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welcome to reality trivia
reality is the state of things as they actually exist
october 19, 2018
real news today
october 19, 2018
*New survey reveals that most evangelical Christians don’t know the central tenets of their own religion
(Christianity)
*Rihanna Stands with Kaepernick, Reportedly Won’t Perform at Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show
(Real People)
*MOST BURGER CHAINS FAIL ON ANNUAL ANTIBIOTICS REPORT CARD
(Corporate Criminals)
*Amid Protest in Liberia, Its Vice President Gets List of Demands About More Than Me
(World)
*WHITE WOMAN INTERRUPTS PHONE CALL TO SCREAM RACIAL SLURS AT BLACK MEN WALKING PAST
(Rights)
*The bad behavior of the richest: what I learned from wealth managers
(Capitalism)
*Scientists have discovered a new link between sugar and tumor growth
(Currents)
*Shake-Up at Democratic National Committee, Longtime Officials Ousted
(Demo Politics)
*Missouri ignored HUD’s early warning about anti-discrimination law, legislator says
(America)
*#NotRacists Be Like: The Top 10 Phrases Used by People Who Claim They Are Not Racist
(Race Matters)
*Georgia Is Using Amateur Handwriting Analysis to Disenfranchise Minority Voters
(Elections)
*Police officers in the US were charged with more than 400 rapes over a 9-year period
(Gestapo USA)
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
comment/tweet of the day
Jim Acosta✔
@Acosta
The disturbing part of Trump’s jokes about Gianforte was the effect on the crowd. I saw one young man in the crowd making body slam gestures. He looked at me and ran his thumb across his throat. I talked to him after the rally was over. He couldn’t stop laughing.
4:34 AM - Oct 19, 2018
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Donald J. Trump✔
@realDonaldTrump
When referring to the USA, I will always capitalize the word Country!
Diane Newberry
@DianeYNewberry
When referring to the President, I will always capitalize Obama.
10:16 AM - Oct 19, 2018
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Russian national charged with conspiracy to meddle in 2018 midterm elections
cbs news
October 19, 2018, 3:28 PM
A Russian national has become the first person charged by the U.S. for conspiring to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections, according to the FBI and Justice Department. Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova is alleged to have participated in a conspiracy to "sow discord in the U.S. political system and to undermine faith in our democratic institutions," U.S. Attorney Zachary Terwilliger, of the Eastern District of Virginia, said in the indictment. The government says that the conspiracy is also part of the 2016 influence operation that dates back to at least May 2014.
Forty-four-year-old Khusyaynova, of St. Petersburg, was the chief accountant of "Project Lakhta," an effort funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and two companies he controls, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, and Concord Catering, the indictment says. Prigozhin is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and is often referred to as "Putin's chef."
Khusyaynova is accused of overseeing a $35 million budget from 2014 to 2018 that covered spending on activists, social media advertising, registration of domain names, the purchase of proxy servers, and promoting news postings on social networks. The Justice Department says that the proposed operating budget for 2018 alone was over $10 million.
The indictment says that this was a large-scale operation overseen by a management group and notes that there were several departments, including a graphics and design department, one devoted to analysis, and another to search engine optimization, as well as an IT, and a finance department. Khusyaynova's role was to manage the financing "of substantially all aspects of Project operations, which included media and influence activities" aimed at the U.S., European Union and Ukraine, as well as the Russian Federation.
Those involved in the conspiracy made extensive efforts to appear to be American political activists, using virtual private networks and other tools to hide the fact that they were Russian. According to the indictment, the conspiracy "inflamed passions" on topics including immigration, gun control and the Second Amendment, the Confederate flag, race relations, LGBT issues, the Women's March, and the NFL national anthem controversy.
The conspiracy advised social media writers on how to write for U.S. audiences, suggesting in one instance that people of color who are LGBT are "less sophisticated" than those who are white. "Colored LGBT are less sophisticated than white; therefore, complicated phrases and messages do not work," the guidance said, according to the indictment. It went on to suggest that infographics "work well among LGBT and their liberal allies," but not so well with conservatives.
Conspirators were in one instance directed to message an August 2017 online news article, "McCain Says Thinking a Wall Will Stop Illegal Immigration is 'Crazy,'" in this way: "Brand McCain as an old geezer who has lost it and who long ago belonged in a home for the elderly. Emphasize that John McCain's pathological hatred towards Donald Trump and towards all his initiatives crosses all reasonable borders and limits."
Another article was to brand House Speaker Paul Ryan as "a complete and absolute nobody incapable of any decisiveness."
Forty-four-year-old Khusyaynova, of St. Petersburg, was the chief accountant of "Project Lakhta," an effort funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and two companies he controls, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, and Concord Catering, the indictment says. Prigozhin is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and is often referred to as "Putin's chef."
Khusyaynova is accused of overseeing a $35 million budget from 2014 to 2018 that covered spending on activists, social media advertising, registration of domain names, the purchase of proxy servers, and promoting news postings on social networks. The Justice Department says that the proposed operating budget for 2018 alone was over $10 million.
The indictment says that this was a large-scale operation overseen by a management group and notes that there were several departments, including a graphics and design department, one devoted to analysis, and another to search engine optimization, as well as an IT, and a finance department. Khusyaynova's role was to manage the financing "of substantially all aspects of Project operations, which included media and influence activities" aimed at the U.S., European Union and Ukraine, as well as the Russian Federation.
Those involved in the conspiracy made extensive efforts to appear to be American political activists, using virtual private networks and other tools to hide the fact that they were Russian. According to the indictment, the conspiracy "inflamed passions" on topics including immigration, gun control and the Second Amendment, the Confederate flag, race relations, LGBT issues, the Women's March, and the NFL national anthem controversy.
The conspiracy advised social media writers on how to write for U.S. audiences, suggesting in one instance that people of color who are LGBT are "less sophisticated" than those who are white. "Colored LGBT are less sophisticated than white; therefore, complicated phrases and messages do not work," the guidance said, according to the indictment. It went on to suggest that infographics "work well among LGBT and their liberal allies," but not so well with conservatives.
Conspirators were in one instance directed to message an August 2017 online news article, "McCain Says Thinking a Wall Will Stop Illegal Immigration is 'Crazy,'" in this way: "Brand McCain as an old geezer who has lost it and who long ago belonged in a home for the elderly. Emphasize that John McCain's pathological hatred towards Donald Trump and towards all his initiatives crosses all reasonable borders and limits."
Another article was to brand House Speaker Paul Ryan as "a complete and absolute nobody incapable of any decisiveness."
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Republicans stay mum after Trump stomps on their midterm message with praise for violence
Trump called Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte “my kind of guy” because he bodyslammed a Guardian journalist
SUMMER CARTWRIGHT - salon
OCTOBER 19, 2018 7:37PM (UTC)
The same day missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s last column was published by The Washington Post, President Donald Trump applauded a criminal act of violence against a journalist to wild applause from a crowd of adoring supporters at a campaign rally.
Stomping on his own narrative that "Democrats produce mobs, Republicans produce jobs,” the president praised Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte, a convicted criminal, during a rally in Montana on Thursday.
He's "my kind of guy," Trump said of the recently elected Republican who bodyslammed Guardian journalist Ben Jacobs one day before his 2017 election.
Congressional Republicans, for their part, aren't complaining about Trump's off-script quip. They've either stayed mum, stuck to campaign talking points or refused to respond to requests for comment
The next day, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C., tweeted about immigration; House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Ma., tweeted about human trafficking and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted about the expansion of a state highway. All three representatives’ offices were called for comment and did not respond — Congress is on recess ahead of the midterms, however, many congressional offices remain open.
It seems the silent treatment isn’t the game plan for former Republican representatives, however.
Former Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Il., took to twitter to lecture the conservative side of the aisle, telling them “don't ever complain again about violence coming from the Left.”
Other Trump opponents, like Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti chimed in, as well, aiming for a below-the-belt insult.
Stomping on his own narrative that "Democrats produce mobs, Republicans produce jobs,” the president praised Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte, a convicted criminal, during a rally in Montana on Thursday.
He's "my kind of guy," Trump said of the recently elected Republican who bodyslammed Guardian journalist Ben Jacobs one day before his 2017 election.
Congressional Republicans, for their part, aren't complaining about Trump's off-script quip. They've either stayed mum, stuck to campaign talking points or refused to respond to requests for comment
The next day, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C., tweeted about immigration; House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Ma., tweeted about human trafficking and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted about the expansion of a state highway. All three representatives’ offices were called for comment and did not respond — Congress is on recess ahead of the midterms, however, many congressional offices remain open.
It seems the silent treatment isn’t the game plan for former Republican representatives, however.
Former Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Il., took to twitter to lecture the conservative side of the aisle, telling them “don't ever complain again about violence coming from the Left.”
Other Trump opponents, like Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti chimed in, as well, aiming for a below-the-belt insult.
SOUTH CAROLINA IS LOBBYING TO ALLOW DISCRIMINATION AGAINST JEWISH PARENTS
Akela Lacy - the intercept
October 19 2018, 8:57 a.m.
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION is considering whether to grant a South Carolina request that would effectively allow faith-based foster care agencies in the state the ability to deny Jewish parents from fostering children in its network. The argument, from the state and from the agency, is that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act should not force a Protestant group to work with Jewish people if it violates a tenet of their faith.
The case being made by South Carolina is an extension of the debate around RFRA, which is more commonly associated with discrimination against LGBTQ people, but by no means applies exclusively to that group.
If granted, the exemption would allow Miracle Hill Ministries, a Protestant social service agency working in the state’s northwest region, to continue receiving federal dollars while “recruiting Christian foster families,” which it has been doing since 1988, according to its website. That discrimination would apply not just to Jewish parents, but also to parents who are Muslim, Catholic, Unitarian, atheist, agnostic or other some other non-Protestant Christian denomination.
Miracle Hill covers Greenville, Pickens and Spartanburg counties, and its foster care services have becoming increasingly in demand as an opioid epidemic has torn through a generation of young parents. The fight over its policy has been written about in the local press and was first covered nationally by The Nation.
The request has been made to the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency has been quietly taken over by hardline evangelical activists, a perk for their unwavering support of Trump’s presidential bid and his administration.
Miracle Hill has told the local press that while they themselves will not place children with families who don’t meet their standards, they refer them to agencies that will. But as the provider with the region’s highest quality of service, making referrals means sending people to deal directly with the state Department of Social Services, or to agencies in other parts of the state that are several hours away by car.
