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babylonsister

babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
June 5, 2019

Trump Planted 5 Stories About Royals Moving Into Trump Tower: CNN

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-planted-5-stories-about-royals-moving-into-trump-tower-cnn?ref=home


Trump Planted 5 Stories About Royals Moving Into Trump Tower: CNN
Olivia Messer
Updated 06.05.19 12:23PM ET / Published 06.05.19 10:38AM ET
Chris Jackson/Pool via Reuters


Between 1981 and 1995, President Trump planted at least five fake stories in New York tabloids alleging that members of the British royal family were considering moving into his properties, CNN reported Wednesday. The stories were allegedly spread by the real-estate mogul himself, according to biographies of the president. Trump even reportedly spread a rumor in 1983 that Prince Charles and Princess Diana were looking at buying an apartment in Trump Tower. All of the reports, however, were shut down by Buckingham Palace. Despite those denials, Trump told Howard Stern in 1993 that Princess Diana was once again looking to buy an apartment in Trump Tower. “I hope she’s looking at—she is really hot. She has gained 20-25 pounds, she looks great,” Trump reportedly said on the Howard Stern Show. “There could be a love interest. I’d become King of England. King of England. I’d have to leave, I’d have to lose the New York accent quickly.”
June 5, 2019

'What Does He Think He Is?': Chris Matthews Destroys Trump For Bringing His Sleazy Kids To London

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/06/04/what-does-he-think-he-is-chris-matthews-destroys-trump-for-bringing-his-sleazy-kids-to-london.html

Posted on Tue, Jun 4th, 2019 by Sean Colarossi
‘What Does He Think He Is?’: Chris Matthews Destroys Trump For Bringing His Sleazy Kids To London


MSNBC’s Chris Matthews obliterated Donald Trump on Tuesday for bringing his children to London – even Tiffany – and forcing world leaders to “kiss the butt” of his family members.

“This is the second week in a row he’s been visiting with emperors and now he’s meeting with the Queen of England,” the MSNBC host said. “What does he think he is that he brings his family with him like a royal?”


Matthews openly wondered when members of the Republican Party are going to defend the republic from a man who is acting like an aspiring authoritarian leader.

“When is someone going to raise their hand and say, ‘I’m not going to kiss the butt – again – of one of your family members? I’m not going to do it.'”

https://twitter.com/politicususa/status/1136065298803712000

Matthews said:

He also likes monarchs. This is the second week in a row he’s been visiting with emperors and now he’s meeting with the Queen of England. What does he think he is that he brings his family with him like a royal? … The president of the United States – he is head of state. A woman can be head of state, too. This is the way it works. You are elected the head of state. You’re not elected king. … The Republican Party is called the Republican Party, lower case. They believe in a republic, not a monarchy. When is someone going to raise their hand and say, ‘I’m not going to kiss the butt – again – of one of your family members? I’m not going to do it.’ Yet he insists that they do it.


Trump is “a walking emoluments clause violation”

As Jason Johnson, politics editor for The Root, told Chris Matthews on Tuesday, Donald Trump is “a walking emoluments clause violation.”

The president’s decision to bring his family along with him on his trip to London doesn’t just demonstrate – again – how Trump views himself and his children as American royalty, but it’s also the latest example of how he is using his political power to enrich himself and his family members.

After all, as Jill Colvin of the Associated Press pointed out on MSNBC, it’s particularly inappropriate that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were rubbing elbows with world leaders in London while simultaneously continuing to run the president’s business.

“These are people who run the president’s business, who are profiting from the Trump name,” Colbin said. “And to bring them along, to let them use the social media images of it just adds more and more questions about all of the ethical issues.”


