Despite Trump’s Racism, White Americans Receive More Welfare Benefits Than Other Groups

During that meeting, one of the members mentioned to Trump that welfare reform would be detrimental to her constituents— adding, “Not all of whom are black.” 

The president was incredulous. “Really? Then what are they?”

Statistically speaking, they were probably white.

In fact, whites are the biggest beneficiaries when it comes to government safety-net programs like the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, commonly referred to as welfare.

..Just over 40 percent of SNAP recipients are white. Another 25.7 percent are black, 10.3 percent are Hispanic, 2.1 percent are Asian and 1.2 percent are Native American

Trump Thinks Only Black People Are on Welfare, But Really, White Americans Receive Most Benefits

Bennet die-hards drawn to awkward, unusual New Hampshire campaign

In a campaign filled with stump speeches aimed at getting people fired up, Bennet is working to make government boring again. He has worked to position himself as the adult in the room. If he is elected, he wants people to not have to think about his administration for weeks at a time.

That’s endearing to some in New Hampshire, especially those who are more interested in getting Trump out of office than any one specific platform.

… Sometimes, he continued, candidates “have risen in New Hampshire simply because New Hampshire decides we’re not going to accept the conventional wisdom, and instead we’re going to pick a candidate we think can actually do whatever the mission is.”

…Carville sees Bennet as a soothing moderate who can not only beat Trump but also convince people wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats to take them off.

“I don’t just want to get rid of Trump, I want to get rid of Trumpism,” he said. “On election day, I want to see that army ragged, starving, freezing, retreating.”

Bennet die-hards drawn to awkward, unusual New Hampshire campaign – POLITICO

hmmmm

Jay-Z, Roc Nation File Federal Lawsuit Against Mississippi Prison Officials for Violent Conditions, ‘Failure to Meet Basic Human Rights’

According to the lawsuit, which was filed by Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro, “these deaths are a direct result of Mississippi’s utter disregard for the people it has incarcerated and their constitutional rights.”

…“This unthinkable spate of deaths is the culmination of years of severe understaffing and neglect at Mississippi’s prisons,” Spiro said in a statement. “As Mississippi has incarcerated increasing numbers of people, it has dramatically reduced its funding of prisons. As a result, prison conditions fail to meet even the most basic human rights.”

Jay-Z, Roc Nation File Federal Lawsuit Against Mississippi Prison Officials for Violent Conditions, ‘Failure to Meet Basic Human Rights’

hmmm

Text messages point to Rep. Devin Nunes in Ukraine scheme at heart of Trump impeachment

Documents released by the House committee show repeated contact between Lev Parnas, who worked with Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, and Derek Harvey, an aide to Nunes on the committee, about meetings with Ukrainian prosecutors to get damaging information about Democrat Joe Biden, who is running for president, and about a debunked theory about Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 U.S. election.

The messages between Parnas, who functioned as Giuliani’s emissary to Ukrainian officials, and Harvey indicate Nunes’ office was aware of the back-channel White House effort that has led to Trump’s impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

…The text messages appear to show that Parnas sought to set up Skype and FaceTime calls last spring between Harvey and Ukrainian officials who were assisting Giuliani in his efforts to gather negative information on Biden and to oust the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who was seen as an obstacle.

…Parnas told MSNBC in an interview aired this week that he was told to work with Harvey because Nunes “couldn’t be in a spotlight” because of an ethics investigation.

In 2017 the House Ethics Committee investigated whether Nunes had improperly disclosed classified information during the Republican-led investigation into what the Trump campaign knew about Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election.

…Following that interview, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) announced on Twitter that Nunes had threatened him with a lawsuit in December unless he apologized for saying Nunes had conspired with Parnas. Lieu included both the original letter from Nunes’ lawyer and Lieu’s Jan. 16 letter in response.

“I welcome any lawsuit from your client and look forward to taking discovery of Congressman Nunes,” Lieu wrote. “Or, you can take your letter and shove it.”

Text messages point to Rep. Devin Nunes in Ukraine scheme at heart of Trump impeachment – Los Angeles Times

mmhmm

Biden demands apology from Sanders over ‘doctored’ video on Social Security

[Biden] told the audience that “Bernie’s people” had circulated a video that falsely suggested that he agreed in 2018 with the position of Paul Ryan, the House speaker at the time, to dismantle the benefits.

Biden demands apology from Sanders over ‘doctored’ video on Social Security

Sanders’ organization will lie and cheat to win. …Which is one of the reasons they need to lose.

