hookaleft
hookaleft's JournalFederal judge blocks new DACA applications and says program is illegal
(CNN)A federal judge in Texas on Friday ruled that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program shielding certain undocumented immigrants from deportation, is illegal and blocked new applicants.
The ruling from Judge Andrew Hanen would bar future applications. It does not immediately cancel current permits for hundreds of thousands of people -- though it once again leaves them in devastating legal limbo and is a reminder of the uncertainty they face.
DACA, created in 2012, was intended to provide temporary reprieve to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children -- a group often described as "Dreamers" -- many of whom are now adults.
But almost a decade since the program was established, DACA is still one of the only signs of potential relief for undocumented immigrants looking to remain and work in the US.
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https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/16/politics/daca-ruling-hanen/index.html
County officials in Arizona reported few suspicious ballots, undercutting Trump's claims
PHOENIX — Arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast in last year's presidential election, undercutting former President Donald Trump's claims of a stolen election as his allies continue a disputed ballot review in the state's most populous county.
The 182 cases represent instances where problems were clear enough that officials referred them to investigators for further review. So far, only four cases have led to charges, including those identified in a separate state investigation. No one has been convicted. No person's vote was counted twice.
While it's possible more cases could emerge, the numbers illustrate the implausibility of Trump's claims that fraud and irregularities in Arizona cost him the state's electorate votes. In final, certified and audited results, Biden won 10,400 more votes than Trump out of 3.4 million cast.
AP's findings align with previous studies showing voter fraud is rare. Numerous safeguards are built into the system to not only prevent fraud from happening but to detect it when it does.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/county-officials-arizona-reported-few-suspicious-ballots-undercutting-trump-s-n1274238
Matt Gaetz Is Blowing Piles of Cash on Scandal--and on Roger Stone
With the possibility of sex trafficking charges still hanging over him, Rep. Matt Gaetz’s latest campaign finance report shows a spate of new legal spending, a massive public relations blitz, and continued payments to one conspicuous MAGA icon: Roger Stone.
Nearly half the embattled congressman’s $1.95 million in expenses—a little over $825,000—went to public affairs firm Logan Circle Group, which has handled Gaetz’s media strategy since The New York Times first reported in March that he was the focus of an investigation over federal sex crimes. Some of the payments were for “strategic campaign consulting,” while others were for “advertising.”
But perhaps the most notable strategist Gaetz paid is one who had contact with Gaetz wingman Joel Greenberg as the former Seminole County tax collector sought a presidential pardon.
Roger Stone—the longtime Trump operator who received a pardon himself for charges that he lied to Congress, obstructed justice, and attempted witness tampering—received $15,000 in three installments for “strategic campaign consulting.” Two of the payments, which went to Stone’s business Drake Ventures, came after the Justice Department sued Stone and his company for $2 million in unpaid taxes.
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/matt-gaetz-is-blowing-piles-of-cash-on-scandaland-on-roger-stone
ERIC TRUMP PULLS AHEAD IN RACE TO DETERMINE DUMBEST TRUMP OFFSPRING
One thing that Trumpologists have known for years but that the rest of the world learned starting in 2016 is that intelligence is not a dominant gene in the Trump family. Obviously, patriarch Donald Trump is not smart at all, a small smattering of evidence being his suggestion that Americans inject household cleaner into their veins; his bright idea to stop hurricanes by dropping nuclear bombs on them; his decision to look directly at a solar eclipse multiple times without protective eyewear; and his claim that one can get cancer from the sound of windmills. But the children, too, are clearly dumber than a bag of bricks. Ivanka Trump reportedly believed—and could not be convinced otherwise—that “libertarian” and “liberal” were the same thing. Donald Trump Jr. was declared too stupid to collude by Robert Mueller. And according to a new account of election night 2020, Eric Trump apparently had no idea how vote counting works, in that he doesn’t understand that election officials don’t just stop counting votes when the candidate he wants to win is ahead.
Yes, according to an excerpt from a new book by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, Trump’s second eldest son became apoplectic as the 45th president’s lead started shrinking in Pennsylvania and other states—on account of election officials’ insistence that all the votes be counted—and, like his father, determined there was no explanation other than fraud.
Per the Post:
“Why are they still counting votes?” Trump asked. “The election’s closed. Are they counting ballots that came in afterward? What the hell is going on?” Trump, through a spokesman, denied saying this. The president told [Kellyanne] Conway that he thought something nefarious was at play. “They’re stealing this from us,” Trump said. “We have this thing won. I won in a landslide and they’re taking it back.” Of course, nobody was taking anything. Election officials were simply doing their duty, counting ballots. But Trump didn’t see it that way. He seemed to truly believe he had been winning.
Eric Trump, who the night before had predicted to friends that his father would win with 322 electoral college votes, flipped out in the Map Room. “The election is being stolen,” the president’s 36-year-old son said. “Where are these votes coming from? How is this legit?”
