Reminder: Attorney General Barr personally asked foreign officials to aid inquiry into CIA, FBI activities in 2016 - The Washington Post
Monday, September 30, 2019
Way back in the year 2016 it was considered so obviously inappropriate for an attorney general to be directly involved with a politically sensitive case that the mere fact that Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch had a conversation was considered scandalous. | https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1178834241062424576
For You, Marmalade. Heather Nova - Feel You Like A River
Feel You Like A River
( On ATB / Two worlds LP )
I could feel you across the miles of my body
Almost physical, spiritual
Like there was no separation
Like you were right beside me
Like a river
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
Remember the bridge we crossed
Leaning out over the water,
With the sun streaming in
Through the leaves
We can keep it alive,
It's just energy
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
And I feel I feel I feel you
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
( On ATB / Two worlds LP )
I could feel you across the miles of my body
Almost physical, spiritual
Like there was no separation
Like you were right beside me
Like a river
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
Remember the bridge we crossed
Leaning out over the water,
With the sun streaming in
Through the leaves
We can keep it alive,
It's just energy
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
And I feel I feel I feel you
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
Marmalade I love you. You will always be tied to August and September. Tomorrow Is October 1st, A Whole New World Without You In It.
You're still tied to September because you were grafted to September, having lived through the early morning of September 1st, closing your eyes for the last time that morning. You are engrafted to September 2019 for having lived through that September 1st Sunday morning. September 1st was your last day (and Sunday, our shopping day, forever changed) but you're engrafted to September each and every day of the month.
Tomorrow is October 1st, a whole new world because September will be complete, closed, your final day no longer attached to the month. My real first day KNOWING it's a world without you alive running around by my side in it. My first real day in the world by myself, on my own, a whole new world, after the time we had. You will not be engrafted to October 2019 or the months and years beyond. Billions of calendars have turned the page and you are left behind in September 2019.
But you are engrafted IN ME and I will carry you with me and in me through the remainder of my life, you will be carried alive in me for a duration of probably close to twice my age. I'm old yet have twice my life left to live (although I see no future, I have no sense of any future). Myself and mother (and worthless excuse of a human being grandmother who really stopped caring about you several years ago because she finally aged into a geriatric stage) are the two people who will carry your entire 10 year and 8 month and 1 day existence inside ourselves for the rest of our days. I will carry you in me for the rest of my life. You were and are and always will be worshipped. You are engrafted in my brain, heart, bones, cells, soul.
It's over now, we had our time. Thank you Heather Nova for that lyric. It likely saved my life reading it today. Marmalade I love you. I always told you, you're killing me, because I knew, deep inside, our time together was limited (felines live out their lives faster than humans), I knew time with you was limited, you killed me. It's over now, we had our time. This pain is agonizing. I failed you, not vice-versa. All you ever wanted was for us to be full of laughter and happiness and joy. You wanted our house to be a happy, joyful, laughing, home. You'll NEVER know how sorry I am that that happy joyous home was never meant to be. You'll also never know that you entered a NON-CHANGING situation, there was NOTHING you could do to unify myself and the other two people. You did everything in your power to unify us and that was beyond ALL power. But you saved me. You SAVED me. I failed you. It was up to me to change and exit and take you with me. But YOU NEVER FAILED. You brightened our life for 10 years and 9 months. You brought us endless infinite eternal happiness and joy and laughter for 10 years and 9 months. I'm sorry for all the screaming and fighting and screaming and fighting and ever more screaming and fighting and endless damage that was done (which you always swept away without a care, felines always do, that a major feline gift), which had nothing to do with you. Uniting myself and the other two people was never going to happen, you did not know the damage was done, you were not yet in the world. It took more than 4 billion years for your father's seed to be planted, for you to grow inside your mother, for your mother to birth you into this world, for you to find yourself in our house. It will take 4 billion years for that seed to return and be seeded again and for you to be rebirthed into the world. Whatever world there is then. YOU NEVER FAILED. You saved my life. You were my life. You are my life. Know that I'm doing, I'm trying, my very best, to draw strength from memories of you, from thoughts of you, through remembering your meows and purrs and radiance and glory and happiness and contentment. All you ever wanted was for me to be happy and calm and content, to be in a state of joy and contentment and ease. I am doing everything I can allow everything you gave me to flow through me eternally: your endless passion and love and radiance and gloriousness and joyousness and contentment and joy and happiness and forbearance and forgiveness and cockiness and complete and utter joy of the world and everything in it despite the screaming and the fights and all the loud neighbourhood noises and the maniacal dogs and Florida's holocaust heat. I always told you, you sweetened our days and you sweetened our nights and you sweetened our lives, all our lives through, and that is what I must remember at all times. You want me happy. The sad thing is if I ever get the actual happiness I want (and you know what that is Marmalade, I told you a million times, moving back up north to a blue democratic state with four seasons), you won't be here to enjoy it. I'm sorry I failed to move us to a blue Democrat state with 4 seasons and a much cooler cleaner happier environment. That failure kills me every second I breathe. You deserved better than me and the shit Florida weather and shit hood with shit people we were stuck in. I love you. Nature/Existence/Evolution is evil and cruel for having designed felines (and canines) to live out their lives in the blink of a human eye. The pain hurts like it should. Because that is the price of love.
And I'm not editing this message from this moment forward. I have to let it go now. I love you Marmalade. Puss, puss, puss, where is the puss of the house? (Seeing you): There you are.
Heather Nova - Feel You Like A River
( On ATB / Two worlds LP )
I could feel you across the miles of my body
Almost physical, spiritual
Like there was no separation
Like you were right beside me
Like a river
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
Remember the bridge we crossed
Leaning out over the water,
With the sun streaming in
Through the leaves
We can keep it alive,
It's just energy
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
And I feel I feel I feel you
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
Tomorrow is October 1st, a whole new world because September will be complete, closed, your final day no longer attached to the month. My real first day KNOWING it's a world without you alive running around by my side in it. My first real day in the world by myself, on my own, a whole new world, after the time we had. You will not be engrafted to October 2019 or the months and years beyond. Billions of calendars have turned the page and you are left behind in September 2019.
But you are engrafted IN ME and I will carry you with me and in me through the remainder of my life, you will be carried alive in me for a duration of probably close to twice my age. I'm old yet have twice my life left to live (although I see no future, I have no sense of any future). Myself and mother (and worthless excuse of a human being grandmother who really stopped caring about you several years ago because she finally aged into a geriatric stage) are the two people who will carry your entire 10 year and 8 month and 1 day existence inside ourselves for the rest of our days. I will carry you in me for the rest of my life. You were and are and always will be worshipped. You are engrafted in my brain, heart, bones, cells, soul.
It's over now, we had our time. Thank you Heather Nova for that lyric. It likely saved my life reading it today. Marmalade I love you. I always told you, you're killing me, because I knew, deep inside, our time together was limited (felines live out their lives faster than humans), I knew time with you was limited, you killed me. It's over now, we had our time. This pain is agonizing. I failed you, not vice-versa. All you ever wanted was for us to be full of laughter and happiness and joy. You wanted our house to be a happy, joyful, laughing, home. You'll NEVER know how sorry I am that that happy joyous home was never meant to be. You'll also never know that you entered a NON-CHANGING situation, there was NOTHING you could do to unify myself and the other two people. You did everything in your power to unify us and that was beyond ALL power. But you saved me. You SAVED me. I failed you. It was up to me to change and exit and take you with me. But YOU NEVER FAILED. You brightened our life for 10 years and 9 months. You brought us endless infinite eternal happiness and joy and laughter for 10 years and 9 months. I'm sorry for all the screaming and fighting and screaming and fighting and ever more screaming and fighting and endless damage that was done (which you always swept away without a care, felines always do, that a major feline gift), which had nothing to do with you. Uniting myself and the other two people was never going to happen, you did not know the damage was done, you were not yet in the world. It took more than 4 billion years for your father's seed to be planted, for you to grow inside your mother, for your mother to birth you into this world, for you to find yourself in our house. It will take 4 billion years for that seed to return and be seeded again and for you to be rebirthed into the world. Whatever world there is then. YOU NEVER FAILED. You saved my life. You were my life. You are my life. Know that I'm doing, I'm trying, my very best, to draw strength from memories of you, from thoughts of you, through remembering your meows and purrs and radiance and glory and happiness and contentment. All you ever wanted was for me to be happy and calm and content, to be in a state of joy and contentment and ease. I am doing everything I can allow everything you gave me to flow through me eternally: your endless passion and love and radiance and gloriousness and joyousness and contentment and joy and happiness and forbearance and forgiveness and cockiness and complete and utter joy of the world and everything in it despite the screaming and the fights and all the loud neighbourhood noises and the maniacal dogs and Florida's holocaust heat. I always told you, you sweetened our days and you sweetened our nights and you sweetened our lives, all our lives through, and that is what I must remember at all times. You want me happy. The sad thing is if I ever get the actual happiness I want (and you know what that is Marmalade, I told you a million times, moving back up north to a blue democratic state with four seasons), you won't be here to enjoy it. I'm sorry I failed to move us to a blue Democrat state with 4 seasons and a much cooler cleaner happier environment. That failure kills me every second I breathe. You deserved better than me and the shit Florida weather and shit hood with shit people we were stuck in. I love you. Nature/Existence/Evolution is evil and cruel for having designed felines (and canines) to live out their lives in the blink of a human eye. The pain hurts like it should. Because that is the price of love.
And I'm not editing this message from this moment forward. I have to let it go now. I love you Marmalade. Puss, puss, puss, where is the puss of the house? (Seeing you): There you are.
Heather Nova - Feel You Like A River
( On ATB / Two worlds LP )
I could feel you across the miles of my body
Almost physical, spiritual
Like there was no separation
Like you were right beside me
Like a river
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
Remember the bridge we crossed
Leaning out over the water,
With the sun streaming in
Through the leaves
We can keep it alive,
It's just energy
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
And I feel I feel I feel you
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
I can feel forever in my mind
I can always reach for you inside
We can stay together in our minds
Feel you like a river,
Never die
Ooh ooh ooh ...
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
And I feel I feel I feel you,
Like a river
Abstract Experiment In Kodachrome (1940) [Short Film; Slavko Vorkapich]
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6689842/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uICH13ACGtI
Light News Dump
The House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump’s "personal attorney" Rudy Giuliani for documents as part of its impeachment inquiry into the president. In a letter to Giuliani dated Monday (9/30), the heads of three House committees asked for information related to the president and his lawyer’s efforts to get Ukraine’s government to investigate the Biden family. They wrote that House Democrats’ probe "includes an investigation of credible allegations that [Giuliani] acted as an agent of the President in a scheme to advance his personal political interests by abusing the power of the Office of the President."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/us/politics/impeach-giuliani-subpoena.html
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/20190930%20-%20Giuliani%20HPSCI%20Subpoena%20Letter.pdf
Attorney General William P. Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking their help in a Justice Department inquiry that President Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence agencies’ examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter. Barr’s personal involvement is likely to stoke further criticism from Democrats pursuing impeachment that he is helping the Trump administration use executive branch powers to augment investigations aimed primarily at the president’s adversaries. But the high level Justice Department focus on intelligence operatives’ conduct will likely cheer Trump and other conservatives for whom “investigate the investigators” has become a rallying cry. The direct involvement of the nation’s top law enforcement official shows the priority Barr places on the investigation being conducted by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who has been assigned the sensitive task of reviewing U.S. intelligence work surrounding the 2016 election and its aftermath. The attorney general’s active role also underscores the degree to which a nearly three-year old election still consumes significant resources and attention inside the federal government. Current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials expressed frustration and alarm Monday that the head of the Justice Department was taking such a direct role in re-examining what they view as conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of misconduct. Barr has already made overtures to British intelligence officials, and last week the attorney general traveled to Italy, where he and Durham met senior Italian government officials and Barr asked the Italians to assist Durham, according to one person familiar with the matter. It was not Barr’s first trip to Italy to meet intelligence officials, the person said. The Trump administration has made similar requests of Australia, these people said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/attorney-general-barr-personally-asked-foreign-officials-to-aid-inquiry-into-cia-fbi-activities-in-2016/2019/09/30/d50cd5c4-e3a5-11e9-b403-f738899982d2_story.html
And on "Fox News Sunday" the same day, Pompeo said this: "I’ve watched the President engage with the Ukrainian leadership. I’ve listened to conversations."
https://twitter.com/feliciasonmez/status/1178782013404385281
The Inspector General had to debunk a conspiracy theory that began with The Federalist and made it's way to the president: Intelligence community watchdog debunks whistleblower conspiracy pushed by Trump and other Republicans
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/30/politics/icig-statement-whistleblower-complaint/index.html
If you don't know exactly what's in the Mueller Report, the next 6 months of news stories in US politics won't make sense. We adapted the whole report into a narrative audio documentary. You're going to like it:
https://shows.pippa.io/the-report/
If Pompeo was on the call, it's interesting that this is how he responded when Fox's John Roberts asked him about the contents of the call/whether there was a quid pro quo: "John, you’re asking me to provide a legal analysis on a hypothetical on a report I haven’t seen. Come on."
https://twitter.com/feliciasonmez/status/1178782910159212557
Pompeo was asked last week by ABC whether he knew about the conversation between Trump and Zelensky. He demurred, saying he just got the report. We now know he took part in the call itself.
https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/1178781991187238912
"Current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials expressed frustration and alarm Monday that the head of the Justice Department was taking such a direct role in re-examining what they view as conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of misconduct."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1178782826621210624
In a rare public act of discipline by the federal judiciary, US District Judge Carlos Murguia, who sits in Kansas, was publicly reprimanded for sexually harassing female employees — the judge admitted misconduct, though not fully right away
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6434763/9-30-19-Murguia-Decision.pdf
The most charitable reading of this is that the President is a fringe conspiracy theorist willing to put U.S. foreign policy second to his self-interest.
"We will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections" says the scumbag terrorists BEGGING for foreign interference in our elections.
Bernie supporter Vincent D'Onofrio leaves Twitter after extreme harassment by...Bernie supporters (40 tweet rant)
https://mobile.twitter.com/vincentdonofrio/status/1178732418280214530
There Have Been 800-Plus Political Cyberattacks in the Past Year Alone. 2020 is shaping up to look a lot like 2016 when it comes to election interference
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/cyberattack-election-meddling-democracy-2020-892623/
Pompeo Took Part in Trump’s Ukraine Call
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/gop-senators-seek-justice-department-details-on-biden-democrats
The President of the United States is not looking out for the 300+ Million Americans, he is looking out for himself and himself only.
Trump Pressed Australian Leader to Help Barr Investigate Mueller Inquiry’s Origins
http://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/us/politics/trump-australia-barr-mueller.html
Donald Trump's "Civil War" quote tweet is actually grounds for impeachment, says Harvard Law profressor
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-civil-war-tweet-grounds-impeachment-1462044?piano_t=1
Trump's own staff repeatedly warned him that his theory about Democrats and Ukraine had been debunked
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-staff-warned-ukraine-conspiracy-was-false-ignored-2019-9
Whistleblower's Lawyers Say Trump Has Endangered Their Client as President Publicly Threatens 'Big Consequences'; "Threats against a whistleblower are not only illegal, but also indicative of a cover-up."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/30/whistleblowers-lawyers-say-trump-has-endangered-their-client-president-publicly
Rep. Christopher Collins, a Republican from New York who was an early supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential run, is pleading guilty to insider trading. The congressman was charged last year with trading on non-public information about Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., an Australian biotechnology company. He was arrested in August 2018 along with his son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron’s fiancee.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/gop-congressman-will-plead-guilty-in-insider-trading-case
U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry will not run for reelection, marking the sixth recent GOP retirement in Texas.
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/09/30/us-rep-mac-thornberry-will-not-run-reelection/
Giuliani Cannot Rely on Attorney-Client Privilege to Avoid Congressional Testimony
https://www.lawfareblog.com/giuliani-cannot-rely-attorney-client-privilege-avoid-congressional-testimony
China quietly doubles troop levels in Hong Kong, envoys say
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-army-hongkong/
The Need for Congressional Oversight Goes Far Beyond Impeachment: Congress needs the executive branch to comply with its requests, not only to monitor an unruly president, but for the more basic work of writing legislation
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/future-congressional-oversight-risk/598996/
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Calling for a civil war is the direct opposite of this oath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “return his mandate” to President Reuven Rivlin after being unable to form a government, according to a tweet by the Jerusalem Post’s chief political correspondent. Gil Hoffman said in a post that he’ll make the move “barring a change of heart” by Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party on letting Netanyahu start as prime minister and bring allies with him into the coalition. Opposition Benny Gantz now has the opportunity to also fail forming a new Israeli government.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-28/netanyahu-will-return-mandate-to-rivlin-jerusalem-post-says
The leaders of 23 corn grower organizations have sent a letter to Trump, arguing that his admin's biofuel waivers have reduced demand for their crops. "Frustration in the countryside is growing," the letter reads.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/29/politics/farmers-trump-ethanol/index.html
Whistleblower in Ukraine scandal under federal protection
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/463585-whistleblower-in-ukraine-scandal-under-federal-protection-report
Ukraine’s former top law enforcement official says he repeatedly rebuffed demands by President Trump’s personal lawyer to investigate Joe Biden and his son, insisting he had seen no evidence of wrongdoing that he could pursue. In an interview, Yuri Lutsenko said while he was Ukraine’s prosecutor general he told Rudolph W. Giuliani that he would be happy to cooperate if the FBI or other U.S. authorities began their own investigation of the former vice president and his son Hunter but insisted they had not broken any Ukrainian laws to his knowledge.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-09-29/former-ukraine-prosecutor-says-no-wrongdoing-biden
Trump-Putin phone calls in Democrats' sights
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-whistleblower-idUSKBN1WE0GN
Before the whistleblower filed a formal complaint with ICIG, he tried to do it through the CIA’s internal watchdog system. The WH found out and quashed it. So the whistleblower escalated. A revealing story of how fragile the whistblower system is:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/podcasts/the-daily/whistleblower-complaint-cia.html
Trump Calls for Treason Inquiry Into House Impeachment Leader Adam Schiff
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/trump-calls-for-treason-inquiry-into-house-impeachment-leader
Schiff says he plans to subpoena Giuliani for documents
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/463584-schiff-says-he-plans-to-subpoena-giuliani-for-documents
Millions of immigrant files physically stored in underground Missouri cave
https://www.axios.com/immigrant-files-missouri-cave-038095ef-df0c-44fb-8bfb-7a00db710a5d.html
Chaotic scenes overtook the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday, as protesters and police engaged in running street battles in a march billed as a rally against global totalitarianism. It also launched the 17th week of pro-democracy demonstrations aimed at China's tightening grip on the territory.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/29/765517895/hong-kong-protests-chaotic-scenes-unfold-in-streets-ahead-of-chinas-national-day
Thousands of ships fitted with 'cheat devices' to divert poisonous pollution into sea - Global shipping companies have spent millions rigging vessels with "cheat devices" that circumvent new environmental legislation by dumping pollution into the sea instead of the air, The Independent can reveal.
