Light News

12 Republicans who stormed closed-door impeachment proceedings already had permission to attend
https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-stormed-closed-impeachment-hearing-but-were-allowed-to-attend-2019-10
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/23/heres-why-matt-gaetz-sit-in-stunt-was-particularly-weird/

However they brought their recording devices, which is a federal felony, so they all should have been arrested THEN AND THERE.

White House Threatens to Veto Bill Requiring Campaigns to Report ‘Illicit Offers’ From Foreign Governments
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/white-house-threatens-to-veto-bill-requiring-campaigns-to-report-illicit-offers-from-foreign-governments/

Trump Student Loan Official Resigns, Call For Cancellation of Billions in Debts | One of the Trump administration's top education officials has announced his intention to quit, and endorsed the cancellation of $925 billion in existing students loans, according to the Wall Street Journal. A. Wayne Johnson was appointed chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid in 2017, and later became chief strategy and transformation officer in the department. Johnson reportedly called the student loan system “fundamentally broken,” and added: “We run through the process of putting this debt burden on somebody… but it rides on their credit files—it rides on their back—for decades ... The time has come for us to end and stop the insanity.” Johnson proposes forgiving up to $50,000 for anyone with federal student-loan debt, which would cancel the entire student-loan balances of as many as 37 million borrowers. Johnson is reportedly planning a bid for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Johnny Isakson, who is set to retire at the end of the year for health reasons.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-wayne-johnson-trump-student-loan-official-to-resign-call-for-cancellation-of-billions-in-debts

US air quality dropped during Trump presidency after years of improvement, leading to thousands of premature deaths
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-air-quality-pollution-trump-obama-deaths-epa-a9168716.html

National Enquirer Buried 60 Damaging Stories About Donald Trump Before Election, Ronan Farrow claims
https://www.newsweek.com/national-enquirer-60-trump-damaging-stories-ronan-farrow-catch-kill-1467445

Government Loophole Gave Oil Companies an $18 Billion Windfall | The United States government has lost billions of dollars of oil and gas revenue to fossil-fuel companies because of a loophole in a decades-old law, a federal watchdog agency said Thursday, offering the first detailed accounting of the consequences of a misstep by lawmakers that is expected to continue costing taxpayers for decades to come. The loophole dates from an effort in 1995 to encourage drilling in the Gulf of Mexico by offering oil companies a temporary break from paying royalties on the oil produced. However, the rule was poorly written — and the temporary reprieve was accidentally made permanent on some wells. As a result, some of the biggest oil companies in the world, including Chevron, Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and others, have avoided paying at least $18 billion in royalties on oil and gas drilled since 1996, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. The companies, which hold government leases to drill in the Gulf, continue to extract oil and gas from those wells while not being required to pay royalties, a right the industry has gone to court to defend.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/climate/oil-lost-revenue-gao.html

U.S. Military Could Collapse Within 20 Years Due to Climate Change, Report Commissioned By Pentagon Says
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbmkz8/us-military-could-collapse-within-20-years-due-to-climate-change-report-commissioned-by-pentagon-says

Videos emerge showing apparent atrocities in northern Syria as US envoy says Turkish-backed rebels have committed war crimes
https://www.businessinsider.com/turkey-syria-videos-war-crimes-us-accuses-2019-10

6% of all U.S. adults with public Twitter accounts accounts for 73% of tweets from American adults that mention national politics.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/23/a-small-group-of-prolific-users-account-for-a-majority-of-political-tweets-sent-by-u-s-adults/

An internal memo warned that the White House might get hacked again because so many cybersecurity officials have resigned
https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-internal-memo-hack-warning-because-cyber-experts-resigned-2019-10

ISIS is staging attacks in symbolically important places to send a message: We're back
https://www.businessinsider.com/isis-oil-field-and-raqqa-attacks-send-a-message-2019-10

Latin-American Marine Corps vet was deported to El Salvador with no warning
https://thehill.com/latino/467197-marine-corps-vet-who-served-in-iraq-is-deported-to-el-salvador-his-lawyer-says

