Calista241
Calista241's JournalJewish Democrats clash with Ilhan Omar after comments on U.S. and Israel
Source: Axios
A group of Jewish Democrats in the House is publicly feuding with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) after she tweeted about "unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban," in reference to investigations by the International Criminal Court.
Why it matters: The fight threatens to reopen a fault line within the party that could cost Omar her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, writes Punchbowl News.
The House previously passed a resolution by Democrats condemning anti-Semitism in response to comments on Israel by Omar, and Republicans have long accused the Minnesota congresswoman of anti-Semitism — a charge she denies.
Unlike the 2019 resolution, a statement issued by Democrats late Wednesday called out Omar by name.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/ilhan-omar-israel-hamas-democrats-7e778e8d-ba62-4d41-a17e-01235cc9709d.html
Russia to U.S. -Lift sanctions on space sector or we'll exit space station
Source: Reuters
The head of Russia's space agency on Monday suggested Moscow would withdraw from the International Space Station in 2025 unless Washington lifted sanctions on the space sector that were hampering Russian satellite launches.
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, was addressing parliamentarians ahead of a summit in Geneva later this month between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden.
Rogozin said Moscow was struggling to launch some of its satellites because of U.S. sanctions which meant Russia could not import certain microchip sets needed for its space programme.
"We have more than enough rockets but nothing to launch them with," Rogozin said, in a rare admission by a senior Russian official that Western sanctions are seriously impeding the development of a given industry.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-us-lift-sanctions-space-sector-or-well-exit-space-station-2021-06-07/
Manchin to vote against election overhaul bill
Source: The Hill
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he will vote against a sweeping election reform overhaul bill, dubbed the For The People Act, putting the fate of the legislation in jeopardy in the evenly split Senate.
In an op-ed published early Sunday morning in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Manchin, one of the Democratic caucus’s most conservative members, zeroed in on the partisan nature of the legislation, which has not attracted any Republican support.
“I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening blinds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For The People Act," Manchin wrote.
“The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen,” he added.
Manchin also said he “will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster,” which a number of leading Democrats have suggested in order to pass election reform.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/557033-manchin-to-vote-against-election-overhaul
Judge Overturns California's 3-Decade-Old Ban On Assault Weapons
Source: Huffington Post
A federal judge Friday overturned California’s three-decade-old ban on assault weapons, ruling that it violates the constitutional right to bear arms.
U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego ruled that the state’s definition of illegal military-style rifles unlawfully deprives law-abiding Californians of weapons commonly allowed in most other states and by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Under no level of heightened scrutiny can the law survive,” Benitez said. He issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law but stayed it for 30 days to give state Attorney General Rob Bonta time to appeal.
…
In his 94-page ruling, the judge spoke favorably of modern weapons, said they were overwhelmingly used for legal reasons. “Like the Swiss Army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. Good for both home and battle,” the judge said in his ruling’s introduction.
Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/california-assault-weapons-ban-overturned_n_60bb4949e4b0ea8a191ebeaf
This judge is on Senior status, and was originally appointed by George W Bush.
Supreme Court Justices Again Unanimous Twice in the Same Day
Source: Law and Crime
The Supreme Court of the United States handed down two unanimous decisions Monday — making the total a whopping four 9-0 decisions in a week’s time.
The first opinion released by SCOTUS on this morning was United States v. Palomar-Santiago, an immigration decision authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in which the full court sided with the government and against the immigrant.
The unanimous court ruled against the Mexican national Refugio Palomar-Santiago, who was charged with criminal re-entry into the United States. Palomar-Santiago became a permanent U.S. resident in 1990, was deported in 1998, and was found living again in the U.S. in 2017. As a result of being found unlawfully on American soil, Palomar-Santiago was prosecuted for criminal re-entry.
...
Next, in Territory of Guam v. United States, the justices ruled in favor of Guam, allowing the island to pursue the collection of funding from the U.S. government to remediate environmental pollution on the island.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/supreme-court-justices-again-unanimous-twice-in-the-same-day/
Kemp to sign overhaul of Georgia's citizen's arrest law today
Source: AJC
Gov. Brian Kemp is scheduled to sign legislation before Monday’s veto deadline that would overhaul a Civil War-era state law that allows Georgians to arrest someone they believe has committed a crime.
The law was thrust back into the spotlight after it was cited by a prosecutor who said police should not charge three white men who followed Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black Brunswick-area man, before one shot and killed him. The three have since been charged with murder and pleaded not guilty, citing the citizen’s arrest statute.
Arbery’s mother is expected to attend Monday’s 2 p.m. bill signing ceremony.
House Bill 479 was a bipartisan priority after Arbery’s death this year and passed the General Assembly with broad support — only one lawmaker voted against the measure.