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/shipping-pollution-sea-open-loop-scrubber-carbon-dioxide-environment-a9123181.html
This thread was all posted at once. It was prewritten by Trump’s team. His team is calling for the House Intel Chairman to be put to death for treason. This is yet another abuse of power and attempted obstruction of justice and a direct threat against the life of a federal official.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1178442759499370496
Further, someone should ask Trump why, if he thinks Geoffrey Pyatt, the ambassador to Ukraine at the time, was doing something underhanded, he has Pyatt serving as his ambassador to Greece.
https://twitter.com/michelleinbklyn/status/1178377616350486528
Trump worked with 2 'off the books' lawyers to pressure Ukraine for damaging information about Joe Biden, in addition to Giuliani | Wallace reported that in addition to his known personal lawyer, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has publicly admitted to his involvement in the matter, Trump has been working with the controversial legal team and married couple Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, who run a firm in Washington, D.C., to communicate with Ukraine.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyers-biden-digenova-toensing-ukraine-2019-9
The Military Is Promoting The General I Reported For Sexual Assault
https://www.newsweek.com/military-promoting-general-i-reported-sexual-assault-it-cant-stonewall-metoo-forever-1461658
DiCaprio Tells Haters to Stop Shaming Climate Activists Like Greta as They ‘Fight to Survive’
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/leonardo-dicaprio-global-citizen-festival-2019/
DiCaprio calls out Trump, world leaders on climate change: "Our future is being gambled away, and our leaders, those whom we entrust to protect us and set the example, are either failing to stop these dangerous trends or, in some cases, denying the very science of this climate catastrophe"
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/463598-leonardo-dicaprio-calls-out-trump-world-leaders-on-climate
Trump’s Dark ‘Civil War’ Threats Were Pushed Last Year by Russian Trolls Charged in Mueller Probe
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/trumps-dark-civil-war-threats-were-pushed-last-year-by-russian-trolls-charged-in-mueller-probe/
The big tell on the ridiculousness of the Biden part of this is that, as far as I can tell - and I’ve looked - not a *single* Republican criticized Biden or the Obama admin on its push to oust Shokin *at the time.* Total silence!
https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1178307025966682112
And of course they all knew about Hunter Biden’s business deal at the time too because that was reported by Jim Risen in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.amp.html … The people who went nuts over Benghazi saw nothing to object to in Joe Biden’s unobjectionable anti-corruption drive
https://twitter.com/RobertMackey/status/1178802550788653056
Officials in Montana are warning residents for a second time this year about surveys sent by the Republican National Committee that mimic the look of federal census forms with the goal of soliciting money for President Trump’s reelection campaign. The mailers are labeled “2019 congressional District Census” and inform recipients that they’ve been “selected to represent voters” in Bozeman, Mont. The accompanying literature makes repeated requests for donations, urging recipients to send at least $15 to “help pay for the costs of processing [the] Census Document” should they be unable to afford an amount in the requested range of $25 to $1,000.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/30/rnc-solicited-money-trumps-reelection-with-forms-that-look-lot-like-official-census/
Jessye Norman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessye_Norman
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/obituaries/jessye-norman-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Wilbur Ross used a private email account to conduct government business.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/dont-sleep-on-wilbur-ross/2019/09/27/e9928b46-dd93-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html
They are retroactively changing non-classified information to classified information so they claim she was using a personal email for classified information. It wasn't classified when it was sent.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/29/politics/hillary-clinton-emails-state-department-reclassified/index.html
These Sheriffs Release Sick Inmates to Avoid Paying Their Hospital Bills. Inmates suffering heart attacks, on the verge of diabetic comas and brutalized in jail beatings have been released so sheriffs wouldn’t have to pay for their medical care. Some were rearrested once they had recovered.
https://www.propublica.org/article/these-sheriffs-release-sick-inmates-to-avoid-paying-their-hospital-bills
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/us/politics/impeach-giuliani-subpoena.html
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/20190930%20-%20Giuliani%20HPSCI%20Subpoena%20Letter.pdf
Attorney General William P. Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking their help in a Justice Department inquiry that President Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence agencies’ examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter. Barr’s personal involvement is likely to stoke further criticism from Democrats pursuing impeachment that he is helping the Trump administration use executive branch powers to augment investigations aimed primarily at the president’s adversaries. But the high level Justice Department focus on intelligence operatives’ conduct will likely cheer Trump and other conservatives for whom “investigate the investigators” has become a rallying cry. The direct involvement of the nation’s top law enforcement official shows the priority Barr places on the investigation being conducted by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who has been assigned the sensitive task of reviewing U.S. intelligence work surrounding the 2016 election and its aftermath. The attorney general’s active role also underscores the degree to which a nearly three-year old election still consumes significant resources and attention inside the federal government. Current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials expressed frustration and alarm Monday that the head of the Justice Department was taking such a direct role in re-examining what they view as conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of misconduct. Barr has already made overtures to British intelligence officials, and last week the attorney general traveled to Italy, where he and Durham met senior Italian government officials and Barr asked the Italians to assist Durham, according to one person familiar with the matter. It was not Barr’s first trip to Italy to meet intelligence officials, the person said. The Trump administration has made similar requests of Australia, these people said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/attorney-general-barr-personally-asked-foreign-officials-to-aid-inquiry-into-cia-fbi-activities-in-2016/2019/09/30/d50cd5c4-e3a5-11e9-b403-f738899982d2_story.html
And on "Fox News Sunday" the same day, Pompeo said this: "I’ve watched the President engage with the Ukrainian leadership. I’ve listened to conversations."
https://twitter.com/feliciasonmez/status/1178782013404385281
The Inspector General had to debunk a conspiracy theory that began with The Federalist and made it's way to the president: Intelligence community watchdog debunks whistleblower conspiracy pushed by Trump and other Republicans
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/30/politics/icig-statement-whistleblower-complaint/index.html
If you don't know exactly what's in the Mueller Report, the next 6 months of news stories in US politics won't make sense. We adapted the whole report into a narrative audio documentary. You're going to like it:
https://shows.pippa.io/the-report/
If Pompeo was on the call, it's interesting that this is how he responded when Fox's John Roberts asked him about the contents of the call/whether there was a quid pro quo: "John, you’re asking me to provide a legal analysis on a hypothetical on a report I haven’t seen. Come on."
https://twitter.com/feliciasonmez/status/1178782910159212557
Pompeo was asked last week by ABC whether he knew about the conversation between Trump and Zelensky. He demurred, saying he just got the report. We now know he took part in the call itself.
https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/1178781991187238912
"Current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials expressed frustration and alarm Monday that the head of the Justice Department was taking such a direct role in re-examining what they view as conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of misconduct."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1178782826621210624
In a rare public act of discipline by the federal judiciary, US District Judge Carlos Murguia, who sits in Kansas, was publicly reprimanded for sexually harassing female employees — the judge admitted misconduct, though not fully right away
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6434763/9-30-19-Murguia-Decision.pdf
The most charitable reading of this is that the President is a fringe conspiracy theorist willing to put U.S. foreign policy second to his self-interest.
"We will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections" says the scumbag terrorists BEGGING for foreign interference in our elections.
Bernie supporter Vincent D'Onofrio leaves Twitter after extreme harassment by...Bernie supporters (40 tweet rant)
https://mobile.twitter.com/vincentdonofrio/status/1178732418280214530
There Have Been 800-Plus Political Cyberattacks in the Past Year Alone. 2020 is shaping up to look a lot like 2016 when it comes to election interference
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/cyberattack-election-meddling-democracy-2020-892623/
Pompeo Took Part in Trump’s Ukraine Call
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/gop-senators-seek-justice-department-details-on-biden-democrats
The President of the United States is not looking out for the 300+ Million Americans, he is looking out for himself and himself only.
Trump Pressed Australian Leader to Help Barr Investigate Mueller Inquiry’s Origins
http://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/us/politics/trump-australia-barr-mueller.html
Donald Trump's "Civil War" quote tweet is actually grounds for impeachment, says Harvard Law profressor
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-civil-war-tweet-grounds-impeachment-1462044?piano_t=1
Trump's own staff repeatedly warned him that his theory about Democrats and Ukraine had been debunked
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-staff-warned-ukraine-conspiracy-was-false-ignored-2019-9
Whistleblower's Lawyers Say Trump Has Endangered Their Client as President Publicly Threatens 'Big Consequences'; "Threats against a whistleblower are not only illegal, but also indicative of a cover-up."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/30/whistleblowers-lawyers-say-trump-has-endangered-their-client-president-publicly
Rep. Christopher Collins, a Republican from New York who was an early supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential run, is pleading guilty to insider trading. The congressman was charged last year with trading on non-public information about Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., an Australian biotechnology company. He was arrested in August 2018 along with his son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron’s fiancee.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/gop-congressman-will-plead-guilty-in-insider-trading-case
U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry will not run for reelection, marking the sixth recent GOP retirement in Texas.
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/09/30/us-rep-mac-thornberry-will-not-run-reelection/
Giuliani Cannot Rely on Attorney-Client Privilege to Avoid Congressional Testimony
https://www.lawfareblog.com/giuliani-cannot-rely-attorney-client-privilege-avoid-congressional-testimony
China quietly doubles troop levels in Hong Kong, envoys say
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-army-hongkong/
The Need for Congressional Oversight Goes Far Beyond Impeachment: Congress needs the executive branch to comply with its requests, not only to monitor an unruly president, but for the more basic work of writing legislation
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/future-congressional-oversight-risk/598996/
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Calling for a civil war is the direct opposite of this oath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “return his mandate” to President Reuven Rivlin after being unable to form a government, according to a tweet by the Jerusalem Post’s chief political correspondent. Gil Hoffman said in a post that he’ll make the move “barring a change of heart” by Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party on letting Netanyahu start as prime minister and bring allies with him into the coalition. Opposition Benny Gantz now has the opportunity to also fail forming a new Israeli government.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-28/netanyahu-will-return-mandate-to-rivlin-jerusalem-post-says
The leaders of 23 corn grower organizations have sent a letter to Trump, arguing that his admin's biofuel waivers have reduced demand for their crops. "Frustration in the countryside is growing," the letter reads.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/29/politics/farmers-trump-ethanol/index.html
Whistleblower in Ukraine scandal under federal protection
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/463585-whistleblower-in-ukraine-scandal-under-federal-protection-report
Ukraine’s former top law enforcement official says he repeatedly rebuffed demands by President Trump’s personal lawyer to investigate Joe Biden and his son, insisting he had seen no evidence of wrongdoing that he could pursue. In an interview, Yuri Lutsenko said while he was Ukraine’s prosecutor general he told Rudolph W. Giuliani that he would be happy to cooperate if the FBI or other U.S. authorities began their own investigation of the former vice president and his son Hunter but insisted they had not broken any Ukrainian laws to his knowledge.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-09-29/former-ukraine-prosecutor-says-no-wrongdoing-biden
Trump-Putin phone calls in Democrats' sights
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-whistleblower-idUSKBN1WE0GN
Before the whistleblower filed a formal complaint with ICIG, he tried to do it through the CIA’s internal watchdog system. The WH found out and quashed it. So the whistleblower escalated. A revealing story of how fragile the whistblower system is:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/podcasts/the-daily/whistleblower-complaint-cia.html
Trump Calls for Treason Inquiry Into House Impeachment Leader Adam Schiff
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/trump-calls-for-treason-inquiry-into-house-impeachment-leader
Schiff says he plans to subpoena Giuliani for documents
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/463584-schiff-says-he-plans-to-subpoena-giuliani-for-documents
Millions of immigrant files physically stored in underground Missouri cave
https://www.axios.com/immigrant-files-missouri-cave-038095ef-df0c-44fb-8bfb-7a00db710a5d.html
Chaotic scenes overtook the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday, as protesters and police engaged in running street battles in a march billed as a rally against global totalitarianism. It also launched the 17th week of pro-democracy demonstrations aimed at China's tightening grip on the territory.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/29/765517895/hong-kong-protests-chaotic-scenes-unfold-in-streets-ahead-of-chinas-national-day
Thousands of ships fitted with 'cheat devices' to divert poisonous pollution into sea - Global shipping companies have spent millions rigging vessels with "cheat devices" that circumvent new environmental legislation by dumping pollution into the sea instead of the air, The Independent can reveal.
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/shipping-pollution-sea-open-loop-scrubber-carbon-dioxide-environment-a9123181.html
This thread was all posted at once. It was prewritten by Trump’s team. His team is calling for the House Intel Chairman to be put to death for treason. This is yet another abuse of power and attempted obstruction of justice and a direct threat against the life of a federal official.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1178442759499370496
Further, someone should ask Trump why, if he thinks Geoffrey Pyatt, the ambassador to Ukraine at the time, was doing something underhanded, he has Pyatt serving as his ambassador to Greece.
https://twitter.com/michelleinbklyn/status/1178377616350486528
Trump worked with 2 'off the books' lawyers to pressure Ukraine for damaging information about Joe Biden, in addition to Giuliani | Wallace reported that in addition to his known personal lawyer, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has publicly admitted to his involvement in the matter, Trump has been working with the controversial legal team and married couple Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, who run a firm in Washington, D.C., to communicate with Ukraine.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyers-biden-digenova-toensing-ukraine-2019-9
The Military Is Promoting The General I Reported For Sexual Assault
https://www.newsweek.com/military-promoting-general-i-reported-sexual-assault-it-cant-stonewall-metoo-forever-1461658
DiCaprio Tells Haters to Stop Shaming Climate Activists Like Greta as They ‘Fight to Survive’
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/leonardo-dicaprio-global-citizen-festival-2019/
DiCaprio calls out Trump, world leaders on climate change: "Our future is being gambled away, and our leaders, those whom we entrust to protect us and set the example, are either failing to stop these dangerous trends or, in some cases, denying the very science of this climate catastrophe"
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/463598-leonardo-dicaprio-calls-out-trump-world-leaders-on-climate
Trump’s Dark ‘Civil War’ Threats Were Pushed Last Year by Russian Trolls Charged in Mueller Probe
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/trumps-dark-civil-war-threats-were-pushed-last-year-by-russian-trolls-charged-in-mueller-probe/
The big tell on the ridiculousness of the Biden part of this is that, as far as I can tell - and I’ve looked - not a *single* Republican criticized Biden or the Obama admin on its push to oust Shokin *at the time.* Total silence!
https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1178307025966682112
And of course they all knew about Hunter Biden’s business deal at the time too because that was reported by Jim Risen in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.amp.html … The people who went nuts over Benghazi saw nothing to object to in Joe Biden’s unobjectionable anti-corruption drive
https://twitter.com/RobertMackey/status/1178802550788653056
Officials in Montana are warning residents for a second time this year about surveys sent by the Republican National Committee that mimic the look of federal census forms with the goal of soliciting money for President Trump’s reelection campaign. The mailers are labeled “2019 congressional District Census” and inform recipients that they’ve been “selected to represent voters” in Bozeman, Mont. The accompanying literature makes repeated requests for donations, urging recipients to send at least $15 to “help pay for the costs of processing [the] Census Document” should they be unable to afford an amount in the requested range of $25 to $1,000.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/30/rnc-solicited-money-trumps-reelection-with-forms-that-look-lot-like-official-census/
Jessye Norman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessye_Norman
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/obituaries/jessye-norman-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Wilbur Ross used a private email account to conduct government business.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/dont-sleep-on-wilbur-ross/2019/09/27/e9928b46-dd93-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html
They are retroactively changing non-classified information to classified information so they claim she was using a personal email for classified information. It wasn't classified when it was sent.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/29/politics/hillary-clinton-emails-state-department-reclassified/index.html
These Sheriffs Release Sick Inmates to Avoid Paying Their Hospital Bills. Inmates suffering heart attacks, on the verge of diabetic comas and brutalized in jail beatings have been released so sheriffs wouldn’t have to pay for their medical care. Some were rearrested once they had recovered.
https://www.propublica.org/article/these-sheriffs-release-sick-inmates-to-avoid-paying-their-hospital-bills
Saturday, September 28, 2019
China harvesting organs of Uighur Muslims, The China Tribunal tells UN. They were "cut open while still alive for their kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, cornea and skin to be removed and turned into commodities for sale," the report said.
https://www.businessinsider.com/china-harvesting-organs-of-uighur-muslims-china-tribunal-tells-un-2019-9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_transplantation_in_China
Midsommar (2019) 10/10 | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8772262/
The theatrical release and the director's cut are both masterpieces
Jacques Chirac, Who Led France Envisioning European Unity, Is Dead at 86 | As president he opposed the Iraq war, sought a ‘United Europe of States’ and cultivated comity between the left and the right. But an embezzlement conviction damaged him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/obituaries/jacques-chirac-dead.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Chirac
Light News Dump
"The best possible path ... is for this president to resign, allow this country to heal and ensure that we come back together with the greatest, most ambitious agenda we've ever faced, none of it possible while he remains in office," the former El Paso congressman said during a conversation with MSNBC's Garrett Haake at The Paramount Theatre in Austin.
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/09/28/beto-orourke-calls-donald-trumps-resignation/
Clinton-Era Assault Weapons Ban Did Work, According To New Research
https://www.newsweek.com/assault-weapons-ban-1994-gun-rights-1461951
Joaquin Castro Calls for Investigation Into Whether Jared Kushner Shared Intelligence That Led to Khashoggi Killing
https://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-jamal-khashoggi-saudi-arabia-mbs-killing-consulate-donald-trump-1179255
Mark Amodei Is First House Republican to Support Trump Impeachment Inquiry
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/rep-mark-amodei-impeachment.html
It's up two Republicans governors. First, it was Vermont's Phil Scott. Now, it's Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. Baker says he supports an impeachment inquiry of Trump.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1177915862180880384
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/26/two-republican-governors-say-they-support-impeachment-inquiry-trump/
Yesterday the FEC chair tried to publish their weekly journal & was blocked. She says that’s unprecedented It has a draft rule re: foreign election interference So she tweeted the ENTIRE journal.
https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1177720217759297536
https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/mtgdoc_19-41-A.pdf
Greta Thunberg calls out the 'haters'. "Going after me, my looks, my clothes, my behaviour and my differences". Anything, she says, rather than talk about the climate crisis.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49855980
'Mama's Last Hug' Makes Case That Humans Are Not Alone In Experiencing Emotions | Mama, the animal of the book's title, was the matriarch of the chimpanzee colony at Burgers Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands. A skilled negotiator who exerted immense influence over the other chimpanzees in her group, Mama was an individual for whom de Waal felt enormous respect and affection: "I had never sensed such wisdom and poise in any species other than my own." (Thirty-seven years ago, Mama was already a memorable figure in de Waal's first book, Chimpanzee Politics.) In 2016, at almost 59 years of age, Mama was near death. An elderly friend whom she had known for four decades but had not recently seen, biology professor Jan van Hooff, visited her to say goodbye. As van Hooff crouches down towards the ailing chimpanzee, Mama reaches for his head. "She gently strokes his hair," de Waal recounts, and pulls him closer. "Her fingers rhythmically pat the back of his head and neck," reassuring her friend that it is okay to be so close. (Given chimpanzees' immense strength and sometimes volatile personalities, ordinarily it's quite dangerous for humans to approach them in this way. This encounter was a rare exception that occurred only owing to Mama's weakened state.) A video of their encounter later went viral.
