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babylonsister

babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
August 11, 2019

CBP Chief Forced To Explain Why ICE Raids Haven't Targeted Trump's Companies

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/cbp-chief-explain-ice-raids-not-targeting-trump-companies?fbclid=IwAR3sHtRMVUZxcHXymUcY6YEpgR5ibZMjoK1GoTyBli-UN4vbXj3YLw2wDtw


CBP Chief Forced To Explain Why ICE Raids Haven’t Targeted Trump’s Companies
AP
By Cristina Cabrera
August 11, 2019 4:13 pm


Acting U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan on Sunday had to explain why sweeping immigration raids haven’t affected President Donald Trump’s companies despite multiple reports of those companies hiring undocumented immigrants.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that even as Trump cracks down on immigration through harsh measures, Trump Organization itself currently has undocumented immigrants working on its construction sites.

CNN’s “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper pointed out to Morgan that despite immigration agencies’ major increases in raids, including the ones in Mississippi last week that led to a record 680 arrests, there’ve been “zero raids” at Trump’s businesses.

“It seems like you guys are turning a blind eye to this crime being committed by the President’s own companies,” Tapper told Morgan, who recently served as the head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency before he was tapped as acting CBP commissioner in July.

Morgan said he’s “never known anybody in law enforcement to turn a blind eye to someone that’s committing a crime.”


snip//

Watch the interview below:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1160631991781511168
August 11, 2019

Memo to media: 'Congress' isn't blocking new gun laws--the GOP is

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/11/1877626/-Memo-to-media-Congress-isn-t-blocking-new-gun-laws-the-GOP-is

Memo to media: 'Congress' isn't blocking new gun laws—the GOP is
Eric Boehlert for Daily Kos
Community
Sunday August 11, 2019 · 10:30 AM EDT


Obstructionist Republicans have been blocking common-sense gun laws for years, even as the laundry list of gun massacres continues to grow. The radical maneuver comes against overwhelming public support for Democrat-backed legislation. If ever there's been an example of an entire political party in America completely out of step with the country, this is it. So why does the press constantly inform news consumers that "Congress" is to blame for the lack of action, instead of Republicans?

That question became even more pressing in recent days, following the murder of 31 people during hate gun rampages in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, where gunmen toting AK-47s and AR 15s set out to kill as many civilians as possible. Democrats remain united in desperately wanting to pass new laws, while Republicans stand in the way. Yet "Congress" is being blamed.

"Despite frequent mass shootings, Congress has proved to be unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation, largely because of resistance from Republicans," the Associated Press reported in the wake of the recent tragedies. But no, it's not the fault of "Congress." It's the fault of Republicans, and there ought to be absolutely no confusion in the media. Americans are increasingly bewildered by the lack of legislative action on guns, and the press blaming "Congress" so simply gives the GOP a huge pass.

This happens constantly. "Congress rarely acts on gun control despite mass shootings," a CNN headline recently announced. "Congress has long struggled with addressing gun violence in America, even in the wake of mass shootings going back to Columbine in 1999," CNN reported. A Time headline lamented, "Why This Weekend's Tragedies Probably Still Won't Be Enough to Push Congress to Act on Gun Control." The magazine noted that "lawmakers in Washington have so far been unable to unify around a legislative fix." USA Today claimed "Congress has consistently rejected attempts to tighten gun control regulations in the aftermath of other mass shootings." And Politico stressed that, "after this weekend’s mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, pressure to reform gun laws has focused on Congress—and, as usual, Congress seems stymied about what to do."

snip//

Other crucial context that's often missing from news reports is just how staggeringly large and sweeping public support is in favor of news guns laws. "Most Americans support such efforts, polls show," noted the New York Times, massively downplaying the nearly universal support for background check bills sponsored by Democrats. It's virtually impossible to find a single public policy issue in this country that's as widely supported as gun reform, including background checks.

