A federal judge on Thursday erupted at the Trump administration when he
learned that two asylum seekers fighting deportation were at that moment
being deported and on a plane to El Salvador. DC District Judge Emmet
Sullivan then blocked the administration from deporting the two
plaintiffs while they are fighting for their right to stay in the US --
excoriating the administration and threatening to hold Attorney General
Jeff Sessions in contempt.
Friday, August 10, 2018
There’s 'No Question' a Progressive Woman Will Replace Keith Ellison in Congress. But Who Will It Be?
By Maryam Saleh
The group Women Winning has
become a fixture in Minnesota politics after working to support
pro-choice women running for office for the last 32 years. Among the
success stories listed on its website is the story of Margaret Anderson Kelliher —
“the second woman to serve as Speaker of the Minnesota House and the
first woman to receive a major party’s endorsement for Governor in
Minnesota.”
Kelliher lost her shot at the state’s
highest office in 2010, despite securing the endorsement of the
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, as the Democratic Party is known in
Minnesota, and she has been out of politics ever since. But after a
shake-up in Minnesota Democratic politics created a rare opening in the
state’s 5th Congressional District in June, Kelliher decided to enter
the fray once more.
Primary voters in the district tend to
be mostly female, and an endorsement by Women Winning, a political
action committee that is essentially the local equivalent of EMILY’s
List, carries a lot of weight. Given that Women Winning already touts
Kelliher on its website, one might presume that the group’s endorsement
was a given. But in a sign of the changing times — at a moment when
insurgent candidates are working to defeat the old guard of the
Democratic Party — the group overlooked the candidate it champions as
core to its success. It instead opted to endorse Ilhan Omar,
a freshman state representative, in the 5th District race. Omar
participated in the organization’s training program for candidates and
earned its backing during her 2016 entree into politics.
The crowded primary field includes
Somali-American activist and engineer Jamal Abdulahi and former
Republican Frank Drake, but is largely viewed as a three-way contest
between Kelliher, Omar, and Patricia Torres Ray, who has been a state
senator for 12 years. The 5th District seat is highly coveted: Its
current occupant, Keith Ellison, is just one of three people to hold
that job in the last 55 years.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Intercept_
US Army Suspends Discharges of Foreign-Born Recruits in Citizenship Programme After Soldiers' Lawsuits
Lawyer and retired lieutenant colonel Margaret Stock says the memo is 'an admission by the army that they are violating the soldiers' rights'
By Paul Sonne
The US army
is suspending discharges of foreign-born recruits who enlisted as part
of a special military programme that put them on the path to US citizenship, following lawsuits by soldiers who say they have been expelled unfairly and without explanation.
In a 20 July memo, a top army personnel official ordered the
service to “suspend processing of all involuntary separation actions”
for individuals in the programme and ordered a review of the discharge
procedures for affected soldiers by 15 August.
Marshall Williams, acting assistant secretary of the army for
manpower and reserve affairs, also asked the army deputy chief of staff
in charge of personnel to recommend whether additional guidance should
be issued regarding the discharge procedures for individuals who
enlisted through the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest programme (Mavni).
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Independent
SPLC's 'Intelligence Report' Highlights Hate Crimes Targeting the Nation's Most Vulnerable Communities
The latest issue of the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) Intelligence Report shines a light on
victims of hate who are often overlooked and calls attention to under-reported, under-investigated and under-prosecuted hate crimes. It
dives deep into the radical right at a time when confronting white
supremacy and bigotry is more important than it's been in decades.
Click here to access the report.
Source: SPLC
Deadnamed (Questions Surround Police Investigations of Murdered Transgender Women)
Update, Aug. 10, 2018: This story was updated to reflect that an arrest was made in the non-fatal shooting of a 23-year-old transgender woman.
Aea Celestice, a black transgender woman living in Jacksonville,
Florida, has the most basic of plans for the next chapter of her life:
She hopes to get out of town before someone kills her.
