Category: Money, Class, and Poverty,

Judge cites Trump’s comment in “sanctuary city” ruling 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

For the third time in two months, a federal judge has knocked down an immigration order by President Trump and used Trump’s own language against him.

In a ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Orrick quoted Trump to support his decision to block the president’s order to withhold funding from “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with U.S. immigration officials.

Trump called the sanctuary cities order a “weapon” against communities that disagree with his preferred immigration policy, Orrick said. The judge also cited a February interview in which he said the president threatened to cut off funding to California, saying the state “in many ways is out of control.”

…Orrick’s preliminary injunction against the sanctuary cities order will stay in place while the lawsuits by San Francisco and Santa Clara work their way through court.

The government hasn’t cut off any money yet or declared any communities sanctuary cities. But the Justice Department sent letters last week advising communities to prove they are in compliance. California was informed it could lose $18.2 million.

Orrick said Trump cannot set new conditions on spending approved by Congress.

Even if the president could do so, those conditions would have to be clearly related to the funds at issue and not coercive, as the executive order appeared to be, Orrick said.

Judge cites Trump’s comment in “sanctuary city” ruling – CBS News

hmmm

Groups File Ethics Complaints Over State Department’s Mar-a-Lago Blog Post 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Ethics groups have filed complaints over a blog post written by a bureau of the State Department that used glowing language to describe Mar-a-Lago.

…The complaint, filed Tuesday with the Office of Government Ethics by the group Common Cause, is in response to a blog post published on the State Department’s ShareAmerica website that referred to Mar-a-Lago as the “winter White House” and noted that it is open to paying members.

…Common Cause called the post an “abuse of taxpayer funds.” The group’s president accused the Trump administration of failing to set boundaries between the president’s businesses and the business of the government.

…Last week, reports surfaced that Trump had previously met with two former Colombian presidents at his Florida home to discuss opposition to a Colombian peace deal with revolutionaries. The White House denied the reports, claiming Trump only briefly spoke to the two presidents after bumping into them at the club.

After North Korea conducted a missile test in February, Trump appeared to hold an open-air strategy session during a dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with aides holding cell phones to illuminate documents, CNN reported at the time.

Following [Trump’s] election, the club’s membership fees doubled to $200,000, with critics asserting that those who can afford the high costs have unique access to the president.

Groups File Ethics Complaints Over State Department’s Mar-a-Lago Blog Post – NBC News

hmmmm

Trump Inauguration Admits Errors, Vows To Correct Numerous Faulty Donor Records 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

That such errors made their way into the official inauguration committee filing suggests that the committee failed to perform even basic checks to ensure that its record-keeping was accurate, a requirement under FEC guidelines.“

Even in light of the diminished reporting required by inaugural committees as opposed to campaigns, it doesn’t seem that they’ve done the basic reporting required by the FEC,” said Fischer. “These are not new rules, and this looks like negligence.”

…Fischer said the errors exposed by the Citizen Sleuth volunteers raise doubts about whether the Trump inauguration did basic due diligence, as required by law. By linking individual donations to the mailing address of the access code ― which was easy to pass around ― and not the address of the actual donor ― the Trump inaugural committee effectively created an alternate universe of donors records, he noted.

Trump Inauguration Admits Errors, Vows To Correct Numerous Faulty Donor Records | The Huffington Post

hmmmm

Cherokee Nation Sues Walmart, Drug Companies Over Opioids 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Addiction,, Drugs & Drink,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, The Americas,Leave a comment

The Cherokee Nation filed suit against CVS, Walmart and others on April 20 declaring an “opioid epidemic of unprecedented proportions’ in Indian country.

…By ignoring red flags and refusing to monitor the supply chain, contributing to what is known as “drug diversion,” the suit alleges that the effects of opioid addiction has had a devastating human toll on the tribe’s citizens and crushing impact on its resources.

Cherokee Nation Sues Walmart, Drug Companies Over Opioids – Indian Country Media Network

hmmm

CNN Politics on Twitter: House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz says it appears that Michael Flynn accepted money from Russia 

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Central Northern Asia and The Caucasus,, Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

 

And so it begins….

I wonder how many Trump administration officials will have to face charges before one of them sings like the proverbial canary.

The Story of How Fake Sugar Got Approved is Scary As Hell 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

Many of those Searle studies that Gross questioned are now lumped into the data that says aspartame is safe. And though the question of aspartame causing brain tumors has largely been dismissed over the years, there hasn’t been much new data on the subject. In fact, a 1987 General Accounting Office report states that 28 out of 69 scientists said more research was needed in the areas of “neurological functions, brain tumors, seizures, headaches, and adverse effects on children and pregnant women.” Nonetheless, the report added, research was ongoing in all areas except brain tumors. What’s more, the FDA dissuaded the National Toxicology Program (NTP) from doing further cancer research on aspartame. As the founder of the NTP, David Rall, put it, “It’s a wonderful way to ensure that it isn’t tested—discourage the testing group from testing it and then say it’s safe.”

…It’s well established that there is a correlation between being overweight and diet soda consumption, but the question is which way the association works. Do people who are overweight tend to drink diet soda, or is something about the diet soda contributing to weight gain? A 2015 study found that long-term consumption was associated with increased waist circumference. And a 2016 study found that mothers who consumed diet soda while pregnant had babies with a two-fold higher risk of being overweight at age one.

While the question of whether the sweetener causes weight gain, diabetes, or other metabolic disease is unsettled, there are some remarkable correlations.