Beth Lesser is a Jewish parent who was turned away by Miracle Hill. “Understand, in the upstate of South Carolina, if you want to be a foster parent or a mentor, there’s DSS, which is the government. And there’s Miracle Hill. There really isn’t anybody else,” Lesser told The Intercept.
When she still lived in Greenville, Lesser participated in a three-day training co-hosted by Miracle Hill and Fostering Great Ideas, another regional child welfare agency. On the third day, two officials running the training, David White of Fostering Great Ideas, as well as a Miracle Hill representative, told the group that non-Protestants wouldn’t be able to mentor with Miracle Hill, let alone foster a child.
“I’ve never felt that sort of discrimination before,” she said. “Once they get [the children] in one of their group homes, they don’t let non-Christian Protestants mentor them, foster them, or anything.” Lesser couldn’t recall the name of the Miracle Hill representative, but White confirmed the exchange to The Intercept, saying that they were explaining Miracle Hill’s policy, and that his agency, FGI, does not itself discriminate. Miracle Hill did not respond to a request for comment.
Originally from New Jersey, she and her husband lived in Florida before moving to South Carolina for 18 years. They’ve fostered and mentored other children through various agencies, and have since returned to Florida.
“What Miracle Hill does, is they scoop up these kids from foster care, and they have these group homes. And then once they get the kids in there, their whole objective is to indoctrinate them into their brand of Christianity,” Lesser said.
Lesser said that while she and her husband were licensed foster parents while they lived in South Carolina, they “hardly got any calls” to foster children.
“I think that if Trump knew about this in detail, he wouldn’t be for it,” Lesser said. “Because he’s not a religious nut.” She’s a proud supporter of the president — and, she offered, she wanted Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to be confirmed.
For the state’s DSS, the practice of discriminating against Jewish families was too much. As early as January 2018, DSS sent a letter raising concerns that the agency was violating federal and state nondiscrimination laws, as well as DSS policy, by requiring applicants to meet strict religious standards — namely, being a practicing Protestant and not being in a same-sex relationship. The letter was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union, which provided it to The Intercept.
“In telephone conversations with the Department, Miracle Hill has given the Department reason to believe Miracle Hill intends to refuse to provide its services as a licensed Child Placing Agency to families who are not specifically Christians from a Protestant denomination,” the letter reads, offering Miracle Hill 30 days to resolve the issue and 30 more days to implement a new approach.
But Miracle Hill, which is closely allied with the top GOP leadership of the state, had a different response: It went to lawmakers and the governor, who changed state law to shield Miracle Hill from DSS. The state officials in turn pleaded Miracle Hill’s case to the Trump administration.
Miracle Hill is one of 11 Christian-affiliated foster care agencies serving over 4,000 children in foster care and group homes in South Carolina, a the state that, like many others, has historically had a shortage of foster homes.
It is the only one of those Christian agencies, according to DSS, with religious qualifications for parents.
David White is the founder and CEO of Fostering Great Ideas, a nonprofit working to improve the child welfare system, though it does not itself foster children. FGI works closely with Miracle Hill in South Carolina and is expanding to Denver, but does not share its recruitment policy. He argued that families rejected by Miracle Hill do have other places to go. There are 11 foster care providers in Greenville, according to FGI data pulled from DSS. Seven of those provide therapeutic as opposed to regular care for children.
A number of agencies do allow gay couples or Catholic families to foster, White said. “There is the ability to have an intelligent conversation, versus a ‘we’re right, you’re wrong’ — ’cause it is subtle. It’s very difficult. And I know the CEO of Miracle Hill. I know him well. And he is not a bigot. And that’s what makes this a human story.”
The organization’s last provisional state license expired July 25, and DSS won’t issue a permanent one until Miracle Hill proves it’s not discriminating — or DSS gets a federal order to make an exception.
Such an order is already drafted. It’s awaiting final signature on the desk of Secretary Alex Azar at the Department of Health and Human Services. If granted, Miracle Hill will be allowed to continue denying qualified families from adopting kids based on religious views.
The ACLU is litigating a similar case in Philadelphia against Catholic Social Services. Bethany Christian Services, another Philadelphia agency originally involved in the complaint, has since stated it will comply with federal law and accept same-sex couples. Philadelphia’s DHS has since resumed doing business with the agency. CSS is now suing DHS.
“There are many, many faith-based agencies doing work in the child welfare field,” Leslie Cooper, deputy director for the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project told The Intercept. “And doing really important work. And regardless of their religious belief, the vast majority comply with professional child welfare standards … which include: you accept all qualified families; you don’t discriminate based on characteristics unrelated to ability to care for a child.”[...] (read more)
The case being made by South Carolina is an extension of the debate around RFRA, which is more commonly associated with discrimination against LGBTQ people, but by no means applies exclusively to that group.
If granted, the exemption would allow Miracle Hill Ministries, a Protestant social service agency working in the state’s northwest region, to continue receiving federal dollars while “recruiting Christian foster families,” which it has been doing since 1988, according to its website. That discrimination would apply not just to Jewish parents, but also to parents who are Muslim, Catholic, Unitarian, atheist, agnostic or other some other non-Protestant Christian denomination.
Miracle Hill covers Greenville, Pickens and Spartanburg counties, and its foster care services have becoming increasingly in demand as an opioid epidemic has torn through a generation of young parents. The fight over its policy has been written about in the local press and was first covered nationally by The Nation.
The request has been made to the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency has been quietly taken over by hardline evangelical activists, a perk for their unwavering support of Trump’s presidential bid and his administration.
Miracle Hill has told the local press that while they themselves will not place children with families who don’t meet their standards, they refer them to agencies that will. But as the provider with the region’s highest quality of service, making referrals means sending people to deal directly with the state Department of Social Services, or to agencies in other parts of the state that are several hours away by car.
Beth Lesser is a Jewish parent who was turned away by Miracle Hill. “Understand, in the upstate of South Carolina, if you want to be a foster parent or a mentor, there’s DSS, which is the government. And there’s Miracle Hill. There really isn’t anybody else,” Lesser told The Intercept.
When she still lived in Greenville, Lesser participated in a three-day training co-hosted by Miracle Hill and Fostering Great Ideas, another regional child welfare agency. On the third day, two officials running the training, David White of Fostering Great Ideas, as well as a Miracle Hill representative, told the group that non-Protestants wouldn’t be able to mentor with Miracle Hill, let alone foster a child.
“I’ve never felt that sort of discrimination before,” she said. “Once they get [the children] in one of their group homes, they don’t let non-Christian Protestants mentor them, foster them, or anything.” Lesser couldn’t recall the name of the Miracle Hill representative, but White confirmed the exchange to The Intercept, saying that they were explaining Miracle Hill’s policy, and that his agency, FGI, does not itself discriminate. Miracle Hill did not respond to a request for comment.
Originally from New Jersey, she and her husband lived in Florida before moving to South Carolina for 18 years. They’ve fostered and mentored other children through various agencies, and have since returned to Florida.
“What Miracle Hill does, is they scoop up these kids from foster care, and they have these group homes. And then once they get the kids in there, their whole objective is to indoctrinate them into their brand of Christianity,” Lesser said.
Lesser said that while she and her husband were licensed foster parents while they lived in South Carolina, they “hardly got any calls” to foster children.
“I think that if Trump knew about this in detail, he wouldn’t be for it,” Lesser said. “Because he’s not a religious nut.” She’s a proud supporter of the president — and, she offered, she wanted Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to be confirmed.
For the state’s DSS, the practice of discriminating against Jewish families was too much. As early as January 2018, DSS sent a letter raising concerns that the agency was violating federal and state nondiscrimination laws, as well as DSS policy, by requiring applicants to meet strict religious standards — namely, being a practicing Protestant and not being in a same-sex relationship. The letter was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union, which provided it to The Intercept.
“In telephone conversations with the Department, Miracle Hill has given the Department reason to believe Miracle Hill intends to refuse to provide its services as a licensed Child Placing Agency to families who are not specifically Christians from a Protestant denomination,” the letter reads, offering Miracle Hill 30 days to resolve the issue and 30 more days to implement a new approach.
But Miracle Hill, which is closely allied with the top GOP leadership of the state, had a different response: It went to lawmakers and the governor, who changed state law to shield Miracle Hill from DSS. The state officials in turn pleaded Miracle Hill’s case to the Trump administration.
Miracle Hill is one of 11 Christian-affiliated foster care agencies serving over 4,000 children in foster care and group homes in South Carolina, a the state that, like many others, has historically had a shortage of foster homes.
It is the only one of those Christian agencies, according to DSS, with religious qualifications for parents.
David White is the founder and CEO of Fostering Great Ideas, a nonprofit working to improve the child welfare system, though it does not itself foster children. FGI works closely with Miracle Hill in South Carolina and is expanding to Denver, but does not share its recruitment policy. He argued that families rejected by Miracle Hill do have other places to go. There are 11 foster care providers in Greenville, according to FGI data pulled from DSS. Seven of those provide therapeutic as opposed to regular care for children.
A number of agencies do allow gay couples or Catholic families to foster, White said. “There is the ability to have an intelligent conversation, versus a ‘we’re right, you’re wrong’ — ’cause it is subtle. It’s very difficult. And I know the CEO of Miracle Hill. I know him well. And he is not a bigot. And that’s what makes this a human story.”
The organization’s last provisional state license expired July 25, and DSS won’t issue a permanent one until Miracle Hill proves it’s not discriminating — or DSS gets a federal order to make an exception.
Such an order is already drafted. It’s awaiting final signature on the desk of Secretary Alex Azar at the Department of Health and Human Services. If granted, Miracle Hill will be allowed to continue denying qualified families from adopting kids based on religious views.
The ACLU is litigating a similar case in Philadelphia against Catholic Social Services. Bethany Christian Services, another Philadelphia agency originally involved in the complaint, has since stated it will comply with federal law and accept same-sex couples. Philadelphia’s DHS has since resumed doing business with the agency. CSS is now suing DHS.
“There are many, many faith-based agencies doing work in the child welfare field,” Leslie Cooper, deputy director for the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project told The Intercept. “And doing really important work. And regardless of their religious belief, the vast majority comply with professional child welfare standards … which include: you accept all qualified families; you don’t discriminate based on characteristics unrelated to ability to care for a child.”[...] (read more)
Analysis: Brian Kemp has purged over 300,000 voters from Georgia rolls
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is accused of seeking to suppress the black vote ahead of his big election
SHIRA TARLO - salon
OCTOBER 19, 2018 4:54PM (UTC)
Georgia has removed over 300,000 voters from the state's voter rolls over the past two years, a team of database experts, statisticians, lawyers and investigators working with the Palast Investigative Fund told reports on a call Friday morning.