Celestice, 32, has good reason to worry. Over the past six months,
four black trans women in the city have been shot, three of them
fatally.
Celine Walker, 36, was shot to death in her room at an Extended Stay
America hotel near the University of North Florida on the night of the
Super Bowl, Feb. 4. On June 1, Antonia “Antash’a” English, 38, was
killed outside an abandoned home north of downtown. And on June 24,
Cathalina James, 24, was gunned down in a room at a Quality Inn on the
city’s south side.
The cases have left Celestice and others in Jacksonville’s
transgender community rattled but it’s been the handling of the
investigations by authorities that’s stirred outrage. In public
statements and official documents, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has
repeatedly identified the victims as men, refusing to call them by the
names they chose to use in their lives.
While an arrest has been made in the shooting of a 23-year-old trans
woman, all three murders remain unsolved, and the insistence on
referring to transgender women as men has left Celestice wondering just
how much effort is being made to find the killer or killers. She wonders
whether anyone outside of her community cares.
“There doesn’t seem to be a concern for anybody,” Celestice said. “I
guess other people have other things going on in their lives than being
concerned about a trans woman getting murdered.”
Click here for the full article.
Source: ProPublica
Omarosa Claims Trump Repeatedly Used ‘N-Word’ During ‘The Apprentice’
Former “Apprentice” contestant and White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman claims President Donald Trump repeatedly used “the N-word,” according to The Guardian, which obtained an advance copy of her forthcoming book Unhinged.
Newman, who left the White House last year, says that Trump used the racial slur while taping “The Apprentice” and that he was caught on camera. Trump starred on the reality TV show for years.
Rumors have for years swirled that such outtakes exist. In her book, to be released on Tuesday, Newman does not specify whether she heard Trump use the slur or whether she saw footage of him using it. She says she heard him use other racial epithets in reference to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway’s husband George, who is half-Filipino.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Huffington Post
$1 An Hour to Fight Largest Fire in CA History: Are Prison Firefighting Programs Slave Labor?
This report was published on YouTube on August 9.
Source: Democracy Now!
Iraq Parliamentary Election: Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Retains Victory After Vote Recount
Source: FRANCE 24 English
Thursday, August 9, 2018
Court Overrules EPA on Brain-Damaging Pesticide
A federal court on Thursday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to ban a widely used pesticide that’s been linked to learning disabilities in children and that former agency chief Scott Pruitt refused to take off the market.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in a 2-to-1 decision that the EPA offered “no defense” of its decision to delay a ban on chlorpyrifos ― a move the court said violated the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The law governs pesticides and requires the EPA to ban chemicals from being used on food if they are proven to cause harm.
The agency has 60 days to finalize a ban.
Click here for the full article.
Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Corey Johnson Celebrate Passage of For-Hire Vehicle Legislation
Source: NYC Mayor's Office
The 2018 New York State Environmental Scorecard
Albany — EPL/Environmental Advocates, the accountability arm of Environmental Advocates of New York (EANY), today released the 2018 Environmental Scorecard,
and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Northport) earned the
dubious Oil Slick Award for a long history of environmental neglect and
lack of leadership on the environment.
Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of EPL/Environmental Advocates said, “It’s clear that the current State Senate leadership is failing New Yorkers. We face a rapidly changing climate, pollution threatening our air and water, as well as the most anti-environmental federal government in history. However, time after time, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan chooses to stand with the Trump administration, big oil, polluters, and against the health and well-being of New Yorkers. He has been enabled by a Senate Majority who have also failed to push for bold policies to protect New York. We need the Senate Majority Leader to also be a leader on the environment. Today, sadly, that is not the case.”
