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welcome to reality trivia
reality is the state of things as they actually exist
march 24, 2019
real news today
march 24, 2019
*What the GOP learned when the wealthy tried to overthrow FDR and install a fascist dictator
(History)
*Mary Elizabeth Bowser: Spy of the Confederate White House
(Black History)
*Shunning Corporate PACs Won’t End Corporate Influence in Elections
(Elections)
*It's Mueller time but don't forget: Trump has undermined the very idea of America
(Talkers)
*How Evangelical Christianity’s brand is all used up
(Christianity)
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
comment/tweet of the day
H. L. Mencken: Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
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boeing showed that it truly endorses american values by choosing greed over the 400 people killed on its planes.
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David Corn, spot on:
Mueller: Trump cannot be exonerated of obstruction of justice.
Barr: I exonerate him.
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you can never explain stupid!!
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your lying eyes tell you that the trump presidency is ILLEGITIMATE, the politics will excuse trump's traitorous behavior and corruption; this is what happens in a shithole country!!
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Mrs. Betty Bowers
@BettyBowers
Mueller takes 22 months, and still can’t exonerate Trump of crime.
Barr has a cup of coffee, and exonerates Trump of crime.
2:24 PM - Mar 24, 2019
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republicans survive on voter stupidity
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Special counsel finds Trump did not collude with Russia
Mueller drew no conclusion on obstruction, but Attorney General William Barr clears the president.
EMILY Q. HAZZARD, DANIELLE MCLEAN - THINKPROGRESS
MAR 24, 2019, 4:29 PM
Special counsel Robert Mueller found that neither President Donald Trump nor his campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, according to a summary provided Sunday by Attorney General William Barr.
And while Mueller’s report left open the key question of whether the president or his associates obstructed justice, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded the evidence was not sufficient to prove that allegation.
Still, Mueller’s report appeared inconclusive on some issues, and Democrats seized on one key line in Barr’s four-page letter: “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
The special counsel’s investigation, the letter notes, relied on 19 lawyers and about 40 investigators, including forensic accountants and intelligence analysts, and issued 2,800 subpoenas. Five hundred witnesses were interviewed for the investigation.
Republicans viewed Barr’s letter as vindication of the president, who has insisted all along that his campaign did not coordinate with Russia.
“No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!” Trump tweeted late Sunday afternoon.
Speaking to reporters in West Palm Beach, on his way back to Washington from Mar-a-Lago, Trump added, “There was no collusion with Russia. There was no obstruction, none whatsoever. And it was a complete and total exoneration. It’s a shame that our country had to go through this. To be honest, it’s a shame that your president has had to go through this for — before I even got elected, it began.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also tweeted that the Justice Department findings “are a total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States.”
Barr informed lawmakers that Mueller “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
“The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” tweeted Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Nadler also said he would call on Barr to testify before the Judiciary Committee about the report. “In light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department following the Special Counsel report, where Mueller did not exonerate the President, we will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify before @HouseJudiciary in the near future,” he wrote.
The report, according to Barr’s summary, established that Russia engaged in two efforts to interfere in the election: a campaign of disinformation and social media manipulation, and a campaign of hacking that targeted Democratic Party institutions, with the help of Wikileaks. Mueller did not find that Trump or his campaign participated in those interference efforts.
The disinformation campaign, led by the Russian organization Internet Research Agency (IRA), used troll farms to create misleading social media content to “sow social discord.” Its goal was to manipulate existing divisions in American society. For those crimes, a grand jury issued an indictment against dozens of IRA associates.
The hacking operation targeted the Democratic National Committee and Democratic leadership. As a candidate, Trump held a press conference urging Russia to hack Democrats. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” he said, referring to a slew of personal emails former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton deleted from a private email server in March 2015.
The same day Trump made the request, Russian hackers began targeting Clinton’s servers.
Roger Stone, at the time a campaign adviser to Trump, had exchanged messages with Russian intelligence operatives behind the hacks, according to a court filing by the special counsel. Stone has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces.
As president, President Trump has accepted President Putin’s denials that Russia did not hack Democratic organizations, saying he believes Putin personally. The special counsel brought charges against Russian military officers for those crimes, as well.
U.S. intelligence agencies all assert that Russia interfered in the 2018 midterm elections, and intends to do so again in the 2020 presidential election.
The letter confirms that Mueller recommended no further indictments and hasn’t obtained any sealed indictments to be released later.
The summary report of Mueller’s findings wraps up a nearly two-year investigation into Russian election meddling.
Throughout its investigation, the special counsel’s office filed dozens of indictments against Russians, including intelligence officers and companies that conducted “information warfare” against the U.S. by peddling disinformation on social media through companies set up to produce such content.
The team also filed charges, and in some cases secured criminal convictions or guilty pleas, against six members of Trump’s inner-circle. This includes the Trump campaign’s former chair Paul Manafort; campaign aide and longtime Manafort business partner, Rick Gates; former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos; the Trump administration’s former foreign policy adviser Michael Flynn; longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone; and longtime fixer and attorney Michael Cohen.
Democrats and some Republicans have been calling for the full report to be released.
The special counsel’s investigation was only one of several separate inquiries into allegations of corruption and criminal behavior by Trump and his associates.
In the House, Democrat-controlled committees are investigating the president on several fronts: the Intelligence Committee is investigating Russian election meddling and the president’s foreign financial entanglements; and the Judiciary Committee is investigating allegations of obstruction of justice as well as alleged misuse of presidential powers. The House Oversight, Finance, and Ways and Means committees are also investigating Trump’s businesses and hush-money payments made to women during the campaign.
Other investigations, including at the state level, are also still ongoing. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is investigating the president’s inaugural committee as well as possible violations of campaign-finance law related to the president’s hush-money payments to women.
The New York State Department of Financial Services is investigating allegations that Trump inflated his net worth to lenders and property values to insurers, and deflated his property values in an effort to dodge taxes.
And while Mueller’s report left open the key question of whether the president or his associates obstructed justice, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded the evidence was not sufficient to prove that allegation.
Still, Mueller’s report appeared inconclusive on some issues, and Democrats seized on one key line in Barr’s four-page letter: “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
The special counsel’s investigation, the letter notes, relied on 19 lawyers and about 40 investigators, including forensic accountants and intelligence analysts, and issued 2,800 subpoenas. Five hundred witnesses were interviewed for the investigation.
Republicans viewed Barr’s letter as vindication of the president, who has insisted all along that his campaign did not coordinate with Russia.
“No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!” Trump tweeted late Sunday afternoon.
Speaking to reporters in West Palm Beach, on his way back to Washington from Mar-a-Lago, Trump added, “There was no collusion with Russia. There was no obstruction, none whatsoever. And it was a complete and total exoneration. It’s a shame that our country had to go through this. To be honest, it’s a shame that your president has had to go through this for — before I even got elected, it began.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also tweeted that the Justice Department findings “are a total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States.”
Barr informed lawmakers that Mueller “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
“The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” tweeted Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Nadler also said he would call on Barr to testify before the Judiciary Committee about the report. “In light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department following the Special Counsel report, where Mueller did not exonerate the President, we will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify before @HouseJudiciary in the near future,” he wrote.
The report, according to Barr’s summary, established that Russia engaged in two efforts to interfere in the election: a campaign of disinformation and social media manipulation, and a campaign of hacking that targeted Democratic Party institutions, with the help of Wikileaks. Mueller did not find that Trump or his campaign participated in those interference efforts.
The disinformation campaign, led by the Russian organization Internet Research Agency (IRA), used troll farms to create misleading social media content to “sow social discord.” Its goal was to manipulate existing divisions in American society. For those crimes, a grand jury issued an indictment against dozens of IRA associates.
The hacking operation targeted the Democratic National Committee and Democratic leadership. As a candidate, Trump held a press conference urging Russia to hack Democrats. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” he said, referring to a slew of personal emails former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton deleted from a private email server in March 2015.
The same day Trump made the request, Russian hackers began targeting Clinton’s servers.
Roger Stone, at the time a campaign adviser to Trump, had exchanged messages with Russian intelligence operatives behind the hacks, according to a court filing by the special counsel. Stone has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces.
As president, President Trump has accepted President Putin’s denials that Russia did not hack Democratic organizations, saying he believes Putin personally. The special counsel brought charges against Russian military officers for those crimes, as well.
U.S. intelligence agencies all assert that Russia interfered in the 2018 midterm elections, and intends to do so again in the 2020 presidential election.
The letter confirms that Mueller recommended no further indictments and hasn’t obtained any sealed indictments to be released later.
The summary report of Mueller’s findings wraps up a nearly two-year investigation into Russian election meddling.
Throughout its investigation, the special counsel’s office filed dozens of indictments against Russians, including intelligence officers and companies that conducted “information warfare” against the U.S. by peddling disinformation on social media through companies set up to produce such content.
The team also filed charges, and in some cases secured criminal convictions or guilty pleas, against six members of Trump’s inner-circle. This includes the Trump campaign’s former chair Paul Manafort; campaign aide and longtime Manafort business partner, Rick Gates; former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos; the Trump administration’s former foreign policy adviser Michael Flynn; longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone; and longtime fixer and attorney Michael Cohen.
Democrats and some Republicans have been calling for the full report to be released.
The special counsel’s investigation was only one of several separate inquiries into allegations of corruption and criminal behavior by Trump and his associates.
In the House, Democrat-controlled committees are investigating the president on several fronts: the Intelligence Committee is investigating Russian election meddling and the president’s foreign financial entanglements; and the Judiciary Committee is investigating allegations of obstruction of justice as well as alleged misuse of presidential powers. The House Oversight, Finance, and Ways and Means committees are also investigating Trump’s businesses and hush-money payments made to women during the campaign.
Other investigations, including at the state level, are also still ongoing. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is investigating the president’s inaugural committee as well as possible violations of campaign-finance law related to the president’s hush-money payments to women.
The New York State Department of Financial Services is investigating allegations that Trump inflated his net worth to lenders and property values to insurers, and deflated his property values in an effort to dodge taxes.
THE COVER-UP IS IN PHASE 2!!!
‘How the heck does he determine’ there wasn’t obstruction?: Ex-solicitor general slams Barr’s letter on Mueller probe
Bob Brigham - RAW STORY
24 MAR 2019 AT 17:32 ET
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal explained why Americans should question the findings of Attorney General William Barr’s letter to Cogress following the completion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Katyal joined MSNBC anchor Katy Tur for analysis after Barr’s letter was released.
“This is going to come down to trust. Do you trust the assessment of Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein?” Tur asked.
“I really wanted to trust them, but quite honestly this letter caused me much more concern, grave concerns really,” Katyal replied.
“Because remember Mueller — after two years of investigation — doesn’t draw a conclusion one way or another on obstruction of justice, saying there’s evidence on both sides. And then you have Attorney General Barr — within 48 hours of receiving this — saying ‘I conclude that the evidence isn’t there’ and in particular not evidence of Trump’s intent,” he explained.
“Now how the heck does he determine that after 48 hours — after a two-year investigation — and particularly without even trying to interview trump, if the whole question is Trump’s state of mind,” he continued.
“I expect any reasonable prosecutor to try and get that information — that appears not to have been done, there’s nothing in the letter about that,” he noted. “I think there is going to be a fear among the American public there’s been a whitewash here.”
