July 1, 2018

What #NeverHillary Did To America's Future

Cynthia Tucker

July 1, 2018 4:25 am

It matters less, now, if President Donald J. Trump serves only one term. It matters less if he is impeached. It matters less if Robert Mueller indicts him for colluding with a foreign power.

With the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy from the U.S. Supreme Court, Trump is a hairbreadth away from sealing his legacy as one of the most influential (if petty, crude, divisive, corrupt and antidemocratic) presidents in American history.

It is hard to overestimate the magnitude of this development. Trump has promised to appoint another hardcore conservative, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his minions will roll right over Senate Democrats to confirm him (or her). That jurist will likely be in his or her 40s or 50s and serve for decades.

That strongly suggests that for the rest of my life — and through a considerable part of my child’s adult life — the nation’s highest court will be a bastion of ultra-right doctrine, hostile to progressive causes of all sorts. That court will likely kill off reproductive rights, starve unions, look askance at affirmative action, eviscerate voting rights and abuse criminal defendants. It will coddle violent police officers, kowtow to corporations and re-write the First Amendment, bulldozing Thomas Jefferson’s famed “wall of separation between church and state.”

This is a huge victory for the forces of retrenchment. Conservatives are much better than liberals at playing the long game, and rich political players on the right have been plotting to remake the court in their own image for decades now. Even before Kennedy’s announcement (and with Kennedy’s assistance), the high court had shifted rightward. Just this summer, the court has weakened reproductive rights, upheld Trump’s hateful, anti-Muslim travel ban and hammered public sector unions. It aided and abetted homophobes with a ruling that sided with a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

more
http://www.nationalmemo.com/what-neverhillary-did-to-americas-future/

July 1, 2018

Yet Another GOP Candidate Found Promoting Neo-Nazi Ideology

Matthew Chapman

July 1, 2018 4:24 am

Yet another nightmare candidate is embarrassing the GOP — this time, in a state legislative race in North Carolina.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Republicans are bolting from a nominee for the North Carolina General Assembly, Russell Walker, in light of a series of racist ramblings on his personal website, called “Christ Descended from Joseph.”

“What is wrong with being a white supremacist? God is a racist and a white supremacist,” says his site. “Someone or group has to be supreme and that group is the whites of the world … someone or something has to be inferior … In all history in sub-Saharan Africa, no two-story building or a waterproof boat was ever made.”

Another passage on the site says that the Jewish people “all descend from Satan,” and that Martin Luther King Jr. was “an agent of Satan” who “wanted to destroy the Caucasian race through mixing and integration.”

more
http://www.nationalmemo.com/yet-another-gop-candidate-found-promoting-neo-nazi-ideology/

July 1, 2018

Crowd drops to ground crying as 'lunatic' Trump supporter pulls gun on peaceful immigration protest

Crowd drops to ground crying as ‘lunatic’ Trump supporter pulls gun on peaceful immigration protest in Alabama


Trump supporter Shane Ryan Sealy was arrested after allegedly pulling a firearm out during a peaceful immigration protest/Screenshot

A peaceful Alabama protest of President Trump’s extremist immigration policy was allegedly terrorized by a Trump supporter who started an argument and then pulled out a gun. The incident happened in Huntsville, where a group was gathered in Big Spring Park.

A former Huntsville teacher, Shane Ryan Sealy, 34, allegedly showed up to counter protest. He exchanged words with another protestor and then pulled out a gun, according to WHNT News.

Other attendees described him as a “a lunatic counter protester” and praised police for quickly arresting him.

“He pulled out a gun. I saw him holding it out in front of him. We just started screaming for everybody to drop to the ground,” said Ava Caldwell, the rally’s organizer. “We all dropped to the ground crying.”

Sealy was arrested before firing any shots. The police pointed out that he was not allowed to have a firearm within 1,000 feet of the protest.

Someone with the same name and location as Sealy has a Facebook profile which is full of extremist conservative propaganda.

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https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/children-drop-ground-crying-lunatic-trump-supporter-pulls-gun-peaceful-immigration-protest-alabama/

July 1, 2018

The One Area Where Trump Listens to Advisers

June 30, 2018 at 5:18 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard

Washington Post: “In most other realms, Trump is quick to reject norms and resist the established order. Where previous presidents zigged, the 45th almost always wants to zag. But not when it comes to the Supreme Court. So far, at least, Trump is taking direction from his counselors, including two with deep roots in Washington’s conservative network: McGahn and Leonard Leo, who is on leave from the Federalist Society to informally advise on judicial nominations.”

“Since before taking office, Trump has strategized with McGahn, Leo and others about aggressively filling federal court vacancies to permanently shift the judiciary to the right. The pace has been historic — and, for conservatives, the outcome has been an undeniable success.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/06/30/the-one-area-where-trump-listens-to-advisers/

July 1, 2018

North Korea working to conceal key aspects of its nuclear program, U.S. officials say

By Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick
June 30 at 7:32 PM

U.S. intelligence officials, citing newly obtained evidence, have concluded that North Korea does not intend to fully surrender its nuclear stockpile, and instead is considering ways to conceal the number of weapons it has and secret production facilities, according to U.S. officials.

The evidence, collected in the wake of the June 12 summit in Singapore, points to preparations to deceive the United States about the number of nuclear warheads in North Korea’s arsenal as well as the existence of undisclosed facilities used to make fissile material for nuclear bombs, the officials said.

The findings support a new, previously undisclosed Defense Intelligence Agency estimate that North Korea is unlikely to denuclearize.

