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reality is the state of things as they actually exist
january 17, 2019
Putin's Bitch!!!
real news today
january 17, 2019
*LINDSEY GRAHAM JUST ACCIDENTALLY ADMITTED THAT SUPPRESSING BLACK VOTER TURNOUT IS A CORE GOP GOAL
(GOP Politics)
*South Dakota takes aim at transgender student athletes
(Rights)
*Rudy Giuliani just contradicted nearly all the Trump team’s past collusion denials
(TRUMP)
*FAITH-HEALING IDAHO WOMAN CLAIMS RELIGION FORBID HER FROM REPORTING HUSBAND’S SEX ABUSE OF KIDS
(Amerikkkans)
*Trump tariffs force tough choices on auto suppliers
(Payback)
*New plant-focused diet would ‘transform’ planet’s future, say scientists
(Earth)
*Thousands flee north-east Nigeria after devastating Boko Haram attack
(World)
*The Atlantic: IMPEACH DONALD TRUMP
(Trump)
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
comment/tweet of the day
H. L. Mencken: Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
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And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.
The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. Watch him again, behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."
– Charles Pierce / Esquire
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truth is irrelevant to a conservative because he only wants to protect the 1%.
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Michael Cohen: I rigged online polls ‘at the direction of and for the sole benefit’ of Trump
Brad Reed - RAW STORY
17 JAN 2019 AT 09:14 ET
Former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen on Thursday admitted that he paid Jerry Falwell Jr.’s technology officer cash in exchange for rigging online polls to help Donald Trump.
What’s more, Cohen said that he did it under orders from Trump himself.
“What I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of Donald Trump,” Cohen wrote. “I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.”
Michael Cohen✔
@MichaelCohen212
As for the @WSJ article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.
6:05 AM - Jan 17, 2019 · Manhattan, NY
A Wall Street Journal report from earlier on Thursday claimed that Cohen handed tech businessman John Gauger, who is now the chief information office at Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University, a bag full of cash in exchange for his help rigging online polls in early 2015.
This is not the first time that Cohen has implicated Trump in wrongdoing, as he pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions via hush-money payments to the president’s former mistresses under orders from Trump himself.
What’s more, Cohen said that he did it under orders from Trump himself.
“What I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of Donald Trump,” Cohen wrote. “I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.”
Michael Cohen✔
@MichaelCohen212
As for the @WSJ article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.
6:05 AM - Jan 17, 2019 · Manhattan, NY
A Wall Street Journal report from earlier on Thursday claimed that Cohen handed tech businessman John Gauger, who is now the chief information office at Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University, a bag full of cash in exchange for his help rigging online polls in early 2015.
This is not the first time that Cohen has implicated Trump in wrongdoing, as he pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions via hush-money payments to the president’s former mistresses under orders from Trump himself.
White House efforts to win over Democrats in shutdown are laughably bad: ‘Not a word — nope’
Travis Gettys - raw story
17 JAN 2019 AT 06:09 ET
The White House legislative operation is laughably bad, according to Democratic lawmakers who say they haven’t heard from the president’s team in months.
The federal government remains shut down over President Donald Trump’s demands for funding to build a wall along the entirety of the U.S.-Mexico border, but numerous congressional sources say the White House has done almost nothing to win votes, reported The Daily Beast.
The president has met with Republican congressional leaders and hosted centrist House Democrats at the White House, but he abruptly walked out of a meeting last week with Democratic leaders.
That seems to be the extent of Trump’s efforts to get a government funding bill passed, lawmakers say.
“I don’t even know who is assigned to my office in the White House, that’s how bad their outreach team is,” said Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), who added that his office hasn’t heard from the president’s team in at least six months.
Only two Democrats from districts Trump won — Reps. Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who were invited to Wednesday’s meeting — have heard from the White House during the shutdown.
“You’d think they would (reach out) since I’m from a Trump district,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), laughing. “I guess I didn’t make the cut.”
Only one of the Democratic senators from states Trump won in 2016 — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), whose office received a “courtesy call” from Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — have heard from the president or his staff since the shutdown began.
“Not a word,” a spokesperson for Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) told The Daily Beast.
“Nope,” Sen. Dough Jones (D-AL) told the website.
The president’s aides and adviser blame Democrats, saying they should reach out to Trump, and not the other way around.
“They’re grown adults, they can call the president and the White House,” said former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), a Trump surrogate. “It’s a two-way street. You can’t just sit in your corner.”
However, one former senior White House official said the situation revealed the dysfunction surrounding the president.
Aides and advisers to the president maintain that Democratic recalcitrance, not poor Hill outreach, is the underlying reason a shutdown resolution hasn’t been reached.
“The way the invitations have been extended is more a function of the chaos than a lack of true desire to get Democrats to participate,” the former official said.
The federal government remains shut down over President Donald Trump’s demands for funding to build a wall along the entirety of the U.S.-Mexico border, but numerous congressional sources say the White House has done almost nothing to win votes, reported The Daily Beast.
The president has met with Republican congressional leaders and hosted centrist House Democrats at the White House, but he abruptly walked out of a meeting last week with Democratic leaders.
That seems to be the extent of Trump’s efforts to get a government funding bill passed, lawmakers say.
“I don’t even know who is assigned to my office in the White House, that’s how bad their outreach team is,” said Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), who added that his office hasn’t heard from the president’s team in at least six months.
Only two Democrats from districts Trump won — Reps. Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who were invited to Wednesday’s meeting — have heard from the White House during the shutdown.
“You’d think they would (reach out) since I’m from a Trump district,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), laughing. “I guess I didn’t make the cut.”
Only one of the Democratic senators from states Trump won in 2016 — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), whose office received a “courtesy call” from Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — have heard from the president or his staff since the shutdown began.
“Not a word,” a spokesperson for Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) told The Daily Beast.
“Nope,” Sen. Dough Jones (D-AL) told the website.
The president’s aides and adviser blame Democrats, saying they should reach out to Trump, and not the other way around.
“They’re grown adults, they can call the president and the White House,” said former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), a Trump surrogate. “It’s a two-way street. You can’t just sit in your corner.”
