Category: Domestic Affairs,

Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio convicted of criminal contempt 

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,Leave a comment

Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff whose extreme stance on illegal immigration made him a household name, was convicted Monday of criminal contempt of court for ignoring a judge’s order to stop detaining people because he merely suspected them of being undocumented immigrants.

U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton wrote that Arpaio had shown a “flagrant disregard” for the court’s command and that his attempt to pin the conduct on those who worked for him rang hollow.“

Not only did Defendant abdicate responsibility, he announced to the world and to his subordinates that he was going to continue business as usual no matter who said otherwise,” Bolton wrote.

… In 2011, the then-sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County was enjoined by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow from detaining people he thought to be illegal immigrants, when they were not charged with any other crimes, as part of a lawsuit. Prosecutors alleged that he continued to do so, and last year, the Justice Department decided to pursue a criminal contempt-of-court case against him.

…his policy of detaining people on mere suspicion was racist and illegal, and his refusal to honor a court’s order to stop was brazen.

Bolton wrote that another judge’s order to Arpaio was clear and that there was evidence he violated it willfully — citing some of Arpaio’s own public comments as evidence. She said even if subordinates actually did the detaining, it was only at Arpaio’s direction and by Arpaio’s failure to tell them otherwise.

Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio convicted of criminal contempt – The Washington Post

Only the worst people on the planet deserve jail time more than this guy.

Food stamp program works with fresh food farmers markets

On By peanutgallerynhIn Granite State,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Kenney’s on food stamps now, and he said he still wants to eat healthy but can’t afford fresh greens anymore. That’s where the tokens come in. The market match program operates at farmers markets all across the state, funded by a combination of charitable donations and a federal grant.

Jill Hall, director of programs at Seacoast Eat Local, one of the nonprofits that runs the token tables at markets, said the program is about knocking down financial barriers to fresh, healthy food.

…Kenney was using a program called the Granite State Market Match. When food stamp recipients come to farmers markets, the program will match, dollar for dollar, whatever they spend on fruits and veggies. Ten dollars in food stamps will get you $20 of tomatoes.

Food stamp program works with fresh food farmers markets

very cool!

Trump dictated Trump Jr.’s statement on Russian meeting 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

President dictated Trump Jr.’s initial misleading statement on his meeting with a Russia lawyer in 2016, according to Washington Post

Report: Trump dictated Trump Jr.’s statement on Russian meeting – CBS News

Wouldn’t it be a kick if the President actually landed in jail? Can we still kill people for treason? In humiliating ways in public squares? His daughter will look so fetching in an orange jumpsuit.

Jared Kushner’s explanations on Russia reveal a man wholly unsuited to his job 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Iin his presentation to members of the Senate intelligence committee, the 36-year-old husband of Ivanka Trump might have dug himself deeper into a hole by leaning so heavily on personal ignorance as the core of his defense. By doing so he raised a slew of new questions about how the US president could have entrusted someone with such little foreign policy ballast with a powerful international portfolio.

In an 11-page statement released before his closed-door Senate appearance, Kushner essentially argued that he could not have been involved in underhand relations with the Russian government because he was so poorly versed in Russian affairs.

…“I had no idea why that topic was being raised,” he said, apparently unaware that the adoption ban is extensively used by Russian emissaries as a euphemism for US sanctions imposed on Russia. The subject of sanctions is central to modern diplomatic relations between the two countries.

…Substantially more serious than Kushner’s apparent lack of understanding on sanctions was the similar naivety – if his statement is taken at face value – that he showed in his dealings with Kislyak and a prominent Russian banker. When the ambassador told him that senior Russian generals wanted to talk to Kushner to discuss policy on Syria, Trump’s son-in-law inquired about using an “existing communications channel” at the Russian embassy.

The suggestion was made during the transition period when Trump and all members of his inner circle were still ordinary citizens outside government. Kushner appears to have been unaware that setting up such a private line of contact with senior Russian military leaders could have violated the Logan Act that prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign powers.

Jared Kushner’s explanations on Russia reveal a man wholly unsuited to his job | US news | The Guardian

Oy…

Trump announces ban on transgender people in U.S. military – The Washington Post

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Military,Leave a comment

Thousands of troops currently serving in the military are transgender, and some estimates place the number as high as 11,000 in the reserves and active duty military, according to a RAND Corporation study that has been cited by the Defense Department.

…“For the past year, transgender troops have been serving openly and have been widely praised by their Commanders,​ ​as is the case in 18 allied militaries around the world including Israel​ and​ Britain,” Belkin said. “Yet members of Congress are denigrating the value of military service by transgender troops, and Service Chiefs are pressuring Secretary Mattis to continue the transgender enlistment ban despite having no new arguments or data to back up their long-discredited assertions.

…Trump’s announcement comes two weeks after the House rejected an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would have blocked the Pentagon from offering gender transition therapies to active duty service members. Twenty-four Republicans joined all 190 Democrats voting to reject the measure.

Trump announces ban on transgender people in U.S. military – The Washington Post

sigh….

Hillary Clinton Gave 20 Percent of United States’ Uranium to Russia in Exchange for Clinton Foundation Donations?

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Allegations of a “quid pro quo” deal giving Russia ownership of one-fifth of U.S. uranium deposits in exchange for $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation are unsubstantiated.

Hillary Clinton Gave 20 Percent of United States’ Uranium to Russia in Exchange for Clinton Foundation Donations?

I’m just going to leave this here….

