https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kXTevO97nx0kh9RzB2jUQAfeBrI=/0x0:3000x1902/920x613/filters:focal(1214x491:1694x971):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65263840/GettyImages_482327380.0.jpg


The Air Force spent more at Trump’s Scottish resort than originally thought
Some stays lasted multiple days and included time on the resort’s golf course.

At a rally in New Mexico on Monday, President Donald Trump defended himself against allegations of corruption following reports that US servicepeople have been staying at a Trump resort in Scotland with increasing frequency.

“And now they have a new one,” Trump said, addressing his critics. “I’m enriching myself. If somebody buys a tank of gas in Scotland from an airport that I don’t own, and they happen to go to a hotel, he is enriching himself.”

The president went on to claim that not only is he not enriching himself, but that he’s losing money: “I’m going to lose billions of dollars and that’s okay.” He has made that claim before, and as Forbes has reported, it is false.

Shortly after that rally, Politico reported that some of the stays may have helped the president more than previously known, given they were longer than once thought, lasting multiple days and including playing time on the resort’s golf course. And although the military has said it does not have a special relationship with the Trump Turnberry, high-ranking servicepeople reportedly are given special treatment at the resort, receiving gifts usually reserved for VIPs.

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Overnight stays in the area around Ayr, Scotland, are not new. Refueling of military planes at the nearby Prestwick Airport, a commercial facility, began under the Obama administration, and those stops sometimes necessitate overnight stays due to federally mandated rest requirements. However, overnight stays in the area have increased dramatically since Trump entered the White House: So far this year, there has been a 500 percent increase in the number of overnight stays compared to 2015.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/17/20870192/air-force-donald-trump-turnberry-scottish-resort-more-money-losing-billions

Photo Of ‘Taco Bookmark’ From Indiana Library Goes Viral
One Twitter user wondered, “What maniac leaves a taco uneaten?”

hoto Of 'Taco Bookmark' From Indiana Library Goes Viral

Here’s some food for thought: Tacos make lousy bookmarks ― especially for library books.

But that seemingly obvious bit of knowledge didn’t stop a photo of, yes, a taco in a library book from going viral this past weekend.
On Saturday, Amanda Monson, a librarian with the LaPorte County Library in Indiana, tweeted out a pic that may have whet the appetites of taco lovers while turning the stomachs of bookworms.

Monson said the taco pic came from “an actual book found in the book drop at my library in Indiana a few years back.”

https://twitter.com/miss_amandamae/status/1173616174409510913

Democrats plan to portray President Trump, Brett Kavanaugh and Mitch McConnell as the three villains defining the three branches of government for the 2020 campaign — symbolizing Republican corruption and rule-bending.https://www.axios.com/democrats-2020-villains-trump-kavanaugh-mcconnell-6a33ca05-0e46-44f8-91aa-d7ce5e3084ae.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100 …

https://twitter.com/LuvMacyIsabella/status/1173599031466942465

Judge Promoted by Trump Administration Threatened a 2-Year-Old With an Attack Dog
“Want me to go get the dog?” the judge yelled at a Guatemalan boy. “Do you want him to bite you?”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/09/judge-promoted-by-trump-administration-threatened-a-2-year-old-with-an-attack-dog/

On March 30, 2016, in an immigration courtroom in Charlotte, North Carolina, a 2-year-old boy was doing what you might expect: He was making some noise. But Judge V. Stuart Couch—a former Marine known to have a temper—was growing frustrated. He pointed his finger at the Guatemalan child and demanded that he be quiet.

When the boy failed to obey his command, the threats began. “I have a very big dog in my office, and if you don’t be quiet, he will come out and bite you!” Couch yelled.


Couch continued, as a Spanish-language interpreter translated for the child, “Want me to go get the dog? If you don’t stop talking, I will bring the dog out. Do you want him to bite you?” Couch continued to yell at the boy throughout the hearing when he moved or made noise.

Kathryn Coiner-Collier, the only independent observer in the courtroom that day, says her mouth was on the floor as Couch made his threats. She sometimes saw Department of Homeland Security dogs sweeping the court building, and it was completely plausible to her that dogs could have been there that day. Coiner-Collier, then a coordinator for a project run by the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy to assist immigrants who couldn’t afford attorneys, says she “ferociously scribbled everything” Couch was saying. Soon after, she wrote an affidavit containing the dialogue above, and Kenneth Schorr, the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy’s executive director, submitted a complaint to the Justice Department in April 2016.

“I was outraged,” Schorr says about learning of the threats. “I’ve been practicing law for over 40 years and I have never experienced judicial conduct this bad.” Coiner-Collier says Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Deepali Nadkarni, Couch’s superior, interviewed her multiples times about the affidavit and told her that it was accurate. Schorr says Nadkarni told him that everything in the affidavit was corroborated by the internal investigation. Nadkarni wrote to Schorr in June 2016, “Judge Couch acknowledged he did not handle the situation properly and assured me it will not occur again.”


