Category: Media and Culture,

Coast Guard Officer Plotted to Kill Democrats and Journalists, Prosecutors Say

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

A Coast Guard lieutenant and self-described white nationalist who was arrested in Maryland last week was plotting to kill a long list of prominent journalists and Democratic politicians, as well as professors, judges and what he called “leftists in general,” federal prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday.

…In the last month, prosecutors said, the lieutenant used his work computer to draw up a list of prominent figures he called “traitors” and wanted to kill, including many well-known anchors and hosts on the CNN and MSNBC news networks and a number of Democratic elected officials. The list included, among others, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxine Waters, Senator Richard Blumenthal, whom he referred to as “Sen blumen jew,” and many of the senators running for president in 2020.

He had recently performed internet searches seeking information about whether senators and Supreme Court justices receive Secret Service protection, the court filing said.

…In a passage of the letter quoted in the court filing, Lieutenant Hasson wrote, “I am a long time White Nationalist, having been a skinhead 30 plus years ago before my time in the military.”

…Lieutenant Hasson wrote about wanting to start a race war, and pondered the best way to do it. “Much blood will have to be spilled to get whitey off the couch,” he wrote.

…In the 2017 letter he drafted to friends, the lieutenant discussed ways that, acting alone, he might cause the most social chaos. “Food/fuel may be the key, if I can disrupt two or three weeks,” he wrote. When people started to loot, steal or protest, he wrote, he would “dress as cop and shoot them. Burn down Apt complex, bar the doors first. Thermite on gas station tank.”

…Federal investigators said in the court filing that Lieutenant Hasson had begun stockpiling weapons in 2017. When federal agents searched his cramped basement apartment in Silver Spring, Md., they said, they found a cache of 15 assault rifles, shotguns and handguns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition that the lieutenant had amassed.

Coast Guard Officer Plotted to Kill Democrats and Journalists, Prosecutors Say – The New York Times

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Supreme Court delivers a win to former addict in excessive fines case

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

Gorsuch and Thomas, who did not sign onto Ginsburg’s opinion, each wrote separate concurrences agreeing with the majority’s conclusion. The two conservatives would have used a different mechanism to incorporate the 8th Amendment, they wrote, relying on the 14th Amendment’s privileges and immunities clause, rather than its due process clause, as Ginsburg and the rest of the court did..

…Ginsburg delivered a staunch defense of the prohibition against excessive fines, tracing the lineage of the protection back to the Magna Carta to the current day.

She wrote that protection against excessive fines has been a “constant shield” and argued that high tolls can be used to undermine other liberties, to “chill the speech of political enemies,” and as a form of retribution. Citing a brief filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Ginsburg wrote that the court’s concerns were “scarcely hypothetical.”

In its brief, the ACLU argued that the “explosion of fines, fees, and forfeitures has buried people under mountains of accumulating debt.”

The group wrote that the fines can “lead to a host of collateral harms — wage garnishment, loss of employment and housing, poor credit ratings, driver’s license suspension, incarceration, prohibitions on the right to vote, and even family separation.”

Supreme Court delivers a win to former addict in excessive fines case

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Supreme Court civil forfeiture case: Justices back man whose $40K SUV was seized over $400 drug sale

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

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution’s ban on excessive fines applies to the states, an outcome that could help efforts to rein in police seizure of property from criminal suspects.

…Law enforcement authorities have dramatically increased their use of civil forfeiture in recent decades. When law enforcement seizes the property of people accused of crimes, the proceeds from its sale often go directly to the agency that took it, Institute for Justice lawyer Wesley Hottot said in his written arguments in support of Timbs.

…Ginsburg noted that governments employ fines “out of accord with the penal goals of retribution and deterrence” because fines are a source of revenue.

…The case drew interest from liberal groups concerned about police abuses and conservative organizations opposed to excessive regulation. Timbs was represented by the libertarian public interest law firm Institute for Justice.

…The case is Timbs v. Indiana, 17-1091.

Supreme Court civil forfeiture case: Justices back man whose $40K SUV was seized over $400 drug sale – CBS News

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Trump administration to cancel $929 million in California high-speed rail funding

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Infrastructure and Transportation,, Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The two federal grants represent about one-fourth of all the funding for the project to date — money critical to completing the Central Valley portion and finishing environmental reviews for other segments between San Francisco and Los Angeles. If the funds are lost or tied up in a long legal battle, the state would probably have to either make up the money elsewhere or further curtail the project.

…“It’s no coincidence that the Administration’s threat comes 24 hours after California led 16 states in challenging the President’s farcical ‘national emergency,’” Newsom said in a statement, referring to Trump’s emergency declaration to secure funding for his wall on the Mexican border. “The President even tied the two issues together in a tweet this morning. This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we won’t sit idly by. This is California’s money, and we are going to fight for it.”

…“But let’s be real,” Newsom said in the speech to lawmakers. “The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long. There’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency.… Right now, there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A. I wish there were. However, we do have the capacity to complete a high-speed rail link between Merced and Bakersfield.”