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/01/698902400/mamas-last-hug-makes-case-that-humans-are-not-alone-in-experiencing-emotions
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/10/24/559837354/watch-the-moment-a-dying-chimpanzee-recognizes-an-old-friend
https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo18914351.html
Months before the call that set off an impeachment inquiry, many in the diplomatic community were alarmed by the Trump administration’s abrupt removal of a career diplomat from her post as ambassador to Ukraine. The ambassador’s ouster, and the campaign against her that preceded it, are now emerging as a key sequence of events behind a whistleblower’s complaint alleging that the president pressured a foreign country to investigate his political rival. In a letter Friday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen. Robert Menendez demanded answers about the ouster of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. “Why was the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine recalled in May 2019?” the Democratic senator wrote in a list of questions about what he called the “perversion of U.S. foreign policy” outlined by the whistleblower. “Did you approve that decision?” | But, in private, many in the diplomatic community in the U.S. and around the world were appalled, believing she had been improperly removed from a sensitive post at a critical moment, as a new president without any previous political experience was taking office in a struggling country in dire need of American economic and military aid in an ongoing fight against Russia-backed separatists. Donald Trump said in his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Yovanovitch was “bad news” and that she is “going to go through some things,” according to the memo of the call released this week by the White House. But that characterization of her and her performance was contradicted by five current and former officials who spoke to The Associated Press. The officials described Yovanovitch as a respected and highly skilled diplomat who was carrying out two main missions on behalf of the administration: pressing the Ukrainian government to address long-standing U.S. concerns about public corruption in the East European nation and building support for Ukraine’s effort to fight the separatists. In fact, it was only because elements of the Ukrainian government wanted her to ease up on pressing for investigations into corruption — and expected her to do so because they perceived Trump would care less about the issue — that they began a campaign against her, said the current and former officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. That campaign gained steam with the arrival on the scene of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/27/us-ambassador-yovanovitch-ukraine-whistleblower-complaint/
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have a lot of new questions for Trump’s judicial nominee Steven Menashi, an already controversial court pick who is also potentially connected to Trump’s Ukraine scandal given his current role as a White House legal adviser. "We write to inquire about your knowledge of or involvement with any of the events related to a telephone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, 2019, or a whistleblower complaint about that call and efforts to pressure Ukraine to interfere in the upcoming 2020 U.S. election," reads a Friday letter to Menashi, signed by all 10 Democrats on the committee.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/steven-menashi-trump-judicial-nominee-ukraine-whistleblower-impeachment_n_5d8e4d8ae4b0019647a8518a
McConnell encouraged Trump to release transcript of Zelensky call
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/463483-mcconnell-encouraged-trump-to-release-transcript-of-zelensky-call-report
Headquartered in a nondescript office building in Washington, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service churns out papers with such scintillating titles as “Cotton and Wool Outlook: September 2019.” The ERS, as it’s often called, is the kind of government bureaucracy few can identify but millions rely on for their livelihoods. With roots dating to President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration, the agency provides the informational lifeblood of the nation’s $1 trillion agricultural industry. Its research informs the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, or WASDE, arguably the most important global report of its kind for farmers and investors. Congress uses ERS forecasts to determine how much farm subsidies will cost taxpayers. Yet today, this key organization has been gutted. As of the end of September, three-quarters of its staff of 250 have retired, quit, were terminated, or plan to leave by year-end, according to internal estimates compiled by staff and their union that were viewed by Bloomberg News, and interviews with 12 current and former employees. | But Susan Offutt, former ERS administrator and previously chief economist at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress’s watchdog arm, said the move aims to eliminate researchers whose findings contradict Trump policies on tariffs, climate change and social programs. “The ERS research program produces output that is inconvenient” to the administration, she said. Last year, for example, two ERS economists found that, among farmers, the Trump tax cuts primarily benefited the richest operators. Later, after the results were reported in the press, the USDA communications office instructed the researchers not to speak publicly, and the Office of the Chief Economist asked them to craft talking points discrediting their own research, people familiar with the conversations said. The USDA declined to discuss the situation. Those who rely on the data are feeling mounting concern that reports will either be skewed or not produced at all. Richard Oswald farms more than 2,000 acres of corn and soybeans near the northwestern Missouri city of Rock Port, population 1,200. Amid the wettest spring on record, the nearby Missouri River has been flooding as a result of climate change, threatening a business that has sustained his family here for 80 years. Oswald, 69, looks to ERS reports to build a case for improving bridges and river levees. “If you can’t talk about climate change, the reason this is happening, then how can you even talk about changing it?,” said Oswald, a board member of the Missouri Farmers Union. “It’s about policy makers, farmers, people who live in the cities -- this is unbiased work that has been done for years. The effort is to slow it down, and that’s what the move has done -- slowed down reporting on climate and the signs.” Some reports from the ERS, which also focuses on rural America and trade, have already been delayed. These include research on politically sensitive areas such as the causes of the opioid epidemic, market access under tariff rate quotas and U.S. agricultural exports to China. The reason: A group of seven staff who edit the peer-reviewed reports is down to one, causing a backlog. | At the resource and rural economics division, which studies links between agriculture, energy, climate and policies, at least half of its staff of about 65 have already left or will be leaving when the agency moves its headquarters, according to the internal estimates viewed by Bloomberg. The food team retained only half its staff of 55. The group analyzes areas essential to U.S. well-being: school lunch programs, regular reports on the health of women and children, and food safety and prices. Similarly, half of the researchers compiling the U.S. government’s most detailed report on farm and ranch finances are gone. All five people responsible for farm insurance and risk management have left. | “Without the information, you don’t have anything to inform your policy -- and information is changing as you and I are speaking,” said Katherine Wallman, chief statistician of the U.S. under four presidents until 2017. “It’s the worst possible time to cut the availability of that information.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-27/trump-has-gutted-an-agency-that-s-vital-to-american-farmers
The White House didn't just hide the Trump-Ukraine phone call, CNN reported last night — it also locked down transcripts with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Saudi royal family, including crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
https://www.axios.com/white-house-trump-transcripts-putin-saudi-royals-e40ebfb2-f37f-41c2-b7c8-bf7990ee9704.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/white-house-restricted-trump-calls-putin-saudi/index.html
More than 200 House Democrats support impeachment, but the ones he singles out as “Savages” are two Jews and four women of color.
https://twitter.com/Milbank/status/1177921621740445696
In this week’s episode of Trump, Inc., we’re digging into a part of Giuliani's work that has occurred largely outside of the spotlight: He has often traveled to Russia or other former Soviet states as guests of powerful players there. And since Trump was elected, he appears to have stepped up the frequency of those trips.
Just last week, for example, Giuliani appeared in the former Soviet republic of Armenia, which has close trade ties with Russia. He was invited, according to local press accounts, by Ara Abramyan, an Armenian businessman who lives in Russia. Abramyan once helped reconstruct the Kremlin and also received a medal for “merit to the fatherland” from President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Giuliani said he was in Armenia as a private citizen, but on a local TV news show, Abramyan implied that he expected Giuliani to carry a message for him to Trump. (The conversation was in Armenian, so it’s not clear whether Giuliani understood what Abramyan was saying.) While in Armenia, Giuliani also attended a technology conference (one of his businesses advises on cybersecurity). The conference program listed him as appearing on a panel that also included a Russian currently on the U.S. sanctions list imposed after Russia's invasion of Crimea. There are many things we don't know about Giuliani's trips. We don't know whether he's being paid, and if so by whom. Giuliani declined to answer our questions.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/trumpinc/episodes/trump-inc-rudy-inc
The gap between the richest and the poorest American households is now the largest it's been in the past 50 years — despite the median U.S. income hitting a new record in 2018, the U.S. Census Bureau says.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/26/764654623/u-s-income-inequality-worsens-widening-to-a-new-gap
The administration is cutting the number of refugees the U.S. will take, and that’s attracting criticism from some evangelicals
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/28/administration-is-cutting-number-refugees-us-will-take-thats-attracting-criticism-some-evangelicals/
Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" came out 30 years ago today. 59 people are namechecked in it. Only 5 are still alive: Queen Elizabeth II, Brigitte Bardot, Chubby Checker, Bob Dylan, and Bernhard Goetz.
https://twitter.com/ThatEricAlper/status/1177890026736238592
It also raises the question whether one motivation for putting things like the Lavrov meeting memo and the Putin call transcripts in the codeword system was to hide them from Mueller.
https://twitter.com/Susan_Hennessey/status/1177916017781215232
Boris Johnson sparked uproar during angry exchanges in the House of Commons after he was dragged back to Parliament to explain why he broke the law and tried to suspend the legislature in the run-up to Brexit. The defiant premier refused to resign or even apologize. Instead, Johnson came out fighting. He challenged his political opponents to trigger an election through a no-confidence vote, and accused them of cowardice for twice rejecting one. He also declared that the Supreme Court judges who overturned his decision to suspend Parliament were simply “wrong.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-25/u-k-s-johnson-comes-out-fighting-and-demands-a-brexit-election
Feds to open Utah’s national parks to ATVs; advocates fear damage, noise they may bring
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2019/09/28/feds-open-utahs-national/
Federal Judge Blocks Trump Move To Fast-Track Deportations | A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's effort to expand fast-track deportation regulations for undocumented immigrants without the use of immigration courts. The procedure, known as "expedited removal," has previously been used to deport undocumented immigrants who cross into the U.S. by land without an immigration hearing or access to an attorney if they are arrested within 100 miles of the border within two weeks of their arrival. In July, the administration expanded the rule to include undocumented immigrants who couldn't prove they had been in the U.S. continuously for two years or more, no matter where they were in the country. In a 126-page report issued just before midnight on Friday, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a preliminary injunction on the policy change. She stated that the administration did not follow the correct decision-making procedures, such as the formal notice-and-comment period required for major federal rule changes, and likely violated federal law in failing to do so. She said that "no good cause exists for the agency to have not complied with these mandates in this instance."
https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2019cv2369-40
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/order-0
Mueller seems not to have known that Trump told Russian officials he was unconcerned by Moscow’s 2016 election interference. It may not have changed Mueller’s criminal analysis—but it radically affects the “no collusion” narrative, @benjaminwittes writes: | Shortly after the story broke, I received a message from a person directly involved with the FBI’s decision to open a counterintelligence and obstruction investigation of Trump in the immediate aftermath of the firing of FBI Director James Comey. To say this person, who had clearly learned about the matter [me: Trump blackmailing Ukraine government] for the first time from the Post, was angered by the story would be to understate the matter. The message read in relevant part: “None of us had any idea. Multiple people had opportunity and patriotic reason to tell us. Instead, silence.” It is a big deal that the FBI did not know when it opened its investigation that the president—in addition to boasting about relieving pressure on himself by firing Comey—had specifically disclaimed concern over Russian electoral interference to senior Russian officials. | Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe—who was serving as the bureau’s acting director during the period when the FBI opened the counterintelligence and obstruction probes into the president—has stated publicly that the Oval Office meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak played a role in his decisionmaking: | It seems obvious, in the context of these concerns, that information that the president informed Russian officials that he did not care about Russian election interference would have been key to this analysis on the FBI’s part—and, later, on the part of Robert Mueller. But it seems preponderantly likely that Mueller never learned of this information. His report includes plenty of material on Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak the day after Comey’s firing, including Trump’s comments that, “I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” And it includes detail about Trump’s exchange with an apparently concerned White House Counsel Don McGahn following the meeting. But there is nothing in the report about any comment by Trump informing the Russian delegation that he did not care about election interference. And there are no redactions in this section whatsoever where such information might be hiding.
https://twitter.com/lawfareblog/status/1178017107310776325
https://www.lawfareblog.com/collusion-after-fact
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andrew-mccabe-interview-former-fbi-director-president-trump-investigation-comey-russia-investigation-60-minutes/
A former New Jersey police chief standing trial on charges he slammed a black teenager’s head into a doorjamb reportedly called President Trump “the last hope for white people” before the 2016 election. “I’m telling you, you know what, Donald Trump is the last hope for white people, cause Hillary (Clinton) will give it to all the minorities to get a vote,” said Frank Nucera Jr., former chief of Bordentown Township, according to NJ.com’s reporting of a transcript displayed at trial this week. “That’s the truth! I’m telling you.” Nucera, 62, is charged with a hate crime, deprivation of the suspect’s rights and making false statements to the FBI in connection with the September 2016 arrest of an 18-year-old black man.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/28/chief-accused-slamming-black-teens-head-into-door-trump-is-last-hope-white-people/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/11/01/n-j-police-chief-said-black-people-are-like-isis-and-hed-like-to-be-on-the-firing-squad-feds-say/
https://www.nj.com/burlington/2019/09/nj-cop-again-testifies-against-his-former-chief-who-said-trump-was-last-hope-for-white-people.html
Simultaneously desperate, pathetic, sinister, and so blazingly hypocritical you wonder how the people doing the work keep straight faces
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1178084285191987200
Republicans: "stop attacking Trump or we'll investigate Hillary Clinton and every single person connected to Hillary Clinton to death! You try to impeach Trump and we'll arrest the entire Democratic Party!": The Trump administration is investigating the email records of dozens of current and former senior State Department officials who sent messages to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email, reviving a politically toxic matter that overshadowed the 2016 election, current and former officials said. As many as 130 officials have been contacted in recent weeks by State Department investigators — a list that includes senior officials who reported directly to Clinton as well as others in lower-level jobs whose emails were at some point relayed to her inbox, said current and former State Department officials. Those targeted were notified that emails they sent years ago have been retroactively classified and now constitute potential security violations, according to letters reviewed by The Washington Post. State Department investigators began contacting the former officials about 18 months ago, after President Trump’s election, and then seemed to drop the effort before picking it up in August, officials said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/state-dept-intensifies-email-probe-of-hillary-clintons-former-aides/2019/09/28/9f15497e-e1f2-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
It's the year 2250 and a team of Republican deep sea divers scour the sunken ruins of Los Angeles looking for Hillary emails and DNC servers.....
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/09/28/beto-orourke-calls-donald-trumps-resignation/
Clinton-Era Assault Weapons Ban Did Work, According To New Research
https://www.newsweek.com/assault-weapons-ban-1994-gun-rights-1461951
Joaquin Castro Calls for Investigation Into Whether Jared Kushner Shared Intelligence That Led to Khashoggi Killing
https://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-jamal-khashoggi-saudi-arabia-mbs-killing-consulate-donald-trump-1179255
Mark Amodei Is First House Republican to Support Trump Impeachment Inquiry
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/rep-mark-amodei-impeachment.html
It's up two Republicans governors. First, it was Vermont's Phil Scott. Now, it's Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. Baker says he supports an impeachment inquiry of Trump.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1177915862180880384
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/26/two-republican-governors-say-they-support-impeachment-inquiry-trump/
Yesterday the FEC chair tried to publish their weekly journal & was blocked. She says that’s unprecedented It has a draft rule re: foreign election interference So she tweeted the ENTIRE journal.
https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1177720217759297536
https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/mtgdoc_19-41-A.pdf
Greta Thunberg calls out the 'haters'. "Going after me, my looks, my clothes, my behaviour and my differences". Anything, she says, rather than talk about the climate crisis.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49855980
'Mama's Last Hug' Makes Case That Humans Are Not Alone In Experiencing Emotions | Mama, the animal of the book's title, was the matriarch of the chimpanzee colony at Burgers Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands. A skilled negotiator who exerted immense influence over the other chimpanzees in her group, Mama was an individual for whom de Waal felt enormous respect and affection: "I had never sensed such wisdom and poise in any species other than my own." (Thirty-seven years ago, Mama was already a memorable figure in de Waal's first book, Chimpanzee Politics.) In 2016, at almost 59 years of age, Mama was near death. An elderly friend whom she had known for four decades but had not recently seen, biology professor Jan van Hooff, visited her to say goodbye. As van Hooff crouches down towards the ailing chimpanzee, Mama reaches for his head. "She gently strokes his hair," de Waal recounts, and pulls him closer. "Her fingers rhythmically pat the back of his head and neck," reassuring her friend that it is okay to be so close. (Given chimpanzees' immense strength and sometimes volatile personalities, ordinarily it's quite dangerous for humans to approach them in this way. This encounter was a rare exception that occurred only owing to Mama's weakened state.) A video of their encounter later went viral.
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/01/698902400/mamas-last-hug-makes-case-that-humans-are-not-alone-in-experiencing-emotions
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/10/24/559837354/watch-the-moment-a-dying-chimpanzee-recognizes-an-old-friend
https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo18914351.html
Months before the call that set off an impeachment inquiry, many in the diplomatic community were alarmed by the Trump administration’s abrupt removal of a career diplomat from her post as ambassador to Ukraine. The ambassador’s ouster, and the campaign against her that preceded it, are now emerging as a key sequence of events behind a whistleblower’s complaint alleging that the president pressured a foreign country to investigate his political rival. In a letter Friday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen. Robert Menendez demanded answers about the ouster of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. “Why was the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine recalled in May 2019?” the Democratic senator wrote in a list of questions about what he called the “perversion of U.S. foreign policy” outlined by the whistleblower. “Did you approve that decision?” | But, in private, many in the diplomatic community in the U.S. and around the world were appalled, believing she had been improperly removed from a sensitive post at a critical moment, as a new president without any previous political experience was taking office in a struggling country in dire need of American economic and military aid in an ongoing fight against Russia-backed separatists. Donald Trump said in his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Yovanovitch was “bad news” and that she is “going to go through some things,” according to the memo of the call released this week by the White House. But that characterization of her and her performance was contradicted by five current and former officials who spoke to The Associated Press. The officials described Yovanovitch as a respected and highly skilled diplomat who was carrying out two main missions on behalf of the administration: pressing the Ukrainian government to address long-standing U.S. concerns about public corruption in the East European nation and building support for Ukraine’s effort to fight the separatists. In fact, it was only because elements of the Ukrainian government wanted her to ease up on pressing for investigations into corruption — and expected her to do so because they perceived Trump would care less about the issue — that they began a campaign against her, said the current and former officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. That campaign gained steam with the arrival on the scene of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/27/us-ambassador-yovanovitch-ukraine-whistleblower-complaint/
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have a lot of new questions for Trump’s judicial nominee Steven Menashi, an already controversial court pick who is also potentially connected to Trump’s Ukraine scandal given his current role as a White House legal adviser. "We write to inquire about your knowledge of or involvement with any of the events related to a telephone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, 2019, or a whistleblower complaint about that call and efforts to pressure Ukraine to interfere in the upcoming 2020 U.S. election," reads a Friday letter to Menashi, signed by all 10 Democrats on the committee.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/steven-menashi-trump-judicial-nominee-ukraine-whistleblower-impeachment_n_5d8e4d8ae4b0019647a8518a
McConnell encouraged Trump to release transcript of Zelensky call
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/463483-mcconnell-encouraged-trump-to-release-transcript-of-zelensky-call-report
Headquartered in a nondescript office building in Washington, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service churns out papers with such scintillating titles as “Cotton and Wool Outlook: September 2019.” The ERS, as it’s often called, is the kind of government bureaucracy few can identify but millions rely on for their livelihoods. With roots dating to President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration, the agency provides the informational lifeblood of the nation’s $1 trillion agricultural industry. Its research informs the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, or WASDE, arguably the most important global report of its kind for farmers and investors. Congress uses ERS forecasts to determine how much farm subsidies will cost taxpayers. Yet today, this key organization has been gutted. As of the end of September, three-quarters of its staff of 250 have retired, quit, were terminated, or plan to leave by year-end, according to internal estimates compiled by staff and their union that were viewed by Bloomberg News, and interviews with 12 current and former employees. | But Susan Offutt, former ERS administrator and previously chief economist at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress’s watchdog arm, said the move aims to eliminate researchers whose findings contradict Trump policies on tariffs, climate change and social programs. “The ERS research program produces output that is inconvenient” to the administration, she said. Last year, for example, two ERS economists found that, among farmers, the Trump tax cuts primarily benefited the richest operators. Later, after the results were reported in the press, the USDA communications office instructed the researchers not to speak publicly, and the Office of the Chief Economist asked them to craft talking points discrediting their own research, people familiar with the conversations said. The USDA declined to discuss the situation. Those who rely on the data are feeling mounting concern that reports will either be skewed or not produced at all. Richard Oswald farms more than 2,000 acres of corn and soybeans near the northwestern Missouri city of Rock Port, population 1,200. Amid the wettest spring on record, the nearby Missouri River has been flooding as a result of climate change, threatening a business that has sustained his family here for 80 years. Oswald, 69, looks to ERS reports to build a case for improving bridges and river levees. “If you can’t talk about climate change, the reason this is happening, then how can you even talk about changing it?,” said Oswald, a board member of the Missouri Farmers Union. “It’s about policy makers, farmers, people who live in the cities -- this is unbiased work that has been done for years. The effort is to slow it down, and that’s what the move has done -- slowed down reporting on climate and the signs.” Some reports from the ERS, which also focuses on rural America and trade, have already been delayed. These include research on politically sensitive areas such as the causes of the opioid epidemic, market access under tariff rate quotas and U.S. agricultural exports to China. The reason: A group of seven staff who edit the peer-reviewed reports is down to one, causing a backlog. | At the resource and rural economics division, which studies links between agriculture, energy, climate and policies, at least half of its staff of about 65 have already left or will be leaving when the agency moves its headquarters, according to the internal estimates viewed by Bloomberg. The food team retained only half its staff of 55. The group analyzes areas essential to U.S. well-being: school lunch programs, regular reports on the health of women and children, and food safety and prices. Similarly, half of the researchers compiling the U.S. government’s most detailed report on farm and ranch finances are gone. All five people responsible for farm insurance and risk management have left. | “Without the information, you don’t have anything to inform your policy -- and information is changing as you and I are speaking,” said Katherine Wallman, chief statistician of the U.S. under four presidents until 2017. “It’s the worst possible time to cut the availability of that information.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-27/trump-has-gutted-an-agency-that-s-vital-to-american-farmers
The White House didn't just hide the Trump-Ukraine phone call, CNN reported last night — it also locked down transcripts with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Saudi royal family, including crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
https://www.axios.com/white-house-trump-transcripts-putin-saudi-royals-e40ebfb2-f37f-41c2-b7c8-bf7990ee9704.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/white-house-restricted-trump-calls-putin-saudi/index.html
More than 200 House Democrats support impeachment, but the ones he singles out as “Savages” are two Jews and four women of color.
https://twitter.com/Milbank/status/1177921621740445696
In this week’s episode of Trump, Inc., we’re digging into a part of Giuliani's work that has occurred largely outside of the spotlight: He has often traveled to Russia or other former Soviet states as guests of powerful players there. And since Trump was elected, he appears to have stepped up the frequency of those trips.