Along with the Oil Slick Award, every State Senator and Assemblymember was graded on their environmental votes. Highlights include:
Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of EPL/Environmental Advocates said, “It’s clear that the current State Senate leadership is failing New Yorkers. We face a rapidly changing climate, pollution threatening our air and water, as well as the most anti-environmental federal government in history. However, time after time, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan chooses to stand with the Trump administration, big oil, polluters, and against the health and well-being of New Yorkers. He has been enabled by a Senate Majority who have also failed to push for bold policies to protect New York. We need the Senate Majority Leader to also be a leader on the environment. Today, sadly, that is not the case.”
Along with the Oil Slick Award, every State Senator and Assemblymember was graded on their environmental votes. Highlights include:
This is the third consecutive year that the Assembly did not advance a bill that was rated as a negative for our environment.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Environmental Conservation
Committee Chair, Steve Englebright both received perfect scores (100).
The entire Senate majority caucus got a failing grade (under 70).
“The
contrast between the Assembly and Senate majorities couldn’t be more
pronounced,” Iwanowicz said. “The Assembly has consistently made passing
impactful environmental policy a top priority— while the Senate has
consistently turned their back. Their inaction also provides an excuse
for Governor Cuomo to shun the hard work needed to protect our
environment. Something isn’t working in Albany, and it’s now up to the
people of New York to fix it.”
Click here for a full list of state legislators and their scores.
The EPL/Environmental Advocates 2018 Environmental Scorecard exists as a means to draw attention to State Legislators’ records on the environment and hold them responsible for their actions or inaction. It is the first and only record of New York State lawmakers’ votes on legislation that will impact the environment. For the complete Scorecard, visit www.eplscorecard.org.
Click here for a full list of state legislators and their scores.
The EPL/Environmental Advocates 2018 Environmental Scorecard exists as a means to draw attention to State Legislators’ records on the environment and hold them responsible for their actions or inaction. It is the first and only record of New York State lawmakers’ votes on legislation that will impact the environment. For the complete Scorecard, visit www.eplscorecard.org.
EPL/Environmental
Advocates was founded in 1969 as one of the first organizations in the
nation to advocate for the future of a state’s environment and the
health of its citizens. It is the sister organization of Environmental
Advocates of New York.
Source: EANY
Why New York Consumers, State Regulators Aim Their Ire at Charter Spectrum
By
When the cable guy walked to his
Spectrum van as he was exiting an Upstate Dunkin' Donuts last month, a
motorist, not noticing the pedestrian, pulled out in front, coming close
to hitting him.
Pointing to the
Spectrum tag on his shirt, the pedestrian remarked: "It's 'cause I'm
from Spectrum. Everyone hates Spectrum now."
That about sums it up. Consumer frustration with the cable television provider has rarely been higher.
Charter Communications Spectrum cable
service is despised among hoards of customers. As hard as it is to
believe, the provider may have drawn more customer ire than its
predecessor, Time Warner Cable.
Like the cable installer getting his Dunkin' Donuts, Spectrum and owner Charter Communications is under siege across New York.
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Omarosa Secretly Recorded Trump and Played the Audio for People, Sources Say
A Daily Beast Exclusive
By Lachlan Markay, Asawin Suebsaeng and Maxwell Tani
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer, isn’t the only one with secretly recorded audio of the president.
Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell The Daily Beast that Omarosa Manigault-Newman,
the infamous former Apprentice star who followed Trump to the White
House, secretly recorded conversations with the president—conversations
she has since leveraged while shopping her forthcoming “tell-all” book, bluntly titled UNHINGED.
For months, it has been rumored
that Manigault had clandestinely recorded on her smartphone “tapes” of
unspecified private discussions she had in the West Wing. Audio actually
does exist, and even stars Manigault’s former boss.
One person
confirmed to The Daily Beast they had heard at least one of her
recordings featuring President Trump. Multiple sources familiar with the
so-called “Omarosa tapes” described the recorded conversations between
Trump and Manigault as anodyne, everyday chatter, but said they did
appear to feature Trump’s voice, either over the phone or in-person.
The
mere existence of such recordings represent a dramatic betrayal of
trust by a one-time Trump confidant who has since abandoned years of
professed loyalty to the president and has apparently decided to profit
off her years of closeness to Trump.