But absolutely, the letter raises far more concerns than it does provide answers,” he concluded.
“I hate saying that, but I have to say, given what Barr found on obstruction of justice, I think all of us should be very concerned even-handedness of the way this investigation was treated,” Katyal added.
“I think there is reason to be very concerned, given what he wrote here — that you have a two-year investigation and Mueller doesn’t make the final determination — says there’s evidence on both sides — and then you have Barr swoop in and within 48 hours make a decision,” he continued. “There is something deeply troubling about that, and it’s the same troubling thing identified during the Barr hearings, which is he wrote this kooky 19-page memo which said, effectively, presidents can’t obstruct justice.
“I’m worried that this is part of that ludicrous legal view. i don’t know what Barr’s ultimate decisions were here because he doesn’t tell us and that’s the point.
“The American public needs to know — Congress needs to know — how exactly did he conclude there was no obstruction of justice and if it’s really about the lack of intent on the part of Trump, how the heck could he know that when he didn’t even try and interview Trump?” Katyal concluded.
RELATED: Attorney General Bill Barr: Mueller report ‘does not exonerate’ Trump
President Donald Trump has not been exonerated with regards to the Russia investigation, U.S. Attorney General William Bar is said to have concluded.
Katyal joined MSNBC anchor Katy Tur for analysis after Barr’s letter was released.
“This is going to come down to trust. Do you trust the assessment of Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein?” Tur asked.
“I really wanted to trust them, but quite honestly this letter caused me much more concern, grave concerns really,” Katyal replied.
“Because remember Mueller — after two years of investigation — doesn’t draw a conclusion one way or another on obstruction of justice, saying there’s evidence on both sides. And then you have Attorney General Barr — within 48 hours of receiving this — saying ‘I conclude that the evidence isn’t there’ and in particular not evidence of Trump’s intent,” he explained.
“Now how the heck does he determine that after 48 hours — after a two-year investigation — and particularly without even trying to interview trump, if the whole question is Trump’s state of mind,” he continued.
“I expect any reasonable prosecutor to try and get that information — that appears not to have been done, there’s nothing in the letter about that,” he noted. “I think there is going to be a fear among the American public there’s been a whitewash here.”
But absolutely, the letter raises far more concerns than it does provide answers,” he concluded.
“I hate saying that, but I have to say, given what Barr found on obstruction of justice, I think all of us should be very concerned even-handedness of the way this investigation was treated,” Katyal added.
“I think there is reason to be very concerned, given what he wrote here — that you have a two-year investigation and Mueller doesn’t make the final determination — says there’s evidence on both sides — and then you have Barr swoop in and within 48 hours make a decision,” he continued. “There is something deeply troubling about that, and it’s the same troubling thing identified during the Barr hearings, which is he wrote this kooky 19-page memo which said, effectively, presidents can’t obstruct justice.
“I’m worried that this is part of that ludicrous legal view. i don’t know what Barr’s ultimate decisions were here because he doesn’t tell us and that’s the point.
“The American public needs to know — Congress needs to know — how exactly did he conclude there was no obstruction of justice and if it’s really about the lack of intent on the part of Trump, how the heck could he know that when he didn’t even try and interview Trump?” Katyal concluded.
RELATED: Attorney General Bill Barr: Mueller report ‘does not exonerate’ Trump
President Donald Trump has not been exonerated with regards to the Russia investigation, U.S. Attorney General William Bar is said to have concluded.
Nadler: Mueller probe already proved there was collusion between Trump camp and Russia
The House Judiciary chairman also said Sunday that he plans to subpoena the Mueller report if it is not released voluntarily by the Justice Department.
ADDY BAIRD - thinkprogress
MAR 24, 2019, 10:22 AM
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) doesn’t need the Mueller report to know whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, he said Sunday.
“Obviously, we know there was some collusion,” the California Democrat said during an appearance on CNN. “We know the president’s son and campaign manager were involved in a meeting with the Russians to receive what they thought was information stolen by the Russians from the Democratic National Committee, as part of the Russian government’s attempt to help Trump in the election. That’s the way the e-mail inviting them to the meeting put it.”
CNN anchor Dana Bash reminded Nadler that, according to several reports, special counsel Robert Mueller’s report does not recommend any additional indictments.
“No, it doesn’t,” Nadler said. “But we know there was collusion. Why there have been no indictments, we don’t know.”
In addition to the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians, Nadler noted that Trump “pressured the FBI to go easy” in its investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and fired former FBI director James Comey in part because Comey was investigating Russian collusion. He also noted that many of the president’s top associates and advisers have been indicted on various criminal charges, including Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, who was recently sentenced to seven years in jail for multiple counts of finance and tax fraud.
Longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen was also sentenced in December to three years in prison for tax and bank fraud, and campaign finance violations related to payments he made in the days leading up to the election to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Cohen testified that he did so on direct orders from Trump, in order to influence the 2016 election.
Nadler also noted Sunday that the Department of Justice, as a matter of law, does not believe a sitting president can be indicted.
“That’s what makes it even more important that all the evidence be given to Congress and the American people, because while the normal rule is — and it’s a good rule — that if you aren’t indicting someone because you don’t have enough evidence, you don’t then smear their name by saying they did these terrible things,” Nadler said. “If you aren’t indicting someone because you can’t as a matter of law, then you can’t hold the president accountable.”
Nadler said that if the Justice Department will not release the report voluntarily, he will issue a subpoena and said he is “absolutely” willing to take that subpoena all the way to the Supreme Court if he needs to.
“By the way, we are already hearing that the president may want to claim executive privilege on some of this,” Nadler added. “But the fact is, he has no right to claim executive privilege on any evidence of wrongdoing. Executive privilege cannot shield evidence of wrongdoing.”
The Supreme Court made that clear, the congressman noted, with its 9-0 decision ordering tapes made by former President Richard Nixon (D) be released, even though they contained personal conversations with the president and his close advisers.
Asked how long he would give the Justice Department to turn over the report before filing a subpoena, Nadler said he could not give a specific answer but said that it “won’t be months.”
Earlier this month, the House voted 420-0 in favor of the Mueller report being released to the public.
Attorney General William Barr, who received Mueller’s report on Friday, may give members of Congress a summary of the special counsel’s findings as early as Sunday afternoon, according to sources with knowledge of the process.
“Obviously, we know there was some collusion,” the California Democrat said during an appearance on CNN. “We know the president’s son and campaign manager were involved in a meeting with the Russians to receive what they thought was information stolen by the Russians from the Democratic National Committee, as part of the Russian government’s attempt to help Trump in the election. That’s the way the e-mail inviting them to the meeting put it.”
CNN anchor Dana Bash reminded Nadler that, according to several reports, special counsel Robert Mueller’s report does not recommend any additional indictments.
“No, it doesn’t,” Nadler said. “But we know there was collusion. Why there have been no indictments, we don’t know.”
In addition to the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians, Nadler noted that Trump “pressured the FBI to go easy” in its investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and fired former FBI director James Comey in part because Comey was investigating Russian collusion. He also noted that many of the president’s top associates and advisers have been indicted on various criminal charges, including Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, who was recently sentenced to seven years in jail for multiple counts of finance and tax fraud.
Longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen was also sentenced in December to three years in prison for tax and bank fraud, and campaign finance violations related to payments he made in the days leading up to the election to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Cohen testified that he did so on direct orders from Trump, in order to influence the 2016 election.
Nadler also noted Sunday that the Department of Justice, as a matter of law, does not believe a sitting president can be indicted.
“That’s what makes it even more important that all the evidence be given to Congress and the American people, because while the normal rule is — and it’s a good rule — that if you aren’t indicting someone because you don’t have enough evidence, you don’t then smear their name by saying they did these terrible things,” Nadler said. “If you aren’t indicting someone because you can’t as a matter of law, then you can’t hold the president accountable.”
Nadler said that if the Justice Department will not release the report voluntarily, he will issue a subpoena and said he is “absolutely” willing to take that subpoena all the way to the Supreme Court if he needs to.
“By the way, we are already hearing that the president may want to claim executive privilege on some of this,” Nadler added. “But the fact is, he has no right to claim executive privilege on any evidence of wrongdoing. Executive privilege cannot shield evidence of wrongdoing.”
The Supreme Court made that clear, the congressman noted, with its 9-0 decision ordering tapes made by former President Richard Nixon (D) be released, even though they contained personal conversations with the president and his close advisers.
Asked how long he would give the Justice Department to turn over the report before filing a subpoena, Nadler said he could not give a specific answer but said that it “won’t be months.”
Earlier this month, the House voted 420-0 in favor of the Mueller report being released to the public.
Attorney General William Barr, who received Mueller’s report on Friday, may give members of Congress a summary of the special counsel’s findings as early as Sunday afternoon, according to sources with knowledge of the process.
buying an ambassadorship!!!
Trump’s billionaire pick for the United Nations has lavished donations on GOP senators who must approve her: report
TBogg - raw story
24 MAR 2019 AT 09:48 ET
According to a report at Politco, the husband on Kelly Craft — who has been tabbed by President Donald Trump to replace Nikki Haley at the United Nations— has been a big-time contributor to a majority of the Republican senators who will need to approve her nomination.
The reports states Craft and her wealthy husband, coal magnate Joe Craft, gave Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) $5,400 for his 2016 primary and general election campaigns and supported him for president before he dropped out — at which time they switched their allegiance to Trump.
Additionally, the nominee also donated the maximum allowed — $2,700 — to the campaigns of Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) that same year.
According to Politico, Joe Craft’s contributions to Republicans are nothing new and he has given millions to Republican causes over the years while being a prolific fundraiser for the GOP.
“The couple has donated to the Republican campaign arms of the House and Senate, as well as to political action committees with higher contribution limits and to campaigns for other members of the Senate Republican Conference,” Politico reports before noting, “But the disclosures show how the Crafts concentrated their donations on influential Republicans, oftentimes fighting tough races, who would later send Kelly Craft to Ottawa [as ambassador] as the Trump administration’s representative to one of the country’s top trading partners.”
You can read more here.
The reports states Craft and her wealthy husband, coal magnate Joe Craft, gave Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) $5,400 for his 2016 primary and general election campaigns and supported him for president before he dropped out — at which time they switched their allegiance to Trump.
Additionally, the nominee also donated the maximum allowed — $2,700 — to the campaigns of Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) that same year.
According to Politico, Joe Craft’s contributions to Republicans are nothing new and he has given millions to Republican causes over the years while being a prolific fundraiser for the GOP.
“The couple has donated to the Republican campaign arms of the House and Senate, as well as to political action committees with higher contribution limits and to campaigns for other members of the Senate Republican Conference,” Politico reports before noting, “But the disclosures show how the Crafts concentrated their donations on influential Republicans, oftentimes fighting tough races, who would later send Kelly Craft to Ottawa [as ambassador] as the Trump administration’s representative to one of the country’s top trading partners.”
You can read more here.
The Trump Organization Is Selling Merchandise With Images of the White House
Experts have called the new products a conflict of interest.
JACKIE FLYNN MOGENSEN - raw story
MARCH 24, 2019 2:12 PM
Several items currently on sale at the official Trump Store online and, reportedly, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, feature images of the White House, including two t-shirts, a mug, and a soap set.