Just last week, for example, Giuliani appeared in the former Soviet republic of Armenia, which has close trade ties with Russia. He was invited, according to local press accounts, by Ara Abramyan, an Armenian businessman who lives in Russia. Abramyan once helped reconstruct the Kremlin and also received a medal for “merit to the fatherland” from President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Giuliani said he was in Armenia as a private citizen, but on a local TV news show, Abramyan implied that he expected Giuliani to carry a message for him to Trump. (The conversation was in Armenian, so it’s not clear whether Giuliani understood what Abramyan was saying.) While in Armenia, Giuliani also attended a technology conference (one of his businesses advises on cybersecurity). The conference program listed him as appearing on a panel that also included a Russian currently on the U.S. sanctions list imposed after Russia's invasion of Crimea. There are many things we don't know about Giuliani's trips. We don't know whether he's being paid, and if so by whom. Giuliani declined to answer our questions.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/trumpinc/episodes/trump-inc-rudy-inc
The gap between the richest and the poorest American households is now the largest it's been in the past 50 years — despite the median U.S. income hitting a new record in 2018, the U.S. Census Bureau says.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/26/764654623/u-s-income-inequality-worsens-widening-to-a-new-gap
The administration is cutting the number of refugees the U.S. will take, and that’s attracting criticism from some evangelicals
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/28/administration-is-cutting-number-refugees-us-will-take-thats-attracting-criticism-some-evangelicals/
Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" came out 30 years ago today. 59 people are namechecked in it. Only 5 are still alive: Queen Elizabeth II, Brigitte Bardot, Chubby Checker, Bob Dylan, and Bernhard Goetz.
https://twitter.com/ThatEricAlper/status/1177890026736238592
It also raises the question whether one motivation for putting things like the Lavrov meeting memo and the Putin call transcripts in the codeword system was to hide them from Mueller.
https://twitter.com/Susan_Hennessey/status/1177916017781215232
Boris Johnson sparked uproar during angry exchanges in the House of Commons after he was dragged back to Parliament to explain why he broke the law and tried to suspend the legislature in the run-up to Brexit. The defiant premier refused to resign or even apologize. Instead, Johnson came out fighting. He challenged his political opponents to trigger an election through a no-confidence vote, and accused them of cowardice for twice rejecting one. He also declared that the Supreme Court judges who overturned his decision to suspend Parliament were simply “wrong.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-25/u-k-s-johnson-comes-out-fighting-and-demands-a-brexit-election
Feds to open Utah’s national parks to ATVs; advocates fear damage, noise they may bring
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2019/09/28/feds-open-utahs-national/
Federal Judge Blocks Trump Move To Fast-Track Deportations | A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's effort to expand fast-track deportation regulations for undocumented immigrants without the use of immigration courts. The procedure, known as "expedited removal," has previously been used to deport undocumented immigrants who cross into the U.S. by land without an immigration hearing or access to an attorney if they are arrested within 100 miles of the border within two weeks of their arrival. In July, the administration expanded the rule to include undocumented immigrants who couldn't prove they had been in the U.S. continuously for two years or more, no matter where they were in the country. In a 126-page report issued just before midnight on Friday, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a preliminary injunction on the policy change. She stated that the administration did not follow the correct decision-making procedures, such as the formal notice-and-comment period required for major federal rule changes, and likely violated federal law in failing to do so. She said that "no good cause exists for the agency to have not complied with these mandates in this instance."
https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2019cv2369-40
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/order-0
Mueller seems not to have known that Trump told Russian officials he was unconcerned by Moscow’s 2016 election interference. It may not have changed Mueller’s criminal analysis—but it radically affects the “no collusion” narrative, @benjaminwittes writes: | Shortly after the story broke, I received a message from a person directly involved with the FBI’s decision to open a counterintelligence and obstruction investigation of Trump in the immediate aftermath of the firing of FBI Director James Comey. To say this person, who had clearly learned about the matter [me: Trump blackmailing Ukraine government] for the first time from the Post, was angered by the story would be to understate the matter. The message read in relevant part: “None of us had any idea. Multiple people had opportunity and patriotic reason to tell us. Instead, silence.” It is a big deal that the FBI did not know when it opened its investigation that the president—in addition to boasting about relieving pressure on himself by firing Comey—had specifically disclaimed concern over Russian electoral interference to senior Russian officials. | Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe—who was serving as the bureau’s acting director during the period when the FBI opened the counterintelligence and obstruction probes into the president—has stated publicly that the Oval Office meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak played a role in his decisionmaking: | It seems obvious, in the context of these concerns, that information that the president informed Russian officials that he did not care about Russian election interference would have been key to this analysis on the FBI’s part—and, later, on the part of Robert Mueller. But it seems preponderantly likely that Mueller never learned of this information. His report includes plenty of material on Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak the day after Comey’s firing, including Trump’s comments that, “I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” And it includes detail about Trump’s exchange with an apparently concerned White House Counsel Don McGahn following the meeting. But there is nothing in the report about any comment by Trump informing the Russian delegation that he did not care about election interference. And there are no redactions in this section whatsoever where such information might be hiding.
https://twitter.com/lawfareblog/status/1178017107310776325
https://www.lawfareblog.com/collusion-after-fact
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andrew-mccabe-interview-former-fbi-director-president-trump-investigation-comey-russia-investigation-60-minutes/
A former New Jersey police chief standing trial on charges he slammed a black teenager’s head into a doorjamb reportedly called President Trump “the last hope for white people” before the 2016 election. “I’m telling you, you know what, Donald Trump is the last hope for white people, cause Hillary (Clinton) will give it to all the minorities to get a vote,” said Frank Nucera Jr., former chief of Bordentown Township, according to NJ.com’s reporting of a transcript displayed at trial this week. “That’s the truth! I’m telling you.” Nucera, 62, is charged with a hate crime, deprivation of the suspect’s rights and making false statements to the FBI in connection with the September 2016 arrest of an 18-year-old black man.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/28/chief-accused-slamming-black-teens-head-into-door-trump-is-last-hope-white-people/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/11/01/n-j-police-chief-said-black-people-are-like-isis-and-hed-like-to-be-on-the-firing-squad-feds-say/
https://www.nj.com/burlington/2019/09/nj-cop-again-testifies-against-his-former-chief-who-said-trump-was-last-hope-for-white-people.html
Simultaneously desperate, pathetic, sinister, and so blazingly hypocritical you wonder how the people doing the work keep straight faces
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1178084285191987200
Republicans: "stop attacking Trump or we'll investigate Hillary Clinton and every single person connected to Hillary Clinton to death! You try to impeach Trump and we'll arrest the entire Democratic Party!": The Trump administration is investigating the email records of dozens of current and former senior State Department officials who sent messages to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email, reviving a politically toxic matter that overshadowed the 2016 election, current and former officials said. As many as 130 officials have been contacted in recent weeks by State Department investigators — a list that includes senior officials who reported directly to Clinton as well as others in lower-level jobs whose emails were at some point relayed to her inbox, said current and former State Department officials. Those targeted were notified that emails they sent years ago have been retroactively classified and now constitute potential security violations, according to letters reviewed by The Washington Post. State Department investigators began contacting the former officials about 18 months ago, after President Trump’s election, and then seemed to drop the effort before picking it up in August, officials said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/state-dept-intensifies-email-probe-of-hillary-clintons-former-aides/2019/09/28/9f15497e-e1f2-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
It's the year 2250 and a team of Republican deep sea divers scour the sunken ruins of Los Angeles looking for Hillary emails and DNC servers.....
Friday, September 27, 2019
Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election because the United States did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of people, according to three former officials with knowledge of the matter.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-told-russian-officials-in-2017-he-wasnt-concerned-about-moscows-interference-in-us-election/2019/09/27/b20a8bc8-e159-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html
Which also means Trump fully understands that Russia meddled in the elections to help him win.
White House officials also manipulated the classification system to bury it (read the article).
All kinds of officials leaking all kinds of stuff now.
Which also means Trump fully understands that Russia meddled in the elections to help him win.
White House officials also manipulated the classification system to bury it (read the article).
All kinds of officials leaking all kinds of stuff now.
Trump met with Wayne LaPierre and asked if the NRA would finance his impeachment defense. LaPierre said he would if Trump promised not to pursue any gun legislation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/politics/trump-lapierre-nra-impeachment.html
Why exactly again does a billionaire need financial assistance?
Gas! -Or- It Became Necessary To Destroy The World In Order To Save It. (1970) 10/10 | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065760/
A very G-dardian film, the best attempt by an American director to create a G-dardian film. Film is as relevant now as it was 49 years ago.
News Dump
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says that if the House goes ahead and impeaches President Donald Trump, the Senate “has no choice” but to conduct a trial to determine whether the president is removed from office. The Kentucky Republican told NPR on Friday that “if the House were to act, the Senate immediately goes into a trial.”
https://apnews.com/2bc10ed20dbf4041935b37bec9542c53
If McConnell were to stop a trial from occuring, it makes it look like the Republicans themselves know Trump is guilty and needs to be removed from office. It makes it look like Trump is guilty.
Pompeo Subpoenaed for Ukraine Documents as House Committees Accelerate Impeachment Inquiry
https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=710
300 men and boys are freed from 'house of torture' Islamic boarding school where they were chained up, raped by staff and starved 'in the name of teaching them the Koran' in Nigeria
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7511587/500-men-boys-freed-house-torture-sexually-abused-years-Nigeria.html
A 22-year-old agreement that sets limits on how long children taken into custody by U.S. immigration officials can be detained will remain in effect for now despite the Trump administration’s efforts to end it. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee temporarily denied the government’s request to terminate the so-called Flores settlement at a hearing in Los Angeles, until she issues a final decision later. The agreement has prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement from locking up families of immigrants indefinitely while their asylum requests wend their way through the courts. The agreement also sets out requirements like placing minors in the least restrictive settings and providing them with safe and sanitary facilities, including drinking water, food and medical assistance. The case is Flores v. Meese, 85-CV-4544, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-27/trump-administration-can-t-end-protection-for-migrant-kids-yet
Trump and Rudy Are Helpfully Identifying a Lot of Good Witnesses for the Impeachment Hearings
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/09/trump-rudy-giuliani-ukraine-witnesses.html
Trump Administration deliberates block on all US investments in China
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/27/white-house-deliberates-block-on-all-us-investments-in-china.html
Ireland paid Donald Trump's Doonbeg resort €113,000 to feed and house police during visit by US President
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/state-pays-donald-trumps-doonbeg-resort-113k-to-feed-and-accommodate-garda-during-us-presidents-visit-38540905.html
Former Marine who said he’d ‘slaughter’ antifa loses appeal to restore gun rights
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/09/former-marine-who-said-hed-slaughter-antifa-loses-appeal-to-restore-gun-rights.html
Photo of Jared Kushner Dining Next to Ukraine's President at Diplomats Event 7 Weeks Before Trump's Call Resurfaces
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-russia-zelensky-trump-impeachment-kushner-1461734
Day After Trump Said 'Inequality Is Down,' Federal Data Shows US Income Inequality Highest Since Census Began Measuring
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/26/day-after-trump-said-inequality-down-federal-data-shows-us-income-inequality-highest
Researchers Assembled over 100 Voting Machines. Hackers Broke into Every Single One.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/09/defcon-2019-hacking-village/
NRA Was 'Foreign Asset' To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals | Attorneys general in the state of New York and the District of Columbia are also conducting separate probes into alleged wrongdoing at the gun rights organization. These probes have a broader scope than the Senate report, which focuses on Russia.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals
https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=6432520-The-NRA-Russia-How-a-Tax-Exempt-Organization
https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-trump-ally-met-with-putins-deputy-in-moscow
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/29/718394056/new-york-attorney-general-launches-investigation-into-nra-financial-dealings
White House attorneys directed sealing of phone transcript
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/pelosi-concerned-trumps-whistleblower-spy-comments-65900172
Beto calling for Trump to be impeached way back in 2017 | Donald Trump must be impeached (2017 - present)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU1NfYYwC-M
YEP.....I wanted so bad to support Tulsi but her pro-Putin pro-Trump shit is shit: "It baffles me that any responsible Member of Congress who has taken the time to read & process the Mueller Report, the Ukraine call memo and the whistle-blower's report can still be opposed to opening an impeachment inquiry. #Impeach45" - Tulsi Gabbard's primary opponent Kai Kahele
https://twitter.com/kaikahele/status/1177398205215956992
Kamala Harris Calls For Formal Impeachment Inquiry Into Brett Kavanaugh
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-impeachment-inquiry-brett-kavanaugh_n_5d8dfcf0e4b0ac3cdda72110
Russian government says it hopes US wouldn’t release Trump-Putin calls
https://apnews.com/cd2d1f8ba4cb4caeaba690ff87cca225
Women Are Being Denied Cancer Treatment, Psychiatric Help At ICE Detention Center. One woman has been denied cancer treatment for more than two months. Other detainees have attempted to kill themselves.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/immigrant-women-denied-cancer-psychiatric-care-ice-detention-center_n_5d8d5880e4b0019647a5ebae
Whistleblower Names William Barr in Complaint Justice Department Tried to Suppress
https://www.thedailybeast.com/whistleblower-names-william-barr-in-trump-ukraine-complaint-justice-department-tried-to-suppress
A new study has found the FCC’s primary justification for repealing net neutrality was indisputably false. | But a new study from George Washington University indicates that Pai’s claims were patently false. The study took a closer look at the earnings reports and SEC filings of 8,577 unique telecom companies from Q1 2009 through Q3 2018 to conclude that the passage and repeal of the rules had no meaningful impact on broadband investment. “The results of the paper are clear and should be both unsurprising and uncontroversial,” The researchers said. “The key finding is there were no impacts on telecommunication industry investment from the net neutrality policy changes. Neither the 2010 or 2015 US net neutrality rule changes had any causal impact on telecommunications investment.” While the study is the biggest yet to do so, it’s not the first to reach this conclusion. Last year a deep analysis of industry financial data from consumer group Free Press found some ISPs actually invested more heavily in their broadband networks while net neutrality rules were active. Journalists had similarly found no meaningful impact on network investment from net neutrality, something confirmed by the public statements of numerous ISP CEOs.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kz4g9x/study-proves-the-fccs-core-justification-for-killing-net-neutrality-was-false
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6430695/Net-Neutrality.pdf
https://www.freepress.net/our-response/expert-analysis/insights-opinions/raw-data-reveal-reality-title-ii-and-neutrality
https://consumerist.com/2016/02/09/did-net-neutrality-kill-broadband-investment-like-comcast-att-verizon-said-it-would/
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/05/title-ii-hasnt-hurt-network-investment-according-to-the-isps-themselves/
Reminder: Facebook confirms its “standards” don’t apply to Trump - Facebook states politicians are officially exempt from both hate speech rules and fact checking
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/09/facebook-confirms-its-standards-dont-apply-to-politicians/
Chairmen Warn President to Stop Attacking Whistleblower and Witnesses to His Misconduct and to Halt Efforts to Obstruct Impeachment Inquiry
https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/chairmen-warn-president-to-stop-attacking-whistleblower-and-witnesses-to-his
Whistleblower painstakingly gathered material and almost single-handedly set impeachment in motion
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/whistleblower-painstakingly-gathered-material-and-almost-single-handedly-set-impeachment-in-motion/2019/09/26/bec9608c-e06e-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html
Another reminder that Hillary, who "didn't go to Wisconsin," was supposed to do a rally in Green Bay with Barack Obama. She canceled it so she could go down to Orlando and be with the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting.
https://twitter.com/HillaryWarnedUs/status/1158145227552632832
Nearly 300 former U.S. national security and foreign policy officials have signed a statement warning that Trump's actions regarding Ukraine are a "profound national security concern" and supporting an impeachment inquiry to determine "the facts."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/nearly-300-former-officials-call-trumps-actions-concerning-ukraine-profound-national-security-concern/2019/09/27/254c09ac-e09e-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
How Joe Biden handles being at the center of Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal — as the man Trump wanted to beat and whom Republicans will attack during impeachment process — goes to the heart of his “electability” argument. Next few weeks will be telling.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/trump-impeachment-inquiry-could-be-pivotal-warren-biden-primary-fight-n1059266
Democrats sue over North Carolina's congressional maps | Democrats are headed back to court to challenge the validity of North Carolina’s 13 congressional districts, just weeks after the state’s highest court ruled that the Republican-controlled legislature unconstitutionally gerrymandered state-level maps. A new lawsuit filed Friday on behalf of 14 North Carolina voters challenges Republican-drawn maps that first went into effect ahead of the 2016 elections, after a court threw out a previous set of maps that were drawn after the 2010 census.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/463392-democrats-sue-over-north-carolinas-congressional-maps
Roy Cohn was the Trump family’s infamous lawyer and fixer.
https://vault.fbi.gov/roy-cohn
https://vault.fbi.gov/roy-cohn/roy-cohn-part-01-of-01/view
Joseph C. Wilson, the long-serving American diplomat whose clash with the administration of President George W. Bush in 2003 led to the unmasking of his wife at the time, Valerie Plame, as a C.I.A. agent, resulting in accusations that the revelation was political payback, died on Friday at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 69. | An investigation into the leak of Ms. Plame’s identity led to charges against Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., not for leaking the information but for lying about his conversations with reporters about Ms. Plame and for obstruction of justice. Bush commuted his 30-month prison sentence, and last year Trump gave him a full pardon.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/joseph-wilson-who-challenged-iraq-war-narrative-dies-at-69.html
More than three-quarters of people who have developed severe lung illness after vaping reported using THC-containing products, a new report found, as officials continue to piece together a picture of the mysterious disease. The new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 76.9% of the 514 patients studied used products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in the month preceding the onset of symptoms. More than half of the patients reported using nicotine-containing products, while 36% said they only used of products with THC and 16% reported exclusive use of nicotine-containing products. | On Thursday, the CDC said the number of confirmed or probable cases of vaping-related illness has risen to 805 across 46 states and one U.S. territory. California, Texas, Wisconsin and Illinois have been most affected, with between 50 and 99 cases each. The death toll from the illness now stands at 14, with new fatalities reported in North Carolina and Oregon later Thursday. Mississippi, Georgia and Florida all reported their first deaths linked to vaping this week.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/majority-of-vaping-related-illnesses-involve-thc-products-cdc-report-11569605534
https://www.wsj.com/articles/vaping-related-lung-illnesses-rise-to-805-cdc-says-11569521732
Leafly did an investigation of the black market for THC, CBD, and counterfeit JUUL pods: https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/vape-pen-injury-supply-chain-investigation-leafly … Basically you can buy empty carts in real looking retail packaging straight from China and fill it up with who knows what. Bathtub gin all over again.
https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/vape-pen-injury-supply-chain-investigation-leafly
Republicans earlier in the week: You’re going to be amazed by the level of cooperation and transparency.
