demmiblue
demmiblue's JournalJohn Dingell: Boy did I pick an awkward day to wear my jacket with "Be Best" scribbled on the back.
https://twitter.com/JohnDingell/status/1009875048335839232He cracks me up!
59 female lawmakers demand answer on this immigration crisis mystery
Source: The Detroit Free Press
Debbie Dingell isn't backing down.
The Michigan congresswoman, a Dearborn Democrat, has teamed up with U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-New Hampshire, to lead a coalition of more than 50 female lawmakers in demanding an answer to the question that's been haunting many about the immigration crisis at the U.S./Mexico border: Where are the girls?
So far, only photos have been released of immigrant boys who've been separated from their parents as part of the Trump administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy from the detention centers where they are being held.
When asked at a media briefing Monday where the girls and toddlers who've been separated from their parents at the border are being held, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said she didn't know, and referred questions to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/2018/06/21/girls-immigration-detention-centers-congresswomen/720145002/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Turkey Hits Back at U.S. With Tariffs on $1.1 Billion of Goods
Source: Bloomberg
The Turkish government imposed tariffs of $266.5 million on $1.1 billion worth of U.S. goods Thursday in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s levies on steel and aluminum imports.
“We cannot and will not allow Turkey to be wrongly blamed for America’s economic challenges,” Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said in a statement. “We are part of the solution, not the problem.”
The tariffs will affect 12 percent of the $9.4 billion worth of goods that the U.S. exports to Turkey, according to data provided by the U.S. Trade Representative. Total goods and services trade between U.S. and Turkey was $22.4 billion in 2016, the most recent data available.
The move comes as other World Trade Organization members prepare to trigger retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-21/turkey-hits-back-at-u-s-with-tariffs-on-1-1-billion-of-goods?utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
Scott Pruitt Has Spent a Total of $4.6 Million on Security, New Disclosures Show -- Including $1,500
Pruitt’s high spending on security has become the subject of mounting criticism and a host of official investigations: Several EPA inspector general investigations have been opened, as well as an ongoing investigation by the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee.
Records released under the Freedom of Information Act list expenditures totaling $288,610 on a range of security-related items. The EPA, according to three expense line items for April, spent a total of $2,749.62 on “tactical pants” and “tactical polos.”
Since last year, shortly after his Senate confirmation, Pruitt’s office began purchasing security-related items, including multiple vehicle leases, over $80,000 worth of radios, $700 in shoulder holsters for the radios, and a kit to break down doors, among other purchases.
https://theintercept.com/2018/06/20/scott-pruitt-epa-security-total-expenses-foia/
Young immigrants detained in Virginia center allege abuse
The abuse claims against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, are detailed in federal court filings that include a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino teens jailed there for months or years. Multiple detainees say the guards stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads.
“Whenever they used to restrain me and put me in the chair, they would handcuff me,” said a Honduran immigrant who was sent to the facility when he was 15 years old. “Strapped me down all the way, from your feet all the way to your chest, you couldn’t really move. ... They have total control over you. They also put a bag over your head. It has little holes; you can see through it. But you feel suffocated with the bag on.”
In addition to the children’s first-hand, translated accounts in court filings, a former child-development specialist who worked inside the facility independently told The Associated Press this week that she saw kids there with bruises and broken bones they blamed on guards. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to publicly discuss the children’s cases.
...
Most children held in the Shenandoah facility who were the focus of the abuse lawsuit were caught crossing the border illegally alone. They were not the children who have been separated from their families under the Trump administration’s recent policy and are now in the government’s care. But the facility there operates under the same program run by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. It was not immediately clear whether any separated children have been sent to Shenandoah Valley since the Trump administration in April announced its “zero tolerance” policy toward immigrant families, after the lawsuit was filed.
https://apnews.com/afc80e51b562462c89907b49ae624e79
This cat is a refugee, and his family relies on him more than ever now 💜 #WorldRefugeeDay
https://twitter.com/dodo/status/1009511450803486720Dems bring children to House floor to demand end to family separations
Source: The Hill
Democratic lawmakers were joined by children on Wednesday morning while delivering remarks calling for an end to the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.
“I think more powerful than anything I could say is to stand with children,” Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) said as more than 20 children joined him and other Democratic House members on the floor.
“I know this is a tragic moment but this weekend I couldn’t have felt prouder to be an American,” Gutiérrez went on to say while standing among children and his colleagues. “I couldn’t have felt prouder about just what our exceptionalism is.”
“I saw Americans everywhere across this country standing up for children, standing up for those that are in need, standing up for moms and dads being separated,” Gutiérrez continued. “Let’s celebrate too that America sees this injustice, sees this cruelty, sees this evil and did not remain silent and that is the America that I was so happy I was born into.”
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/393206-dems-bring-children-to-house-floor-to-demand-end-to-family
https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1009434566225027073
Republican Lt. Gov of Utah Blows Up on 'Political Tribalism' In Viral Tweetstorm: 'I Want to Punch S
Source: Mediaite
In a late-night Tweetstorm which has garnered a great deal of attention on Wednesday morning (particularly in progressive circles), the Beehive State’s second-in-command completely blew up on what he termed “political tribalism.”
“I know I shouldn’t tweet,” Cox wrote. “But I’m angry. And sad. I hate what we’ve become.”
The Lt. Gov. added, “I want to punch someone.”
Can’t sleep tonight. I know I shouldn’t tweet. But I’m angry. And sad. I hate what we’ve become. My wife wants to go & hold babies & read to lonely/scared/sad kids. I want to punch someone. Political tribalism is stupid. It sucks & it’s dangerous. We are all part of the problem.
— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) June 20, 2018
Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/online/republican-lt-gov-of-utah-blows-up-on-political-tribalism-in-viral-tweetstorm-i-want-to-punch-someone/
https://twitter.com/SpencerJCox/status/1009336237193289729
Schiff invites Strzok to appear before House Intelligence Committee
Source: The Hill
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee has invited FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok to appear before the panel.
Strzok has faced a barrage of attacks from President Trump and conservatives after an internal investigation revealed he had been sending messages critical of the then-Republican candidate during the 2016 presidential race to FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Strzok, who has offered to appear voluntarily before the House Judiciary Committee, would be able to “address directly allegations about his conduct and activities” as well as share his knowledge of Russia’s attempts to interfere in the election.
“We would like to extend an invitation to Mr. Strzok to appear for a voluntary interview as part of our ongoing probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election,” Schiff wrote in a Tuesday letter to Strzok’s lawyer, Aitan Goelman.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/393181-schiff-invites-strzok-to-appear-before-house-intelligence-committee
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