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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
June 11, 2019
Reince Priebus Joins the Navy
You can't make it up. 
https://politicalwire.com/2019/06/10/reince-priebus-joins-the-navy/
Reince Priebus Joins the Navy
June 10, 2019 at 8:10 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 43 Comments
“Reince Priebus, President Trump’s former chief of staff, has officially joined the Navy,” the Washington Post reports.
“At a commissioning ceremony Monday morning, Vice President Pence swore in Priebus as an ensign, an entry-level officer. Priebus and his family also met with Trump at the White House after the ceremony.”
“At a commissioning ceremony Monday morning, Vice President Pence swore in Priebus as an ensign, an entry-level officer. Priebus and his family also met with Trump at the White House after the ceremony.”
June 11, 2019
June 9, 2019
“Notorious” RBG Credits Brett Kavanaugh for Making Female Law Clerks the Majority
Between 2005 and 2017, twice as many men became clerks as women.
Stephanie Mencimer
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh squeaked through his confirmation hearing last year after being accused by Christine Blasey Ford of sexual assault during a high school party. Women’s groups vigorously fought his confirmation and warned that his presence on the court would pose a significant threat to hard-fought legal rights for women.
So it’s no small irony that this year, thanks solely to Kavanaugh, for the first time ever, the majority of Supreme Court law clerks are female. And perhaps it’s also no small irony that on Friday, feminist icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg publicly gave Kavanaugh kudos for his hiring. In an otherwise deadly dull speech she gave to the 2nd Circuit Judicial Conference in New York, Ginsburg said, “Kavanaugh made history by bringing on board an all-female law clerk crew. Thanks to his selections, the Court has this Term, for the first time ever, more women than men serving as law clerks.”
The Supreme Court was an entirely male bastion until 1944, when Lucile Loman broke through and clerked for Justice William O. Douglas. Since then, women have remained in the minority well into the 21st Century. A National Law Journal study found that between 2005 and 2017, twice as many men became clerks as women. The man Kavanaugh replaced, Justice Anthony Kennedy, had a particularly egregious record on this front: Between 2005 and 2017 he hired six times as many men as clerks as women.
Ginsburg’s speech was otherwise news-free, despite her tantalizing dips into some of the most contentious cases on the docket this term that have yet to be decided. For instance, she mentioned Department of Commerce v. New York involving a citizenship question on the US Census, in which new evidence has recently surfaced indicating that the Justice Department lied to the Supreme Court when it claimed such a question needed to be included on the census to help enforce the Voting Rights Act.
In fact, the evidence showed, the Trump administration wanted to add the question to help bolster the power of white Republicans. The evidence reached the court in May after the hard drives of a Republican redistricting strategist surfaced in an unrelated lawsuit, more than a month after the case had been argued. Ginsburg didn’t provide a glimpse into what the justices might be doing with the new information.
The court still has 27 undecided cases on the docket for this term, and the last day scheduled for the release of opinions is June 24. But the only indication Ginsburg gave of how the term might end were cryptic comments suggesting that the court was sharply divided on the most controversial cases. She noted that so far this term, the court has issued few contentious 5-4 opinions where the justices were sharply divided between conservatives and liberals. But she warned that those numbers may not be indicative of much, since the most high-profile cases often don’t get decided until the very last days of the term. “Given the number of most-watched cases still unannounced,” Ginsburg said. “I cannot predict that the relatively low sharp divisions ratio will hold.”
"Notorious" RBG Credits Brett Kavanaugh for Making Female Law Clerks the Majority
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/06/notorious-rbg-credits-brett-kavanaugh-for-making-female-law-clerks-the-majority/June 9, 2019
“Notorious” RBG Credits Brett Kavanaugh for Making Female Law Clerks the Majority
Between 2005 and 2017, twice as many men became clerks as women.
Stephanie Mencimer
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh squeaked through his confirmation hearing last year after being accused by Christine Blasey Ford of sexual assault during a high school party. Women’s groups vigorously fought his confirmation and warned that his presence on the court would pose a significant threat to hard-fought legal rights for women.
