News Dump

'An Insanely Bad Move': Experts Sound Alarm as Trump's Nuclear Safety Agency Weighs Rollback of Plant Inspections
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/17/insanely-bad-move-experts-sound-alarm-trumps-nuclear-safety-agency-weighs-rollback

Trump administration has gutted programs aimed at detecting weapons of mass destruction
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-homeland-security-wmd-terrorism-20190830-story.html

The U.S. 'Shot Itself in the Foot' by Pulling Out of the Nuclear Deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Says
https://time.com/5629092/iran-nuclear-javad-zarif/

'Cambodia Is Not a Dustbin.' More Plastic Waste to Be Sent Back to the U.S. and Canada
https://time.com/5629076/cambodia-plastic-waste/

There's video of Trump saying he didn't mean it when he said he'd drain the swamp. His followers (cult members) laughed about it. They think they're in on the joke, but they are the joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3GBFrabGrc

Republican Congressman Mark Walker, who represents a part of North Carolina near where Donald Trump’s supporters chanted “Send her back!” at Rep. Ilhan Omar Wednesday night, criticized the crowd’s chant, but also slipped in an attack on the Minnesota congresswoman. “Though it was brief, I struggled with the ‘send her back’ chant tonight referencing Rep. Omar,” he wrote, before adding: “Her history, words & actions reveal her great disdain for both America & Israel. That should be our focus and not phrasing that’s painful to our friends in the minority communities.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mark-walker-gop-congressman-says-he-struggled-with-trump-rally-chant-then-attacks-omar-again

Jeffrey Epstein denied bail, will remain jailed pending trial on sex trafficking charges
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/judge-to-decide-whether-jeffrey-epstein-can-be-released-from-jail/2019/07/17/3e3cdb16-a8a0-11e9-9214-246e594de5d5_story.html

The mysterious foreign passport found in Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion was used to enter at least 4 countries in the 1980s, prosecutors say
https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-epstein-saudi-austria-foreign-passport-1980s-2019-7

McConnell endorses Trump's attacks on four congresswomen
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/18/mcconnell-trump-attacks-congresswomen-1419202

The PGA 2022 championship will be played at a Trump golf course which is a major global endorsement of Trump and Republicans and Racism
https://www.thestar.com/sports/sports-prism/2019/07/17/why-the-pgas-apolitical-stance-is-a-vote-for-racism.html

Schumer wants FBI to investigate FaceApp, DNC warns against using it: Here’s what you need to know
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/18/faceapp-schumer-asks-fbi-to-investigate-dnc-warns-against-app.html

July on course to be the hottest month ever. Record temperatures across much of the world over the past two weeks could make July the hottest month ever measured on Earth, according to climate scientists. The past fortnight has seen freak heat in the Canadian Arctic, crippling droughts in Chennai and Harare and forest fires that forced thousands of holidaymakers to abandon campsites in southern France and prompted the air force in Indonesia to fly cloud-busting missions in the hope of inducing rain. If the trends of the first half of this month continue, it will beat the previous record from July 2017 by about 0.025C, according to calculations by Karsten Haustein, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford, and others. | In response to the new numbers, Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, tweeted: “This is significant. But stay tuned for July numbers. July is the warmest month of the year globally. If this July turns out to be the warmest July (it has a good shot at it), it will be the warmest month we have measured on Earth.” The scientists stressed that this outcome is uncertain because conditions could change in the second half of the month, but it underscores a broader pattern of steadily rising temperatures caused by increasing emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants, deforestation, cars, planes and other sources. Mann estimated the chance of a new record this month at about 50%. In the longer term, he said records would continually be broken. “We have shown in recent work that the record warm streaks we’ve seen in recent years cannot be explained without accounting for human-caused planetary warming. Those warm streaks are certain to not only continue but to worsen if we continue to burn fossil fuels and warm the planet.” Nine of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Data from the first six months of this year indicates this year has a 99.9% chance of entering the top five, according to Gavin Schmidt.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/16/july-on-course-to-be-hottest-month-ever-say-climate-scientists
https://twitter.com/MichaelEMann/status/1150827407210885122?s=20
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep19831