The “Cherry Blossom Collection,” as news site 1100 Pennsylvania first pointed out, is “inspired by” the Trump International Hotel in DC, according to the Trump Organization.
Experts were quick to note the ethical dilemma of potentially using the presidency for monetary gain. Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, an independent agency watchdog, tweeted Thursday that the product line is part of the president’s ongoing “conflicting financial interest” in running the hotel.
It’s also not the first time the Trump Organization has found itself in conflict-of-interest territory. As Mother Jones‘ David Corn wrote in January, foreign governments and corporations have been putting money into Trump’s pocket via his hotel chain throughout his presidency. Last year, the organization removed golf tee markers decorated with the presidential seal. As ProPublica reported at the time, replicating the seal for non-government business is a possible criminal offense.
The hotel is also part of a lawsuit filed by Washington DC and the state of Maryland, which argues that Trump violated the Constitution’s emoluments clauses when he took office while retaining ownership in the hotel.
By Sunday, Trump Store online appeared to have taken down the images of the White House on its soap set, selling for $22. It’s unclear if the new Trump merchandise breaks any laws, but it is certainly unprecedented.
“Never did we see President Obama, or President Bush, or President Clinton, or the other President Bush, or Reagan, creating merchandise to benefit themselves personally that profits off his name and position as the president of the United States,” Jessica Tillipman, a government ethics expert at George Washington University Law School, told The Independent.
“One would hope just like prior administrations you would have a president in office who doesn’t want to give people the appearance he’s profiting off his position.”
The “Cherry Blossom Collection,” as news site 1100 Pennsylvania first pointed out, is “inspired by” the Trump International Hotel in DC, according to the Trump Organization.
Experts were quick to note the ethical dilemma of potentially using the presidency for monetary gain. Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, an independent agency watchdog, tweeted Thursday that the product line is part of the president’s ongoing “conflicting financial interest” in running the hotel.
It’s also not the first time the Trump Organization has found itself in conflict-of-interest territory. As Mother Jones‘ David Corn wrote in January, foreign governments and corporations have been putting money into Trump’s pocket via his hotel chain throughout his presidency. Last year, the organization removed golf tee markers decorated with the presidential seal. As ProPublica reported at the time, replicating the seal for non-government business is a possible criminal offense.
The hotel is also part of a lawsuit filed by Washington DC and the state of Maryland, which argues that Trump violated the Constitution’s emoluments clauses when he took office while retaining ownership in the hotel.
By Sunday, Trump Store online appeared to have taken down the images of the White House on its soap set, selling for $22. It’s unclear if the new Trump merchandise breaks any laws, but it is certainly unprecedented.
“Never did we see President Obama, or President Bush, or President Clinton, or the other President Bush, or Reagan, creating merchandise to benefit themselves personally that profits off his name and position as the president of the United States,” Jessica Tillipman, a government ethics expert at George Washington University Law School, told The Independent.
“One would hope just like prior administrations you would have a president in office who doesn’t want to give people the appearance he’s profiting off his position.”
'A nightmare': flight attendant with Daca status held after flying for work
Selene Saavedra Roman, who came to US when she was three, released after Hillary Clinton drew attention to her plight
Sarah Betancourt
the guardian
Sat 23 Mar 2019 07.17 EDT
Selene Saavedra Roman was detained after flying to Mexico for work. Photograph: Davo Watsui/AP
For six weeks, Selene Saavedra Roman has been living what her husband describes as “a nightmare”. In February, in the first few weeks of a new job as a flight attendant with Mesa Airlines and on a turnaround flight from Mexico, she was detained at George Bush intercontinental airport in Houston.
Saavedra Roman entered the US from Peru 25 years ago, when she was three, with parents who did not have documentation. As such she is a Dreamer, a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, or Daca. Therefore, under Trump administration rules implemented in 2017, she is barred from traveling outside the US.
The Mesa flight was the first time she had left the US. Naturally, before the flight she was concerned this would jeopardize her Daca status.
Even though David Watkins, her husband, said she had put Mexico and Canada on her “no fly” list when she was hired this winter, her new employer said via email and phone she could fly to and from Mexico in safety.
It turned out her concerns were valid. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials detained the 28-year-old, despite her status and lack of a criminal record, and she spent more than a month in the Montgomery processing center in Conroe, Texas.
Eventually, her plight was noticed by Hillary Clinton, who recommended followers sign a MoveOn.org petition calling for her release. On Friday evening, Saavedra Roman was let go.
In a statement provided by her lawyer, she said: “Being released is an indescribable feeling. I cried and hugged my husband and never wanted to let go. I am thankful and grateful for the amazing people that came to fight for me, and it fills my heart. Thank you to everyone that has supported. I am just so happy to have my freedom back.”
Watkins, meanwhile, said his wife’s detention had been a nightmare.
“Sometimes,” he said on Friday evening, “you have a nightmare and when you wake up you say, ‘OK, the nightmare is over’. When I go to sleep, I have nightmares. When I wake up, I’m still stuck in the nightmare.”
A US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesperson told the Guardian the agency could not comment on specific cases, and referred to a January 2018 preliminary injunction that says it will not accept or approve advance parole requests from Daca recipients.
Watkins told reporters he had been in touch with his wife in the mornings and each night by phone, and had seen her for one hour once a week through “two inches of glass”. He described her level of depression and anxiety as “very high”, even after he spoke with her on Friday morning.
Watkins and the attorney Belinda Arroyo organized the MoveOn petition and support from legislators and the flight attendants’ union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
That powerful group, most recently known for its public attempts to end Donald Trump’s partial government shutdown, called for Saavedra Roman’s immediate release. A protest outside the Conroe facility was planned.
Watkins said his wife called on Friday morning to say she might be released, and the union president, Sara Nelson, said a “representative on the ground” confirmed it would happen.
“This story is just horrific,” Nelson added.
Saavedra Roman grew up in Dallas and went to university at Texas A&M. She received Daca status, which was introduced by Barack Obama, in 2012. After graduating in 2014, she worked in early childhood development.
She married Watkins, a US citizen, in 2017 and is now about halfway through applying for citizenship through an I-130 petition. Her Daca status does not expire until November.
Ice verified her arrest, saying she had “applied for admission” into the country without “valid entry documentation” and was processed as a “refused crewmember”. That is a term that describes staff working for airlines and other carriers who do not have the correct paperwork to enter a country.
Her release, Ice added, was effective “pending adjudication of her immigration proceedings”.
In a statement, the Mesa Airlines chairman and chief executive, Jonathan Ornstein, said: “We are deeply sorry Selene and her husband have had to endure this situation. It is patently unfair for someone to be detained for six weeks over something that is nothing more than an administrative error and a misunderstanding.
“We are doing everything in our power to ask the administration to … drop all charges stemming from this horrible situation.”
Describing her interactions with Saavedra Roman, Arroyo said: “She’s an amazing, sweet girl. There’s a reason Mesa hired her. Flight attendants have great personalities, and she fits the bill.”
Asked about Mesa’s involvement in the case prior to the social media storm touched off in part by Clinton’s tweet, Arroyo said: “No, we haven’t had contact with them before today.”
Asked if there would be a civil suit against the company for its misguided assurance to its employee, Arroyo said: “As of right now, our No 1 focus has been her release. She has not hired a civil attorney.”
She went on to say a suit had not been ruled out.
Saavedra Roman entered the US from Peru 25 years ago, when she was three, with parents who did not have documentation. As such she is a Dreamer, a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, or Daca. Therefore, under Trump administration rules implemented in 2017, she is barred from traveling outside the US.
The Mesa flight was the first time she had left the US. Naturally, before the flight she was concerned this would jeopardize her Daca status.
Even though David Watkins, her husband, said she had put Mexico and Canada on her “no fly” list when she was hired this winter, her new employer said via email and phone she could fly to and from Mexico in safety.
It turned out her concerns were valid. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials detained the 28-year-old, despite her status and lack of a criminal record, and she spent more than a month in the Montgomery processing center in Conroe, Texas.
Eventually, her plight was noticed by Hillary Clinton, who recommended followers sign a MoveOn.org petition calling for her release. On Friday evening, Saavedra Roman was let go.
In a statement provided by her lawyer, she said: “Being released is an indescribable feeling. I cried and hugged my husband and never wanted to let go. I am thankful and grateful for the amazing people that came to fight for me, and it fills my heart. Thank you to everyone that has supported. I am just so happy to have my freedom back.”
Watkins, meanwhile, said his wife’s detention had been a nightmare.
“Sometimes,” he said on Friday evening, “you have a nightmare and when you wake up you say, ‘OK, the nightmare is over’. When I go to sleep, I have nightmares. When I wake up, I’m still stuck in the nightmare.”
A US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesperson told the Guardian the agency could not comment on specific cases, and referred to a January 2018 preliminary injunction that says it will not accept or approve advance parole requests from Daca recipients.
Watkins told reporters he had been in touch with his wife in the mornings and each night by phone, and had seen her for one hour once a week through “two inches of glass”. He described her level of depression and anxiety as “very high”, even after he spoke with her on Friday morning.
Watkins and the attorney Belinda Arroyo organized the MoveOn petition and support from legislators and the flight attendants’ union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
That powerful group, most recently known for its public attempts to end Donald Trump’s partial government shutdown, called for Saavedra Roman’s immediate release. A protest outside the Conroe facility was planned.
Watkins said his wife called on Friday morning to say she might be released, and the union president, Sara Nelson, said a “representative on the ground” confirmed it would happen.
“This story is just horrific,” Nelson added.
Saavedra Roman grew up in Dallas and went to university at Texas A&M. She received Daca status, which was introduced by Barack Obama, in 2012. After graduating in 2014, she worked in early childhood development.
She married Watkins, a US citizen, in 2017 and is now about halfway through applying for citizenship through an I-130 petition. Her Daca status does not expire until November.
Ice verified her arrest, saying she had “applied for admission” into the country without “valid entry documentation” and was processed as a “refused crewmember”. That is a term that describes staff working for airlines and other carriers who do not have the correct paperwork to enter a country.
Her release, Ice added, was effective “pending adjudication of her immigration proceedings”.
In a statement, the Mesa Airlines chairman and chief executive, Jonathan Ornstein, said: “We are deeply sorry Selene and her husband have had to endure this situation. It is patently unfair for someone to be detained for six weeks over something that is nothing more than an administrative error and a misunderstanding.
“We are doing everything in our power to ask the administration to … drop all charges stemming from this horrible situation.”
Describing her interactions with Saavedra Roman, Arroyo said: “She’s an amazing, sweet girl. There’s a reason Mesa hired her. Flight attendants have great personalities, and she fits the bill.”
Asked about Mesa’s involvement in the case prior to the social media storm touched off in part by Clinton’s tweet, Arroyo said: “No, we haven’t had contact with them before today.”
Asked if there would be a civil suit against the company for its misguided assurance to its employee, Arroyo said: “As of right now, our No 1 focus has been her release. She has not hired a civil attorney.”
She went on to say a suit had not been ruled out.
trump's bitch!!!
Lindsey Graham calls for Clinton investigation at Mar-a-Lago fundraiser as Trump fans chant ‘lock her up’
Tom Boggioni - raw story
23 MAR 2019 AT 07:10 ET
Speaking at dinner at President Donald Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday night, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) once again called for an investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the delight of the Trump supporters attending a fundraiser.