So it’s no small irony that this year, thanks solely to Kavanaugh, for the first time ever, the majority of Supreme Court law clerks are female. And perhaps it’s also no small irony that on Friday, feminist icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg publicly gave Kavanaugh kudos for his hiring. In an otherwise deadly dull speech she gave to the 2nd Circuit Judicial Conference in New York, Ginsburg said, “Kavanaugh made history by bringing on board an all-female law clerk crew. Thanks to his selections, the Court has this Term, for the first time ever, more women than men serving as law clerks.”
The Supreme Court was an entirely male bastion until 1944, when Lucile Loman broke through and clerked for Justice William O. Douglas. Since then, women have remained in the minority well into the 21st Century. A National Law Journal study found that between 2005 and 2017, twice as many men became clerks as women. The man Kavanaugh replaced, Justice Anthony Kennedy, had a particularly egregious record on this front: Between 2005 and 2017 he hired six times as many men as clerks as women.
Ginsburg’s speech was otherwise news-free, despite her tantalizing dips into some of the most contentious cases on the docket this term that have yet to be decided. For instance, she mentioned Department of Commerce v. New York involving a citizenship question on the US Census, in which new evidence has recently surfaced indicating that the Justice Department lied to the Supreme Court when it claimed such a question needed to be included on the census to help enforce the Voting Rights Act.
In fact, the evidence showed, the Trump administration wanted to add the question to help bolster the power of white Republicans. The evidence reached the court in May after the hard drives of a Republican redistricting strategist surfaced in an unrelated lawsuit, more than a month after the case had been argued. Ginsburg didn’t provide a glimpse into what the justices might be doing with the new information.
The court still has 27 undecided cases on the docket for this term, and the last day scheduled for the release of opinions is June 24. But the only indication Ginsburg gave of how the term might end were cryptic comments suggesting that the court was sharply divided on the most controversial cases. She noted that so far this term, the court has issued few contentious 5-4 opinions where the justices were sharply divided between conservatives and liberals. But she warned that those numbers may not be indicative of much, since the most high-profile cases often don’t get decided until the very last days of the term. “Given the number of most-watched cases still unannounced,” Ginsburg said. “I cannot predict that the relatively low sharp divisions ratio will hold.”
June 11, 2019
Posted on Mon, Jun 10th, 2019 by Jason Easley
John Dean Smacks Down Matt Gaetz At Mueller Report Hearing
Things went very badly for Trump supporter Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) when he tried to smear the credibility and motives of John Dean at the House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Mueller report.
Gaetz tried to claim that Dean has made a cottage industry out of comparing presidents to Nixon. Dean responded that he points out those presidents who act like Nixon.
Rep. Gaetz tried to get snarky and ask Dean how Democrats would pay for Medicare for All. Dean answered that Richard Nixon did have a healthcare plan, and at that moment the air went out of Rep. Gaetz.
https://twitter.com/PoliticusSarah/status/1138178813446250501
Matt Gaetz is one of Trump’s biggest defenders in the House. He along with Rep. Jim Jordan is part of the Republican House cover-up operation for Trump. The problem is that just like Rep. Jordan Matt Gaetz does not appear to be terribly bright. Rep. Gaetz tried to play games with John Dean, and it did not go well.
The entire hearing has consisted of Democrats questioning expert witnesses about the Mueller report and obstruction of justice, while Republicans talk about anything other than the facts of the Mueller report. John Dean is at this hearing to provide insight into presidential obstruction of justice. Matt Gaetz tried to mock Dean, and the former White House counsel responded by making the congressman look like a clown.
John Dean Smacks Down Matt Gaetz At Mueller Report Hearing
https://www.politicususa.com/2019/06/10/john-dean-smacks-down-matt-gaetz-at-mueller-report-hearing.htmlPosted on Mon, Jun 10th, 2019 by Jason Easley
John Dean Smacks Down Matt Gaetz At Mueller Report Hearing
Things went very badly for Trump supporter Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) when he tried to smear the credibility and motives of John Dean at the House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Mueller report.
Gaetz tried to claim that Dean has made a cottage industry out of comparing presidents to Nixon. Dean responded that he points out those presidents who act like Nixon.
Rep. Gaetz tried to get snarky and ask Dean how Democrats would pay for Medicare for All. Dean answered that Richard Nixon did have a healthcare plan, and at that moment the air went out of Rep. Gaetz.
https://twitter.com/PoliticusSarah/status/1138178813446250501
Matt Gaetz is one of Trump’s biggest defenders in the House. He along with Rep. Jim Jordan is part of the Republican House cover-up operation for Trump. The problem is that just like Rep. Jordan Matt Gaetz does not appear to be terribly bright. Rep. Gaetz tried to play games with John Dean, and it did not go well.
