos by Jason Kander and Tim Kaine http://wapo.st/2wqmaCY

MEDIAWATCH — “After Mass Layoffs, Can Glenn Beck Still Save ‘The Blaze’?” by The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove: “By the time Beck himself spoke to his dwindling army of underlings as one of his personal bodyguards from Gavin de Becker’s celebrity protection service stood watch, nearly 60 of their coworkers had been abruptly fired—a body count that amounted to almost 30 percent of the workforce, according to estimates compiled by shell-shocked survivors. … Among the departed, according to sources, were camera operators, producers, a receptionist, a beloved longtime makeup artist, and a well-regarded graphic artist who didn’t learn about his sacking until a coworker reached him Thursday night on his cell phone in Houston, where he’d trekked to help relatives cope with the floods of Hurricane Harvey.” http://thebea.st/2eqyHwv

–“Jeff Bezos Wants To Give More Money To Charity. He Should Pay His Workers First,” by WaPo reporter Fredrick Kunkle in HuffPost: “One of the wealthiest men in the world is thinking of ways to give back. But he’s still taking from the very people who helped him build his fortune. … Many people worked hard for Bezos to help make him so rich, and he has a record of treating them poorly. … Two years ago, however, Bezos slashed retirement benefits [for Post employees]. For reasons that remain unclear, he froze a pension plan that was awash in so much money that neither he nor the company would possibly have faced additional liabilities.” http://bit.ly/2vRp7c9

— “Politico rides wave of Brexit interest with new UK news service,” by FT’s Matthew Garrahan. http://on.ft.com/2vTAwID … Subscribe to London Playbook http://politi.co/2txnK5S

****** A message from the American Bankers Association: America’s banks play a critical role in generating economic growth while delivering safety and convenience for customers. The two million women and men who work for America’s banks safeguard $12.9 trillion in deposits and originate $2.4 trillion in home loans. They provide $331 billion in loans to small businesses and $175 billion in loans to farmers and ranchers. Banks’ fraud protection measures stop at least $11 billion in attempted fraud each year. And thousands of banker volunteers deliver financial literacy lessons annually to millions of young Americans to help them become financially successful adults. Find out more at www.aba.com/AmericasBanks, #AmericasBanks ******

CLICKER – “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker – 15 keepers http://politi.co/2wrkCc1

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

–“The princess myth: Hilary Mantel on Diana” – The Guardian: “The end of royal status stripped away Diana’s protection. There was a buzz in the air, a doomy feeling, as if her options were running out. She still played games with the press, but they knew a dirtier game. She teased them, and they chased her down, not killing her yet. She is supposed to have feared sinister forces, anticipated that her end. As every fortune-teller knows, such hints assume precision in retrospect.” http://bit.ly/2wYu4VR (h/t TheBrowser.com)

–“The Sucker, the Sucker!” by Amia Srinivasan in the London Review of Books: Octopuses “are sophisticated problem solvers; they learn, and can use tools; and they show a capacity for mimicry, deception and, some think, humour. Their very strangeness makes octopuses hard to study. Their intelligence is like ours, and utterly unlike ours. Octopuses are the closest we can come, on earth, to knowing what it might be like to encounter intelligent aliens.” http://bit.ly/2gpDvmj

–“Has disruption from e-commerce run its course?”: “Alibaba’s Jack Ma has put it bluntly: ‘We must embrace physical space.’” http://bit.ly/2wYu4VR

–“Lessons from camels,” by Robert Skinner in The Monthly: “A ten-day camel trek through the South Australian outback. With your parents.” http://bit.ly/2wYu4VR (h/t Longreads.com)

–“Ideas were not enough,” by Mark Koyama in Aeon Magazine: “It wasn’t the ideas of Bayle or Spinoza or Locke driving the rise of state power, it was the need to raise resources for governing and war. For the rising fiscal-military state, religious uniformity and persecution simply became too expensive and inefficient.” http://bit.ly/2wYu4VR

–“How Do You Make a TV Show Set in the West Bank?” by The New Yorker’s David Remnick: “What the thriller ‘Fauda’ reveals about what Israelis will watch—and what they won’t.” http://bit.ly/2epXfFX