Ultimately, Trump might see himself and his family as royalty, but what the world has again seen during his visit to London is that he’s nothing but a royal embarrassment.
June 4, 2019

Carnival Cruise Lines Hit With $20 Million Penalty For Environmental Crimes


Carnival Cruise Lines Hit With $20 Million Penalty For Environmental Crimes

June 4, 20192:22 PM ET
Merrit Kennedy


The cruise line giant Carnival Corporation and its Princess subsidiary have agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $20 million for environmental violations such as dumping plastic waste into the ocean. Princess Cruise Lines has already paid $40 million over other deliberate acts of pollution.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz approved the terms of the deal during a hearing Monday in Miami. She had appeared to grow increasingly frustrated as the company continued to flout environmental laws during the course of the years-long case.

"You not only work for employees and shareholders. You are a steward of the environment," she told Carnival CEO Arnold Donald, who attended the hearing with other senior executives. "The environment needs to be a core value, and I hope and pray it becomes your daily anthem."


Miami-based Carnival pleaded guilty Monday to six probation violations, including the dumping of plastic mixed with food waste in Bahamian waters. The company also admitted sending teams to visit ships before the inspections to fix any environmental compliance violations, falsifying training records and contacting the U.S. Coast Guard to try to redefine what would be a "major non-conformity" of their environmental compliance plan.

more...

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/04/729622653/carnival-cruise-lines-hit-with-20-million-penalty-for-environmental-crimes?fbclid=IwAR2sKG5J-auIeyZztanMgqU02a_vCURCzEUn1QzDSmP0xbwBSuOnk0Uajto
June 4, 2019

DOJ agrees to work with Democrats if House pulls Barr contempt vote

Blackmail? Extortion?

https://www.axios.com/justice-department-house-judiciary-bill-barr-contempt-5cb9bbf8-3679-4c4e-9e86-adfe999c711f.html

Zachary Basu
2 hours ago
DOJ agrees to work with Democrats if House pulls Barr contempt vote


The Justice Department has sent a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) informing him that it would be willing to resume negotiations on the committee's subpoena for the full, unredacted Mueller report if the House removes its threat to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt next week.

Details: DOJ claims that Nadler sent a letter on May 24 recognizing that the committee's subpoena is "unworkably broad" and offering for the first time "to narrow the subpoena's scope to cover a much more limited set of documents." In light of this offer, DOJ asserts that it would "hardly make sense" to hold Barr in contempt for not complying with the original subpoena and asks the House Judiciary Committee to withdraw its previous contempt citation so that the two sides can negotiate an accommodation.

Context: The House Judiciary Committee voted last month to hold Barr in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena demanding the release of the full Mueller report and its underlying materials. On Monday, Democrats announced that a contempt resolution for Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn would be brought to the full House floor for a vote.

The new letter from DOJ notes that the department recently negotiated a similar accommodation with the House Intelligence Committee, which had also threatened to hold Barr in contempt.

"The only reason we were not able to engage in a similar accommodation with the Judiciary Committee is that you insisted on taking the unnecessary step of holding a contempt vote less than three weeks before issuing the subpoena, at a time when negotiations were ongoing," DOJ writes.


Why it matters: Much has been made about the potency of contempt citations and whether they would actually have any effect in changing the Trump administration's pattern of stonewalling. Yet his letter marks the second time that the Justice Department has agreed to reopen subpoena negotiations to avoid the threat of contempt.

Democrats pulling Monday's contempt vote would mark a significant de-escalation in tensions with the Justice Department. Chairman Nadler has previously been unwilling to bend to many of the department's demands.


Read the full letter @ link
June 4, 2019

Judge says white supremacists charged over violent riots are protected by First Amendment


Judge says white supremacists charged over violent riots are protected by First Amendment
"The government has sufficient means at its disposal to prevent and punish such behavior without sacrificing the First Amendment."
Luke Barnes
Jun 4, 2019, 4:32 pm


A federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday threw out rioting charges against three members of the Rise Above Movement (RAM), a violent far-right group which participated in the August 2017 Unite the Right rally as well as other clashes throughout California.

The defendants had been charged with inciting riots under the Anti-Riot Act following a series of incidents at political rallies, most notably in April 2017 at the University of California Berkeley. Videos posted online showed the defendants at the event with fists taped for fighting and faces partially covered by skeleton masks.