The entire hearing has consisted of Democrats questioning expert witnesses about the Mueller report and obstruction of justice, while Republicans talk about anything other than the facts of the Mueller report. John Dean is at this hearing to provide insight into presidential obstruction of justice. Matt Gaetz tried to mock Dean, and the former White House counsel responded by making the congressman look like a clown.
June 10, 2019
Missouri senator says it's a waste of time to study history because it was a long time ago
Another brain trust 
Missouri senator says it’s a waste of time to study history because it was a long time ago
Sen. Josh Hawley says not to compare Trump's behavior to Nixon's because Watergate was more than 40 years ago.
Josh Israel
Jun 10, 2019, 11:54 am
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a fierce defender of President Donald Trump, is very upset that the House Judiciary Committee will hear testimony from a Watergate-era figure on Monday about presidential obstruction. His reasoning: Watergate happened a long time ago.
John Dean, who was White House counsel for President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, will testify before the panel as part of a hearing entitled “Lessons from the Mueller Report: Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes.” In 1974, the same committee approved articles of impeachment against Nixon alleging obstruction of justice. (Nixon resigned before the full House of Representatives could vote on impeachment.)
In his final report on Russian interference, which was made public in April following a nearly two-year long investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller documented at least 10 instances involving President Donald Trump which may have constituted obstruction. Though he did not refer any indictments against the president, Mueller effectively handed the reins over to Congress to take the next step — widely accepted to be impeachment proceedings.
Rather than learning from history, however, Hawley, 39, thinks it would be better to simply ignore it.
Asked by Fox News on Monday about the Dean hearing, Hawley decried it as a “ridiculous” waste of time and “theater to distract” from prescription drug prices and border security.
“Talk about living in the past,” he said. “The Democrats want to talk about Watergate? I mean this happened before I was born! This is a total waste of time. It’s a total waste of time.”
more...
https://thinkprogress.org/missouri-senator-josh-hawley-ignore-watergate-long-ago-75790bffb660/
June 10, 2019
Posted on Sun, Jun 9th, 2019 by Jason Easley
Pete Buttigieg Rocks Iowa And Tears Down Trump’s White Nationalist Wall
Pete Buttigieg is climbing in the polls in Iowa, and while addressing the Iowa Democratic Party Hall Of Fame Forum took on Trump’s wall and white nationalism.
https://twitter.com/IAStartingLine/status/1137813822121680898
Buttigieg is within two points of second place in the latest Iowa poll, which don’t mean much in the early stages of this race, but polls do illustrate who has momentum and who is stumbling. Buttigieg has found a message on veterans’ issues and national security that is working for him. Voters in the center lane of the Democratic Party who are looking for, let’s be honest, a younger candidate than former vice president Biden are drawn to Buttigieg.
The wall won’t do anything to stop the rise of white nationalism. The wall won’t solve cybersecurity threats. The wall isn’t even an answer on immigration. It is a simplistic symbol of hate and division, not strength and security.
Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren are the two Democrats who are on the rise in Iowa, and it is easy to see why many Hawkeye State Democrats find Mayor Pete appealing.
Pete Buttigieg Rocks Iowa And Tears Down Trump's White Nationalist Wall
https://www.politicususa.com/2019/06/09/buttigieg-iowa-trump-wall.htmlPosted on Sun, Jun 9th, 2019 by Jason Easley
Pete Buttigieg Rocks Iowa And Tears Down Trump’s White Nationalist Wall
Pete Buttigieg is climbing in the polls in Iowa, and while addressing the Iowa Democratic Party Hall Of Fame Forum took on Trump’s wall and white nationalism.
Buttigieg said, “Trump’s vision of security is a wall from sea to shining sea. That’s not going to help with cybersecurity. That’s not going to help with election security. That’s not going to help us name and confront this violent white nationalism.”
https://twitter.com/IAStartingLine/status/1137813822121680898
Buttigieg is within two points of second place in the latest Iowa poll, which don’t mean much in the early stages of this race, but polls do illustrate who has momentum and who is stumbling. Buttigieg has found a message on veterans’ issues and national security that is working for him. Voters in the center lane of the Democratic Party who are looking for, let’s be honest, a younger candidate than former vice president Biden are drawn to Buttigieg.
