News Dump

Trump Wants To Withdraw Deportation Protections For Families Of Active Troops (Many Wives And Husbands Have Already Been Deported)
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/27/736362986/trump-wants-to-withdraw-deportation-protections-for-families-of-active-troops

The Supreme Court's conservatives decided Thursday that federal courts do not have a role to play in deciding whether partisan gerrymandering goes too far. The 5 to 4 decision was written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and joined by the court's other conservatives. "We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts," Roberts wrote. "Federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two major political parties, with no plausible grant of authority in the Constitution, and no legal standards to limit and direct their decisions."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2019/06/27/supreme-court-says-federal-courts-dont-have-a-role-in-deciding-partisan-gerrymandering-claims/?utm_term=.e46d80a47090

Justice Kagan, dissenting:   So the only way to understand the majority's opinion is as follows: In the face of grievous harm to democratic governance and flagrant infringements on individuals' rights—in the face of escalating partisan manipulation whose compatibility with this Nation's values and law no one defends—the majority declines to provide any remedy. For the first time in this Nation's history, the majority declares that it can do nothing about an acknowledged constitutional violation because it has searched high and low and cannot find a workable legal standard to apply.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18-422_9ol1.pdf

And gerrymandering is, as so many Justices have em-phasized before, anti-democratic in the most profound sense. See supra, at 7–8. In our government, "all political power flows from the people." Arizona State Legislature, 576 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 35). And that means, as Alexander Hamilton once said, "that the people should choose whom they please to govern them." 2 Debates on the Constitution 257 (J. Elliot ed. 1891). But in Maryland and North Carolina they cannot do so. In Maryland, election in and election out, there are 7 Democrats and 1 Republican in the congressional delegation. In North Carolina, however the political winds blow, there are 10 Republicans and 3 Democrats. Is it conceivable that someday voters will be able to break out of that prefabri-cated box? Sure. But everything possible has been done to make that hard. To create a world in which power does not flow from the people because they do not choose their governors.    Of all times to abandon the Court's duty to declare the law, this was not the one. The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court's role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. With respect but deep sadness, I dissent.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18-422_9ol1.pdf

EVERY BLUE/PURPLE STATE - Take this as your calling card. Gerrymander the FUCK out of your states so conservatives cannot win another seat. Period. One more blow to the idea that we have a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

A group of lawyers on Wednesday night asked a federal judge to hold the Trump administration in contempt and to order immediate improvements to conditions at Customs and Border Protection facilities where children are being held. The filing specifically cites facilities in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso, Texas. The lawyers are part of a team of doctors and advocates that warned last week of what they said were major health and hygiene problems at Customs and Border Protection facilities in Texas following visits to the facilities. "Instead, class member children are held for weeks in deplorable conditions, without access to soap, clean water, showers, clean clothing, toilets, toothbrushes, adequate nutrition or adequate sleep. The children, including infants and expectant mothers, are dirty, cold, hungry and sleep-deprived," reads the court filing. The filing is part of the Flores Agreement, a 1997 agreement that requires the government to release children from immigration detention without unnecessary delay to their parents, other adult relatives or licensed programs.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/27/politics/lawyers-flores-border-conditions/index.html
http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/06/26/motion.for.tro.and.pi.4145-0728-9629.14[1].pdf

Jay Inslee gets massive applause for calling Trump the biggest geopolitical threat to America
https://theweek.com/speedreads/849531/jay-inslee-gets-massive-applause-calling-trump-biggest-geopolitical-threat-america

Elizabeth Warren Calls Healthcare A Basic Human Right, Setting Off Heated Medicare For All Debate
https://www.newsweek.com/elizabeth-warren-democratic-primary-debates-2020-1446160