But that crucial fact often gets glossed over, as the press blames "Congress" for failing to act, instead of radical obstructionist Republicans.
August 11, 2019

Kamala Harris Draws Massive Crowd At Iowa State Fair

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/08/10/kamala-harris-iowa-fair.html

Posted on Sat, Aug 10th, 2019 by Jason Easley
Kamala Harris Draws Massive Crowd At Iowa State Fair


In what could be a sign of growing momentum, Sen. Kamala Harris drew a huge crowd to her soapbox speech at the Iowa State Fair.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1160218825297735680
https://twitter.com/i/status/1160211971456819200

The big crowd comes on the same day that Sen. Harris picked up an endorsement from powerful Iowa Democrats Bob and Sue Dvorsky who said:

We’ve listened. We’ve read. We’ve attended. We believe with many of our friends and neighbors that we must get this right. And we are supporting Kamala Harris for President of the United States.

In her experience, in her beliefs, in her vision, and in her plans, Kamala sets forth her theory of the case, and how she will prosecute that case. She’ll fight on behalf of children, and the families who love them and struggle to provide for them. She’ll fight side-by-side with the women and men who teach them. She’ll stand by and with Americans challenged every day by the health care system they need. She’ll never give up on women fighting for their rights to health care choice, and equal treatment in their workplaces. She’ll tackle head on the issue of gun violence that threatens our neighbors wherever they live. She’ll remind the world that we are a nation strengthened by our immigrants and diversity, and that there’s so much more that unites us than divides us. And she will bring together the scientists, policies, and people to address the existential threat of climate change.

She is smart, compassionate, accomplished and ready. We are committed to do everything we can, every day we can, for as long as we’re needed, to elect Kamala Harris the next President of the United States.


Sen. Harris has been unique in what has been a fairly static early Democratic primary race as she has risen to as high as second in some polls and then fallen back to as low as fourth. Harris has struggled to maintain her momentum, but as the old saying goes, the only poll that matters is on election day, so no one should count Kamala Harris out in Iowa.
August 10, 2019

Prison experts are stunned and angry that Jeffrey Epstein was taken off suicide watch


Prison experts are stunned and angry that Jeffrey Epstein was taken off suicide watch
"For them to pull him off suicide watch is shocking,” one former federal prison warden told NBC News.
Questions raised after Epstein dies after being taken off suicide watch
Aug. 10, 201903:24
Aug. 10, 2019, 2:39 PM EDT / Updated Aug. 10, 2019, 3:24 PM EDT
By Jonathan Dienst, Andrew Blankstein, Dareh Gregorian and Rich Schapiro


Even before his first suspected suicide try last month, Jeffrey Epstein was perhaps the most vulnerable man in the federal jail system: a politically-connected financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. He was, by all accounts, the kind of inmate that should have been under the closest possible supervision.

Instead, Epstein was taken off suicide watch in the days before he took his own life, officials told NBC News, a decision that baffled former wardens and veterans of the federal prison system.

"For them to pull him off suicide watch is shocking,” Cameron Lindsay, a former warden who worked at three federal facilities, told NBC News. “For someone this high-profile, with these allegations and this many victims, who has had a suicide attempt in the last few weeks, you can take absolutely no chances. You leave him on suicide watch until he’s out of there.


snip//

But Epstein’s status was changed sometime in the last two weeks for reasons that remain unknown, officials told NBC News. The decision would normally have to have been authorized by the jail’s suicide prevention program coordinator, who is ordinarily the institution’s chief psychologist, and approved by the warden.

“Once an inmate has been placed on watch, the watch may not be terminated, under any circumstance, without the program coordinator or designee performing a face-to-face evaluation,” according to the federal Bureau of Prison official guidelines issued in 2007.


more...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/prison-experts-are-stunned-angry-jeffrey-epstein-was-taken-suicide-n1041121
August 10, 2019

A Trump Official Just Posted on Instagram That Jeffrey Epstein Was "Hillary'd"

Oh, brother

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/08/lynne-patton-hillary-bill-clinton-jeffrey-epstein-conspiracy-theory/

2 hours ago
A Trump Official Just Posted on Instagram That Jeffrey Epstein Was “Hillary’d”
Conspiracy theories involving the Clintons are circulating on social media.


