June 7, 2019

Mitch McConnell refuses to vote on gun safety bill after 10,000 deaths in 100 days

By Dan Desai Martin -
June 7, 2019

The House passed historic gun safety legislation 100 days ago, but McConnell is blocking the Senate from taking any action.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell still refuses to allow a vote on a pair of gun safety bills 100 days after the landmark legislation passed the House of Representatives.

On February 27, the House passed a bipartisan universal background checks bill, the first piece of significant gun safety legislation in a generation. The next day, the House overcame Republican opposition to pass another bill to close the "Charleston loophole," which would make it harder for those with a criminal record to bypass a background check and obtain a gun.

"Our constituents sent us here to do something — and we did," Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) told Shareblue Media.

"100 days ago, leaders who ran on a promise to take action delivered a historic victory for gun safety," former Rep. Gabby Giffords said in a Thursday statement. "Every day since, the House majority continued fighting for stronger gun laws — fighting to make our country a safer place to live, work, study, worship, and play."

https://shareblue.com/100-days-10000-gun-deaths-mcconnell-gun-safety/

He really is a fucking dangerous person and he has been one for a very long long time....................everyone one of the judges he has gotten confirmed on the bench should be impeached ............................

June 7, 2019

Former Trump aide John Kelly is profiting from baby jails -- and Congress is demanding answers

By Dan Desai Martin -
June 7, 2019

John Kelly, who spearheaded Trump's family separation policy, is now raking in cash from the detainment of unaccompanied minors.

Two leading members of Congress are demanding to know more about how John Kelly, who was first to push the Trump administration's family separation policy as secretary of Homeland Security and who later saw it implemented as Trump's chief of staff, is now making a six-figure salary from the company operating the nation's largest jail for migrant children.

On Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) sent a scathing letter to the head of Caliburn International demanding to know more about their arrangement with Kelly.

Kelly "was at the center of the inhumane and poorly planned immigration policies that put children in cages while separating thousands of families and that benefitted your company," the congresswomen wrote to Caliburn.

"It is outrageous that he now appears to be cashing in on those same policies, as a board member for the company that benefitted from his actions as a government official," they said.

https://shareblue.com/congress-john-kelly-profit-baby-jails-family-separation/

He really should be LOCKED UP................................

June 7, 2019

Texas GOP congressman says women should 'absolutely' go to jail for having an abortion

By Emily Singer -
June 7, 2019

When asked about women who have recently gone to jail for giving themselves an abortion, Rep. Ron Wright (R-TX) said they deserved it.

A freshman Republican lawmaker from Texas was caught on camera saying that women who have abortions should be convicted of murder and sent to jail.

"Of course they should," Rep. Ron Wright (R-TX) said when asked on camera whether women should go to jail for having abortions. "They committed murder."

The video was released by Reproaction, an abortion-rights organization.

When reached for comment by the Dallas Morning News on Thursday, Wright tried to deny that he believes what he very clearly said in the video. "My remarks were directed to those who perform abortions," he said. "Those who perform the abortions should be held responsible."

His denial doesn't pass the laugh test. In the video, Wright is having an extended conversation with the person holding the camera about the many women who have gone to jail in recent years for allegedly giving themselves abortions.

November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough..........................

https://shareblue.com/texas-gop-congressman-says-women-should-absolutely-go-to-jail-for-having-an-abortion/

June 7, 2019

Texas GOP congressman says women should 'absolutely' go to jail for having an abortion

June 6, 2019

The organizers behind Boston's Straight Pride Parade should concern you

Some of the organizers are close to neo-Nazis and other white supremacists.
Casey Quinlan
Jun 6, 2019, 1:05 pm

While Boston’s planned “straight pride parade” has created a fountain of hilarious jokes, there is a serious issue at hand with organizers’ close ties to far-right groups.

The three men organizing the parade, planned for August 31, are John Hugo, Mark Sahady, and Chris Bartley, who is called the “gay ambassador” on the event website. Sahady has ties to groups like the Proud Boys, the New Hampshire American Guard, and the Massachusetts Patriot Front.

Hugo unsuccessfully ran for the Massachusetts’ 5th Congressional District in 2018 with support and endorsement from Resist Marxism, a group that is considered to be “alt-lite” and holds anti-Semitic, misogynist, and anti-LGBTQ views.