Graham had been scheduled as the keynote speaker at the event before special counsel Robert Mueller submitted his report to Attorney General William Barr.
According to a report from CNN, President Trump was looking on as Graham spoke after telling a separate crowd, “If Lindsey’s speaking, I want to come down here for two reasons. No. 1: he’s a great speaker. And No. 2, I know if I’m here, he’s not going to say anything bad about me.”
Before a crowd that was celebrating the news that there would be no additional indictments — for now — Graham made the call for going after Clinton again, which led the crowd to start chanting ‘lock her up.”
CNN’s Kevin Liptak reported, “A ‘lock her up’ chant broke out at Mar-a-Lago tonight during Sen. Graham’s speech as he called for an investigation into Clinton and the origins of the dossier. Trump watched on from a table in the ballroom.”
RELATED: Lindsey Graham pitches Trump on putting Clinton-investigator Trey Gowdy on Supreme Court
During a speech where Graham also vowed to open another investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — as the crowd cheered “Lock her up” — Graham singled out Gowdy.
Graham had been scheduled as the keynote speaker at the event before special counsel Robert Mueller submitted his report to Attorney General William Barr.
According to a report from CNN, President Trump was looking on as Graham spoke after telling a separate crowd, “If Lindsey’s speaking, I want to come down here for two reasons. No. 1: he’s a great speaker. And No. 2, I know if I’m here, he’s not going to say anything bad about me.”
Before a crowd that was celebrating the news that there would be no additional indictments — for now — Graham made the call for going after Clinton again, which led the crowd to start chanting ‘lock her up.”
CNN’s Kevin Liptak reported, “A ‘lock her up’ chant broke out at Mar-a-Lago tonight during Sen. Graham’s speech as he called for an investigation into Clinton and the origins of the dossier. Trump watched on from a table in the ballroom.”
RELATED: Lindsey Graham pitches Trump on putting Clinton-investigator Trey Gowdy on Supreme Court
During a speech where Graham also vowed to open another investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — as the crowd cheered “Lock her up” — Graham singled out Gowdy.
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Brazil’s New President Bolsonaro Gets Blessings From Trump, Netanyahu For Policy of Racial Genocide
By David Love - atlanta black star
March 23, 2019
Newly elected Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has wasted no time in cultivating positive relationships with U.S. president Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fellow right-wing nationalist leaders who have made popular appeals to racism in their respective countries.
The rise of Bolsonaro — who has promoted the purging of leftists and ethnic cleansing of indigenous people, and said some Black people were not “even good for procreation” — is viewed as an assault on the most vulnerable in Brazil, including the poor, Black, indigenous and LGBTQ people.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s March 19 visit with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House only underscores the relationship cultivated between the two men, and their common cause as white nationalist leaders and climate change deniers who were elected based on right-wing populism, a pro-business agenda and appeals to racism. The two men have praised each other, and Bolsonaro is known as “South America’s Trump” and “Trump of the Tropics.” “Trump is an example to me,” Bolsonaro said last year while on a campaign visit to the U.S. “I know there is a distance between me and Trump, but I hope to become closer to him, for the good of Brazil and of the United States. I want to bring lessons from here to Brazil.”
Upon entering office to lead the second-largest economy in the hemisphere — with the largest Black population outside of the African continent — Bolsonaro said he would make Brazil a Christian theocracy, declaring: “God above everything. There is no such thing as this secular state. The state is Christian and the minority will have to change, if they can. The minorities will have to adapt to the position of the majority.” In his first day in office, Bolsonaro signed executive orders wiping out land rights for indigenous people and quilombolas, the descendants of self-liberated enslaved Black people, and handing control of the demarcation of indigenous land from Brazil’s indigenous agency over to the agriculture ministry, viewed as a victory for agribusiness.
Although the 1988 constitution guarantees ancestral land rights to indigenous and Black people, those who occupy the quilombos, which are located in the rural areas and the rainforest, are subjected to land grabs and deadly violence from mining and agribusiness. “Less than one million people live in those places isolated from the real Brazil,” said a tweet in his native Portuguese from Bolsonaro, who has opposed land concessions for Black and indigenous people. “They are exploited and manipulated by nonprofits. Together we will integrate those citizens and give value to all Brazilians.” A coalition of civil society groups warned the executive orders “are only the first step on meeting Bolsonaro’s campaign promises of dismantling environmental governance, stripping indigenous peoples of their rights and opening up indigenous lands for business.”
Paving the way for logging in the Amazon rainforest, Bolsonaro has raised concerns he is readying for genocide of indigenous people, as he once said: “There is no indigenous territory where there aren’t minerals. Gold, tin and magnesium are in these lands, especially in the Amazon, the richest area in the world. I’m not getting into this nonsense of defending land for Indians.” said Bolsonaro, who also thinks “Indians smell, are uneducated and don’t speak our language,” and that “the recognition of indigenous land is an obstacle to agribusiness.”
Trump congratulated Bolsonaro on his victory on Twitter, saying “the U.S.A. is with you!” The Brazilian leader replied by saying “under God’s protection, we shall bring prosperity and progress to our people!”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended Bolsonaro’s inauguration as the new Brazilian leader announced his plans to move his country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and Israel will sell drones with facial recognition capabilities to Brazil. Echoing the ethnonationalist rhetoric of his American and Brazilian counterparts, Netanyahu has said recently that Israel is “the national state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people,” and called African migrants and refugees in Israel “infiltrators”who are a threat to the nation.
A senior Israeli official reportedly said that “Brazil will be colored blue and white” with Bolsonaro in charge, referring to the colors of the Israeli flag. And Bolsonaro’s sons signaled their support for Israel by wearing T-shirts with logos of the Israeli army and Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, which are used to maintain the nation’s occupation of the Palestinian lands and the monitoring of Palestinian activists.
Brazilian police say links between Bolsonaro and two ex-police officers who are suspects in the murder of Black human rights activist and politician Marielle Franco are merely coincidental.
The rise of Bolsonaro threatens to undermine the progress people of African descent had made in Brazil in recent years, including an affirmative action program leading to a 268 percent increase in Black college matriculation, and efforts to fight racism and Black youth genocide.
“I’ve faced so many barriers just because I am a black woman — my rights are attacked nearly every day. I am a student at the university in Salvador. I am here to make up diversity quotas, so people don’t think I deserve my place at university, when it’s my right to be here,” said Jamille, a human rights activist, of being a Black woman in Brazil under Bolsonaro. Jamille told Amnesty International she still has hope and inspiration and will defend human rights. “Given the current climate, I am fearful nothing will change, but my hope is that together we create a world that is more welcoming to diversity and less unequal. It’s up to us to create this world together,” she added.
Meanwhile, the words and actions of Brazil’s new president point to a desire to return to past racism and repression. “The dictatorship’s mistake was to torture but not kill,” Bolsonaro said in 2016 of the military regime that controlled Brazil from 1964 until 1985. Whatever he does, it appears he will have the support of Trump and Netanyahu.
The rise of Bolsonaro — who has promoted the purging of leftists and ethnic cleansing of indigenous people, and said some Black people were not “even good for procreation” — is viewed as an assault on the most vulnerable in Brazil, including the poor, Black, indigenous and LGBTQ people.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s March 19 visit with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House only underscores the relationship cultivated between the two men, and their common cause as white nationalist leaders and climate change deniers who were elected based on right-wing populism, a pro-business agenda and appeals to racism. The two men have praised each other, and Bolsonaro is known as “South America’s Trump” and “Trump of the Tropics.” “Trump is an example to me,” Bolsonaro said last year while on a campaign visit to the U.S. “I know there is a distance between me and Trump, but I hope to become closer to him, for the good of Brazil and of the United States. I want to bring lessons from here to Brazil.”
Upon entering office to lead the second-largest economy in the hemisphere — with the largest Black population outside of the African continent — Bolsonaro said he would make Brazil a Christian theocracy, declaring: “God above everything. There is no such thing as this secular state. The state is Christian and the minority will have to change, if they can. The minorities will have to adapt to the position of the majority.” In his first day in office, Bolsonaro signed executive orders wiping out land rights for indigenous people and quilombolas, the descendants of self-liberated enslaved Black people, and handing control of the demarcation of indigenous land from Brazil’s indigenous agency over to the agriculture ministry, viewed as a victory for agribusiness.
Although the 1988 constitution guarantees ancestral land rights to indigenous and Black people, those who occupy the quilombos, which are located in the rural areas and the rainforest, are subjected to land grabs and deadly violence from mining and agribusiness. “Less than one million people live in those places isolated from the real Brazil,” said a tweet in his native Portuguese from Bolsonaro, who has opposed land concessions for Black and indigenous people. “They are exploited and manipulated by nonprofits. Together we will integrate those citizens and give value to all Brazilians.” A coalition of civil society groups warned the executive orders “are only the first step on meeting Bolsonaro’s campaign promises of dismantling environmental governance, stripping indigenous peoples of their rights and opening up indigenous lands for business.”
Paving the way for logging in the Amazon rainforest, Bolsonaro has raised concerns he is readying for genocide of indigenous people, as he once said: “There is no indigenous territory where there aren’t minerals. Gold, tin and magnesium are in these lands, especially in the Amazon, the richest area in the world. I’m not getting into this nonsense of defending land for Indians.” said Bolsonaro, who also thinks “Indians smell, are uneducated and don’t speak our language,” and that “the recognition of indigenous land is an obstacle to agribusiness.”
Trump congratulated Bolsonaro on his victory on Twitter, saying “the U.S.A. is with you!” The Brazilian leader replied by saying “under God’s protection, we shall bring prosperity and progress to our people!”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended Bolsonaro’s inauguration as the new Brazilian leader announced his plans to move his country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and Israel will sell drones with facial recognition capabilities to Brazil. Echoing the ethnonationalist rhetoric of his American and Brazilian counterparts, Netanyahu has said recently that Israel is “the national state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people,” and called African migrants and refugees in Israel “infiltrators”who are a threat to the nation.
A senior Israeli official reportedly said that “Brazil will be colored blue and white” with Bolsonaro in charge, referring to the colors of the Israeli flag. And Bolsonaro’s sons signaled their support for Israel by wearing T-shirts with logos of the Israeli army and Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, which are used to maintain the nation’s occupation of the Palestinian lands and the monitoring of Palestinian activists.
Brazilian police say links between Bolsonaro and two ex-police officers who are suspects in the murder of Black human rights activist and politician Marielle Franco are merely coincidental.
The rise of Bolsonaro threatens to undermine the progress people of African descent had made in Brazil in recent years, including an affirmative action program leading to a 268 percent increase in Black college matriculation, and efforts to fight racism and Black youth genocide.
“I’ve faced so many barriers just because I am a black woman — my rights are attacked nearly every day. I am a student at the university in Salvador. I am here to make up diversity quotas, so people don’t think I deserve my place at university, when it’s my right to be here,” said Jamille, a human rights activist, of being a Black woman in Brazil under Bolsonaro. Jamille told Amnesty International she still has hope and inspiration and will defend human rights. “Given the current climate, I am fearful nothing will change, but my hope is that together we create a world that is more welcoming to diversity and less unequal. It’s up to us to create this world together,” she added.
