What goes through my my mind when I read the news with my morning coffee. …Or for the Simon's Rockers in the group, this is my response journal.
Ivanka Trump and Kushner’s use of private email accounts for White House business has been previously reported by Newsweek and others. They are believed to have used at least three private accounts. The White House in October announced it was launching an investigation into the use of private accounts for official business.
Ivanka Trump Used Private Emails With Treasury Officials
n/t
A federal judge barred the Trump administration on Monday from refusing asylum to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally.
…Trump issued a proclamation on Nov. 9 that said anyone who crossed the southern border would be ineligible for asylum.
…“Individuals are entitled to asylum if they cross between ports of entry,” said Baher Azmy, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights. “It couldn’t be clearer.”
Trump Administration Temporarily Blocked From Banning Asylum Seekers | HuffPost
hmmmm
Roberson, 26, was not the assailant — he was the armed security guard who had secured the alleged shooter and saved lives.
,,,That night, Roberson, who was employed by Manny’s Blue Room, had escorted a group of drunk men out of the bar. …Witnesses say one came back with a gun and opened fire. Roberson apprehended a person involved in the shooting in an effort to protect the other patrons as they exited the club. Midlothian police officers arrived on the scene with little to no details, and it appears that they saw a black man with a gun, ignored his uniform and hat labeled SECURITY, and shot him. He died in the hospital.
…”Everybody was screaming out, ‘Security!’ He was a security guard!”
…I’m waiting for the National Rifle Association to honor Roberson as a hero on their website’s front page. Isn’t he the perfect example of why they advocate for more armed citizens and guns in public places? A guy opens fire at a bar, putting many in danger, and another armed man swoops in and saves the day?
…Like Philando Castile before him, a licensed gun owner who was killed by a racist cop in Minnesota, Roberson was black. And to the NRA, it’s clear that black gun owners don’t matter.
The NRA doesn’t care about black heroes: Jemel Roberson was “the good guy with a gun” | Salon.com
Made me think of this classic:
A white county commissioner in northeast Kansas who told a black city planner that he belongs to “the master race” as he rejected her proposed development plan is coming under pressure from fellow commissioners to resign.
…”I don’t want you to think I’m picking on you because we’re part of the master race,” Klemp told Penelton — claiming that the fact that both he and she had “gaps” in their teeth meant they were part of a master race. He then said he didn’t like any of the land use options that she had presented to the commission.
…Last December, while the commission was discussing holiday schedules, Klemp suggested Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army in the Civil War, should be honored.
White Kansas official tells black woman he belongs to ‘master race’
Mmmmmm, no.
Point of fact? Fucked up teeth are pretty far from being from a quality possessed by members of anything resembling a master race.
As thousands of migrants in a caravan of Central American asylum-seekers converge on the doorstep of the United States, what they won’t find are armed American soldiers standing guard.
…That’s because U.S. military troops are prohibited from carrying out law enforcement duties. [emphasis: mine]
…That means there will be no visible show of armed troops, said Army Maj. Scott McCullough, adding that the mission is to provide support to Customs and Border Protection.
Migrants won’t see armed US soldiers on border – ABC News
Not a huge compliment to the Customs and border Patrol folks that the Cheeto doesn’t think they are capable of defending themselves from exhausted and perhaps starving and dehydrated migrants.
Meek Mill’s case picked up mainstream attention when he was sent back to jail in November 2017 by Judge Genece E. Brinkley, who has presided over his fate since first sentencing him in 2008.
…It was big news when Brinkley sentenced Meek Mill to a shocking two to four years for parole violations, both of which stemmed from incidents in which charges were eventually dropped or dismissed—in one, the rapper had popped a wheelie on a motorcycle while filming a music video in New York City.
…And it’s why Meek Mill might be suited more than any other public figure to accomplish what he has planned next: a criminal justice reform organization tasked with liberating “1 million people unjustly caught in the criminal justice system.” Meek Mill and Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin are cochairmen; Jay-Z and Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, make up the executive board.
hmmmm
When police arrived after reports of a shooting over the weekend at a bar outside Chicago, witnesses say Jemel Roberson, a 26-year-old security guard who worked there, had already subdued the alleged assailant in the parking lot, pinning him to the ground.
…Midlothian Police Chief Daniel Delaney said that’s when one of his officers …shot him, according to a statement given to the media.
…Roberson was holding a firearm he was licensed to carry. Other witnesses, and a lawsuit filed by Roberson’s family, reportedly said he was wearing a hat emblazoned with the word “security.”
“Everybody was screaming out ‘Security!’ ” Harris told WGN. “They …saw a black man with a gun, and basically killed him.”
…Woods said that the Midlothian officer came out of the club’s back door — weapon drawn — and ordered Roberson to “get on the ground.”
“Before he says ‘ground’ he fires the first shot,” she said, adding that she has not been interviewed by investigators.
Police Fatally Shoot Black Security Guard Who Detained Shooting Suspect : NPR
If these officers are not dismissed and formally charged it is clear their su[erior do not care about law enforcement.
