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babylonsister

babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
September 14, 2019

NASCAR shocks gun industry as it appears to block some firearm ads

Oh, the humanity!

NASCAR shocks gun industry as it appears to block some firearm ads
By Sara Murray, CNN
Updated 4:10 PM ET, Fri September 13, 2019


Washington (CNN)NASCAR rejected advertisements for its souvenir programs from multiple firearms companies earlier this summer as part of what is being seen as a "gradual shift" in its position on guns.
The move may be another example of how major companies are adjusting as the nation grapples with guns in America.

While the move did not get widespread notice, NASCAR'S apparent shift stunned gun enthusiasts who said there is a large overlap between NASCAR fans and gun owners, and left some in the firearms industry questioning why NASCAR's viewpoint has shifted and where the racing organization now stands on Second Amendment issues.

"They've got the drivers shooting off blanks in the winner's circle. It doesn't make any sense," David Dolbee, the general manager for K-Var Corp., a large distributor of firearms, which submitted an advertisement that was rejected featuring an AK-47 and various accessories.

After a third-party advertising vendor solicited ads for an official NASCAR program earlier this year, the vendor followed up with gun companies in August to inform them NASCAR had rejected advertisements that depicted "assault-style rifles/sniper rifles."

The advertising vendor, National Event Publications, sent an email to some gun companies saying, "We just heard from NASCAR on a number of gun related ads and unfortunately, due to a gradual shift in NASCAR's position on guns, these ads must be edited/changed — especially those that are depicted as assault-style rifles/sniper rifles. NASCAR is still open to some of the less controversial gun accessories, concealed carry, or classes."

more...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/13/politics/nascar-bans-gun-ads-souvenir-program/index.html

September 13, 2019

Court revives suit alleging Fox News inflicted 'emotional torture' on Seth Rich family


Court revives suit alleging Fox News inflicted 'emotional torture' on Seth Rich family
Michael IsikoffChief Investigative Correspondent
,Yahoo News•September 13, 2019


A federal appeals court on Friday revived a lawsuit against Fox News brought by the parents of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, concluding there are plausible claims that the conservative cable network was party to a “campaign of emotional torture.”

The long-awaited opinion by a three-judge panel in New York, reversing a lower court ruling, opens the door for the lawyers representing Seth Rich’s parents, Joel and Mary Rich, to obtain internal documents and depose top Fox News executives about a May 16, 2017, story falsely alleging that the DNC staff member had leaked internal party emails to WikiLeaks prior to his murder.

“We would not wish what we have experienced upon any other parent — anywhere,” Joel and Mary Rich said in a statement Friday they provided to Yahoo News. “We appreciate the appellate court’s ruling and look forward to continuing to pursue justice.”


The story in question, authored by Fox News staffer Malia Zimmerman, gave mainstream prominence to one of the most insidious conspiracy theories to arise out of the 2016 election. Suggesting that Rich’s death was a political assassination, it was promoted at various times by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, President Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger Stone and then White House senior adviser Steve Bannon.

more...

https://news.yahoo.com/court-revives-suit-alleging-fox-news-inflicted-emotional-torture-on-seth-rich-family-193309556.html
September 13, 2019

Pete Buttigieg: 'American Leadership Is Needed Now More Than Ever'

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/09/pete-buttigieg-american-leadership-needed


Pete Buttigieg: 'American Leadership Is Needed Now More Than Ever'
Mayor Pete sounds really serious about getting the job done.
By Susie Madrak
6 hours ago by Susie Madrak
Video at link~


Pete Buttigieg has some great lines in last night's Democratic debate.

"The president clearly has no strategy," he said. "You know, when I first got into this race, I remember President Trump scoffed and said he'd like to see me make a deal with (Chinese President) Xi Jinping. Well, I'd like to see him make a deal with Xi Jinping. It's just one more example of a commitment not made," he said.

"Is it just me, or was that supposed to happen, like, in April?"


He said when things like that trade deal don't happen, adversaries and allies alike take note of the inability of the U.S. to keep its word or follow through on its plans. "And when that happens, there are serious consequences," he said.

He mentioned the G7, where at a meeting to talk about the great challenges of climate change, "there was literally an empty chair where American leadership could have been."

"The problem is, this is a moment when American leadership is needed more than ever. Whether it's in Hong Kong, where those protesters for democracy need to know that they have a friend in the United States, or anywhere around the world, where we increasingly see dictators throwing their weight around.

