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babylonsister

babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
July 29, 2020

Kennedy unloads on Boston Globe over endorsement snub

I wish this wasn't happening; makes me not like Kennedy much.


Kennedy unloads on Boston Globe over endorsement snub
Sen. Ed Markey won the newspaper’s backing in the Massachusetts Senate primary.
By STEPHANIE MURRAY
07/29/2020 11:00 AM EDT


BOSTON — Rep. Joe Kennedy III‘s campaign ripped the state’s largest newspaper after it endorsed incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, accusing The Boston Globe of protecting the status quo for its "disproportionately white, well-off, well-educated readers."

The paper made an unusually early endorsement on Tuesday, as mail-in ballot applications reach voters ahead of Massachusetts’ Sept. 1 Democratic primary. Typically, the Globe's editorial board announces endorsements closer to voting day, but it adjusted its timeline this year to account for expanded vote-by-mail during the coronavirus pandemic.

The scathing email to supporters, first reported by POLITICO, was penned by campaign manager Nick Clemons, whose unusually sharp criticism surprised many in a state where the Stanford and Harvard University-educated Kennedy is the latest member of the state's most prominent political dynasty to run for Senate.

"If you are one of the Globe's disproportionately white, well-off, well-educated readers, the past few decades have been pretty good for you. The status quo has delivered. Ed Markey has done just fine," Clemons wrote. "But if you are one of the hundreds of thousands of normal, working people in this Commonwealth, if you are Black or Brown, if you are an immigrant or a veteran, if you are sick or struggling or suffering — you know that business as usual isn't working."


more...

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/29/joe-kennedy-boston-globe-endorsement-snub-386099
July 29, 2020

Florida, Texas Trump Voters Explain Why They Won't Vote For Him This Time


7/29/20 4:33am
VIDEO @ link~
Florida, Texas Trump Voters Explain Why They Won't Vote For Him This Time
"We had to close our gym for 84 days. We have had the business for seven years. I just want to point out, again, this all happened while Donald Trump is president," Tommy Stallings said.
By Susie Madrak


"We are 98 days away from Election Day," Alysin Camerota said on New Day.

"And public opinion polls show President Trump slipping over his handling of coronavirus. I sat down with a group of voters in Florida and Texas, two of the states hardest hit by the virus. All voted for Trump in 2016. Half of them regret that. Here is our latest pulse of the people. Show of hands, how many of you voted for President Trump in 2016? Okay. All of you voted for President Trump. Show of hands, how many of you plan to vote for him again in November? Okay. Three hands went up. Daniel, tell us your thoughts."


"I believe that his handling of the pandemic has been horrendous. I think his lack of accountability and an old political term, he waffles on everything. He did say this, he didn't say that. and he meant this, but he didn't mean that. He's totally unpredictable," Daniel Turner said.


"I don't think anyone could have handled it any better. Listen to the health experts. When President Trump says something about ingesting Lysol, don't take it -- obviously an absurd statement. He should not be speaking on health matters, frankly," Ellie Bernstein said.


snip//

"Show of hands, have you had a friend or know someone who got very sick with covid and/or died? So three of you. Tell us what you think about President Trump's response to coronavirus.

"Well, they didn't get extremely sick and die, but I had a nephew and several friends that have tested positive for covid. I will say this. I'm a business owner. my wife and I own a fitness, 24/7 fitness center. We had to close our gym for 84 days. We have had the business for seven years. I just want to point out, again, this all happened while Donald Trump is president," Tommy Stallings said.


more...

https://crooksandliars.com/2020/07/florida-texas-trump-voters-explain-why
July 29, 2020

NYC ... Unidentified Officers Arrest Protester in Unmarked Van

https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-york-city-takes-a-page-from-portland-playbook-as-unidentified-officers-arrest-protester-in-unmarked-van?ref=home


New York City Takes a Page From Portland Playbook as Unidentified Officers Arrest Protester in Unmarked Van
CREEPY
Blake Montgomery
Updated Jul. 29, 2020 5:58AM ET /
Published Jul. 29, 2020 5:48AM ET


Law enforcement in New York City took a page from the Portland protest playbook Tuesday when plainclothes officers detained a protester from the street in a van lacking any discernible insignia. Those on the scene captured the arrest on video and said the protester was transgender. The NYPD issued a statement on the video but did not confirm the origin of the officers detaining the protester: “In regard to a video on social media that took place at Second Ave. and 25th Street, a woman taken into custody was wanted for damaging police cameras during five separate criminal incidents in and around City Hall Park. The arresting officers were assaulted with rocks & bottles.” The protester was later named by the New York Post as 18-year-old Nikki Stone. She was reportedly released early Wednesday after being slapped with several unspecified charges. Federal officers in Portland sparked nationwide outrage after video showed them in military-esque uniforms without badges detaining protesters in unmarked vans.
July 29, 2020

