Light News Dump

A truck drove into ICE protesters outside a private prison. | The driver, protesters say, was a correctional officer employed by the privately-run facility who was wearing a badge and a uniform — an assertion backed up by video of the incident. Local police officers working at the protest did not intervene, Anthony said, and the driver eventually walked into the prison after other guards pepper-sprayed the protesters.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/15/video-ice-protesters-hit-truck-guard-rhode-island-wyatt/
https://twitter.com/NeverAgainActn/status/1161844022681448448

9th Circuit: "Assuring that children eat enough edible food, drink clean water, are housed in hygienic facilities with sanitary bathrooms, have soap and toothpaste, and are not sleepdeprived are without doubt essential to the children’s safety."
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/appeals-court-safe-and-sanitary-conditions-immigrant

Hickenlooper expected to end 2020 bid on Thursday
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/us/politics/john-hickenlooper-drop-out-senate.html

Pennsylvania Governor Democra Tom Wolf to Sign Sweeping Executive Order to Reduce Gun Violence
https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/pennsylvania-governor-wolf-to-sign-sweeping-executive-order-to-reduce-gun-violence/

O’Rourke suggests he'll skip events like the Iowa State Fair moving forward: “I also cannot go back to that.” “To those places where Donald Trump has been terrorizing and terrifying and demeaning our fellow Americans, that’s where you will find me in this campaign,” he says.
https://twitter.com/ericbradner/status/1162002345863110656

He’s handling this with the seriousness it deserves. This isn’t a reality show. Glad to hear this from him. #BetoForPresident
https://twitter.com/susiedrapes/status/1162006317432737794

Beto also drew a line between himself as the serious candidate who is taking the fight for our country directly to Trump & the other 20 candidates who are scurrying around to glad hand at any event, no matter how frivolous. He’s chosen the RFK path of being a powerful moral voice
https://twitter.com/BobolinkFan/status/1162046353087877121

Mexican government proposes to tax junk food, soda, alcohol and tobacco and seeks to pour funds right back into its healthcare system
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/higher-taxes-on-junk-food-cigarettes-alcohol-urged/

One of the richest people in Hong Kong has lost $1 billion over the course of the 10-week protests, and now he's joining the chorus of wealthy citizens calling for the protests to end
https://www.businessinsider.com/hong-kong-protests-billionaires-peter-woo-one-billion-loss-2019-8

Border agent who called migrants 'subhuman' pleads guilty to intentionally running over migrant
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/14/border-agent-pleads-guilty-intentionally-running-over-migrant/2012983001/

Believe it or not, good news: Trump's counterattack against clean energy is collapsing | Trump was elected on promises to boost the coal industry and halt the transition to electric cars. It's not working
https://www.salon.com/2019/08/15/believe-it-or-not-good-news-trumps-counterattack-against-clean-energy-is-collapsing/

US government losing billions in corporate tax revenue from IRS budget cuts | The federal government could have collected $34.3 billion more in taxes from the nation’s largest corporations by increasing IRS resources by less than half that amount, according to a new study. That’s nearly 20% of the estimated gap between what corporations paid in taxes and what they owed from 2002 through 2014.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/15/irs-cuts-cause-us-government-lose-billions-taxes-report-says/2009894001/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/04/09/tax-withholding-irs-release-new-more-complex-w-4-form-year/3401811002/
https://www.aaajournals.org/doi/abs/10.2308/accr-52520
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-tax-gap

Trump Shared an Anti-Immigrant Tweet from a QAnon Conspiracy Theorist Named 'MAGA Michelle'
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ne8v3k/trump-just-shared-an-anti-immigrant-tweet-from-a-qanon-conspiracy-theorist-named-maga-michelle

Overstock Sell-Off Reaches 36% After CEO’s ‘Deep State’ Comment
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-14/overstock-tumbles-36-since-byrne-s-men-in-black-declarations

House Democrats targeting six more Trump districts for 2020 | The districts are Florida's 16th District, Iowa's 2nd District, Michigan's 3rd District, Ohio's 12th District, Virginia's 5th District and Montana's at-large district.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/457522-house-democrats-take-aim-at-six-districts-won-by-trump
https://www.rollcall.com/news/campaigns/dccc-adds-six-more-trump-districts-to-its-2020-target-list

