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Why Do Some Conservatives Believe Mueller Will Clear Trump?
First, they interpret each incremental development in the Mueller investigation completely in isolation. The overall pattern of the Mueller probe, fleshed out by a large amount of reporting, displays a series of trails between Russia and the Trump campaign. These include the Trump Tower meeting, Roger Stone’s interactions with WikiLeaks, Paul Manafort’s history of pro-Russian political work, Peter W. Smith’s work on behalf of Michael Flynn, to take the most prominent.
But Trump’s believers see not patterns in these episodes, but a series of disconnected dots. So, for instance, when Mueller charged Russian internet trolls with election interference, they saw it not as one element of a broader indictment of Russian interference, but proof that the bad actors were entirely those operating on the Russian side.
…Second, they concede Trump lies constantly, but insist he does so for no particular reason.
…The assumption here is that Trump’s lifelong habit of pathological lying tells us nothing about his underlying guilt.
…Third, and following logically from both of the above, Trump’s defenders do not see his actions forming any pattern of obstruction of justice.
Why Do Some Conservatives Believe Mueller Will Clear Trump?
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Trump Tower catches fire
Fire sprinklers were not required in New York City high-rises when Trump Tower was completed in 1983. Subsequent updates to the building code required commercial skyscrapers to install the sprinklers retroactively, but owners of older residential high-rises are not required to install sprinklers unless the building undergoes major renovations.
Some fire-safety advocates pushed for a requirement that older apartment buildings be retrofitted with sprinklers when New York City passed a law requiring them in new residential high-rises in 1999, but officials in the administration of then-mayor Rudy Giuliani said that would be too expensive.
…rump was among the developers who spoke out against the retrofitting as expensive and unnecessary. No member of the Trump family was in the 664-foot tower on Saturday.
Mr. Trump’s family has an apartment on the top floors of the 58-story building, but he has spent little time in New York since taking office. The headquarters of the Trump Organization is on the 26th floor.
Todd Brassner, Trump Tower fire victim, was art collector who spent time with Andy Warhol – CBS News
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Black Stoneman Douglas Shooting Survivors: Minority Voices
“We are proud to say we are from Douglas, we are proud to say that those who are at the front are doing a great job, but we have so much to say too,” Mei-Ling Ho-Shing said.
A black male student gave a speech about police having PTSD and “mentally ill” police officers on campus that may racially profile students and treat them as “potential criminals.”
“It is estimated that one-in-three police officers suffer from untreated post-traumatic stress disorder,” student Kai Koerber said. “When mentally ill police officers are invited to safeguard a traumatized student body that becomes a recipe for disaster. Police need to stay on the perimeter of our schools. Those chosen to work at school should receive PTSD counseling and special diversity training,”
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Trump freezes $200 million in funds earmarked for Syria recovery
Trump freezes $200 million in funds earmarked for Syria recovery – CBS News
Heartless asshole without a soul.
Stephon Clark shot 8 times, mostly in the back, private autopsy finds
Unarmed Stephon Clark was shot eight times — mostly in the back — by two Sacramento police officers in his grandmother’s backyard, according to an independent autopsy released Friday.
…”This independent autopsy affirms that Stephon was not a threat to police and was slain in another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances,” said Benjamin Crump, a high-profile civil rights attorney hired by Clark’s family.
…Crump said the results directly contradict the narrative from Sacramento police and shows Clark wasn’t a threat.
…The narrative that had been put forth is that they had to open fire because he was charging at them.
…Clark didn’t immediately die from his wounds, he said, even though just one of the wounds could have been fatal on its own.
Authorities have said several minutes passed before Clark was treated because of fears he was armed.
“Whether you’re fatally wounded or not you should receive immediate and timely medical and surgical intervention,” Omalu said, citing the 2011 shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
She survived after being shot in the head “because of the timely, immediate medical and surgical intervention,” he said, adding “every minute you wait decreases the probability of survival.”
Stephon Clark shot 8 times, mostly in the back, private autopsy finds
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
We’re at a point in our society where officers sworn ot uphold the law and protect the citizenry from harm routinely murder the very citizens they are sworn to protect and afterwards lie about the circumstances of these cold-blooded killings to justify their actions and normalize their dangerous incompetence, inability to think calmly under pressure, and clearly racist paranoias.