The wall won’t do anything to stop the rise of white nationalism. The wall won’t solve cybersecurity threats. The wall isn’t even an answer on immigration. It is a simplistic symbol of hate and division, not strength and security.
Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren are the two Democrats who are on the rise in Iowa, and it is easy to see why many Hawkeye State Democrats find Mayor Pete appealing.
June 10, 2019
Fox News Stars Begin Pushing Rumors About Joe Biden’s Health
Baseless claims about Biden’s medical fitness have quietly taken hold on Fox. At a time when TV news stars make similar claims about Trump and Clinton, this may be the new normal.
Justin Baragona
Published 06.10.19 5:12AM ET
One month after Joe Biden announced his run for president, several Fox News stars have already begun quietly pushing rumors that the 76-year-old ex-veep is in poor health.
Since the end of May, Fox Business Network and Fox News star Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery and Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity have speculated on-air, on at least four separate occasions, that the current Democratic presidential frontrunner is secretly dealing with health issues, often comparing his condition to illness-related conspiracy theories the network pushed about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
The Biden rumor-mongering seemingly began May 29, during the broadcast of Fox News’ afternoon gabfest The Five. While assessing Biden’s candidacy, Kennedy claimed to know Democratic operatives engaged in a whisper campaign about Biden’s health.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-stars-begin-pushing-rumors-about-joe-bidens-health?ref=home
Fox News Stars Begin Pushing Rumors About Joe Biden's Health
Fox News Stars Begin Pushing Rumors About Joe Biden’s Health
Baseless claims about Biden’s medical fitness have quietly taken hold on Fox. At a time when TV news stars make similar claims about Trump and Clinton, this may be the new normal.
Justin Baragona
Published 06.10.19 5:12AM ET
One month after Joe Biden announced his run for president, several Fox News stars have already begun quietly pushing rumors that the 76-year-old ex-veep is in poor health.
Since the end of May, Fox Business Network and Fox News star Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery and Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity have speculated on-air, on at least four separate occasions, that the current Democratic presidential frontrunner is secretly dealing with health issues, often comparing his condition to illness-related conspiracy theories the network pushed about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
The Biden rumor-mongering seemingly began May 29, during the broadcast of Fox News’ afternoon gabfest The Five. While assessing Biden’s candidacy, Kennedy claimed to know Democratic operatives engaged in a whisper campaign about Biden’s health.
“He is much more like Hillary Clinton, because if you talk to Democrats, who are working for different campaigns, all of the aggressive gossip whisperers—and this is where the action is happening in terms of opposition research—it’s people having a few drinks at a bar and whispering, ‘You know there is something wrong with the former vice president,’” she claimed. “But that’s what they are actively doing right now. And it is surprising because they are concerned with taking Biden down and getting their candidate out there.”
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-stars-begin-pushing-rumors-about-joe-bidens-health?ref=home
June 10, 2019
Chao created special path for McConnell’s favored projects
A top Transportation official helped coordinate grant applications by McConnell’s political allies.
By TUCKER DOHERTY and TANYA SNYDER
06/10/2019 05:02 AM EDT
The Transportation Department under Secretary Elaine Chao designated a special liaison to help with grant applications and other priorities from her husband Mitch McConnell’s state of Kentucky, paving the way for grants totaling at least $78 million for favored projects as McConnell prepared to campaign for reelection.
Chao’s aide Todd Inman, who stated in an email to McConnell’s Senate office that Chao had personally asked him to serve as an intermediary, helped advise the senator and local Kentucky officials on grants with special significance for McConnell — including a highway-improvement project in a McConnell political stronghold that had been twice rejected for previous grant applications.
Beginning in April 2017, Inman and Chao met annually with a delegation from Owensboro, Ky., a river port with long connections to McConnell, including a plaza named in his honor. At the meetings, according to participants, the secretary and the local officials discussed two projects of special importance to the river city of 59,809 people — a plan to upgrade road connections to a commercial riverport and a proposal to expedite reclassifying a local parkway as an Interstate spur, a move that could persuade private businesses to locate in Owensboro.