Meanwhile, the words and actions of Brazil’s new president point to a desire to return to past racism and repression. “The dictatorship’s mistake was to torture but not kill,” Bolsonaro said in 2016 of the military regime that controlled Brazil from 1964 until 1985. Whatever he does, it appears he will have the support of Trump and Netanyahu.
MSNBC guest drops mic on ‘wealthy ignorant people at Mar-a-Lago’ eating up Fox News’ lies about Trump
Tom Boggioni - raw story
24 MAR 2019 AT 13:27 ET
Given the opportunity to comment on the flood of misinformation and downright lies being spewed by President Donald Trump’s defenders on television, an “AM Joy” regular took a shot at the Fox News personalities for filling the airwaves with “BS,” while calling wealthy Trump admirers at Mar-a-Lago “ignorant.”
Speaking with host Joy Reid, “The Beat DC” host Tiffany Cross unloaded on the flood of garbage reporting that conservative viewers are gobbling up.
“It makes my head explode when I see these clips from Fox News,” Cross began. “It is so dangerous, what they are doing and what they are saying. For the people tuning into you right now, these are intelligent people. The people that are watching Fox News — this is their gospel, this is what they look at and what they consider a reputable outlet.”
“It is a scary thing when you look at what’s being happened and what [Trump] has said,” she continued. “The president has all but threatened the American people with his tweets saying he has bikers and the people guns on his side — and you have Fox News as being an echo chamber for this.”
“It is frustrating when I hear this echo chamber of ignorance coming from Fox News being celebrated by wealthy ignorant people at Mar-a-Lago,” she charged. “We need to bring back some intellect to the discourse.”
Speaking with host Joy Reid, “The Beat DC” host Tiffany Cross unloaded on the flood of garbage reporting that conservative viewers are gobbling up.
“It makes my head explode when I see these clips from Fox News,” Cross began. “It is so dangerous, what they are doing and what they are saying. For the people tuning into you right now, these are intelligent people. The people that are watching Fox News — this is their gospel, this is what they look at and what they consider a reputable outlet.”
“It is a scary thing when you look at what’s being happened and what [Trump] has said,” she continued. “The president has all but threatened the American people with his tweets saying he has bikers and the people guns on his side — and you have Fox News as being an echo chamber for this.”
“It is frustrating when I hear this echo chamber of ignorance coming from Fox News being celebrated by wealthy ignorant people at Mar-a-Lago,” she charged. “We need to bring back some intellect to the discourse.”
*bites from real news - 3/24/2019*
*Russian troops land in Venezuela as US says all options on the table
*The FBI Is the Enemy of the Left
by Chip Gibbons, Jacobin
*Fox News pastor: Christians who follow Trump are spiritually superior to other believers
Texas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, a Fox News contributor, said on Sunday that Christian followers of President Donald Trump tend to have “deeper convictions” than other believers. While appeari ... (raw story)
*Why the US bombed Auschwitz — but didn’t save the Jews
Seventy-five years ago this week—on March 19, 1944—German troops marched into Hungary. The country’s 800,000 Jews, the last major Jewish community to have eluded the raging Holocaust, now lay within Hitler’s grasp.
*THE DRUGS DON’T WORK: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER ANTIBIOTICS?
ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE IS GROWING SO FAST THAT ROUTINE SURGERY COULD SOON BECOME IMPOSSIBLE. BUT SCIENTISTS ARE FIGHTING BACK IN THE BATTLE AGAINST INFECTION(the guardian)
*The Threat WithinTHE STRANGE TALE OF THE FBI’S FICTIONAL “BLACK IDENTITY EXTREMISM” MOVEMENT
The only connection between the men referenced in the FBI’s “black identity extremism” report, besides their race, is a thread of anger at police violence.
*The Threat Within: VIOLENT FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISTS ARE RARELY PROSECUTED AS TERRORISTS.
Since 9/11 federal prosecutors have applied anti-terrorism laws against 34 right-wing extremists compared to more than 500 international terrorism defendants.
*The Threat Within: THE DOMESTIC TERRORISM LAW THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FORGOT
The U.S. has a powerful anti-terrorism law — but it’s only been used once against a far-right extremist since 9/11.
*The Threat Within: How a Movement That Never Killed Anyone Became the FBI’s No. 1 Domestic Terrorism Threat
Behind the scenes, corporate lobbying laid the groundwork for the Justice Department’s aggressive pursuit of so-called eco-terrorists.
*Change to 737 MAX controls may have imperiled planes
Boeing disabled a function when it introduced the 737 MAX and many pilots were unaware of the change, aviation experts told Reuters. The change to the controls may explain why pilots struggled to keep their aircraft climbing after takeoff on two fatal 737 MAX flights.
*How one of the most popular Evangelical ‘miracle’ stories was exposed as a fraud
Many Evangelicals think of Lee Strobel as the man who can cure your doubts about their religion.
*Anti-racism activist Tim Wise: How white privilege shaped the college admissions scandal Activist and author says students admitted on false premises should be expelled: "Clean out their dorm rooms"(salon)
*Dirty lies: How the car industry hid the truth about diesel emissions
The long read: The ‘Dieselgate’ scandal was suppressed for years – while we should have been driving electric cars
*Most Republicans Say Diversity Will Weaken the U.S.
A new Pew Research poll finds that 59% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe that having a majority of the population made up of blacks, Asians, Hispanics and other racial minor ... (PoliticalWire)
*Cigarettes Are Central to the History of Corporate Power
Parker was one of hundreds of young white men who journeyed from the bright leaf tobacco–growing states of Virginia and North Carolina to work for BAT-China from 1905 to 1937, the very years that cigarette consumption skyrocketed worldwide.(truthout)
*Glyphosate Herbicides Are Altering the Food Chain
by Lindsey Konkel,Environmental Health News
*Latest Science Debunks Claim That Marijuana Significantly Harms Brain by
Paul Armentano, Truthout
*She Injured Herself Working at Amazon. Then The Real Nightmare Began.
How Amazon’s in-house health care can leave workers in the lurch.(mother jones)
Paul Krugman shreds Trump for claiming ‘war on poverty is over’ as more Americans struggle to survive
Noor Al-Sibai - raw story
23 MAR 2019 AT 09:55 ET
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman went on a tweetstorm Saturday morning about an easily-overlooked economic report the Trump White House released earlier in the week.
Krugman pointed out that “with everything else” going on in Trumpworld — a reference to the newly-submitted report by special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian collusion — many may have missed the Economic Report from the President that included apparent joke references to “interns” like Jabba the Hutt and Spider-Man.
The report “says that we basically have no policy in America,” Krugman wrote, noting that a few years prior, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) issued his own report “claiming that the War on Poverty should be [canceled] because it completely failed to reduce poverty.”
Paul Krugman✔
@paulkrugman
What with everything else, I suspect not many people noticed that the Economic Report of the President -- the one Jabba the Hutt helped write – says that we basically have no poverty in America 1/
Paul Krugman✔
@paulkrugman
Here's their chart. Worth noticing that just a few years ago Paul Ryan had a report claiming that the War on Poverty should be cancelled because it completely failed to reduce poverty. 2/ pic.twitter.com/BB6PVstytF
5:46 AM - Mar 23, 2019
Donald Trump’s administration, the columnist wrote, now says the “War on Poverty” should be canceled because it was won by America.
“Let’s focus on the absurdity and cruelty of the no-poverty claim,” Krugman mused, writing that the US Census found that 5.7 percent of the American population lives on less than half the total annual income of the official poverty line.
“For a single parent with two children, the poverty threshold is $19,749,” he noted. “So the White House is basically saying that a single mother with 2 kids and an income of $10K, that is, half the poverty line is … not poor.”
“Does anyone who has ever stepped outside a gated suburban community believe that?” the columnist wondered.
Krugman noted nine percent of Americans are still uninsured and questioned the government’s numbers.
“Do you really believe that the number of poor people is only a quarter as large as the number of uninsured?” he wrote.
“I know that complete lack of empathy or understanding of other people’s hardship is basically a required qualification to serve in the Trump admin,” Krugman concluded. “Still, this really beggars belief.”
Krugman pointed out that “with everything else” going on in Trumpworld — a reference to the newly-submitted report by special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian collusion — many may have missed the Economic Report from the President that included apparent joke references to “interns” like Jabba the Hutt and Spider-Man.
The report “says that we basically have no policy in America,” Krugman wrote, noting that a few years prior, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) issued his own report “claiming that the War on Poverty should be [canceled] because it completely failed to reduce poverty.”
Paul Krugman✔
@paulkrugman
What with everything else, I suspect not many people noticed that the Economic Report of the President -- the one Jabba the Hutt helped write – says that we basically have no poverty in America 1/
Paul Krugman✔
@paulkrugman
Here's their chart. Worth noticing that just a few years ago Paul Ryan had a report claiming that the War on Poverty should be cancelled because it completely failed to reduce poverty. 2/ pic.twitter.com/BB6PVstytF
5:46 AM - Mar 23, 2019
Donald Trump’s administration, the columnist wrote, now says the “War on Poverty” should be canceled because it was won by America.
“Let’s focus on the absurdity and cruelty of the no-poverty claim,” Krugman mused, writing that the US Census found that 5.7 percent of the American population lives on less than half the total annual income of the official poverty line.
“For a single parent with two children, the poverty threshold is $19,749,” he noted. “So the White House is basically saying that a single mother with 2 kids and an income of $10K, that is, half the poverty line is … not poor.”
“Does anyone who has ever stepped outside a gated suburban community believe that?” the columnist wondered.
Krugman noted nine percent of Americans are still uninsured and questioned the government’s numbers.
“Do you really believe that the number of poor people is only a quarter as large as the number of uninsured?” he wrote.
“I know that complete lack of empathy or understanding of other people’s hardship is basically a required qualification to serve in the Trump admin,” Krugman concluded. “Still, this really beggars belief.”
Georgia fraternity suspended after racist ‘pick my cotton, nigger’ beating video goes viral
Tom Boggioni - raw story
23 MAR 2019 AT 15:27 ET
A fraternity at the University of Georgia has been notified it has been suspended after a video surfaced on Twitter showing one member mock beating another with a belt while chanting ”pick my cotton, nigger,” as other fraternity members stood by and laughed.
In the video, one member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity member hits his fraternity brother with a belt as his victim cries out, “I’m not black!”
“Pick my cotton! Pick my cotton, bitch,” the member wielding the belt replies.
As an off-screen voice states, “Whoa, you’re not using the right words,” to which the belt wielder adds, “Pick my cotton, n****r.”
According to a statement from UGA’s student government leaders, the suspension is immediate.
“The executive officers of the Student Government Association are aware of a video circulating on social media that depicts individuals identified as members of a UGA Greek organization using racist language and engaging in behaviors that mock the suffering of enslaved peoples,” the statement notes. “We have been notified that the chapter is currently suspended, and we can confirm that there is an investigation underway regarding the students involved in the video.”
In the video, one member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity member hits his fraternity brother with a belt as his victim cries out, “I’m not black!”
“Pick my cotton! Pick my cotton, bitch,” the member wielding the belt replies.
As an off-screen voice states, “Whoa, you’re not using the right words,” to which the belt wielder adds, “Pick my cotton, n****r.”
According to a statement from UGA’s student government leaders, the suspension is immediate.