Republicans today: Breaking the law in a continued attempt to cover up Trump’s criminal behavior.
The chairmen of three House committees subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Friday over his failure to produce answers about Ukraine. "Pursuant to the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry, we are hereby transmitting a subpoena that compels you to produce the documents set forth in the accompanying schedule by October 4, 2019," the chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees wrote in a letter to Pompeo. In addition to the subpoena, Reps. Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel and Elijah Cummings informed the top US diplomat in a separate letter that they had deposed five State Department officials who have been mentioned in relation to the inquiry -- Ambassador Marie "Masha" Yovanovitch, Ambassador Kurt Volker, Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent, Counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl and Ambassador Gordon Sondland.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/pompeo-congressional-subpoena-ukraine/
House Judiciary members have pressed Chairman Nadler to invoke Congress's long-dormant inherent contempt authority that would allow Congress to jail or fine people for defying subpoenas, an idea he supports, people familiar with his thinking tell WaPo.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1176466310752014336?s=20
Impeachment inquiry right thing to do. But however impeachment plays out with true swing voters, Trump will leverage it to the max with his base. And potential base - thru voter registration. They have a ton of registration targets, more than most people realize.
https://twitter.com/davidplouffe/status/1177657989651525633
Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose actions as Trump’s personal lawyer have helped set in motion an impeachment inquiry, is set to appear as a paid speaker at a Kremlin-backed conference in Armenia on Tuesday — an event expected to include the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials. Giuliani confirmed to The Washington Post on Friday that he plans to take part in a panel at the conference sponsored by Russia and the Moscow-based Eurasian Economic Union, a trade alliance launched by Putin in 2014 as a counterweight to the European Union. According to an agenda for the event posted online, Giuliani is set to participate in a panel led by Sergey Glazyev, a longtime Putin adviser who has been under U.S. sanctions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine five years ago.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-set-to-make-paid-appearance-next-week-at-kremlin-backed-conference/2019/09/27/a15ab242-e133-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
http://ereforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/en11.pdf
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from detaining migrant children for indefinite periods
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2019/09/27/federal-judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-detaining-migrant-children-for-indefinite-periods/
I mentioned to @NicolleDWallace the video we recorded of Lindsey Graham getting teary eyed when talking about Biden back in 16. It really is worth watching again now
https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1177695059560599552
Fox News host claimed that Trump's sons stopped doing business deals internationally, only to be proven wrong the following day when Eric Trump touted approval for a new Trump golf resort in Scotland.
https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-host-trump-sons-scotland-1461666
White House admits Trump's Ukraine phone call record was moved to secret server
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ukraine-call-white-house-secret-server-impeachment-a9123536.html
Ambassador Kurt Volker, Trump’s Envoy for Ukraine, Resigns
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/politics/volker-ukraine-resigns.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Giuliani pulls out of event featuring Putin
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/463459-giuliani-to-speak-at-event-featuring-putin
NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre offered to help Trump fight off impeachment in exchange for him stopping 'the games' on gun reform
https://www.businessinsider.com/nra-trump-discussed-financial-support-not-backing-gun-control-nyt-2019-9
Pete Alonso hits #52, tying Aaron Judge’s rookie record
https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/e2c4ea09-367a-4b7c-a996-13afd8657b7a.mp4
Ukraine's former Foreign Minister has categorically rejected claims by Trump that Biden pressed for the sacking of a Ukrainian prosecutor to protect a business that employed his son. "The whole sense of this push was ... to deliver on reforms in Ukraine."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49856788
Rudy Giuliani won't testify without consulting Trump, citing attorney-client privilege, even though: “I’m not acting as a lawyer. I’m acting as someone who has devoted most of his life to straightening out government,” he continued, sounding out of breath. “Anything I did should be praised.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/giuliani-testimony-protected-interview/index.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/09/giuliani-ukraine-trump-biden/598879/
If he's his attorney, then he's violating the Logan act by acting as an agent of the government illegally. If he's not violating the Logan act, then he's not acting as his attorney.
https://apnews.com/2bc10ed20dbf4041935b37bec9542c53
If McConnell were to stop a trial from occuring, it makes it look like the Republicans themselves know Trump is guilty and needs to be removed from office. It makes it look like Trump is guilty.
Pompeo Subpoenaed for Ukraine Documents as House Committees Accelerate Impeachment Inquiry
https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=710
300 men and boys are freed from 'house of torture' Islamic boarding school where they were chained up, raped by staff and starved 'in the name of teaching them the Koran' in Nigeria
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7511587/500-men-boys-freed-house-torture-sexually-abused-years-Nigeria.html
A 22-year-old agreement that sets limits on how long children taken into custody by U.S. immigration officials can be detained will remain in effect for now despite the Trump administration’s efforts to end it. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee temporarily denied the government’s request to terminate the so-called Flores settlement at a hearing in Los Angeles, until she issues a final decision later. The agreement has prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement from locking up families of immigrants indefinitely while their asylum requests wend their way through the courts. The agreement also sets out requirements like placing minors in the least restrictive settings and providing them with safe and sanitary facilities, including drinking water, food and medical assistance. The case is Flores v. Meese, 85-CV-4544, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-27/trump-administration-can-t-end-protection-for-migrant-kids-yet
Trump and Rudy Are Helpfully Identifying a Lot of Good Witnesses for the Impeachment Hearings
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/09/trump-rudy-giuliani-ukraine-witnesses.html
Trump Administration deliberates block on all US investments in China
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/27/white-house-deliberates-block-on-all-us-investments-in-china.html
Ireland paid Donald Trump's Doonbeg resort €113,000 to feed and house police during visit by US President
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/state-pays-donald-trumps-doonbeg-resort-113k-to-feed-and-accommodate-garda-during-us-presidents-visit-38540905.html
Former Marine who said he’d ‘slaughter’ antifa loses appeal to restore gun rights
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/09/former-marine-who-said-hed-slaughter-antifa-loses-appeal-to-restore-gun-rights.html
Photo of Jared Kushner Dining Next to Ukraine's President at Diplomats Event 7 Weeks Before Trump's Call Resurfaces
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-russia-zelensky-trump-impeachment-kushner-1461734
Day After Trump Said 'Inequality Is Down,' Federal Data Shows US Income Inequality Highest Since Census Began Measuring
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/26/day-after-trump-said-inequality-down-federal-data-shows-us-income-inequality-highest
Researchers Assembled over 100 Voting Machines. Hackers Broke into Every Single One.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/09/defcon-2019-hacking-village/
NRA Was 'Foreign Asset' To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals | Attorneys general in the state of New York and the District of Columbia are also conducting separate probes into alleged wrongdoing at the gun rights organization. These probes have a broader scope than the Senate report, which focuses on Russia.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals
https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=6432520-The-NRA-Russia-How-a-Tax-Exempt-Organization
https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-trump-ally-met-with-putins-deputy-in-moscow
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/29/718394056/new-york-attorney-general-launches-investigation-into-nra-financial-dealings
White House attorneys directed sealing of phone transcript
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/pelosi-concerned-trumps-whistleblower-spy-comments-65900172
Beto calling for Trump to be impeached way back in 2017 | Donald Trump must be impeached (2017 - present)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU1NfYYwC-M
YEP.....I wanted so bad to support Tulsi but her pro-Putin pro-Trump shit is shit: "It baffles me that any responsible Member of Congress who has taken the time to read & process the Mueller Report, the Ukraine call memo and the whistle-blower's report can still be opposed to opening an impeachment inquiry. #Impeach45" - Tulsi Gabbard's primary opponent Kai Kahele
https://twitter.com/kaikahele/status/1177398205215956992
Kamala Harris Calls For Formal Impeachment Inquiry Into Brett Kavanaugh
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-impeachment-inquiry-brett-kavanaugh_n_5d8dfcf0e4b0ac3cdda72110
Russian government says it hopes US wouldn’t release Trump-Putin calls
https://apnews.com/cd2d1f8ba4cb4caeaba690ff87cca225
Women Are Being Denied Cancer Treatment, Psychiatric Help At ICE Detention Center. One woman has been denied cancer treatment for more than two months. Other detainees have attempted to kill themselves.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/immigrant-women-denied-cancer-psychiatric-care-ice-detention-center_n_5d8d5880e4b0019647a5ebae
Whistleblower Names William Barr in Complaint Justice Department Tried to Suppress
https://www.thedailybeast.com/whistleblower-names-william-barr-in-trump-ukraine-complaint-justice-department-tried-to-suppress
A new study has found the FCC’s primary justification for repealing net neutrality was indisputably false. | But a new study from George Washington University indicates that Pai’s claims were patently false. The study took a closer look at the earnings reports and SEC filings of 8,577 unique telecom companies from Q1 2009 through Q3 2018 to conclude that the passage and repeal of the rules had no meaningful impact on broadband investment. “The results of the paper are clear and should be both unsurprising and uncontroversial,” The researchers said. “The key finding is there were no impacts on telecommunication industry investment from the net neutrality policy changes. Neither the 2010 or 2015 US net neutrality rule changes had any causal impact on telecommunications investment.” While the study is the biggest yet to do so, it’s not the first to reach this conclusion. Last year a deep analysis of industry financial data from consumer group Free Press found some ISPs actually invested more heavily in their broadband networks while net neutrality rules were active. Journalists had similarly found no meaningful impact on network investment from net neutrality, something confirmed by the public statements of numerous ISP CEOs.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kz4g9x/study-proves-the-fccs-core-justification-for-killing-net-neutrality-was-false
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6430695/Net-Neutrality.pdf
https://www.freepress.net/our-response/expert-analysis/insights-opinions/raw-data-reveal-reality-title-ii-and-neutrality
https://consumerist.com/2016/02/09/did-net-neutrality-kill-broadband-investment-like-comcast-att-verizon-said-it-would/
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/05/title-ii-hasnt-hurt-network-investment-according-to-the-isps-themselves/
Reminder: Facebook confirms its “standards” don’t apply to Trump - Facebook states politicians are officially exempt from both hate speech rules and fact checking
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/09/facebook-confirms-its-standards-dont-apply-to-politicians/
Chairmen Warn President to Stop Attacking Whistleblower and Witnesses to His Misconduct and to Halt Efforts to Obstruct Impeachment Inquiry
https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/chairmen-warn-president-to-stop-attacking-whistleblower-and-witnesses-to-his
Whistleblower painstakingly gathered material and almost single-handedly set impeachment in motion
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/whistleblower-painstakingly-gathered-material-and-almost-single-handedly-set-impeachment-in-motion/2019/09/26/bec9608c-e06e-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html
Another reminder that Hillary, who "didn't go to Wisconsin," was supposed to do a rally in Green Bay with Barack Obama. She canceled it so she could go down to Orlando and be with the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting.
https://twitter.com/HillaryWarnedUs/status/1158145227552632832
Nearly 300 former U.S. national security and foreign policy officials have signed a statement warning that Trump's actions regarding Ukraine are a "profound national security concern" and supporting an impeachment inquiry to determine "the facts."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/nearly-300-former-officials-call-trumps-actions-concerning-ukraine-profound-national-security-concern/2019/09/27/254c09ac-e09e-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
How Joe Biden handles being at the center of Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal — as the man Trump wanted to beat and whom Republicans will attack during impeachment process — goes to the heart of his “electability” argument. Next few weeks will be telling.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/trump-impeachment-inquiry-could-be-pivotal-warren-biden-primary-fight-n1059266
Democrats sue over North Carolina's congressional maps | Democrats are headed back to court to challenge the validity of North Carolina’s 13 congressional districts, just weeks after the state’s highest court ruled that the Republican-controlled legislature unconstitutionally gerrymandered state-level maps. A new lawsuit filed Friday on behalf of 14 North Carolina voters challenges Republican-drawn maps that first went into effect ahead of the 2016 elections, after a court threw out a previous set of maps that were drawn after the 2010 census.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/463392-democrats-sue-over-north-carolinas-congressional-maps
Roy Cohn was the Trump family’s infamous lawyer and fixer.
https://vault.fbi.gov/roy-cohn
https://vault.fbi.gov/roy-cohn/roy-cohn-part-01-of-01/view
Joseph C. Wilson, the long-serving American diplomat whose clash with the administration of President George W. Bush in 2003 led to the unmasking of his wife at the time, Valerie Plame, as a C.I.A. agent, resulting in accusations that the revelation was political payback, died on Friday at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 69. | An investigation into the leak of Ms. Plame’s identity led to charges against Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., not for leaking the information but for lying about his conversations with reporters about Ms. Plame and for obstruction of justice. Bush commuted his 30-month prison sentence, and last year Trump gave him a full pardon.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/joseph-wilson-who-challenged-iraq-war-narrative-dies-at-69.html
More than three-quarters of people who have developed severe lung illness after vaping reported using THC-containing products, a new report found, as officials continue to piece together a picture of the mysterious disease. The new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 76.9% of the 514 patients studied used products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in the month preceding the onset of symptoms. More than half of the patients reported using nicotine-containing products, while 36% said they only used of products with THC and 16% reported exclusive use of nicotine-containing products. | On Thursday, the CDC said the number of confirmed or probable cases of vaping-related illness has risen to 805 across 46 states and one U.S. territory. California, Texas, Wisconsin and Illinois have been most affected, with between 50 and 99 cases each. The death toll from the illness now stands at 14, with new fatalities reported in North Carolina and Oregon later Thursday. Mississippi, Georgia and Florida all reported their first deaths linked to vaping this week.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/majority-of-vaping-related-illnesses-involve-thc-products-cdc-report-11569605534
https://www.wsj.com/articles/vaping-related-lung-illnesses-rise-to-805-cdc-says-11569521732
Leafly did an investigation of the black market for THC, CBD, and counterfeit JUUL pods: https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/vape-pen-injury-supply-chain-investigation-leafly … Basically you can buy empty carts in real looking retail packaging straight from China and fill it up with who knows what. Bathtub gin all over again.
https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/vape-pen-injury-supply-chain-investigation-leafly
Republicans earlier in the week: You’re going to be amazed by the level of cooperation and transparency.
Republicans today: Breaking the law in a continued attempt to cover up Trump’s criminal behavior.
The chairmen of three House committees subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Friday over his failure to produce answers about Ukraine. "Pursuant to the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry, we are hereby transmitting a subpoena that compels you to produce the documents set forth in the accompanying schedule by October 4, 2019," the chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees wrote in a letter to Pompeo. In addition to the subpoena, Reps. Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel and Elijah Cummings informed the top US diplomat in a separate letter that they had deposed five State Department officials who have been mentioned in relation to the inquiry -- Ambassador Marie "Masha" Yovanovitch, Ambassador Kurt Volker, Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent, Counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl and Ambassador Gordon Sondland.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/pompeo-congressional-subpoena-ukraine/
House Judiciary members have pressed Chairman Nadler to invoke Congress's long-dormant inherent contempt authority that would allow Congress to jail or fine people for defying subpoenas, an idea he supports, people familiar with his thinking tell WaPo.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1176466310752014336?s=20
Impeachment inquiry right thing to do. But however impeachment plays out with true swing voters, Trump will leverage it to the max with his base. And potential base - thru voter registration. They have a ton of registration targets, more than most people realize.
https://twitter.com/davidplouffe/status/1177657989651525633
Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose actions as Trump’s personal lawyer have helped set in motion an impeachment inquiry, is set to appear as a paid speaker at a Kremlin-backed conference in Armenia on Tuesday — an event expected to include the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials. Giuliani confirmed to The Washington Post on Friday that he plans to take part in a panel at the conference sponsored by Russia and the Moscow-based Eurasian Economic Union, a trade alliance launched by Putin in 2014 as a counterweight to the European Union. According to an agenda for the event posted online, Giuliani is set to participate in a panel led by Sergey Glazyev, a longtime Putin adviser who has been under U.S. sanctions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine five years ago.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-set-to-make-paid-appearance-next-week-at-kremlin-backed-conference/2019/09/27/a15ab242-e133-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
http://ereforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/en11.pdf
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from detaining migrant children for indefinite periods
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2019/09/27/federal-judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-detaining-migrant-children-for-indefinite-periods/
I mentioned to @NicolleDWallace the video we recorded of Lindsey Graham getting teary eyed when talking about Biden back in 16. It really is worth watching again now
https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1177695059560599552
Fox News host claimed that Trump's sons stopped doing business deals internationally, only to be proven wrong the following day when Eric Trump touted approval for a new Trump golf resort in Scotland.
https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-host-trump-sons-scotland-1461666
White House admits Trump's Ukraine phone call record was moved to secret server
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ukraine-call-white-house-secret-server-impeachment-a9123536.html
Ambassador Kurt Volker, Trump’s Envoy for Ukraine, Resigns
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/politics/volker-ukraine-resigns.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Giuliani pulls out of event featuring Putin
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/463459-giuliani-to-speak-at-event-featuring-putin
NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre offered to help Trump fight off impeachment in exchange for him stopping 'the games' on gun reform
https://www.businessinsider.com/nra-trump-discussed-financial-support-not-backing-gun-control-nyt-2019-9
Pete Alonso hits #52, tying Aaron Judge’s rookie record
https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/e2c4ea09-367a-4b7c-a996-13afd8657b7a.mp4
Ukraine's former Foreign Minister has categorically rejected claims by Trump that Biden pressed for the sacking of a Ukrainian prosecutor to protect a business that employed his son. "The whole sense of this push was ... to deliver on reforms in Ukraine."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49856788
Rudy Giuliani won't testify without consulting Trump, citing attorney-client privilege, even though: “I’m not acting as a lawyer. I’m acting as someone who has devoted most of his life to straightening out government,” he continued, sounding out of breath. “Anything I did should be praised.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/giuliani-testimony-protected-interview/index.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/09/giuliani-ukraine-trump-biden/598879/
If he's his attorney, then he's violating the Logan act by acting as an agent of the government illegally. If he's not violating the Logan act, then he's not acting as his attorney.