Inman, himself a longtime Owensboro resident and onetime mayoral candidate who is now Chao’s chief of staff, followed up the 2017 meeting by emailing the riverport authority on how to improve its application. He also discussed the project by phone with Al Mattingly, the chief executive of Daviess County, which includes Owensboro, who suggested Inman was instrumental in the process.
more...
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/10/mcconnell-elaine-chao-1358068
Chao created special path for McConnell's favored projects
Chao created special path for McConnell’s favored projects
A top Transportation official helped coordinate grant applications by McConnell’s political allies.
By TUCKER DOHERTY and TANYA SNYDER
06/10/2019 05:02 AM EDT
The Transportation Department under Secretary Elaine Chao designated a special liaison to help with grant applications and other priorities from her husband Mitch McConnell’s state of Kentucky, paving the way for grants totaling at least $78 million for favored projects as McConnell prepared to campaign for reelection.
Chao’s aide Todd Inman, who stated in an email to McConnell’s Senate office that Chao had personally asked him to serve as an intermediary, helped advise the senator and local Kentucky officials on grants with special significance for McConnell — including a highway-improvement project in a McConnell political stronghold that had been twice rejected for previous grant applications.
Beginning in April 2017, Inman and Chao met annually with a delegation from Owensboro, Ky., a river port with long connections to McConnell, including a plaza named in his honor. At the meetings, according to participants, the secretary and the local officials discussed two projects of special importance to the river city of 59,809 people — a plan to upgrade road connections to a commercial riverport and a proposal to expedite reclassifying a local parkway as an Interstate spur, a move that could persuade private businesses to locate in Owensboro.
Inman, himself a longtime Owensboro resident and onetime mayoral candidate who is now Chao’s chief of staff, followed up the 2017 meeting by emailing the riverport authority on how to improve its application. He also discussed the project by phone with Al Mattingly, the chief executive of Daviess County, which includes Owensboro, who suggested Inman was instrumental in the process.
more...
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/10/mcconnell-elaine-chao-1358068
June 10, 2019
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
6/07/2019
Just Stop It: Trump Didn't Rise to Any Damn Occasion in Europe
It's absolutely ludicrous that Donald Trump is getting praise for his appearance at the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy. Sure, he read a speech that a reasonably eloquent fifth-grader could have written, and he didn't even pause to say how much the property there was worth or how he could have killed Hitler single-handedly with a secret plan he had. Obviously, everyone thought Bumblefuck O'Douchenozzle was gonna saunter up to the lectern, fart into the mic, shit on the gathered leaders, and scream, "Do you love me now, Vladdy?"
But just because he acted vaguely normal, the motherfucker didn't all of a sudden become a goddamn statesman. If our mark of success is now "Oh, good, he didn't teabag the Queen," then nothing really fucking matters anymore.
Besides, in just about every other circumstance, Trump was the blithering cockknob he usually is. He said that the UK's National Health Service would be on the table for trade negotiations (before walking that back since, if true, it would probably end Brexit immediately). He didn't seem to understand that Ireland wasn't part of the UK and that a border wall with Northern Ireland would pretty much lead to an explosion of violence. He insulted Nancy Pelosi and Robert Mueller while talking to Fox "news" by those Normandy graves. And he was fucking obsessed with Queen Elizabeth and the royal family, saying that "There are those that say they have never seen the queen have a better time, a more animated time," and you just think that, if it's true, how fucking awful the queen's life must have been for her first 93 years.
Truly, being royalty who are just figureheads with almost no real power must seem like a dream for Trump. Everyone gives you money and a gold house and all you gotta do is wave from a carriage every now and then? That's a gig. Trump must love that shit.
more...
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2019/06/just-stop-it-trump-didnt-rise-to-any.html
The Rude Pundit: Just Stop It: Trump Didn't Rise to Any Damn Occasion in Europe
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
6/07/2019
Just Stop It: Trump Didn't Rise to Any Damn Occasion in Europe
It's absolutely ludicrous that Donald Trump is getting praise for his appearance at the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy. Sure, he read a speech that a reasonably eloquent fifth-grader could have written, and he didn't even pause to say how much the property there was worth or how he could have killed Hitler single-handedly with a secret plan he had. Obviously, everyone thought Bumblefuck O'Douchenozzle was gonna saunter up to the lectern, fart into the mic, shit on the gathered leaders, and scream, "Do you love me now, Vladdy?"