Greg Palast, director of the Palast Investigative Fund, and the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda have joined to file a lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the state's top elections official who is vying to become the Peach State's next governor. The suit demands that Kemp release his voter registration files to the public to "settle the matter."
The investigation has accused Kemp of wrongly removing hundreds of thousands of legitimate voters from the state's voter rolls because they allegedly "left the state" or "moved from their congressional district." According to Palast, they haven't moved anywhere. While purging 300,000 people from the voter rolls may seem like a small number in a state with a population of 10.4 million, elections have been decided by far smaller margins. As an example, Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election by a combined margin of 77,744 votes in three battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Earlier this month, Palast rolled out a website to tell Georgia voters if they were purged from the voting rolls. Voters can type in their name and find out if their constitutional right was stripped away from them.
Kemp's office denied the accusation. In a statement to Salon, Kemp's press secretary Candice Broce said, "This lawsuit has no merit. To be crystal clear, Georgia has never used data from the Crosscheck Program to conduct list maintenance in any capacity. Zero voters have been removed from the rolls based on Crosscheck data in this state. Greg Palast is completely blind to this indisputable fact in his pursuit of a sensational headline. Real journalists have already reported that Georgia does not use this data for list maintenance. Frankly, Mr. Palast should be embarrassed, and any credibility that he had left is completely destroyed."
Palast's accusation is the latest to claim that Kemp's office used a questionable verification law to suppress the vote in Georgia. Earlier this week, Georgia officials were accused of voter suppression after they forced dozens of African-American senior citizens off a bus taking them to vote. The bus, which was organized by Black Lives Matter, was set to take about 40 voters from a senior center run by Jefferson County to the polls when the head of the facility told the group they needed to get off.
It also follows a report that Kemp had blocked 53,000 voter registrations – 70 percent of them from African-Americans. The news comes just weeks before Kemp's election against Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, who could become the state's first black governor. Kemp used the controversial "exact match" program to purge nearly the voters from the rolls in over the last two years. Under the policy, voter registration applications and their driver's license, social security or state ID records must have identical information. This means that any minor discrepancy, such as a typo, missing hyphen or middle initial could result in a rejection. The program has a long history of affecting minority voters.
Kemp was also named in two other lawsuits over absentee ballot rejections in Gwinnett County. Voting rights groups filed lawsuits after discovering the county had rejected absentee ballots from Asian-Americans at four times the rate of white voters and ballots from African-Americans at three times the rate of white voters.
Following reports that Kemp's office is using a questionable verification law to suppress the minority vote in his bid to become the Peach State's next governor, Abrams' campaign called on Kemp to resign as Secretary of State.
"As he has done for years, Brian Kemp is maliciously wielding the power of his office to suppress the vote for political gain and silence the voices of thousands of eligible voters — the majority of them people of color," Abrams spokeswoman Abigail Collazo said in a statement.
Collazo urged Kemp, who is in charge of overseeing his own election, to step down "so that Georgia voters can have confidence that their Secretary of State competently and impartially oversee this election." Georgia Democrats were rejected when they made a similar demand in August.
Kemp's campaign insists that voters whose applications remain in "pending" status have 26 months to fix any issues before their application is removed, and can still cast a provisional ballot. He also said that since January, election officials have processed over 6.4 million voter registrations and less than one percent maintain in pending status.
"While outside agitators disparage this office and falsely attack us, we have kept our head down and remained focused on ensuring secure, accessible, and fair elections for all voters," Kemp said in a statement. "The fact is that it has never been easier to register to vote and get engaged in the electoral process in Georgia, and we are incredibly proud to report this new record."
Kemp and Abrams are in a dead heat, with the most recent polling and analysis predicting a toss-up on Election Day. Republicans have maintained control of the governorship since Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes finished his term in 2003. The current occupant, Gov. Nathan Deal, is currently wrapping his second term and will leave the office in January.
Kemp has previously attacked the New Georgia Project, which was established by Abrahams when she was the Georgia House minority in an aim to register over 800,000 young and minority people to vote ahead of the 2014 elections. Less than two months before the 2014 midterm elections, Kemp subpoenaed the records of the organization, alleging that the group has committed voter fraud. In a speech to Republican supporters, he mentioned the defunct community-organizing group ACORN and warned that Democrats were relying on "minority voters." At the time, Abrams said that out of 85,000 registrants, the group was aware of roughly 25 complaints about incomplete forms. According to CNN, no claims of misconduct were ever brought directly against the group and Abrams, her campaign said, is no longer involved in its activities.
A coalition of state civil rights groups, including the New Georgia Project, sued Kemp this week over the blocked registrations. Kemp has also come under intense scrutiny from voting rights advocates for removing more than one million "inactive" voters from Georgia’s voting records since becoming the state’s top elections official in 2010. In June, the practice was upheld by a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling, which was part of a larger Republican voter suppression effort, activists told News One.
As CNN notes, "the 'exact match’ system was used by Kemp’s office from 2013 to 2016, during which nearly 35,000 applications were rejected, with minorities disproportionately affected, according to a lawsuit that was settled in 2017. That agreement seemed to put an end to the practice, but the GOP-held legislature quickly embedded it in new legislation."
Abrams and Democratic groups have accused Kemp of "systematically using his office to suppress votes and tilt the election" and argued that the move disproportionately affects minority voters. In an appearance on "The Daily Show," Abrams called Kemp "a remarkable architect of voter suppression."
Greg Palast, director of the Palast Investigative Fund, and the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda have joined to file a lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the state's top elections official who is vying to become the Peach State's next governor. The suit demands that Kemp release his voter registration files to the public to "settle the matter."
The investigation has accused Kemp of wrongly removing hundreds of thousands of legitimate voters from the state's voter rolls because they allegedly "left the state" or "moved from their congressional district." According to Palast, they haven't moved anywhere. While purging 300,000 people from the voter rolls may seem like a small number in a state with a population of 10.4 million, elections have been decided by far smaller margins. As an example, Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election by a combined margin of 77,744 votes in three battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Earlier this month, Palast rolled out a website to tell Georgia voters if they were purged from the voting rolls. Voters can type in their name and find out if their constitutional right was stripped away from them.
Kemp's office denied the accusation. In a statement to Salon, Kemp's press secretary Candice Broce said, "This lawsuit has no merit. To be crystal clear, Georgia has never used data from the Crosscheck Program to conduct list maintenance in any capacity. Zero voters have been removed from the rolls based on Crosscheck data in this state. Greg Palast is completely blind to this indisputable fact in his pursuit of a sensational headline. Real journalists have already reported that Georgia does not use this data for list maintenance. Frankly, Mr. Palast should be embarrassed, and any credibility that he had left is completely destroyed."
Palast's accusation is the latest to claim that Kemp's office used a questionable verification law to suppress the vote in Georgia. Earlier this week, Georgia officials were accused of voter suppression after they forced dozens of African-American senior citizens off a bus taking them to vote. The bus, which was organized by Black Lives Matter, was set to take about 40 voters from a senior center run by Jefferson County to the polls when the head of the facility told the group they needed to get off.
It also follows a report that Kemp had blocked 53,000 voter registrations – 70 percent of them from African-Americans. The news comes just weeks before Kemp's election against Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, who could become the state's first black governor. Kemp used the controversial "exact match" program to purge nearly the voters from the rolls in over the last two years. Under the policy, voter registration applications and their driver's license, social security or state ID records must have identical information. This means that any minor discrepancy, such as a typo, missing hyphen or middle initial could result in a rejection. The program has a long history of affecting minority voters.
Kemp was also named in two other lawsuits over absentee ballot rejections in Gwinnett County. Voting rights groups filed lawsuits after discovering the county had rejected absentee ballots from Asian-Americans at four times the rate of white voters and ballots from African-Americans at three times the rate of white voters.
Following reports that Kemp's office is using a questionable verification law to suppress the minority vote in his bid to become the Peach State's next governor, Abrams' campaign called on Kemp to resign as Secretary of State.
"As he has done for years, Brian Kemp is maliciously wielding the power of his office to suppress the vote for political gain and silence the voices of thousands of eligible voters — the majority of them people of color," Abrams spokeswoman Abigail Collazo said in a statement.
Collazo urged Kemp, who is in charge of overseeing his own election, to step down "so that Georgia voters can have confidence that their Secretary of State competently and impartially oversee this election." Georgia Democrats were rejected when they made a similar demand in August.
Kemp's campaign insists that voters whose applications remain in "pending" status have 26 months to fix any issues before their application is removed, and can still cast a provisional ballot. He also said that since January, election officials have processed over 6.4 million voter registrations and less than one percent maintain in pending status.
"While outside agitators disparage this office and falsely attack us, we have kept our head down and remained focused on ensuring secure, accessible, and fair elections for all voters," Kemp said in a statement. "The fact is that it has never been easier to register to vote and get engaged in the electoral process in Georgia, and we are incredibly proud to report this new record."
Kemp and Abrams are in a dead heat, with the most recent polling and analysis predicting a toss-up on Election Day. Republicans have maintained control of the governorship since Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes finished his term in 2003. The current occupant, Gov. Nathan Deal, is currently wrapping his second term and will leave the office in January.
Kemp has previously attacked the New Georgia Project, which was established by Abrahams when she was the Georgia House minority in an aim to register over 800,000 young and minority people to vote ahead of the 2014 elections. Less than two months before the 2014 midterm elections, Kemp subpoenaed the records of the organization, alleging that the group has committed voter fraud. In a speech to Republican supporters, he mentioned the defunct community-organizing group ACORN and warned that Democrats were relying on "minority voters." At the time, Abrams said that out of 85,000 registrants, the group was aware of roughly 25 complaints about incomplete forms. According to CNN, no claims of misconduct were ever brought directly against the group and Abrams, her campaign said, is no longer involved in its activities.
A coalition of state civil rights groups, including the New Georgia Project, sued Kemp this week over the blocked registrations. Kemp has also come under intense scrutiny from voting rights advocates for removing more than one million "inactive" voters from Georgia’s voting records since becoming the state’s top elections official in 2010. In June, the practice was upheld by a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling, which was part of a larger Republican voter suppression effort, activists told News One.
As CNN notes, "the 'exact match’ system was used by Kemp’s office from 2013 to 2016, during which nearly 35,000 applications were rejected, with minorities disproportionately affected, according to a lawsuit that was settled in 2017. That agreement seemed to put an end to the practice, but the GOP-held legislature quickly embedded it in new legislation."