HB 479 would repeal citizen’s arrest from state law while still allowing employees at businesses, those conducting business on someone else’s property, security officers, private investigators and inspectors at truck scales to detain someone they believe has committed a crime. The bill also would allow law enforcement officers to make arrests outside their jurisdictions.
Read more: https://www.ajc.com/politics/kemp-to-sign-overhaul-of-georgias-citizens-arrest-law-today/L2M4VWMY4RAD3LQYEJUG26TGWU/
California reports first ever yearly population decline
Source: ABC News
California’s population fell by more than 182,000 people in 2020, marking the first year-over-year loss ever recorded for the nation’s most populous state.
State officials announced Friday that California’s population dipped 0.46% to just under 39.5 million people from January 2020 to January 2021.
The news comes one week after the U.S. Census Bureau announced a paltry population growth for California, resulting in the state losing a congressional seat for the first time because it grew more slowly than other states over the past decade.
But the census numbers reflect the state’s population in April 2020. The new state numbers released Friday reflect the state’s population as of January 2021.
The state four most populated cities -- Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco -- lost a combined 88,000 people. LA dropped the most at nearly 52,000 and has now lost about 75,000 people in the last three years to fall to an overall population of just over 3.9 million.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/californias-population-fell-time-history-77558322
Justice Clarence Thomas says ex-West Point cadet should be able to sue over alleged rape
Source: NBC News
The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear the appeal of a former West Point cadet who said she was raped at the academy, but Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should have taken the case to correct decades of injustices.
The woman, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, sued two senior officers who were West Point administrators, arguing that the U.S. Military Academy's sexual assault policies were inadequate, failing to protect students from sexual violence. She said a fellow cadet raped her when they went walking late one night in 2010 during her second year at West Point.
But lower courts threw her case out, citing a 1950 Supreme Court decision that said military personnel cannot sue for injuries "incident to" their military service, even though the federal law specifying when the federal government can be sued carves out injury claims arising out of "combat activities" in wartime.
Thomas said Monday that the 71-year-old case, known as Feres v United States, was wrongly decided. Jane Doe "could have brought these same claims had she been a civilian contractor employed by West Point instead of a student."
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/justice-clarence-thomas-says-ex-west-point-cadet-should-be-n1266144
Justice Thomas and the ACLU, on the same side of a case, who woulda thunk it.
Trump Scores $617 Million of Cash With Vornado From Tower Bonds
Source: Bloomberg
Investors snapped up $1.2 billion of bonds linked to a San Francisco office tower that makes up much of Donald Trump’s fortune.
The AAA slice of the commercial mortgage-backed security sold Friday with a discount margin, or risk premium, of 125 basis points over one-month Libor -- roughly in line with other recent office-tower deals.
...
The complex, among the tallest buildings in San Francisco, is one of two Trump-linked office towers that Vornado is refinancing. The other is in New York. While Vornado majority owns them, Trump’s 30% stake is the most valuable part of his portfolio, making up about one-third of his $2.3 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The refinancing -- and cash windfall for Vornado and Trump -- comes months after several banks tied to the former president said they would no longer work with him after the deadly U.S. Capitol riot in January.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-30/trump-scores-617-million-of-cash-with-vornado-from-tower-bonds
I guess he isn't going bankrupt anytime soon.
Democrats Criticize Justice Barrett for Declining to Recuse from Case of Koch-Funded Group that Spen
Source: Law and Crime
Democrats Criticize Justice Barrett for Declining to Recuse from Case of Koch-Funded Group that Spent Heavily on Ads to Confirm Her
Democrats criticized Justice Amy Coney Barrett over her decision not to recuse herself from a case that the Supreme Court heard on Monday morning involving a conservative group who financially supported her confirmation last year.
“Justice Barrett is ignoring important ethical standards to rule on a case that could open our democracy to further infiltration by dark-money influence, perhaps permanently,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told Forbes. “Her choice to press forward in spite of recusal laws also creates a troubling new precedent, and undermines public confidence in the integrity of the Court.”
The nation’s high court heard oral arguments in two consolidated cases stylized as Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Rodriquez and Thomas More Law Center v. Bonta on Monday morning. The companion cases both concern First Amendment challenges to a California law which requires some opaque nonprofit groups to divulge certain donor information to the IRS.
The lead petitioner in the case is a nonprofit run by billionaires David Koch and Charles Koch. During Barrett’s relatively painless confirmation process, the group spent in excess of $1 million on ads boosting her image.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/democrats-criticize-justice-barrett-for-declining-to-recuse-from-case-of-koch-funded-group-that-spent-heavily-on-ads-to-confirm-her/
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