Click here for the full article.
Cory Booker Claims He Didn’t Know He Held a Pro-Palestine Sign. New Details Cast Doubt on His Denial
By Zaid Jilani
At the Netroots Nation conference in New Orleans this
past weekend, which brands itself as “a political convention for
American progressive political activists,” the U.S. Campaign for
Palestinian Rights attended panels, handed out literature, and advocated for the end of the occupation of Palestine to secure a just future for both Israelis and Palestinians.
As part of that effort, members snapped a photo with Sen. Cory Booker D-N.J., during which he held a sign that clearly read, “From Palestine to Mexico, All the Walls Have Got to Go.”
As part of that effort, members snapped a photo with Sen. Cory Booker D-N.J., during which he held a sign that clearly read, “From Palestine to Mexico, All the Walls Have Got to Go.”
Excited to be here at Netroots Nation talking with progressives like Sen. Cory Booker about our shared commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for all people. #NN18 pic.twitter.com/ljswLmv32w— Palestinian Rights (@US_Campaign) August 3, 2018
The initial response from the left was
hopeful, if skeptical. Booker, a presumed 2020 hopeful, has been making
concessions to the left since 2016, including a pledge to reject
corporate PAC donations, putting a “pause” on fundraising from pharmaceutical companies, and embracing Sanders-style policies like a $15 minimum wage and “Medicare for All.”
Although he has a long history
of strident pro-Israel advocacy, this year, Booker declined from
speaking publicly at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
America’s prominent pro-Israeli government lobbying group — although an AIPAC official told The Intercept that conference attendees met with him at his Capitol Hill offices following the event.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Intercept_
FBI Pressed Detained Anti-ICE Activist for Information on Protests, Offering Immigration Help
By Cora Currier
On Friday, after Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents arrested a longtime U.S. resident protesting against
ICE in San Antonio, Texas, the FBI stepped in for an interrogation,
telling the resident, 18-year-old Sergio Salazar, that his immigration
status had been revoked because he was a “bad person.” The FBI agents
asked him to inform on fellow protesters and said if he did so it could
help his immigration case.
“It seems evident that he was targeted here because
of his involvement in the anti-ICE protests,” said Jonathan Ryan,
Salazar’s lawyer from RAICES Texas, an immigrant advocacy group. “We’re
very concerned about how directed and targeted and aggressive and quick
this was.” ICE has been criticized for recent detentions and
deportations of other activists, but little else has emerged that
indicates an FBI interest in anti-ICE protests.
Salazar, an aspiring filmmaker who came to the U.S. when he was two, was quoted
extensively in the San Antonio Express-News in late July under his
nickname “Mapache,” saying that his group planned to remain in its
encampment in front of an ICE processing facility until “ICE no longer
operates in San Antonio.” He was arrested as he stepped away from the
encampment a few days later.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Intercept_
Four Years After the Ferguson Shooting, How Have Things Changed?
By Clark Mindock
Four years ago the death of teenager Michael Brown sparked violent protests on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, and led to a national discussion about police violence against people of colour.
A handful of efforts have since been made to change the
system, despite police shootings across the country continuing at an
alarming rate.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2014 shooting — in which a
white police officer shot Mr Brown, a black man, as he walked down the
street — the backlash was severe, and the public attention placed on
Ferguson revealed deep racial tensions in the city.
The shooting also pushed for a reckoning across the country, and
continues to serve as an example each time a black individual is shot by
police in situations that critics say shows unwarranted use of force
and deadly weapons.
But has anything changed?
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Independent
First Muslim Woman, the Daughter of Palestinian Immigrants, Bound for Congress
by Associated Press
DETROIT — An attorney and former Michigan lawmaker is looking ahead to becoming the first Muslim woman elected to Congress.