Schorr doesn’t think that Couch should have been able to remain on the bench after his threat to call in a dog on a child. In an unexpected way, he got his wish: In August, the Trump administration promoted Couch and five other judges to the Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals, which often has the final say over whether immigrants are deported. All six judges reject asylum requests at a far higher rate than the national average; Couch granted just 7.9 percent of asylum claims between 2013 and 2018, compared to the national average of about 45 percent. (Before becoming an immigration judge, Couch served as a military prosecutor and attracted widespread attention for refusing to prosecute a Guantanamo detainee because he had been tortured.)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-repeatedly-asked-aides-if-he-made-news-for-bigger-turnout-than-elton-john-nyt

Trump’s fondness for the “Tiny Dancer” singer reportedly did not sour after he rejected the inauguration invitation. Instead, every time the president has held a rally at a stadium that John holds the record for attendance in, Trump reportedly becomes laser-focused on beating those crowd numbers, according to sources cited by the Times. Last month, Trump bested John’s ticket sales at the same venue in New Hampshire, and took to Twitter to share his victory. “Great news! Tonight, we broke the all-time attendance record previously held by Elton John at #SNHUArena in Manchester, New Hampshire!” Trump tweeted. The president is then said to have repeatedly asked his aides if the new record was being picked up in the news. It was not.

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/man-dragged-shark-viral-video-sentenced-10-days-jail

A Florida man who recorded a shark being dragged to its death behind a high-speed boat accepted a plea deal on Thursday and was sentenced to 10 days in jail.

Robert Lee "Bo" Benac III was the third man to face charges stemming from the June 2017 incident where a shark was seen on video being dragged by a rope from a 22-foot boat near Egmont Key. The men could be heard laughing at the shark on the recording, which was posted to social media and generated widespread outrage.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission led the prosecution against Benac and Michael Wenzel, 23, who took a similar plea deal in February, according to the Bradenton Herald.

In addition to the 10-day jail sentence, Benac was given 11 months of probation, ordered to pay a $2,500 fine and perform 250 hours of community service, 125 of which must be spent at an animal shelter, the outlet reported. He also lost his fishing license for three years.

Benac pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of aggravated cruelty to animals and violation of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rules.

Benac, Wenzel and Spencer Heintz, 35, were arrested in December 2017, but the charges against Heintz were eventually dropped, according to the Bradenton Herald.

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Brett Kavanaugh should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue. The lies being told about him are unbelievable. False Accusations without recrimination. When does it stop? They are trying to influence his opinions. Can’t let that happen!


https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1173231877181857795

https://nypost.com/2019/09/14/worlds-oldest-parents-in-intensive-care-after-delivering-twins/Their newborn twins are fine, but not so for the “world’s oldest parents” — both are in intensive care.



The couple from India, both in their 70s, had created an international stir back on Sept. 5, when their baby girls — conceived through a donor egg and delivered by cesarean section — arrived full-term and healthy.


74-year-old woman gives birth to twins through IVF: report
Not surprisingly, it’s now the babies’ elderly mom and dad who are not doing so well, The Times of London reports.

And as the new parents — mom is 74, and dad is 78 — remain in an Indian ICU, new controversy is whirling in the already ethically suspect case.

The doctor who handled the pregnancy is insisting he was tricked into believing that the mom was in her 60s.

“It was only by chance, after she had conceived, that her husband let out accidentally to one of the nurses her real age,” Dr. Sanakkayala Umashankar told The Times of London.

“I was livid!”

Mom Erramatti Mangayamma has been in intensive care since the delivery.

Dad Raja Rao on the other hand, started out strong, crowing to the press just hours after he and his wife became first-time parents.

“Due to the grace of God and doctors, I am the proud father of two baby girls,” he bragged.

“We are the happiest couple on earth today.”

But a day later, he collapsed from a heart attack.

He remains in the ICU at the Ahalya Nursing Home in Guntur, in the southern state of Adhra Pradesh, the Times reports.

His wife is there, too. Doctors are not releasing information on their illnesses, except to say both are stable.

Meanwhile, the twins, who have yet to be named, are putting on weight nicely.

https://twitter.com/FuckThe_NRA/status/1173048340436549633

barbara lay Retweeted
F*ck the NRA
@FuckThe_NRA
Last 48 hrs:

6 shot at a home (NM)

4 shot in a car (MO)

4 shot at a bar (CA)

4 shot at an apt (NM)

3 shot at a HS game (VA)

3 shot on a st (NJ)

3 shot on a st (MA)

3 shot on a st (KY)

3 shot on a st (IL)

3 shot at a home (FL)

3 shot on a st (CA)

IT'S THE F*CKING GUNS.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/13/us/wrong-text-act-of-kindness-trnd/index.html

)A text message to a stranger ended up doing a lot of good for a family needing help in Arizona.


Abby Fink thought she'd sent a text message to a church friend, Alex Jakeman, she told CNN.

"Hey brother Jakeman, this is sister Fink, we are bringing you dinner tomorrow I was wondering what time would be a good time to bring it over," the text read.

The Jakeman family's 4-year-old son, Noah, was fighting for his life. The boy suffered from a seizure and was vomiting and going through respiratory failure, his mother told CNN.

Noah has Lennox Gasteau Syndrome, which is a severe type of epilepsy and cerebral palsy. He has brittle bones, abnormal brain development, autism and is non-verbal and unable to walk around on his own, his mother said.

But the message never got to the Jakeman family. It landed on the phone of a different person.

That individual, named Bill, texted back, Oh what are you bringing me, I don't like seafood."

"I was confused at first because the reaction I got from him was not one of someone with a child in the ICU," Fink said.

Once Fink explained that her friend's son was in ICU at Phoenix Children's Hospital, Bill put the jokes aside, he told CNN. He did not want his last name used.
He asked how he could get involved. After some coordination, Bill started raising money on Facebook and asked his network for cards, blood donations and monetary donations to help the family with medical expenses.