Kenyan opposition figure deported to Dubai, lawyers say | Daily Mail Online
hmm
Judge rejects Trump request to toss lawsuit accusing him of violating Constitution
A federal judge denied on Wednesday a motion to dismiss a lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of receiving improper payments from states and foreign governments — or emoluments — through his Washington hotel in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
According to court documents, U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte ruled that the plaintiffs, the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia, had legal standing to challenge Trump’s involvement with his eponymous company, but narrowed the scope of the suit to the Trump Organization’s business in the District of Columbia.
…The Constitution bars public officeholders from accepting payments or titles from foreign governments without approval from Congress, a clause designed to prevent officials from being corrupted.
If it withstands likely appeals, the suit could allow prosecutors — two Democratic attorneys general, Maryland’s Brian Frosh and D.C.’s Karl Racine — to seek documents from the Trump Organization on how much money is sent there by states and foreign governments, something that is not publicly known.
…If this suit progresses, it is sure to bring some history into the courtroom, since the plaintiffs are pointing to 230-year-old decision as part of their legal argument. According to the opinion released Wednesday, Maryland argued that the anti-corruption Emoluments Clauses in the Constitution were key “to its decision to enter the Union and that it retains the power to enforce those provisions today.”
Judge rejects Trump request to toss lawsuit accusing him of violating Constitution
hmmm
Trump ousts Shulkin from Veterans Affairs, taps his doctor
President Donald Trump fired Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin on Wednesday and nominated White House doctor Ronny Jackson to replace him in the wake of a bruising ethics scandal and a mounting rebellion within the agency.President Donald Trump fired Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin on Wednesday and nominated White House doctor Ronny Jackson to replace him in the wake of a bruising ethics scandal and a mounting rebellion within the agency.
…[Jackson’s] profile rose after he conducted a sweeping press conference about the president’s medical exam in January in which he impressed Trump with his camera-ready demeanor and deft navigation of reporters’ questions as he delivered a rosy depiction of the president’s health.
…Shulkin is the second Cabinet secretary to depart over controversies involving expensive travel, following former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s resignation last September.
…[Shulkin] had agreed to reimburse the government more than $4,000 after the VA’s internal watchdog concluded last month that he had improperly accepted Wimbledon tennis tickets and that his then-chief of staff had doctored emails to justify his wife traveling to Europe with him at taxpayer expense.
…Shulkin had used a member of his security detail to run personal errands.
…The VA change comes as Trump is trying to expand the Veterans Choice program, fulfilling a campaign promise that major veterans’ groups worry could be an unwanted step toward privatizing VA health care. His plan remains in limbo in Congress after lawmakers declined last week to include it in a spending bill.
…Trump selected Robert Wilkie, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, to serve as the acting head of the VA.
…The selection of Wilkie bypasses VA Deputy Secretary Tom Bowman, who has come under criticism for being too moderate.
Trump ousts Shulkin from Veterans Affairs, taps his doctor
hmmm
Ecuador blocks Julian Assange internet access, bars visitors
Julian Assange is now completely isolated from the world after the Ecuadorean embassy cut off his internet access and banned him from receiving visitors.
Ecuador announced over night that it had cut off the WikiLeaks founder’s internet connection at its London embassy after his recent activity on social media decrying the arrest of a Catalan separatist politician and calling a British MP a “snake.”
In a statement, officials said Mr Assange’s recent posts “put at risk” the good relations Ecuador maintains with nations throughout Europe and had decided as of Tuesday to suspend his internet access “in order to prevent any potential harm.”
Ecuador blocks Julian Assange internet access, bars visitors
Facebook’s ID Scraping Is Even Worse Than We Suspected
I started by taking a look at the Contact Info section. Incredibly, five of the first six contacts on the list were not my Facebook friends. Yet I had their names and phone numbers right there in my contacts. The name at the top of the list was someone I only met and communicated with, completely outside Facebook, for the first time last week. My contact with that person was via email on various devices and over the phone from my iPhone.
…When I called the first person on the list, they were surprised I had access to that information as, even though they had put their phone number into Facebook, they had only elected to share it with friends.
When I looked at their profile on Facebook, their phone number was hidden from me. Yet, it was available through my archived history. In fact, when that person checked, he had locked his account down so that the number wasn’t even available to his friends.
Facebook’s ID Scraping Is Even Worse Than We Suspected | Lifehacker Australia
hmmmm
Paul McCartney honors John Lennon at March for Our Lives
The former Beatle told CNN Saturday that he is participating in the New York March for Our Lives rally to honor his late, former bandmate.
