News Dump

Emaciated grizzly bears in Canada spark greater concerns over depleted salmon population
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/03/americas/emaciated-grizzly-bears-knights-inlet-canada-trnd-scn/index.html

Pakistan rejects bill introduced by a Christian MP; non-Muslims can’t become Prime Minister or President
https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/pak-national-assembly-rejects-bill-non-muslim-cant-be-countrys-pm-or-president20191002194738/

I received your letter this morning shortly after the world witnessed President Trump on national television asking yet another foreign power to interfere in the upcoming 2020 elections. We hope you and other Republicans share our commitment to following the facts, upholding the Constitution, protecting our national security, and defending the integrity of our elections at such a serious moment in our nation’s history.
https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/10319

In May 2019, Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoisky said Giuliani was orchestrating a clear conspiracy against Biden
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/03/may-ukrainian-oligarch-said-giuliani-was-orchestrating-clear-conspiracy-against-biden/

Republicans doing all this work to falsely accuse Schiff of fabricating conduct the president has admitted to, only for the president to commit the impeachable offense again on camera.

Trump Goes on Live Television to Do Exact Thing Whistleblower Said He Did
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-china-ukraine-biden-impeach-894329/

Letter Proves GOP Senators Echoed, Amplified Biden’s Call to Oust Ukraine’s Chief Prosecutor
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/old-letter-proves-gop-senators-echoed-amplified-bidens-call-to-oust-ukraines-chief-prosecutor/

Trump is currently, this morning, calling on foreign leaders to investigate Biden in the midst of an impeachment proceeding about whether he has encouraged foreign leaders to investigate Biden

You don't have to trust the whistleblower, you have the president himself saying it.

52 U.S. Code § 30121: Trump said on Thursday he wanted Ukraine and China to investigate political rival and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his son, openly advocating an action that triggered a Democratic impeachment inquiry in Congress.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-publicly-urges-china-ukraine-investigate-bidens-amid-impeachment-inquiry-n1061956
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/us/politics/trump-china-bidens.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/03/trump-calls-for-ukraine-china-to-investigate-the-bidens.html

Trump just committed a felony violation of law by soliciting something of value in connection with a US election from a foreign government on national TV.

FEC chairwoman Ellen L Weintraub reiterates illegality of soliciting campaign help from foreign governments
https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1179783410820292608

Trump's copyright-violating Nickelback meme has been reposted on the White House YouTube channel
https://theweek.com/speedreads/869469/trumps-copyrightviolating-nickelback-meme-been-reposted-white-house-youtube-channel

Four police officers killed in Paris knife attack
https://news.sky.com/story/man-attacks-police-officers-with-knife-in-paris-11826248

Trump Ousted Ambassador After Giuliani Claimed She Was Blocking Biden Probe
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/giuliani-trump-ambassador-ukraine

Rick Perry expected to resign in November (moot because his term would have ended inauguration day anyway)
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/03/rick-perry-expected-to-resign-000189

CNN Journalist Jim Sciutto: I’ve lived in China & covered it for decades. It is an authoritarian country with no credible rule of law which imprisons & kills political opponents. For a US president to call on such a country to investigate an American is incredible. Will Republicans who know this object?
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/publicly-engaging-in-criminal-behavior-now-president-trump-openly-considers-asking-china-to-investigate-bidens/

House Democrats are preparing to subpoena the White House for a slew of documents later this week, if the administration continues to block the release of information related to President Donald Trump’s July 25 call with the president of Ukraine.
https://www.vox.com/2019/10/2/20895047/democrats-subpoena-trump-impeachment-inquiry

SC Democrat Jaime Harrison raises record $2.1M in bid for Lindsey Graham’s US Senate seat
https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/sc-democrat-jaime-harrison-raises-million-for-bid-to-unseat/article_fa709d2a-e538-11e9-b63f-432ab49a0cdd.html

Kurt Volker: Diplomat never 'fully on the Trump train' set to appear as as first witness in Ukraine probe
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/02/politics/kurt-volker-who-and-why/index.html

Corey Lewandowski Accused Of Being Drunk Live On Air, Is Dismissed By Host In Fox Business Interview: 'You Sound A Little Slurry'
https://www.newsweek.com/lewandowski-kennedy-fox-business-slurring-drunk-1462834

James F. McDonnell, a presidential appointee who over the last two years downsized the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to prevent terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, has agreed to resign.
McDonnell’s resignation, department sources said, comes at the request of acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and would become effective at noon on Thursday, according to an email McDonnell sent his staff at 12:57 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-02/trump-appointee-who-downsized-counter-terrorism-efforts-to-resign