However, one former senior White House official said the situation revealed the dysfunction surrounding the president.
Aides and advisers to the president maintain that Democratic recalcitrance, not poor Hill outreach, is the underlying reason a shutdown resolution hasn’t been reached.
“The way the invitations have been extended is more a function of the chaos than a lack of true desire to get Democrats to participate,” the former official said.
The Republican ‘drunken frat-boy party’ has sanctioned Trump’s shutdown: conservative columnist
Matthew Chapman, Alternet - raw story
17 JAN 2019 AT 05:53 ET
As President Donald Trump’s government shutdown drags on and hurts everyone from farmers to troops to diplomats to TSA agents, and as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) continues to block a vote on anything that could end Trump’s hostage-taking, the Republican Party’s epic, reckless dysfunction is on full display.
On Wednesday, conservative writer and former Republican Max Boot penned a searing indictment of his erstwhile party in the Washington Post, noting how any principles it held in a bygone era are long since abandoned, and its current behavior empowers Trump’s worst impulses.
“Traditional Republican presidents such as Calvin Coolidge, Dwight D. Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush were not very exciting, but they were very responsible,” writes Boot. “They wanted to manage the government effectively and to live within our means. Those days are long gone. The GOP has metamorphosed from the preternaturally mature ‘Father Knows Best’ party to the perpetually juvenile ‘Van Wilder’ party. It wants to live it up, moon the grown-ups and dodge the consequences.”
Boot traces the beginning of the downfall to the Reagan years, when Republicans convinced themselves they could make huge tax cuts pay for themselves — and although they were proven wrong, the strong economy at the time validated their approach in their eyes — and they just kept getting more reckless from there.
“In 2017, the Republican Congress passed, and Trump signed, a massive tax cut that delivered a sugar high to the economy that is already wearing off (2018 was the worst year for the stock market in a decade) while bequeathing debt that could take generations to pay off,” he explains. “As Bloomberg News notes: ‘Total public debt outstanding has jumped … by $1.9 trillion since President Donald Trump took office,’ or ‘roughly the size of Brazil’s gross domestic product.'”
Trump’s new government shutdown over the border wall, Boot writes, is just part of an ongoing series of “drunken frat-boy antics” and “temper tantrums” from the GOP. He notes that the last two major government shutdowns were both caused by Republicans as well — former House Speaker Newt Gingrich shut down the government in 1995-96 to try to force domestic spending cuts, while a gang of Tea Party Republicans led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tried to force President Barack Obama to defund his signature health care law with a shutdown in 2013.
While the “border crisis” is a “figment of the xenophobic imaginations of Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump,” says Boot, the harm from the shutdown is real, and jeopardizing federal workers, including essential law enforcement, who have to work without pay.
“A party that felt an iota of responsibility to the country would be alarmed by these developments and would reopen the government even if it meant overriding the president’s veto,” he concludes. “But for the drunken frat-boy party, the damage inflicted by its ideological bender is no reason to sober up. Indeed, for the most antigovernment Republicans, the shutdown is a feature, not a bug, because it is shrinking, at least for a few weeks, the size of the government. The Republicans of yesteryear would send today’s Republicans to their rooms without any supper.”
Sixteen coal ash pits contaminating Texas groundwater: report
Reuters - raw story
17 JAN 2019 AT 06:14 ET
Sixteen coal ash pits in Texas are leaking contaminants including arsenic, boron, cobalt and lithium into groundwater, according to a report released on Thursday by the Environmental Integrity Project.
Coal ash is the residue left after coal has been burned to generate power, and can include sludge from plant exhaust stacks. Coal ash is placed in pits or ponds next to coal power plants.
The report from the national environmental group also said a federal rule governing coal pits would not prevent groundwater contamination.
“A history of weak regulatory oversight has led to this problem, and only a stronger regulatory framework can fix it,” the report said. “Unfortunately, neither the federal Coal Ash Rule nor Texas’s proposed coal ash program rise to that challenge.”
A 2016 federal law allows states to develop coal ash regulations of their own.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a draft coal ash program in August.
The EIP was one of three environmental organizations that asked a federal court in September to invalidate a coal ash program adopted by the state of Oklahoma.
Three of the power plants covered by the EIP’s report were shuttered in 2018.
Texas receives 24 percent of its electrical power from coal.
Coal ash is the residue left after coal has been burned to generate power, and can include sludge from plant exhaust stacks. Coal ash is placed in pits or ponds next to coal power plants.
The report from the national environmental group also said a federal rule governing coal pits would not prevent groundwater contamination.
“A history of weak regulatory oversight has led to this problem, and only a stronger regulatory framework can fix it,” the report said. “Unfortunately, neither the federal Coal Ash Rule nor Texas’s proposed coal ash program rise to that challenge.”
A 2016 federal law allows states to develop coal ash regulations of their own.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a draft coal ash program in August.
The EIP was one of three environmental organizations that asked a federal court in September to invalidate a coal ash program adopted by the state of Oklahoma.
Three of the power plants covered by the EIP’s report were shuttered in 2018.
Texas receives 24 percent of its electrical power from coal.
BACKFIRE: Trump’s tariff war has already cost Americans over $13 billion
Tom Boggioni - raw story
17 JAN 2019 AT 11:44 ET
Pissident Donald Trump’s ill-advised trade wars with America’s trading partners may have cost U.S. taxpayers and corporations over $13 billion, reports Bloomberg News.
The report states that data submitted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that “more than $13 billion in duties imposed by the Trump administration were assessed on imported goods as of Dec. 18,” but that actual receipt could “lag and be lower” due to refunds and other factors.
According to the report, Trump has boasted often that the burden of paying for the tariffs would be borne by China and other trading partners, but that trade economists said the data does not match the rhetoric.
According to Bloomberg, the administration’s narrative about other countries being hurt by the tariffs is “misleading” and that “ultimately U.S. businesses and consumers could pay through higher costs, “
“Tariffs on Chinese imports are paid by Americans, not by the Chinese or their government. The President’s tariffs are simply a #tax on American consumers,’’ tweeted Johns Hopkins University applied economics professor Steve Hanke, who served in the Reagan White House.