Trump repeated lie that Ilhan Omar married her brother to sneak him into the US
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-repeats-claim-omar-married-brother-to-enter-us-2019-7

William Barr’s donations to Senate Republicans spiked just before they confirmed him as attorney general. He made 10k payments on a monthly schedule every 3rd of the month to Republicans then stopped when he was confirmed.
https://qz.com/1667918/barrs-donations-to-senate-republicans-spiked-before-confirmation/


The Cohen documents are evidence that Trump committed a felony during the election cycle. That felong could be used for impeachment. Feds Unseal Hundreds of Documents Showing How Cohen Silenced Trump’s Alleged Mistresses. This is just physical evidence to substantiate what many of the populace already knew. After the Access Hollywood tape Cohen and Hicks talking about Stormy and how to silence her, then bringing Trump in on the call then hanging up and continuing the conversation privately between the two then Cohen calls AMI. This story is just the hidden box that we found the key to and see the contents of now. We knew it was there and now there’s tangible proof things happened.
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/cohen-warrants.pdf
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/18/documents-related-to-hush-money-payments-by-michael-cohen-unsealed.html

Reminder: Individual 1 is Donald J. Trump who remains an unindicted co-conspirator protected by a DoJ policy memo since he is the "president" right now.

The unredacted Michael Cohen search warrants describe a series of calls on October 8, 2016 between Trump, Cohen, and Hope Hicks - the purpose of which the FBI says was to keep Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) from going public with her story - @Tom_Winter reports
https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1151871598858854402

The materials say that Cohen exchanged "a series of calls, text messages, and emails" with Daniels' atty Keith Davidson, David Pecker and Dylan Howard of AMI; Trump and Hope Hicks.
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1151871416003956736

FBI said they believed Donald Trump and Hope Hicks discussed the need to silence Stormy Daniels in a conference call with Michael Cohen following the Access Hollywood tape leak
https://twitter.com/jonswaine/status/1151872312788041728

The day after the Access Hollywood video dropped, Cohen received a call from Hope Hicks, the first such call in weeks. Trump joined into it. Hicks and Cohen spoke privately after; immediately after that call, Cohen called Pecker.
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1151873422605148161

From Hope Hicks testimony in June, page 47:     Jackson: Were you ever present when Trump and Cohen discussed Stormy Daniels?    Hicks: No, ma'am.    Jackson: You were never present when they discussed Stormy Daniels?    Hicks: No.    Jackson: I'm going to say it again. Were you ever present when Trump and Mr Cohen discussed Stormy Daniels, since it was all over the news that that occurred?    Philbin: Let me just object to make - my understanding is this question is limited to during campaign. That's the line of questioning.    Jackson: That's correct, sir.    Hicks: So, no is my answer. | She's asked again, and denies again, on page 179.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/house-judiciary-hope-hicks-testimony-transcript

Sources familiar with the probe tell @ABC News Hope Hicks will NOT be charged, nor will anyone else as it relates to the investigation in the Southern District of New York. https://twitter.com/Santucci/status/1151887915364036610

Everyone thinking this is somehow going to lead to criminal sanctions against Trump or anyone other than Michael Cohen is dead wrong. Also, SDNY ended all investigations of Trump and Team Trump recently. SDNY is by a Conservative Republican Pro-Trump Trump appointee (the guy who did the Cohen raid 'retired').


Trump Permits Copper Mining in Pristine Wilderness
https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/finding-stillness-in-minnesotas-boundary-waters-in-the-age-of-trump

Calling out racism isn't political. It's our moral imperative.
https://theweek.com/articles/853507/calling-racism-isnt-political-moral-imperative

Vice President Tim Kaine Calls on FBI to Open Khashoggi Investigation
https://www.thedailybeast.com/senator-tim-kaine-calls-on-fbi-to-open-khashoggi-investigation

Ilhan Omar responds to Trump: ‘I am where I belong’
https://nypost.com/2019/07/17/ilhan-omar-responds-to-trump-i-am-where-i-belong/