TSA apologizes to Native American traveler following ‘unacceptable behavior’ at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

“TSA holds its employees to the highest standards of professional conduct and any type of improper behavior is taken seriously,” the statement continued.

TSA apologizes to Native American traveler following ‘unacceptable behavior’ at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – The Washington Post

Their apology is weak. Anything other than firing the employee in question means the TSA doesn’t take this behavior very seriously at all and is willing to accept it from their employees.

Period.

NAACP’s Sherrilyn Ifill was asked by Amtrak conductor to give up her (unassigned) seat for other passengers

“I’m being asked to leave my seat on train 80 which I just boarded in D.C. There are no assigned seats on this train,” Ifill shared on Twitter Friday, directing her query at Amtrak’s account. “The conductor has asked me to leave my seat because she has ‘other people coming who she wants to give this seat.’ Can you please explain?”

…“What really disturbs me is how someone with this authority can just entirely make up something so ridiculous and approach a customer in this way,” Ifill wrote.

NAACP’s Sherrilyn Ifill says Amtrak conductor asked her to give up her seat for other passengers – The Washington Post

Enough with the “says” headlines, WaPo. By apologizing Amtrak has acknowledged this happened. It’s not alleged. It happened. Stop being such racist/hater apologists and play-acting at being unbiased and start asserting facts when they come up you spineless, corporate hacks.

Also, if Amtrack responds by doing anything other than firing the employee at question they are prioritizing their HR(PR!) practices over not tolerating blatant discrimination. shielding their employee is supporting their action. Name, shame, and terminate or be 100% culpable in overtly bigoted and illegal discrimination.

Revealed: US listed climate activist group as ‘extremists’ alongside mass killers

A group of US environmental activists engaged in non-violent civil disobedience targeting the oil industry have been listed in internal Department of Homeland Security documents as “extremists” and some of its members listed alongside white nationalists and mass killers.

…The document points to an uptick in “sabotage attacks” conducted by anarchist extremists, environmental rights and animal rights extremists against the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016 at the height of the pipeline protest. Nearly 800 activists have been tried on a variety of North Dakota state charges, in relation to the pipeline protests, according to Water Protector Legal Collective, a legal support organization.

This activity was met with heavy law enforcement presence, FBI and DHS surveillance, and aggressive military style tactics deployed by pipeline security contractors.

In addition to providing an overview of domestic terrorism threats the document includes an appendix summarizing select incidents over the past few years. Two of the Valve Turners are listed alongside violent white supremacists such as Dylann Roof and James Fields, who have both been convicted of murdering innocent civilians.

…“Equating mass murder by white supremacists with what Michael and I did is totally obscene,” Jessup said in an email. “This whole infrastructure of so-called security has done little more than secure the future of the fossil fuel industry by terrorizing people into silence.”

…Carl Williams, executive director of the Water Protector Legal Collective, which has defended a number of DAPL protesters, says the push to criminalize dissent is part of a larger rightwing strategy that has also targeted the BDS movement and Black Lives Matter.

“I think there is a strategy that rightwing forces are using to criminalize dissent,” Williams said. “This bulletin shows that dirty hand.”

Revealed: US listed climate activist group as ‘extremists’ alongside mass killers | Environment | The Guardian

sigh…

‘I can’t hide my disgust, my disdain’: judge lambasts Michael Flynn

Months after Flynn led chants of “lock her up” at the Republican national convention, in reference to Hillary Clinton, it was the three-star general who was then forced – without hesitation or excuses – to admit to his crimes.

…While Mueller’s prosecutors had argued Flynn’s decades of military service warranted a lenient sentence for the three-star general even after he had admitted lying to the FBI, it was Sullivan who, gesturing to the American flag beside him, accused Flynn of selling his country out. Minutes later, he ponderously asked the government’s lawyers whether they had ever considered charging Flynn with treason. (No, they later answered.)

“Arguably,” Sullivan said, describing how Flynn had secretly been working for the Turkish government before he joined the White House, “that undermines everything this flag over here stands for.”

It was [a long overdue] moment that seemed to capture – perhaps for the first time – the depth of the betrayals at the heart of special counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal investigation.

…The scene of the crime – the West Wing of the White House – seemed to gnaw at Sullivan, who repeated it several times, all the while emphasizing how unusual it was that the government and Flynn were asking him to bless a plea agreement even though Flynn had not completed his cooperation with the government.

…Never in his decades on the bench, Sullivan said, had he accepted a guilty plea from a defendant who was not really guilty. “I don’t intend to start today,” Sullivan said, and then had Flynn sworn in. “Any false answers will get you in more trouble,” he added.

