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Category: Domestic Affairs,
Stephanie Hofeller Shares Redistricting Files From Thomas Hofeller’s Hard Drives
A cache of computer files saved on the hard drives of Thomas Hofeller, a prominent Republican redistricting strategist, is becoming public.
…They have been cited as evidence of gerrymandering that got political maps thrown out in North Carolina, and they have raised questions about Hofeller’s role in the Trump administration’s failed push for a census citizenship question.
…”I originally started sharing them with journalists as a direct response to the assertion by the legislative defendants through counsel that they should be destroyed,” Stephanie tells NPR, which previously received a copy of the files from her.
The files document the wide reach of Thomas Hofeller’s work on political maps across the country — including in Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia, as well as New York’s Nassau County and Texas’ Galveston and Nueces counties.
In a Microsoft Word document last saved in 2015, Thomas Hofeller warned against changing the Census Bureau’s policy of including prisoners in the population counts of the areas where they’re incarcerated, expressing concern that “the actual effect on reapportionment and redistricting is not clearly known for individual states.”
…Stephanie says her father’s stated goal was to use gerrymandering to “create a system wherein the Republican nominee would win.”
Stephanie Hofeller Shares Redistricting Files From Thomas Hofeller’s Hard Drives : NPR
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Big Island: County Recycling Cutbacks A Sign Of Global Market Changes
Hawaii County …[is] no longer accepting plastic or most paper recycling.
……In 2018, about 224,200 tons were landfilled in Hilo and Puuanahulu (Kona) after more than 58,800 tons — about 20.8% — of waste were diverted, including 37,915 tons of green waste and nearly 21,000 tons of recyclables.
…The change will mean that the county will be shipping “possibly 4,000 tons per year of extra material” to the West Hawaii Landfill, the island’s only active facility.
…China’s [new] “National Sword” recycling directive that imports should have only minor contamination such as food particles or incorrectly sorted plastics.
Big Island: County Recycling Cutbacks A Sign Of Global Market Changes
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Ocasio-Cortez won’t support the House Democratic campaign arm or any of her colleagues that rely on its assistance
“Sometimes the question comes: ‘Do you want to be in a majority or do you want to be in the minority?’ ” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) told Fox News. “And do you want to be part of a team?”
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who is facing a primary challenge from a progressive Democrat backed by Ocasio-Cortez, expressed frustration over what he described as efforts to “purify” the Democratic Caucus by ousting members who aren’t part of the party’s progressive wing.
“To have people try to purify the caucus because they don’t agree with them — 100 percent, I certainly don’t agree with that,” he told Fox News. “Hopefully, we will start to get away from this circular firing squad.”
Ocasio-Cortez defends decision not to pay dues to House Democratic campaign arm | TheHill
She either does want not progress or does not understand how it happens. Either way, she comes off a selfish little twit here.
And, not for nothing, she opens her own flank.
Graham, Paul rift deepens over Trump’s war powers
Paul and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) emerged from Wednesday’s classified briefing deeply critical of what they characterized as a warning from senior administration officials against debating Trump’s war authority
…Lee called the presentation “the worst briefing I’ve seen, at least on a military issue.”
Paul added that he found the briefing “less than satisfying” and that it was “absurd” and “insane” to use the 2002 Iraq war authorization as the basis for an air strike against an Iranian general.
“I see no way in the world you could logically argue that an authorization to have war with Saddam Hussein has anything to with having war with people currently in Iraq,” Paul told reporters.
Graham, Paul rift deepens over Trump’s war powers | TheHill
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Fifth Pentagon official announces resignation in seven days
Ambassador Tina Kaidanow, a longtime State Department official who began working in her Pentagon role in September 2018, resigned on Dec. 16, the Pentagon confirmed. Defense News first reported her departure.
…“The department will not provide anything further on this personnel matter,” the spokesman added.
…Kaidanow’s resignation follows four other announced departures within a week.
…Top Asia policy official Randall Schriver would leave after two years on the job,
…[The] top official in charge of personnel and readiness Jimmy Stewart had resigned after taking the role in October 2018
…Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency leader Steven Walker
…Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Kari Bingen
…[Kaidanow] worked with top weapons buyer Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency to boost weapon sales with partner and ally countries.
Fifth Pentagon official announces resignation in seven days | TheHill
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How Philadelphia Flipped: Second Chances for Youth
Bethel’s aha moment came after he went to a conference and heard terms like “trauma” and the “school-to-prison pipeline.” He said he had no idea what they were talking about.