Trump describes kissing married TV host in creepy 1992 interview
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-describes-kissing-married-tv-host-in-creepy-1992-interview-64058437923

NBC Obtained Trump-Epstein Footage After Trump Kissed an Anchor Without Consent
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/07/a-forced-trump-kiss-how-nbc-got-the-trump-epstein-video.html

Appeals court agrees a Utah county violated Navajo voting rights through gerrymandering
https://www.ksl.com/article/46595680/appeals-court-agrees-a-utah-county-violated-navajo-voting-rights-through-gerrymandering

Scaramucci disinvited from Florida GOP fundraiser for bashing Trump's 'racially charged' attacks
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/18/anthony-scaramucci-florida-gop-fundraiser-1419204

At Cologne's Gestapo museum, visitors are drawing modern parallels – can we really say they're being simplistic? | The Nazis believed that their Jews were not German – just as the US president clearly believes that there are four US congresswomen, all citizens of his country, who are not American
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/nazi-fascism-trump-israel-germany-palestinians-racism-jews-boycott-a9010336.html

Trump made series of phone calls with senior staff on how to stop Stormy Daniels from going public about affair, Cohen warrant says
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-stormy-daniels-affair-michael-cohen-warrant-hope-hicks-phone-calls-a9011021.html

Louvre Removes Name Of OxyContin’s Sackler Family From Museum Walls
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/louvre-removes-sackler-family-name_n_5d2f7517e4b020cd993e0832

Japanese animation studio Kyoto Animation hit with explosion, many injured. A man screaming “You die!” burst into an animation studio in Kyoto, doused it with a flammable liquid and set it on fire Thursday, killing 33 people in an attack that shocked the country and brought an outpouring of grief from anime fans.
Thirty-six others were injured, some of them critically, in a blaze that sent people scrambling up the stairs toward the roof in a desperate — and futile — attempt to escape what proved to be Japan’s deadliest fire in nearly two decades. Others emerged bleeding, blackened and barefoot. The suspect, identified only a 41-year-old man who did not work for the studio, was injured and taken to a hospital. Police gave no details on the motive, but a witness told Japanese TV that the attacker angrily complained that something of his had been stolen, possibly by the company.
https://www.apnews.com/b10907eaf37945889d9ee4339df92aaa

Beyond Meat is just the beginning — dairy alternative firms are set to boom to a $38 billion market
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/beyond-meat-first-success-rapidly-expanding-meat-free-food-industry-2019-7-1028363863

Boris Johnson’s claim that British kipper producers are being hit by EU food safety rules has been rejected by Brussels, who said the regulations had been imposed by the UK government.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-kipper-rant-eu-rules-uk-commission-speech-a9010436.html

Trump said post-"send her back" rally, the rally last night where he chanted "send her back" and asked the crowd to join in with his chant of "send her back! send her back": "I was not happy with it. I disagree with it. It was quite a chant."

 He also tweeted "send her back" and "send them back multiple times within a 48hr period.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49035505

Trump claims he disavows 'send her back' chant despite starting the chant himself and inciting the people to join in the chant. Finishes his disavowal by saying "but it was quite a chant!"
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/18/politics/trump-disavows-ilhan-omar-send-her-back-chant/index.html

"I disagree with the thing I said publicly." -  Classic Trump

"He's a straight-shooter that says what he means! He tells it like it is!" - Classic Republican Supporter

CNN has already reported that his send-up lines to the chant were written into his speech on the teleprompter that he intentionally read instead of not reading them. He read them happily and goaded the crowd into the chant, he had pre-planned it, and it was baked into his speech.  A race-baiting bigot, and a lying PoS.

"I don't stand by anything" - Probably the most honest thing he has ever said.