“The executive officers of the Student Government Association are aware of a video circulating on social media that depicts individuals identified as members of a UGA Greek organization using racist language and engaging in behaviors that mock the suffering of enslaved peoples,” the statement notes. “We have been notified that the chapter is currently suspended, and we can confirm that there is an investigation underway regarding the students involved in the video.”
Gerrymandering Reportedly Saved the GOP From an Even Bigger Ass-Kicking in 2018
Rafi Schwartz - splinter news.com
Today 12:41pm
The 2018 midterm election were a historic blowout for congressional Democrats, netting them at least 40 seats to flip the House of Representatives from Republican control, and setting the stage for at least two years of serious opposition to President Donald Trump’s political agenda. But according to a new analysis from the Associated Press, Democrats would have won even more seats at the federal and local level in November had it not been for the GOP’s best gerrymandering efforts.
According to the AP:
Republicans won about 16 more U.S. House seats than would have been expected based on their average share of the vote in congressional districts across the country. In state House elections, Republicans’ structural advantage might have helped them hold on to as many as seven chambers that otherwise could have flipped to Democrats, according to the analysis.
In other words, the way multiple congressional and state districts have been drawn likely meant that Republicans were able to claw their way to victory in places where, under more equitable circumstances, they should have been voted out.
Choosing where, and how, to draw voting district lines has long been one of the GOP’s most effective methods of gaming the electoral system in their favor. In North Carolina, arguably ground zero for Republican gerrymandering efforts, multiple GOP-drawn districts were repeatedly ruled unconstitutional ahead of last November’s elections, with similar rulings admonishing Republican-created election maps in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Last year, the Supreme Court pointedly delayed a ruling on a partisan gerrymandering case against the Wisconsin legislature, while Utah recently created a bi-partisan commission to undo years of GOP-lead redistricting proposals.
According to the AP, Republican gerrymandering likely salvaged a number of state houses as well, with “five state legislative chambers where Republicans retained the majority in 2018 even though Democratic candidates won more votes overall—Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
Matt Walker, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee—the GOP’s campaign arm for state legislative races across the country—pushed back on the AP’s findings, arguing that its use of the “efficiency gap” test created by Public Policy Institute of California political scientist Eric McGhee and University of Chicago law professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos was inherently flawed. The test was created specifically as part of the case against Wisconsin GOP gerrymandering efforts that was argued in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017.
“This is not a real formula. This is not a real theory,” Walker said. “This is ivory-tower nonsense.”
Given the ferocity with which Republicans have defended their party-drawn districts, it’s clear that the continued effort to shine a light on right-tilting gerrymandering is making many within the GOP very, very nervous.
According to the AP:
Republicans won about 16 more U.S. House seats than would have been expected based on their average share of the vote in congressional districts across the country. In state House elections, Republicans’ structural advantage might have helped them hold on to as many as seven chambers that otherwise could have flipped to Democrats, according to the analysis.
In other words, the way multiple congressional and state districts have been drawn likely meant that Republicans were able to claw their way to victory in places where, under more equitable circumstances, they should have been voted out.
Choosing where, and how, to draw voting district lines has long been one of the GOP’s most effective methods of gaming the electoral system in their favor. In North Carolina, arguably ground zero for Republican gerrymandering efforts, multiple GOP-drawn districts were repeatedly ruled unconstitutional ahead of last November’s elections, with similar rulings admonishing Republican-created election maps in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Last year, the Supreme Court pointedly delayed a ruling on a partisan gerrymandering case against the Wisconsin legislature, while Utah recently created a bi-partisan commission to undo years of GOP-lead redistricting proposals.
According to the AP, Republican gerrymandering likely salvaged a number of state houses as well, with “five state legislative chambers where Republicans retained the majority in 2018 even though Democratic candidates won more votes overall—Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
Matt Walker, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee—the GOP’s campaign arm for state legislative races across the country—pushed back on the AP’s findings, arguing that its use of the “efficiency gap” test created by Public Policy Institute of California political scientist Eric McGhee and University of Chicago law professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos was inherently flawed. The test was created specifically as part of the case against Wisconsin GOP gerrymandering efforts that was argued in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017.
“This is not a real formula. This is not a real theory,” Walker said. “This is ivory-tower nonsense.”
Given the ferocity with which Republicans have defended their party-drawn districts, it’s clear that the continued effort to shine a light on right-tilting gerrymandering is making many within the GOP very, very nervous.
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Dems in Congress Demand Barr Release Full Mueller Report ‘Without Delay’
daily beast - cheat sheet
Democrats on six House committees—including Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Oversight chair Elijah Cummings (D-MD), and Intelligence chair Adam Schiff (D-CA)—are demanding that the Justice Department release Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report “without delay.” According to the Associated Press, the Democrats said they expect Attorney General William Barr to turn over all the evidence Mueller has collected in his probe into potential Russian collusion in the 2016 election. If not, the lawmakers said it “would raise serious questions about whether the Department of Justice policy is being used as a pretext for a cover-up of misconduct.” The hashtag “#ReleaseTheReport” was also utilized on Twitter among Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who warned Barr against giving President Trump or members of his legal team a “sneak preview.”
Earlier Friday, the AP reported that Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said the president’s lawyers wanted an early look at Mueller’s findings before they were made public. Giuliani later disputed that reporting in comments to The Daily Beast, saying the matter “will be handled properly” and it’s “up to DOJ.” The White House had earlier issued a statement saying it was looking “forward” to the next steps after Mueller handed in his report and noting that the administration “has not received or been briefed on the Special Counsel’s report.”
Earlier Friday, the AP reported that Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said the president’s lawyers wanted an early look at Mueller’s findings before they were made public. Giuliani later disputed that reporting in comments to The Daily Beast, saying the matter “will be handled properly” and it’s “up to DOJ.” The White House had earlier issued a statement saying it was looking “forward” to the next steps after Mueller handed in his report and noting that the administration “has not received or been briefed on the Special Counsel’s report.”
Former Pittsburgh Cop Found Not Guilty in Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Black Teen Antwon Rose
daily beast - cheat sheet
A white former Pittsburgh police officer was found not guilty late Friday in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Antwon Rose II, prompting hundreds of protesters to take to the streets in the city. The jury deliberated for less than four hours before reaching their decision to clear Michael Rosfeld of homicide charges. Rosfeld pulled over a car Rose was riding in last June that had been involved in a drive-by and shot the 17-year-old three times as he ran away. The teenager’s family has called it “murder” and said there was no reason to use lethal force, while Rosfeld maintained that he fired in self-defense, believing that Rose or another passenger had a gun aimed at him. After the verdict came in Friday, district attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said he disagrees with the jury’s verdict but respects that it was up to them to decide guilt. Protesters began gathering outside the Allegheny County Courthouse after the verdict was announced, with local news outlet KDKA reporting that hundreds of demonstrators were present. One of them reportedly read out a poem that Rose wrote before he was killed, which read, “I AM NOT WHAT YOU THINK! I am confused and afraid. I wonder what path I will take.”
At Least Four Dead in Al-Shabaab Attack on Government Compound in Mogadishu, Somalia
DAILY BEAST - CHEAT SHEET
Islamic fundamentalist group Al-Shabaab killed at least four people and injured more than a dozen with a suicide car bomb in a government complex on Saturday morning, according to Reuters. An ensuing gun battle prevented first responders from reaching injured people trapped inside. Witnesses reported a large explosion and fire ball. Al-Shabaab is working to establish rule and implement its strict version of Sharia law in Somalia. “Al Shabaab stormed the building where two ministries including the ministry of labor work. So far we know 4 people are dead but (the) death toll is sure to rise,” Major Abdullahi Nur told Reuters. The death toll could rise.
ISIS Loses Final Syrian Stronghold: Official
DAILY BEAST - CHEAT SHEET
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced Saturday that they have liberated the final ISIS stronghold in the eastern Syrian city of Baghouz after weeks of heavy fighting in the area. Troops with the U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, which led the battle, immediately raised their yellow flag, replacing the black ISIS flag that has flown over the encampment. The defeat reportedly brings an end to the caliphate’s territorial dominance that began in 2014, but does not mean an end to the ideology that drives the terrorist group, according to CNN. Mustafa Bali, the spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces tweeted, “Syrian Democratic Forces declare total elimination of so-called caliphate and 100% territorial defeat of ISIS. On this unique day, we commemorate thousands of martyrs whose efforts made the victory possible.”
HEALTHCARE
Look at These Absolutely Ordinary Americans Who Hate Medicare for All
Libby Watson - splinter news.com
The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future is a lobbying groupdedicated to fighting single-payer and even public option health plans, formed by the biggest players in the health insurance industry—pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and health insurers, among others. We don’t know how much money they have, but one of their members, the pharma trade group PhRMA, raised $456 million last year alone, so it’s likely to be quite a lot.
I receive PAHCF’s press releases, which are frequent. Every so often, they’ll highlight “voices throughout the nation” in a recurring feature they call “WHAT THEY ARE SAYING,” collecting anti-Medicare for All letters to the editor and op-eds from around the country. The strong implication is that these voices are somehow representative of Real Americans who fear Medicare for All, and not just the talking points of an industry-sponsored group.
Take this quote from Mustafa Tameez in a March 1 PAHCF press release, for example:
Mustafa Tameez, Businessman, Texas:
… I think we have to do is improve what’s working with the ACA and fix what’s broken before we try and change the system all over again … We have to have a better partnership with both the public sector and the private sector, and I think the solutions lie there, rather than all the solutions are with the private sector or all with the public sector. Anytime you see strong public-private partnerships, that’s when you find most efficiency, rather than putting it in one or the other.
PAHCF describes Tameez as a “businessman.” Sounds nice and normal, someone who would have a unique understanding into how harmful Medicare for All could be—taxes!!! Ahhh!!!
But Tameez isn’t simply a businessman. He’s the managing director at Texas-based Outreach Strategists, a public affairs and lobbying firm. Their clients include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, University of Texas Physicians, and St. Luke’s Hospital, among others. This seems rather relevant, but is not disclosed. Another PAHCF press release quoted an op-ed that Tameez published on the Houston Chronicle’s In the Loop blog, which doesn’t describe his job at all.
In advocacy campaigns, there are grassroots—genuine, broad-based political action by real people not employed in politics day to day—and grasstops, the practice of cultivating local leaders to influence their communities. And then there’s astroturfing, the practice of trying to create a false impression of broad public support or outrage on an issue when there isn’t any. Big, well-funded advocacy firms in DC spend quite a lot of their time doing these sorts of things.
This is the advantage of “grassroots” activities: It lends a legitimacy that, say, quotes from the people who directly stand to profit from the continuation of a private healthcare system can never achieve. It is more convincing to hear arguments about what would happen to real people from those real people than just another politics wanker in DC. But when those voices are few and far between, sometimes you have to get a little bit creative about who counts as a regular American.
Tameez isn’t the only example of this. A PAHCF press release from today quotes a letter to the editor of the Billings Gazette from Jim Corson, who is simply quoted as “Jim Corson, Montana.” Who is Jim? Jim worked for former Sen. Max Baucus for 14 years. Baucus, as chair of the Senate Finance Committee and the Affordable Care Act’s chief proponent in the Senate, helped kill the public option in the ACA, and was a fierce opponent of even discussing single-payer in healthcare reform hearings in 2009. Now, that’s not to say that what happened 10 years ago means Corson is ethically compromised on this issue; it just means that highlighting his voice as one of Real Americans without saying who he actually is comes off as just a tad dishonest.