"The world needs America, but it can't just be any American."
September 13, 2019

Pimp My Veep: Trump Gets Paid For Pence Speech At His Hotel

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/09/13/pence-speech-trump-hotel.html

Posted on Fri, Sep 13th, 2019 by Jason Easley
Pimp My Veep: Trump Gets Paid For Pence Speech At His Hotel


An organization paid to rent out ballrooms at Trump’s hotel where the main speaker was Trump’s own vice president Mike Pence.

The Washington Post reported:

Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were scheduled to speak this week at President Trump’s hotel in Washington — lending their names to events put on by a paying customer of Trump’s private business.
….

Pence spoke Thursday night at the hotel, during a gala put on by the Concerned Women for America, a 40-year-old conservative nonprofit organization that says it promotes “Biblical values and Constitutional principles.” Tickets to that event cost at least $99, according to the group’s website.


The speech came after Pence was already in the middle of a firestorm for using taxpayer resources to stay at Trump’s private club in Ireland, even though it was hundreds of miles and required a coast to coast flight for Pence to attend his daily meetings.

Pence’s speech is a perfect example of why it is so important that the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment investigation includes Trump profiteering from the presidency and corruption.

Trump has turned the entire Executive Branch into a money-making scam for his family and his business, and Mike Pence is just as dirty as Donald Trump.

Pence is allowing himself to be pimped out for presidential profit, and that is why the Trump stink will never come off of Mike Pence and political career will end with Trump’s.
September 13, 2019

Ratings Show Interest In Democratic Primaries Is High


https://politicalwire.com/2019/09/13/ratings-show-interest-in-democratic-primaries-is-high/

Ratings Show Interest In Democratic Primaries Is High
September 13, 2019 at 11:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard


CNN: “Thursday night’s debate featuring ten presidential candidates brought a big audience to ABC. The network’s ratings were head and shoulders above everything else on TV Thursday night.”

“Total viewership numbers will be released on Friday afternoon. But very preliminary numbers, known as the ‘overnights,’ show that the debate well exceeded 10 million viewers.”
September 13, 2019

Pete Buttigieg Slams Trump For Turning America Into The Laughingstock Of The World

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/09/12/buttigieg-slams-trump-america-laughingstock-world.html

Posted on Thu, Sep 12th, 2019 by Sean Colarossi
Pete Buttigieg Slams Trump For Turning America Into The Laughingstock Of The World


South Bend mayor and 2020 Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg hammered Donald Trump during Thursday night’s debate for being an international embarrassment.

As evidence, the mayor pointed to Trump’s clownish failure in his reckless trade war with China and his embarrassing performance at the recent G7 summit in France.

“When I first got into this race, I remember President Trump scoffed and said he’d like to see me making a deal with Xi Jinping,” Buttigieg said. “I’d like to see him making a deal with Xi Jinping. Is it just me, or was that supposed to happen in, like, April?”

He added, “When that happens on the international stage, people take note – not just our competitors, our adversaries, but also our allies, take note – of the inability of the United States to keep its word or follow through on its plans.”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1172323840128512001


Buttigieg said:

Well, the president clearly has no strategy. When I first got into this race, I remember President Trump scoffed and said he’d like to see me making a deal with Xi Jinping. I’d like to see him making a deal with Xi Jinping. Is it just me, or was that supposed to happen in, like, April? It’s one more example of a commitment not made. When that happens on the international stage, people take note – not just our competitors, our adversaries, but also our allies, take note of the inability of the United States to keep its word or follow through on its plans. When that happens, there are serious consequences. We saw it at the G7. The leaders of some of the greatest powers and economies of the world sitting to talk about one of the greatest challenges in the world, climate change, and there was literally an empty chair where American leadership could have been. The problem is, this is a moment when American leadership is needed more than ever. Whether it’s in Hong Kong, where those protesters for democracy need to know that they have a friend in the United States, or anywhere around the world where increasingly we see dictators throwing their weight around. The world needs America, but it can’t be just any America.


The world is laughing at America under Trump

The longer this president is in the White House, the more the world is laughing at the United States.

On issue after issue – from trade to climate change to his puppy love relationships with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un – Trump has been an global disaster.