Abrams and Democratic groups have accused Kemp of "systematically using his office to suppress votes and tilt the election" and argued that the move disproportionately affects minority voters. In an appearance on "The Daily Show," Abrams called Kemp "a remarkable architect of voter suppression."
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daily beast cheat sheet
10/19/18
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro Accuses Kushner of Orchestrating Khashoggi Killing
daily beast
Without evidence, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), a member of the House intelligence committee, said Jared Kushner might have passed a “hit list” to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman resulting in the apparent brutal slaying of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Castro, during a CNN appearance Friday morning, cited unspecified “reporting that Jared Kushner may have, with U.S. intelligence, delivered a hit list, an enemies list, to the crown prince, to MBS, in Saudi Arabia and that the prince may have acted on that, and one of the people he took action against is Mr. Khashoggi.” When CNN’s Poppy Harlow interjected that she was unfamiliar with such reporting and the network had not reported that, Castro reiterated that “I’ve seen reporting to that effect… that needs to be investigated.” While Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, is close with the Saudi crown prince, no one has accused Kushner of any involvement, let alone orchestration, in the Khashoggi killing. The Daily Beast has reached out to Castro’s office for clarification and comment.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions Ignored Legal Advice to Push Agenda: NYT
DAILY BEAST
Attorney General Jeff Sessions ignored the advice of seasoned lawyers when implementing his anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT agenda, leaving the administration vulnerable to losses in court, according to a Friday report from The New York Times. In one instance, Sessions repudiated a career lawyer’s brief which stated that he could find no legal grounds for barring sanctuary laws for undocumented immigrants. Sources told the Times that Sessions restated his position as an immigration hard-liner, and asked the lawyer to reach a different conclusion. That lawyer resigned months later. And while Sessions eventually filed a lawsuit, a federal judge dismissed the vast majority of the case.
In another striking example, Sessions ignored all of his legal experts when attempting to strip transgender rights under the Civil Rights Act. His actions, the Times notes, aren’t illegal—Sessions is free to act with or without the counsel of his legal team. But his decisions have had an obvious impact on staffers’ morale. “Since I’ve been a lawyer, going back to the late 1970s, I can’t recall a time when morale has been as low as I have heard from some former colleagues,” Robert Litt, a former Justice Department official during the Clinton administration, told the Times.
In another striking example, Sessions ignored all of his legal experts when attempting to strip transgender rights under the Civil Rights Act. His actions, the Times notes, aren’t illegal—Sessions is free to act with or without the counsel of his legal team. But his decisions have had an obvious impact on staffers’ morale. “Since I’ve been a lawyer, going back to the late 1970s, I can’t recall a time when morale has been as low as I have heard from some former colleagues,” Robert Litt, a former Justice Department official during the Clinton administration, told the Times.
‘Fox & Friends’ Livestreams ‘Illegals’ Crossing Border With Mexico
DAILY BEAST
Fox & Friends sent correspondent Griff Jenkins to McAllen, Texas, on Friday morning to show U.S. Border Patrol agents arresting people attempting to cross the border. Footage showed agents patting down and cuffing a group of people while Jenkins described their movements, “These guys—unlike the last group that was running at us over tracks—these guys were bended down in this brush.” The reporter called the operation a “nonstop constant cat and mouse game that is exhausting our border patrol” and relayed that “we’ve made more arrests.” Anchor Ainsley Earhardt, from the studio, asked Jenkins if the people will be caught and released, which he affirmed, stating the migrants were given a summons to return, which he called a “run notice.” He concluded those migrants are “never to be seen again. They blend into the fabric of the country, and that’s what this is all about.”
Israeli Cyberspies ‘Help Dictators Hunt Gays and Dissidents,’ Says Report
daily beast
Israeli companies that specialize in cyberspying are reportedly helping dictators around the world hunt dissidents, persecute members of the LGBT community, and detain human-rights activists. A investigation by Haaretz shows Israeli companies happily sell their products and services to undemocratic countries even when they have no way to know whether the items sold were being used to violate the rights of civilians. The investigation also found that Israeli firms continued to sell products, such as the notorious Pegasus software, to governments even when it was revealed publicly that the equipment was being used for malicious purposes, including enabling illegal surveillance and infiltrating human-rights investigators’ cellphones during the hunt for 43 missing Mexican student teachers. Countries where private companies sold espionage and intelligence-gathering software include Bahrain, Mexico, Indonesia, Angola, Mozambique, the Dominican Republic, Azerbaijan, Swaziland, Botswana, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Panama, and Nicaragua.
Sen. Martin Heinrich tells Salon Trump’s tax cuts may help companies offshore jobs
Exclusive: New report by Sen. Heinrich reveals how GOP tax bill could help send American jobs overseas
MATTHEW ROZSA - salon
OCTOBER 19, 2018 3:45PM (UTC)
Beyond not paying for themselves, President Donald Trump's tax cuts now threaten to undermine one of his key campaign promises. A new report by the Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee in Congress reveals that by reducing the tax liability incurred by corporations, even when they move operations and jobs overseas, Trump's tax cuts could further endanger the jobs of the 15.4 million Americans who are vulnerable to offshoring.
Before the Republican tax law was passed last year, American companies had to pay a 35 percent corporate tax on income that they earned overseas (companies often skirted their tax liability by simply keeping their money in offshore banks). Because the new tax law brings us closer to a system that allows corporate profits to be taxed only in the nation where those profits were created, the report argues that U.S. companies will be motivated to move their profits and investments to other countries with lower tax rates.
The report also describes how two additional provisions of Trump's tax law provide American companies with opportunities to increase their profits by moving jobs overseas. First, the law establishes a new minimum tax on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI), which means that companies that wish to minimize how much of their income will be classified as GILTI can do so by moving jobs to other countries. Second, because the new law creates a deduction for income tied to exports, known as foreign-derived intangible income (FDII), companies could conclude that having too many tangible assets in the United States reduces the amount of income that could qualify for that deduction -- and then move those tangible assets overseas to qualify for the new deduction.
"The Trump administration has not delivered results to the middle class and communities they promised to be champions for," Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, told Salon. "Republicans blew a $2 trillion hole in the deficit with special-interest tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations. There are 15.4 million American jobs that are potentially at risk of being offshored, and this tax law may only compound this issue."
Heinrich added that Democrats are not powerless to stop jobs from being moved overseas.
"The international provisions in the Republican tax law were poorly designed," Heinrich said. "The law creates a new incentive for companies to shift operations — and Americans jobs — overseas, and does not adequately protect American workers. Democrats can start by rewriting provisions like these to keep good-paying American jobs at home. We are also prepared to put forward smart, forward-looking policies to raise wages for American workers."
The Joint Committee on Taxation projects that the international provisions excluding the one-time revenue from repatriation of foreign profits in Trump's tax law will decrease revenue by more than $14 billion over the next decade. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has also stated that the provisions in Trump's tax bill would provide companies with an incentive to offshore their jobs and profits.
Before the Republican tax law was passed last year, American companies had to pay a 35 percent corporate tax on income that they earned overseas (companies often skirted their tax liability by simply keeping their money in offshore banks). Because the new tax law brings us closer to a system that allows corporate profits to be taxed only in the nation where those profits were created, the report argues that U.S. companies will be motivated to move their profits and investments to other countries with lower tax rates.
The report also describes how two additional provisions of Trump's tax law provide American companies with opportunities to increase their profits by moving jobs overseas. First, the law establishes a new minimum tax on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI), which means that companies that wish to minimize how much of their income will be classified as GILTI can do so by moving jobs to other countries. Second, because the new law creates a deduction for income tied to exports, known as foreign-derived intangible income (FDII), companies could conclude that having too many tangible assets in the United States reduces the amount of income that could qualify for that deduction -- and then move those tangible assets overseas to qualify for the new deduction.
"The Trump administration has not delivered results to the middle class and communities they promised to be champions for," Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, told Salon. "Republicans blew a $2 trillion hole in the deficit with special-interest tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations. There are 15.4 million American jobs that are potentially at risk of being offshored, and this tax law may only compound this issue."
Heinrich added that Democrats are not powerless to stop jobs from being moved overseas.
"The international provisions in the Republican tax law were poorly designed," Heinrich said. "The law creates a new incentive for companies to shift operations — and Americans jobs — overseas, and does not adequately protect American workers. Democrats can start by rewriting provisions like these to keep good-paying American jobs at home. We are also prepared to put forward smart, forward-looking policies to raise wages for American workers."
The Joint Committee on Taxation projects that the international provisions excluding the one-time revenue from repatriation of foreign profits in Trump's tax law will decrease revenue by more than $14 billion over the next decade. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has also stated that the provisions in Trump's tax bill would provide companies with an incentive to offshore their jobs and profits.
‘Blatant racism’: White women tried to smear black man as a pedophile for ‘gardening while black’
Travis Gettys - raw story
19 OCT 2018 AT 06:45 ET
A Michigan judge tossed three stalking charges against black man filed by a white woman who objected to him “gardening while black,” and she said the accuser should face the same charges.
Deborah Nash lives across the street from a vacant playground in Detroit where Marc Peeples established a community playground last year, and she and two other white women who live nearby called police on the black man dozens of times, reported the Detroit Metro Times.
Peeples says Nash, Jennifer Morris and Martha Callahan objected to his project and began fabricating more serious allegations against him when police refused to cite him for the garden.
“Ain’t no law against raking leaves,” one officer said, according to body camera video.
Court documents show Nash claimed Peeples threatened to take her home, which he allegedly said she had stolen from Native Americans, and the woman also accused him of painting gang colors on vacant houses and trees.
She then told police that Peeples threatened to burn down her house and repeatedly threatened to kill her, and Nash claimed the black man took part in a drive-by shooting of her home.
Nash told police in March that Peeples had a gun in the park, which wasn’t true, and all three women waited until the man had a group of children helping him in the garden and told police they heard from a school principal that he was a pedophile.
“It was blatant racism,” Peeples said. “They didn’t like the fact that a black man was in so-called ‘their’ neighborhood without their permission.”
Detroit police and Wayne County prosecutors eventually filed three counts of stalking against Peeples, even though body camera video shows at least one officer believed the charges were “B.S.” — and a judge eventually agreed.
District Court Judge E. Lynise Bryant dismissed the “ridiculous” charges Tuesday in a directed verdict, which ended the case before it went before a jury.
“[The three white women] should be sitting at the defendant’s table for stalking and harassment charges, not Mr. Peeples,” Bryant said. “This is disgusting and a waste of the court’s time and resources.”
The judge found the women filed false police reports, contradicted their own claims on the stand and lied under oath.