Customs and Border Protection collect the tariffs with the assessed amount now “topping $13 billion, with $8 billion coming from the duties on Chinese goods.”
Despite Trump tweeting, “… the United States Treasury has taken in MANY billions of dollars from the Tariffs we are charging China and other countries that have not treated us fairly,” the head of the conservative and business-friendly U.S. Chamber of Commerce begged to differ.
“Let me be very clear: Tariffs are taxes paid by American families and American businesses — not by foreigners,’’ bluntly stated Thomas Donohue, said in his annual state of American business address last week.
The report states that data submitted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that “more than $13 billion in duties imposed by the Trump administration were assessed on imported goods as of Dec. 18,” but that actual receipt could “lag and be lower” due to refunds and other factors.
According to the report, Trump has boasted often that the burden of paying for the tariffs would be borne by China and other trading partners, but that trade economists said the data does not match the rhetoric.
According to Bloomberg, the administration’s narrative about other countries being hurt by the tariffs is “misleading” and that “ultimately U.S. businesses and consumers could pay through higher costs, “
“Tariffs on Chinese imports are paid by Americans, not by the Chinese or their government. The President’s tariffs are simply a #tax on American consumers,’’ tweeted Johns Hopkins University applied economics professor Steve Hanke, who served in the Reagan White House.
Customs and Border Protection collect the tariffs with the assessed amount now “topping $13 billion, with $8 billion coming from the duties on Chinese goods.”
Despite Trump tweeting, “… the United States Treasury has taken in MANY billions of dollars from the Tariffs we are charging China and other countries that have not treated us fairly,” the head of the conservative and business-friendly U.S. Chamber of Commerce begged to differ.
“Let me be very clear: Tariffs are taxes paid by American families and American businesses — not by foreigners,’’ bluntly stated Thomas Donohue, said in his annual state of American business address last week.
So, it’s not avocados after all: Fed says student debt prevents young adults from buying homes
More than 400,000 young people have been unable to buy homes due to student loans.
ELHAM KHATAMI - thinkprogress
JAN 17, 2019, 11:49 AM
In a new report that confirms the obvious for many millennials, the Federal Reserve found that rising student debt — and not personal spending habits on things like avocado toast — is a key factor in preventing young people from buying homes, revealing that homeownership among young adults dropped 9 percentage points over the span of nearly 10 years.
The report, published Wednesday, tracked homeownership rates from 2005 to 2014, showing an overall drop of 4 percentage points, from 69 percent in 2005 to 65 percent in 2014. That drop doubles among young adults ages 24 to 32, from 45 percent in 2005 to 36 percent in 2014.
At the same time, average student loan debt among young people has also doubled from about $5,000 in 2005 to $10,000 in 2014. The Fed reported that in the first quarter of 2018, outstanding student debt reached a staggering $1.52 trillion, almost triple the amount from the previous decade.
The Fed said it is likely that more than 20 percent of the overall decrease in homeownership among young people is due to student loan debt. “This represents over 400,000 young individuals who would have owned a home in 2014 had it not been for the rise in debt,” the report stated.
“Our estimates suggest that student loan debt can be a meaningful barrier preventing young adults form owning a home,” the report added, explaining that high student loan debt can lead to a lower credit score, ultimately impacting a person’s ability to qualify for a mortgage. High student loan payments can also adversely affect a person’s ability to save for a down payment on a mortgage.
The Fed report comes as higher education costs continue to increase, with financial aid in the form of grants and tax benefits failing to keep up the pace.
“Now, net prices for full-time students at public four-year institutions have increased for eight straight years, for seven straight years for students at public two-year colleges, and for six straight years for those at private nonprofit colleges and universities,” reported InsideHigherEd in 2017. “So the typical student keeps paying more for college each year.”
The high costs are exacerbated by the Trump administration’s repeated efforts to roll back student protections, from aiming to rescind regulations that hold colleges accountable for saddling students with more debt that they can handle, lowering standards for student loan servicers, and dismantling an Education Department team in charge of investigating for-profit colleges, to name a few.
As student debt continues to rise, many progressive politicians are calling for long-term solutions in financing higher education. A number of Democratic candidates campaigned on college affordability proposals in the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections. And a bill put forth by Democrats in the summer of 2017 would push states to offer tuition-free community college for two years, expand Pell Grants, protect the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and increase accountability of for-profit colleges. The sponsor of that legislation, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), now serves as chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor in the 116th Congress.
The report, published Wednesday, tracked homeownership rates from 2005 to 2014, showing an overall drop of 4 percentage points, from 69 percent in 2005 to 65 percent in 2014. That drop doubles among young adults ages 24 to 32, from 45 percent in 2005 to 36 percent in 2014.
At the same time, average student loan debt among young people has also doubled from about $5,000 in 2005 to $10,000 in 2014. The Fed reported that in the first quarter of 2018, outstanding student debt reached a staggering $1.52 trillion, almost triple the amount from the previous decade.
The Fed said it is likely that more than 20 percent of the overall decrease in homeownership among young people is due to student loan debt. “This represents over 400,000 young individuals who would have owned a home in 2014 had it not been for the rise in debt,” the report stated.
“Our estimates suggest that student loan debt can be a meaningful barrier preventing young adults form owning a home,” the report added, explaining that high student loan debt can lead to a lower credit score, ultimately impacting a person’s ability to qualify for a mortgage. High student loan payments can also adversely affect a person’s ability to save for a down payment on a mortgage.
The Fed report comes as higher education costs continue to increase, with financial aid in the form of grants and tax benefits failing to keep up the pace.
“Now, net prices for full-time students at public four-year institutions have increased for eight straight years, for seven straight years for students at public two-year colleges, and for six straight years for those at private nonprofit colleges and universities,” reported InsideHigherEd in 2017. “So the typical student keeps paying more for college each year.”
The high costs are exacerbated by the Trump administration’s repeated efforts to roll back student protections, from aiming to rescind regulations that hold colleges accountable for saddling students with more debt that they can handle, lowering standards for student loan servicers, and dismantling an Education Department team in charge of investigating for-profit colleges, to name a few.