The votes, of course, were coming from…the voters. Nevertheless, Eric persisted:
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https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/07/eric-trump-election-night-votes
Harris, Manchin to meet Texas Democrats who left state in effort to block GOP election bill
Vice President Kamala Harris will meet Tuesday with Texas Democratic legislators who fled the state in an effort to block a Republican-backed election bill that they say is discriminatory, a White House official told NBC News.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is also expected to meet with the Democratic members of the Texas legislature, though a date and time have not yet been set, according to a spokesperson.
At least 51 Democratic legislators from the Texas House of Representatives fled the state Monday en route to Washington, in a bid to deny Republicans the quorum needed to conduct business in the chamber. Seven more Democratic legislators were expected to join them in the nation’s capital.
Only 26 days remain in a special session called by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott to pass changes to Texas voting rules. The Texas Democrats arrived in Washington without a set return date.
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https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/13/harris-manchin-to-meet-with-texas-democrats-trying-to-block-gop-election-law.html
Several tied to Haiti assassination plot were previously US law enforcement informants
Source: CNN
(CNN)Several of the men involved in the operation that killed Haiti's president previously worked as US law enforcement informants, according to people briefed on the matter, as US investigators grapple with an increasing number of Florida links to the alleged hit squad.
At least one of the men arrested by Haitian authorities previously worked as an informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA said in a statement in response to CNN.
"At times, one of the suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was a confidential source to the DEA," the DEA said in a statement.
"Following the assassination of President Moïse, the suspect reached out to his contacts at the DEA. A DEA official assigned to Haiti urged the suspect to surrender to local authorities and, along with a U.S. State Department official, provided information to the Haitian government that assisted in the surrender and arrest of the suspect and one other individual," the DEA said.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/12/americas/haiti-assassination-plot-us-law-informants/index.html
This whole "operation" stinks to high heaven. Now Haiti is supposedly asking for US troops??
My throat is sore....someone talk me down.
I had the second Moderna shot about 2 months ago now. However, I have been careless about masking. Now I am also starting to get a headache.. crap!
Pro-Trump lawyers in Michigan election case should be disbarred in the state, attorney tells judge
The lawyers who filed an unsuccessful lawsuit in Michigan to reverse President Joe Biden’s election win over Donald Trump should never again be allowed to practice law in the state, an attorney told a federal judge Monday.
The request for the pro-Trump attorneys to be disbarred in Michigan came during a lengthy, highly contentious virtual court hearing about whether to impose sanctions on the plaintiffs and their attorneys, including pro-Trump “Kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell, who filed the legal complaint in November.
Judge Linda Parker did not make a ruling on the possibility of sanctions. But she spent much of the hearing grilling the lawyers about the extent to which they had vetted their claims of voter fraud before they shared in a series of affidavits with the court.
The U.S. District Court in Detroit should issue the “strongest possible sanctions” against the attorneys who brought the case, said David Fink, a lawyer for the city.
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https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/12/pro-trump-lawyer-lin-wood-downplays-role-in-michigan-election-case.html
Top Biden ally pleads with him to scrap filibuster for election reform
Rep. Jim Clyburn said it’s time for the president to embrace more aggressive changes to the Senate rules.
After months of setbacks and gridlock on voting rights, one of President Joe Biden’s top allies in Congress is calling for him to support amending the Senate filibuster.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) told POLITICO Biden “should endorse” the idea of creating a carveout to the legislative filibuster in the Senate for legislation that applies to the Constitution. In effect, the reform would make it possible for Democrats to pass their sweeping elections reform bill and another bill reauthorizing key sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act with just Democratic support.
It’s a sentiment the congressman says he’s shared with White House counselor Steve Ricchetti and Office of Public Engagement Director Cedric Richmond as well. “I've even told that to the vice president,” Clyburn said.
Biden could “pick up the phone and tell [Sen.] Joe Manchin, ‘Hey, we should do a carve out.’” Clyburn said, referring to the centrist West Virginia Democrat who has resisted filibuster reform. “I don't care whether he does it in a microphone or on the telephone — just do it.”
*Snip*
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/10/clyburn-biden-filibuster-election-reform-499051
Here is some juicy gossip: Book alleges bad Kimberly Guilfoyle behavior at GOP fundraisers
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Guilfoyle, who is dating Donald Trump Jr., previously took some of the blame for the Trump campaign's fundraising challenges and was deemed an "HR nightmare" by GOP officials. The officials complained to Politico that Guilfoyle underperformed in her role and "horrified" donors with "what they described as Guilfoyle’s lack of professionalism."
An excerpt from a new book by Michael C. Bender — the Wall Street Journal's White House correspondent in the Trump era — provides additional alleged specifics as to what, exactly, Guilfoyle did at these fundraisers.
According to Bender (the excerpt of the yet-to-be-released book was obtained by the Daily Mail), Guilfoyle often gave donors "an unwanted glimpse" into her private life with Trump Jr. She reportedly told donors Trump Jr. liked it when she wore a cheerleading outfit and called him a "naughty boy" when she "let him out of his cage."
*snip*
The Politico article that first reported on Guilfoyle's behavior at GOP fundraisers alleged that she once "offered a lap dance to the donor who gave the most money."
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https://www.sfgate.com/national-politics/article/Kimberly-Guilfoyle-Donald-Trump-Jr-GOP-fundraiser-16295829.php
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