Jeffrey Epstein, the multimillionaire accused of sex trafficking, was found dead in his New York jail cell Saturday morning in an apparent suicide. Details of his death emerged first through ABC News and quickly circulated among New York media outlets, but Lynne Patton, regional administrator at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, had another idea of what happened.

“Hillary’d!!” she posted on Instagram around 10 a.m., alongside a screenshot of a Daily Mail story that described Epstein’s manner of death. She added the hashtag, “#VinceFosterPartTwo,” a reference to the former Clinton aide whose death by suicide has fueled conspiracy theories for more than two decades.


Patton, one of the highest-ranking officials at HUD, was not alone in seizing on conspiracy theories. Within hours of Epstein’s death, “Clintons” and “ClintonBodyCount” were among the highest-trending topics on Twitter. Among the biggest drivers of the latter hashtag were an Infowars host and two accounts associated with the QAnon conspiracy, according to Alex Kaplan, a Media Matters researcher who focuses on far-right media.

On her Instagram page, Patton has waded into controversial territory before. In April, she posted a message mocking Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for “cying” over the deluge of death threats she received after President Donald Trump tweeted an out-of-context attack on her. “In response, a few of Patton’s 84,000 followers took the opportunity to comment and some added death threats of their own,” Mother Jones’ Nathalie Baptiste reported at the time. “One Instagram user said he was surprised that no one had killed the congresswoman yet. Another user said someone should ‘just do it’ rather than just threatening Rep. Omar.”

More recently, Patton has faced criticism from ethics watchdogs over her habit of promoting political content from her professional social media accounts. In May, she retweeted a post mocking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that possibly violated federal law barring government officials from politicizing their positions. “It may be a Hatch Act violation. It may not be,” she wrote in a Facebook post explaining her decision. “Either way, I honestly don’t care anymore.”

August 10, 2019

The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Ivanka Trump

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/08/ivanka-trump-white-privilege?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=vf&utm_mailing=VF_CH_080919&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bd681ac24c17c10480409d4&cndid=52958341&hasha=a3d63495889441c15f149ff962938631&hashb=28d5869e4355a6cb53495c8bdda6ed75036e192f&hashc=e7992760f7b74b437b7d6a4e0856e1f6bf79c19f0f7298ed89a7efe545868774&esrc=ampNewsletters&utm_campaign=VF_CH_080919&utm_term=VYF_Cocktail_Hour&fbclid=IwAR3FwjKsghBvfIplNXRaGmyFpm8wv_E-66EgI8iV1UKlfuElROX1XqfJTQU

The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Ivanka Trump
A life of failing upwards, paved by a road of white lies and white privilege, has allowed the favored first daughter to reign supreme.
By Rachel Dodes
August 9, 2019


It must be tough to be Ivanka Trump. As the favored daughter of an openly racist president, and as a woman with a nebulous, nepotistic, and unpaid job as a senior adviser to that man, she is uniquely ill-equipped to condemn white supremacy, the very system that has fueled her unlikely rise to power. Yet there she was Monday, weighing in on the horrific mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, tweeting about the “evil that must be destroyed” to a chorus of guffaws. Has she met her father?

Being unqualified has never stopped Ivanka before. She’s been floated for jobs ranging from U.N. ambassador to the head of the World Bank, despite the fact that she is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with the New York Attorney General’s Office seeking to ban her for one year from so much as sitting on the board of a charity, following “persistent illegal conduct” at the now defunct Trump Foundation. Her eponymous clothing line (also defunct) managed to get tossed out of Nordstrom, the friendliest, most customer service–oriented retailer in America. Her partner in a fine-jewelry line (also defunct) is reportedly caught up in a $100 million money-laundering scheme in Dubai.