A Pentagon cybersecurity contractor has been charged with threatening to kill a member of Congress over the introduction of a bill that would require public schools to vaccinate children, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Maryland. Darryl Albert Varnum of Westminster, Maryland called the congressperson—identified only as “congressperson #1”—on June 28, 2019, according to the complaint, and left a voicemail threatening to kill the member if the bill was introduced. “I’m gonna kill your ass if you do that bill. I swear,” Varnum’s voicemail began. “I will fucking come down and kill your fucking ass. And you’re a Congressperson, that’s fine. I hope the fucking FBI, CIA and everybody else hears this shit.” “This is the United States of America, bitch. Get the fuck out,” the voicemail continued. “I’ll tell you what I’ll come down to Miami bitch. I’ll fuck you up. Like the Cubans don’t even know.” Though the name of the member targeted is not listed in the complaint, The Daily Beast has learned that the Varnum’s death threat was directed at Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL). According to the complaint, the voicemail was left at the congresswoman’s Florida office. And Varnum’s tirade centered on The Vaccinate All Children Act, legislation introduced by Wilson in May. The bill would require all public schools to vaccinate all their students in order to receive any federal funding. It exempts from the requirement any student whose doctor certifies that a vaccination might endanger the child’s health. | The complaint notes that Varnum is a current employee of Sealing Technology. Law enforcement agents from the U.S. Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service advised that he currently works at the Defense Information Systems Agency as a part of a contract between Sealing and DISA. | According to the complaint, Varnum’s wife previously told police that he owns “numerous guns.” He has registered just one: a .45 caliber Ruger pistol. His wife’s statement came in the course of another law enforcement encounter in 2015. Carroll County sheriff's deputies responded to a call from Varnum’s wife, who reported that her husband was having “behavioral issues.” When police arrived, an intoxicated Varnum had holed up in his garage with a rifle and a bottle of vodka, insisting that Taliban militants were en route to his house.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-contractor-threatened-to-kill-congresswoman-frederica-wilson-over-vaccine-bill

Trump Has Starved Transit Agencies of $854M
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/07/17/president-trump-has-starved-transit-agencies-of-854m/

There’s no difference between supporting a racist and being one
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/rex-huppke/ct-trump-send-her-home-rally-ilhan-omar-racist-huppke-20190718-ngjm4vqe3vdgrli3eb7kbkw6hy-story.html

 Mnuchin is the first treasury secretary to intervene in Congress’s request for private tax returns, memo says
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/mnuchin-appears-to-be-first-treasury-secretary-to-intervene-in-congresss-request-for-private-tax-returns-memo-says/2019/07/18/f4c585ea-3281-4b27-bdc4-a8e506d544e5_story.html

Republicans will call any Democratic nominee a socialist (they always have and always will)
https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/melinda-henneberger/article232797167.html

Two Decades Ago, He Blocked Abortion Clinics and Dodged Police. Now He’s Helping Wage Trump’s War on Reproductive Rights. A string of previously unreported arrests illuminate a top administration lawyer’s hard-held beliefs—and unlawful past.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/02/matt-bowman-hhs-abortion-arrest-record-clinic-protests/

Trump asked 'where is that?' when a Rohingya refugee asked him if he was doing anything to stop the genocide in Myanmar (
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-asked-rohingya-refugee-where-myanmar-is-2019-7

Flynn had $4.6M unpaid legal tab, records show
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/18/michael-flynn-unpaid-legal-tab-1420304

Trump Attempts to Disavow “Send Her Back” Chant He Visibly Enjoyed During Rally | But videos of the rally show Trump nearly basking in the crowd’s chants and listening to it for more than 10 seconds before proceeding with his remarks. Despite video evidence contradicting Trump’s comments from the Oval Office, several news outlets ran with the headline the president clearly desired.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/trump-attempts-to-disavow-send-her-back-chant-he-visibly-enjoyed-during-rally/

Crowd at tonight's Trump rally in North Carolina breaks out into chants of "Send her back!" as the president attacks Rep. Ilhan Omar
https://twitter.com/passantino/status/1151639762085863424

Trump blamed his supporters for their racist chant. They were quoting him.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-blames-supporters-racist-chant-quoting-his-tweet-omar-aoc-tlaib-pressley-rally-73c0ca9c9caa/