Ukraine’s Ex-President Says Biden Never Asked to Close Cases
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-02/ukraine-s-ex-president-says-biden-never-asked-to-close-cases

Democrats now probing Mike Pence and Rick Perry's roles in Trump's Ukraine scheme
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/02/democrats-now-probing-mike-pence-and-rick-perrys-roles-in-trumps-ukraine-scheme/

Trump used Mike Pence to tell Ukraine the US would withhold military aid while demanding they investigate corruption
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-pence-ukraine-us-withhold-aid-corruption-probe-2019-10

Mike Pence aide monitored Donald Trump's call with Ukraine president
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/02/mike-pence-aide-monitored-ukraine-call-impeachment-inquiry/3847645002/

Giuliani is admitting to manufacturing White House logos and sticking them on non-White House documents and pushing the real government to act on them: Giuliani Says Some of the Documents State Dept IG Handed to Congress Came From Him
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rudy-giuliani-says-some-of-the-documents-state-dept-ig-handed-to-congress-originated-with-him

DOJ Orders White House Staff to ‘Preserve All Presidential Records’ Related to Trump’s Talks With Foreign Leaders
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/doj-orders-white-house-staff-to-preserve-all-presidential-records-related-to-trumps-talks-with-foreign-leaders/

Giuliani consulted on Ukraine with imprisoned Paul Manafort via a lawyer
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/giuliani-consulted-on-ukraine-with-imprisoned-paul-manafort-via-a-lawyer/2019/10/02/7a6dc542-e486-11e9-b7da-053c79b03db8_story.html

If We Want US Democracy Back, We Must Undo Attack on Middle Class Launched by Reagan
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/10/02/if-we-want-us-democracy-back-we-must-undo-attack-middle-class-launched-reagan

These Photos of Trump's Meltdown With the Finnish President Are, Collectively, a Work of Art
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/g29343536/trump-meltdown-finland-president-photos/

The Red Liquid An Anti-Vax Protester Threw At California Legislators Was Human Blood, Tests Confirm
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/anti-vax-protester-human-blood-california-senate

One of the last Democratic holdouts against impeachment, New York Rep. Max Rose, came out in favor of the inquiry against President Donald Trump Wednesday night. During a transportation town hall where more than 100 local residents came out, Rose said in a 9-minute speech that he supports impeachment. “While the president of the United States may be willing to violate the constitution to get reelected, I will not shirk my duty, and I will not violate my oath. I will support and defend the United States Constitution," Rose said. “And for that reason... I intend to fully support this impeachment inquiry and follow the facts,” Rose said, largely blaming the administration for stonewalling the inquiry so far.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kadiagoba/max-rose-impeachment-trump-new-york-democrats

Tampa Bay Rays' Charlie Morton is the first pitcher in Major League History to win his first 3 Winner Take All elimination games. The Oakland Athletics extend their losing streak in winner-take-all games to 9. That's the longest such streak in MLB history. Rays Bullpen vs OAK: 4 IP 3H 0R 0BB 8K. Massive applause to Oakland fans (and baseball fans, not all the people at the game were fans of the team) who showed up for their team: 54,005 in the house, a wild-card record.

O'Rourke: 'When the Second Amendment was ratified, it took 3 minutes to reload a musket'
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/o-rourke-when-the-second-amendment-was-ratified-it-took-3-minutes-to-reload-a-musket-70478917537

Mets have fired Mickey Callaway
https://twitter.com/joelsherman1/status/1179790904032411649?s=21

Hong Kong on 'verge of extreme danger' as police arrest 269 over National Day violence
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/hong-kong-protests-police-arrests-verge-extreme-danger-china-11963214

Someone should inform the president that impeachable offenses committed on national television still count.
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1179792280955363328

Another Detained Immigrant Has Died In ICE Custody — Nebane Abienwi, 37, from Cameroon had a “hypertensive event,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ice-immigrant-death-nebane-abienwi_n_5d9608c6e4b0da7f6622b7cb

Trump says McConnell assured him the Ukraine call was ‘perfect’ | Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's staff said he has made no statements about Ukraine, as President Trump said this morning.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article235751592.html
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-impeachment-inquiry-10-03-2019/h_19e986a67666c14f6f16a94cb765de6e

McConnell won't offer him any assurances and he's freaking the fuck out about it. This is a very common tactic Trump uses. When someone tells him something he doesn't want to hear, he'll go out and publicly say the opposite, trying to force the other party's hand. "Comey told me I wasn't under investigation. Our dinner was PERFECT." It's like what Cohen said about him not giving direct orders but speaking in code. He is telling McConnell to publicly show support by making this statement. It's also similar to the other day when he out of nowhere claimed Pelosi isn't speaker of the house anymore. He wasn't just spouting ridiculous shit with that. He was signaling to his allies that he wants her removed from that position. He's just too stupid to know it doesn't work like that