But just because he acted vaguely normal, the motherfucker didn't all of a sudden become a goddamn statesman. If our mark of success is now "Oh, good, he didn't teabag the Queen," then nothing really fucking matters anymore.
Besides, in just about every other circumstance, Trump was the blithering cockknob he usually is. He said that the UK's National Health Service would be on the table for trade negotiations (before walking that back since, if true, it would probably end Brexit immediately). He didn't seem to understand that Ireland wasn't part of the UK and that a border wall with Northern Ireland would pretty much lead to an explosion of violence. He insulted Nancy Pelosi and Robert Mueller while talking to Fox "news" by those Normandy graves. And he was fucking obsessed with Queen Elizabeth and the royal family, saying that "There are those that say they have never seen the queen have a better time, a more animated time," and you just think that, if it's true, how fucking awful the queen's life must have been for her first 93 years.
Truly, being royalty who are just figureheads with almost no real power must seem like a dream for Trump. Everyone gives you money and a gold house and all you gotta do is wave from a carriage every now and then? That's a gig. Trump must love that shit.
more...
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2019/06/just-stop-it-trump-didnt-rise-to-any.html
June 9, 2019
Buttigieg urges LGBTQ community to turn differences into social change
Associated Press Published 11:43 a.m. ET June 8, 2019 | Updated 4:06 p.m. ET June 8, 2019
DES MOINES, Iowa — Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg told an audience in Iowa on Friday that coming out as gay has empowered him in a way he did not anticipate, and he called on others to harness their differences into social activism.
Buttigieg’s quiet, Midwestern approach, combined with his array of experiences — from Rhodes scholar to Afghanistan veteran to married gay man — has begun capturing the interest of Democratic activists around the country, including in Iowa, where he has been campaigning more regularly.
snip//
He argued against the Trump administration’s ban on transgender troops serving in the military.
But he came back to the point that LGBTQ Americans, but also racial and ethnic minorities, had a special calling to step forward and act on behalf of one another, especially in an environment he characterized, without mentioning President Donald Trump, as increasingly hostile to such communities.
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/08/pete-buttigieg-democrat-urges-lgbtq-community-to-cooperate-for-social-change/1391989001/
Buttigieg urges LGBTQ community to turn differences into social change
Buttigieg urges LGBTQ community to turn differences into social change
Associated Press Published 11:43 a.m. ET June 8, 2019 | Updated 4:06 p.m. ET June 8, 2019
DES MOINES, Iowa — Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg told an audience in Iowa on Friday that coming out as gay has empowered him in a way he did not anticipate, and he called on others to harness their differences into social activism.
“I’m going to make the case that anyone who has ever felt like an ‘other’ has a kind of power. And among others, it’s the power to relate,” the South Bend, Indiana, mayor told about 300 LGBTQ activists and supporters at a banquet honoring Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard, who was beaten to death in 1998 for being gay.
“And we can see in our various identities the beginning of a new kind of solidarity,” he added.
“And we can see in our various identities the beginning of a new kind of solidarity,” he added.
Buttigieg’s quiet, Midwestern approach, combined with his array of experiences — from Rhodes scholar to Afghanistan veteran to married gay man — has begun capturing the interest of Democratic activists around the country, including in Iowa, where he has been campaigning more regularly.
snip//
He argued against the Trump administration’s ban on transgender troops serving in the military.
But he came back to the point that LGBTQ Americans, but also racial and ethnic minorities, had a special calling to step forward and act on behalf of one another, especially in an environment he characterized, without mentioning President Donald Trump, as increasingly hostile to such communities.
“Not that your experience of being an ‘other’ is the same as mine,” he said. “But it gives us the basis to look out for each other.”
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/08/pete-buttigieg-democrat-urges-lgbtq-community-to-cooperate-for-social-change/1391989001/
June 9, 2019
White House Reportedly Blocked Written Testimony of Official on Climate Change
By Daniel Politi
June 08, 2019
8:15 PM
The White House blocked a senior intelligence analyst at the State Department from issuing written testimony on climate science to a congressional committee. The testimony, which warned human-caused climate change is “possibly catastrophic” became the subject of controversy after officials from the State Department refused to delete references to scientific findings regarding climate change. The White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, and National Security Council all raised objections to parts of the testimony, saying the citing of climate science did not match the administration’s official stance on climate change, according to the Washington Post.
