Federal officials lost – yes, lost – 1,475 migrant children
Jeezus Krrreyest……………
People should be jail. …And I’m not referring to the assylum seekers and their children!
Category: Domestic Affairs,
Here’s Why Democrats Want to Classify Reproductive Rights as Human Rights
Congressional Democrats introduced legislation on Thursday that would classify reproductive rights as human rights and require the U.S. State Department to include access to reproductive health care in its annual human rights report, a practice that ended when President Trump took office.
…the State Department’s annual human rights report has critical government uses. “It’s important for immigration judges and for immigration lawyers trying to determine whether asylum claims are founded.”
The report’s use by immigration judges is critical for Stephanie Schmid, U.S. foreign policy council at the Center for Reproductive Rights, who used an example from Central America to demonstrate the harm of excluding reproductive rights from the report. “Any woman that would be coming to the U.S. border right now … fleeing some condition like in El Salvador where you can be jailed for having a miscarriage, and trying to make a refugee or asylum claim at the border, wouldn’t be safe,” she told Rewire.News. “Potentially an immigration judge [could say] ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, the 2017 human rights reports don’t say anything about women being jailed in El Salvador for miscarriages.’ They don’t say anything about the high rate of sexual and gender based violence by gangs and in other situations. So what we do is invalidate and erase the experience and stories of women all over the world.”
…Clark’s bill mandates that foreign service officers must consult with reproductive health and rights organizations in local communities to gather accurate information for the human rights report.
Here’s How Democrats Want to Classify Reproductive Rights as Human Rights – Rewire.News
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ICE reviewing anti-Ilhan Omar social media post shared and liked by 2 agents
Derewonko has also used LinkedIn to comment on posts expressing anti-immigrant views,
ICE reviewing anti-Ilhan Omar social media post shared and liked by 2 agents | Fox News
The Mar-a-Lago Connection to the Cindy Yang Affair Raises Huge Security Risks
If the president of the United States is letting a Chinese madam sell access at Mar-a-Lago to Chinese business people while his friends are getting serviced at businesses she started, he is making himself and the country vulnerable to massive blackmail risk. It is a textbook story of how foreign actors gain leverage over senior officials.
…Yang also founded a business with her husband in 2017 called “GY US Investments” which offered itself, according to the Mother Jones account, as an “international business consulting firm that provides public relations services to assist business in America to establish and expand their brand image in the modern Chinese marketplace.”
While that sounds like typical consulting firm gobbledygook, the rest of the site makes it clear that what the company did was promise access to the President of the United States, his family and his resort Mar-a-Lago as a way of helping Chinese businesses establish themselves in the U.S. and worldwide.
…Pictures of her clients with the Trump sons Eric and Don, Jr. adorn her own website. She has, it turns out, been a big donor to Trump and to the GOP, even appearing in one picture with Don Jr. while holding a “MAGA” clutch purse.
…It also reminds us of the section of the Steele Dossier which stated that some Republicans welcomed the “distraction” of the Russian interference story because it “deflected” attention from “TRUMP’S business dealings in China and other emerging markets. Unlike in Russia, these were substantial and involved the payment of large bribes and kickbacks which, were they to become public, would be potentially very damaging to their campaign.”
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CNN’s Jeff Zucker Unloads on Fox News ‘Journalists’ at SXSW: ‘They Chose to Work at Fox’
Zucker said it’s not like networks have a “right” to host debates.
“I think the consternation about this is a little misplaced,” he said. “They don’t have to give one to CNN, they don’t have to give one to NBC. They have no obligation to give one to Fox.” Calling Fox a “propaganda” outlet, Zucker said, “I think the question should be, is Fox state-run TV or is the White House state-run government by Fox TV?”
As for Fox News’ response singling out its more legitimate news anchors, Zucker said, “They chose to work at Fox and they don’t get to hide behind the fact that they’re excellent journalists or anchors. The fact is they work at a place that has done tremendous damage to this country.”
CNN’s Jeff Zucker Unloads on Fox News ‘Journalists’ at SXSW: ‘They Chose to Work at Fox’
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Haaland Becomes First Native American Woman to Sit in Speaker’s Chair
Haaland presided over debate on H.R. 1, the For the People Act. The For the People Act is House Democrats’ transformative bill aimed at ending corruption in politics and ensuring fair access to the ballot box.
“When a young woman of color sees me in the Speaker’s Chair, I want them to think ‘I can do that,’ that’s part of why I’m here,” said Congresswoman Deb Haaland. “I want to help those who have not been represented before to identify with me and identify with Congress. It’s their Congress too – it belongs to all of us.”
Haaland Becomes First Native American Woman to Sit in Speaker’s Chair | KRWG
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40+ Jewish groups worldwide oppose equating antisemitism with criticism of Israel
“From our own histories we are all too aware of the dangers of increasingly fascistic and openly racist governments and political parties,” the global letter states. “The rise in antisemitic discourse and attacks worldwide is part of that broader trend. At times like this, it is more important than ever to distinguish between the hostility to or prejudice against Jews on the one hand and legitimate critiques of Israeli policies and system of injustice on the other.”