Trump to sign an executive order banning "Medicare For All" (opening up the criteria to cover everybody)
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/03/trump-to-issue-executive-order-protecting-americans-from-medicare-for-all.html

Within an hour of Trump declaring on the White House lawn Thursday that the Chinese and Ukrainian governments should investigate both Joe and Hunter Biden, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi to suspend the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry in a letter Thursday.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mccarthy-letter-pelosi-impeachment-inquiry-suspension-request

McCarthy also thought Russia pays Trump money. And he very publically admitted Benghazi was a political hit job against Hillary. This was while he was like top two in consideration for speaker of the house.

DeVos' security detail expected to cost nearly $7.9M in next year
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/03/political-insider-devos-security-expected-cost-7-9-m-next-year/3820070002/

ICE is using fake Facebook accounts to track undocumented immigrants and lure them into sting operations
https://www.businessinsider.com/ice-used-fake-facebook-accounts-for-raids-report-2019-10

White House Floats Potential DOJ Investigation Into ‘Joe Biden and His Family’
https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-floats-potential-doj-investigation-into-joe-biden-and-his-family

Florida gun bill seeks to allow citizens to conceal carry without a license
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/oct/3/florida-gun-bill-seeks-to-allow-citizens-to-concea/

Nunes files $75M lawsuit over Esquire facrual reportage about his family farm in Iowa (Nunes pretends he runs a farm in California....)
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/464229-nunes-files-75m-lawsuit-over-esquire-story-about-secret-iowa-dairy

I’ve lived in China & covered it for decades. It is an authoritarian country with no credible rule of law which imprisons & kills political opponents. For a US president to call on such a country to investigate an American is incredible. Will Republicans who know this object?
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1179771950207557633

An update on the vaping epidemic: The CDC and state agencies have now reported 1,080 lung injury cases and 18 deaths linked to vaping. They refuse to acknowledge the fact that these people overdosed on THC (the main ingredient in marijuana).
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/health/vaping-illness-tracker.html

Meanwhile a braindead shitfaced "judge" temporarily blocked Gov. Andrew Cuomo's ban on flavored e-liquid, a ban to SAVE LIVES.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EF-mH7YWoAAjWyk.jpg

This is what the president's inner-circle, conspiracy sites, and allies on Fox News actually believe: The DNC framed Russia for their hack, just in case Trump won, so they could impeach him. Barr & Giuliani have flown around the world trying to prove it.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/trump-seized-conspiracy-theory-called-insurance-policy-now-it-s-n1062096

In newly disclosed text messages shared with Congress, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine writes to a group of other American diplomats that "I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” The exchange, provided by another American diplomat, former U.S Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker as part of his closed-door deposition before multiple House committees Thursday, shows what appears to be encrypted text messages he exchanged with two other American diplomats in September regarding aid money Donald Trump ordered to be held back from Ukraine.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/top-diplomat-ukraine-crazy-withhold-security-sasistance-political/story?id=66039011

Republicans are preparing an avalanche of TV ads targeting Joe Biden in early primary states — its most aggressive step yet to meddle in the Democratic nomination contest. Starting this weekend, the reelection effort will air over $1 million in anti-Biden commercials in Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Nevada, according to two people familiar with the move. The spots focus on Trump’s claim that the former vice president and his son engaged in corruption in Ukraine.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/03/trump-biden-campaign-bomb-early-voting-026369

Trump ordered the removal of the former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch because she refused to bully Ukraine into launching a smear campaign against Joe and Hunter Biden: Giuliani tells WSJ outright that Yovanovitch was seen "as an obstacle to efforts to push Ukraine to investigate Mr. Biden and his son, Hunter."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-ordered-ukraine-ambassador-removed-after-complaints-from-giuliani-others-11570137147

Giuliani says he gave Pompeo a 9-page document that Giuliani himself fabricated dated March 28 that included a timeline of the Bidens’ dealings in Ukraine and allegations of impropriety against the ambassador, including that she was “very close” to Biden. A month later, she was recalled.