Trump team seeks to control, block Mueller’s Russia investigation – The Washington Post

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe, according to one of those people.

…Other advisers said the president is also irritated by the notion that Mueller’s probe could reach into his and his family’s finances.
Trump has been fuming about the probe in recent weeks as he has been informed about the legal questions that he and his family could face. His primary frustration centers on why allegations that his campaign coordinated with Russia should spread into scrutinizing many years of Trump dealmaking. He has told aides he was especially disturbed after learning Mueller would be able to access several years of his tax returns.

…The president has long called the FBI investigation into his campaign’s possible coordination with the Russians a “witch hunt.” But now, Trump is coming face-to-face with a powerful investigative team that is able to study evidence of any crime it encounters in the probe — including tax fraud, lying to federal agents and interference in the investigation.

“This is Ken Starr times 1,000,” said one lawyer involved in the case, referring to the independent counsel who oversaw an investigation that eventually led to House impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton. “Of course, it’s going to go into his finances.”

…Mueller’s probe has already expanded to include an examination of whether Trump obstructed justice in his dealings with Comey, as well as the business activities of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

…Law enforcement officials described Sessions as increasingly distant from the White House and the FBI because of the strains of the Russia investigation.
Traditionally, Justice Department leaders have sought to maintain a certain degree of autonomy from the White House as a means of ensuring prosecutorial independence.

But Sessions’s situation is more unusual, law enforcement officials said, because he has angered the president for apparently being too independent while also angering many at the FBI for his role in the president’s firing of Comey.

As a result, there is far less communication among those three key parts of the government than in years past, several officials said.

…Some note that the Constitution does not explicitly prohibit a president from pardoning himself. On the other side, experts say that by definition a pardon is something you can only give to someone else. There is also a common-law canon that prohibits individuals from serving as a judge in their own case. “For example, we would not allow a judge to preside over his or her own trial,” Kalt said.

Trump team seeks to control, block Mueller’s Russia investigation – The Washington Post

hmmm

Taibbi: What Does Russiagate Look Like to Russians? 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Central Northern Asia and The Caucasus,, Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Russia isn’t as strong as we think, but they do have nukes – which is why beating the war drum is a mistake.

..Americans surely helped usher in the oligarch era by guiding Russia through its warped privatization process. In some expat circles back then, you found Americans who believed that by creating a cadre of super-wealthy Russians, we would create a social class that would be pre-motivated to beat back a communist revival.

This may have prevented a backslide into communism, but a by-product was accelerating a descent into gangsterism and oligarchy.

…What most Americans don’t understand is that the Putin regime at least in part was a reaction to exactly this kind of Western meddling.

….The Yeltsin regime, which incidentally also saw wide-scale assassinations of journalists and other human rights abuses, was widely understood to be a pseudo-puppet state, beholden to the West.

The conceit of the Putin regime, on the other hand, was that while Putin was a gangster, he was at least the Russians’ own gangster.

…Russia believes the U.S. reneged on the “leapfrog” deal by seeking to add the Baltics, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Georgia and even Ukraine to the NATO alliance.

To Russia, American denunciations of Russian adventurism in Crimea and eastern Ukraine seem absurd, when all they see is NATO leapfrogging its way ever-closer to their borders.

…For all the fears about Trump being a Manchurian Candidate bent on destroying America from within, the far more likely nightmare endgame involves our political establishment egging the moron Trump into a shooting war as a means of proving his not-puppetness.

Taibbi: What Does Russiagate Look Like to Russians? – Rolling Stone

hmmmm

Leonard Pitts Jr. column, July 17, 2017 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

There is no sign of progress on that border wall, much less any idea how he is going to make Mexico pay for the thing. His promise to preserve Medicaid and provide health care for everyone has dissolved into a GOP bill that would gut Medicaid and rob millions of their access to health care.
Meantime, the guy who once said he would be working so hard he would seldom leave the White House spends more time on golf courses than a groundskeeper.

….It was always obvious that Trump was a not-ready-for-prime-time candidate, but they chose him anyway. And the rest of us need to finally come to grips with the reason why.

As a study co-sponsored by the Public Religion Research Institute and The Atlantic reported in May, people who were worried for their jobs voted for Hillary Clinton. But people who dislike Mexicans and Muslims, people who oppose same-sex marriage, people mortally offended at a White House occupied by a black guy with a funny name, they voted for Trump.

Leonard Pitts Jr. column, July 17, 2017 | The Wichita Eagle

hmmm

Mother of African-American student files lawsuit after her daughter was named ‘co-valedictorian’ alongside white student with ‘lower GPA’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Local Interest,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

An African American woman has filed a federal lawsuit against a Mississippi school district, claiming that a white student was named “co-valedictorian” alongside her daughter, despite the white student having a lower grade point average (GPA).

Mother of African-American student files lawsuit after her daughter was named ‘co-valedictorian’ alongside white student with ‘lower GPA’ | The Independent

hmmm

White Lady From Hell Moves to Harlem, Immediately Goes to War Against Ice Cream

On By peanutgallerynhIn Local Interest,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

There are few things left to us in 2017 that are pure and true. The sweet jingle of the ice cream truck is one of them. Everyone knows it to be the summer’s singular anthem, a sound capable of throwing you back into the best parts of your childhood at a moment’s notice.

White Lady From Hell Moves to Harlem, Immediately Goes to War Against Ice Cream

Why move somewhere noisy if you’re going to turn around and complain? Really people, get over yourselves.