Despite her abysmal track record, Ivanka continues to fail upward, the Peter Principle in blonde. Just last month, the internet was howling over a video clip showing her attempt to insert herself into a conversation with world leaders at the G-20 summit in Japan, leading to the trending hashtag #UnwantedIvanka. As one of her friends told Vanessa Grigoriadis of New York magazine and the new podcast Tabloid: The Making of Ivanka Trump, Ivanka “really has no idea she’s privileged. She genuinely thinks she’s earned everything she has.”

snip//

As regular Americans struggle to keep from falling into society’s ever fraying safety net—thanks to her father’s policies—Ivanka just keeps rising to the level of her own incompetence, and her incompetence knows no bounds. The glass ceiling cannot hold her. If she really wanted to make a difference after last week’s horrific attacks, she could have done something. Instead of offering anodyne denunciations of white supremacy and blaming mental illness, she could have advocated for common-sense gun laws, like banning the types of semi-automatic assault rifles that were used in Dayton and El Paso. But she hasn’t. And she won’t.

Part of Ivanka’s mass delusion is that she’s a critical cog in the wheels of Democracy. Given her track record, why should anybody be interested in what she has to say about anything? The ultimate privilege, of course, is confidently assuming that people care.
August 10, 2019

I won't be voting for the president again, says Ohio farmer who backed Trump in 2016

Politics
I won’t be voting for the president again, says Ohio farmer who backed Trump in 2016
Published Thu, Aug 8 2019 4:11 PM EDTUpdated Fri, Aug 9 2019 8:34 AM EDT
Jasmine Kim


Christopher Gribbs, a soybean farmer from Ohio whose family owns and operates 560 acres of land, says he won’t be voting for President Trump again in the 2020 election.

The Ohio farmer voted for Trump in the 2016 election along with more than 75% of rural voters in the farm belt.

Now Gribbs is pushing back against Trump’s trade policies and the retaliatory effects on American agriculture.



Christopher Gribbs, a soybean farmer from Ohio whose family owns and operates 560 acres of land, told CNBC on Thursday that he won’t be voting for President Donald Trump again in the upcoming 2020 election.

“I couldn’t vote for him. I have to protect my business,” Gribbs said on “The Exchange. ”

The Ohio farmer voted for Trump in the 2016 election along with more than 75% of rural voters in the farm belt.

“I was a Trump voter. I voted for the president,” he said.

Now Gribbs is pushing back against Trump’s trade policies and the retaliatory effects on American agriculture.

“It certainly frustrates me. ... He’s lost on trade in three different ways,” Gribbs said when speaking about how the president has disappointed him on trade deals.

Farmers are one of the biggest victims of the U.S.-China trade war. With China officially pulling out of purchasing U.S. agricultural goods, American farmers are losing their fifth-largest customer.

more...

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/08/i-wont-be-voting-for-the-president-again-says-ohio-farmer.html?fbclid=IwAR1UWCifuHSXr_c8VMwzmujanvTitymBkPuiWtSVBoLIV5RTaVX0OHLkM9A
August 10, 2019

Lindsey Graham Says He Might Need His AR-15 for Looters During a Natural Disaster...


Lindsey Graham Says He Might Need His AR-15 for Looters During a Natural Disaster, Opposes Assault Weapons Ban
By Ramsey Touchberry On 8/9/19 at 5:44 PM EDT


Senator Lindsey Graham has an AR-15 assault rifle, and the Trump ally has no intention of giving it up because the South Carolina Republican said an occasion may arise from a natural disaster in which he'll need to protect himself from looters.

"Here's a scenario that I think is real: there's a hurricane, a natural disaster, no power, no cops, no anything," Graham told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday, joining Trump on his trips to the Hamptons for re-election fundraisers and a vacation. "People—they're not going to come to the AR-15 home. I think if you show up on the porch with an AR-15, they'll probably go down the street."