Violent protests have erupted across much of Iraq as demonstrators poured into the streets, embittered about poor public services, corruption and unemployment. By early Thursday, 14 people were confirmed dead by the Health Ministry and by hospitals: five in Baghdad and nine in Nasiriya, in southern Iraq. Hundreds of others were wounded, primarily by rubber bullets and tear gas, and in some cases by live ammunition. The ministry said on Wednesday that 100 to 200 demonstrators were being treated for injuries at Baghdad hospitals. Counterterrorism police officers were deployed near the city’s airport to prevent protesters from storming it. The situation remained tense overnight in Baghdad and in several southern provinces, as the government took strict measures to bring mass demonstrations under control: A curfew was imposed in the affected areas and the internet was shut down to make it more difficult for protesters to organize on social media.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/world/middleeast/iraq-corruption-protests.html

Matt Lieberman, son of former Democratic vice presidential candidate and senator Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), is running in a special election for a Georgia Senate seat. Matt Lieberman (D) announced Thursday that he is seeking to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson (R), who said in August that he would retire at the end of 2019 because of health problems. Lieberman is the first Democrat to reveal his intention to run for Isakson’s seat in next year’s election. | Lieberman, 52, is an entrepreneur who runs a health-care business, helped launch a scholarship program for low-income students and developed an anti-hunger and homelessness program, according to his campaign website. He is a single father of two daughters, holds a law degree from Yale University and once worked as a teacher. Lieberman vowed on his campaign website to lower drug costs and insurance premiums, combat Georgia’s new law banning abortion after physicians can detect a fetal heartbeat, ban the sale of “weapons of war, like the AR-15” and require universal background checks for people seeking to buy guns. His campaign website also took aim at the Supreme Court decision in the 2000 presidential election that Republican nominee George W. Bush had won the race against Democratic nominee Al Gore and his running mate, Joseph Lieberman. Matt Lieberman wrote that Democrat Stacey Abrams’s loss to former Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp (R) in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election was “another questionable election result” and called for a new Voting Rights Act.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/03/matt-lieberman-son-former-vp-nominee-launches-senate-run-georgia/
https://liebermanforsenate.com/
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2000/00-949

A source familiar with the investigation prompted by the whistleblower tells me that the “indicia of bias of an arguable political bias on the part“ of the whistleblower referred to by the Intel Community IG, is that the whistleblower is a Registered Democrat.
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1179862262653358082

The attorney for the whistleblower declined to comment. The IG said "such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern 'appears credible' particularly given the other information the ICIG obtained during its preliminary review."
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1179867502421123074

Barr is a Republican but somehow he is trustworthy investigating a conversation he was named in? Was Barr reached for comment?? Or was our Nation's AG still jetting around with Gorka to discredit our intelligence service for Trump?
https://twitter.com/FT1965/status/1179866378641104896

Folks @CNN love to chase these ridiculously unimportant bits and give them validity. It's part of the reason we have tRUMP.
https://twitter.com/DesertRoses88/status/1179869283851145229

it would a surprise to NO ONE that the whistleblower would be a Democrat.. Republicans have proven they would turn a blind eye to any and all corruption they came across.
https://twitter.com/brunello4me/status/1179868297342283776

An Internal Revenue Service official has filed a whistleblower complaint reporting that he was told at least one Treasury Department political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of the president or vice president’s tax returns, according to multiple people familiar with the document.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/irs-whistleblower-said-to-report-treasury-political-appointee-might-have-tried-to-interfere-in-audit-of-trump-or-pence/2019/10/03/0c768b34-e52e-11e9-a331-2df12d56a80b_story.html


Mike Pence Is Now Tweeting, Deleting, and Tweeting News Stories About Himself Calling for an Investigation of the Bidens
https://time.com/5692356/pence-backs-trump-biden-investigation/

Mike Pence Says He Backs Trump on Calls for Foreign Governments to Investigate Bidens
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/mike-pence-is-now-tweeting-news-stories-about-himself-calling-for-an-investigation-of-the-bidens/

Reps Lieu And Rice Call For Bribery Investigation Into NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre
https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-lieu-and-rice-call-bribery-investigation-nra-chief-executive-wayne

Donald Trump hints at launch of state-run media, says he wants to "start our own network"
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-considering-launch-state-run-media-wants-start-our-own-network-1463042

Two of Trump’s top envoys to Ukraine drafted a statement for the country’s new president in August that would have committed Ukraine to pursuing investigations sought by Mr. Trump into his political rivals, three people briefed on the effort said. The drafting of the statement marks new evidence of how Mr. Trump’s fixation with Ukraine began driving senior diplomats to bend American foreign policy to Trump's political agenda in the weeks after the July 25 call between the two leaders.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/us/politics/trump-ukraine.html 

Pence was told about call between Trump and Zelensky the day after it happened
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/mike-pence-ukraine-call/index.html