If I just head on over to wiki I can see
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney–client_privilege
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney–client_privilege
There are a number of exceptions to the privilege in most jurisdictions, chief among them:
the communication was made in the presence of individuals who were neither attorney nor client, or was disclosed to such individuals, the communication was made for the purpose of committing a crime or tort
Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians are stacked teams
They are stacked teams that suffered everything all season long. All three teams should have won their divisions (Cleveland Indians are almost eliminated.....).
Their fanbases (including me, I support many teams, especially the Cubs and Mets) and all the players and coaches and all the people involved with each team (trainers, medical staff, etc) should feel vindicated that their teams were some of the last teams to be mathematically eliminated. All three teams held on to the very end. They fought hard each and every game and stayed in serious playoff contention until the last few days of the regular season. The Cleveland Indians will likely be eliminated Saturday or Sunday, they will have lasted to the very end. The Mets fans in particular should feel vindicated that despite all the drama/trauma, their team was in playoff contention until earlier this week. The Mets lasted until almost the end.
Their fanbases (including me, I support many teams, especially the Cubs and Mets) and all the players and coaches and all the people involved with each team (trainers, medical staff, etc) should feel vindicated that their teams were some of the last teams to be mathematically eliminated. All three teams held on to the very end. They fought hard each and every game and stayed in serious playoff contention until the last few days of the regular season. The Cleveland Indians will likely be eliminated Saturday or Sunday, they will have lasted to the very end. The Mets fans in particular should feel vindicated that despite all the drama/trauma, their team was in playoff contention until earlier this week. The Mets lasted until almost the end.
Four debunked talking points used to discredit the whistleblower complaint [washingtonpost]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/27/four-debunked-talking-points-used-discredit-whistleblower-complaint/
By Amber Phillips
September 27 at 8:50 AM
Four debunked talking points used to discredit the whistleblower complaint
To defend President Trump against the whistleblower allegations, Republicans in Congress are having to dodge or misstate some key facts. Here are the most common talking points they are using to discredit the complaint and why those don’t hold up.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/25/trumps-allies-congress-are-having-go-unusual-lengths-give-their-usual-defenses-him/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/house-intelligence-committee-releases-whistleblowers-complaint-citing-trumps-call-with-ukraines-president/2019/09/26/402052ee-e056-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html
Talking point No. 1: There is no quid pro quo — in the call or the whistleblower complaint
This is technically true. According to a rough transcript of Trump’s July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump didn’t say: Do this for me, and I’ll do this for you. But he didn’t have to be that explicit. The context surrounding this call would lead any reasonable person to believe that Trump had things to offer the Ukrainian president if he helped Trump out. Consider:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/25/rough-transcript-trumps-call-with-ukraines-president-annotated/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/09/20/his-call-with-trump-may-have-sparked-whistleblower-complaint-who-is-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky/?tid=a_inl_auto
- Days before the call, Trump froze bipartisan military aid to Ukraine.
- Trump mentioned he needed a "favor" from the president right after Zelensky indicated he would like to buy more Javelin missiles from the United States.
- Trump resisted a White House meeting with Zelensky, something Zelensky desperately wanted, for some time. After Zelensky appeared to agree to help Trump out, Zelensky suddenly got what he had long wanted. Trump said: "Good. Well, thank you very much, and I appreciate that. I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call. Thank you. Whenever you would like to come to the White House feel free to call. Give us a date, and we’ll work that out. I look forward to seeing you."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-trump-and-giuliani-pressured-ukraine-to-investigate-the-presidents-rivals/2019/09/20/0955801c-dbb6-11e9-a688-303693fb4b0b_story.html
Plus, the idea of a quid pro quo may be a red herring. "You normally don’t have a quid pro quo stated expressly," former federal prosecutor Randall Eliason told The Washington Post. "This is almost as close as you can get."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-rejected-investigation-of-trump-phone-call-just-weeks-after-it-began-examining-the-matter/2019/09/25/6f7977ce-dfb5-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
Talking point No. 2: The whistleblower has political motivations, and so the complaint can’t be trusted
Page 5 of a report about the whistleblower by Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general, mentions that the whistleblower has "arguable political bias … in favor of a rival candidate."
https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190826_-_icig_letter_to_acting_dni_unclass.pdf
But in the very next sentence, Atkinson also said he had determined that that did not affect the credibility of the complaint. "Such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern 'appears credible,’ particularly given the other information the [intelligence community inspector general] obtained during its preliminary review."
In other words, Atkinson reviewed all angles of potential conflicts of interest by this whistleblower and still found his or her complaint to be credible, including by finding separate evidence.
Also, in questioning Thursday in the House Intelligence Committee, acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire backed up the whistleblower’s credibility. (Maguire said he does not know who the whistleblower is, but read this exchange between him and Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/26/what-we-learned-joseph-maguires-testimony-about-whistleblower-complaint/
SCHIFF: You don’t believe the whistleblower is a political hack?
MAGUIRE: I believe the whistleblower is operating in good faith and has followed the law.
A few minutes later:
SCHIFF: Do you have any reason to accuse him or her of disloyalty to the country or suggest he is beholden to anything else but the country?
MAGUIRE: Absolutely not. I believe the whistleblower followed the steps every way.
[What we learned from Joseph Maguire's testimony about the whistleblower complaint]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/26/what-we-learned-joseph-maguires-testimony-about-whistleblower-complaint/
Finally, the inspector general who investigated the complaint found the whistleblower to have "subject matter expertise" about the material.
Talking point No. 3: The whistleblower had only secondhand knowledge
This is also true. But it’s not enough to discredit the entire complaint. If we think of the whistleblower as a reporter, the whistleblower talked to a lot of people who had firsthand knowledge.
In one key instance, we have original source material to back up what the whistleblower has alleged. So far, this person nailed the call between Trump and Zelensky. This person correctly reported nuances about how Trump not only asked about the Bidens, but asked Zelensky for help about other election-related topics.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/26/key-takeaways-allegations-trump-whistleblower-complaint/
Notably, Trump is said to have asked Zelensky to "assist in purportedly uncovering that allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election originated in Ukraine, with a specific request that the Ukrainian leader locate and turn over servers used by the Democratic National Committee and examined by the U.S. cyber security firm CrowdStrike."
That’s almost verbatim from the call:
TRUMP: I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike ... I guess you have one of your wealthy people … The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. I think you’re surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it if that’s possible.
The whistleblower also talked to half a dozen U.S. officials over the course of months to put together this complaint.
Does this mean we should take everything in this whistleblower complaint as truth? No, of course not. But it’s worth noting that this person has multiple sources in the room of the president.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-the-whistleblower-complaint-regarding-president-trump-s-communications-with-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky/4b9e0ca5-3824-467f-b1a3-77f2d4ee16aa/
Talking point No. 4: This is a 'secondhand conspiracy theory built on biased media reports’
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/white-house-talking-points-for-republicans-nothing-more-than-conspiracy-theories
The Washington Examiner reports that the White House gave this talking point to Republicans in Congress on Thursday to counter the complaint. The idea seems to be to discredit the complaint by tying it to distrust of the media.
The whistleblower does use public events, as reported by journalists, to bolster his or her claims and help paint a picture of a president abusing his power for personal gain. But those news reporters are used to bolster his or her own sources. For example, the whistleblower says that as the Ukrainian ambassador was about to lose her job, this person "learned from a U.S. official that 'associates’ of [Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani] were trying to make contact with the incoming Zelensky team."
Then this person makes the claim that Giuliani had helped oust the ambassador and cites Giuliani’s interview with a Ukrainian journalist that the ambassador was "removed … because she was part of the efforts against the President." This person also cites a New York Times article showing Giuliani planned to travel to Ukraine days after the ambassador lost her job "to press the Ukrainian government to pursue investigations that would help the President in his 2020 reelection bid."
News reports are part of the story, but they’re not the whistleblower’s only story. In addition, broadly speaking, the reporting by The Post and other outlets on the contents of this complaint have proved to be accurate.
By Amber Phillips
September 27 at 8:50 AM
Four debunked talking points used to discredit the whistleblower complaint
To defend President Trump against the whistleblower allegations, Republicans in Congress are having to dodge or misstate some key facts. Here are the most common talking points they are using to discredit the complaint and why those don’t hold up.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/25/trumps-allies-congress-are-having-go-unusual-lengths-give-their-usual-defenses-him/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/house-intelligence-committee-releases-whistleblowers-complaint-citing-trumps-call-with-ukraines-president/2019/09/26/402052ee-e056-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html
Talking point No. 1: There is no quid pro quo — in the call or the whistleblower complaint
This is technically true. According to a rough transcript of Trump’s July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump didn’t say: Do this for me, and I’ll do this for you. But he didn’t have to be that explicit. The context surrounding this call would lead any reasonable person to believe that Trump had things to offer the Ukrainian president if he helped Trump out. Consider:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/25/rough-transcript-trumps-call-with-ukraines-president-annotated/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/09/20/his-call-with-trump-may-have-sparked-whistleblower-complaint-who-is-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky/?tid=a_inl_auto
- Days before the call, Trump froze bipartisan military aid to Ukraine.
- Trump mentioned he needed a "favor" from the president right after Zelensky indicated he would like to buy more Javelin missiles from the United States.
- Trump resisted a White House meeting with Zelensky, something Zelensky desperately wanted, for some time. After Zelensky appeared to agree to help Trump out, Zelensky suddenly got what he had long wanted. Trump said: "Good. Well, thank you very much, and I appreciate that. I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call. Thank you. Whenever you would like to come to the White House feel free to call. Give us a date, and we’ll work that out. I look forward to seeing you."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-trump-and-giuliani-pressured-ukraine-to-investigate-the-presidents-rivals/2019/09/20/0955801c-dbb6-11e9-a688-303693fb4b0b_story.html
Plus, the idea of a quid pro quo may be a red herring. "You normally don’t have a quid pro quo stated expressly," former federal prosecutor Randall Eliason told The Washington Post. "This is almost as close as you can get."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-rejected-investigation-of-trump-phone-call-just-weeks-after-it-began-examining-the-matter/2019/09/25/6f7977ce-dfb5-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
Talking point No. 2: The whistleblower has political motivations, and so the complaint can’t be trusted
Page 5 of a report about the whistleblower by Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general, mentions that the whistleblower has "arguable political bias … in favor of a rival candidate."
https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190826_-_icig_letter_to_acting_dni_unclass.pdf
But in the very next sentence, Atkinson also said he had determined that that did not affect the credibility of the complaint. "Such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern 'appears credible,’ particularly given the other information the [intelligence community inspector general] obtained during its preliminary review."
In other words, Atkinson reviewed all angles of potential conflicts of interest by this whistleblower and still found his or her complaint to be credible, including by finding separate evidence.
Also, in questioning Thursday in the House Intelligence Committee, acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire backed up the whistleblower’s credibility. (Maguire said he does not know who the whistleblower is, but read this exchange between him and Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/26/what-we-learned-joseph-maguires-testimony-about-whistleblower-complaint/
SCHIFF: You don’t believe the whistleblower is a political hack?
MAGUIRE: I believe the whistleblower is operating in good faith and has followed the law.
A few minutes later:
SCHIFF: Do you have any reason to accuse him or her of disloyalty to the country or suggest he is beholden to anything else but the country?
MAGUIRE: Absolutely not. I believe the whistleblower followed the steps every way.
[What we learned from Joseph Maguire's testimony about the whistleblower complaint]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/26/what-we-learned-joseph-maguires-testimony-about-whistleblower-complaint/
Finally, the inspector general who investigated the complaint found the whistleblower to have "subject matter expertise" about the material.
Talking point No. 3: The whistleblower had only secondhand knowledge
This is also true. But it’s not enough to discredit the entire complaint. If we think of the whistleblower as a reporter, the whistleblower talked to a lot of people who had firsthand knowledge.
In one key instance, we have original source material to back up what the whistleblower has alleged. So far, this person nailed the call between Trump and Zelensky. This person correctly reported nuances about how Trump not only asked about the Bidens, but asked Zelensky for help about other election-related topics.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/26/key-takeaways-allegations-trump-whistleblower-complaint/
Notably, Trump is said to have asked Zelensky to "assist in purportedly uncovering that allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election originated in Ukraine, with a specific request that the Ukrainian leader locate and turn over servers used by the Democratic National Committee and examined by the U.S. cyber security firm CrowdStrike."
That’s almost verbatim from the call:
TRUMP: I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike ... I guess you have one of your wealthy people … The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. I think you’re surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it if that’s possible.
The whistleblower also talked to half a dozen U.S. officials over the course of months to put together this complaint.
Does this mean we should take everything in this whistleblower complaint as truth? No, of course not. But it’s worth noting that this person has multiple sources in the room of the president.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-the-whistleblower-complaint-regarding-president-trump-s-communications-with-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky/4b9e0ca5-3824-467f-b1a3-77f2d4ee16aa/
Talking point No. 4: This is a 'secondhand conspiracy theory built on biased media reports’
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/white-house-talking-points-for-republicans-nothing-more-than-conspiracy-theories
The Washington Examiner reports that the White House gave this talking point to Republicans in Congress on Thursday to counter the complaint. The idea seems to be to discredit the complaint by tying it to distrust of the media.
The whistleblower does use public events, as reported by journalists, to bolster his or her claims and help paint a picture of a president abusing his power for personal gain. But those news reporters are used to bolster his or her own sources. For example, the whistleblower says that as the Ukrainian ambassador was about to lose her job, this person "learned from a U.S. official that 'associates’ of [Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani] were trying to make contact with the incoming Zelensky team."
Then this person makes the claim that Giuliani had helped oust the ambassador and cites Giuliani’s interview with a Ukrainian journalist that the ambassador was "removed … because she was part of the efforts against the President." This person also cites a New York Times article showing Giuliani planned to travel to Ukraine days after the ambassador lost her job "to press the Ukrainian government to pursue investigations that would help the President in his 2020 reelection bid."
News reports are part of the story, but they’re not the whistleblower’s only story. In addition, broadly speaking, the reporting by The Post and other outlets on the contents of this complaint have proved to be accurate.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Extreme sea level events 'will hit once a year by 2050' | Climate report says intense storms and loss of marine life are already inevitable [theguardian]
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/25/extreme-sea-level-events-will-hit-once-a-year-by-2050
Extreme sea level events 'will hit once a year by 2050'
Climate report says intense storms and loss of marine life are already inevitable
Damian Carrington Environment editor
@dpcarrington
Wed 25 Sep 2019 05.00 EDT
Extreme sea level events that used to occur once a century will strike every year on many coasts by 2050, no matter whether climate heating emissions are curbed or not, according to a landmark report by the world's scientists.
The stark assessment of the climate crisis in the world's oceans and ice caps concludes that many serious impacts are already inevitable, from more intense storms to melting permafrost and dwindling marine life.
But far worse impacts will hit without urgent action to cut fossil fuel emissions, including eventual sea level rise of more than 4 metres in the worst case, an outcome that would redraw the map of the world and harm billions of people.
The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and approved by its 193 member nations, says that "all people on Earth depend directly or indirectly on the ocean" and ice caps and glaciers to regulate the climate and provide water and oxygen. But it finds unprecedented and dangerous changes being driven by global heating.
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srocc/
Sea level rise is accelerating as losses from Greenland and Antarctica increase, and the ocean is getting hotter, more acidic and less oxygenated. All these trends will continue to the end of the century, the IPCC report said.
Half the world's megacities, and almost 2 billion people, live on coasts. Even if heating is restricted to just 2C, scientists expect the impact of sea level rise to cause several trillion dollars of damage a year, and result in many millions of migrants.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6459/eaaw6974
"The future for low-lying coastal communities looks extremely bleak," said Prof Jonathan Bamber at Bristol University in the UK, who is not one of the report's authors. "But the consequences will be felt by all of us. There is plenty to be concerned about for the future of humanity and social order from the headlines in this report."
The new IPCC projections of likely sea level rise by 2100 are higher than those it made in 2014, due to unexpectedly fast melting in Antarctica. Without cuts in carbon emissions, the ocean is expected to rise between 61cm and 110cm, about 10cm more than the earlier estimate. A 10cm rise means an additional 10 million people exposed to flooding, research shows.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6459/eaaw6974
The IPCC considers the likely range of sea level rise but not the worst-case scenario. Recent expert analysis led by Bamber concluded that up to 238cm of sea level rise remains possible by 2100, drowning many megacities around the world. "This cannot be ruled out," said Zita Sebesvari at the United Nations University, a lead author of the IPCC report.
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/23/11195
Even if huge cuts in emissions begin immediately, between 29cm and 59cm of sea level rise is already inevitable because the ice caps and glaciers melt slowly. Sea level will rise for centuries without action, Sebesvari warned. "The dramatic thing about sea level rise is if we accept 1 metre happening by 2100, we accept we will get about 4 metres by 2300. That is simply not an option we can risk."
Extreme sea level impacts will be felt in many places very soon and well before 2050, Sebesvari said. The IPCC report states: "Extreme sea level events that [occur] once per century in the recent past are projected to occur at least once per year at many locations by 2050 in all scenarios."
The heating oceans are causing more intense tropical storms to batter coasts, the IPCC report found, with stronger winds and greater deluges of rain. For example, Hurricane Harvey's unprecedented deluge, which caused catastrophic flooding, was made three times more likely by climate change.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/13/global-warming-made-hurricane-harvey-deadly-rains-three-times-more-likely-research-shows
Ocean heating also harms kelp forests and other important ecosystems, with the marine heatwaves that sear through them like underwater wildfires having doubled in frequency in the last 40 years. They are projected to increase by at least 20 times by 2100, the IPCC reported.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/04/heatwaves-sweeping-oceans-like-wildfires-scientists-reveal
Extreme El Niño events, which see heatwaves in some regions and floods in others, are projected to occur twice as often this century whether emissions are cut or not, the report said. Coral reefs, vital nurseries for marine life, will suffer major losses and local extinctions. Across the ocean, heat, acidification and lower oxygen is set to cut fisheries by a quarter and all marine life by 15% if emissions are not slashed.
The IPCC report also records the large reduction in Arctic ice. This loss exacerbates global heating, because the exposed darker ocean absorbs more heat from the sun than highly reflective ice. On Monday, scientists announced that the Arctic sea ice in 2019 shrank to its second lowest extent in the 41-year satellite record.
https://nsidc.org/news/newsroom/arctic-sea-ice-minimum-extent-2019
The world's high mountain glaciers, upon which almost 2 billion people rely for water, are also melting fast, the IPCC found, while landslides are expected to increase. A third of the great Himalayan range is already doomed, with two-thirds projected to vanish if emissions are not cut.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/04/a-third-of-himalayan-ice-cap-doomed-finds-shocking-report
One of the most worrying alarms sounded by the IPCC report is about melting tundra and increasing wildfires in northern latitudes: "Widespread permafrost thaw is projected for this century and beyond." A quarter is already near certain to melt, it said, and 70% or more would go if emissions are not curbed. In the latter case, hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and methane could be released, supercharging the climate emergency.