As student debt continues to rise, many progressive politicians are calling for long-term solutions in financing higher education. A number of Democratic candidates campaigned on college affordability proposals in the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections. And a bill put forth by Democrats in the summer of 2017 would push states to offer tuition-free community college for two years, expand Pell Grants, protect the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and increase accountability of for-profit colleges. The sponsor of that legislation, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), now serves as chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor in the 116th Congress.
more trump lies: the fool is proposing a new star wars project!!
Trump Plans Space Sensors to Shoot Down Missiles From ‘Rogue States’
daily beast
Donald Trump is expected to set out a plan Thursday for space-based sensors designed shoot down incoming missiles from “rogue states” such as Iran and North Korea. The president will present his administration’s missile-defense review, which is expected to warn of a “significant change to the threat environment” since 2010’s review. “What the missile defense review responds to is an environment in which our potential adversaries have been rapidly developing, and fielding, a much more expanded range of new offensive missiles,” said an administration official. “These missiles are capable of threatening the United States, threatening our allies, our partners, and our U.S. forces abroad.” Trump is expected to use the review as a justification for his so-called Space Force, and say the administration will look at putting a layer of sensors in space to detect enemy missiles when they are launched. The review will commission further study of space-based interceptors and lasers but isn’t expected to immediately call for the production “of anything specific.”
Facebook Nixes Over 300 Fake News Pages Linked to Russia’s Sputnik News Agency
daily beast
Facebook has removed more than 300 pages that were part of a disinformation campaign run by employees of Russia’s Sputnik news agency. In a blog post early Thursday, Facebook said the 364 pages were removed for “engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior” as part of a network that started in Russia and operated in the Baltics, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Central and Eastern European countries. Facebook says the pages presented themselves as independent news pages that posted articles on topics such as politics, weather, and economics. But the pages have been linked to employees of Sputnik, a state-run news agency based in Moscow, and frequently posted on anti-NATO sentiment, protest movements, and anti-corruption. Almost 800,000 people followed the pages, and they advertised 190 events over four years. Facebook also removed 107 Facebook pages, groups, and accounts, as well as 41 Instagram accounts, for engaging in “coordinated inauthentic behavior as part of a network that originated in Russia and operated in Ukraine.”
Anastasia Vashukevich, the Model Who Claimed to Know About Trump Collusion, Deported From Thailand
daily beast
A model from Belarus who claimed to have evidence of Russian interference in Donald Trump’s election has been deported from Thailand. Anastasia Vashukevich pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of conspiracy and soliciting prostitution linked to a “sex training” seminar in the country. But her case came to international attention after she claimed to have recorded meetings from 2016 between Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and unspecified Americans discussing Russian meddling in the U.S. election. She offered to release the recordings in exchange for U.S. asylum, but never produced evidence for her claim and later said she had no plans to release anything. Deripaska is close to Vladimir Putin and was an associate of Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Vashukevich, 27, two other Belarussians and five Russians were sent back to their home countries.
Trump Organization’s Use of Foreign-Worker Visas Reaches 10-Year High: TPM
daily beast
Despite President Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric, it appears that the Trump Organization has been using foreign workers at a higher rate than ever before, Talking Points Memo reports. The organization requested and received at least 192 visas for foreign workers in 2018—the highest for the company going back to at least 2008, according to Department of Labor data. The Trump Organization received an average of 116 visas per year in the decade prior to 2018, according to American Bridge, a Democratic research group. Review of the data revealed that the visas were almost entirely for the type of low-skilled foreign workers that Trump has claimed drive down American wages. Cooks, servers, housekeepers, and farmworkers make up a large chunk of the Trump Organization’s requests, most of them making between $10 and $15 hourly. The largest number of the Trump Organization’s foreign-worker visas in 2018 went to his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida. Last year, the resort received 78 temporary foreign-worker visas last year for waiters, cooks, and maids.
Cops Handcuffed, Hogtied Teen Shooting Victim Before His Death: Lawsuit
daily beast
The family of a 15-year-old boy killed in a gang-related shooting in south Los Angeles last year has filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department, alleging that officers handcuffed and hogtied the wounded victim instead of providing medical care. NBC4 reports that Monyae Jackson, two other teenagers, and another 15-year-old named Lamarrion Upchurch were returning home after a party when they were shot. But when officers arrived, the lawsuit alleges, “Instead of taking immediate care to transport at that stage a gravely injured Monyae Jackson and his friends,” officers placed “shackles, restraints, and hot ties” on them. The lawsuit was filed by Jackson’s mother and by the parents of the two survivors. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged three people with murder and attempted murder, all of whom have pleaded not guilty.
*bites from real news - 1/17/2019*
*The Dirty Truth About Oat Milk
*Pentagon officials ‘unnerved’ after Trump’s national security team keeps asking for plans to attack Iran: CNN Pissident Donald Trump’s erratic behavior and abrupt flip-flops on national security strategies has led to “frayed nerves” within the United States Department of Defense.
*The latest front in Russian infiltration: America’s right-wing homeschooling movement
This is the latest connection between Russia and the American religious right.
*William Barr Is a Trojan Horse
That, as they say, was that. The man whose top resume line is helping Bush Sr. and crew escape consequences for the Iran/Contra scandal will almost certainly hold the final fate of the Mueller report in his hands once his nomination comes up for a full vote. After two evasive days, this remains a deeply uncomfortable truth.
by William Rivers Pitt,Truthout
*Babies wanted: Nordic countries crying for kids
*Choreographer tells high school girl her skin is ‘too dark’ to be in dance performance: lawsuit
A young woman who faced discrimination because of her skin color is suing Blue Valley Northwest High School.