One of the world's earliest known mosques, built around 1,200 years ago, has been discovered by archaeologists in Israel's Negev Desert | It is one of the first mosques constructed after the arrival of Islam in what is present-day Israel, when the Arabs conquered the then-Byzantine province in 636, according to Gideon Avni, an expert on early Islamic history. "The discovery of the village and the mosque in its vicinity are a significant contribution to the study of the history of the country during this turbulent period," he said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49036815

Argentina freezes Hezbollah assets, brands group terrorist organization, 25 years too late. Hezbollah perpetrated the deadliest terrorist attacks on Argentinian soil. Their then-President  conspired with Iran to derail the investigation,  then had the lead investigator assassinated. Hezbollah killed 85 Argentinians.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-hezbollah/argentina-freezes-hezbollah-assets-brands-group-terrorist-organization-idUSKCN1UD1XE
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMIA_bombing
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_attack_on_Israeli_embassy_in_Buenos_Aires

On Wednesday, Donald Trump held a 2020 campaign rally in North Carolina that saw supporters chanting the words "send her back" after the U.S. leader renewed his racist attacks on Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar. The owner of a restaurant in that city has now revealed he will be donating 100 percent of the proceeds made that day to efforts to support immigrants. In a Facebook post ahead of Trump's rally, Matthew Scully, who owns The Scullery restaurant in Greenville, shared a photo of a sign placed in his restaurant's window announcing that "100% of today's sales will be donated to [the] American Immigration Council in order to help with the immigration crisis at our southern border and to celebrate our diverse community." | Scully said that the sign in his window attracted hundreds of customers to his restaurant throughout the day on Wednesday, with The Scullery serving as many as 500 people and making more than $5,800 in sales, all of which will be donated to the American Immigration Council.
https://www.newsweek.com/north-carolina-restaurant-owner-donates-proceeds-immigration-1449992

Lindsey Graham Says Donald Trump's Not Racist, But Called Him a 'Race-Baiting Bigot' in 2015
https://www.newsweek.com/lindsey-graham-trump-not-racist-tweets-1450060

This video shows Trump’s claim that he tried to stop ‘send her back’ chants is utter nonsense
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/18/trump-claims-he-doesnt-like-send-her-back-chants-he-said-same-about-lock-her-up/?utm_term=.34801325de19

2,000 Pages Of Documents Expected To Reveal Epstein’s High-Powered Associates. A legal document expected to be released within days is likely to reveal allegations of sexual abuse by “numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders” with ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Vanity Fair reported Wednesday.
https://forward.com/fast-forward/427912/jeffrey-epstein-friends-documents-bail/

Epstein: "There is another very important issue to be considered in this case. It has to do with 'victims' of the crimes charged in the Indictment. Victims refer to the 'minor' girls who are alleged to have been sexually trafficked by the Defendant." Minor girls, not underaged "women".
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6206430-Epstein-Berman-bail-7-18-19.html

Judge Berman: “Mr. Epstein's alleged excessive attraction to sexual conduct with or in the presence of minor girls...appears likely to be uncontrollable.”
https://twitter.com/eorden/status/1151972774241558529

Epstein blackmailed people after recorded them on tape having sex with underage girls, either knowingly or unknowingly. He extracted from them money in the form of being an investor for them. Or in one case, teaching at a prestigious school with no degree.

McConnell set the votes on the House-passed extension of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund bill for 2:30pm on Tuesday. It's expected to pass overwhelmingly.
https://twitter.com/frankthorp/status/1151963193935323139

They are covering up their crimes right before our eyes, it’s infuriating: Trump administration invokes privilege again, blocks intel committees from classified Mueller docs
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administration-invokes-privilege-blocks-intel-committees-classified/story?id=64421388

Wow. Mark Morgan of @CBP significantly rolled back the new Trump administration asylum rule. Tells @arishapiro that “we're not going to do that” along the whole border. “We're really piloting it in just one location,” he says, adding courts will likely block even that. @npratc
https://twitter.com/NPRinskeep/status/1151956338169253889

Dozens of priests and nuns arrested after protesting Trump's child detention policy on Capitol Hill
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/child-migrant-protests-priests-nuns-trump-arrest-capitol-hill-a9011471.html