–“How an Angry Candy Man Revolutionized the Modern Sushi Industry,” by Tom Redmond, Nao Sano and Naomi Schanen in Bloomberg – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “Case study of benefits from automation. Kisaku Suzuki had the idea for sushi-making robots in the mid-1970s, and persevered despite ridicule from Japanese chefs. It took him five years to produce a viable machine — and when he did, he set off the worldwide sushi boom of the 1980s, opening up an elite cuisine to a mass market. In Japan, three-quarters of sushi restaurants are now mechanised.” http://bit.ly/2evwcg6

–“America’s First Addiction Epidemic,” by Christopher Finan, in an excerpt from “Drunks: An American History” in Longreads: “The records of colonial traders who operated in Indian country show that 80 percent of the charges to government accounts were for gifts of alcohol to the natives.” http://bit.ly/2eM32Gp … $16.30 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2eMloqD

–“The Blind Traveler,” by Lucas Reilly in Mental Floss: “How James Holman felt his way around the world to become history’s most prolific explorer.” http://bit.ly/2wtGDFg

–“The Temptations of the Brown Box,” by Jobie S. Turner in The Strategy Bridge: “The ‘brown box’ is the new black. Take a quick view of any American neighborhood and brown boxes adorn the front of dwellings like so many square garden gnomes. Whether delivered by Federal Express, United Parcel Service (UPS), or the U.S. Post Office, the ubiquitous cubes illustrate the power of online commerce delivering all manner of goods directly to the consumer.” http://bit.ly/2eLXPOM

–“The school beneath the wave: the unimaginable tragedy of Japan’s tsunami,” by Richard Lloyd Parry in The Guardian: “There was the loudspeaker car from the town hall going up and down, saying, ‘Super-tsunami imminent: evacuate, evacuate!’ Sirens, too. Everyone in the village must have heard them. But we didn’t take it seriously.” http://bit.ly/2wY6Z5G

–“101 things we have learned from the Online Magazine” – Christies.com: “The Online Magazine, our weekly email of editorial highlights from Christies.com, celebrates its 100th edition this week. To mark the occasion, we present a miscellany of useful facts, tips and insights published over the past two years.” http://bit.ly/2iMNeHM (h/t ALDaily.com)

–“Emotional Intelligence Needs a Rewrite,” by Lisa Feldman Barrett in Nautilus Magazine: “Think you can read people’s emotions? Think again.” http://bit.ly/2vQYofZ

–“Tomorrow Belongs to God,” by Alan Ruschel, Jakson Follmann and Hélio Hermito Zampier Neto in the Players Tribune – per Longreads.com’s description: “LaMia Flight 2933, carrying Brazil’s Chapecoense football club to the 2016 Copa Sudamericana in Colombia, crashed as it approached the airport. Only six passengers survived, including three players. This is their story, in their words.” http://bit.ly/2evx2JH

SPOTTED: House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) on American Airlines flight AA 610 from DFW to DCA. He was reading “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” by Jon Meacham.

SPOTTED at Conor Maguire’s going away party last night at his favorite post-work hangout, Bullfeathers: Liam O’Rourke, Ashley Burns, Patrick Stewart, Sara Sendek, Scott and Tory Sendek, Phil Coppage, Drew Dougherty, and other RNC staff and alumni.

TRANSITIONS — Sarah Corley starts next week as press secretary at the House Budget Committee. She previously worked on media relations for the Phillips Collection.

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Brian Coy, comms director for Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, turned 34 (hat tip: Phil Czerniak)

BIRTHDAYS: Lisa Barclay, former FDA chief of staff, now partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner (h/t Autumn, who notes that she’s “absolutely thrilled that Lisa gets to turn 45 first”) … James Rosen, Fox News chief Washington correspondent, celebrating out on the Eastern Shore with family and friends … Curtis Jablonka … former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) … former Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) … Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) … NPR’s Don Gonyea (h/t Dick Keil) … Dan Klaidman, deputy editor of Yahoo News … J.P. Freire … Jordan Blum … Joe Shonkwiler … Seth Zweifler … Jess Fassler … Christa Robinson of Rep. Yarmuth’s office … Zakiya Thomas, campaign manager for Justin Fairfax for Va. lieutenant governor (h/t Marina McCarthy) … Coleman Hutchins, digital marketing guru … Molly McUsic, president of the Wyss Foundation … Elizabeth Birch, president and CEO of Peris Birch … Kris Balderston, president of global public affairs and strategic engagement at FleishmanHillard DC and former head of global partnerships for Hillary at State … Tom Manatos, VP of government relations at Spotify and founder of D.C. political job site TomManatosJobs.com (h/ts Jon Haber) …