“One of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here,” McCartney told the news station. “So it’s important to me.”
Lennon was shot to death while walking home near Central Park on Dec. 8, 1980 by Mark David Chapman. Chapman, who pled guilty to second-degree murder, was sentenced to 20-years-to-life. Lennon was 40.
Paul McCartney honors John Lennon at March for Our Lives
awwww…
Way to go, Sir Paul!
68 Iowa faith leaders: We support woman’s right to an abortion
The constitutional right of women to make their own healthcare decisions is being attacked in the Iowa Legislature. With arguments based only in religious beliefs, it will create harm to Iowa women and a woman’s right to make her own medical decisions. It is creating a clear path for the government to intrude in the most personal rights and decisions of Iowa women. This is unconstitutional and it is wrong.
…We know that women do not want to be in the place to need an abortion. Life is not perfect and there are personal, often difficult, reasons that lead women to make a decision to end a pregnancy. The reasons are as varied as the women themselves. Unless we are invited into that conversation with a woman, it is not our business and it is not the business of the government.
…Every person has the right to their own personal and religious beliefs and to live their life how they determine is best for them. The government does not have the right to infringe on the freedoms or privacy of Iowa women based on those religious beliefs.
Every woman deserves to consult her values, faith, and doctor when making a decision about her body and her pregnancy. Any law that strips a woman of her faith and tries instead to legislate her values for her is immoral.
We stand with the women of Iowa and their constitutional right to make their own healthcare decisions. We ask the Iowa Legislature to do the same.
68 Iowa faith leaders: We support woman’s right to an abortion
nice!
Nasa to launch most powerful planet-hunting mission for other earths |
NASA is conducting its most powerful planet-hunting mission to date, with the launch of a new satellite to find “other Earths”.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will spend at least two years studying more than 200,000 nearby stars looking for “exoplanets” — planets like ours in other our solar system.
Nasa to launch most powerful planet-hunting mission for other earths | HeraldScotland
cool
Jared Kushner’s Younger Brother Had Vowed To #MarchForOurLives. And He Did. | HuffPost
Josh Kushner, the younger brother of …Jared Kushner, joined the “March For Our Lives” protest march in Washington on Saturday.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgrtJxUHiNl/?utm_source=ig_embed
Josh Kushner made headlines earlier this month for donating $50,000 to March For Our Lives.
…Kushner has described himself as a “lifelong Democrat.” In 2016, he said through a spokesman that he would not be voting for Trump.
At the Women’s March in Washington the day after Trump was inaugurated last year, Kushner was photographed in a crowd of demonstrators.
Jared Kushner’s Younger Brother Had Vowed To #MarchForOurLives. And He Did. | HuffPost
hmmmm
The Banking Bill Could Hurt Black Homeowners
Today—50 years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, 40 years after the passage of the Community Reinvestment Act, and a decade after the subprime-loan crisis—that black family would be 5.6 times more likely to be denied a conventional mortgage than that white family, a damning report released last month by the Center for Investigative Reporting found.
…Redlining and other forms of discriminatory lending practices remain a defining feature of the American housing market, and they have profound consequences in terms of wealth-building, equality, and equity.
…The legislation in process includes a number of technical changes that stand to put borrowers of color, mobile-home owners, and rural residents at risk. Chief among these is a change letting banks that make fewer than 500 mortgage loans a year report less data to the government on who they lend to and at what rates—data meant to help show whether financial institutions are discriminating against families of color.
…The Trump administration, for instance, has hollowed out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development is removing its mandates for inclusion and consumer protection from its mission statement.
The Banking Bill Could Hurt Black Homeowners – The Atlantic
Sigh…
A Star Is Born: MLK’s Granddaughter At The March For Our Lives
Evoking her grandfather’s clerical technique of call and response, she said:
“Please repeat these words after me: Spread the word!”
The crowd repeated. Then she rhymed:
“Have you heard?”
The crowd repeated. Then she said:
“All across the nation!”
The crowd repeated. Then she said:
“We! Are going to be! A great generation!”
At each exclamation point, the crowd exclaimed back. Then Ms. King said:
I’d like you to say it like you really, really mean it!”
And then she repeated the entire sequence twice more, each iteration rousing the crowd higher and higher.
When it was all done, Ms. King said,
Now give yourself a hand!”
Let’s give her a hand. A star is born.
A Star Is Born: MLK’s Granddaughter At The March For Our Lives
warm fuzzies
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