70 Catholics arrested in D.C. protest over Trump immigration policies. Very happy that they did this. That said, this is represents 0.0001% of American Catholics. There were literally more priests molesting children in Massachusetts alone. If the 72 Million American Catholics all objected to immigration, it would be done immediately. These heroes are outliers. The Catholic church is quintessentially hierarchical. If the hierarchy of the church took a stand against the abuse of refugees (as their book quite clearly tells them to do, btw), those 72 million American Catholics would follow. Unfortunately this isn't happening. What's even more unfortunate is that the vast majority of the refugees being imprisoned and abused right now are Catholic themselves. Instead, Church leaders permit a few of the more progressive sects to make a show of standing up to evil, while the hierarchy itself blithely goes on ignoring the issue. This is no different than how the Church handled the rise of fascism in the 1930s and early 1940s. Allow a few priests and other representatives take a stand for what is right, maintain the neutrality of the church itself, and then whitewash history after the fact by pointing to the heroic acts of a few adherents who took a stand and pretend you were with them all along. It was reprehensible then, and it's just as reprehensible today. If the leaders of the Catholic church came out in opposition to the treatment of refugees in America with even half the vigor they use when talking about abortion, I have no doubt that those 72 million American Catholics would take a stand and this crisis would be averted due to sheer numbers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/70-catholics-arrested-in-dc-protest-over-trump-immigration-policies/2019/07/18/1f3b2bd6-a973-11e9-86dd-d7f0e60391e9_story.html?utm_term=.c68b151f125c

WWF Is Investigating Another Murder Allegation At A Park Where Rangers Are Accused Of Rape And Torture
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tomwarren/wwf-probes-new-murder-allegations-salonga-congo

Governor JB Pritzker
‏Verified account @GovPritzker
I'm aware of the troubling reports that American children are being detained at O'Hare Airport, and my administration is exploring every option to return these children to their families.
https://twitter.com/GovPritzker/status/1151949217474252805

O’Hare Standoff: Federal Officials Detaining Three Children Of Undocumented Parents. Chicago lawyers, a representative from the Mexican Consulate and a congresswoman from Illinois have all met with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to find out why three American citizen children are being detained at O’Hare Airport. They’ve argued for the release of the children. Several immigration lawyers, advocates and reporters have gathered inside the international terminal at O’Hare to await the outcome of what is shaping up as a standoff between federal officials and the undocumented parents of the three children, all girls, ages 9, 10 and 13.
https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/ohare-standoff-border-patrol-detaining-three-children-of-undocumented-parents/285e32de-2516-4be2-b660-fd7b0419e913

House Democrats are moving to quiet the searing internal feud that threatened to spin out of control last week - starting with the deletion of explosive tweets that helped spark the infighting and a joint statement of unity. | Among the deleted tweets was an attack by Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., a CPC co-chairman and signer of the statement, on the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus, which worked last month to favor passage of a bipartisan Senate-written border security bill over a House alternative. "Since when did the Problem Solvers Caucus become the Child Abuse Caucus?" Pocan asked in the June 27 tweet, which was deleted Wednesday. Ron Boehmer, a Pocan spokesman, confirmed the deletion. Another came from the Twitter account of the House Democratic Caucus, under the direction of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and his staff. That message included an image of a tweet from Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, suggesting that a fellow freshman, Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., had voted to "enable a racist system" by supporting the Senate border bill. "Who is this guy and why is he explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color?" read the House Democrats' tweet, sent late Friday night. According to the aide, the five Democratic leaders - Jeffries, Pocan, fellow CPC co-chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., New Democrats chair Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Blue Dog chair Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla. - agreed over the course of several conversations this week to "issue a reset" and present a united front against Trump and the Republicans. The deletions of the tweets, the aide said, were a gesture of goodwill to begin that effort.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-democrats-move-to-tamp-down-internal-feud-delete-tweets-that-sparked-infighting/2019/07/18/7b45e416-a982-11e9-9214-246e594de5d5_story.html

Trump team accusing Biden of hypocrisy for comments today comparing Trump to George Wallace. Biden's approach to racial politics in the '70s - and the broader Democratic Party's - was complicated, as we've seen recently. But there's a significant piece of missing context here:
https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1151956801467899909
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_x4VbcXYAAt7Es.jpg