… Ferial Govashiri, chief of staff to the chief content officer at Netflix and Obama alum … Ethan Zorfas, VP at Axiom Strategies (h/t Daniel Strauss) … Dylan Vorbach … comms firm Ditto is 5 … Shannon Wheeler … Melissa Joseph … Andrew Shine … Bryan Watt … Scott Petersen, deputy COS for Rep. Jim Costa … Kim Bowman … Bill Bode … former Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) … Trevor Thomas … Vi Neil … Connie Cook … Michael Kolenc (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Amy Goldman … Wayne Washington … Jennifer Hanley, managing director at Tusk Ventures and a KKR and Hillary alum … Ian Kremer … Jordan Blum … Michael Siroka … Xuan Thai, producer at NBC Universal … Andy Adkins … Raney Aronson, executive producer at Frontline … Kai Bird … Sakib Shaikh … International Tennis Hall of Famer Jimmy Connors … Keanu Reeves … Salma Hayek … electronic music DJ/producer Zedd (h/ts AP)

THE SHOWS by @MattMackowiak, filing from Austin:

— CNN’s “State of the Union”: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott … Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Panel: Rick Santorum , Neera Tanden, Carlos Gutierrez and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) (substitute anchor: CNN’s Dana Bash

— NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner … Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). Panel: Matthew Continetti, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Susan Page and Kristen Welker.

— ABC’s “This Week”: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott… Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo … FEMA Administrator Brock Long … Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) … Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). Panel: Matthew Dowd, Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards and Mark Updegrove (live from Houston)

— CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Brock Long … Sylvester Turner … Victor Cha. Panel: Nancy Youssef, David Sanger, Margaret Talev and Ruth Marcus

— “Fox News Sunday”: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott … Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Panel: Jason Chaffetz, Jeff Mason, Michael Needham and Marie Harf

— Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton … Karl Rove … former FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh … Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) … Brad Blakeman

— Fox News’ “MediaBuzz”: Mike Huckabee … Erin McPike … Mollie Hemingway … Michael Tomasky … Houston Chronicle managing editor Vernon Loeb … Griff Jenkins

— CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King: Michael Shear, Molly Ball, Karoun Demirjian and Sara Murray

— CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: Special episode: “The Next Big Idea”, featuring interviews with co-authors Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson, neuroscientist Lisa Genova, computer scientist Sebastian Thrun, biographer Walter Isaacson and celebrity chef Dan Barber

— CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: Errol Louis, Sarah Westwood and Alice Stewart … Will Bunch … Harry Shearer … Maggie Haberman and Clyde Haberman

— Univision’s “Al Punto”: Exclusive interview with Blanca Saldivar, mother of four children who died in a tragic accident during Hurricane Harvey and their grandmother Blanca Zepeda … wives of Hurricane Harvey volunteer rescuers Perla Vizueth and Nancy Herrera … Univision News correspondents Carolina Sarassa and Pedro Rojas … Hurricane Harvey victim Leidys Shull … Romulo Avelica, who was released on bond from an immigration detention center and his daughter Fatima Avelica … musician Gilberto Santa Rosa

— C-SPAN: “The Communicators”: Interviews from a technology fair for members of Congress and their staffs sponsored by the Consumer Technology Association … “Newsmakers”: American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, questioned by Politico Pro’s Kimberly Hefling and Education Week Magazine’s Stephen Sawchuk … “Q&A”: Author Anthony Clark

— PBS’ “To the Contrary”: Human Rights campaign national press secretary Sarah McBride

— Washington Times’ “Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher or listen http://bit.ly/2omgw1D): Special episode on Hurricane Harvey with Texas Railroad Commission chairman Christi Craddick, State Rep. Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi) and Houston Food Bank Board Member Beto Cardenas.

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from CapitalistHQ.com https://capitalisthq.com/trumps-dozens-of-nominations-maggie-and-glenn-on-how-john-kelly-grates-on-potus-the-harvey-relief-wrangling-is-obamacare-repeal-dead-weekend-reads-b/

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