Bill De Blasio … Actually Maybe Knows What He's Doing | "Wait wait wait, Congressman O'Rourke, private insurance is not working for tens of millions of Americans," the mayor interjected when O'Rourke said he would not eliminate private plans. "When you talk about the co-pays, the deductibles, the premiums, the out of pocket expenses, it's not working. How can you defend a system that's not working? Congressman, you've got to start by acknowledging the system is not working for people. Why are you defending private insurance?" | "We have to change our discussion about immigration in this country," he said. "Because look at the bottom line here: That tragic photo of that parent, that child — and I'm saying this as a father — every American should feel that in their heart. Every American should say 'That is not America. Those are not our values.' But we have to get under the skin of why we have this crisis in our system, because we're not being honest about the division that has been fomented in this country."  American citizens have been told immigrants created their problems, de Blasio said, but that blame is misplaced. "For all the American citizens out there who feel you're falling behind, who feel the American dream is not working for you, the immigrants didn't do that to you," he said, as the crowd broke into cheers. "The big corporations did that to you. The 1% did that to you. We need to be the party of working people, and that includes a party of immigrants, but first we have to tell the working people in America who are hurting that we are going to be on their side every single time against those big corporations who created this mess to begin with." |
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/addybaird/bill-de-blasio-2020-democratic-debate

Trump tried to pretend he was above watching the Dem debate. Turns out he wasn't: "Boring!" he tweeted, right as Democrats talked about people dying at the border.
https://www.vox.com/2019/6/26/18760746/trump-tweets-democratic-debate

Two Women Go Public to Say E. Jean Carroll Told Them About Alleged Trump Assault at the Time
https://www.thedailybeast.com/e-jean-carroll-two-women-go-public-to-say-writer-told-them-about-the-alleged-trump-assault

The writer E. Jean Carroll came forward last week with explosive accusations that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. Today, the two women she privately confided in after the alleged attack discuss it publicly for the first time with our colleague.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/podcasts/the-daily/e-jean-carroll-trump-interview.html

It Sure Sounds Like Trump Just Implied John McCain Is Rotting in Hell | And also that he's happy the late senator is dead.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/06/donald-trump-john-mccain-greener-pastures

Trump Tweets That Violate Twitter's Rules Will Now Get a Warning Label
http://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/twitter-world-leader-trump-tweets-warning-label

Twitter says Trump's future tweets might come with warning labels
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/twitter-says-trumps-future-tweets-might-come-with-warning-labels

Attempts to 'erase the science' at UN climate talks - Oil producing countries are trying to "erase the science" on keeping the world's temperatures below 1.5C, say some delegates at UN talks in Bonn.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48786295

Beto won't treat asylum seekers like criminals. In 2018, he co-sponsored the Keep Families Together Act to prohibit DHS from separating children from their parents & to institute safeguards to protect & promote their legal rights, health & wellness.
https://twitter.com/susiedrapes/status/1144057647748079621

"No one's worked harder to end the practice of family separation," he said in an interview with CNN's "New Day." He cited his track record on immigration reform to back up his claim, pointing to efforts to help close the migrant facility in Tornillo, Texas, that has been dubbed a "tent city." "I co-sponsored legislation that would ensure any family fleeing persecution or violence, seeking asylum in this country, is not criminally prosecuted," he continued. "In my administration, we will reunite every separated family, we will free Dreamers from any fear of deportation by making them U.S. citizens" — a reference to immigrants in the U.S. illegally who were brought to the country as children and are seeking a path to citizenship. Asked by CNN what he made of Castro's defense that Section 1325 of the U.S. Code, which makes it a misdemeanor for immigrants to enter the country without papers, actually allows for family separations, O'Rourke said, "He's wrong on his characterization of family separation." "We don't need cages, we don't need to criminally prosecute families, we do not need laws," he added, also remarking how his hometown of El Paso, on the U.S.-Mexico border, is one of the safest cities in the U.S. because of "respect and dignity." O'Rourke acknowledged that he was the target of attacks on the debate stage but shrugged off the aggressive tactics that played out the previous night in Miami, saying, "That's part of politics." He said he intended to continue his nonconfrontational approach. On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," O'Rourke said: "I'm not running against anybody. I'm running for the United States of America."
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/27/orourke-castro-democratic-debates-1385301