Asked if he was referring to looters, Graham responded in the affirmative.

His remarks came as Congress and Trump are trying to find a path forward on gun control legislation that could muster enough bipartisan and bicameral support to land on the president's desk. Trump claimed earlier in the day there is "tremendous support for common-sense background checks," something congressional Democrats have demanded the Senate end their 5-week recess to vote on House-passed universal background check bills.

Republicans have said the measures go too far by requiring federal background checks for virtually all firearm sales and transfers, whether it's a private transaction or with a store.

more...

https://www.newsweek.com/lindsey-graham-needs-ar-15-rifle-looters-against-assault-weapons-ban-1453611
August 9, 2019

Trump threatens retaliation against countries that issue travel warnings against the US

How old is this asshole/bully?


Trump threatens retaliation against countries that issue travel warnings against the US
[USA TODAY]
David Jackson
,USA TODAY•August 9, 2019


WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump threatened undefined retaliation Friday against countries and organizations that issue travel warnings on the United States because of gun violence.

"If they did that, we'd just reciprocate," Trump said during a wide-ranging impromptu gaggle with reporters at the White House, en route to fundraisers in New York.

He added: "We are a very reciprocal nation with me as the head. When somebody does something negative to us in terms of a country, we do it to them."


Amnesty International and a growing list of countries have begun issuing warnings about travel to the United States because of gun violence, including mass shootings over the weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

Know the risks: Travel advisories by country

Warnings: Amnesty International issues warning about travel to US amid 'high levels of gun violence'

Warnings, which are of varying degrees of intensity, have come from a list of countries that include Uruguay, Venezuela, Japan, Germany, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand.

more...

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-threatens-retaliation-against-countries-170704663.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=fb
August 9, 2019

A Titanic Battle Over Gun Safety Is Coming, and the NRA Has Never Been in Worse Shape


A Titanic Battle Over Gun Safety Is Coming, and the NRA Has Never Been in Worse Shape
Infighting, extravagant spending, and bitter lawsuits: Everything you need to know about the NRA’s meltdown.


Last week, three members of the National Rifle Association’s 76-member board of directors resigned from their positions. That might seem like small potatoes for the nation’s leading gun rights group, but considering the dire financial situation and multi-pronged legal turmoil the NRA is in these days, it’s a sign that the worst may be yet to come.

In a letter sent to NRA officials, and later obtained by the Washington Post, the three board members—Esther Schneider, Sean Maloney, and Timothy Knight—announced their decision by writing that “while our belief in the NRA’s mission remains as strong today as ever, our confidence in the NRA’s leadership has been shattered.”

Those are strong words to describe what’s been going on behind-the-scenes at the nation’s leading gun rights group: eyebrow-raising spending habits—especially by and for NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre—that show an exorbitant flow of money to the NRA’s leadership. And this comes at a time when the organization is hemorrhaging cash, struggling to keep members, and is embroiled in several scandals, including dual investigations by state attorneys general and possible ties to Kremlin-linked Russian operatives.

All this is happening at a time when the 2020 presidential race is just starting to kick into high gear. For decades, the NRA has been an influential force in American politics, spending millions of dollars to promote the GOP’s agenda. That role had never been more prominent as it was during the 2016 election, in which the group spent a record $54.4 million to help elect Donald Trump and Republican candidates running for US Senate seats. In the most recent Democratic presidential debates, nearly every candidate agreed that one of best ways to move the needle on gun control issues was to get the NRA’s money out of elections. And as the debate around passing gun control legislation flares up again in the wake of the most recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, Dayton, Ohio, and Gilroy, California., many Democratic politicians are once again calling attention to, and questioning, the NRA’s role in the country’s gun violence crisis.

Here’s everything you need to know about the NRA’s numerous money problems, scandals, and investigations that has led to these board member resignations, and could affect its influence in 2020 elections.

more...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/08/nra-wayne-lapierre-financial-trouble-explainer/

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