Elijah Cummings to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, the 1st black lawmaker accorded that honor
https://theweek.com/speedreads/874031/elijah-cummings-lie-state-capitol-1st-black-lawmaker-accorded-that-honor

The Pro-Trump Super PAC at the Center of the Ukraine Scandal Has Faced Multiple Campaign Finance Complaints | Randy Perkins donated $500,000 to America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC, a day after his company won federal money as part of a contract. The same PAC was dubbed “Committee 1” in a federal indictment alleging illegal donations from two Rudy Giuliani associates.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-pro-trump-super-pac-at-the-center-of-the-ukraine-scandal-has-faced-multiple-campaign-finance-complaints

Trump calls Republicans who don't support him 'human scum'
https://theweek.com/speedreads/873994/trump-calls-republicans-who-dont-support-human-scum

Seth Meyers mocks Republicans over impeachment inquiry hearing stunt: "It looks like a protest at a pharmacy that ran out of viagra"
https://www.newsweek.com/seth-meyers-republican-impeachment-hearing-stunt-viagra-1467428

National Archives launches investigation into Wilbur Ross's private email use
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/467240-national-archives-launches-investigation-into-wilbur-rosss-private

Former President Barack Obama to speak at Rep. Elijah Cummings’ funeral service in Baltimore, spokeswoman says
https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-obama-cummings-funeral-20191024-h7n2yqflnjcfpl6dbl6lfx3g2u-story.html

BBC has made its international news website available via Tor, which can help people in China and other countries avoid government surveillance and censorship. Instead of visiting bbc.co.uk or bbc.com, users of Tor browser can visit bbcnewsv2vjtpsuy.onion, which will not work in a regular browser.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50150981

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on Wednesday began rolling blackouts stretching from the Sierra foothills in the northeast to portions of the San Francisco Bay Area. A couple of counties kept their power until after midnight. The blackouts impact a half-million people — or nearly 180,000 customers — in 15 counties, and PG&E warned that a second round of outages could occur over the weekend when winds return to the region.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation-world/story/2019-10-24/californians-hit-with-2nd-round-of-sweeping-blackouts

The Italian prime minister has informed William Barr that they played no role in the events leading to the Russia investigation, taking the air out of an unsubstantiated theory promoted by Trump and his allies in recent weeks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/world/europe/italy-trump-conspiracy-conte.html

Foxconn finally admits its empty Wisconsin ‘innovation centers’ aren’t being developed
https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/23/20929453/foxconn-innovation-centers-on-hold-wisconsin-mount-pleasant-trump-deal

White House Press Secretary: Those ‘Against’ Trump Deserve to Be Called ‘Human Scum’
https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-press-secretary-grisham-those-against-trump-deserve-to-be-called-human-scum

Kurds attacked by Turkish-backed fighters day after Trump boasts of 'permanent' ceasefire
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/24/kurds-attacked-turkish-backed-fighters-day-trump-boasts-permanent/

ICE Officer Who Drove Truck Into Jewish Protesters Won’t Be Charged
https://forward.com/fast-forward/433552/ice-immigration-jewish-never-again-action/

Senate Republicans confirms Trump judicial pick labeled 'not qualified' by American Bar Association
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/467345-senate-confirms-trump-judicial-pick-labeled-not-qualified-by-american-bar

LOL Tulsi pondering third-party run LOL HILLARY IS ALWAYS RIGHT ABOUT EVERY FUCKING THING: SCOOP: @TulsiGabbard breaks bread with Wall Street fat cats at @huntandfishnyc; event sponsored by Dem fundraiser @robertwolf32 as she is said to weigh third-party run more now @FoxBusiness @TeamCavuto dotcom story to come
https://twitter.com/CGasparino/status/1187406236301570051

She has been establishing a 3rd party run rational at least back to when she started talking about how unfair the DNC was to her, well before HRC made any comments.

what a horrible libel by Hillary Clinton to suggest that Tulsi Gabbard might do that thing Tulsi Gabbard is obviously planning to do
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1187458772043739136