In the hours that followed Newsom’s speech, Trump demanded that California return $3.5 billion in federal funds, and headlines proclaimed the Democratic governor was abandoning the ambitious project championed by his predecessors — a story line that Newsom denied and one that his team has scrambled to correct.

…Whether the Trump administration can actually cancel the $929-million grant, which in legal terms is called “de-obligating” the funds, remains unclear. The possibility of ordering a refund of the $2.5-billion grant that is already being spent is even a bigger legal uncertainty.

…The federal action to terminate the grant wades into uncharted legal territory.

Trump administration to cancel $929 million in California high-speed rail funding – Los Angeles Times

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Roger Stone ordered to appear in court over Instagram post

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

Judge Amy Berman Jackson has ordered longtime Trump associate Roger Stone to appear in federal court after an image posted to his Instagram page pictured her and a symbol that resembled crosshairs.

…In a court filing, Jackson ordered Stone to appear in court Thursday to determine why his contact with the media or the conditions of his release “should not be modified or revoked in light of the posts on his Instagram account.”

Roger Stone ordered to appear in court over Instagram post – CBS News

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Troops do not view immigration as a ‘national emergency.’ Not even close.

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Military,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

What makes this group different than your typical illegal immigrant, Nunez-Neto said, is that they aren’t “trying to avoid detection,” and are in fact turning themselves over to officers at ports of entry to enter the asylum process.

…“If the people who have been arriving in increasing numbers are not trying to evade detection, I’m not sure a barrier will really address that flow.”

Troops do not view immigration as a ‘national emergency.’ Not even close.

Can’t see how a nation of immigrants taking in the poor huddle masses, especially refugees who are not trying to evade the law is a problem but it cannot be argued that the suggestion that a wall is a good way to stem the tide of people following the law and dutifully turning themselves in upon arrival at the border to have their refugee claim processed in accordance with United States law is anything but laughable.

Mississippi suit to cover all who lost voting rights, judge says

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Gulf Coast Region,, Race,Leave a comment

The Mississippi Constitution strips the ballot from people convicted of any of 10 felonies, including murder, forgery and bigamy. The attorney general later expanded that list to 22, adding crimes that include timber larceny and carjacking. The plaintiffs argue disenfranchisement violates the U.S. Constitution because it was adopted with the discriminatory intent of keeping African Americans from voting.

…African-Americans make up about 38 percent of Mississippi’s population and 36.5 percent of the state’s registered voters. Youngwood said 59 percent to 60 percent of people convicted of disenfranchising crimes in the state are black.

Some states automatically restore voting rights once someone gets out of prison, while others automatically restore rights once someone completes parole or probation. But Mississippi requires people to go through the arduous process of getting individual bills passed just for them with two-thirds approval by the Legislature, or getting a pardon from the governor.

Mississippi suit to cover all who lost voting rights, judge says

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Trump and the GOP Tax Plan Screwed Middle Class Parents Out of a Refund

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

Here are some things I won’t be able to deduct on my tax bill this year: student loan interest, medical expenses, property taxes, and any home office expenses not paid by my company. Also, the threshold for charitable donations has increased so I can forget recouping the donations to Wounded Warriors, Habitat for Humanity, and PBS. Meanwhile -— and this is a true thing not a rhetorical point — if I owned a private plane I could deduct the maintenance of the aircraft.

Trump and the GOP Tax Plan Screwed Middle Class Parents Out of a Refund

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Andrew McCabe’s ‘The Threat’: Trump Era Memoir By Ex-FBI Director Is A Dark Vision

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

McCabe says that he personally took steps to “safeguard” the bureau’s investigation of Russian interference, just in case his own head would be the next to roll. He tells of working closely in those first post-Comey days with Rosenstein, who subsequently named Robert Mueller to take over the Russia probe as head of an office of special counsel. (Mueller is himself a former FBI director who had been a colleague of Comey and McCabe.)

…McCabe would surely have uncomfortable moments in a hearing into his performance in office and his handling of all relevant parts of the Russia probe. But such a hearing before a Senate committee with a massive TV audience watching might also be uncomfortable for others involved.

Andrew McCabe’s ‘The Threat’: Trump Era Memoir By Ex-FBI Director Is A Dark Vision : NPR

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2 American women sue U.S. claiming they were detained after speaking Spanish in Montana

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

Ana Suda and Martha “Mimi” Hernandez, who were both born in the United States, have said they were detained by a Border Patrol agent after he heard them chatting in Spanish while buying groceries at a store in Havre, Montana, in May. 

…The ACLU also says in the complaint that the agent’s actions violated the women’s rights to equal protection and their Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure because there was “no legitimate reason to detain” them.

“Agent O’Neal singled them out based on race, relying on their use of Spanish as a justification and proxy for race,” the suit says.

…The lawsuit asks that the defendants — the CBP, its commissioner, the agent and others — be stopped from detaining individuals on the basis of race, accent or speaking Spanish, except for when when there are specific and reliable suspect descriptions.