“[They] engaged in a very targeted and constant harassment of the young man,” Bryant said, adding that the campaign appeared to be racially motivated. “I found their testimony to be offensive.”
Peeples said he lost business contracts and spent more than $3,500 on bail and attorney fees, which he’s trying to recover through a GoFundMe page, and he said the case damaged his reputation.
“They get to ruin my life, say anything they want,” he said, “and then they get to go on their lives.”
“People are giving these ladies funny nicknames but this is serious,” he added. “This is my life, what these people are doing is not cute — it’s ugly.”
Deborah Nash lives across the street from a vacant playground in Detroit where Marc Peeples established a community playground last year, and she and two other white women who live nearby called police on the black man dozens of times, reported the Detroit Metro Times.
Peeples says Nash, Jennifer Morris and Martha Callahan objected to his project and began fabricating more serious allegations against him when police refused to cite him for the garden.
“Ain’t no law against raking leaves,” one officer said, according to body camera video.
Court documents show Nash claimed Peeples threatened to take her home, which he allegedly said she had stolen from Native Americans, and the woman also accused him of painting gang colors on vacant houses and trees.
She then told police that Peeples threatened to burn down her house and repeatedly threatened to kill her, and Nash claimed the black man took part in a drive-by shooting of her home.
Nash told police in March that Peeples had a gun in the park, which wasn’t true, and all three women waited until the man had a group of children helping him in the garden and told police they heard from a school principal that he was a pedophile.
“It was blatant racism,” Peeples said. “They didn’t like the fact that a black man was in so-called ‘their’ neighborhood without their permission.”
Detroit police and Wayne County prosecutors eventually filed three counts of stalking against Peeples, even though body camera video shows at least one officer believed the charges were “B.S.” — and a judge eventually agreed.
District Court Judge E. Lynise Bryant dismissed the “ridiculous” charges Tuesday in a directed verdict, which ended the case before it went before a jury.
“[The three white women] should be sitting at the defendant’s table for stalking and harassment charges, not Mr. Peeples,” Bryant said. “This is disgusting and a waste of the court’s time and resources.”
The judge found the women filed false police reports, contradicted their own claims on the stand and lied under oath.
“[They] engaged in a very targeted and constant harassment of the young man,” Bryant said, adding that the campaign appeared to be racially motivated. “I found their testimony to be offensive.”
Peeples said he lost business contracts and spent more than $3,500 on bail and attorney fees, which he’s trying to recover through a GoFundMe page, and he said the case damaged his reputation.
“They get to ruin my life, say anything they want,” he said, “and then they get to go on their lives.”
“People are giving these ladies funny nicknames but this is serious,” he added. “This is my life, what these people are doing is not cute — it’s ugly.”
*bites from real news - 10/19/2018*
*Activists Draw Their Own Electoral Map to End Racial Gerrymandering
Instead of pretending that partisan politics have nothing to do with race, the activists worked with a data firm to draw an electoral map that would maximize the power of voters of color, who have faced political suppression and disenfranchisement in Virginia and other states, particularly in the South.(truthout)
*Protesters gather on Gaza frontier, Israeli fire wounds 77
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of Palestinians massed Friday along Israel's frontier, with dozens approaching and breaching the perimeter fence that separates Gaza from Israel, even as Egypt stepped up efforts reach a lasting cease-fire between the territory's Hamas rulers and Israel.
*DEMOCRATIC CONSULTING FIRM TEAMS UP WITH HOSPITAL INDUSTRY TO BATTLE NURSES UNION
In Massachusetts, an industry-funded campaign being run by Democratic consultants threatens to derail a ballot initiative to create a nurse-staffing limit.
*Harris calls for repealing Trump Tax Plan, and instead giving families a $6,000 tax credit
With midterm elections 2½ weeks away and the 2020 presidential race around the corner, prominent Democrats are embracing an ambitious idea: Repeal and replace the $1.5 trillion Republican tax plan. •The proposals would get rid of the tax cuts and, i ... (CNBC)
*Iconic Dodge City moves its only polling place outside town
Access to the ballot box in November will be more difficult for some people in Dodge City, where Hispanics now make up 60 percent of its population and have remade an iconic Wild West town that once was the destination of cowboys and buffalo hunters ... (Wichita Eagle)
*107,000 purged from Georgia voter rolls for not voting in past elections: report
107,000 purged from Georgia voter rolls for not voting in past elections:
Georgia officials removed an estimated 107,000 people from voter rolls because they decided not to vote in prior elections, ... (The Hill)
*‘Juarez in a bottle’ Mexican moonshine made with snakes resurfaces in US
*Native Americans City camp is site of homelessness, heroin … and hope
*Jamal Khashoggi: Evidence suggests crown prince ordered killing, says ex-MI6 chief
Saudi Arabia: Prince under pressure to blame general
*Trump at Montana rally praises congressman who body slammed reporter
At a rally in Montana Thursday, Pr*sident Trump praised Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte for body slamming a reporter in 2016 while also continuing his line of attack that voting for Democrats is voting for a "mob." Mr. Trump's Thursday rally ... (CBS News)
Stunningly detailed DOJ indictment reveals how Putin-allied Russians created divisive social media posts on race and gender
Dominique Jackson - raw story
19 OCT 2018 AT 16:29 ET
A new Department of Justice court indictment reveals detailed tactics that Russian operatives allegedly used to influence American opinion ahead of the upcoming elections.
On Friday, Elena Alekaseevna Khusyaynova was indicted for interfering with the 2018 midterm elections.
A criminal complaint by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia provides step by step details on how Russia used social media as a gateway to influence U.S. elections.
“Members of the conspiracy used social media and other internet platforms to inflame passions on a wide variety of topics,” the document states. “Members of the conspiracy took advantage of specific events in the United States to anchor their themes, including the shooting of church members in Charleston, South Carolina.”
Adding, “Members of the conspiracy also sought to target the timing of their post to attract the possible widest viewership.”
The Russian operatives discussed how to influence public opinion. For example, Russian operatives were told to characterize late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as an “old geezer” who had a “pathological hatred” towards Trump. They were also told to cast Mueller as a “puppet of the establishment,” according to the indictment.
Read the full complaint here.
On Friday, Elena Alekaseevna Khusyaynova was indicted for interfering with the 2018 midterm elections.
A criminal complaint by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia provides step by step details on how Russia used social media as a gateway to influence U.S. elections.
“Members of the conspiracy used social media and other internet platforms to inflame passions on a wide variety of topics,” the document states. “Members of the conspiracy took advantage of specific events in the United States to anchor their themes, including the shooting of church members in Charleston, South Carolina.”
Adding, “Members of the conspiracy also sought to target the timing of their post to attract the possible widest viewership.”
The Russian operatives discussed how to influence public opinion. For example, Russian operatives were told to characterize late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as an “old geezer” who had a “pathological hatred” towards Trump. They were also told to cast Mueller as a “puppet of the establishment,” according to the indictment.
Read the full complaint here.
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Republicans don’t want you to know about these 3 easy fixes to Social Security and Medicare
ROBERT REICH - - raw story
19 OCT 2018 AT 14:06 ET
Republicans would love to get rid of Social Security and Medicare. But they can’t, because Social Security and Medicare are among the most popular of all federal programs. Besides, most Americans have been paying into them their whole working lives, and depend on them.
So how will Republicans attempt to end these programs? By doing nothing to save Medicare and Social Security.
The trustees for Medicare and Social Security – of which I used to be one – say Medicare will run out of money by 2026, three years sooner than last projected, and Social Security will run out in 2034.
But this doesn’t have to be the case.
Here are three easy fixes to Social Security and Medicare that Republicans don’t want you to know about.
First: Raise the cap on income subject to Social Security payroll taxes.
This year, that cap is $128,400, meaning that every dollar earned above $128,400 isn’t subject to Social Security taxes.
So the typical CEO of a big company, who makes over $15 million, pays Social Security taxes on just $128,400 of his or her income, a tiny fraction. While the typical nurse practitioner, who takes home around $100,000, pays Social Security taxes on every dollar of his or her income.
In this era of raging inequality, that’s not fair. And it’s not even logical. Raise the cap.
Second: To help rein in Medicare costs, allow the government to use its huge bargaining power to negotiate lower drug prices.
Big Pharma has gotten legislation barring the government from negotiating lower drug prices. That legislation should be repealed.
Big Pharma says this would mean less research on new drugs, but that’s baloney. Pharma already spends more on advertising, marketing, and lobbying than it does on research.
Third: To deal with a basic reason why Social Security and Medicare are running out of money, allow more young immigrants into the U.S.
The basic reason why Social Security and Medicare are running out of money is the American population continues to age and live longer – leaving a relatively smaller working population to pay into Social Security and Medicare.
What to do? Allow in more young immigrants. Immigrants and their children are the fastest growing segment of the working population, already contributing billions in payroll taxes every year. Instead of shutting immigrants out, allowing more immigrants into the country will help secure the future of Social Security and Medicare.
This isn’t rocket science, folks. Raise the cap, negotiate drug prices, and allow in more immigrants. Do these three things and you won’t have to worry about Social Security and Medicare not being there when you need it.
So how will Republicans attempt to end these programs? By doing nothing to save Medicare and Social Security.
The trustees for Medicare and Social Security – of which I used to be one – say Medicare will run out of money by 2026, three years sooner than last projected, and Social Security will run out in 2034.
But this doesn’t have to be the case.
Here are three easy fixes to Social Security and Medicare that Republicans don’t want you to know about.
First: Raise the cap on income subject to Social Security payroll taxes.
This year, that cap is $128,400, meaning that every dollar earned above $128,400 isn’t subject to Social Security taxes.
So the typical CEO of a big company, who makes over $15 million, pays Social Security taxes on just $128,400 of his or her income, a tiny fraction. While the typical nurse practitioner, who takes home around $100,000, pays Social Security taxes on every dollar of his or her income.
In this era of raging inequality, that’s not fair. And it’s not even logical. Raise the cap.
Second: To help rein in Medicare costs, allow the government to use its huge bargaining power to negotiate lower drug prices.
Big Pharma has gotten legislation barring the government from negotiating lower drug prices. That legislation should be repealed.
Big Pharma says this would mean less research on new drugs, but that’s baloney. Pharma already spends more on advertising, marketing, and lobbying than it does on research.
Third: To deal with a basic reason why Social Security and Medicare are running out of money, allow more young immigrants into the U.S.
The basic reason why Social Security and Medicare are running out of money is the American population continues to age and live longer – leaving a relatively smaller working population to pay into Social Security and Medicare.