Ahead of a Central Maine Pride Festival event in Waterville, Maine, last month the group posted on Facebook “Attention Patriots in Maine” to alert people that a drag queen planned to come in and read children’s books. Referring to Medicaid covering transition-related surgeries, the group asked, “Are we living in clown world?” The phrase “clown world” is popular in far-right spaces, according to Right Wing Watch.

https://thinkprogress.org/organizers-behind-boston-straight-pride-parade-neo-nazis-far-right-a3dc225cc7f0/


Has anyone else read or heard of this on the Main Stream Media, as of late.....................nope, the public, got to see how a fascist authoritarian wanne-be had to try with all his might to behaved himself on the cemetery grounds over looking Omaha Beach, that was donated by a French man to bury the dead from the battles of June 6, 1944 to August 1944 in the Normandy region during World War II. I am guessing most people do not know that the land came from a French Farmer, because it is hardly ever mentioned, and then the media gave him a passing grade on his remarks, like he was doing some FDR moment ............................ .

June 6, 2019

Two cases show the astounding breadth of the Supreme Court's war on democracy

Why have a democracy when you can be ruled by five men in robes?
Ian Millhiser
Jun 6, 2019, 12:34 pm

It’s June, which means the Supreme Court is in the final stretch of its first term since Justice Anthony Kennedy gave his seat up for President Trump to fill. We will soon know what America looks like under a judiciary that’s been remade by a president that is actively lobbying the Supreme Court to permit racist voter suppression.

Indeed, the story of this term is likely to be a story about democracy — and the Supreme Court’s role in thwarting it. The court is likely to hold that federal judges are powerless to stop partisan gerrymandering (although, oddly enough, Trump judge Brett Kavanaugh appeared open to some of the arguments against gerrymandering during oral arguments). And it is even more likely to hold that the Trump administration may effectively rig the Census to discourage immigrants from participating and shift power to white communities.

Below the surface, however, are two far more subtle attacks on democracy. These two cases, Kisor v. Wilkie and Gundy v. United States, are early stages of a much broader effort to transfer power from the executive branch — whose leader is elected, at least most of the time — to a judiciary that is unaccountable to voters and that is now controlled by the Republican Party. It is unclear whether the Supreme Court’s right flank has the votes it needs to prevail in both cases, but both are bellwethers for an agenda that could leave the next Democratic president powerless to govern.

https://thinkprogress.org/the-two-most-important-supreme-court-cases-youve-never-heard-of-5a86a9dbf201/

-snip-

The future, in other words, is likely to be one where the judiciary owes little or no deference to agencies, and where every regulation must win the approval of Republicans in black robes. In that world, Republican administrations are likely to be able to regulate (or deregulate) freely, while Democratic administrations will have to seek a Republican Supreme Court’s permission every time it wants to make meaningful policy changes.

The future of democracy in the United States is grim. And we will soon have a good sign of just how grim that future will be when the Supreme Court finishes up its current term this month.


In the nest to the last paragraph, and what Millhizer wrote about, to be able to "regulate and deregulate freely", my first thought , when I read those two words were about Social Security and Medicare........................the train is coming down the tracks and this is what happens when you let Federalist Society libertarians on the bench, that lied to get the Job during a confirmation hearing...................

We really need to take back the courts and the complete Congress

June 6, 2019

Trump: It's 'convenient' to go hundreds of miles out of my way to stay at my Irish resort

By Dan Desai Martin -
June 6, 2019


Trump is wasting massive amounts of time and taxpayer money to stay at his failing golf property in Doonbeg, Ireland.

Before leaving for his embarrassing trip to Europe, Trump claimed that he is staying at his failing Trump International Hotel and golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland, because it's "convenient."

"We're going to be staying at Doonbeg in Ireland because it’s convenient and it's a great place. But it's convenient," Trump said.

It's not convenient at all. In fact, Trump is traveling hundreds of miles out of his way just to force taxpayers to foot the bill for him and his family to stay at a Trump property, according to a Wednesday Washington Post report.

Trump's travel schedule "requires flying hundreds of miles west to Ireland, then hundreds more miles back east to France," reports the Post. After Trump's visit to France to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Trump will go back to Doonbeg before flying back to the United States the next day.

https://shareblue.com/trump-out-of-his-way-doonbeg-ireland/

-snip-

"So I got to ask Eric Trump a question as the Trumps did a pub crawl thru Doonbeg — is his trip a good use of US taxpayer money?" Nuala McGovern reported on Twitter. "We're just trying to have a good time," Eric Trump replied, before ducking into a pub surrounded by Secret Service agents.

Trump and his family traveled hundreds of miles out of the way so taxpayers could prop up a failing Trump property and so that Trump's kids could have a good time partying in Irish pubs.

Yet somehow, Trump wants everyone to believe that he did it for "convenience."

June 6, 2019

Trump uses D-Day event to give interview to neo-Nazi sympathizer Laura Ingraham

By Emily Singer -
June 6, 2019

Trump celebrated the 75th anniversary of the start of the fall of the Nazi regime by sitting down for an interview with a neo-Nazi sympathizer.

You can't make this up.