Rod Schoonover, who works in the Office of the Geographer and Global Issues, was ultimately allowed to give his testimony before a House Intelligence Committee hearing but he was barred from submitting written testimony. Even his oral testimony was in doubt for a while though, according to the New York Times, which reviewed internal emails demonstrating just how opposed officials were to him presenting scientific findings. “The testimony still has serious concerns with internal components and focuses heavily on the science,” Daniel Q. Greenwood, deputy assistant to the president in the White House office of legislative affairs, wrote in an email. “Because it doesn’t reflect the coordinated IC position, or the administration’s position, there is no way this can be cleared ahead of the hearing,” he wrote, using IC to refer to the intelligence community.
Experts said that while reviewing testimony is common, this effort to delete significant portions of the document seemed to be a bit extreme. “I have never heard of basic facts being deleted from or blocked from testimony,” Norman J. Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said. That is particularly the case considering that members of the administration were objecting to citations of work conducted by federal agencies, including NASA.
The National Security Council objected to almost every page of Schoonover’s prepared testimony, claiming it contained “lots of climate alarm propaganda.” The White House Office of Legislative Affairs proposed cutting five pages of the scientific foundations for the rest of the testimony. Among the controversial statements? Factual claims such as, “The Earth’s climate is unequivocally undergoing a long-term warming trend as established by decades of scientific measurements from multiple, independent lines of evidence.”
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said that he believed climate change “goes both ways,” noting he didn’t regret his decision to pull out of the Paris accord. “Don’t forget, it used to be called global warming, that wasn’t working, then it was called climate change, now it’s actually called extreme weather because with extreme weather you can’t miss,” the president said.
White House Reportedly Blocked Written Testimony of Official on Climate Change
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/06/white-house-blocked-written-testimony-rod-schoonover-climate-change.htmlWhite House Reportedly Blocked Written Testimony of Official on Climate Change
By Daniel Politi
June 08, 2019
8:15 PM
The White House blocked a senior intelligence analyst at the State Department from issuing written testimony on climate science to a congressional committee. The testimony, which warned human-caused climate change is “possibly catastrophic” became the subject of controversy after officials from the State Department refused to delete references to scientific findings regarding climate change. The White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, and National Security Council all raised objections to parts of the testimony, saying the citing of climate science did not match the administration’s official stance on climate change, according to the Washington Post.
Rod Schoonover, who works in the Office of the Geographer and Global Issues, was ultimately allowed to give his testimony before a House Intelligence Committee hearing but he was barred from submitting written testimony. Even his oral testimony was in doubt for a while though, according to the New York Times, which reviewed internal emails demonstrating just how opposed officials were to him presenting scientific findings. “The testimony still has serious concerns with internal components and focuses heavily on the science,” Daniel Q. Greenwood, deputy assistant to the president in the White House office of legislative affairs, wrote in an email. “Because it doesn’t reflect the coordinated IC position, or the administration’s position, there is no way this can be cleared ahead of the hearing,” he wrote, using IC to refer to the intelligence community.
Experts said that while reviewing testimony is common, this effort to delete significant portions of the document seemed to be a bit extreme. “I have never heard of basic facts being deleted from or blocked from testimony,” Norman J. Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said. That is particularly the case considering that members of the administration were objecting to citations of work conducted by federal agencies, including NASA.
The National Security Council objected to almost every page of Schoonover’s prepared testimony, claiming it contained “lots of climate alarm propaganda.” The White House Office of Legislative Affairs proposed cutting five pages of the scientific foundations for the rest of the testimony. Among the controversial statements? Factual claims such as, “The Earth’s climate is unequivocally undergoing a long-term warming trend as established by decades of scientific measurements from multiple, independent lines of evidence.”
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said that he believed climate change “goes both ways,” noting he didn’t regret his decision to pull out of the Paris accord. “Don’t forget, it used to be called global warming, that wasn’t working, then it was called climate change, now it’s actually called extreme weather because with extreme weather you can’t miss,” the president said.
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