The Story of How Fake Sugar Got Approved is Scary As Hell – Tonic

hmmm

Shaheen: Money to Fight Opioid Epidemic Coming to N.H. 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Addiction,, Drugs & Drink,, Granite State,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Money that Congress approved last year to help states combat the opioid epidemic is headed to New Hampshire. 

Shaheen has been urging President Donald Trump’s administration to revise the formula used to allocate the funding so it prioritizes states like New Hampshire that are hardest hit by the crisis. She says she’s pleased officials have indicated that they will review the formula ahead of distribution next year.

Shaheen: Money to Fight Opioid Epidemic Coming to N.H. | New Hampshire Public Radio

hmmm

Officers rue the return of US ‘war on drugs’ 

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Drugs & Drink,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

Then as violent crime rates fell under George W Bush and prisons became clogged, prosecutions eased. The war on drugs fell out of fashion. Barack Obama called it “unproductive” and sent memos guiding prosecutors away from pursuing low-level offenders.

Now a new administration looks set to turn back the clock. Attorney General Jeff Sessions likes to reminisce about the aggressive law enforcement of the 80s and 90s and recently labelled cannabis “only slightly less awful” than heroin.

…Between 1980 and 2015, the number of people in prison for drug offences increased more than 10-fold, from 40,900 to 469,545, and the average sentence more than tripled, according to data compiled by the Sentencing Project. The majority of them were low-level offenders with no criminal record.

…A 2013 study published in the British Medical Journal found that since 1990 US drug prices nationwide had fallen while purity increased. And a 2012 study by the University of Florida found that the threat of severe punishment was “generally weak and insignificant” at deterring drug crime or lowering addiction rates.

Officers rue the return of US ‘war on drugs’ – BBC News

It is beyond hard to belive that Sessions or any of his cronies could possibly be that stupid. They the War on Drugs didn’t do the country any favors but they simply seems not to care. Just another way for the old, rich, white guys to beat down and separate everyone else.

Incompetent, asinine, racist hacks.

Secretary Zinke Announces $34.9 Billion Added to U.S. Economy in 2016 due to National Park Visitation |

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Today, during National Park Week, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced that 2016’s record visitation of 331 million visitors at America’s 417 National Park Service sites contributed $34.9 billion to the U.S. economy in 2016 – a $2.9 billion increase from 2015. Zinke made his announcement while visiting the historic Presidio of San Francisco at Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Zinke marked Park Week by also visiting Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, and Channel Islands national parks.

According to the annual peer-reviewed economics report, 2016 National Park Visitor Spending Effects, the strong economic output is attributed to record visitation and $18.4 billion that visitors spent in “gateway” communities near national park entrances. The report also found that visitor spending supported 318,000 jobs in 2016, with the vast majority of them defined as local jobs, including those in the hospitality, retail, transportation and recreation industries.

Secretary Zinke Announces $34.9 Billion Added to U.S. Economy in 2016 due to National Park Visitation | U.S. Department of the Interior

hmmm

United Airlines incident: What went wrong? 

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

One of the security officers involved in the incident was suspended on Monday afternoon, pending a review, said the Chicago Department of Aviation in a statement.

The actions of the officer were “obviously not condoned by the Department”, the statement said.

United Airlines incident: What went wrong? – BBC News

A glimmer off reality peeks into the minds of the powers that be.

Twitter Critiques United After Doctor Is Violently Dragged From Flight For Doing Nothing Wrong

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

https://twitter.com/netw3rk/status/851467247189057537

https://twitter.com/ziwe/status/851433907396517888

https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/851451894920761344

https://twitter.com/AdrianNeenan/status/851452862844600320

https://twitter.com/CaseyNewton/status/851462245561229313

https://twitter.com/FatKidDeals/status/851459488791973888

 

Twitter Users Roast United Over Controversial Video Of Man Dragged From Flight

Brilliant!

United finds a new way to make itself — and the U.S. airline industry — look awful 

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

United CEO Oscar Munoz then made things worse with statement of Orwellian doublespeak. “This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United,” he said. “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers,” whatever that means.

…What sort of training United offers its personnel to manage such episodes isn’t known, but plainly it stinks.

What’s even more important is what this episode says about the terms and conditions of air travel in the United States. It’s in a bad way.

…How many businesses do you know of that can sell you a good or service, accept payment, and then withdraw that good or service unilaterally for their own purposes — much less by force?

…The airline decided to cheap out by not offering passengers payment that would be enough to free up more seats. Instead of paying the true value of moving its crew, it decided to impose that cost on one unfortunate passenger.

Then, as though to prove beyond doubt that it considered its passengers the expendable players in this drama, it summoned the Chicago police to do its dirty work. Something’s wrong with the intellects running United Airlines, and if there’s any justice in the world, now they’ll really pay.

United finds a new way to make itself — and the U.S. airline industry — look awful – LA Times

Yup. And the Chicago police need to rethink their draconian policies and behavior as well. HEre’s hoping every officer involved goes to jail for the inhumane  injustice they perpetrated to protect money over people.

The CEO of United has an astonishingly bad “apology” for the overbooking fiasco 

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

“I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers” is not something you say if you sincerely think your company made a mistake and you’re determined to make it right. It’s something you say when you think your subordinates did nothing wrong but you know you have to issue an apology.

No normal person uses the phrase “re-accommodate.” And United didn’t “have to” eject paying customers from its planes, violently or otherwise. They could have offered customers higher compensation to voluntarily take a later flight. And if they were going to remove someone involuntarily, they didn’t have to knock him onto the floor and drag him down the aisle.

The CEO of United has an astonishingly bad “apology” for the overbooking fiasco – Vox

yup.