If a civilian committed these acts we would be calling for the death penalty. Until we treat violent murderers in police uniforms the same as we would a poor person of color we are a nation without law and order.
Treaties Between the United States and Indigenous Nations, Explained | Teen Vogue
Today, Natives are often thought of in terms of race, and we are considered people of color. But American Indians specifically are also designated by the federal government as a political classification. This is because we belong to ancient Indigenous tribes that predate the existence of the United States of America and we made treaties with them. These treaties recognized our sovereignty as independent nations.
Treaties, and the U.S. government’s history of unilaterally breaching them, have had a profound effect on Native people. To be blunt, we were lied to. Treaties were used as a ruse to coax tribes out of defending their territory and to steal Native lands and resources.
…Of the payments that were made, the government often gave the money directly to traders who were supposed to supply the Dakota with rations. The withholding of rations by these traders led to the Dakota War of 1862, because the Dakota, of which there were an estimated 6,500 people, were starving.
…In 1980, in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the seizure of the Black Hills from the Lakota was a wrongful taking and that the Sioux were entitled to “just compensation” under the 5th Amendment’s “Takings Clause.” The Lakota refuse to accept the money, because the Black Hills are not for sale. To this day, they rightfully belong to the Great Sioux Nation.
Treaties Between the United States and Indigenous Nations, Explained | Teen Vogue
Sighhhh
(It’s worth repeating: not your mother’s Teen Vogue)
Black Marjory Stoneman Douglas students feel overlooked
Black students gathered in Parkland Wednesday said they felt overlooked and underrepresented by both the media and their peers leading the charge for more gun control. And some of the solutions meant to keep them safer in the wake of a gunman slaughtering 17 of their classmates leave them feeling more afraid than before.
Kai Koerber, a 17-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas student, returned to school after the shooting to see his slain classmates’ empty desks turned into memorials — and a campus swarming with police officers. To him, extra cops around doesn’t mean more people to protect him; it means more chances to become a victim of police brutality.
…Kai worries that police will racially profile students and treat them as “potential criminals,” particularly students of color.
“It’s bad enough we have to return with clear backpacks,” he said. “Should we also return with our hands up?”
Black Marjory Stoneman Douglas students feel overlooked | Miami Herald
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Black students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS want to be heard
“I would say that our voices were not intentionally excluded, but they were not intentionally included,” said Kai Koerber, a junior. “Now more than ever, it is time to represent the diversity of our school, and the diversity in the world.”
…About 11% of the high school’s 3,000 students are black, and some say their concerns about gun violence are not getting enough attention, WPEC reported.
“We are proud to say that we’re from Douglas,” student Mei-Ling Ho-Shing told reporters Wednesday, WPEC-TV reported.
“We are proud to say that those who are in the front are doing a great job, but we also have so much to say.”
…”The police are making their own rules and are turning our school into a police state,” he said. “Every day, students lose more and more freedoms at MSD. Students of color have become targets and white students have become suspects. …”
“Students of color, black and brown students, like myself have been racially profiled while we are on heightened alert, fearing the emergence of another Caucasian shooter,” [Junior, Kai] Koerber said.
“I would like to see us not only reclaim our school, but our right to privacy on campus. We do not welcome the militarization of MSD. It is terrible to see our school lose control over the protection of their students and their facilities.”
Black students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS want to be heard – CNN
Yup.
Last Stoneman Douglas shooting victim leaves hospital
Anthony was the last of 20 students who fled into a room and was trying to lock the door that day when he was shot, Carlos told “Good Morning America” in February. Anthony held his ground in the doorway, putting his body in between the bullets and his classmates, who all survived uninjured, Carlos said.
Last Stoneman Douglas shooting victim leaves hospital – ABC News
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The Palestinians in Gaza are once more bidding to burst out – Will Gaza boil over?
The Palestinians are calling it the “Great Return March”, a salute to the homes their grandparents lived in, across the border, before they fled or were pushed out by the newborn Israel. They promise to keep marching for another six weeks, at least. From Israel’s perspective, these are “acts of terror”, aimed at sabotaging the border fence and orchestrated by Hamas, the militant Islamist group that wrested control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2007 after winning an election the year before. Since then Gaza’s neighbours, Israel and Egypt, have imposed a near-total blockade on the cramped strip’s 1.8m people. But the march’s organisers insist that they do not represent any one movement, and are simply protesting against their perpetual refugee status and the siege.