Trump Reoublican Administration Delays Lifesaving Protections for Wolverine, Hermes Copper Butterfly, Candy Darter, 43 Other Species
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/10/21/trump-administration-delays-lifesaving-protections-wolverine-hermes-copper

Tim Ryan drops out of presidential race
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/tim-ryan-drops-out-presidential-race-n1065796

It was extremely inappropriate for Rep. Katie Hill to have a sexual relationship with her staffer. It’s also disgusting and wrong for anyone to publish or share those nude photos of her, which amount to revenge porn. Both things can be true at once.
https://twitter.com/LEBassett/status/1187456985790332928

'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos says that she has documents supporting claims that Trump attacked her in a hotel room in 2007, THR reports. Zervos told a court about calendar entries, old emails, correspondence with Fox News, and a polygraph test.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1187460031727460357

Read the Trump Administration’s Warning Letter to Laura Cooper. The No. 2 Pentagon Official told Ms. Cooper, the military's Russia-Ukraine expert, not to talk to Congress. She Did Anyway.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/politics/laura-cooper-pentagon-letter.html

The White House’s trade representative in late August withdrew a recommendation to restore some of Ukraine’s trade privileges after John Bolton, then-national security adviser, warned him that Trump probably would oppose any action that benefited the government in Kyiv, according to people briefed on the matter. The warning to Robert E. Lighthizer came as Trump was withholding $391 million in military aid and security assistance from Ukraine. | The August exchange between Bolton and Lighthizer over the trade matter represents the first indication that the administration’s suspension of assistance to Ukraine extended beyond the congressionally authorized military aid and security assistance to other government programs. It is not clear whether Trump directed Bolton to intervene over Ukraine’s trade privileges or was even aware of the discussion.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/white-house-delayed-ukraine-trade-decision-in-august-a-signal-that-us-suspension-of-cooperation-extended-beyond-security-funds/2019/10/24/a42b8992-f67d-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html

Lindsey Graham was a House manager in the Clinton impeachment and, as part of that, he and his colleagues carried out a "closed door impeachment process". Lindsey Graham in 1998 praised depositions in the House impeachment probe, calling them a “very smart thing to do” before public hearings. Today, not surprisingly, Republicans are ripping House Dems for closed depositions

So far, @KamalaHarris @BetoORourke @PeteButtigieg @CoryBooker & @ewarren have all knocked doors & helped candidates in Virginia ahead of Election Day on 11/5. That's what responsible party leadership looks like.
https://twitter.com/amandalitman/status/1187471706316632064

WATCH🚨: @BetoORourke is back in Fredericksburg, VA for the second time in this race and spoke at a canvass kickoff for #VA28 House of Delegates candidate @JCole4VA before joining him to knock on some doors!
https://twitter.com/susiedrapes/status/1185967537932120065

The office created under the Trump administration to protect whistleblowers in the Department of Veterans Affairs is doing the opposite by putting whistleblowers at risk, according to a report released on Thursday by the agency's inspector general. According to the blistering report, the office failed to push out poorly performing senior officials, did not conduct accurate or unbiased investigations and may not have protected identities of people who reported waste or harm to veterans. The Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection was established to make it easier and safer to blow the whistle on wasteful spending or abuse at Veterans Affairs, but the report found "significant deficiencies" in carrying out its central objective.
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/24/773113507/trumps-whistleblower-protection-office-didn-t-shield-sources-inspector-general-s
https://www.va.gov/oig/publications/report-summary.asp?id=4709

Gyunduz Mamedov was a key go-between in Rudy Giuliani's Ukraine adventure. Last Friday he was named Ukraine's deputy prosecutor general. | But Mamedov's role was key. He was an intermediary in Giuliani's efforts to press Ukraine to open investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and the debunked conspiracy theory about the country's interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to documents reviewed and interviews conducted during a collaboration between BuzzFeed News, NBC News and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). The documents and interviews show Mamedov was integral in setting up at least two sets of meetings that are now the focus of Congressional investigators pursuing an impeachment inquiry against Trump. And while Shokin and Lutsenko have been sidelined after being fired in 2016 and 2019, respectively, Mamedov was appointed as a deputy prosecutor general on Friday, according to a statement by Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO).
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/newly-promoted-prosecutor-acted-go-between-giuliani-ukraine-n1071501