…“I am going to be frank with you, this crime is very serious,” the judge said. “I can’t hide my disgust, my disdain, at this criminal offence.”

‘I can’t hide my disgust, my disdain’: judge lambasts Michael Flynn | US news | The Guardian

hmmmm

Controversy over giant telescope roils astronomy conference in Hawaii

Near the end of the conference, a session that was a late addition to the program gave the podium to two kia’i. They shared with astronomers not their reasons for opposing the telescope, but the daily rituals they are following on Maunakea and an invitation to visit their roadside outpost.

That was a deliberate choice. “This is different, perhaps, from what you thought this would be,” said Pua Case, a native Hawaiian who has been organizing against the TMT for a decade. “We’re not presenting our side to get another side, we’re not going to do that. You know why? Because we’re meeting you for the first time, most of you.”

Instead, she explained that they wanted to offer astronomers a glimpse into their world. “The way we create relationship is through ceremony, ritual, tradition, ancestral passing down of knowledge and protocol,” Case said. That’s also how the kia’i have arrived at their opposition of the project and how their daily prayers on the mountain continue their process of determining how to live with Maunakea. “We have no choice but to stand, so we’re letting you know that,” she said.

Controversy over giant telescope roils astronomy conference in Hawaii | Space

hmmm

Government Lawyer Says Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Response Plan ‘Does Not Exist’

October 30, 2018

…Early last month, Governor Ricardo Rosselló and other officials announced that their newly overhauled plan was finally complete.

…Days after Rosselló’s announcement, the head of the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency, Carlos Acevedo, told a committee of Puerto Rico’s Congress that, should a hurricane of similar magnitude strike, “we’re confident that our government’s response will be very different.”

…But on Tuesday afternoon, an attorney for Puerto Rico’s government admitted in a San Juan courtroom that, in fact, the island’s emergency management agency does not yet have a document outlining a hurricane-specific response plan.

…She said the government was still assessing proposals from private companies, “so that it can hire people who specialize in producing those types of emergency response plans. So, as of today they aren’t available. As of today, they don’t exist.”

…Calls to Puerto Rico’s governor’s office and to the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency were not immediately returned.

Government Lawyer Says Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Response Plan ‘Does Not Exist’ : NPR

whoa!

Puerto Rico emergency director fired after residents discover warehouse full of Hurricane Maria supplies

Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced fired the island’s emergency manager, hours after a warehouse filled with supplies was discovered.

…Carlos Acevedo, [the] director of Puerto Rico’s Office of Emergency Management, was dismissed Saturday. The governor appointed Maj. Gen. José J. Reyes, the adjutant general of the Puerto Rico National Guard, to replace him.

Earlier on Saturday, numerous pallets of water and other boxes with emergency supplies were found at a warehouse in the earthquake ravaged city of Ponce.

…The emergency aid is believed to be from when Hurricane Maria hit the island two years ago, the governor said.

Puerto Rico emergency director fired after residents discover warehouse full of Hurricane Maria supplies – CNN

wonder how he got the job…

2018: Puerto Rico officials stockpiling radios, water, food as hurricane season nears

MAY 10, 2018

…Federal and local officials said Thursday they are stockpiling food, water, radios and generators in Puerto Rico. …Emergency plans have been changed to warn the island’s 3.3 million people that they need to have enough supplies to survive 10 days.

“After Maria, we learned that three days is not enough,” said Carlos Acevedo, interim commissioner of Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency. “Now the minimum is 10 days … 10 days of supplies, 10 days of gasoline, 10 days of everything.”

He said satellite antennas have been installed and 100-watt radios distributed to police stations, emergency management centers, fire stations and hospitals so crews can still communicate in the event of a disaster.

Puerto Rico officials stockpiling radios, water, food as hurricane season nears – CBS News

hmmm

Puerto Rico governor creates “9/20 Committee” to improve protocols on counting disaster deaths

First published on November 2, 2018

…The report on the findings made various recommendations on issues including mortality surveillance and communication during natural disasters. They included establishing clear leadership of the Puerto Rico Department of Health when it comes to mortality surveillance, and improving efficiency regarding the flow of information to decision makers.

“This Committee will play a key role in the future of our island, as it will establish the appropriate protocols and guidelines so that we are better prepared in the face of a disaster such as Hurricane Maria,” Rosselló said.

The 19-person committee includes scholars from universities like Columbia and George Washington, as well as health officials from government agencies and health care groups. The committee members are:

…8. Carlos Acevedo – Director, Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency

Puerto Rico governor creates “9/20 Committee” to improve protocols on counting disaster deaths – CBS News

hmm