That empty chair that Donald Trump left at the G7 summit while the world gathered to discuss climate change is an appropriate metaphor for American leadership over the past two and a half years.

September 13, 2019

Ivanka Says She Got Her Moral Compass from Her Dad

SAD!!

https://politicalwire.com/2019/09/13/ivanka-says-she-got-her-moral-compass-from-her-dad/

Ivanka Says She Got Her Moral Compass from Her Dad
September 13, 2019 at 6:11 am EDT By Taegan Goddard


Politico: “At a mid-August fundraiser in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Ivanka Trump was asked to name the personality traits she inherited most from her parents. Without much of a pause, Trump told the crowd of roughly 120 high-end donors that her mother gave her an example of how to be a powerful, successful woman.”

“And her father? He passed onto her his moral compass, she said, according to two event attendees. The exchange was part of a broader conversation about Ivanka Trump’s life in Washington and the White House during a swanky retreat organized by Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the Wyoming mountains. Her appearance signaled an informal effort by the Trump campaign, family and top aides to woo donors this election cycle by sharing intimate, colorful details about this atypical White House.”
September 13, 2019

Air Force Sent 40 Crews to Trump's Scottish Resort



https://politicalwire.com/2019/09/13/air-force-sent-40-crews-to-trumps-scottish-resort/

Air Force Sent 40 Crews to Trump’s Scottish Resort
September 13, 2019 at 6:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard


Politico: “The tally represents the preliminary results of an Air Force review launched after Politico reported last week that an Air National Guard crew stayed at Turnberry in March. Congressional Democrats have also been investigating military stays at the property, but have yet to receive any information from the Pentagon.”
September 12, 2019

Industry coalition launches seven-figure ad blitz to flood Democratic debate with attacks on Medicar

Industry coalition launches seven-figure ad blitz to flood Democratic debate with attacks on Medicare for All
Published 3 hours ago
on September 12, 2019
By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams


A coalition of major insurance companies and drug manufacturers plans to air a series of ads attacking Medicare for All during the 2020 Democratic presidential debate Thursday night, ensuring the event’s commercial breaks will feature talking points from the corporate interests profiting off America’s dysfunctional for-profit healthcare system.

The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future (PAHCF), which was formed in 2018 to combat Medicare for All, said it will run ads on both ABC and Univision, the two networks hosting the Democratic debate in Houston, Texas.

The coalition said it also plans to “run advertisements on Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, as well as a takeover of YouTube’s homepage following the debate.”

The blitz is part of a seven-figure ad buy aimed at perpetuating the right-wing narrative that Medicare of All would increase Americans’ healthcare costs and income taxes.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the ad campaign shows “industry groups view Medicare for All as a serious threat in a 2020 election.”


more...

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/industry-coalition-launches-seven-figure-ad-blitz-to-flood-democratic-debate-with-attacks-on-medicare-for-all/?fbclid=IwAR2nbgd0H5HdVPhmPORc_HgdFKM2OdIvp3BUn0OlKi2JZTcCGoIWuy0uBXQ#.XXrOz9sg18o.facebook

September 12, 2019

Federal prosecutors recommend that Andrew McCabe, former FBI second-in-command, face criminal charge

Federal prosecutors recommend that Andrew McCabe, former FBI second-in-command, face criminal charge
Bart Jansen
USA TODAY


WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors recommended seeking criminal charges against Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI and a frequent target of criticism by President Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the decision Thursday.

McCabe was fired from the FBI just before his retirement in March 2018 after the Justice Department's internal watchdog concluded that he improperly authorized a leak about a federal investigation into the Clinton Foundation in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign. Investigators concluded that he displayed a lack of candor when asked about the leak.

The U.S. attorney in Washington, Jessie Liu, recommended moving forward with unspecified charges against McCabe, according to people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to comment publicly. McCabe's lawyers appealed that decision to Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who rejected their request, one of the people said. McCabe's lawyers were informed of that decision Thursday.

The decision clears the way prosecutors to ask a grand jury to indict McCabe, though it was unclear Thursday when or whether that would happen. Whether McCabe is indicted will ultimately be up to a federal grand jury in Washington.

more...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/09/12/andrew-mccabe-prosecutors-recommend-charges-former-fbi-official/2301473001/?fbclid=IwAR1DbDS5TW6VasIDkMoeqFsxxPqZGczF9SHpPZDNDnSckT9A2nR9jE1yVxI

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