Source: Politico

Rep. Jeff Van Drew on Thursday formally became a Republican, pledging his "undying support" for Donald Trump as the ex-Democrat sat next to the president in the White House.

“I believe that this is just a better fit for me,” the New Jersey lawmaker said, following a meeting with Trump Thursday afternoon. “This is who I am.”



Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/19/trump-meet-party-switching-van-drew-087976

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"Undying support"?

this goes WAY beyond a freaking cult; Stalin would be jealous of Trump

Source: Politico

The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide in Turkey more than 100 years ago, over earlier objections from President Donald Trump.

The move amounted to a stern condemnation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has grown close to Russia in recent months and who criticized a similar resolution passed by the House. Moreover, the Senate advanced Turkish sanctions legislation on Wednesday, threatening to disrupt Trump's alliance with Erdoğan.


The White House had directed several senators to block the bill in recent weeks. But when Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) took the floor on Thursday, the opposition melted away.

"America's non-response to the Turkish horrors established patterns that would be repeated ... we know all too well the horrors that would be repeated later in the 20th century with the Holocaust and other genocides around the world," Menendez said. "Here in the Senate today, we break those patterns. We join the House who voted to do so ... 405-11. Today the Senate shows the same resolve."


Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/12/armenian-genocide-turkey-083744

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Source: Huffpost

Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved more than 700 women, some of whom have critical medical conditions, out of a Texas detention center in September without giving their lawyers any way of finding them, according to immigrant rights attorneys.

Starting on Sept. 20, the women being held at the Karnes County Residential Center were sent to other centers around the country so that the facility could be used to detain families. More than two weeks later, their lawyers from the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) have no idea where the majority of these women are being held, and they can’t find any updated information in ICE’s online detainee tracking system.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-moved-700-women-out-of-a-detention-center-and-wont-tell-lawyers-where-they-are_n_5d9cdd55e4b087efdba3fe71

Source: Politico

Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Monday denied that he pressed the Ukrainian government to put two U.S. businessmen on the board of the state energy company or that he was planning to leave the Trump administration.

Perry's comments at a press conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, come amid growing scrutiny into the Trump administration's diplomacy in Ukraine, which has triggered a House impeachment inquiry into whether the president withheld aid to the country in exchange for a pledge from President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son.

Perry acknowledged making the recommendations to Ukraine’s state-owned natural gas company Naftogaz, but said he did so only at the request of that country’s government. He also said it was "true" that he had pressed President Donald Trump to make the July call to Zelensky that is at the center of the impeachment inquiry.


“Absolutely, I asked the president multiple times, ‘Mr. President, we think it is in the United States' and in Ukraine’s best interest that you and the president of Ukraine have conversations, that you discuss the options that are there,’” he said. Axios reported on Saturday that Trump told House Republicans he made the call at Perry's request.


Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/07/rick-perry-denies-pressing-ukraine-037716

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/09/24/roy-cohn-trump-cousin-228167

My cousin Roy Marcus Cohn—counsel to Senator Joe McCarthy, consigliere to Mafia bosses, mentor to Donald Trump—had almost no principles. He smeared Jews even though he was Jewish. He tarred Democrats even though he was a Democrat. He persecuted gay people even though he was gay.

Yet throughout his life, he held fast to one certainty: Russia and America were enemies. Roy often told me the Kremlin blamed the U.S. for Russia’s failure to prosper, so Russian leaders were bent on destroying our democracy.

If Roy had lived another 30 years, I’m sure he’d be pleased to learn that his protégé was elected president. But I am equally sure Roy would be appalled by Trump’s obsequious devotion to ex-KGB officer Vladimir Putin. In his nasal tone, Roy would warn that Putin follows the Soviet playbook by interfering with elections in Western Europe; invading sovereign nations such as Ukraine; and assassinating dissidents and journalists.

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/06/us-use-galapagos-island-military-airfield

WTF

One of my dear friends decided to spend several months traveling through South America with her new husband. I was so jealous, as I felt stuck at home with two very young children. Keri sent me pictures of them hiking in Peru, dancing in Brazil, and getting up close to blue-footed boobies in the Galapagos. The Galapagos Islands in particular fascinated me. This fragile ecology that was home to species seen nowhere else. In the back of my mind, I put that on my bucket list of things to do when I was no longer hip deep in diapers and playgroup dates.

But it looks like I may have waited too late to get to the Galapagos. The Independent reports that Equador has granted the US permission to use the Galapagos for a military airfield:

Ecuador has given the US military permission to use a Galapagos island as an airfield, angering critics in the South American country who say the agreement is unconstitutional.

Under a deal with Ecuador’s right-wing government, the Pentagon will use the tiny airport on San Cristobal island to “fight drug trafficking”, defence minister Oswaldo Jarrin said.

https://governor.wv.gov/News/press-releases/2019/Pages/Gov.-Justice-orders-state-resources-to-fight-storage-tank-fire-in-Tyler-County.aspx

Gov. Justice orders state resources to fight storage tank fire in Tyler County

5/25/2019
CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announces this evening that he has ordered all state resources necessary to fight an ongoing natural gas storage tank fire in Tyler County.

On Saturday afternoon, lightning struck a 1 million gallon natural gas condensate storage tank owned by Dominion Resources near Friendly, WV in Tyler County. The tank is on fire, but no product has been released at this time.

Within minutes of being notified, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Austin Caperton advised Gov. Justice of the situation. The governor immediately ordered all assistance be made available to the crews on the ground in Tyler County.

The governor has ordered the West Virginia National Guard and West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to assist with equipment and personnel at the scene. Multiple WVDEP response teams have been dispatched and are en route to assist with the cleanup.

Local fire departments are working to suppress the fire. No injuries have been reported.

Source: Washington Post

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blocked a bipartisan attempt to limit Chinese companies from contracting with U.S. transit systems, a move that benefited a Chinese government-backed manufacturer with a plant in his district, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

His behind-the-scenes intervention came as Congress was trying this year to craft a spending compromise to avert another government shutdown. McCarthy pressed lawmakers to strip out language that could have prevented the company in his district, BYD Motors, from winning federal contracts, and they relented because they feared imperiling the bill.

BYD Motors is a division of BYD Co., a giant Chinese manufacturer. Among other things, it makes electric buses that are often used by local governments. Stella Li, BYD Motors president, is a campaign contributor to McCarthy, and the lawmaker spoke at a ribbon cutting for BYD’s California plant in 2017.

Lawmakers frequently take a stance on legislation that could affect campaign contributors or hometown companies. But McCarthy’s intervention was striking because the close ally of President Trump sought to protect Chinese interests at a time when Trump and many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are attempting to curb Beijing’s access to U.S. markets, particularly in industries deemed vital to national security. Just last week, Trump put Chinese telecom giant Huawei on a trade “blacklist” that severely restricts its access to U.S. technology.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/despite-national-security-concerns-gop-leader-mccarthy-blocked-bipartisan-bid-to-limit-chinas-role-in-us-transit/2019/05/21/24bb0f72-7813-11e9-b7ae-390de4259661_story.html?utm_term=.0f9e18ffe689

Source: Politico

Turns out Russian collusion isn’t a "witch hunt hoax" after all. At least not in Austria.

The country’s government collapsed on Saturday after Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he was pulling the plug on his ruling coalition after just 17 months in office.

The move came barely 24 hours after the release of a bombshell video showing Heinz-Christian Strache, the far-right leader of his junior coalition partner, trying to trade public contracts for party donations from a woman he believed to be the wealthy niece of a Russian oligarch.

“Enough is enough,” Kurz said in a brief statement to the press from his baroque office in Vienna, describing the many challenges he faced in recent months in dealing with Strache’s Freedom Party, which despite its alignment with the chancellor’s center-right People’s Party on policy issues remained a lightning rod for criticism with its racist comments and other controversies.

Read more: https://www.politico.eu/article/sebastian-kurz-triggers-austrian-election-after-far-right-scandal/