Trump kicked off the celebration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day — the WWII military operation that marked the start of Europe's liberation from Nazi occupation — by sitting down with a neo-Nazi sympathizer, Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

The interview was not announced in advance. Instead, reporters gathered at the event noticed Trump sitting down with Ingraham at the very same time the D-Day anniversary commemoration was set to begin.

Trump's sit-down with Ingraham comes less than a week after she aired a segment sympathizing with and defending neo-Nazi Paul Nehlen — who was booted from multiple social media platforms for anti-Semitic behavior.

https://shareblue.com/trump-uses-d-day-event-to-give-interview-to-neo-nazi-sympathizer-laura-ingraham/

-snip-

CNN's John Berman specifically called Trump out for choosing to reward someone like Ingraham with an interview at the D-Day anniversary celebration.

"Not minutes before he walked on that stage, he sat down for an interview with Laura Ingraham, who in the last few weeks on her show has defended an anti-Semite, Paul Nehlen, who spouts anti-Semitic views and white supremacist views all the time," Berman said.

It's unclear when the interview will air, or what Trump will say. But if he chooses to spout his typical nationalistic, anti-immigrant rhetoric from Normandy, it will be even more of a disgrace.

June 6, 2019

GOP Paid Millions to Gerrymandering Expert Behind Census Citizenship Question

Tom Hofeller wasn’t just an outsider who happened to push a narrative identical to the Trump administration’s.
Russ Chom

Last week brought a bombshell revelation in the fight over a controversial question about citizenship status on the 2020 census: Despite the Trump administration’s insistence that it wants to add the question for better voting rights enforcement rather than political gain, key wording in its legal rationale matches memos written by Tom Hofeller, a Republican gerrymandering expert. Hofeller, who died last summer, wrote that if the 2020 census asked about the citizenship status of respondents, it “would clearly be a disadvantage to the Democrats” and “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.”

Republican Party financial filings with federal regulators add a twist to this backstory: The party’s main political apparatus paid Hofeller more than $2 million for his work. That suggests that Hofeller’s memos weren’t simply independent advocacy for a pet issue, but that he and his work were deeply embedded in the heart of the GOP’s strategic operations.

According to Republican National Committee filings with the Federal Election Commission, from June 2009 until just weeks before his death last August, the GOP’s main political apparatus paid Hofeller just over $2 million for “legal and compliance” work. In fact, from Trump’s inauguration until July 2018, Hofeller was paid $422,000, in what appear to be regular monthly payments of $22,247.

A case challenging the effort to add the question to the census is currently being considered by the Supreme Court, with the conservative majority appearing sympathetic to the Justice Department’s position that the question would be helpful to protect the voting rights of minorities. Many experts believe, however, that the question would discourage people of color and immigrants from responding to the census, causing these populations to be undercounted and giving Republicans an advantage when redrawing congressional districts based on the 2020 census—a conclusion that Hofeller himself reached.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/06/gop-paid-millions-to-gerrymandering-expert-behind-census-citizenship-question/


Reminds me of a book :

Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind The Secret Plan To Steal America's Democracy
by David Daley

June 5, 2019

First Wave at Omaha Beach

An account of the “epic human tragedy” that unfolded when Allied troops landed on the shores of Normandy on D-Day

S. L. A. Marshall
November 1960 Issue

Unlike what happens to other great battles, the passing of the years and the retelling of the story have softened the horror of Omaha Beach on D Day.

This fluke of history is doubly ironic since no other decisive battle has ever been so thoroughly reported for the official record. While the troops were still fighting in Normandy, what had happened to each unit in the landing had become known through the eyewitness testimony of all survivors. It was this research by the field historians which first determined where each company had hit the beach and by what route it had moved inland. Owing to the fact that every unit save one had been mislanded, it took this work to show the troops where they had fought.

How they fought and what they suffered were also determined in detail during the field research. As published today, the map data showing where the troops came ashore check exactly with the work done in the field; but the accompanying narrative describing their ordeal is a sanitized version of the original field notes.

This happened because the Army historians who wrote the first official book about Omaha Beach, basing it on the field notes, did a calculated job of sifting and weighting the material. So saying does not imply that their judgment was wrong. Normandy was an American victory; it was their duty to trace the twists and turns of fortune by which success was won. But to follow that rule slights the story of Omaha as an epic human tragedy which in the early hours bordered on total disaster. On this two-division front landing, only six rifle companies were relatively effective as units. They did better than others mainly because they had the luck to touch down on a less deadly section of the beach. Three times that number were shattered or foundered before they could start to fight. Several contributed not a man or bullet to the battle for the high ground. But their ordeal has gone unmarked because its detail was largely ignored by history in the first place. The worst-fated companies were overlooked, the more wretched personal experiences were toned down, and disproportionate attention was paid to the little element of courageous success in a situation which was largely characterized by tragic failure.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1960/11/first-wave-at-omaha-beach/303365/