*Immigration: The US detention center where sick children receive ‘the bare minimum'
*Facebook takes down anti-NATO pages linked to Russian news agency Sputnik
Facebook removed hundreds of pages on Thursday it said posed as independent news sites in eastern Europe and elsewhere but were actually run by employees at Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik. Facebook (FB) said the 364 pages and accounts had a ... (CNN)
*57 percent of voters say they won't support Trump in 2020
With the 2020 presidential election already underway, 57 percent of registered voters said they would definitely vote against President Donald Trump, according to the latest poll from the PBS NewsHour, NPR and Mari ... (PBS NewsHour/NPR)
*House Judiciary chair says they'll subpoena Mueller report if necessary
The House Judiciary Committee chairman said Wednesday that his panel would subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller's final report if William Barr, President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney gene ... (CNN)
*Religion has a smart-people problem: The shaky intellectual foundations of absolute faith
Religious belief the world over has a strenuous relationship with intellectualism. But why?
a United Nations list of the 20 best countries to live in shows the least religious nations generally at the top. Only in the United States, which was ranked as the 13th best country to live in, is religious belief strong relative to other countries.
*“Free Trade” Is Today’s Imperialism by the 1 Percent
“Free” trade is free only for capital owners: the plutocratic few who own and control multinational corporations. When countries enter into free trade agreements, the governments of both countries effectively agree that their laws will not favor businesses from their country over businesses from any other countries.
*HOW MISDEMEANORS TURN INNOCENT PEOPLE INTO CRIMINALS
by Jordan Smith
*American Capitalism has failed us: We’re overworked, underemployed and more powerless than ever before Ann Jones / Tom Dispatch, The Nation
Denmark, Norway and Sweden are all thriving under democratic socialism. Why is it so difficult for us to embrace?
GOP tax cut to cost $600 billion more thanks to Trump's shutdown, China trade war
What a surprise: Business has reaped huge profits under the tax law, but not nearly as much growth as expected
IGOR DERYSH - salon
JANUARY 17, 2019 11:00AM (UTC)
Corporate tax cuts passed by the Republican Congress in 2017 will cost $600 billion more than originally projected, according to an analysis by Bloomberg.
The new tax law slashed the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from its previous top rate of 35 percent. At the time, the Joint Committee on Taxation projected the cut would cost the United States $1.4 trillion in revenue over the next 10 years -- although unlike the individual income tax cuts in the law, the corporate tax cuts do not expire.
According to Bloomberg’s Stephen Gandel, however, the tax cuts have saved the companies in the S&P 500 at least $600 billion more in taxes than expected, which is also how much more the cuts will add to the national debt over the next decade. The total corporate savings under the tax law -- just by the companies in the S&P 500 -- will reach close to $2 trillion, according to the analysis.
Not only is the tax cut larger than even Republicans expected, it has also not resulted in the gains that were predicted by proponents of the bill.
Companies in the S&P 500 saw profits rise 24 percent in the first year of the tax law, the biggest increase in nearly a decade, but half of that growth came from lower tax bills. Bloomberg reports that analysts predicted the lower taxes would only amount to a third of the projected growth.
According to the report, companies in the S&P 500 paid an average effective corporate tax rate of 19 percent in the first three quarters of 2018, compared to 28 percent in 2017. In total, the companies saved $395 million in taxes every single day of last year.
As expected, the tax law has been good news for the largest corporations in the U.S., which saw share prices increase even more than projected before the law was passed. But the law hasn’t helped companies increase earnings. Gandel notes that when the effect from lower tax bills is excluded, the S&P 500 actually earned less last year than they were projected to before President Trump was elected.
Gandel points out that the shortfalls may not be the result of the law itself. If the tax cuts were working as they should, he wrote, the S&P 500 companies would be worth $2.2 trillion more than they are today. Instead, he writes, the “Trump Slump is erasing the bump the stock market received from the tax cuts.”
The “evidence is mounting that the promised economic boost isn’t materializing," Gandel wrote. "The administration’s signature political achievement is being eclipsed by disarray over trade, immigration and a government shutdown.” Gandel added that at least some of the shortfall can be blamed on the “Trump Discount — the amount Trump’s actions, from his trade war with China to his more recent eagerness to shut down the government have hurt the value of the market and the investment accounts of many Americans. The tax cuts provided a short-term boost, but given how large the Trump Discount has swelled, it is harder and harder for investors to notice.”
The new tax law slashed the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from its previous top rate of 35 percent. At the time, the Joint Committee on Taxation projected the cut would cost the United States $1.4 trillion in revenue over the next 10 years -- although unlike the individual income tax cuts in the law, the corporate tax cuts do not expire.
According to Bloomberg’s Stephen Gandel, however, the tax cuts have saved the companies in the S&P 500 at least $600 billion more in taxes than expected, which is also how much more the cuts will add to the national debt over the next decade. The total corporate savings under the tax law -- just by the companies in the S&P 500 -- will reach close to $2 trillion, according to the analysis.
Not only is the tax cut larger than even Republicans expected, it has also not resulted in the gains that were predicted by proponents of the bill.
Companies in the S&P 500 saw profits rise 24 percent in the first year of the tax law, the biggest increase in nearly a decade, but half of that growth came from lower tax bills. Bloomberg reports that analysts predicted the lower taxes would only amount to a third of the projected growth.
According to the report, companies in the S&P 500 paid an average effective corporate tax rate of 19 percent in the first three quarters of 2018, compared to 28 percent in 2017. In total, the companies saved $395 million in taxes every single day of last year.
As expected, the tax law has been good news for the largest corporations in the U.S., which saw share prices increase even more than projected before the law was passed. But the law hasn’t helped companies increase earnings. Gandel notes that when the effect from lower tax bills is excluded, the S&P 500 actually earned less last year than they were projected to before President Trump was elected.
Gandel points out that the shortfalls may not be the result of the law itself. If the tax cuts were working as they should, he wrote, the S&P 500 companies would be worth $2.2 trillion more than they are today. Instead, he writes, the “Trump Slump is erasing the bump the stock market received from the tax cuts.”
The “evidence is mounting that the promised economic boost isn’t materializing," Gandel wrote. "The administration’s signature political achievement is being eclipsed by disarray over trade, immigration and a government shutdown.” Gandel added that at least some of the shortfall can be blamed on the “Trump Discount — the amount Trump’s actions, from his trade war with China to his more recent eagerness to shut down the government have hurt the value of the market and the investment accounts of many Americans. The tax cuts provided a short-term boost, but given how large the Trump Discount has swelled, it is harder and harder for investors to notice.”