Huawei employees reportedly caught helping African governments spy on opposition
https://bgr.com/2019/08/14/huawei-spying-political-opposition-in-africa/

India has shut down Kashmir's internet: pharmacists can’t restock medicines, workers aren’t being paid
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/technology/india-kashmir-internet.html

The livestock industry is trashing the living world, and free-range, pasture-fed meat is the worst offender. | George Monbiot
https://www.monbiot.com/2019/08/13/spectre-at-the-feast/

Chinese social media users directed their fury at online retailer Amazon.com on Aug. 15, after discovering T-shirts on its website sporting slogans that support anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/amazon-faces-online-backlash-in-china-for-t-shirts-with-hong-kong-democracy-slogans_3043277.html

Christian women forced to convert to Islam in Pakistan
https://www.newsbook.com.mt/artikli/2019/08/12/christian-women-forced-to-convert-to-islam-in-pakistan/

Ethiopia launches national plan to end child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) practices within the coming five years period
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-08/15/c_138309348.htm

Scientists Discover a Cure for the Deadliest Strain of Tuberculosis
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/health/tuberculosis-xdr-tb-cure.html

Judge: Georgia must scrap old voting machines after 2019 | A federal judge on Thursday ordered Georgia to stop using its outdated voting machines after this year and to be ready with hand-marked paper ballots if its new system isn’t in place for the presidential primaries. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg’s 153-page ruling Thursday is not a complete victory for either side. A federal lawsuit filed by election integrity advocates and individual Georgia voters argues that the paperless touchscreen voting machines Georgia has used since 2002 are unsecure, vulnerable to hacking and can’t be audited. They have been seeking statewide use of hand-marked paper ballots.
https://apnews.com/abd2949881514e42a50f2025595c9c2a

Sigh.....Los Angeles Lakers center  has suffered a torn ACL in his knee, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1162044401746681856?s=19

(I wouldn't be surprised if DeMarcus Cousins just retires - how much can one player take? This is insane. I don't think any player has ever suffered a torn Achilles, a torn quadriceps, and a torn ACL in the span of 1.5 years. The injuries are one thing, but he must be mentally defeated. Everytime he gets back on track, he just gets another huge setback. I don't want him to retire yet, but I would totally understand if that's the decision he makes.)

The Mueller report was downloaded nearly 800 million times from the Justice Department's website between its public release in mid-April and early July.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/15/mueller-report-downloaded-1464189

I have always been a stalwart supporter of Israel—a vital partner that shares our democratic values. No democracy should deny entry to visitors based on the content of their ideas—even ideas they strongly object to. And no leader of the free world should encourage them to do so.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1162074225265512448

(in response to Trump singling out Omar and Tlaib) President Trump, you show great weakness every single day—when you attack women of color, when you degrade the office of the president, and when you ask our allies to stoop to your level.
https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1162025938063937537

Went to Detroit suburbs and talked to voters about impeachment, looking at how freshman Haley Stevens is handling it. What's clear: Voters are split, with some warning they'd vote against her if she backs impeachment; others saying Trump should be removed. She's being cautious.
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1162120569354985472

On the same day Lewandowski was subpoenaed to testify before House Judiciary's impeachment inquiry, Trump pushes his U.S. Senate candidacy.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/15/politics/lewandowski-subpoena-house-judiciary-committee/index.html
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-praises-lewandowski-for-possible-senate-run-hours-after-former-campaign-manager-subpoenaed

Trump has repeatedly asked advisors if the United States can buy Greenland |
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-eyes-a-new-real-estate-purchase-greenland-11565904223?mod=rsswn

Don Jr. and Eric Trump racked up nearly $250,000 in Secret Service costs in one month, watchdog says
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/18/eric-donald-trump-jr-secret-service-costs-731113

AIPAC says 'every member of Congress should be able to visit' Israel after Omar and Tlaib are barred entry
https://theweek.com/speedreads/859270/aipac-says-every-member-congress-should-able-visit-israel-after-omar-tlaib-are-barred-entry