When he returned home, he pulled up the data on in-school arrests. And he was taken aback by what he saw.
“I thought, let’s take that back 20 years. Look at the thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of kids we had locked up for minor offenses. And where they are now?… And why were we doing that?” Bethel said. “I mean, thousands and thousands of kids for fighting in school. Stuff that I did as a kid in school.”
…Early studies by the Juvenile Justice Research and Reform Lab at Drexel University show that even though school arrests are down, school safety hasn’t been compromised.
…She showed me on a white board a list of minor offenses that used to get students arrested.
“Scissors. Knives. Marijuana. Pills. Vandalism. Trespassing,” she said. “You know if the kid is fighting in school…they would actually charge him with disorderly conduct.”
…“I was in solitary confinement. So, I was in my cell like 22 hours a day,” Le said. She is 20, and one of the youngest staff members at YASP. Even if all the current reforms had been in place when she was arrested, they wouldn’t have applied to her. Because she had a gun charge, she was held in an adult facility.
There are rules saying that the youth jail population should never interact with the adult jail population, which is why Le was held in solitary by default.
How Philadelphia Flipped: Second Chances for Youth – YR Media
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Texas Won’t Accept New Refugees, Gov. Greg Abbott Says
Texas Won’t Accept New Refugees, Gov. Greg Abbott Says : NPR
No governor is empowered to refuse the Federal government in this way. It is outside their purview. It is also bigoted and unAmerican as F*ck. There is no excuse for spitting on the soul of this country and pretending Lady Liberty does not exist, None. Period.
tuexaudiducis
‘Politics of love’: the end of Marianne Williamson’s bizarre and mesmerizing campaign
On the one hand, Williamson, 67, was the only candidate to strongly advocate for reparations for African Americans. She advocated for stronger environmental protections, in discussing the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. In part due to Donald Trump’s rollback of environmental protections, “we have communities, particularly communities of color and disadvantaged communities all over this country, who are suffering from environmental injustice”, she said during the first Democratic primary debate in July.
Her contributions were unexpectedly lucid at times.
…Williamson’s own views were scrutinized as not just wonky, but sometimes dangerous. Critics worried that her vacillating over vaccines …could mislead families.
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U.S. Probes If Russia Is Targeting Biden in 2020 Election Meddling
The probe comes as senior U.S. officials are warning that Russia’s election interference in 2020 could be more brazen than in the 2016 presidential race or the 2018 midterm election.
…A signature trait of Russian President Vladimir Putin “is his ability to convince people of outright falsehoods,” said William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.
…Russia’s campaign interference in 2016 resulted in a multiagency investigation that led to a highly classified intelligence assessment, part of which was made public in January 2017. Trump has questioned the finding of Russian meddling and has asserted that government agents biased against him conducted a “witch hunt” into whether his campaign conspired with Russia.
The potential for Russia to spread falsehoods — and to develop increasingly sophisticated techniques to do so — is one of the bigger concerns that U.S. officials have as the 2020 election approaches, Demers said.”It’s possible that you will see the creation of false documents,” Demers said. “They could be mixed in with real information, which would make it very difficult to discern the difference. I worry about that as the next evolution of some of their means.”
…Russia has been openly promoting the controversy over Biden and Ukraine, feeding information back into the U.S. where there is an audience that’s receptive to it, Watts said.
Russia has been using its state-run media RT and Sputnik News to selectively promote favorable and unfavorable information about presidential candidates, according to an analysis by the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Foreign Influence Election 2020.
…Russia has a history of staging cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns in Ukraine, where it annexed Crimea in 2014 and backs armed separatists in the eastern part of the country.
The Justice Department exposed Russia’s interference in the 2016 election through public indictments of operatives who hacked Democratic organizations, leaked information damaging Clinton and used social media to sow divisions.
U.S. Probes If Russia Is Targeting Biden in 2020 Election Meddling
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Police detective convicted of inventing a crime to imprison innocent man is allowed to walk free by judge
While Mr Hechinger describes the judge’s decision to undercut the prosecution’s recommended sentencing as a “rare step”, he revealed it is not the first time Mr Chun has spared convicted police officers jail time in favour of probation.
One such case involved two NYPD officers convicted for having sex with a teenager in custody in exchange for her freedom, with the New York Post reporting Mr Chun questioned the victim’s “credibility” and said that “both sides” had been guilty of crimes relating to the “bribe”.
In another instance, he allowed a former NYPD officer who twice shot a man in the face and then tampered with the evidence to walk free.
Chun should be yanked from the bench and charged with aiding and abetting.
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