"That risks taking us beyond the point where climate change could be easily constrained," said Richard Black, at the UK's Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. "Nevertheless, the IPCC's 2018 report concluded that governments can shrink emissions quickly enough to keep global warming to 1.5C if they choose. None can claim to be unaware of both the dangers of untrammelled climate change nor the feasibility of preventing it."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris and chair of the C40 Cities climate coalition, said the IPCC report was shocking. "Around 1.9 billion people and over half of the world's megacities are all in grave danger if we don't act immediately. Several cities, home to hundreds of thousands of people, are already disappearing underwater. This is what the climate crisis looks like now."
Taehyun Park, of Greenpeace East Asia, said: "The science is both chilling and compelling. The impacts on our oceans are on a much larger scale and happening way faster than predicted. It will require unprecedented political action to prevent the most severe consequences to our planet."
As well as cutting fossil fuel emissions, preparing for the inevitable impacts is also vital, said Sebesvari, especially in poorer nations that lack the funds to build sea walls, move settlements or restore protective coastal marshes.
"Action is needed now to secure the coast for our children and coming generations," she said. The pressure now being exerted by the global school strikes for climate was important, she said. "I have very strong motivation. I have two kids and we are really being tested by our kids on our actions."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/school-climate-strikes
Extreme sea level events 'will hit once a year by 2050'
Climate report says intense storms and loss of marine life are already inevitable
Damian Carrington Environment editor
@dpcarrington
Wed 25 Sep 2019 05.00 EDT
Extreme sea level events that used to occur once a century will strike every year on many coasts by 2050, no matter whether climate heating emissions are curbed or not, according to a landmark report by the world's scientists.
The stark assessment of the climate crisis in the world's oceans and ice caps concludes that many serious impacts are already inevitable, from more intense storms to melting permafrost and dwindling marine life.
But far worse impacts will hit without urgent action to cut fossil fuel emissions, including eventual sea level rise of more than 4 metres in the worst case, an outcome that would redraw the map of the world and harm billions of people.
The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and approved by its 193 member nations, says that "all people on Earth depend directly or indirectly on the ocean" and ice caps and glaciers to regulate the climate and provide water and oxygen. But it finds unprecedented and dangerous changes being driven by global heating.
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srocc/
Sea level rise is accelerating as losses from Greenland and Antarctica increase, and the ocean is getting hotter, more acidic and less oxygenated. All these trends will continue to the end of the century, the IPCC report said.
Half the world's megacities, and almost 2 billion people, live on coasts. Even if heating is restricted to just 2C, scientists expect the impact of sea level rise to cause several trillion dollars of damage a year, and result in many millions of migrants.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6459/eaaw6974
"The future for low-lying coastal communities looks extremely bleak," said Prof Jonathan Bamber at Bristol University in the UK, who is not one of the report's authors. "But the consequences will be felt by all of us. There is plenty to be concerned about for the future of humanity and social order from the headlines in this report."
The new IPCC projections of likely sea level rise by 2100 are higher than those it made in 2014, due to unexpectedly fast melting in Antarctica. Without cuts in carbon emissions, the ocean is expected to rise between 61cm and 110cm, about 10cm more than the earlier estimate. A 10cm rise means an additional 10 million people exposed to flooding, research shows.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6459/eaaw6974
The IPCC considers the likely range of sea level rise but not the worst-case scenario. Recent expert analysis led by Bamber concluded that up to 238cm of sea level rise remains possible by 2100, drowning many megacities around the world. "This cannot be ruled out," said Zita Sebesvari at the United Nations University, a lead author of the IPCC report.
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/23/11195
Even if huge cuts in emissions begin immediately, between 29cm and 59cm of sea level rise is already inevitable because the ice caps and glaciers melt slowly. Sea level will rise for centuries without action, Sebesvari warned. "The dramatic thing about sea level rise is if we accept 1 metre happening by 2100, we accept we will get about 4 metres by 2300. That is simply not an option we can risk."
Extreme sea level impacts will be felt in many places very soon and well before 2050, Sebesvari said. The IPCC report states: "Extreme sea level events that [occur] once per century in the recent past are projected to occur at least once per year at many locations by 2050 in all scenarios."
The heating oceans are causing more intense tropical storms to batter coasts, the IPCC report found, with stronger winds and greater deluges of rain. For example, Hurricane Harvey's unprecedented deluge, which caused catastrophic flooding, was made three times more likely by climate change.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/13/global-warming-made-hurricane-harvey-deadly-rains-three-times-more-likely-research-shows
Ocean heating also harms kelp forests and other important ecosystems, with the marine heatwaves that sear through them like underwater wildfires having doubled in frequency in the last 40 years. They are projected to increase by at least 20 times by 2100, the IPCC reported.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/04/heatwaves-sweeping-oceans-like-wildfires-scientists-reveal
Extreme El Niño events, which see heatwaves in some regions and floods in others, are projected to occur twice as often this century whether emissions are cut or not, the report said. Coral reefs, vital nurseries for marine life, will suffer major losses and local extinctions. Across the ocean, heat, acidification and lower oxygen is set to cut fisheries by a quarter and all marine life by 15% if emissions are not slashed.
The IPCC report also records the large reduction in Arctic ice. This loss exacerbates global heating, because the exposed darker ocean absorbs more heat from the sun than highly reflective ice. On Monday, scientists announced that the Arctic sea ice in 2019 shrank to its second lowest extent in the 41-year satellite record.
https://nsidc.org/news/newsroom/arctic-sea-ice-minimum-extent-2019
The world's high mountain glaciers, upon which almost 2 billion people rely for water, are also melting fast, the IPCC found, while landslides are expected to increase. A third of the great Himalayan range is already doomed, with two-thirds projected to vanish if emissions are not cut.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/04/a-third-of-himalayan-ice-cap-doomed-finds-shocking-report
One of the most worrying alarms sounded by the IPCC report is about melting tundra and increasing wildfires in northern latitudes: "Widespread permafrost thaw is projected for this century and beyond." A quarter is already near certain to melt, it said, and 70% or more would go if emissions are not curbed. In the latter case, hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and methane could be released, supercharging the climate emergency.
"That risks taking us beyond the point where climate change could be easily constrained," said Richard Black, at the UK's Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. "Nevertheless, the IPCC's 2018 report concluded that governments can shrink emissions quickly enough to keep global warming to 1.5C if they choose. None can claim to be unaware of both the dangers of untrammelled climate change nor the feasibility of preventing it."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris and chair of the C40 Cities climate coalition, said the IPCC report was shocking. "Around 1.9 billion people and over half of the world's megacities are all in grave danger if we don't act immediately. Several cities, home to hundreds of thousands of people, are already disappearing underwater. This is what the climate crisis looks like now."
Taehyun Park, of Greenpeace East Asia, said: "The science is both chilling and compelling. The impacts on our oceans are on a much larger scale and happening way faster than predicted. It will require unprecedented political action to prevent the most severe consequences to our planet."
As well as cutting fossil fuel emissions, preparing for the inevitable impacts is also vital, said Sebesvari, especially in poorer nations that lack the funds to build sea walls, move settlements or restore protective coastal marshes.
"Action is needed now to secure the coast for our children and coming generations," she said. The pressure now being exerted by the global school strikes for climate was important, she said. "I have very strong motivation. I have two kids and we are really being tested by our kids on our actions."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/school-climate-strikes
News Dump
The whistle-blower who revealed that Trump sought foreign help for his re-election and that the White House sought to cover it up is a C.I.A. officer who was detailed to work at the White House at one point, according to three people familiar with his identity. The man has since returned to the C.I.A., the people said. Little else is known about him. His complaint made public Thursday suggested he was an analyst by training and made clear he was steeped in details of American foreign policy toward Europe, demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of Ukrainian politics and at least some knowledge of the law. The whistle-blower’s expertise will likely add to lawmakers’ confidence about the merits of his complaint, and tamp down allegations that he might have misunderstood what he learned about Mr. Trump. He did not listen directly to a July call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that is at the center of the political firestorm over the president’s mixing of diplomacy with personal political gain.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/us/politics/who-is-whistleblower.html
In a closed-door meeting of oil and gas executives this summer in Colorado Springs, industry lawyer Mark Barron offered a bold proposal: Energy companies must accept that fossil fuels are helping to drive climate change. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s real, or not real, or what the issues are,” said Barron, who heads the energy litigation arm of Baker Hostetler. “That ship has sailed from a political perspective.” Barron added that any American younger than 40 had grown up learning that climate change is “an existential crisis that we need to address.” The recording of the June 24 meeting of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, which was obtained by The Washington Post, highlights a growing schism between the Trump administration and key players in the fossil fuel industry. Even as Trump officials work to repeal federal restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, some oil and gas executives say they have no choice but to press forward with plans to address climate change.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/when-it-comes-to-acknowledging-humans-role-in-climate-change-oil-and-gas-industry-lawyer-says-that-ship-has-sailed/2019/09/26/63c0d250-c9c2-11e9-a4f3-c081a126de70_story.html
Ukrainian President Says Trump Pledged to Help Him Take Crimea Back From Russia
https://www.newsweek.com/ukrainian-president-says-trump-pledged-help-him-take-crimea-back-russia-1461504
The $47 Trillion Death Sentence For Oil & Gas: Around 130 international banks, all present at the UN climate change summit in New York, have committed themselves to decrease their support and investments in the oil and gas sector the coming years
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-47-Trillion-Death-Sentence-For-Oil-Gas.html
Trump Admnistration moved records of Trump's conversations with foreign officials on to separate computer system
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-whistleblower-ukraine-call-records-foreign-officials-separate-computer-system-a9120961.html
Virginia county's entire board of Republican supervisors indicted | Fourteen people - all Republicans - were charged as part of the probe into alleged money laundering and embezzlement inside the local economic development authority, including all five members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, according to the Post. The grand jury also charged former Warren County Schools superintendent Luke Drescher (Republican) and former County Attorney Daniel Whitten (Republican).
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/463130-virginia-countys-entire-board-of-supervisors-indicted
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/entire-republican-county-board-indicted-for-21-million-embezzlement-scheme-outside-washington-dc/
Cheetahs 'face extinction within within 2 years because cubs are sold as pets'
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9997854/cheetahs-extinct-cubs-smuggled-sold-wealthy-arabs-pets/
Syria staged a chlorine attack in May in first confirmed violation of chemical-weapons ban since 2018 allied strike on regime
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-intelligence-finds-syrian-government-conducted-chlorine-rocket-attack-in-may-11569513600
Sales of plastic bags in England’s largest supermarkets have fallen by 90% in the four years since the government introduced a 5p levy | England’s seven largest supermarkets sold 490 million fewer single-use plastic bags in 2018/19 than the year before – a drop of almost half, the department for environment, food and rural affairs (DEFRA) has revealed. In 2014, more than 7.5 billion bags were sold per year. Five years on, just 1.1 billion were sold.
https://economia.icaew.com/news/august-2019/plastic-bag-use-down-90-in-england-since-5p-levy
Trump complains whistleblower's sources are like 'spies' and would have been dealt with 'differently' in the 'old days'
https://theweek.com/speedreads/868077/trump-complains-whistleblowers-sources-are-like-spies-have-been-dealt-differently-old-days
Trump Obsessed With Hillary Clinton’s Private Server Hid Documents On A Secret System
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-secret-system_n_5d8cd295e4b0e9e76048ee32?fhe
A former Ukrainian prosecutor who investigated a gas company tied to Hunter Biden said in interview that there was no evidence the former vice president's son engaged in illegal activity.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/hunter-biden-did-not-violate-anything-former-ukrainian-prosecutor-says-n1059136
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/us/politics/who-is-whistleblower.html
In a closed-door meeting of oil and gas executives this summer in Colorado Springs, industry lawyer Mark Barron offered a bold proposal: Energy companies must accept that fossil fuels are helping to drive climate change. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s real, or not real, or what the issues are,” said Barron, who heads the energy litigation arm of Baker Hostetler. “That ship has sailed from a political perspective.” Barron added that any American younger than 40 had grown up learning that climate change is “an existential crisis that we need to address.” The recording of the June 24 meeting of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, which was obtained by The Washington Post, highlights a growing schism between the Trump administration and key players in the fossil fuel industry. Even as Trump officials work to repeal federal restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, some oil and gas executives say they have no choice but to press forward with plans to address climate change.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/when-it-comes-to-acknowledging-humans-role-in-climate-change-oil-and-gas-industry-lawyer-says-that-ship-has-sailed/2019/09/26/63c0d250-c9c2-11e9-a4f3-c081a126de70_story.html
Ukrainian President Says Trump Pledged to Help Him Take Crimea Back From Russia
https://www.newsweek.com/ukrainian-president-says-trump-pledged-help-him-take-crimea-back-russia-1461504
The $47 Trillion Death Sentence For Oil & Gas: Around 130 international banks, all present at the UN climate change summit in New York, have committed themselves to decrease their support and investments in the oil and gas sector the coming years
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-47-Trillion-Death-Sentence-For-Oil-Gas.html
Trump Admnistration moved records of Trump's conversations with foreign officials on to separate computer system
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-whistleblower-ukraine-call-records-foreign-officials-separate-computer-system-a9120961.html
Virginia county's entire board of Republican supervisors indicted | Fourteen people - all Republicans - were charged as part of the probe into alleged money laundering and embezzlement inside the local economic development authority, including all five members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, according to the Post. The grand jury also charged former Warren County Schools superintendent Luke Drescher (Republican) and former County Attorney Daniel Whitten (Republican).
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/463130-virginia-countys-entire-board-of-supervisors-indicted
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/entire-republican-county-board-indicted-for-21-million-embezzlement-scheme-outside-washington-dc/
Cheetahs 'face extinction within within 2 years because cubs are sold as pets'
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9997854/cheetahs-extinct-cubs-smuggled-sold-wealthy-arabs-pets/
Syria staged a chlorine attack in May in first confirmed violation of chemical-weapons ban since 2018 allied strike on regime
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-intelligence-finds-syrian-government-conducted-chlorine-rocket-attack-in-may-11569513600
Sales of plastic bags in England’s largest supermarkets have fallen by 90% in the four years since the government introduced a 5p levy | England’s seven largest supermarkets sold 490 million fewer single-use plastic bags in 2018/19 than the year before – a drop of almost half, the department for environment, food and rural affairs (DEFRA) has revealed. In 2014, more than 7.5 billion bags were sold per year. Five years on, just 1.1 billion were sold.
https://economia.icaew.com/news/august-2019/plastic-bag-use-down-90-in-england-since-5p-levy
Trump complains whistleblower's sources are like 'spies' and would have been dealt with 'differently' in the 'old days'
https://theweek.com/speedreads/868077/trump-complains-whistleblowers-sources-are-like-spies-have-been-dealt-differently-old-days
Trump Obsessed With Hillary Clinton’s Private Server Hid Documents On A Secret System
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-secret-system_n_5d8cd295e4b0e9e76048ee32?fhe
A former Ukrainian prosecutor who investigated a gas company tied to Hunter Biden said in interview that there was no evidence the former vice president's son engaged in illegal activity.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/hunter-biden-did-not-violate-anything-former-ukrainian-prosecutor-says-n1059136
The $109 Million Lobbying Effort To Run A Pipeline Through National Treasures | The proposed 600-mile-long Atlantic Coast Pipeline would bisect the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway and a pair of national forests. [huffingtonpost]
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/atlantic-coast-pipeline-dominion-duke_b_5d8b9843e4b08d7f82bc9f07
The $109 Million Lobbying Effort To Run A Pipeline Through National Treasures
The proposed 600-mile-long Atlantic Coast Pipeline would bisect the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway and a pair of national forests.
09/25/2019 03:48 pm ET
By Frank Bass
A trio of utility giants building a natural gas pipeline that would cut across the Appalachian Trail has spent more than $109 million lobbying federal lawmakers and officials since the $7.8 billion project was unveiled five years ago, according to a MapLight analysis.
https://www.duke-energy.com/_/media/pdfs/our-company/investors/summer-update-2019-investor-meetings.pdf
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile-long project that has been compared to the Dakota Access Pipeline because of its stiff opposition from Native and local communities, would bisect the fabled trail, as well as the Blue Ridge Parkway and a pair of national forests.
Appeals courts have thrown out seven separate permits for the project, with sentiment running so high that one judge wrote an opinion using a quote from The Lorax to blast the U.S. Forest Service for its failure "to speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." Despite the setbacks, the utilities have continued to press their case, hoping the rulings can be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court or Congress. The companies ― Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, and Southern Co. ― have described the Atlantic Coast Pipeline as "a critical infrastructure project that will strengthen the economic vitality, environmental health, and energy security of the Mid-Atlantic region." The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which separately has spent almost $361 million lobbying since the project was announced, estimates economic losses of $91.9 billion and 730,000 lost jobs if the pipeline isn't built.
https://www.abralliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Status-of-Court-Challenges-to-the-Atlantic-Coast-Pipeline_20190803.pdf
https://shenandoahalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ACP-USFS-opinion.pdf
https://atlanticcoastpipeline.com/about/default.aspx
https://atlanticcoastpipeline.com/news/2018/12/19/study-shows-atlantic-coast-pipeline-opposition-could-negatively-affect-wv-economy.aspx
The battle over the pipeline highlights the shifting landscape for power companies, which have been presenting natural gas as an energy source that can serve as a bridge fuel during the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, even while the effects of climate change become more apparent. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would transfer as much as 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas daily from West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania shale fields to facilities in Virginia and North Carolina.
Opponents, however, warn that a pipeline leak or rupture would present potentially calamitous risks for large parts of Appalachia and add the pollution equivalent of 14 million additional cars. The project also has drawn criticism for its use of eminent domain to acquire land for the pipeline and its route, which would include a terminus in Robeson County, N.C., home to the largest Native tribe east of the Mississippi River.
https://www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/ACP-Fact-Sheet-FINAL_Oil-Change-Intl_Bold-Alliance.pdf
http://robesonrises.com/
http://ncvisitorcenter.com/Robeson_County.html
https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2019/08/29/appalachian-trail-dominion-energy-000943
"This isn't just a bad idea," Jonathan Jarvis, former National Park Service director, wrote in a Politico opinion piece last month. "It's an unprecedented one."
Fortune 500 Utilities
The consortium attempting to build the pipeline includes three of the most politically potent utilities in the nation; all are part of the Fortune 500. Dominion, which has a 48 percent stake in the project, is a Richmond, Va.-based monopoly that exerts legendary control over Virginia politics. The company is the largest corporate campaign donor in the state and gave at least $10 million to Virginia political campaigns between 1998 and 2018, according to a Food & Water Watch study. Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, took office in 2018 while holding as much as $50,000 of the company's stock. A 2018 Virginia Senate bill that would have prevented public service companies from making campaign contributions was soundly defeated in committee.
https://fortune.com/fortune500/2019/search/?industry=Utilities%3A%20Gas%20and%20Electric
https://public-accountability.org/report/the-power-behind-the-pipelines-atlantic-coast-pipeline/
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/fact-sheet-dominion-energy%E2%80%99s-undue-political-influence-hurts-virginians-and-climate
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/northam-owns-stock-in-dominion-other-companies-with-extensive-interests-in-virginia/2017/10/18/438e54ac-af80-11e7-99c6-46bdf7f6f8ba_story.html
https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/general-assembly/senate-committee-kills-bill-to-ban-campaign-donations-from-public/article_98fdc546-b271-571a-98c4-5cf50853b0be.html
Since the project's inception in 2014, Dominion has spent more than $11.8 million lobbying federal lawmakers and agencies. Company lobbyists reported at least 86 instances of attempts to influence pipeline policy. More than two dozen lobbying reports included specific references to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project.