What to do? Allow in more young immigrants. Immigrants and their children are the fastest growing segment of the working population, already contributing billions in payroll taxes every year. Instead of shutting immigrants out, allowing more immigrants into the country will help secure the future of Social Security and Medicare.
This isn’t rocket science, folks. Raise the cap, negotiate drug prices, and allow in more immigrants. Do these three things and you won’t have to worry about Social Security and Medicare not being there when you need it.
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Vote Republican!!!
by nancegreggs - demo underground
10/18/18
If you’re a minimum wage earner who likes living in poverty, vote Republican – the party that will make sure you’ll never get a raise!
If you’re a hard-working American who believes the rich need tax-cuts while your tax deductions are eliminated, vote Republican – the party that wants you to pay more while the obscenely wealthy pay less!
If you’re a woman who thinks you’re not equal to men and should have less rights than men have, vote Republican – the party that is determined to keep you in your place as a second-class citizen!
If you’re a farmer, an auto worker, or anyone else about to lose your livelihood due to Trump’s tariffs, vote Republican – the party that doesn’t give a fuck about your ability to support your family!
If you’re a Christian who doesn’t believe in Jesus’ admonition to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and care for the sick, vote Republican – the party that doesn’t believe in any of that “Christian” bullshit either!
If you’re a citizen who thinks a “pResident” should spend his time watching TV, playing golf, and tweeting inane covfeve, vote Republican – the party that thinks such behaviour is not only appropriate, but worthy of praise!
If you’re not the least bit interested in having potable water to drink or clean air to breathe, vote Republican – the party that is overturning the regulations that protect your water and your air!
If you’re not concerned about the fact that your “pResident” has invariably sided with our nation’s adversaries rather than our own intelligence agencies, vote Republican – the party that put Putin’s lackey in the White House!
If you don’t mind losing your healthcare coverage, vote Republican – the party that thinks you should just die in silence if you can’t afford medical treatment!
If you have absolutely no morals, vote Republican – the party that kidnaps kids and puts them in cages!
If you’re a racist, vote Republican – the party that hates “those people” as much as you do!
If you don’t mind being lied to and cheated by representatives that don’t give a shit about you, vote Republican – the party where self-serving greed is one of their most endearing features!
If you’re not the least bit concerned about ethics in politics, vote Republican – the party that prides itself on blatant corruption!
If you’re fine with social security and Medicare payouts being gutted in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthy, vote Republican – because the richest people in the country shouldn’t have to pay their fair share!
That’s right, folks. If you are an ignorant, ill-informed dumb-ass who enjoys being kicked in the ass and spat upon on a daily basis, the Republican party is tailor-made for you.
So get out there in November and vote for the people who will lie to you, steal from you, and then tell you to fuck off when you complain – and have the track record to prove it!
Vote Republican – because this country isn’t going to flush itself down the toilet without your help!
If you’re a hard-working American who believes the rich need tax-cuts while your tax deductions are eliminated, vote Republican – the party that wants you to pay more while the obscenely wealthy pay less!
If you’re a woman who thinks you’re not equal to men and should have less rights than men have, vote Republican – the party that is determined to keep you in your place as a second-class citizen!
If you’re a farmer, an auto worker, or anyone else about to lose your livelihood due to Trump’s tariffs, vote Republican – the party that doesn’t give a fuck about your ability to support your family!
If you’re a Christian who doesn’t believe in Jesus’ admonition to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and care for the sick, vote Republican – the party that doesn’t believe in any of that “Christian” bullshit either!
If you’re a citizen who thinks a “pResident” should spend his time watching TV, playing golf, and tweeting inane covfeve, vote Republican – the party that thinks such behaviour is not only appropriate, but worthy of praise!
If you’re not the least bit interested in having potable water to drink or clean air to breathe, vote Republican – the party that is overturning the regulations that protect your water and your air!
If you’re not concerned about the fact that your “pResident” has invariably sided with our nation’s adversaries rather than our own intelligence agencies, vote Republican – the party that put Putin’s lackey in the White House!
If you don’t mind losing your healthcare coverage, vote Republican – the party that thinks you should just die in silence if you can’t afford medical treatment!
If you have absolutely no morals, vote Republican – the party that kidnaps kids and puts them in cages!
If you’re a racist, vote Republican – the party that hates “those people” as much as you do!
If you don’t mind being lied to and cheated by representatives that don’t give a shit about you, vote Republican – the party where self-serving greed is one of their most endearing features!
If you’re not the least bit concerned about ethics in politics, vote Republican – the party that prides itself on blatant corruption!
If you’re fine with social security and Medicare payouts being gutted in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthy, vote Republican – because the richest people in the country shouldn’t have to pay their fair share!
That’s right, folks. If you are an ignorant, ill-informed dumb-ass who enjoys being kicked in the ass and spat upon on a daily basis, the Republican party is tailor-made for you.
So get out there in November and vote for the people who will lie to you, steal from you, and then tell you to fuck off when you complain – and have the track record to prove it!
Vote Republican – because this country isn’t going to flush itself down the toilet without your help!
*What's Inside*
october 16 - october 18
✔THE TERRIBLE TRUMP PORTRAIT THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING
(COMMENTARY)
*MEN AND CHRISTIANS EXPERIENCE HIGHER AMOUNTS OF DISCRIMINATION THAN OTHER GROUPS, TRUMP VOTERS CLAIM
(AMERIKKKANS)
*ENERGY DEPARTMENT READY TO APPROVE NUCLEAR WASTE DUMPING
(ENVIRONMENT)
*SLAVERY WAS NEVER ABOLISHED – IT AFFECTS MILLIONS, AND YOU MAY BE FUNDING IT
(WORLD)
*TRUMP SUPPORTERS FALL FOR HOAX ABOUT THE MAYO CLINIC INTENTIONALLY ABORTING THEIR BABIES
(SUCKERS)
*EMAILS SHOW TRUMP PLAYED KEY ROLE IN BLOCKING MOVE OF FBI HQ — WHICH LIKELY BENEFITED HIS HOTEL: REPORT
(TRUMP)
*GEORGIA COUNTY, ELECTION OFFICIAL SUED FOR THROWING OUT BLACK VOTERS’ ABSENTEE BALLOTS
(ELECTIONS)
*HERE ARE ALL THE TRUMP PROJECTS WHERE IVANKA AND HER DAD MISLED REAL ESTATE BUYERS
(TRUMP)
*STONE MOUNTAIN: THE LARGEST CONFEDERATE MONUMENT PROBLEM IN THE WORLD
(AMERICA)
*NOW MITCH MCCONNELL WANTS MASSIVE CUTS TO SOCIAL PROGRAMS AFTER GOP BLEW UP THE DEFICIT
(GOP POLITICS)
✔STEVE KING ENDORSED A FAR-RIGHT MAYORAL CANDIDATE BECAUSE HE’S A WHITE SUPREMACIST
(WHITE SUPREMACY)
*GEORGIA MAYOR GOES ON RACIST RANT AFTER COUNTY STOPS BLACK VOTERS MATTER FROM HELPING ELDERLY VOTE
(AMERIKKKANS)
*BY 2035, THE ‘GREAT FUEL SWITCH’ WILL MARK THE END OF THE AGE OF OIL AND GAS, ANALYSTS EXPECT
(EARTH)
*TECHNOLOGY ACCESS GAP LEAVES MILLIONS OF STUDENTS STRUGGLING TO KEEP UP
(EDUCATION)
*A NEW STUDY REVEALS THE REAL REASON OBAMA VOTERS SWITCHED TO TRUMP
(AMERICA)
*HERE’S WHY IT’S NOT UNFAIR TO COMPARE TRUMP’S AMERICA TO 1930S GERMANY
(TALKERS)
*HOW LONG WILL DEMOCRATS KEEP ON LETTING HILLARY CLINTON DOMINATE THE PARTY?
(DEMO POLITICS)
*DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS SHOW BRIT SPY AGENCY FEARED BLACKS ‘HAD CHIP ON THEIR SHOULDER, WOULD BETRAY BRITAIN IF HIRED(WORLD)
*SMITH AND CARLOS EMBODIED MANY AFRICAN AMERICANS' SUMMER OF LOVE AND RECKONING
BY KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR(COMMENTARY)
*SALESFORCE CEO: TECH BILLIONAIRES 'HOARD THEIR MONEY' AND WON'T HELP HOMELESS
(REALITY)
*VIDEO SHOWS OFF-DUTY CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER SHOOTING UNARMED, AUTISTIC MAN
(GESTAPO USA)
✔JUDGE UNBLOCKS OBAMA-ERA RULE ON STUDENT DEBT RELIEF
(EDUCATION)
*NASA’S NEW SATELLITE WILL PROVIDE BEST PICTURE YET OF HOW MUCH AND HOW FAST SEAS WILL RISE
(CURRENTS)
*CORRUPT GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS HAVE LESS TO FEAR UNDER TRUMP
(CORRUPTION)
*ELECTION OFFICIALS SUED FOR GEORGIA COUNTY’S MAIL-IN BALLOT REJECTION PRACTICES
(ELECTIONS)
*GROUP SUES TENNESSEE COUNTY OVER INVALID VOTER REGISTRATIONS
(ELECTIONS)
*MITCH MCCONNELL EYES ENTITLEMENTS AFTER TAX CUTS FAILED TO PAY FOR THEMSELVES
(GOP POLITICS)
*U.S. BUDGET DEFICIT JUMPS TO $779 BILLION
(REALITY)
*WISCONSIN COPS SMASH INTO BLACK WOMAN’S CAR WITH GUNS DRAWN AFTER SHE ARRIVES EARLY TO JOB INTERVIEW: LAWSUIT
(GESTAPO USA)
*CARBON CAPTURE: WHAT WE DON’T TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE
(EARTH)
*GEORGIA WOMAN SAYS SHE’D ‘BE UP ALL NIGHT’ IF SHE DIDN’T REPORT BLACK MAN SHE SPOTTED BABYSITTING WHITE CHILDREN
(AMERIKKKANS)
*AN L.A. COUNCILMAN HELD AN $800-PER-PERSON FUNDRAISER. THE NEXT DAY, HE ANNOUNCED HE WAS STEPPING DOWN
(CORRUPTION)
*NAACP LEADER OPPOSES RENT CONTROL BID WHILE TAKING REAL ESTATE MONEY
SELLOUTS
*TAX EVASION: BLACKLIST OF 21 COUNTRIES WITH 'GOLDEN PASSPORT' SCHEMES PUBLISHED
(WORLD)
✔MEET THE BILLIONAIRE INVESTOR WHO LED SEARS INTO BANKRUPTCY
(CAPITALISM)
*AFFLUENT CITIES GAINED AT EXPENSE OF TRUMP'S 'FORGOTTEN' AMERICA STUDY
(AMERICA)
*MAJORITY LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY’S BROTHER-IN-LAW SCORED MILLIONS FROM GOVERNMENT CONTRACT BASED ON FALSE CLAIM OF NATIVE AMERICAN ANCESTRY(CORRUPTION)
*REGRETFUL TRUMP VOTERS TELL CNN WHY THEY’VE TURNED ON ‘THE DICTATOR IN WHITE HOUSE’: ‘ALL HE’S DONE IS SURROUND HIMSELF WITH CROOKS’(SUCKERS)
*US SUPREME COURT REBUFFS COMPANIES OVER LEAD PAINT LIABILITY
(CORPORATE CRIMINALS)
*RACISM SHADOWS DIVERSITY'S TRIUMPH
(WORLD)
*TRUMP LIES ABOUT MEDICARE FOR ALL, SAYS UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE DOESN’T WORK ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
(REALITY)
*FORD DEMANDS MILLIONS FROM TAXPAYERS TO REHAB ICON OF DETROIT'S BLIGHT
(CAPITALISM)
*late news of interest*
stupidity is infinite!!!