First ever: 40+ Jewish groups worldwide oppose equating antisemitism with criticism of Israel
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Republicans are the real threat to hamburgers, not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
One of the most common Republican attack lines since the Green New Deal resolution was introduced last month is that Democrats, namely Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), “want to take away your hamburgers.”
…But the truth is, the real threat to hamburgers — and to food supplies in general — is Republican inaction on climate change.
Republicans are the real threat to hamburgers, not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – ThinkProgress
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Missouri police search cancer patient’s hospital room for marijuana
A Missouri police department has faced backlash after a video posted to social media Wednesday showed officers searching for marijuana in the belongings of a cancer patient in a hospital room.
…The video also shows police saying they received a call reporting marijuana in the room; one officer says he can smell pot.
Sousley bristles at the allegation, saying, “And there is no way they could smell it, doc, because I don’t smoke it, I don’t ever use a ground-up plant. It’s an oil I use in a capsule, there’s no smoking it. I take it like a pill.”
……Bolivar Police Chief Mark Webb told the News-Leader that the social media backlash has included threats against police and a deluge of questions that the department was unable to keep up with.
Missouri police search cancer patient’s hospital room for marijuana
Jeezus….
Black Arkansas lawmaker is told ‘you need to stop’ by white colleague
“My son doesn’t walk the same path as yours do, so this debate deserves more time,” Flowers, who is the only black person serving on the eight-member committee, said to her colleagues. “When you bring crap like this up, it offends me.”
…As Flowers tried to explain why more discussion was needed on the matter, one lawmaker on the committee attempted to silence her.
Sen. Alan Clark (R), the chairman of the committee, could be seen telling Flowers: “Senator, you need to stop.”
“No, I don’t,” Flowers replied.
“Yes, you do,” Clark said.
“No, the hell I don’t. What are you going to do, shoot me?” Flowers said in response.
Black Arkansas lawmaker is told ‘you need to stop’ by white colleague | TheHill
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‘This Is Not 2016’: Bernie Sanders and Race
Even as the Democratic Party has moved closer to him on economic issues, it has grown increasingly vocal on race and identity, issues that even some of Sanders’ supporters concede is a blind spot for the candidate.
…“[Sanders’] central concerns have never been war or civil rights or gay rights or women’s rights.”
…Asked about reparations earlier this week on an episode of “The Breakfast Club” radio show, Sanders said he was opposed to such cash payouts, but instead wanted to “change the banking system so that we end racism”—again, a pivot to his comfort zone of economic inequality. And on ABC‘s “The View” this month, Sanders said of reparations, “I think there are better ways to do that than just writing out a check.”
To be fair, Sanders’ messaging on race has shifted. In the past few weeks, he’s called President Donald Trump a racist, talked about voter suppression and discussed the need for policing reform. But to broaden his appeal to black voters, he’ll have to work harder on racial issues than he did four years ago.
This Is Not 2016’: What People Don’t Get About Bernie Sanders and Race – POLITICO Magazine
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Chelsea Manning jailed after refusing to testify about WikiLeaks
Manning said this week that she had been offered immunity as part of her grand jury testimony.
A prosecutor at the contempt hearing Friday, Tracy Doherty-McCormick, said that “the government does not want to confine Ms. Manning.”
…The fact that a grand jury is interested in hearing about Manning’s interactions with WikiLeaks in 2010 could indicate that the Justice Department is still interested in pursuing Assange in relation to the publication of those sensitive documents.
Chelsea Manning jailed after refusing to testify about WikiLeaks – CNNPolitics
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Paul Manafort sentence: Why did judge throw prosecutor’s guidelines out the window?
“In D.C. you’re dealing with conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Five years each, a maximum of 10. The guidelines bring you to 10. The real question for D.C. Judge [Amy Berman] Jackson is does she give him the full 10 consecutive or concurrent. And this is a judge that has had a lot of experience with Paul Manafort in D.C., you’re dealing with the fact that she vitiated his plea of guilty and bail.”
Particularly stunning to many was the way Judge Ellis characterized Manafort as living an otherwise blameless life.
“That was a rather remarkable comment I think, to say the least,” Klieman said. “It’s one thing to look at his age, his health, the fact that he did not have any prior record. It is another thing to see someone engage in a life of crime for at least 10 years and call it unblemished.”
Paul Manafort sentence: Why did judge throw prosecutor’s guidelines out the window? – CBS News
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Judge cites Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rules against men-only draft.
Nearly 23 years ago, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a landmark decision invalidating the Virginia Military Institute’s exclusion of women as a violation of equal protection. The ruling in United States v. Virginia compelled the United States’ last all-male public university to accept women, who quickly proved themselves to be worthy cadets. But as every adult man in the U.S. knows, sex discrimination in military service remains: Upon their 18th birthday, American men must register for the selective service, while women are exempt. How, almost 23 years after the VMI decision, can this flagrant inequality persist?