We’ve reached out to PAHCF to ask if they’ve worked with any of the individuals highlighted in their newsletters to place letters to the editor or op-eds in newspapers. We’ve also reached out to all of the letter and op-ed writers named in this post themselves to ask if they had help placing these and if they disclosed their work or political activism to the papers or the PAHCF. We’ll update if and when we receive any responses.
James Rang was described as a “businessman” in Iowa when PAHCF quoted his March 7 op-ed in the Telegraph Herald, which is behind a paywall, saying: “In a single-payer system, patient choice and free-market competition are removed to make way for higher costs and reductions in the standards of our care.”
What is not disclosed is that Rang’s business is the insurance business: He is the vice president in the employee benefits department at the Friedman Group, meaning it is his job to sell health insurance to businesses. In 2018, James won an award from Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Way to go, Jim! But I would say that when it comes to PAHCF pushing his quote, it is somewhat less convincing that it came from a guy whose job is to sell private health insurance, since that entire industry would basically go away if Medicare for All passed.
Carlos Carbonell from Florida is yet another person described as a “businessman,” when PAHCF quoted his words to the Orlando Sentinel’s “panel of 100 influential leaders.” The Sentinel described Carbonell as a “CEO/Founder Echo: Tech Strategy & Apps.” You know, Apps. What Carbonell also is: A “Public Affairs Advisor” at Converge Strategies, a government affairs (read: lobbying) firm whose website says it works with the healthcare industry, though it doesn’t name specific clients. Just another businessman sharing his businessman opinion!
Jack A. Roy’s February 23 letter to the editor of the Eagle-Tribune in Massachussetts is quoted, saying: “Recently many politicians have embraced another healthcare proposal, ‘Medicare for All.’ I do not understand how this could work.” Who is Jack? Jack is the former head of the Haverhill City Republican Committee. Just a normal person who could otherwise absolutely be expected to be open to supporting Medicare for All.
Mark Havlicek is yet another “businessman” quoted by PAHCF from his short February 18 letter to the Des Moines Register, which doesn’t actually describe him as a businessman at all. How did PAHCF know what Havlicek does for a living? Did they just guess, since it seems like 90 percent of the letters to the editor are written by bored “businessmen” who should be doing their real jobs?
Anyway, Havlicek is indeed a businessman. According to his LinkedIn, he is a vice president at Wells Fargo Mortgage and runs a management consulting firm, though his page says the group also offers “political consulting.” This makes sense, since Havlicek is experienced in politics: He was a member of Jeb Bush’s Iowa leadership team, and a press release from the time describes him as a “committed Republican activist.” Again, just someone who you would expect to have a good-faith objection to Medicare for All.
To be clear, PAHCF has also quoted other people who don’t work in politics or have any discernible financial interest in the current healthcare system. That’s not surprising, since Medicare for All is a big issue, and there must be some people out there who don’t want it and who have the time and energy to write a letter to their local paper saying so.
But this is, I would say, quite a lot of fake-ass people to quote without disclosing anything about who they are, or how they found them. So next time you see PAHCF or people or groups with similar aims push out “voices throughout the nation” who are objecting to Medicare for All, just think hard about who those voices actually are, and how representative of the rest of the country they are.
I receive PAHCF’s press releases, which are frequent. Every so often, they’ll highlight “voices throughout the nation” in a recurring feature they call “WHAT THEY ARE SAYING,” collecting anti-Medicare for All letters to the editor and op-eds from around the country. The strong implication is that these voices are somehow representative of Real Americans who fear Medicare for All, and not just the talking points of an industry-sponsored group.
Take this quote from Mustafa Tameez in a March 1 PAHCF press release, for example:
Mustafa Tameez, Businessman, Texas:
… I think we have to do is improve what’s working with the ACA and fix what’s broken before we try and change the system all over again … We have to have a better partnership with both the public sector and the private sector, and I think the solutions lie there, rather than all the solutions are with the private sector or all with the public sector. Anytime you see strong public-private partnerships, that’s when you find most efficiency, rather than putting it in one or the other.
PAHCF describes Tameez as a “businessman.” Sounds nice and normal, someone who would have a unique understanding into how harmful Medicare for All could be—taxes!!! Ahhh!!!
But Tameez isn’t simply a businessman. He’s the managing director at Texas-based Outreach Strategists, a public affairs and lobbying firm. Their clients include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, University of Texas Physicians, and St. Luke’s Hospital, among others. This seems rather relevant, but is not disclosed. Another PAHCF press release quoted an op-ed that Tameez published on the Houston Chronicle’s In the Loop blog, which doesn’t describe his job at all.
In advocacy campaigns, there are grassroots—genuine, broad-based political action by real people not employed in politics day to day—and grasstops, the practice of cultivating local leaders to influence their communities. And then there’s astroturfing, the practice of trying to create a false impression of broad public support or outrage on an issue when there isn’t any. Big, well-funded advocacy firms in DC spend quite a lot of their time doing these sorts of things.
This is the advantage of “grassroots” activities: It lends a legitimacy that, say, quotes from the people who directly stand to profit from the continuation of a private healthcare system can never achieve. It is more convincing to hear arguments about what would happen to real people from those real people than just another politics wanker in DC. But when those voices are few and far between, sometimes you have to get a little bit creative about who counts as a regular American.
Tameez isn’t the only example of this. A PAHCF press release from today quotes a letter to the editor of the Billings Gazette from Jim Corson, who is simply quoted as “Jim Corson, Montana.” Who is Jim? Jim worked for former Sen. Max Baucus for 14 years. Baucus, as chair of the Senate Finance Committee and the Affordable Care Act’s chief proponent in the Senate, helped kill the public option in the ACA, and was a fierce opponent of even discussing single-payer in healthcare reform hearings in 2009. Now, that’s not to say that what happened 10 years ago means Corson is ethically compromised on this issue; it just means that highlighting his voice as one of Real Americans without saying who he actually is comes off as just a tad dishonest.
We’ve reached out to PAHCF to ask if they’ve worked with any of the individuals highlighted in their newsletters to place letters to the editor or op-eds in newspapers. We’ve also reached out to all of the letter and op-ed writers named in this post themselves to ask if they had help placing these and if they disclosed their work or political activism to the papers or the PAHCF. We’ll update if and when we receive any responses.
James Rang was described as a “businessman” in Iowa when PAHCF quoted his March 7 op-ed in the Telegraph Herald, which is behind a paywall, saying: “In a single-payer system, patient choice and free-market competition are removed to make way for higher costs and reductions in the standards of our care.”
What is not disclosed is that Rang’s business is the insurance business: He is the vice president in the employee benefits department at the Friedman Group, meaning it is his job to sell health insurance to businesses. In 2018, James won an award from Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Way to go, Jim! But I would say that when it comes to PAHCF pushing his quote, it is somewhat less convincing that it came from a guy whose job is to sell private health insurance, since that entire industry would basically go away if Medicare for All passed.
Carlos Carbonell from Florida is yet another person described as a “businessman,” when PAHCF quoted his words to the Orlando Sentinel’s “panel of 100 influential leaders.” The Sentinel described Carbonell as a “CEO/Founder Echo: Tech Strategy & Apps.” You know, Apps. What Carbonell also is: A “Public Affairs Advisor” at Converge Strategies, a government affairs (read: lobbying) firm whose website says it works with the healthcare industry, though it doesn’t name specific clients. Just another businessman sharing his businessman opinion!
Jack A. Roy’s February 23 letter to the editor of the Eagle-Tribune in Massachussetts is quoted, saying: “Recently many politicians have embraced another healthcare proposal, ‘Medicare for All.’ I do not understand how this could work.” Who is Jack? Jack is the former head of the Haverhill City Republican Committee. Just a normal person who could otherwise absolutely be expected to be open to supporting Medicare for All.
Mark Havlicek is yet another “businessman” quoted by PAHCF from his short February 18 letter to the Des Moines Register, which doesn’t actually describe him as a businessman at all. How did PAHCF know what Havlicek does for a living? Did they just guess, since it seems like 90 percent of the letters to the editor are written by bored “businessmen” who should be doing their real jobs?
Anyway, Havlicek is indeed a businessman. According to his LinkedIn, he is a vice president at Wells Fargo Mortgage and runs a management consulting firm, though his page says the group also offers “political consulting.” This makes sense, since Havlicek is experienced in politics: He was a member of Jeb Bush’s Iowa leadership team, and a press release from the time describes him as a “committed Republican activist.” Again, just someone who you would expect to have a good-faith objection to Medicare for All.
To be clear, PAHCF has also quoted other people who don’t work in politics or have any discernible financial interest in the current healthcare system. That’s not surprising, since Medicare for All is a big issue, and there must be some people out there who don’t want it and who have the time and energy to write a letter to their local paper saying so.
But this is, I would say, quite a lot of fake-ass people to quote without disclosing anything about who they are, or how they found them. So next time you see PAHCF or people or groups with similar aims push out “voices throughout the nation” who are objecting to Medicare for All, just think hard about who those voices actually are, and how representative of the rest of the country they are.
Polluters’ Friend Stalls On Protecting Public Water Supplies
Trump’s New EPA Administrator Delays Efforts to Regulate Deadly PFAS in Drinking Water
By Sarah Okeson - DC REPORT
Andrew Wheeler, the former lobbyist now in charge of protecting our nation from dangerous chemicals, would get final say on whether the EPA should regulate a dangerous class of chemicals that are sometimes found in public drinking water.
The Safe Drinking Water Act, signed into law by former President Gerald Ford in 1974, is a set of regulations governing how to set safety standards for our nation’s drinking water. The law gives the EPA administrator “sole judgment” to decide if the health risks of a chemical mean it should be regulated under the act.
The chemicals, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, have been made since the 1940s and are valued because they can repel oil and water. The chemicals, used in products such as microwave popcorn bags and firefighting foam, may have contaminated more than 1,500 drinking water systems that serve nearly 110 million Americans.
Under Wheeler, the EPA announced that it would propose a “regulatory determination” for two types of PFAS chemicals, a move environmentalists derided as just more procrastination about deciding whether to regulate the toxic chemicals.
“Has the Trump administration so thoroughly purged EPA of scientists, and so completely stacked its management with industry lobbyists, that it can’t even decide whether to lift a finger to regulate widely-known toxic chemicals?” asked Erik Olson, senior director for health and food at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
PFAS are linked to cancer, thyroid disease and lowered immunity. At least 121 U.S. military installations have groundwater contaminated with PFAS.
The National Drinking Water Advisory Council, appointed by the EPA administrator, will also help evaluate whether PFAS should be regulated. In May, the EPA posted a notice seeking nominations for three-year seats on the council.
The council’s new members include Alexandra Campbell-Ferrari, who co-founded a nonprofit that works on water security, and James Proctor II, the vice president and general counsel of McWane. The company was prosecuted for environmental crimes and pleaded guilty to nine felony charges of knowingly violating the Clean Water Act.
Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the White House tried to block the release of a health study about PFAS chemicals last year. The report recommended that “minimum risk level” for exposure to two PFAS chemicals should be seven to 10 times lower than the level previously recommended by the EPA.