If an officer cannot properly assess information before they act, they should not have been given a badge in the first place. Perhaps the person who hired them should be fired and charged with public endangerment…
American Civil Liberties Union has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of psychiatric patients being involuntarily held in hospital emergency departments.
State law requires involuntary psychiatric patients to get probable cause hearings within three days of admission. Under the state’s interpretation, the clock starts when someone is admitted to an inpatient facility, but the lawsuit points to a Merrimack County court ruling that said the clock starts with emergency room admission.
The lead plaintiff is a 26-year-old man who was held involuntarily at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center for nearly a week without a hearing.
NH sued over involuntary psychiatric boarding
hmmmmmm
“FOX News supports CNN in its legal effort to regain its White House reporter’s press credential. We intend to file an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court,” the right-wing cable channel’s president Jay Wallace said in a statement.
“Secret Service passes for working White House journalists should never be weaponized,” the network added. “While we don’t condone the growing antagonistic tone by both the President and the press at recent media avails, we do support a free press, access and open exchanges for the American people.”
Fox News: We Support CNN’s Lawsuit Against Trump – The Daily Beast
huh
With the certainty that the incoming Democratic House majority will go after his tax returns and investigate his actions, and the likelihood of additional indictments by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, Trump has retreated into a cocoon of bitterness and resentment, according to multiple administration sources.
…He has canceled travel plans and dispatched Cabinet officials and aides to events in his place.
…Unusually early on Monday, the White House called a “lid” at 10:03 a.m. EST, informing reporters that the president would not have any scheduled activities or public appearances for the rest of the day. Although it was Veterans Day, Trump bucked tradition and opted not to make the two-mile trip to Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as presidents since at least John F. Kennedy have done to mark the solemn holiday.
…He had just returned Sunday night from a two-day trip to France to attend ceremonies marking the centennial of the armistice that ended World War I. That trip was overshadowed, in part, by Trump’s decision not to attend a wreath-laying at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, the burial place for 2,289 soldiers 60 miles northeast of Paris, due to rain.
Kelly, a former Marine Corps general, and Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did attend to honor the American service members interred there. Trump stayed in the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Paris, making no public appearances.
…About 80 heads of state walked in unison — under umbrellas in the pouring rain — down Paris’ grand Champs-Elysees boulevard. Trump arrived later by motorcade.
…” It’s such a striking difference between the enthusiasm he showed during the campaign and then going to Paris and sulking in his hotel room.”
…Pence was heading to Asia in [Trump’s] place, and at his first stop greeted Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Trump’s absence, experts said, is notable, and a glaring affront to many Asian leaders.
…What makes Trump’s perceived snub to the Asian powers more significant is that it comes on the heels of his brief European trip, which showcased his growing isolation from transatlantic allies. French President Emmanuel Macron rebuked Trump in a speech, stating that “nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism.”
…Trump’s relations with Latin America, already strained, are little better after the White House last week announced that he was reneging for a second time on a commitment to visit Colombia.
Weh, weh, weh, all the way home.
Trump confused the Baltic states in Europe with the Balkans—and chastised leaders of the former for starting wars in the 1990s that lead to the break-up of Yugoslavia, French daily Le Monde reported.
…The Baltic states lie in northern Europe, on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea.
Around 1,000 miles away sits the Balkan region in south-eastern Europe. It comprises states including Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia.
…Trump’s mistake is perhaps more surprising given that his wife, Melania, was born in Slovenia, a state that was part of Yugoslavia until 1991.
Trump, according to the Le Monde report, remained “apparently uneducated in the matter by his wife, Melania, originally from the former Yugoslavia.”
They are confined to windowless cells roughly the size of a king bed for 23 hours a day, with virtually no human contact except for brief interactions with prison guards. According to scientists speaking at the conference session, this type of social isolation and sensory deprivation can have traumatic effects on the brain, many of which may be irreversible.
…For good or bad, the brain is shaped by its environment—and the social isolation and sensory deprivation King experienced likely changed his. Chronic stress damages the hippocampus, a brain area important for memory, spatial orientation and emotion regulation. As a result, socially isolated people experience memory loss, cognitive decline and depression. Studies show depression results in additional cell death in the hippocampus as well as the loss of a growth factor that has antidepressant-like properties, creating a vicious cycle. When sensory deprivation and an absence of natural light are thrown into the mix, people can experience psychosis and disruptions in the genes that control the body’s natural circadian rhythms.
…King has experienced lasting cognitive changes from his time in solitary confinement. His memory is impaired and he has lost his ability to navigate, both of which are signs of damage to the hippocampus. At one point he was unable to recognize faces, but that problem has passed.
Neuroscientists Make a Case against Solitary Confinement – Scientific American
hmmmm
Armed Militia Groups Head To The Border, Sparking Military Concerns | HuffPost
Well, at least the US military troops that were sent dfown there will have something to do.
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