Defense attorney John McNicholas, however, argued that the government’s charges were focused on the plans and conversations surrounding RAM’s trip to Berkeley — not the actual violence that occurred. As a result, the charges unfairly covered “lawful assembly and speech”, a point with which U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney agreed.

“Because the Anti-Riot Act regulates a substantial amount of protected speech and assembly, the Court finds the Anti-Riot Act is unconstitutionally overbroad,” Carney wrote in his 12-page decision. “The political nature of a riot increases the risk that the Anti-Riot Act criminalizes a substantial amount of protected expressive activity.”

“The court does [not] condone RAM’s hateful and toxic ideology,” Carney continued. “But the government has sufficient means at its disposal to prevent and punish such behavior without sacrificing the First Amendment.”


The judge urged defendants Robert Rundo, Aaron Eason and Robert Bowman to “move away from violence and hate.” The trio were released on Monday.

more...

https://thinkprogress.org/white-supremacists-riots-free-speech-f3c644e8386a/
June 4, 2019

Texas Governor Was Behind Attempted Voter Purge

https://politicalwire.com/2019/06/04/texas-governor-was-behind-attempted-voter-purge/

Texas Governor Was Behind Attempted Voter Purge
June 4, 2019 at 4:28 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard


“Electronic communications made public show Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) office was a driving force in the state’s program to purge nearly 100,000 suspected non-U.S. citizens from Texas’ voter rolls,” the San Antonio Express News reports.

“The program was scrapped in April after the state settled lawsuits challenging it, and after Secretary of State officials publicly admitted they included flawed data showing tens of thousands of naturalized citizens were on the purge list.”
June 4, 2019

Hoyer and House appropriators back potential pay raise for Congress



Hoyer and House appropriators back potential pay raise for Congress
Salaries for rank-and-file lawmakers have been frozen at $174,000 since 2010
Posted Jun 4, 2019 1:58 PM
Katherine Tully-McManus


House Democrats are making moves to lift the pay freeze that lawmakers have been living under since 2010. But the top Senate appropriator is not on board.

House appropriators released their fiscal 2020 Financial Services spending bill earlier this week, striking a provision that blocked members of Congress from receiving an increase in pay. The salary for rank-and-file House and Senate lawmakers is $174,000, but those with official leadership titles and responsibilities make more.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday that he supports the move.

“That was taken to court; the court ruled it was not a pay raise, it was an adjustment on an annual basis for inflation,” the Maryland Democrat said during a pen and pad briefing with reporters.

Hoyer said that if it was, in fact, a pay raise, it would not be able to take effect until the next Congress. He cited the cost of housing in the District of Columbia as well as provisions that prevent staff from earning more than a member as two reasons to allow the pay increase to move forward.

snip//

Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., said Monday that he’s unlikely to support a provision in the House Appropriations Committee's fiscal 2020 Financial Services spending bill that would provide a pay raise for members of Congress.

“I think the American people would think that Congress ought to earn it first,” Shelby said.

more...

https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/hoyer-house-appropriators-back-potential-pay-raise-congress?fbclid=IwAR19QbzCkUYCFgBUzFRKTNQjFc8RQCuY_0bBfMRL8w7BzBx0YEGTrG6Y9Po
June 4, 2019

Thousands of kids live in tents in Homestead. Do the feds have a hurricane plan?

Thousands of kids live in tents in Homestead. Do the feds have a hurricane plan? | Miami Herald
By Monique O. Madan
May 31, 2019 07:45 PM, Updated June 03, 2019 01:03 PM


Hurricane categories are used by the National Hurricane Center to gauge a hurricane's strength and predict potential property damage with each storm. Here's how the NHC defines each hurricane category — and how much damage each strength can cause. By Ashley Jean Reese

On Aug. 24, 1992, a monster storm howled through Homestead, buzz-sawing roofs, ripping out trees, smashing schools, and scattering Homestead Air Force Base fighter jets like an overturned toy box.