Former
state Rep. Rashida Tlaib won the Democratic nomination late Tuesday to
run unopposed for the Detroit-area congressional seat long held by
former U.S. Rep. John Conyers. No Republicans or third-party candidates
were in the race, meaning the daughter of Palestinian immigrants is set
to win the seat in November and begin serving a full two-year term in
January.
"I
will uplift you in so many ways," she told supporters during a victory
speech early Wednesday morning. "Not only through service but fighting
back, against every single oppressive, racist structure that needs to be
dismantled, because you deserve better than what we have today in our
country."
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
New Poll: 43% of Republicans Want to Give Trump the Power to Shut Down Media
A Daily Beast Exclusive
The
‘enemy of the people’ talk is working. A plurality of self-identified
Republicans say they want Trump to have the power to take ‘bad’ media
outlets out.
By Sam Stein
Freedom of the press may be guaranteed in the Constitution. But a
plurality of Republicans want to give President Trump the authority to
close down certain news outlets, according to a new public opinion survey conducted by Ipsos and provided exclusively to The Daily Beast.
The
findings present a sobering picture for the fourth estate, with
respondents showing diminished trust in the media and increased support
for punitive measures against its members. They also illustrate the
extent to which Trump’s anti-press drumbeat has shaped public opinion
about the role the media plays in covering his administration.
All
told, 43 percent of self-identified Republicans said that they believed
“the president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged
in bad behavior.” Only 36 percent disagreed with that statement. When
asked if Trump should close down specific outlets, including CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, nearly a quarter of Republicans (23 percent) agreed and 49 percent disagreed.
Kids Were Killed at Texas Youth Facility. Then Feds Sent Migrant Children There.
A Daily Beast Exclusive
Just as Texas stopped sending foster children to centers operated by one man, the U.S. government tossed him a new source of money: immigrant kids.
By Will Evans, Lance Williams and Matthew Smith
This story was produced by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization. Learn more at revealnews.org and subscribe to the Reveal podcast, produced with PRX.
By
the time the federal government started sending immigrant children to
Shiloh Treatment Center in 2009, the warning flags were waving blood
red.
Three children had died after being physically restrained at
Shiloh and affiliated facilities in rural Texas run by the same man,
Clay Dean Hill. A teenager from California died after running away and
getting hit by a truck. Texas officials repeatedly had cited Hill’s
residential centers for troubled youths after caretakers were found to
have slapped, punched, and kicked children.
Yet nine years ago,
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent its first delivery
of federal tax dollars to Hill, a one-time
longshoreman-turned-millionaire entrepreneur specializing in the care of
vulnerable children. The federal government wanted Hill to take
immigrant children with mental health problems who were caught crossing
the border without parents or papers.
The funding started a couple of months before a male caretaker in his 40s was caught preying on a 15-year-old girl from California,
sexually abusing her at one of Hill’s all-girl dormitories, where he
was assigned overnight. He’s now a convicted sex offender.
“It
shows you how disgraceful the place was,” said the former resident, now
25, who told her story publicly for the first time to Reveal from The
Center for Investigative Reporting.
Click here for the full article.
Ivory Coast Former First Lady Simone Gbagbo Leaves Detention After Amnesty
Source: FRANCE 24 English
NYPD Update: Coverage of the 48th Precinct's National Night Out Against Crime
This video was published on YouTube on August 7.
Source: NYC Mayor's Office
New York GOP Rep. Chris Collins Arrested on Insider Trading Charges
By Kevin Breuninger
and| Brian Schwartz
Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y. was arrested Wednesday morning on federal insider trading charges, law enforcement officials said.
An indictment obtained from a federal grand jury relates to Australian biotech company Innate Immunotherapeutics, on which Collins served as a board member.
It alleges Collins, 68
scrambled to call his son from the White House lawn and tell him
non-public information about a failed drug trial in which they both
owned shares.\
Click here for the full article.