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Democrats Introduce Legislation to Get Federal Contract Workers Back Pay
Full-time federal workers will get their money back, but contractors might be left out.
TONYA RILEY - mother jones
JANUARY 16, 2019 5:49 PM
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) introduced a bill Wednesday that would provide back pay to federal contractors who are losing wages during the federal shutdown. The Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act would apply to all furloughed or laid-off contractors who make up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of four. “For me, the people that I’m thinking of are often invisible—janitors and cafeteria workers who are proud of the work they do and being able to support their families,” says Smith. “These people just want to work.”
A bill to pay back federal contractors was also reintroduced in the House last week, though that legislation did not specify how workers would be paid. The Senate bill would use two existing acts, which already govern federal service contracts and construction projects, to allow for the companies that employ contractors to apply for back pay for their workers.
According to a new estimate from nonprofit Good Jobs Nation, a little over 1 million federal contract workers—a third of whom make $15 or less an hour—are unemployed because of the shutdown. Smith says that while her office does not have an exact number for how many workers the bill will cover, she expects the number to be in the “thousands.”
The Senate bill was introduced with the support of 15 other Democrats, including several potential 2020 presidential candidates: Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and Kamala Harris (Calif.).
Smith’s legislation is just one of several bills introduced this month to protect federal workers from the financial effects of the shutdown. On Tuesday, a bipartisan coalition introduced the Financial Relief for Feds Act, which would allow federal employees and contractors to withdraw funds from their retirement accounts penalty-free. Last week, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) introduced a bill that would prevent landlords and creditors from taking action against federal workers or contractors who are currently without pay.
So far, of all the measures introduced to protect vulnerable government workers, the only bill to have passed both chambers and get the president’s signature is a measure to grant back pay to furloughed workers. None of the legislation, however, can go into effect until the shutdown is over.
A bill to pay back federal contractors was also reintroduced in the House last week, though that legislation did not specify how workers would be paid. The Senate bill would use two existing acts, which already govern federal service contracts and construction projects, to allow for the companies that employ contractors to apply for back pay for their workers.
According to a new estimate from nonprofit Good Jobs Nation, a little over 1 million federal contract workers—a third of whom make $15 or less an hour—are unemployed because of the shutdown. Smith says that while her office does not have an exact number for how many workers the bill will cover, she expects the number to be in the “thousands.”
The Senate bill was introduced with the support of 15 other Democrats, including several potential 2020 presidential candidates: Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and Kamala Harris (Calif.).
Smith’s legislation is just one of several bills introduced this month to protect federal workers from the financial effects of the shutdown. On Tuesday, a bipartisan coalition introduced the Financial Relief for Feds Act, which would allow federal employees and contractors to withdraw funds from their retirement accounts penalty-free. Last week, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) introduced a bill that would prevent landlords and creditors from taking action against federal workers or contractors who are currently without pay.
So far, of all the measures introduced to protect vulnerable government workers, the only bill to have passed both chambers and get the president’s signature is a measure to grant back pay to furloughed workers. None of the legislation, however, can go into effect until the shutdown is over.
uncle tom alert! another ben carson!!!
Judging A Nominee By The Content Of Her Character
Trump’s Pick to Head the Fish and Wildlife Service Is a Step Forward for Women and African-Americans and a Step Back for the Environment
By Jeanette Lenoir - dc report
This is not about Trump. Just kidding, it is. How can it not be when days seem longer than years under his administration? He recently made an uncharacteristic move. Two years into his imaginary dictatorship, the 45th U.S. president selected a special someone to officially head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
His choice to head the powerful wildlife agency with an annual $2.8 billion budget is certainly a historic one. Aurelia Skipwith will be the first woman to ever head the agency and the first African-American woman to do so. Once confirmed by the Senate, Skipwith will, unfortunately, be counted on the wrong side of America’s collective story.
As proud of a moment as this is for women, American culture and specifically black culture, Trump with this pick only proves that a leopard never changes his spots. The move, although significant, is only self-serving for Trump. Skipwith is a bonafide Trump enabler and is described as the least qualified person and an alarming choice to head the federal agency charged with protecting wildlife and public lands, according to multiple reports quoting wildlife advocates and conservationists. And, she wasn’t even their first choice. Skipwith was selected by her now ousted boss—Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke—after his first choice, Greg Sheehan was disqualified for not having a science degree. And Sheehan was essentially leading FWS as principal deputy director, a position created by Zinke when he took office.
I hold an equivocal opinion of Skipwith, a Howard University graduate and former Monsanto (now Bayer) executive—a company that’s had multiple worldwide marches held against it, punished for inflating profits, changing independent expert reports to cheat the system and embroiled in a list of other ethical violations. My heart wants to say, “Congrats Sis! Your success is evidence of the progress made, birthed by the hopes and dreams of our brutalized ancestors who carried the weight for the might America enjoys today.”
But the fact remains, Skipwith is part of the most destructive administration in recent U.S. history. She owns part of the largest rollback of environmental and land protection and helped usher in the era of Trump, America’s racist Godzilla.
Perhaps I’m too critical, but Skipwith naming Teddy Roosevelt, whose environmental legacy and views are clearly antithetical to hers, as the president whose environmental policies she’d like to emulate seems woefully misguided. The fact remains, she’s working to roll back Obama era environmental protection laws and help Trump and his greedy, environmentally hostile polluters steer in harmful changes to the Endangered Species Act, granting developers access to land Roosevelt would fight to protect and opening up most of our coastline for offshore oil drilling.
And yet, I’m conflicted in my condemnation of such a historic appointee who reflects something so much greater than self and bond to this unstable moment in our nation’s history. Unfortunately, we have a president exercising a moronic governing style and making most Americans feel like we’re living on the set of Idiocracy.
Although Skipwith will forever bare the stain of Trump’s legacy, I’m not mad a Sister’s getting paid and holding high office in the country her ancestors help built.