If a repeat of Hurricane Andrew happens this storm season, which officially begins Saturday, will Homestead be ready? Emergency planners certainly think so. What about the Homestead shelter for unaccompanied migrant children, which critics have derided as a glorified tent city? That’s less clear.

The camp — housing somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 minors, some as young as 13 — is set in the second most vulnerable hurricane zone in coastal South Florida, an area that bore the full fury of Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, leaving it in utter ruin.

“I asked them what their plan of evacuation was if a hurricane were to hit, and they told me they didn’t have one yet, that they were working on getting one ready,” Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Florida Democrat and frequent critic of the camp, told the Miami Herald.


She visited the detention center on Wednesday, and declared herself “very worried.”

“They are a government agency overseeing the safety of thousands of children in Florida and should have a plan ready before hurricane season starts.”


more...

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article231035753.html?fbclid=IwAR1M-RDe-sYjRRK37UzLN6N34mpQLnHYHUSxTgzsQOw6Rji_1xIJIRSwAUA
June 4, 2019

Trump puts new restrictions on Cuba travel, banning most educational and recreation trips

https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-cuba-travel-restrictions-20190604-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2j7QAhVwe_OHcKxjGZs9SOZHpk6B8pSeCMGNxckjDjLYfwAn13N2VYl8g

Trump puts new restrictions on Cuba travel, banning most educational and recreation trips
By Associated Press
Jun 04, 2019 | 6:45 AM


The Trump administration is imposing major new travel restrictions on visits to Cuba by U.S. citizens, including a ban on many forms of educational and recreational travel.

A Treasury Department statement Tuesday said the U.S. will no longer allow the group educational and cultural trips known as "people to people" travel to the island.

Those "people to people" trips have been used by thousands of American citizens to visit the island even before the U.S. restored formal relations with the communist government in December 2014.

The Treasury Department said it will also deny permission for private and corporate aircraft and boats.

The administration said the measures are a response to what it calls Cuba’s “destabilizing role” in the Western Hemisphere, including support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
June 4, 2019

Pete Buttigieg Destroys Trump's Tariffs And Showed Farmers Why They Should Support Democrats

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/06/03/pete-buttigieg-tariffs-farmers.html

Posted on Mon, Jun 3rd, 2019 by Jason Easley
Pete Buttigieg Destroys Trump’s Tariffs And Showed Farmers Why They Should Support Democrats


Buttigieg said:

The San Joaquin Valley helps feed not just America, but the world. The products that are grown here are world-class and yet what we’re finding is because of a short-sighted, I can’t even call it a strategy, I can’t even call it a policy, it’s a pattern, it’s a pattern of poking people in the eye to see what will happen. But when you don’t have — look — I completely get the idea if China is doing something unfair, I get the idea of standing up to them. If there are trade deals that are not benefitting us enough, I get the idea of adjusting them to make sure that it’s fairer trade, but that’s not what we’re seeing right now. What we’re seeing right now is basically politically motivated gamesmanship and it’s coming down on your back.

It’s hurting farmers. It’s hurting workers. It’s hurting consumers
. I wonder how many consumers are aware that that the projection is we all on average will pay 800 bucks more a year starting now because of these tariffs, and by the way, a tariff is a tax, so if you ever believe the Republicans don’t raise taxes, that’s what they’re doing right now.


https://twitter.com/PoliticusSarah/status/1135695382913200129

China isn’t paying the tariffs. Mexico won’t pay the tariffs. The tariffs are being paid for by US businesses and consumers. The tariffs are also crippling farmers and putting them out of business because they can’t sell their goods overseas due to retaliatory tariffs.

Democrats get it.

Donald Trump doesn’t care.

If farmers want the trade war to end, all they have to do is vote for the Democratic nominee for president next November. Farmers helped to create this Trump mess in 2016. They can be part of the solution in 2020.

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