Trump Is Now Openly Defying the Supreme Court

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/daca-donald-trump-supreme-court.html

Trump Is Now Openly Defying the Supreme Court
By Mark Joseph Stern
July 28, 2020
5:20 PM

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it will continue to defy a federal court order compelling the full restoration of DACA, the Obama-era program that allows 700,000 immigrants to live and work in the United States legally. By doing so, the administration has chosen to flout a decision by the Supreme Court, effectively rejecting the judiciary’s authority to say what the law is.

snip//

Incredibly, the agency has decided to disobey this order, as well. On Tuesday, acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf declared that it would not accept new applications and would only grant one-year extensions to current beneficiaries “on a case by case basis.” This tactic will make it easier for Trump to deport DACA beneficiaries if he wins reelection, since their status will expire sooner. The agency will also deny advance parole “absent exceptional circumstances.” This new policy is nothing less than brazen defiance of a federal court ruling. Grimm, and the Supreme Court itself, ordered DACA’s full resuscitation, which requires the acceptance of new applicants and the conferral of two-year renewals. There is simply no legal basis for DHS’s zombie version of the program.

The administration has tried this malfeasance before with a different policy—and it didn’t work then, either. After the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census, Trump insisted they would find a way to do it anyway. That court decision, too, found that the government had violated the law through dishonest incompetence. And in its aftermath, the administration scrambled to work around SCOTUS and snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. It failed, though not before tiptoeing up to the line of defying the Supreme Court.

Now the administration has crossed that line—sprinted past it, really, without any apparent hesitation. It is true that SCOTUS allowed the Trump administration to take another stab at rescinding DACA. But Wolf’s memo does not purport to initiate a new process of winding down the program. Rather, Wolf presented these new rules as “interim changes” while DHS decides how to repeal DACA legally. Certainly, the agency can go back to the drawing board and devise a new method of killing the program. But neither the Supreme Court’s decision nor Grimm’s order gave Wolf the power to “limit [DACA’s] scope in the interim.”
July 28, 2020

As Trump's approvals sink House Republicans, his campaign and the RNC watch them drown

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7/27/1964276/-As-Trump-s-approvals-sink-House-Republicans-his-campaign-and-the-RNC-watch-them-drown


As Trump's approvals sink House Republicans, his campaign and the RNC watch them drown
Kerry Eleveld
Daily Kos Staff
Monday July 27, 2020 · 5:14 PM EDT

snip//

Of course, Trump's plummeting approvals are a big part of the reason House Republicans are in such a predicament. Trump has virtually ensured that whatever slim chance they had of reclaiming the majority is entirely dead now. And that's exactly why Kushner—who has extra sway with both the campaign and the RNC—has so far left them to fend for themselves.

snip//

What's even better is that dozens of House Republicans who are cruising to reelection have contributed money from their campaign committees to Trump's reelection—at his request. It's rather unusual, actually, since presidents usually labor to help their congressional counterparts rather than the other way around. And yet, the House GOP can't squeeze a penny out of him.

Topping it all off, Democrats are crushing the House GOP in fundraising, putting them in position to actually grow their majority this fall.
"The DCCC’s 42 most-vulnerable front-line members have an average 5-to-1 cash advantage over their GOP opponents. Additionally, 30 Democratic challengers out-raised their Republican foes in the second quarter of 2020, putting the party in a prime position to grow their ranks in the House," writes the Post.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair, Rep. Cheri Bustos, poured a little salt in the wound, observing, “Washington Republicans have learned the hard way that encouraging people to drink bleach doesn’t make for the most effective fundraising pitch." Oof. The DCCC is currently sitting on a $33 million advantage some 100 days out from the election.

To sum up: House Republicans had Trump's back—and now he's dooming them at the polls and won't cough up any money to ease the blow, even as House Democrats raise money hand over fist.

It's exactly the kind of send-off lawmakers who turn their backs on their country and betray their oaths of office deserve.
July 28, 2020

Trump Says 'Not Sure I Could Have Done Any More' As COVID Rages Across The Country



Trump Says ‘Not Sure I Could Have Done Any More’ As COVID Rages Across The Country
By Zoë Richards
July 28, 2020 11:25 a.m.


President Donald Trump on Monday night said he doesn’t think there’s any more he could have done to improve his performance since he took office more than three years ago.