On Friday, a federal judge in Texas provided an answer: It can’t. In a brief but emphatic decision, U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller ruled that the Selective Service System may not constitutionally direct men to register as part of its draft requirements while excluding women. Miller’s decision closely tracks Ginsburg’s gradual development of the law toward ever-greater gender equality. While the outcome might seem startling, the logic is carefully anchored in precedent. It would be difficult if not impossible for the Supreme Court to reverse Miller’s ruling without simultaneously eroding decades of sex discrimination jurisprudence. Under any plausible interpretation of today’s equal protection principles, the men-only selective service has got to go.
Judge cites Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rules against men-only draft.
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Bernie Defends Campaigning For Anti-Women’s Choice Democrat
Bernie Sanders Defends Campaigning With Nebraska Anti-Abortion Rights Democrat Heath Mello : NPR
This is rich, old, white guy really, really, really does not get it.
NEA Today: Here’s What Happens When High School Starts Later in the Day
In 2016, Seattle public schools changed the starting bell from 7:50 am to 8:45 am.
By providing a group of sophomore biology students at each school with sleep-tracking watches and a daily sleep diary, the researchers collected the data two weeks prior to the schedule change and two weeks after. They found that the students on average gained an extra 34 minutes of sleep.
Following the later start time, students were also more alert and engaged in class, absences and tardiness decreased, and final grades increased by 4.5 percent.
Starting school later also helped students combat the symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation, such as fatigue, depression, and memory and cognition impairment.
…Low-income students make up almost two-thirds of the population at Franklin High, compared with only 12 percent over at Roosevelt High. Although Roosevelt’s students experienced little change after the hour setback, Franklin students’ tardiness and first-period absences dropped to levels similar to Roosevelt’s students.
…The task force’s report also pointed out districts would likely save money on programs for disciplinary actions, school health clinics, counseling, and class failures. Students are less likely to need these programs when they get more sleep.
Here’s What Happens When School Starts Later – NEA Today
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Study By MIT Economist: U.S. Has Regressed To A Third-World Nation For Most Of Its Citizens
Temin applied W. Arthur Lewis’s economic model – designed to understand the workings of developing countries – to the United States in an effort to document how inequality has grown in America.
…In the Lewis model of a dual economy, much of the low-wage sector has little influence over public policy. Check*. The high-income sector will keep wages down in the other sector to provide cheap labor for its businesses.* Check*. Social control is used to keep the low-wage sector from challenging the policies favored by the high-income sector.* Mass incarceration – check*. The primary goal of the richest members of the high-income sector is to lower taxes.* Check*. Social and economic mobility is low.* Check*.*
Temin describes multiple contributing factors in the nation’s arrival at this place, from exchanging the War on Poverty for the War on Drugs to money in politics and systemic racism. He outlines the ways in which racial prejudice continues to lurk below the surface, allowing politicians to appeal to the age old “desire to preserve the inferior status of blacks”, encouraging white low-wage workers to accept their lesser place in society.
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Why Can’t the United States Build a High-Speed Rail System?
What’s missing is a federal commitment to a well-funded national rail plan. Instead, we have a political system in which the federal government, having devolved virtually all decision-making power to states, cannot prioritize one project over another in the national interest. We have a funding system that encourages study after study of unfundable or unbuildable projects in places that refuse to commit their own resources. And we have a bureaucracy that, having never operated or constructed modern intercity rail, doesn’t understand what it takes. This helter-skelter approach to transportation improvements is fundamentally incapable of supporting large-expenditure, long-range projects like high-speed rail.
This wasn’t always the case. In 1956, Congress approved a significant increase in the federal gas tax, and with it a national plan for interstate highways. That plan, which included a steady stream of funding and a clear map of national priorities, was mostly completed over the next three decades. Though implemented by states, highway alignments were chosen at the national level, with the intention of connecting the largest cities, regardless of political boundaries. Funding came almost entirely (90 percent) from the national government and was guaranteed as long as a route was on the national map. Physical requirements for roadways were mandated at the national level and universally applied. And construction was completed by state departments of transportation that were technically knowledgeable, accustomed to building such public works, and able to make decisions about how to move forward.
…Intercity transportation systems require active federal engagement to guarantee the development of routes that reflect national needs and national priorities.
Why Can’t the United States Build a High-Speed Rail System? – CityLab
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Internal Investigation Launched After Officer Detains Man Picking Up Trash Outside His Home
A police officer can be seen standing a short distance away from the man. The man can be heard shouting, “You’re on my property with a gun in your hand, threatening to shoot me, because I’m picking up trash.”
“I don’t have a weapon!” the man yells at the officer. “This is a bucket. This is a clamp.”
“I’m not sitting down and you can’t make me,” the man can be heard saying as more officers approach with their sirens on. “This is my property, this is my house, I live here.”
…The man counts out eight [emphasis: peanut gallery] police officers.
sigh…
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