Jays and juncos, too. Gut punch.

[link:https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/report-percent-of-new-mexico-s-birds-at-risk-of/article_391c3fab-0246-5caf-8dec-81f53c9ca9a2.html|

[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-supreme-court-has-become-just-another-arm-of-the-gop/2019/09/06/8ad36642-d0e2-11e9-87fa-8501a456c003_story.html|
...
“We said this: From 2005 through the fall term of 2018, the Roberts court issued 73 5-to-4 partisan decisions benefiting big Republican donor interests: allowing corporations to spend unlimited money in elections; hobbling pollution regulations; enabling attacks on minority voting rights; curtailing labor’s right to organize; denying workers the ability to challenge employers in court; and, of course, expanding the NRA’s gun rights “project.” It’s a pattern.

“Of course, in other decisions during that period, such as the 2015 same-sex marriage ruling, a Republican appointed justice joined the liberals. But in its run of 73 partisan 5-to-4 cases, the Republican majority routinely broke traditionally conservative legal principles, such as respect for precedent or “originalist” reading of the Constitution. They even went on remarkable fact-finding expeditions, violating traditions of appellate adjudication.
...

“The big-donor takeover of the federal courts begins, as reported by The Post, with a sprawling network of organizations funded by at least a quarter-billion dollars of largely anonymous money, and spearheaded by the Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo. We saw this network’s hand in the confirmations of Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh. One unnamed donor gave $17 million to the Leo-affiliated Judicial Crisis Network to block the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland and to support Gorsuch; then a donor — perhaps the same one — gave another $17 million to prop up Kavanaugh. The NRA joined in the effort, too, spending $1 million on an ad campaign supporting the Kavanaugh confirmation to “break the tie” (again, the NRA’s words) in gun cases.

“With its judges in place, the network lobbies the court with anonymously funded amicus briefs, signaling how the judges should vote. In one case, Janus v. AFSCME, one anonymously funded group backed 13 different amicus briefs fighting public-sector unions’ right to organize. The decision came as expected, 5 to 4, throwing out 40 years of settled labor law.”
...

“To most Americans, the Business Roundtable might sound like a piece of conference room furniture, but the lobbying organization’s humdrum name belies the scope of its power and influence. Made up of chief executives from corporate giants including JPMorgan Chase, Apple, ExxonMobil and Walmart, the Business Roundtable is one of the leading voices of the financial elite. As such, it made headlines last week when the group reversed its official position on “the purpose of the corporation.”

“In a statement last week, the Business Roundtable abandoned its long-standing commitment to “shareholder primacy” — the idea, popularized by “free-market” economist Milton Friedman in the 1970s, that a corporation’s sole purpose and obligation is to create financial returns for its investors. Instead, the group conceded that businesses also have a responsibility to their customers, workers and communities. “While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose,” the statement said, “we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders.”

“It should not be controversial to believe that corporations owe some measure of accountability to the society that allows them to accumulate massive wealth. The investor class’s “self-serving and destructive” insistence to the contrary has “caused grave damage to the American economy and society,” Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs writes, including “a massive rise in inequality of wealth and income, environmental destruction, huge budget deficits, financial crises, and death and despair due to the egregious failures of the corporate health care and food industries.” If nothing else, the group’s about-face is a concession that corporations have failed to serve the public good. In that sense, the statement, uninspiring as it might be, is welcome.

“But don’t give these chief executives too much credit. After all, the companies they lead have done little to earn the public’s trust and plenty to lose it. In the years following the financial crisis, they and others battled to dilute any real reforms on Wall Street. They have consistently supported destructive trade and regulatory policies that do lasting harm to workers, consumers and the environment. They continue to cheer for President Trump’s tax cuts for corporations and the rich, a disproportionate share of which these companies and other similar firms used to reward shareholders with stock buybacks.”
...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/27/big-business-is-suddenly-showing-conscience-is-that-enough/

These “people” aren’t there, yet, on impeachment.
They realize Democrats will be in control in 2020 and want to create an appearance they are self-governing.

They were the mass shooters of their day, and all of America knew their names: John “the Killer” Dillinger, Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, George “Machine Gun” Kelly.

In the 1930s, the violence by the notorious gangsters was fueled by Thompson submachine guns, or Tommy guns, that fired up to 600 rounds of bullets in a minute. In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was pressing Congress to act on his “New Deal for Crime,” specifically a bill officially called the National Firearms Act of 1934. Informally, it was known as the “Anti-Machine Gun Bill.”

At the time, Pretty Boy Floyd was on a killing spree. Clyde Barrow and his girlfriend, Bonnie Parker, were blazing a bloody path through Oklahoma with submachine guns and sawed-off shotguns. Machine Gun Kelly had recently been captured and sent to Leavenworth prison.

Dillinger, “with a submachine gun in his hands and a big green sedan awaiting him, shot his way out of a police trap today and once more foiled the law,” the Associated Press reported from St. Paul, Minn., in the spring of 1934.

[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/09/they-were-killers-with-machine-guns-then-president-went-after-their-weapons/|

Source: New York Times

“American intelligence officials are racing to understand a mysterious explosion that released radiation off the coast of northern Russia last week, apparently during the test of a new type of nuclear-propelled cruise missile hailed by President Vladimir V. Putin as the centerpiece of Moscow’s arms race with the United States.