The company has sought bipartisan support in the nation's capital. Attorney General William Barr served on Dominion's board for a decade and owned $2.8 million of its stock in December 201. Earlier this summer, Solicitor General Noel Francisco ― the fourth-highest ranking person in the U.S. Justice Department ― asked the Supreme Court for extra time to prepare a Trump administration appeal on behalf of the pipeline owners. The company also spent more than $2.7 million for services from SKDKnickerbocker, a consulting and public relations firm whose managing director, Anita Dunn, is a top adviser for the Democratic presidential campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden.
http://appvoices.org/2019/06/07/pipeline-legal-disputes-escalate/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dominion-us-pipeline-natgas/u-s-asks-supreme-court-for-more-time-on-atlantic-coast-natgas-pipe-appeal-idUSKCN1SS2FM
https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/05/14/skdknickerbocker-biden-advisor-anita-dunn-fracked-gas-dominion-energy
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/440668-former-obama-aide-anita-dunn-joins-biden-team
Duke, which has a 47 percent stake in the project, has spent more than $31 million lobbying since mid-2014. The Charlotte, N.C.-based monopoly is almost as politically powerful in its home state as Dominion is in Virginia. Former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, worked for Duke for 28 years before winning his first statewide race in 2012. Between 2014 and 2018, the company gave more than $3.9 million to the Republican Governors Association; NC WARN, a 30-year-old nonprofit that describes its mission as "watch-dogging Duke Energy practices and building people power for a swift North Carolina transition to clean, renewable, and affordable power generation," estimates the company spends roughly $80 million annually to shape public opinion. The nonprofit teamed up with Friends of the Earth in November to petition the North Carolina Utilities Commission to prevent Duke from using customer revenues for "pervasive influence spending."
https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_donors.php?url=527cmtedetail_donors.php%3Fcycle%3D2018%26ein%3D113655877&cname=Duke&ein=113655877&cycle=2018
https://www.ncwarn.org/about-us/
https://www.ncwarn.org/our-work/ban-duke-influence-spending/
https://www.ncwarn.org/2018/11/groups-begin-legal-action-to-ban/
Southern Co., which owns 5 percent of the project, has been tied closely to the Trump administration. The Atlanta-based utility, whose chief executive has cast doubt on the role people play in climate change, gave $100,000 to the president's inaugural fund and $1 million to America First Policies, a pro-Trump "dark money" nonprofit criticized for racist, sexist, homophobic, and anti-Muslim views expressed by its staff.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/like-the-new-epa-chief-southern-companys-ceo-doesnt-see-co2-as-main-reason-for-climate-change.html
https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/286/201704180300150286/201704180300150286.pdf
https://maplight.org/story/southern-co-cvs-dow-chemical-funding-trump-dark-money-group-tied-to-racist-anti-semitic-views/
The company has spent more than $66 million on lobbying since mid-2014.
"David and Goliath"
Although the three companies have touted a poll claiming public support for the project, a wide range of people and organizations have united to stop the pipeline. The Lewisburg, W.Va.-based Appalachian Mountains Advocates, a nonprofit, argued that the pipeline would "provide economic incentive to increase destructive fracking throughout Appalachia."
https://www.energyandpolicy.org/front-group-cea-releases-poll-showing-support-dominion-atlantic-coast-pipeline/
https://www.newsadvance.com/nelson_county_times/news/poll-most-virginia-west-virginia-north-carolina-residents-back-atlantic/article_1d42c9cc-3f5a-11e7-9012-a3139f339cba.html
http://www.appalmad.org/pipelines/
The pipeline also has drawn opposition in Virginia. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is responsible for regulating pipelines, received almost 6,000 public comments when it solicited input on the project in 2015. More than one-third of the comments originated from Nelson County, a suburb of Charlottesville, Va., and 99 percent of the comments expressed concerns about the pipeline's impact on health, water, and forests.
https://www.ferc.gov/legal/court-cases/briefs/2019/DC18-1224etal.pdf
http://friendsofnelson.com/key-log/
A 2017 study partially funded by Friends of Nelson, a local nonprofit that opposes the project, raised the specter of landslides posing hazards to people, property, and waterways. The construction would require a 125-foot-wide strip of land across roughly 2,700 private parcels of land, much of it running through steep, mountainous terrain.
http://friendsofnelson.com/
https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/newswire/high-risk-landslides-atlantic-coast-pipelines-dangers-ignored/
http://appvoices.org/fracking/atlantic-coast-pipeline/
Buckingham County, Va., where a massive compressor station would release toxic compounds into the air near a plantation-era community that was settled by freed blacks after the Civil War, also has emerged as a high-profile battleground. A University of Virginia study found 85 percent of residents living within a 1.1-mile radius of the compressor station are black. The Virginia Advisory Council on Environmental Justice called for a moratorium on the pipeline work in August 2018 until the social ramifications of the project could be investigated.
http://www.friendsofbuckinghamva.org/friends/learning-center/compressor/
http://www.friendsofbuckinghamva.org/friends/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Fjord-Union-Hill-Community-Household-Study-12-17-18-Lakshmi-Fjord.pdf
https://www.roanoke.com/business/advisory-council-asks-northam-to-stop-pipeline-work-but-governor/article_e4243b18-d631-5201-99b0-83966292f4be.html
A spokeswoman for the governor said earlier this year that Northam hopes the pipeline owners will "listen and respond to the concerns of this important historic community and act as a good neighbor." "The legacy of placing toxic facilities in places where they disproportionately affect poor communities of color is unjust and unacceptable and needs acute examination," Friends of Buckingham, a community organization opposing the pipeline, wrote in a December 2018 petition to the State Air Pollution Control Board. "It is not right to look the other way while this continues."
https://www.thenation.com/article/ralph-northam-union-hill-atlantic-coast-pipeline-racial-justice/
https://www.friendsofbuckinghamva.org/friends/letter-of-support-for-justice-for-union-hill-with-support-from-karenna-gore-and-others-12-8-18/
Former Vice President Al Gore was blunter, calling the location "a reckless, racist ripoff."
https://www.whsv.com/content/news/Al-Gore-meets-with-Virginians-fighting-gas-pipeline-station-506099901.html
Racial issues have emerged in North Carolina, as well. Members of the Lumbee Tribe, the largest non-reservation tribe in the nation, argued they weren't consulted about potential environmental impacts of the pipeline, such as its potential routing over unmarked ancestral graves. The National Congress of American Indians, which said as many as two dozen tribes could be affected by the pipeline, passed a resolution in June 2018 citing "gross neglect of the trust relationship by the responsible federal agency" and called for a re-examination of the pipeline's impact on historic sites.
https://www.facingsouth.org/2018/03/atlantic-coast-pipeline-faces-native-american-resistance
http://www.ncai.org/resources/resolutions/support-for-meaningful-tribal-consultation-in-accordance-with-applicable-laws-to-identify-and-mitigate-the-adverse-impacts-of-the-atlantic-coast-pipeline-on-affected-indian-tribes
The pipeline's impact on current businesses also has drawn criticism. The consortium attempted to claim part of a 50-acre distillery owned by Rep. Denver Riggleman, a Virginia Republican. While few landowners have the clout of a federal lawmaker, pipeline opponents have cobbled together a coalition of 51 organizations known as the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance "to work to limit the inevitable environmental damage." "It is a David and Goliath story," one landowner told Energy News, "and David is getting some good shots in here."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/riggleman-contender-for-va-governor-takes-on-utility-giant-dominion/2017/01/31/fb6b93ce-e7cf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html
http://www.abra-csi.org/
The $109 Million Lobbying Effort To Run A Pipeline Through National Treasures
The proposed 600-mile-long Atlantic Coast Pipeline would bisect the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway and a pair of national forests.
09/25/2019 03:48 pm ET
By Frank Bass
A trio of utility giants building a natural gas pipeline that would cut across the Appalachian Trail has spent more than $109 million lobbying federal lawmakers and officials since the $7.8 billion project was unveiled five years ago, according to a MapLight analysis.
https://www.duke-energy.com/_/media/pdfs/our-company/investors/summer-update-2019-investor-meetings.pdf
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile-long project that has been compared to the Dakota Access Pipeline because of its stiff opposition from Native and local communities, would bisect the fabled trail, as well as the Blue Ridge Parkway and a pair of national forests.
Appeals courts have thrown out seven separate permits for the project, with sentiment running so high that one judge wrote an opinion using a quote from The Lorax to blast the U.S. Forest Service for its failure "to speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." Despite the setbacks, the utilities have continued to press their case, hoping the rulings can be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court or Congress. The companies ― Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, and Southern Co. ― have described the Atlantic Coast Pipeline as "a critical infrastructure project that will strengthen the economic vitality, environmental health, and energy security of the Mid-Atlantic region." The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which separately has spent almost $361 million lobbying since the project was announced, estimates economic losses of $91.9 billion and 730,000 lost jobs if the pipeline isn't built.
https://www.abralliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Status-of-Court-Challenges-to-the-Atlantic-Coast-Pipeline_20190803.pdf
https://shenandoahalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ACP-USFS-opinion.pdf
https://atlanticcoastpipeline.com/about/default.aspx
https://atlanticcoastpipeline.com/news/2018/12/19/study-shows-atlantic-coast-pipeline-opposition-could-negatively-affect-wv-economy.aspx
The battle over the pipeline highlights the shifting landscape for power companies, which have been presenting natural gas as an energy source that can serve as a bridge fuel during the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, even while the effects of climate change become more apparent. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would transfer as much as 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas daily from West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania shale fields to facilities in Virginia and North Carolina.
Opponents, however, warn that a pipeline leak or rupture would present potentially calamitous risks for large parts of Appalachia and add the pollution equivalent of 14 million additional cars. The project also has drawn criticism for its use of eminent domain to acquire land for the pipeline and its route, which would include a terminus in Robeson County, N.C., home to the largest Native tribe east of the Mississippi River.
https://www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/ACP-Fact-Sheet-FINAL_Oil-Change-Intl_Bold-Alliance.pdf
http://robesonrises.com/
http://ncvisitorcenter.com/Robeson_County.html
https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2019/08/29/appalachian-trail-dominion-energy-000943
"This isn't just a bad idea," Jonathan Jarvis, former National Park Service director, wrote in a Politico opinion piece last month. "It's an unprecedented one."
Fortune 500 Utilities
The consortium attempting to build the pipeline includes three of the most politically potent utilities in the nation; all are part of the Fortune 500. Dominion, which has a 48 percent stake in the project, is a Richmond, Va.-based monopoly that exerts legendary control over Virginia politics. The company is the largest corporate campaign donor in the state and gave at least $10 million to Virginia political campaigns between 1998 and 2018, according to a Food & Water Watch study. Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, took office in 2018 while holding as much as $50,000 of the company's stock. A 2018 Virginia Senate bill that would have prevented public service companies from making campaign contributions was soundly defeated in committee.
https://fortune.com/fortune500/2019/search/?industry=Utilities%3A%20Gas%20and%20Electric
https://public-accountability.org/report/the-power-behind-the-pipelines-atlantic-coast-pipeline/
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/fact-sheet-dominion-energy%E2%80%99s-undue-political-influence-hurts-virginians-and-climate
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/northam-owns-stock-in-dominion-other-companies-with-extensive-interests-in-virginia/2017/10/18/438e54ac-af80-11e7-99c6-46bdf7f6f8ba_story.html
https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/general-assembly/senate-committee-kills-bill-to-ban-campaign-donations-from-public/article_98fdc546-b271-571a-98c4-5cf50853b0be.html
Since the project's inception in 2014, Dominion has spent more than $11.8 million lobbying federal lawmakers and agencies. Company lobbyists reported at least 86 instances of attempts to influence pipeline policy. More than two dozen lobbying reports included specific references to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project.
The company has sought bipartisan support in the nation's capital. Attorney General William Barr served on Dominion's board for a decade and owned $2.8 million of its stock in December 201. Earlier this summer, Solicitor General Noel Francisco ― the fourth-highest ranking person in the U.S. Justice Department ― asked the Supreme Court for extra time to prepare a Trump administration appeal on behalf of the pipeline owners. The company also spent more than $2.7 million for services from SKDKnickerbocker, a consulting and public relations firm whose managing director, Anita Dunn, is a top adviser for the Democratic presidential campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden.
http://appvoices.org/2019/06/07/pipeline-legal-disputes-escalate/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dominion-us-pipeline-natgas/u-s-asks-supreme-court-for-more-time-on-atlantic-coast-natgas-pipe-appeal-idUSKCN1SS2FM
https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/05/14/skdknickerbocker-biden-advisor-anita-dunn-fracked-gas-dominion-energy
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/440668-former-obama-aide-anita-dunn-joins-biden-team
Duke, which has a 47 percent stake in the project, has spent more than $31 million lobbying since mid-2014. The Charlotte, N.C.-based monopoly is almost as politically powerful in its home state as Dominion is in Virginia. Former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, worked for Duke for 28 years before winning his first statewide race in 2012. Between 2014 and 2018, the company gave more than $3.9 million to the Republican Governors Association; NC WARN, a 30-year-old nonprofit that describes its mission as "watch-dogging Duke Energy practices and building people power for a swift North Carolina transition to clean, renewable, and affordable power generation," estimates the company spends roughly $80 million annually to shape public opinion. The nonprofit teamed up with Friends of the Earth in November to petition the North Carolina Utilities Commission to prevent Duke from using customer revenues for "pervasive influence spending."
https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_donors.php?url=527cmtedetail_donors.php%3Fcycle%3D2018%26ein%3D113655877&cname=Duke&ein=113655877&cycle=2018
https://www.ncwarn.org/about-us/
https://www.ncwarn.org/our-work/ban-duke-influence-spending/
https://www.ncwarn.org/2018/11/groups-begin-legal-action-to-ban/
Southern Co., which owns 5 percent of the project, has been tied closely to the Trump administration. The Atlanta-based utility, whose chief executive has cast doubt on the role people play in climate change, gave $100,000 to the president's inaugural fund and $1 million to America First Policies, a pro-Trump "dark money" nonprofit criticized for racist, sexist, homophobic, and anti-Muslim views expressed by its staff.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/like-the-new-epa-chief-southern-companys-ceo-doesnt-see-co2-as-main-reason-for-climate-change.html
https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/286/201704180300150286/201704180300150286.pdf
https://maplight.org/story/southern-co-cvs-dow-chemical-funding-trump-dark-money-group-tied-to-racist-anti-semitic-views/
The company has spent more than $66 million on lobbying since mid-2014.
"David and Goliath"
Although the three companies have touted a poll claiming public support for the project, a wide range of people and organizations have united to stop the pipeline. The Lewisburg, W.Va.-based Appalachian Mountains Advocates, a nonprofit, argued that the pipeline would "provide economic incentive to increase destructive fracking throughout Appalachia."
https://www.energyandpolicy.org/front-group-cea-releases-poll-showing-support-dominion-atlantic-coast-pipeline/
https://www.newsadvance.com/nelson_county_times/news/poll-most-virginia-west-virginia-north-carolina-residents-back-atlantic/article_1d42c9cc-3f5a-11e7-9012-a3139f339cba.html
http://www.appalmad.org/pipelines/
The pipeline also has drawn opposition in Virginia. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is responsible for regulating pipelines, received almost 6,000 public comments when it solicited input on the project in 2015. More than one-third of the comments originated from Nelson County, a suburb of Charlottesville, Va., and 99 percent of the comments expressed concerns about the pipeline's impact on health, water, and forests.
https://www.ferc.gov/legal/court-cases/briefs/2019/DC18-1224etal.pdf
http://friendsofnelson.com/key-log/
A 2017 study partially funded by Friends of Nelson, a local nonprofit that opposes the project, raised the specter of landslides posing hazards to people, property, and waterways. The construction would require a 125-foot-wide strip of land across roughly 2,700 private parcels of land, much of it running through steep, mountainous terrain.
http://friendsofnelson.com/
https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/newswire/high-risk-landslides-atlantic-coast-pipelines-dangers-ignored/
http://appvoices.org/fracking/atlantic-coast-pipeline/
Buckingham County, Va., where a massive compressor station would release toxic compounds into the air near a plantation-era community that was settled by freed blacks after the Civil War, also has emerged as a high-profile battleground. A University of Virginia study found 85 percent of residents living within a 1.1-mile radius of the compressor station are black. The Virginia Advisory Council on Environmental Justice called for a moratorium on the pipeline work in August 2018 until the social ramifications of the project could be investigated.
http://www.friendsofbuckinghamva.org/friends/learning-center/compressor/
http://www.friendsofbuckinghamva.org/friends/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Fjord-Union-Hill-Community-Household-Study-12-17-18-Lakshmi-Fjord.pdf
https://www.roanoke.com/business/advisory-council-asks-northam-to-stop-pipeline-work-but-governor/article_e4243b18-d631-5201-99b0-83966292f4be.html
A spokeswoman for the governor said earlier this year that Northam hopes the pipeline owners will "listen and respond to the concerns of this important historic community and act as a good neighbor." "The legacy of placing toxic facilities in places where they disproportionately affect poor communities of color is unjust and unacceptable and needs acute examination," Friends of Buckingham, a community organization opposing the pipeline, wrote in a December 2018 petition to the State Air Pollution Control Board. "It is not right to look the other way while this continues."
https://www.thenation.com/article/ralph-northam-union-hill-atlantic-coast-pipeline-racial-justice/
https://www.friendsofbuckinghamva.org/friends/letter-of-support-for-justice-for-union-hill-with-support-from-karenna-gore-and-others-12-8-18/
Former Vice President Al Gore was blunter, calling the location "a reckless, racist ripoff."
https://www.whsv.com/content/news/Al-Gore-meets-with-Virginians-fighting-gas-pipeline-station-506099901.html
Racial issues have emerged in North Carolina, as well. Members of the Lumbee Tribe, the largest non-reservation tribe in the nation, argued they weren't consulted about potential environmental impacts of the pipeline, such as its potential routing over unmarked ancestral graves. The National Congress of American Indians, which said as many as two dozen tribes could be affected by the pipeline, passed a resolution in June 2018 citing "gross neglect of the trust relationship by the responsible federal agency" and called for a re-examination of the pipeline's impact on historic sites.
https://www.facingsouth.org/2018/03/atlantic-coast-pipeline-faces-native-american-resistance
http://www.ncai.org/resources/resolutions/support-for-meaningful-tribal-consultation-in-accordance-with-applicable-laws-to-identify-and-mitigate-the-adverse-impacts-of-the-atlantic-coast-pipeline-on-affected-indian-tribes
The pipeline's impact on current businesses also has drawn criticism. The consortium attempted to claim part of a 50-acre distillery owned by Rep. Denver Riggleman, a Virginia Republican. While few landowners have the clout of a federal lawmaker, pipeline opponents have cobbled together a coalition of 51 organizations known as the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance "to work to limit the inevitable environmental damage." "It is a David and Goliath story," one landowner told Energy News, "and David is getting some good shots in here."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/riggleman-contender-for-va-governor-takes-on-utility-giant-dominion/2017/01/31/fb6b93ce-e7cf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html
http://www.abra-csi.org/
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