GOP Lawmaker Says Emergency Rooms Should Be Able To Turn People Away
Back to the good old days.
By Amanda Terkel - huff post
10/18/2017 12:30 pm ET
Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) proposed on Friday that hospital emergency rooms should be able to turn patients away to help keep health care costs down.
“I’m an emergency room nurse,” Black told MSNBC host Chuck Todd on Friday. “There are people that came into my emergency room that I, the nurse, was the first one to see them. I could have sent them to a walk-in clinic or their doctor the next day, but because of a law that Congress put into place to say, no, I have to treat everybody that walks into that emergency room.”
“You took away our ability to say, ‘No, an emergency room is not the proper place.’ And then, you put a burden on top of that to say, ‘You must do that,’” added the congresswoman, who is also running for governor of Tennessee.
At issue is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which was signed into law by former President Ronald Reagan in 1986. It was a congressional response to stories of “patient dumping” ― hospitals would deny treatment to patients or send them elsewhere, usually because the individuals didn’t have insurance. Many of these patients were unemployed or were people of color.
Those transferred individuals were more likely to die, and the delayed care often jeopardized the patients’ health.
The law put a particular focus on pregnant women (hence “active labor” in the law’s name), to ensure that they would be able to deliver their babies and receive full care.
Changing the law, as Black advocates, would send America back to a time when hospitals can use their discretion to turn people away.
“We must treat everybody that walks in whether you’ve had a sore throat for a week, we must see them. And that crowds the emergency room. It drives the cost of emergencies up,” Black added on MSNBC. “And so, yes, if someone comes in from an auto accident, I don’t want to ask whether they have insurance or not. I’m going to take care of them.”
“But what it did is crowd my emergency room, where I work,” she added. “And disallowed me from using my good judgment skills, of which I was trained to do and doctors are as well. And the federal government said, you must ― and you can’t make those decisions. And I think that was a poor thing for us to do.”
This free-for-all system would not be unlike what happened before Obamacare, when there were fewer requirements for insurance companies to accept people for coverage. It was a time when insurance providers were free to turn people away because they had more expensive pre-existing conditions ― or were labeled as potentially having an expensive condition down the line. And since these companies were free to do so, they did.
Nobody thinks EMTALA is perfect and non-partisan organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, have long called for revising some of the law’s regulations as part of a broader strategy to ease emergency room overcrowding. And although conservatives have been among the most critical of the law, even the Heritage Foundation admits that “the outright repeal of EMTALA is highly unlikely,” and it’s not something you hear talked about much in health care debates.
When Todd asked Black whether she would get rid of the law, she replied, “I would get rid of a law that says that you ― you are not allowed, as a health care professional, to make that decision about whether someone can be appropriately treated the next day, or at a walk-in clinic, or at their doctor.”
Also, technically, no doctor or hospital is required to see anybody. But treating all patients is a requirement for hospitals using Medicare funds. So already, a doctor or hospital can turn people away ― as Black suggests they should be able to do ― they just won’t get to bill Medicare.
“I’m an emergency room nurse,” Black told MSNBC host Chuck Todd on Friday. “There are people that came into my emergency room that I, the nurse, was the first one to see them. I could have sent them to a walk-in clinic or their doctor the next day, but because of a law that Congress put into place to say, no, I have to treat everybody that walks into that emergency room.”
“You took away our ability to say, ‘No, an emergency room is not the proper place.’ And then, you put a burden on top of that to say, ‘You must do that,’” added the congresswoman, who is also running for governor of Tennessee.
At issue is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which was signed into law by former President Ronald Reagan in 1986. It was a congressional response to stories of “patient dumping” ― hospitals would deny treatment to patients or send them elsewhere, usually because the individuals didn’t have insurance. Many of these patients were unemployed or were people of color.
Those transferred individuals were more likely to die, and the delayed care often jeopardized the patients’ health.
The law put a particular focus on pregnant women (hence “active labor” in the law’s name), to ensure that they would be able to deliver their babies and receive full care.
Changing the law, as Black advocates, would send America back to a time when hospitals can use their discretion to turn people away.
“We must treat everybody that walks in whether you’ve had a sore throat for a week, we must see them. And that crowds the emergency room. It drives the cost of emergencies up,” Black added on MSNBC. “And so, yes, if someone comes in from an auto accident, I don’t want to ask whether they have insurance or not. I’m going to take care of them.”
“But what it did is crowd my emergency room, where I work,” she added. “And disallowed me from using my good judgment skills, of which I was trained to do and doctors are as well. And the federal government said, you must ― and you can’t make those decisions. And I think that was a poor thing for us to do.”
This free-for-all system would not be unlike what happened before Obamacare, when there were fewer requirements for insurance companies to accept people for coverage. It was a time when insurance providers were free to turn people away because they had more expensive pre-existing conditions ― or were labeled as potentially having an expensive condition down the line. And since these companies were free to do so, they did.
Nobody thinks EMTALA is perfect and non-partisan organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, have long called for revising some of the law’s regulations as part of a broader strategy to ease emergency room overcrowding. And although conservatives have been among the most critical of the law, even the Heritage Foundation admits that “the outright repeal of EMTALA is highly unlikely,” and it’s not something you hear talked about much in health care debates.
When Todd asked Black whether she would get rid of the law, she replied, “I would get rid of a law that says that you ― you are not allowed, as a health care professional, to make that decision about whether someone can be appropriately treated the next day, or at a walk-in clinic, or at their doctor.”
Also, technically, no doctor or hospital is required to see anybody. But treating all patients is a requirement for hospitals using Medicare funds. So already, a doctor or hospital can turn people away ― as Black suggests they should be able to do ― they just won’t get to bill Medicare.
A Dutch physician is sending medication abortion to Americans by mail
"It was in response to the urgent medical need."
AMANDA MICHELLE GOMEZ - thinkprogress
OCT 18, 2018, 3:27 PM
If you have to travel 100 miles to terminate your pregnancy, ordering abortion pills online might be a more practical option for you. But while it’s relatively easy to purchase medication abortion on the internet, websites can feel sketchy or confusing as they don’t always provide the relevant information or instructions.
Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts has addressed this problem, launching a new service called Aid Access that mails abortion pills to people living in the United States.
When taken together 24-hours apart, mifepristone and misoprostol can terminate a pregnancy up to 10 weeks. Both drugs are verified by the World Health Organization, and research suggests that people don’t have to be medical professionals to administer the pills themselves.
Gomperts told The Atlantic, which first reported the news, that she is filling each prescription for mifepristone and misoprostol herself and has been sending the medications to a trusted Indian pharmacist, who is then responsible for shipping the pills to U.S. residents.
Gomperts is a prominent reproductive justice advocate and founder of Women on Web, a website that provides the abortion pill to people living in countries where it’s illegal.
While abortion is still technically legal in the United States, the courts have been chipping away at Roe v. Wade for years. Millions live in cities where the closest abortion provider is 100 miles away; 27 cities qualify as abortion deserts.
Gomperts launched the service six months ago in secret for patients with limited-to-no access to health care. She’s already sent pills to an estimated 600 women.
“It was in response to the urgent medical need,” she told ThinkProgress by email.
As President Trump lambastes other countries, like Canada, for their health care systems, falsely arguing that their residents often flock to the United States for health care, it turns out that the international community is actually helping U.S. residents who can’t access health care.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the nation’s highest court means access can easily worsen as conservatives now hold a majority in the Supreme Court. Already, more than a dozen cases, primed by the anti-choice movement, are making their way to the Supreme Court, aiming to overturn or hobble Roe.
“With a decidedly anti-abortion majority now on the Supreme Court, we are likely to see clinical abortion even more restricted or pushed out of reach entirely,” Jill Adams, chief strategist at The SIA Legal Team, said in a statement.
“It’s not surprising to see new efforts to distribute a safe, effective abortion option. Though abortion is legal, people who end their own pregnancies, and those who assist them, may be reported, arrested, or imprisoned. We should ensure that however a person decides to end a pregnancy, they can do so safely, effectively, and with dignity,” Adams added.
It is illegal for patients to self-administer the abortion pill in some parts of the country. Indeed, self-managed abortion is categorically banned in seven states. However, there is an ongoing effort to overturn decades-old laws that have led to the arrests or investigations of at least 20 patients.
“It’s really up to us to change those laws now so that we don’t end up replacing the coat hanger with a jail cell for women who self manage their abortion whether now or in the future,” Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), recently told ThinkProgress.
Simultaneously, advocates are hoping the conversation around self-managed abortion shifts from an act of desperation in the midst of Donald Trump’s America to an act of choice. Indeed, people may choose to terminate their pregnancy outside of a clinic setting for spiritual purposes or for a more comfortable setting.
Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts has addressed this problem, launching a new service called Aid Access that mails abortion pills to people living in the United States.
When taken together 24-hours apart, mifepristone and misoprostol can terminate a pregnancy up to 10 weeks. Both drugs are verified by the World Health Organization, and research suggests that people don’t have to be medical professionals to administer the pills themselves.
Gomperts told The Atlantic, which first reported the news, that she is filling each prescription for mifepristone and misoprostol herself and has been sending the medications to a trusted Indian pharmacist, who is then responsible for shipping the pills to U.S. residents.
Gomperts is a prominent reproductive justice advocate and founder of Women on Web, a website that provides the abortion pill to people living in countries where it’s illegal.