Source: CNBC (via Empire Report New York)
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
U.S. Judge Rules Against Trump Policy Restricting Transgender Troops
by Reuters
A U.S. court on Monday ruled the Trump administration could not
enforce an updated policy barring certain transgender people from
serving in the U.S. military, becoming the second court in the country
to rule against the government since it unveiled the policy in March.
President
Donald Trump announced on March 23 that he would endorse a plan by
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to restrict the military service of
transgender people who experience a condition called gender dysphoria.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Lyme Disease Now Found in All 50 States
Click on the image to increase its size.
By Linda Searing, The Washington Post
If you thought you were safe from Lyme disease because you don't live
in New England, where the tick-borne illness first appeared, think
again. Now, all 50 states plus the District of Columbia have residents
who have tested positive for Lyme, a bacterial infection that can cause a
wide variety of symptoms, including joint aches, fatigue, facial palsy
and neck stiffness.
This news comes from a report from the
clinical laboratory Quest Diagnostics, which analyzed the results of 6
million blood tests doctors had ordered to diagnose Lyme disease in
their patients. The report found that Pennsylvania had the most positive
cases last year: 10,001.
Click here for the full article.
Click here for additional information on the disease, including symptoms and treatment.
Source: SFGATE.com
How Prepared is the U.S. to Fend Off Cyber Warfare? Better At Offense Than Defense, Author Says
This report was published on YouTube on August 6.
Source: PBS NewsHour
John Bolton: North Korea Has Not ‘Taken Effective Steps’ to Denuclearize
This report was published on YouTube on August 6.
National Security Adviser John Bolton on Monday criticized North Korea’s
denuclearization efforts, saying leader Kim Jong Un was not living up
to the commitment he made to President Donald Trump at their June
meeting in Singapore. Bolton talks with Nick Schifrin about North Korea,
as well as U.S. plans to reinstate sanctions on Iran.
Source: PBS NewsHour
Older Americans Filing for Bankruptcy at Increased Rate
This report was published on YouTube on August 6.
Source: CBS News
U.S. Sending 13 Mortuary Officers to Puerto Rico
This report was published on YouTube on August 6.
Source: CBS News
New York Times Publishes 18-Month Study About Climate Change
This report was published on YouTube on August 6.
The New York Times Magazine released a report titled "Losing Earth: The
Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change." It outlines the history of
climate change -- as well as the causes and dangers. Nathaniel Rich, the
reporter behind the article, joins CBSN to discuss his findings.
Source: CBS News
Rosie O'Donnell, Broadway Singers Organise Anti-Trump Protest Outside White House
Source: FRANCE 24 English
Eye on Africa: Unrest, Looting and Violence in Eastern Ethiopia
This report was published on YouTube on August 6.
Source: FRANCE 24 English
Pay Disparity Worsens for Black Women in New York City, Report Finds
By
Kate King
The wage gap between black women and white men in New York City
widened in recent years, while white women inched a bit closer to pay
equity, according to a report by the comptroller’s office.
Black
women in New York City made 57 cents for every dollar paid to white men
in 2016, a difference of roughly $32,000 in annual earnings. The gap
grew slightly, to 43 cents in 2016 from 42 cents in 2010, according to
the report, which compared the median earnings of full-time working men
and women.
White women, by contrast, made 82 cents for every
dollar, or $13,600 less in annual earnings, compared with white men in
2016, the most recent year for which data was available. This marked a
slight improvement from 2010, when the median earnings for white women
was 81 cents on the dollar.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (via Empire Report New York)
New York First State to Test New App Busting Underage Drinkers Using Fake IDs
If you're under 21 and using a fake ID to get into bars, it may only be a matter of time before you're caught.
“We started using it a few weeks ago, and it's been pretty successful to date.”
Investigators at the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles are using a new app called "Law ID" to bust underage drinkers.
NYS DMV Director of Investigations Owen McShane says 90% of the phony IDs they see appear to be from out-of-state.
Click here for the full article.
Source: CBS 6 News WRGB (via Empire Report New York)
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