His choice to head the powerful wildlife agency with an annual $2.8 billion budget is certainly a historic one. Aurelia Skipwith will be the first woman to ever head the agency and the first African-American woman to do so. Once confirmed by the Senate, Skipwith will, unfortunately, be counted on the wrong side of America’s collective story.
As proud of a moment as this is for women, American culture and specifically black culture, Trump with this pick only proves that a leopard never changes his spots. The move, although significant, is only self-serving for Trump. Skipwith is a bonafide Trump enabler and is described as the least qualified person and an alarming choice to head the federal agency charged with protecting wildlife and public lands, according to multiple reports quoting wildlife advocates and conservationists. And, she wasn’t even their first choice. Skipwith was selected by her now ousted boss—Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke—after his first choice, Greg Sheehan was disqualified for not having a science degree. And Sheehan was essentially leading FWS as principal deputy director, a position created by Zinke when he took office.
I hold an equivocal opinion of Skipwith, a Howard University graduate and former Monsanto (now Bayer) executive—a company that’s had multiple worldwide marches held against it, punished for inflating profits, changing independent expert reports to cheat the system and embroiled in a list of other ethical violations. My heart wants to say, “Congrats Sis! Your success is evidence of the progress made, birthed by the hopes and dreams of our brutalized ancestors who carried the weight for the might America enjoys today.”
But the fact remains, Skipwith is part of the most destructive administration in recent U.S. history. She owns part of the largest rollback of environmental and land protection and helped usher in the era of Trump, America’s racist Godzilla.
Perhaps I’m too critical, but Skipwith naming Teddy Roosevelt, whose environmental legacy and views are clearly antithetical to hers, as the president whose environmental policies she’d like to emulate seems woefully misguided. The fact remains, she’s working to roll back Obama era environmental protection laws and help Trump and his greedy, environmentally hostile polluters steer in harmful changes to the Endangered Species Act, granting developers access to land Roosevelt would fight to protect and opening up most of our coastline for offshore oil drilling.
And yet, I’m conflicted in my condemnation of such a historic appointee who reflects something so much greater than self and bond to this unstable moment in our nation’s history. Unfortunately, we have a president exercising a moronic governing style and making most Americans feel like we’re living on the set of Idiocracy.
Although Skipwith will forever bare the stain of Trump’s legacy, I’m not mad a Sister’s getting paid and holding high office in the country her ancestors help built.
*What's Inside*
january 14 - january 16
✔AFTER LHC, CERN REVEALS PLANS FOR EVEN BIGGER ATOM-SMASHING PARTICLE COLLIDER
(CURRENTS)
*RETREATING ARCTIC GLACIER LEADS TO THE DISCOVERY OF TWO NEW SPECIES OF FUNGI THAT CAN GROW IN FROZEN LANDSCAPE
(CURRENTS)
*KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND IS LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE. IS SHE READY TO FACE HER PAST?
(SELLOUTS)
*DONALD TRUMP AND HIS TEAM OF MORONS BY PAUL KRUGMAN
(TALKERS)
*STRIKING LOS ANGELES’ TEACHERS TAKE AIM AT CHARTER SCHOOLS
(EDUCATION)
*HERE ARE 4 UNBELIEVABLE THINGS REPUBLICANS HAVE ACTUALLY SAID ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
(GOP POLITICS)
*TRUMP'S ECONOMY IS GREAT FOR BILLIONAIRES, NOT FOR WORKING PEOPLE
BERNIE SANDERS(TALKERS)
*OXYCONTIN MAKER EXPECTED 'A BLIZZARD OF PRESCRIPTIONS' FOLLOWING DRUG'S LAUNCH
(CORPORATE CRIMINALS)
*'IT'S UNION BUSTING 101': DOCUMENTS REVEAL VERIZON'S ATTACKS ON ORGANIZED LABOR
(SLAVERY 21ST CENTURY)
*TRUMP'S WAR ON SCIENCE: HOW THE US IS PUTTING POLITICS ABOVE EVIDENCE
(PAYBACK)
✔‘A CRISIS LIKE WE’VE NEVER SEEN’: NATIVE COMMUNITIES SHED LIGHT ON SHUTDOWN’S DISASTROUS IMPACTS
(FIRST AMERICANS)
*THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS A PACK OF COWARDS
(TALKERS)
*FOR TRUMP’S EPA, 5,800 SQUARE MILES OF DEAD GULF OF MEXICO ISN’T ENOUGH
(ENVIRONMENT)
*HOW ILLEGAL DRUGS ACTUALLY GET INTO THE UNITED STATES
(AMERICA)
*HERE’S THE REAL REASON REPUBLICANS ARE MAD ABOUT STEVE KING — AND IT’S NOT BECAUSE HE’S RACIST
(GOP POLITICS)
*TRUMP TRADE WAR CAUSES STOCK TO PLUMMET AND COMMODITY PRICES TO ‘CRATER’ FOR AMERICA’S LARGEST MEAT PROCESSOR(PAYBACK)
*A POLITE NOTE TO NERVOUS REPUBLICANS: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE REPUBLICAN BY THE RUDE PUNDIT
(COMMENTARY)
*A SHUTDOWN FOR THE 99 PERCENT, CONCIERGE GOVERNMENT FOR THE 1 PERCENT
(REALITY)
*THE EPIC HYPOCRISY OF REPUBLICANS' SUDDEN DISTASTE FOR STEVE KING
(GOP POLITICS)
*INSECT COLLAPSE: ‘WE ARE DESTROYING OUR LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS’
(EARTH)
✔HERE IS HOW FRANTIC REPUBLICANS ARE ENABLING TRUMP’S DESPERATE COVER-UP OF HIS TIES TO RUSSIA
(GOP POLITICS)
*IN AVOIDABLE ERROR, CBS TAKES HEAT FOR THE LACK OF BLACK VOICES ON ITS CAMPAIGN TEAM
(WORTHLESS MEDIA)
*LA TEACHERS DEMAND MORATORIUM ON CHARTERS AS STRIKE BEGINS
(EDUCATION)
*FACED WITH THE ‘GREATEST SCANDAL’ IN US HISTORY, WHAT WILL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DO?