Bees 'risk dying from hunger', say French beekeepers - "In the hives, there is nothing to eat, beekeepers are having to feed them with syrup because they risk dying from hunger," added the union, which represents many small farms in honey-producing regions.
https://www.france24.com/en/20190625-france-bees-risk-dying-hunger-french-beekeepers-say

Trump threatens to expand his trade war by slapping tariffs on Vietnam
https://www.businessinsider.com/president-trump-vietnam-tariffs-trade-war-target-2019-6

Claiming Trump Is Forcing Them to Commit 'Widespread Violation' of International Law, Asylum Officers Back Lawsuit Against President's Policy
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/27/claiming-trump-forcing-them-commit-widespread-violation-international-law-asylum

Oregon Democrats Set to Back Down on Climate Bill That Sent GOP Lawmakers Into Hiding
https://www.thedailybeast.com/oregon-democrats-set-to-back-down-on-climate-bill-that-sent-gop-lawmakers-into-hiding

Julian Castro in 2013 testifying that he supports strong immigration enforcement and hailing the fact Obama met the 2007 immigration "triggers," jargon that refers to Operation Streamline automatic detention at the border.
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1144123838499680256

More Castro during the same hearing touting Obama had record "boots on the ground" at the border.
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1144132419504578560

Watching this again, Castro ripping Beto for favoring a comprehensive approach, really looks like an ambush... given Castro himself boasted that Obama had ramped up enforcement, including 1325, in 2013.
https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1144299370155692033

Beto arguing against additional enforcement in 2013.
https://twitter.com/betolovesdogs/status/1144133614940184576
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVofpdQsj0A

I think Beto was genuinely taken aback that his friend and colleague would intentionally lie about his knowledge of the border and everything he has done, while yelling over him during the first debate. To put it bluntly, it was fucked up.
https://twitter.com/betolovesdogs/status/1144141419604598785

There was definitely a micro-expression of emotion on Beto’s face when he realized what @JulianCastro had done to him. When all the old video “receipts” being discovered are aired over the next several days Castro will have to deal with being known as a disingenuous fool.
https://twitter.com/brucehayes/status/1144153102066622464

One thing I'm noticing today in coverage of the first Democratic debate is that many in media feel various Democratic challengers did good work for themselves by rudely yelling over Beto O'Rourke during his allotted time to answer questions while average voters saw it differently
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1144292220591382528

1/ Of all the debate performances that divided media and voters, Beto's is at the top, though I note the media narrative about his performance was conveniently identical in all respects to the narrative the beltway class had already publicly decided upon and cemented pre-debate
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1144293075826724864

2/ To be clear, as I said yesterday I thought Castro (e.g.) had a fantastic debate, better than Beto, but when I hear folks say that they were unable to determine where Beto stood on various issues my reaction is what debate were you watching I had no problem with that whatsoever
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1144293989375512576

Politicians Can Pick Their Voters, Thanks to the Supreme Court
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/opinion/gerrymandering-supreme-court.html

Trump considers bypassing Congress to cut capital gains tax on wealthy to put money in his own pocket and the pocket of billion dollar Republican donors
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/27/trump-mulls-bypassing-congress-to-cut-capital-gains-tax-on-wealthy-report.html

Updated on European heat wave: A location in France hit a new June record for the country of 106. Tomorrow, it could get even hotter and the all-time national record could fall. Details here:
https://twitter.com/capitalweather/status/1144353370788061184
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/06/26/european-heat-wave-france-germany-poland-czech-republic-set-june-records-worst-is-still-come/

Gabbard: "The strategy is to speak with every single American because we all pay the price for decades of US failed interventionist foreign policy — not just Democrats"
https://twitter.com/RosieGray/status/1144364879115149312

Craig Kimbrel's 1st appearance of the season: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1BB, 1 K, and 1st save as a Cub