“American officials have said nothing publicly about the blast on Thursday, possibly one of the worst nuclear accidents in the region since Chernobyl, although apparently on a far smaller scale, with at least seven people, including scientists, confirmed dead. But the Russian government’s slow and secretive response has set off anxiety in nearby cities and towns — and attracted the attention of analysts in Washington and Europe who believe the explosion may offer a glimpse of technological weaknesses in Russia’s new arms program.

“Thursday’s accident happened offshore of the Nenoksa Missile Test Site and was followed by what nearby local officials initially reported was a spike in radiation in the atmosphere.

“Late Sunday night, officials at a research institute that had employed five of the scientists who died confirmed for the first time that a small nuclear reactor had exploded during an experiment in the White Sea, and that the authorities were investigating the cause.”

.....

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/world/europe/russia-nuclear-accident-putin.html

MSM initially reported but I haven’t found anything up to the minute, except on Twitter.
No one yet saying whether nukes or chemical weapons involved.

[link:https://twitter.com/amichaistein1/status/1158605790971867136?s=21|

https://twitter.com/liveuamap/status/1158412346387251205?s=21

[link:https://twitter.com/msignorile/status/1158036881969491973?s=21|

[link:https://twitter.com/joaquincastrotx/status/1157829925254107137?s=21|

[link:https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/8219-2/|

AUGUST 2, 2019

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released this statement on the progress of the House’s investigations:

“When we take the oath of office, we solemnly vow ‘to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’ The Mueller report states unequivocally that Russia interfered in the 2016 election ‘in sweeping and systematic fashion.’ And the Intelligence Community informs us that Russia is working 24/7 to undermine our elections. This assault on our elections is a serious national security matter which the President chooses to ignore.

“The Mueller report and his testimony last week confirmed that the President’s campaign welcomed Russian interference in the election, and laid out ten instances of the President’s obstruction of justice. The President’s more recent attempts to prevent us from finding the facts is further evidence of obstruction of justice.

“To protect our democracy and our Constitution, Democrats in the Congress continue to legislate, investigate and litigate.

Litigation:

Last week, Jerry Nadler, Chair of Judiciary, took a significant step when he filed a petition to obtain the grand jury testimony underlying the Mueller report, for the House to ‘have access to all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full Article I powers, including a constitutional power of the utmost gravity — approval of articles of impeachment.’
Elijah Cummings, Chair of Oversight and Reform, is winning in court in the Mazars case, seeking the President’s financial statements and reports prepared by his accountant to determine financial conflicts, violations of the Emoluments Clause, and the truthfulness of representations contained in the President’s statutorily required financial disclosure forms;
Maxine Waters, Chair of Financial Services and Adam Schiff, Chair of Intelligence are winning in court in the Deutsche Bank case, seeking the President’s bank account records to assist with the Committees’ investigation of unsafe banking practices, including money laundering, illicit transactions and foreign investments;
Richie Neal, Chair of Ways and Means, is pursuing the President’s tax returns to assist with the ongoing investigation of the IRS’s presidential tax audit program;
Eliot Engel, Chair of Foreign Affairs, on another front, is investigating the Russia connection with hearings seeking the facts from the Trump-Putin meetings;
In addition, last week, the House voted to reiterate its oversight authority, and ratified and affirmed the subpoenas already issued by the committees and any subpoenas to come. Responding to the subpoenas gives the President an opportunity to provide information that could exonerate him. If he has nothing to hide, he should cooperate with the subpoenas.
Investigation:

Our litigation has been strengthened by the months of work from our six committees which are engaged in the investigations. 54 percent of House Democrats serve on these committees engaged in hearings and investigations, and I am very proud of their work.
Legislation:

We have sent the Securing America’s Federal Elections Act to the Senate. However, Mitch McConnell refuses to take up this legislation or any other legislation to protect our democracy. Why do the President and the Republican Leader in the Senate choose to protect Russia rather than to protect the integrity of our elections? We will continue to lead a drumbeat across the country demanding the GOP Senate act.
“The assault on our elections and our Constitution is a grave national security issue. We owe it to our Founders to sustain our system of checks and balances and our democracy. We owe it to our heroic men and women in uniform who risk their lives for freedom to defend our democracy at home. We owe it to our children to ensure that no present or future president can dishonor the oath of office without being held accountable.

“In America, no one is above the law. The President will be held accountable.”

[link:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/02/pentagon-balloons-surveillance-midwest|

Source: The Hill

“Senate Democrats introduced a constitutional amendment on Tuesday to undo the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision.

“A group of Democrats, led by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), and progressive activists rallied outside of the Supreme Court to unveil the amendment, which faces an unlikely path to being ratified.

“Few decisions in the two hundred and some odd years of this republic have threatened our democracy like Citizens United. People say they want to get rid of the swamp, Citizens United is the embodiment of the swamp," Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at the rally.

“Schumer added that "overturning Citizens United is probably more important than any other single thing we could do to preserve this great and grand democracy."
.....”



Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/455342-democrats-introduce-constitutional-amendment-to-overturn-citizens-united