2 American women sue U.S. claiming they were detained after speaking Spanish in Montana

Our hope is not only that they prevail and cause serious and prohibitive consequences be imposed on the offending officer and all of his superiors and supervisors but that this is the first of many suits against un-American conduct by officers of the law,

New California Gov. Gavin Newsom slams brakes on San Francisco-to-Los Angeles bullet train

On By peanutgallerynhIn Infrastructure and Transportation,, Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

When state voters approved the massive bullet-train plan in 2008, the project was envisioned to open in 2029 at a cost of $32 billion. But the California High-Speed Rail Authority last year pushed the completion date back by four years and said it would cost at least double.

Newsom on Tuesday blamed oversight failures and a lack of transparency, saying he wasn’t “interested in repeating the same old mistakes.”

He said he would name Lenny Mendonca, his economic development director, as the authority’s next chairman, with a mandate to “hold contractors and consultants accountable to explain how taxpayer dollars are spent” and to put all expenses online “for everybody to see.”

New California Gov. Gavin Newsom slams brakes on San Francisco-to-Los Angeles bullet train

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Deported parents’ stolen children to be forced into immoral adoptions by strangers, because the US is being run by what might as well be Satan, investigation finds

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Modern Parenting,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

…An anguished Araceli Ramos Bonilla burst into tears, her face contorted with pain: “They want to steal my daughter!”

…She was arrested crossing the border into Texas and U.S. immigration authorities seized her daughter and told her she would never see the girl again. [emphasis: Peanut Gallery]

An Associated Press investigation drawing on hundreds of court documents, immigration records and interviews in the U.S. and Central America identified holes in the system that allow state court judges to grant custody of migrant children to American families — without notifying their parents. [emphasis: peanut gallery]

…States usually seal child custody cases, and the federal agencies overseeing the migrant children don’t track how often state court judges allow these kids to be given up for adoption. But by providing a child’s name and birthdate to the specific district, probate or circuit court involved, the AP found that it’s sometimes possible to track these children.

…Three days after [mother and child’s forced] separation, court records show, the U.S. government labeled [the child who had entered the country with her mother] an “unaccompanied minor,” which meant she entered the bureaucracy for migrant youth, typically teens, who arrive in the U.S. alone. The toddler was issued a notice to appear on “a date to be set, at a time to be set, to show why you should not be removed from the United States.”

…[The mother’s] case was assigned to Oakdale Immigration Court in Louisiana, where the three judges had denied 95 percent of all asylum requests that year, compared to the national average of about 50 percent. She said she called the list of pro bono lawyers she was provided, to no avail.

Without a lawyer, her chance at asylum slipped away. Like everyone else around her, she was being deported.

The federal government offers all deported parents the chance to take their children with them, but [the mother] said she was ordered to sign a waiver to leave [her child] behind. “The agent put his hand on mine, he held my hand, he forced me to sign,” she said.

…At the time, it was unusual for parents to be deported while their children remained behind in federal foster care, but that occurred again and again this summer. More than 300 parents were deported to Central America without their children this summer, many of whom allege they were coerced into signing paperwork they didn’t understand, affecting their rights to reunify with their children. Some parents also contended that U.S. officials told them their children would be given up for adoption.

“And the reality is that for every parent who is not located, there will be a permanent orphaned child, and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration,” U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said in August while overseeing a lawsuit to stop family separations.

…When [the agency] placed [the child] in the Barrs’ home, the couple signed a form promising they would not try to seek custody because the Office of Refugee Resettlement was legally responsible for the child. But eight months later, [high on their own self-importance and mired in what appears to be abject racism,] that is exactly what they did.

…”The Barrs obtained their temporary guardianship order in violation of federal law,” U.S. prosecutors argued. The Barrs’ attorney and the Michigan judge also violated federal law by seeking and granting guardianship, and failed to inform Ramos or Alexa’s lawyers about the proceedings, they wrote.

…Children traumatically separated from their parents are more likely to suffer from emotional problems throughout their lives, according to decades of scientific research. And some more recent studies have found that separation can damage a child’s memory.

Deported parents may lose kids to adoption, investigation finds

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The wind in my hair: one woman’s struggle against the hijab

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,, Middle East,Leave a comment

The irony, though, was that Masih’s parents were dedicated supporters of the revolution. “They were poor, they wanted better jobs, they wanted greater opportunities for equality, and they thought the revolution would bring these changes. But before the revolution there was social freedom, women were allowed to participate as equals in much of life – they could do sport, they could go to the gym, there were female judges. The people who backed the revolution wanted political freedom, and they ended up not getting that – plus, they lost their social freedom.”

…The revolution, she says, was a revolution against women. “The first thing that happened was the introduction of the compulsory hijab and everything else came after that, because it was the most visible and essential way of controlling the women. The revolution took our bodies hostage, and it is taking them hostage still.”

…To people who tell her that the hijab is just a bit of cloth, and there are much bigger problems to be faced in the Middle East, Masih has this message: “This is about a government that’s controlling a whole society through women. It makes me so sad when people say it’s a small thing, because everything starts from that infringement of our rights.” A whole culture of intolerance, she says, is built on that; and women bear its brunt, from the age of seven.

The wind in my hair: one woman’s struggle against the hijab | Global | The Guardian

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