The Palestinians in Gaza are once more bidding to burst out – Will Gaza boil over?
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Parkland Student David Hogg Says Black Classmates Weren’t Given a Voice by Media
Speaking at an Axios event Friday focused on the gun debate, Hogg was asked about where the news media tripped up in its coverage of the tragic shooting at his Parkland, Florida school that left 17 people dead.
“Not giving black students a voice,” Hogg responded, via Axios. “My school is about 25 percent black, but the way we’re covered doesn’t reflect that.”
Parkland Student David Hogg Says Black Classmates Weren’t Given a Voice by Media
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17 States, 7 Cities Sue To Remove Citizenship Question From 2020 Census
New York state is leading a group of 17 states, seven cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors in a lawsuit against the Census Bureau and Commerce Department to try to remove a new citizenship question from the 2020 census questionnaire. It comes more than a week after California filed a similar lawsuit in San Francisco federal court against Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the bureau, and Census Bureau officials.
The states joining New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. The cities are Washington, D.C.; Chicago; New York; Philadelphia; Providence, R.I.; Seattle; and San Francisco, plus the United States Conference of Mayors, a bipartisan group.
The census has not asked all U.S. households about citizenship since 1950.
17 States, 7 Cities Sue To Remove Citizenship Question From 2020 Census : NPR
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For Decades, National Geographic’s Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It
Not nearly as comprehensive as I would have wished, and certainly not perfect, but still, a decent start towards a more honest and less limited narrative.
Trump says military troops will guard US-Mexico border
Trump says military troops will guard US-Mexico border
Grrrrrrrrreat. Our ally Mexico should loooooooooooooove that.
..Not.
Attorney Alex van der Zwaan, first person sentenced in Mueller probe, gets 30 days in prison
Alex van der Zwaan, 33, had pleaded guilty in February to making false statements when he was interviewed last fall about his phone calls and e-mails with a former Trump campaign aide, Richard Gates.
Van der Zwaan addressed the judge directly on Tuesday, saying in a brief statement, “What I did was wrong. I apologize to the court, my wife and my family.”
The Belgian-born lawyer also was fined $20,000 and two months of supervised release was imposed.
…Van der Zwaan’s father-in-law, German Khan, is a prominent Russian billionaire.
Attorney Alex van der Zwaan, first person sentenced in Mueller probe, gets 30 days in prison
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Québec program sends unsold grocery store food to food banks
The Supermarket Recovery Program is intended as a large scale society project that will benefit the 400,000 people, including 150,000 children who, each month, have no choice but to turn to a food program for help.
…In 2016, the pilot project resulted in the recovery of almost 2.5 million kg of food from 177 supermarkets, representing a market value of almost $20 million. Our project also allowed a reduction of more than 2,000 tons of eqCO2 of greenhouse gases. When fully functional, the program will recover approximately 8.5 million kg of food annually in 645 supermarkets, thereby avoiding more than 7,500 tons of eqCO2 of greenhouse gases each year – the equivalent of taking 1,600 cars off the road!
Supermarket Recovery Program – Les Banques alimentaires du Québec
EPA To Gut The Only Major Federal Rule To Cut Climate Pollution From Vehicles
The Environmental Protection Agency has outlined plans to undo a landmark Obama-era rule tightening fuel standards for vehicles, weakening the only major federal policy to reduce planet-warming emissions from the nation’s top source of greenhouse gas pollution.
EPA To Gut The Only Major Federal Rule To Cut Climate Pollution From Vehicles | HuffPost
Future generation hating assholes!
Mueller Releases Secret Memo Underpinning Manafort Probe
Special Counsel Robert Mueller defended the indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort by releasing a secret government memorandum granting him authority to investigate crimes related to Manafort’s political consulting work for former President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine.
Mueller is using the memo to refute Manafort’s claims that prosecutors went too far by investigating crimes beyond Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors released the memo just before midnight on Monday, arguing that Manafort can’t legally challenge his indictment for financial crimes arising from his work for Yanukovych and other Russian-backed politicians.
The memo, dated Aug. 2, 2017, and signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, supplements a May 2017 appointment order directing Mueller to investigate possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly” from his probe.
Mueller Releases Secret Memo Underpinning Manafort Probe – Bloomberg
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Comments From The Peanut Gallery 