The assessment stands in stark contrast to President Trump’s exuberant comments following the summit, when he declared on Twitter that “there is no longer a nuclear threat” from North Korea. At a recent rally, he also said he had “great success’’ with Pyongyang.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korea-working-to-conceal-key-aspects-of-its-nuclear-program-us-officials-say/2018/06/30/deba64fa-7c82-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html

July 1, 2018

Head of Va GOP resigns rather than run 'vicious campaign' for Trump-loving pro-Confederate candidate

Head of Virginia GOP resigns rather than run ‘vicious campaign’ for Trump-loving pro-Confederate US senate candidate

The head of the Virginia Republican Party resigned Saturday amidst the rise of a Trumpian candidate for U.S. Senate.

John Whitbeck had led his state’s party since 2015, but quit just two weeks after the party’s primary was won by Corey Stewart, a Trump-loving ultra-Conservative who has advocated protecting the state’s Confederate monuments.

Stewart has promised to run a “vicious campaign” against incumbent Tim Kaine. Stewart was the chair of President Donald Trump’s 2016 Virginia campaign but was fired for an extremist protest outside the Republican Party’s headquarters in Washington. He is closely associated with white nationalist Jason Kessler, who organized the deadly Charlottesville rally. Stewart was last elected, at the county level, in 2003.

Whitbeck apparently wanted to part of it, as he is resigning to pursue “other opportunities.”

Virginia Republicans have not won a statewide election since 2009.

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https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/head-virginia-gop-resigns-rather-run-vicious-campaign-trump-loving-pro-confederate-us-senate-candidate/

July 1, 2018

President Donald Trump: 'Our Laws are the Dumbest Anywhere in the World'

by Tamar Auber | 3:59 pm, June 30th, 2018

On the same day as immigration protests and marches were held throughout the nation, President Donald Trump called for those entering the country without proper paperwork to be immediately escorted “back out.”

“When people come into our Country illegally, we must IMMEDIATELY escort them back out without going through years of legal maneuvering,” Trump opined in a midafternoon tweet.

He then added this about U.S. law: “Our laws are the dumbest anywhere in the world. Republicans want Strong Borders and no Crime. Dems want Open Borders and are weak on Crime!”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1013146187510243328

Trump’s tweet follows an earlier tweet where he claimed, “I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill.” Just a few days ago, however, he said just that.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1013139532290625538

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https://www.mediaite.com/trump/donald-trump-our-laws-are-the-dumbest-anywhere-in-the-world/

June 30, 2018

Protestors carry baby dolls in dog crate to protest detention of migrant children

BY MAX GREENWOOD - 06/30/18 03:06 PM EDT

Protesters carried dog crates with baby dolls in them through the streets of Atlanta on Saturday, as activists gathered to protest the Trump administration policy that led to thousands of migrant children being separated from their parents.

Video captured by CNN showed the dolls stuffed into crates, in what appeared to be a reference to footage that has surfaced in recent weeks of migrants, including children, being held in fenced-in areas.

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1013127528209412097

The Trump administration has faced severe backlash in recent weeks over its "zero-tolerance" immigration policy prioritizing the prosecution of all adults who cross the U.S. southern border illegally.

That policy has led to thousands of children being separated from their parents at the border.

more
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/395003-protestors-carry-baby-dolls-in-dog-crate-to-protest-detention-of-migrant

June 30, 2018

Check Out These Amazing Signs From Today's Massive Rallies to Protest Family Separation

“Do ‘all lives’ still matter?”

AJ VICENS JUN. 30, 2018 1:29 PM

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across the country Saturday to protest the draconian immigration detention policies employed by the Trump administration that separated more than 2,000 children from their parents.

On June 20, President Trump signed an executive order to end the family separation policy but did not issue any direction for reuniting the families that had already been torn apart. The Families Belong Together rally was organized to demand reunification and the end of family detention.

Here are some of the best signs we’ve seen at the marches far:

https://twitter.com/cagraber/status/1013077605980000256
https://twitter.com/karavoght/status/1013094236156198912
https://twitter.com/karavoght/status/1013098863312465927
https://twitter.com/Markogeorgiev/status/1013097365765582849
https://twitter.com/girlinthelocker/status/1013086584177156103
https://twitter.com/fctnOVRrlty/status/1013103931726196741
https://twitter.com/DrsMeena/status/1013082915067047936
https://twitter.com/ananiascolon/status/1013103536534671361

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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/06/check-out-these-amazing-signs-from-todays-massive-rallies-to-protest-family-separation/

June 30, 2018

Evangelical leaders downplay potential Roe v. Wade reversal

Source: Associated Press



By STEVE PEOPLES
1 hour ago

NEW YORK (AP) — For evangelical Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell Jr., this is their political holy grail.

Like many religious conservatives in a position to know, the Liberty University president with close ties to the White House suspects that the Supreme Court vacancy President Donald Trump fills in the coming months will ultimately lead to the reversal of the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade. But instead of celebrating publicly, some evangelical leaders are downplaying their fortune on an issue that has defined their movement for decades.

“What people don’t understand is that if you overturn Roe v. Wade, all that does is give the states the right to decide whether abortion is legal or illegal,” Falwell told The Associated Press in an interview. “My guess is that there’d probably be less than 20 states that would make abortion illegal if given that right.”

Falwell added: “In the ’70s, I don’t know how many states had abortion illegal before Roe v. Wade, but it won’t be near as many this time.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/c3ce142c486e41d2b14bfcea2cbfb59f/Evangelical-leaders-downplay-potential-Roe-v.-Wade-reversal