(TALKERS)
*TULSI GABBARD ‘REGRETS’ HER HISTORY OF OPPOSING LGBTQ EQUALITY
(DEMO POLITICS)
*PRESIDENT TRUMP CAN’T STOP US COAL PLANTS FROM RETIRING
(REALITY)
*HERE ARE 20 OF THE WORLD’S WEIRDEST RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
(COMMENTARY)
*‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ - THE BILLS CHRISTIAN NATIONALISTS HOPE WILL ‘PROTECT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM’
(AMERICA)
*THE STUPIDVERSE - BY TOM TOMORROW
(SUCKERS)
*late news of interest*
Marine vet held by ICE for possible deportation is U.S. citizen, lawyer says
UPDATED ON: JANUARY 16, 2019 / 1:16 PM / CBS/AP
A Marine veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder was held for three days for possible deportation before federal authorities learned the 27-year-old is a U.S. citizen born in Michigan, lawyers said Wednesday. Jilmar Ramos-Gomez was a lance corporal in the Marines and received awards for service in Afghanistan.
"He was decorated with a national defense service medal, a global war on terrorism service medal, an Afghanistan campaign medal, and a combat action ribbon, among other awards," the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan said Wednesday in a statement.
"Why did they think he was a non-citizen? Did they get him confused with someone else? Who knows," ACLU attorney Miriam Aukerman said. "This is an individual who's incredibly vulnerable with a mental illness."
Ramos-Gomez had been in the Kent County jail after being accused of trespassing and damaging a fire alarm at a Grand Rapids hospital on November 21. The ACLU said his PTSD had a role in the disturbance.
He pleaded guilty and was supposed to be released on December 14 while awaiting a sentence, according to the ACLU. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contacted the jail and requested that Ramos-Gomez be held for pickup.
"Once he was released from our custody, he was under the domain of ICE. Where they take him is their process," Kent County Undersheriff Chuck DeWitt said. "Our procedures were followed."
DeWitt said he didn't know whether Ramos-Gomez protested when immigration officers picked him up. He was driven 70 miles to a detention center in Battle Creek and released after three days, after lawyer Richard Kessler contacted ICE on behalf of the man's family.
There was no immediate comment from ICE. Spokesman Khaalid Walls in Detroit said he couldn't respond to media inquiries because of the partial government shutdown.
"He was decorated with a national defense service medal, a global war on terrorism service medal, an Afghanistan campaign medal, and a combat action ribbon, among other awards," the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan said Wednesday in a statement.
"Why did they think he was a non-citizen? Did they get him confused with someone else? Who knows," ACLU attorney Miriam Aukerman said. "This is an individual who's incredibly vulnerable with a mental illness."
Ramos-Gomez had been in the Kent County jail after being accused of trespassing and damaging a fire alarm at a Grand Rapids hospital on November 21. The ACLU said his PTSD had a role in the disturbance.
He pleaded guilty and was supposed to be released on December 14 while awaiting a sentence, according to the ACLU. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contacted the jail and requested that Ramos-Gomez be held for pickup.
"Once he was released from our custody, he was under the domain of ICE. Where they take him is their process," Kent County Undersheriff Chuck DeWitt said. "Our procedures were followed."
DeWitt said he didn't know whether Ramos-Gomez protested when immigration officers picked him up. He was driven 70 miles to a detention center in Battle Creek and released after three days, after lawyer Richard Kessler contacted ICE on behalf of the man's family.
There was no immediate comment from ICE. Spokesman Khaalid Walls in Detroit said he couldn't respond to media inquiries because of the partial government shutdown.
maniacs in charge!!!
Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo belong to a doomsday cult — and may be trying to bring on the apocalypse
TRAVIS GETTYS - raw story
15 JAN 2019 AT 08:30 ET
Pissident Donald Trump’s vice president and secretary of state appear to have a conflict between their private religious beliefs and their public duties, according to a financial journalist.
Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo are each a “genuine, end-of-days, believer in the apocalypse,” and Financial Times journalist Edward Luce said their religious beliefs about the end times exerts a troubling influence on their duties.
“Generally I believe a public figure’s beliefs should be irrelevant to their job,” Luce wrote. “Whether they’re atheist, Opus Dei, Buddhist or Muslim, should have no bearing on our assessment of their fitness for office. Yet I can’t help but feel anxious that both of Donald Trump’s main global envoys, Pompeo and Pence, have a conflict between their private beliefs and what they publicly claim to be doing.”
Luce argued that both Trump administration officials were part of a “millenarian cult,” and he worried their “militant creed” would influence their public policies to spark a “final conflagration in which the righteous will vanquish the wicked.”
“Call me a serial fretter, but I don’t take comfort from the fact that Pence is a heartbeat away from being commander-in-chief,” Luce wrote. “Nor do I see Pompeo as one of the grown-ups restraining Trump. He’s an enabler, not a preventer. Where Trump goes, Pompeo will follow. Let’s hope Trump never gets religion.”
Read more of Luce’s column here.
Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo are each a “genuine, end-of-days, believer in the apocalypse,” and Financial Times journalist Edward Luce said their religious beliefs about the end times exerts a troubling influence on their duties.
“Generally I believe a public figure’s beliefs should be irrelevant to their job,” Luce wrote. “Whether they’re atheist, Opus Dei, Buddhist or Muslim, should have no bearing on our assessment of their fitness for office. Yet I can’t help but feel anxious that both of Donald Trump’s main global envoys, Pompeo and Pence, have a conflict between their private beliefs and what they publicly claim to be doing.”
Luce argued that both Trump administration officials were part of a “millenarian cult,” and he worried their “militant creed” would influence their public policies to spark a “final conflagration in which the righteous will vanquish the wicked.”
“Call me a serial fretter, but I don’t take comfort from the fact that Pence is a heartbeat away from being commander-in-chief,” Luce wrote. “Nor do I see Pompeo as one of the grown-ups restraining Trump. He’s an enabler, not a preventer. Where Trump goes, Pompeo will follow. Let’s hope Trump never gets religion.”
Read more of Luce’s column here.