In 1976, George Wallace ran (again) for president and Joe Biden was by then a senator. And Biden publicly announced that he would not under any circumstances back Wallace if he won the Democratic nomination and that he would instead endorse Republican Gerald Ford:
https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1151957756183756800
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_yTaTFW4Ag2L0c.png

Wallace, even in '76, was a major worry for the national Dem Party. He commanded a loyal blue collar white following and these were voters the party had traditionally needed to win. Biden launched a speaking tour in the South aimed at souring these voters on Wallace:
https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1151958836594577408
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_yUPz9W4AwtIqR.jpg

As @jonward11 shows here and in his book, how to approach Wallace was dilemma even for leading liberal Dems in the '70s, including Ted Kennedy:
https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1151959596627628033
https://twitter.com/jonward11/status/1151934829887401985

Also, Wallace in the '80s managed to rehabilitate his image somewhat. He had renounced segregation and ran for Gov in Alabama again in '82. In the primary, he courted black voters and won a startlingly high share of the black vote -- just enough to lift him to a narrow victory:
https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1151960490509262857

That set the stage for Jesse Jackson to visit Gov. Wallace in Montgomery in May 1983 and shake hands:
https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1151961140710301699

Jackson paid another call in Wallace in 1987 -- the same year that Biden, like Jackson a presidential candidate then, made the Wallace comments now being circulated in these Trump team tweets
https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1151961407971307523

"Half of the country is appalled but not really sure how to combat him; the other half is cheering, or at least averting its gaze," writes @sbg1. "This is what a political civil war looks like, with words, for now, as weapons."
https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt/status/1151971035333496834

“There were children [at the rally]… to see POTUS and they came away feeling like it was okay to chant things like that because the president allowed it and encouraged it… Trump is going to try to continue this fight” - @PhilipRucker w/ @NicolleDWallace
https://twitter.com/DeadlineWH/status/1151970725416321027

200th New York firefighter dies from 9/11 illness as funding debate rages on
https://abcnews.go.com/US/200th-firefighter-dies-result-911-illness-debate-victim/story?id=64414545

Should Low-Income Military Families Get a Food Allowance? White House Says No
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/18/should-low-income-military-families-get-food-allowance-white-house-says-no.html

Trump says Puerto Rico got $92 billion. They've seen only a fraction: Congress has allocated $42.5 billion in disaster aid for Puerto Rico, according to federal data, but the island had received less than $14 billion through May.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/fact-check-trump-says-puerto-rico-got-92-billion-they-n1031276

Trump administration won't ban pesticide tied to childhood brain damage
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/18/epa-chlorpyrifos-ban-children-brain-damage-trump

3 US citizen children released after being detained by Border Protection at O’Hare Airport.
https://wgntv.com/2019/07/18/3-us-citizen-children-released-after-being-detained-by-border-patrol-at-ohare-airport/

Fake meat is 'no laughing matter': Plant-based protein will be worth $85-billion by 2030
https://vancouversun.com/commodities/agriculture/fake-meat-is-no-laughing-matter-plant-based-protein-will-be-worth-85-billion-by-2030/wcm/b0454a95-64ef-4f49-8a2d-65f94a0f0eb5

Trump says US Navy shot down Iranian drone, escalating tensions in Gulf region
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/18/trump-says-us-navy-shot-down-iranian-drone.html

Journalist who traveled from Canada to Somalia to tell positive stories gets killed in a terrorist attack
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/14/africa/somalia-hotel-attack-hodan-nalayeh-intl/index.html

Mankind's destruction of nature is driving species to the brink of extinction at an "unprecedented" rate, the leading wildlife conservation body warned Thursday as it added more than 7,000 animals, fish and plants to its endangered "Red List"
https://www.france24.com/en/20190718-manmade-ruin-adds-7000-species-endangered-red-list

House Democrats delete tweets attacking each other, pledge to unify
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/453812-house-democrats-delete-tweets-attacking-each-other-pledge-to-unify