While abortion is still technically legal in the United States, the courts have been chipping away at Roe v. Wade for years. Millions live in cities where the closest abortion provider is 100 miles away; 27 cities qualify as abortion deserts.
Gomperts launched the service six months ago in secret for patients with limited-to-no access to health care. She’s already sent pills to an estimated 600 women.
“It was in response to the urgent medical need,” she told ThinkProgress by email.
As President Trump lambastes other countries, like Canada, for their health care systems, falsely arguing that their residents often flock to the United States for health care, it turns out that the international community is actually helping U.S. residents who can’t access health care.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the nation’s highest court means access can easily worsen as conservatives now hold a majority in the Supreme Court. Already, more than a dozen cases, primed by the anti-choice movement, are making their way to the Supreme Court, aiming to overturn or hobble Roe.
“With a decidedly anti-abortion majority now on the Supreme Court, we are likely to see clinical abortion even more restricted or pushed out of reach entirely,” Jill Adams, chief strategist at The SIA Legal Team, said in a statement.
“It’s not surprising to see new efforts to distribute a safe, effective abortion option. Though abortion is legal, people who end their own pregnancies, and those who assist them, may be reported, arrested, or imprisoned. We should ensure that however a person decides to end a pregnancy, they can do so safely, effectively, and with dignity,” Adams added.
It is illegal for patients to self-administer the abortion pill in some parts of the country. Indeed, self-managed abortion is categorically banned in seven states. However, there is an ongoing effort to overturn decades-old laws that have led to the arrests or investigations of at least 20 patients.
“It’s really up to us to change those laws now so that we don’t end up replacing the coat hanger with a jail cell for women who self manage their abortion whether now or in the future,” Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), recently told ThinkProgress.
Simultaneously, advocates are hoping the conversation around self-managed abortion shifts from an act of desperation in the midst of Donald Trump’s America to an act of choice. Indeed, people may choose to terminate their pregnancy outside of a clinic setting for spiritual purposes or for a more comfortable setting.
Trump-loving congressman crashes and burns after spouting off racist conspiracy about Soros paying Honduran migrants
Matthew Chapman, Alternet - raw story
18 OCT 2018 AT 12:02 ET
President Donald Trump is waiting in trepidation as a caravan of some 4,000 Honduran migrants and refugees, many of them children, approach the U.S./Mexico border while fleeing violence and instability in their home country.
But to many of his supporters, like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), something far more sinister is going on.
On Wednesday evening, in response to footage that appears to show some of the migrants being given money, Gaetz posted a bizarre, racist tweet in which he appeared to speculate that George Soros was paying the Hondurans to go to the U.S. border to disrupt the midterm elections.
George Soros, a Hungarian-born Jewish billionaire and Holocaust survivor known for his philanthropy and support of liberal causes, has long been the focus of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories from the far right. Trump himself recently tried to blame Soros for hiring the sexual assault survivors protesting the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.
Gaetz’s statement immediately drew condemnation, including from media executive and former CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien:
Soledad O'Brien✔
@soledadobrien
The racism in the GOP runs deep.
💀andrew👻kaczynski🎃✔
@KFILE
A Republican U.S. congressman is suggesting that George Soros is secretly funding a caravan of Honduran children to sway the election.
Gaetz hit back on Thursday morning:
Matt Gaetz✔
@mattgaetz
US House candidate, FL-1
The lazy identity politics of the left runs so much deeper, Soledad. This is now what the political left offers America. Everyone is a racist. Give me a break. (Keep in mind I got this video from people inside the Honduran government through a senior US official) #OpenGaetz
2:35 AM - Oct 18, 2018
And O’Brien was quick to retort:
Soledad O'Brien✔
@soledadobrien
Actually Congressman, I don’t think everyone is a racist, though you are an excellent example of the challenge the GOP has around race and racism. Inviting a white nationalist to SOTU/ Racist comments to your colleagues. The laziness is yours, @mattgaetz Do better.
O’Brien is referring to a controversy in which Gaetz invited Chuck Johnson, a far-right internet troll known for denying the Holocaust, to Trump’s State of the Union Address. Following a letter of condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League, Gaetz pleaded ignorance, saying Johnson just “showed up at my office” and he gave him the ticket without knowing his views. However, a few months later, Gaetz found himself at another event with Johnson.
This sort of evidence-free, nativist fearmongering is completely inappropriate from a congressman. But from Gaetz, it is not at all a surprise.
But to many of his supporters, like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), something far more sinister is going on.
On Wednesday evening, in response to footage that appears to show some of the migrants being given money, Gaetz posted a bizarre, racist tweet in which he appeared to speculate that George Soros was paying the Hondurans to go to the U.S. border to disrupt the midterm elections.
George Soros, a Hungarian-born Jewish billionaire and Holocaust survivor known for his philanthropy and support of liberal causes, has long been the focus of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories from the far right. Trump himself recently tried to blame Soros for hiring the sexual assault survivors protesting the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.
Gaetz’s statement immediately drew condemnation, including from media executive and former CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien:
Soledad O'Brien✔
@soledadobrien
The racism in the GOP runs deep.
💀andrew👻kaczynski🎃✔
@KFILE
A Republican U.S. congressman is suggesting that George Soros is secretly funding a caravan of Honduran children to sway the election.
Gaetz hit back on Thursday morning:
Matt Gaetz✔
@mattgaetz
US House candidate, FL-1
The lazy identity politics of the left runs so much deeper, Soledad. This is now what the political left offers America. Everyone is a racist. Give me a break. (Keep in mind I got this video from people inside the Honduran government through a senior US official) #OpenGaetz
2:35 AM - Oct 18, 2018
And O’Brien was quick to retort:
Soledad O'Brien✔
@soledadobrien
Actually Congressman, I don’t think everyone is a racist, though you are an excellent example of the challenge the GOP has around race and racism. Inviting a white nationalist to SOTU/ Racist comments to your colleagues. The laziness is yours, @mattgaetz Do better.
O’Brien is referring to a controversy in which Gaetz invited Chuck Johnson, a far-right internet troll known for denying the Holocaust, to Trump’s State of the Union Address. Following a letter of condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League, Gaetz pleaded ignorance, saying Johnson just “showed up at my office” and he gave him the ticket without knowing his views. However, a few months later, Gaetz found himself at another event with Johnson.
This sort of evidence-free, nativist fearmongering is completely inappropriate from a congressman. But from Gaetz, it is not at all a surprise.
Acting leader removed from agency the White House has used to provide jobs to Trump supporters
mahatmakanejeeves - demo underground
10/18/18
Source: Washington Post
Investigations
Acting leader removed from agency the White House has used to provide jobs to Trump supporters
By Robert O'Harrow Jr. October 18 at 1:19 PM
The White House has removed the acting chief of a small foreign aid office less than two months after he was put in place to quell controversy over the Trump administration’s use of the agency as a source of jobs for political supporters, according to interviews and an internal email obtained by The Washington Post.
Brock Bierman has served as part-time leader of the Millennium Challenge Corporation since Aug. 21, while also juggling responsibilities as an assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“This afternoon the White House directed that Brock Bierman no longer serve as Acting CEO of MCC,” said a brief email to agency staff Wednesday evening. The email offered no explanation for his removal. ... Bierman’s departure is the latest upheaval at an agency that has not had a permanent leader since the start of the Trump administration.
Bierman was the third person in five months to lead the MCC, which promotes economic growth in poor countries. In January, Trump nominated Sean Cairncross to be MCC’s chief executive. The nomination has stalled in the Senate, in part because Cairncross, the former chief operating officer of the Republican National Committee, has no foreign assistance experience.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/acting-leader-removed-from-agency-the-white-house-has-used-to-provide-jobs-to-trump-supporters/2018/10/18/d98215d4-d2e8-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html
Investigations
Acting leader removed from agency the White House has used to provide jobs to Trump supporters
By Robert O'Harrow Jr. October 18 at 1:19 PM
The White House has removed the acting chief of a small foreign aid office less than two months after he was put in place to quell controversy over the Trump administration’s use of the agency as a source of jobs for political supporters, according to interviews and an internal email obtained by The Washington Post.
Brock Bierman has served as part-time leader of the Millennium Challenge Corporation since Aug. 21, while also juggling responsibilities as an assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“This afternoon the White House directed that Brock Bierman no longer serve as Acting CEO of MCC,” said a brief email to agency staff Wednesday evening. The email offered no explanation for his removal. ... Bierman’s departure is the latest upheaval at an agency that has not had a permanent leader since the start of the Trump administration.
Bierman was the third person in five months to lead the MCC, which promotes economic growth in poor countries. In January, Trump nominated Sean Cairncross to be MCC’s chief executive. The nomination has stalled in the Senate, in part because Cairncross, the former chief operating officer of the Republican National Committee, has no foreign assistance experience.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/acting-leader-removed-from-agency-the-white-house-has-used-to-provide-jobs-to-trump-supporters/2018/10/18/d98215d4-d2e8-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html
denial conservative style!!
From Crooks & Liars: I've never gone wrong betting on the racism and arrogant ignorance of the Right: I've only erred occasionally on the point spread. And predicting Conservative behavior is dead-easy because traditionally they only have four basic settings:
Pleading Ignorance.
Of course Conservatives are ignorant -- deeply and malignantly ignorant. This comes from letting lying demagogues like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity take a dump in their skulls for the last 20 years. But since the GOP OnStar only emits turns in one direction, traditionally the only way Conservatives have been permitted to be "wrong" about anything was that they were "not Conservative enough!". From Crain's, October, 2015:
- Arrogant triumphalism: The aforementioned "We won! You lost! Bush is a genius! Suck it Libtards!"
- All-out denialism: The aforementioned "Everything I see on non-Fox teevee is fake! Terrible lies by the terrible Murrica-hating Libtard media conspiracy!"
- Bargaining: It doesn't matter whether or not I'm a brain-washed moron...because Both Sides!"
- Running Away: As I pointed out back during the first Great Skedaddle back in 2009, because Conservatives are by nature abject moral cowards, their last "out" is doing like German soldiers did after the fall of Berlin: stop running away from the catastrophe they created only long enough to burn their uniforms. See, "I'm an independent."
Pleading Ignorance.
Of course Conservatives are ignorant -- deeply and malignantly ignorant. This comes from letting lying demagogues like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity take a dump in their skulls for the last 20 years. But since the GOP OnStar only emits turns in one direction, traditionally the only way Conservatives have been permitted to be "wrong" about anything was that they were "not Conservative enough!". From Crain's, October, 2015: