August 3, 2019

California's 'lonely' Republicans: What ultra-minority status is like

To understand what it’s like to be a Republican in California today, spend some time in Huntington Beach.

In January, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a lawsuit against this once solidly Republican community for violating a state law to allow more housing. The suit came on the heels of the city’s courtroom victory claiming exemption from California’s “sanctuary state” law – a ruling the state is now appealing.

The governor is “100%” singling out Huntington Beach, says Mayor Erik Peterson. The city’s attorney agrees, pointing out that 50 other cities have not fulfilled the housing mandate. “I believe they’re still upset that we beat them” on the sanctuary issue, says the mayor from his office, a surf board propped up in the corner. “Of course, we’re all racists because of that – that’s what they tell us. But it actually had nothing to do with illegal immigration. It had to do with the state’s overreach.”

Last year, Orange County, the cradle of California conservatism, lost four of its congressional seats to Democrats. Fewer than a quarter of California’s registered voters today are Republicans, and Democrats have a supermajority that renders the GOP powerless in the legislature. In recent months, Governor Newsom has cast Republicans as xenophobes and nativists, destined for the “waste bin of history.”

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2019/0723/California-s-lonely-Republicans-What-ultra-minority-status-is-like

August 2, 2019

EPA Administrator Proves Carbon Emissions Not Harmful By Inhaling Directly From Truck's Tailpipe

WASHINGTON—During a press conference held in a D.C. parking lot, Environmental Protection Agency head Andrew Wheeler went out of his way Friday to show carbon emissions were safe by putting his mouth over the exhaust pipe of an idling Jeep Grand Cherokee and taking several deep breaths.

“Despite all the fear-mongering on behalf of politically motivated scientists, carbon emissions are not harmful in any way, as you can see,” said a coughing, unsteady Wheeler, moments before he was seen vomiting, losing his balance, and collapsing onto the pavement.

“They pose no threat at all to the American public, and any hysterical claims to the contrary have no basis in reality. Sure, it does burn the lungs a little, but it doesn’t cause any serious harm to internal organs—look, I’ll even take another puff. Oh, God. Oh, God. Someone help me.”

At press time, local authorities had confirmed Wheeler’s death.

https://politics.theonion.com/epa-administrator-proves-carbon-emissions-not-harmful-b-1836912751

August 2, 2019

Radical Baptist church preaches LGBTQ hate just miles from California's Capitol

Pastor Roger Jimenez implored his congregation at Verity Baptist Church to separate themselves from the ways of a modern, wicked world.

Burn your Harry Potter books. Trash your rock ‘n’ roll CDs. Don’t vaccinate your babies. Stay away from gay people.

“The United States of America is on a rainbow-colored boat, and we’ve gotta shake that boat up,” Jimenez said.

Speaking to some 400 people in an overflow crowd that included dozens of young children staring intently at Bibles and giggling when pastors yelled, Jimenez was met with shouts of “Amen!” and “Let ‘er rip!”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-01/radical-baptist-pastor-lgbtq-hate

He's quite the disciple of Christ, isn't he?

August 2, 2019

The Nuns Who Bought and Sold Human Beings

Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, one of the oldest Roman Catholic girls’ schools in the nation, has long celebrated the vision and generosity of its founders: a determined band of Catholic nuns who championed free education for the poor in the early 1800s.

The sisters, who established an elite academy in Washington, D.C., also ran “a Saturday school, free to any young girl who wished to learn — including slaves, at a time when public schools were almost nonexistent and teaching slaves to read was illegal,” according to an official history posted for several years on the school’s website.

But when a newly hired school archivist and historian started digging in the convent’s records a few years ago, she found no evidence that the nuns had taught enslaved children to read or write. Instead, she found records that documented a darker side of the order’s history.

The Georgetown Visitation sisters owned at least 107 enslaved men, women and children, the records show. And they sold dozens of those people to pay debts and to help finance the expansion of their school and the construction of a new chapel.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/opinion/sunday/nuns-slavery.html

August 2, 2019

After Trump cites Amazon concerns, Pentagon reexamines $10 billion JEDI cloud contract process

Source: Washington Post

The White House has instructed newly installed Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper to reexamine the awarding of the military’s massive cloud-computing contract because of concerns that the deal would go to Amazon, officials close to the decision-making process said.

The 11th-hour Oval Office intervention comes just weeks before the winning bid was expected to be announced and has now left a major military priority up in the air, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door process freely. As recently as Sunday, the Defense Department defended its plans to move ahead with a single company for what is known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, a $10 billion contract that would be one of the government’s most expensive information technology procurements ever.

No decision has yet been made, the officials said. But some officials said the move to award the contract to more than one company is a possibility.

The president’s directive represents a departure from what is usually a scripted bureaucratic process. Trump on several occasions has spoken out against Amazon and its chief executive, Jeff Bezos. And he has attacked the Bezos-owned Washington Post for its coverage of him by conflating it with Amazon’s interests. The president has called the news organization the “Amazon Washington Post,” while accusing it of publishing “fake news” and being a “lobbyist newspaper” for the company.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/08/01/after-trump-cites-amazon-concerns-pentagon-re-examines-billion-jedi-cloud-contract-process/

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This is fucked up.

August 1, 2019

Ashley Moody, the NRA's attorney general

It was just another day in the United States of America. Another mass shooting. Another politician taking up for the gun lobby.

Monday brought news of yet another mass shooting committed with an assault weapon. This time three people died, two of them children. Twelve others were injured, including the mother and grandmother of the slain six-year-old boy.

A few hours later, Florida learned that its new attorney general, Ashley Moody, is shilling for the people who make and purchase such weapons of mass destruction.

Moody opposes a petition initiative to ban new assault weapons in Florida. Late Friday, she referred the issue to the Florida Supreme Court and requested that it bar the proposal from the 2020 ballot.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-op-edit-ashley-moody-nra-20190731-jdgoycg7kvamnezxy55p6p3jw4-story.html

August 1, 2019

Three NRA board members resign in latest sign of upheaval at gun rights group

Source: Washington Post

Three National Rifle Association board members who have raised concerns about reports of reckless spending and mismanagement by the group’s leadership resigned Thursday, another sign of mounting dissent within the nation’s most powerful gun-rights group.

The three board members — Esther Schneider of Texas, Sean Maloney of Ohio and Timothy Knight of Tennessee — said they were stripped of their committee assignments after they asked questions about allegations of lavish spending by NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other financial excesses.

“While our belief in the NRA’s mission remains as strong today as ever, our confidence in the NRA’s leadership has been shattered,” they wrote in a letter to NRA officials Thursday obtained by The Washington Post.

NRA President Carolyn D. Meadows said in a written statement that the organization accepts the resignations.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/three-nra-board-members-resign-in-latest-sign-of-upheaval-at-gun-rights-group/2019/08/01/aad49bc0-b49d-11e9-8f6c-7828e68cb15f_story.html

August 1, 2019

Judge overturns IRS rule that shielded political donors' identities

A federal judge in Montana overturned an Internal Revenue Service rule that allowed many political nonprofit groups to keep their donor lists private.

The ruling upends a change the IRS made last year that permitted so-called Section 501(c)4 groups, known as “social welfare” organizations, to keep their donor lists private. A federal judge said the IRS didn’t follow proper procedure in writing the rule and needs to let the public weigh in on the change before altering the tax code.

“Then, and only then, may the IRS act on a fully informed basis when making potentially significant changes to federal tax law,” U.S. District Judge Brian Morris said in the opinion Tuesday evening.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who is also a Democratic presidential candidate, sued the IRS, saying the change to what groups must report to the IRS limited information states received about political donors. The IRS rule required the groups to disclose their donors only if an auditor requested to see it.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-07-31/judge-overturns-irs-rule-shielded-political-donors-identities