Vengeful deer fatally attacks hunter who shot it
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deer-attacks-hunter-who-shot-it-in-arkansas/

Trump Illegally And Unconstitutionally Cancels Subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/business/media/trump-subscription-new-york-times.html

The House Transportation committee issued a subpoena to the General Services Administration Thursday seeking financial records and other information regarding President Trump’s D.C. hotel. The hotel operates in the federally-owned Old Post Office Pavilion, on a lease that Trump signed in 2013 when he was still with his company, but which has become the center of lawsuits and conflict-of-interest concerns since he took office. According to a copy of the subpoena, sent by committee chairman Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) to GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, the committee is seeking any communications between the GSA and President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump or Eric Trump and the agency, as well as monthly financial records the Trump Organization provides to the agency.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-issues-subpoenas-for-documents-related-to-trumps-dc-hotel-which-is-housed-in-a-federally-owned-building/2019/10/24/ec3c25b0-f692-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html

Brazil deploys 5,000 troops as fury mounts at inaction over worst oil spill in country's history
https://news.yahoo.com/brazil-deploys-5-000-troops-193411079.html

Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to impanel a grand jury and to file criminal charges.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/politics/john-durham-criminal-investigation.html

Republicans aiming to discredit Taylor’s testimony as hearsay - as Thune walks back concerns over Taylor’s account about Trump withholding Ukraine aid - and two key chairman, Burr and Risch, signal they aren’t probing why the aid was delayed
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/24/politics/gop-sharpens-impeachment-defense/index.html

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus gather around the casket of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings. https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/1187507831957794818

Astros GM Jeff Luhnow was asked whether he had personally reached out to Stephanie Apstein to apologize. Luhnow said he’s been busy and hasn’t had the time. Stephanie was sitting in the room.
https://twitter.com/thehazelmae/status/1187505844591697920

At what point do people stop saying it’s all about one guy and start realizing that it’s not THE guy, but a group of like-minded people who think this isn’t a big deal? Clearly more people than just Taubman feel that way in that front office.

House Unanimously Approves Bill to Make Animal Cruelty a Federal Offense | Violators could face up to seven years in prison under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/us/politics/animal-cruelty-pact-act-bill.html
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/724

The White House is considering options for leaving about 500 U.S. troops in northeast Syria and for sending dozens of battle tanks and other equipment, officials said Thursday, the latest in an array of scenarios following Trump’s decision this month to remove all troops there. The options, presented by military officials, would represent a reversal from the American withdrawal Trump wanted. It also would modify U.S. objectives—from countering Islamic State extremists to also safeguarding oil fields in eastern Syria with additional troops and new military capability.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-weighs-leaving-more-troops-sending-battle-tanks-to-syria-11571958019

Turkey’s Lobbyists Had Deep Access to Trump White House
https://www.courthousenews.com/turkeys-lobbyists-had-deep-access-to-trump-white-house/

The @crookedmedia network partnered with @SeanMcElwee & @DataProgress to raise $232,128 from 4201 donors for Virginia state legislative races. Winning these races will help us pass important legislation and fix the gerrymandered congressional maps during redistricting.
https://twitter.com/TVietor08/status/1187505813440479232

Permafrost melt is releasing twice as much carbon than previously thought and turning Arctic tundra into a climate change contributor, says new study | 'In a given year, more carbon is being lost than what is being taken in. It is happening already.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7606051/Study-Permafrost-melt-releasing-TWICE-carbon-thought-driving-climate-change.html

Denmark approves stripping IS fighters of citizenship
https://www.dw.com/en/denmark-approves-stripping-is-fighters-of-citizenship/a-50970297