“I’m not sure I could have done any more,” Trump told WRAL, a local news station in North Carolina, where he is expected to accept the Republican bid for a second term in August. The President has said he will formally confirm those details by early next week.

“We’ve done more than I think any administration has done,” Trump told the NBC-affiliated station when asked to reflect on his term as President, adding that “nobody even challenges that.”


But the President has been widely criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike for his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has quickly spun out of control in the United States, More than 4.2 million cases have been reported in the United States and the virus has killed more than 146,000 people in the U.S. according to the CDC. On Friday, White House coronavirus task force expert Dr. Deborah Birx compared the dire situation in California, Florida and Texas to “three New Yorks,” as the virus spread like wildfire in those states. The President on Monday countered those statements, claiming that the situation in those hotspots is beginning to improve and they’re doing “very well.”

more...

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-saysnot-sure-i-could-have-done-any-more-as-covid-rages-across-the-country
July 28, 2020

Trump Busted For Illegally Laundering $170 Million In Campaign Donations

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/07/28/trump-laundering-campaign-donations.html

Posted on Tue, Jul 28th, 2020 by Jason Easley
Trump Busted For Illegally Laundering $170 Million In Campaign Donations


A complaint has been filed against the Trump campaign for illegally laundering $170 million through the companies of former campaign manager Brad Parscale.

The Campaign Legal Center filed the complaint and said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:

Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and joint fundraising committee. The campaign and its committee violated the law by laundering nearly $170 million in campaign spending through firms headed by Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, and other firms created by Trump campaign lawyers.

The campaign reported millions in payment–American Made and Parscale Strategy—which disbursed the funds to the campaign’s ultimate vendors. Ultimately, this hid millions in payments to companies engaged in significant work for the campaign, as well as payments to Trump family members or associates like Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle.


The Trump campaign appears to be laundering donations and using the money to pay Trump’s family and associates. Trump is also trying to hide money for work being done for his campaign.

“Voters have a right know how campaigns are spending money to influence elections,” said CLC President and former Republican Chair of the FEC Trevor Potter. “This scheme flies in the face of transparency requirements mandated by federal law, and it leaves voters and donors in the dark about where the campaign’s funds are actually going. This secrecy could also disguise other campaign finance violations, but we don’t know, because the campaign isn’t disclosing these routed payments.”


more...

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/07/28/trump-laundering-campaign-donations.html
July 28, 2020

Coronavirus Deaths Are Hurting Republicans

https://politicalwire.com/2020/07/28/coronavirus-deaths-are-hurting-republicans/

Coronavirus Deaths Are Hurting Republicans
July 28, 2020 at 9:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard


Political scientists Lynn Vavreck and Christopher Warshaw have found a rise in coronavirus-related deaths in a given community tends to reduce support for Republicans.

“Republicans running for the U.S. House and Senate lose just as much support as Mr. Trump does when deaths rise locally. It may feel as if all politics is national, but it is not.”

“Research shows that when people are killed in action during wartime, residents of the place the victims are from tend to hold elected leaders in Congress and the White House accountable. Political scientists have found this to be true for midterm and presidential elections during the Civil War, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Coronavirus-related deaths seem to be having a similar effect.”
July 28, 2020

Biden Turns Down Interview with Chris Wallace

Smart or not?

https://politicalwire.com/2020/07/28/biden-turns-down-interview-with-chris-wallace/

Biden Turns Down Interview with Chris Wallace
July 28, 2020 at 10:43 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

Joe Biden has turned down an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, WLS reports.
July 27, 2020

Kaepernick, Fauci to receive Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

Dare I hope mf45's head explodes?


Kaepernick, Fauci to receive Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award
By Aris Folley - 07/27/20 04:24 PM EDT


Former NFL star Colin Kaepernick and Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, are slated to be among this year’s recipients of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award.

Other leaders expected to receive the award this year include Dolores Huerta, founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and co-founder of United Farm Workers of America; Dan Schulman, president and chief executive officer of PayPal; and Dan Springer, chief executive officer of DocuSign.

“At a time when the courageous pursuit of equality and justice has become political and riddled with adversity, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights stands with these modern-day human rights defenders in their inspirational fight for progress,” the organization said in an announcement on Monday.


In a statement thanking the organization for the honor, Kaepernick recalled his experience watching musician and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte receive the same award in 2017.

"I am humbled to follow the footsteps of individuals like Mr. B and to be in the company of all the other laureates," he said.

The group’s decision to honor Kaepernick comes as the nationwide debate around athletes kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice has reignited in recent weeks amid widespread demonstrations sparked by the police killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans.

more...

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/509237-kaepernick-fauci-to-receive-robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-award

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