The Safe Drinking Water Act, signed into law by former President Gerald Ford in 1974, is a set of regulations governing how to set safety standards for our nation’s drinking water. The law gives the EPA administrator “sole judgment” to decide if the health risks of a chemical mean it should be regulated under the act.
The chemicals, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, have been made since the 1940s and are valued because they can repel oil and water. The chemicals, used in products such as microwave popcorn bags and firefighting foam, may have contaminated more than 1,500 drinking water systems that serve nearly 110 million Americans.
Under Wheeler, the EPA announced that it would propose a “regulatory determination” for two types of PFAS chemicals, a move environmentalists derided as just more procrastination about deciding whether to regulate the toxic chemicals.
“Has the Trump administration so thoroughly purged EPA of scientists, and so completely stacked its management with industry lobbyists, that it can’t even decide whether to lift a finger to regulate widely-known toxic chemicals?” asked Erik Olson, senior director for health and food at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
PFAS are linked to cancer, thyroid disease and lowered immunity. At least 121 U.S. military installations have groundwater contaminated with PFAS.
The National Drinking Water Advisory Council, appointed by the EPA administrator, will also help evaluate whether PFAS should be regulated. In May, the EPA posted a notice seeking nominations for three-year seats on the council.
The council’s new members include Alexandra Campbell-Ferrari, who co-founded a nonprofit that works on water security, and James Proctor II, the vice president and general counsel of McWane. The company was prosecuted for environmental crimes and pleaded guilty to nine felony charges of knowingly violating the Clean Water Act.
Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the White House tried to block the release of a health study about PFAS chemicals last year. The report recommended that “minimum risk level” for exposure to two PFAS chemicals should be seven to 10 times lower than the level previously recommended by the EPA.
Trump Tax Reform Hits Home in Wealthy New York Suburbs
By Patrick Clark - bloomberg
March 21, 2019, 2:00 AM PDT
Nick Boniakowski’s clients bought a home in Northern New Jersey in 2016. Now they want to move again.
They found a house they liked. It wasn’t the charm of new construction, an upgrade in location, better schools or a swimming pool that attracted them.
It was the lower property taxes.
Like many of Boniakowski’s clients at Redfin Corp.’s Hoboken office, these two are looking at their returns for the first time since President Donald Trump’s tax changes took effect and, despite more than a year of lead time, experienced a mild freakout. Maybe buying a new house –- the rare financial ordeal that’s more maddening than the annual April 15 ritual –- could be the solution.
Alas, taxes on the house they wanted to buy turned out to be higher than they thought, so they went back to scouring listings.
“It’s a confusing process,’’ Boniakowski said.
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act promised to, well, cut taxes. For many, it does. But a new limit on the amount of state and local levies that can be deducted has costly and confounding implications for some, especially in high-income-tax, high-property-tax places like the New York City area.
Deadline Dread
Nearly 11 million taxpayers will be affected by the new cap on so-called SALT deductions on the taxes they file this year, and could lose out on a cumulative $323 billion, according to a February estimate from the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
For those people, the April 15 deadline carries a greater sense of dread than usual. New rules include a higher standard deduction and changes to the Alternate Minimum Tax, and it can be hard to say, even for experts, how they’ll affect individuals until they file.
The situation wasn’t made any simpler by state lawmakers, who argued that the cap on the SALT deduction was intended to hurt states that tend to elect Democrats, and concocted a series of elaborate workarounds that were shot down by the Internal Revenue Service.
People with more money and thus more complicated tax returns tend to file later in the season, meaning that the triggering has just begun.
Tax Strategy
“A lot of my clients are very surprised by what’s happening,” said Ann Callari, tax partner at RotenbergMeril, an accounting firm in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. “That’s the nature of taxes. People hope for the best and don’t pay attention. They don’t notice until it affects them.”
In the meantime, plenty of taxpayers are expecting the worst.
Gail Rosen, a certified public accountant, said one client didn’t submit his charitable donations because he assumed that he would take the standard deduction. (He didn’t.) Others have been under-withholding, meaning they could get tax cuts but see lower-than-expected numbers on their refund checks. One client who benefited from a new deduction for business owners found her unexpected refund disorienting.
“She looks at me and says, ‘Oh my god, this is wonderful, who can I thank?’” Rosen said. “I said, ‘Trump.’ It was like she saw a ghost. She didn’t want to hear it.”
The Void
Real estate pros, nobody’s first call for tax planning, are stepping into the void. South Florida developers have set up sales offices in Manhattan, angling to lure tax-weary finance workers with the promise of sunshine and no state income tax. Local realtors are highlighting small changes in tax rates that can benefit home buyers who cross town lines.
As Chad Curry, an agent at the Michelle Pais Group at Signature Realty NJ, put it in a recent listing, “Close to Westfield but taking advantage of Mountainside’s low taxes.”
Saddle River, a New Jersey Republican stronghold where Richard Nixon once owned a home, went so far as to hire a public relations firm to pitch the town as the Palm Beach of Route 17 -- a local tax haven that keeps levies lower than neighboring municipalities because of a lack of sidewalks, professional firefighters and a public high school.
“You don’t need all of that stuff,” said Mayor Al Kurpis, whose day job is dentist.
For those who don’t want to move, the obvious solution is to complain -- ideally to a tax court. Michael Schneck, the managing member of a Livingston, New Jersey-based firm that bears his name, has been fielding calls from homeowners who want to appeal their property taxes. Some of them may even have a case.
“Homes over $3 million are seeing a significant slowing of sales and reduction of offering prices,” Schneck said.
That may be because savvy shoppers are factoring in the new limit on the SALT deduction, or simply that the market for luxury homes is cooling after a period of rapid appreciation. In either case, a slowing market gives affluent homeowners an avenue to lowering their levies -- eventually.
“What is the impact of the loss of the deduction on market values?” Schneck asked.
It was a rhetorical question. For many, it’s still too early to say.
They found a house they liked. It wasn’t the charm of new construction, an upgrade in location, better schools or a swimming pool that attracted them.
It was the lower property taxes.
Like many of Boniakowski’s clients at Redfin Corp.’s Hoboken office, these two are looking at their returns for the first time since President Donald Trump’s tax changes took effect and, despite more than a year of lead time, experienced a mild freakout. Maybe buying a new house –- the rare financial ordeal that’s more maddening than the annual April 15 ritual –- could be the solution.
Alas, taxes on the house they wanted to buy turned out to be higher than they thought, so they went back to scouring listings.
“It’s a confusing process,’’ Boniakowski said.
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act promised to, well, cut taxes. For many, it does. But a new limit on the amount of state and local levies that can be deducted has costly and confounding implications for some, especially in high-income-tax, high-property-tax places like the New York City area.
Deadline Dread
Nearly 11 million taxpayers will be affected by the new cap on so-called SALT deductions on the taxes they file this year, and could lose out on a cumulative $323 billion, according to a February estimate from the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
For those people, the April 15 deadline carries a greater sense of dread than usual. New rules include a higher standard deduction and changes to the Alternate Minimum Tax, and it can be hard to say, even for experts, how they’ll affect individuals until they file.
The situation wasn’t made any simpler by state lawmakers, who argued that the cap on the SALT deduction was intended to hurt states that tend to elect Democrats, and concocted a series of elaborate workarounds that were shot down by the Internal Revenue Service.
People with more money and thus more complicated tax returns tend to file later in the season, meaning that the triggering has just begun.
Tax Strategy
“A lot of my clients are very surprised by what’s happening,” said Ann Callari, tax partner at RotenbergMeril, an accounting firm in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. “That’s the nature of taxes. People hope for the best and don’t pay attention. They don’t notice until it affects them.”
In the meantime, plenty of taxpayers are expecting the worst.
Gail Rosen, a certified public accountant, said one client didn’t submit his charitable donations because he assumed that he would take the standard deduction. (He didn’t.) Others have been under-withholding, meaning they could get tax cuts but see lower-than-expected numbers on their refund checks. One client who benefited from a new deduction for business owners found her unexpected refund disorienting.
“She looks at me and says, ‘Oh my god, this is wonderful, who can I thank?’” Rosen said. “I said, ‘Trump.’ It was like she saw a ghost. She didn’t want to hear it.”
The Void
Real estate pros, nobody’s first call for tax planning, are stepping into the void. South Florida developers have set up sales offices in Manhattan, angling to lure tax-weary finance workers with the promise of sunshine and no state income tax. Local realtors are highlighting small changes in tax rates that can benefit home buyers who cross town lines.
As Chad Curry, an agent at the Michelle Pais Group at Signature Realty NJ, put it in a recent listing, “Close to Westfield but taking advantage of Mountainside’s low taxes.”
Saddle River, a New Jersey Republican stronghold where Richard Nixon once owned a home, went so far as to hire a public relations firm to pitch the town as the Palm Beach of Route 17 -- a local tax haven that keeps levies lower than neighboring municipalities because of a lack of sidewalks, professional firefighters and a public high school.
“You don’t need all of that stuff,” said Mayor Al Kurpis, whose day job is dentist.
For those who don’t want to move, the obvious solution is to complain -- ideally to a tax court. Michael Schneck, the managing member of a Livingston, New Jersey-based firm that bears his name, has been fielding calls from homeowners who want to appeal their property taxes. Some of them may even have a case.
“Homes over $3 million are seeing a significant slowing of sales and reduction of offering prices,” Schneck said.
That may be because savvy shoppers are factoring in the new limit on the SALT deduction, or simply that the market for luxury homes is cooling after a period of rapid appreciation. In either case, a slowing market gives affluent homeowners an avenue to lowering their levies -- eventually.
“What is the impact of the loss of the deduction on market values?” Schneck asked.
It was a rhetorical question. For many, it’s still too early to say.
*What's Inside*
march 20 - march 23
✔HOW WHITE CHRISTIAN NATIONALISTS MADE TRUMP THEIR SAVIOR
(TALKERS)
*HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS MARCH IN LONDON TO DEMAND NEW BREXIT REFERENDUM
(WORLD)
*TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PLAN TO OFFER LUMP-SUM PAYOUT TO PRIVATE PENSION HOLDERS IS A WALL STREET SCAM
LUMP-SUM LOOTING IS COMING BACK.(CAPITALISM)
*TRUMP HAS SOLD OUT THE FARMERS WHO VOTED FOR HIM — AND NOW THEY’RE RACING TOWARD CALAMITY
(PAYBACK)
✔EPA’S ‘SECRET SCIENCE’ PROPOSAL BEING USED BY BIG OIL TO UNDERMINE CLEAN WATER RULES
(OIL)
*TRUMP JUST REVEALED HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE GOVERNMENT HE’S SUPPOSED TO RUN
(TRUMP)
*MILLENNIALS ARE THE MOST INDEBTED GENERATION. THEY CAN THANK JOE BIDEN
(REALITY)
*TWO INDIANA POLICE OFFICERS FACE FEDERAL CHARGES IN VIDEOTAPED BEATING OF HANDCUFFED MAN
(GESTAPO USA)
*HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP WARNS IT WILL CUT OFF ANY FIRMS THAT CHALLENGE INCUMBENTS
(DEMO POLITICS)
*BIRTH OF MONKEY COULD HELP ENSURE BOYS WITH CANCER CAN HAVE FAMILIES
(CURRENTS)
*‘I MADE $3.75 AN HOUR’: LYFT AND UBER DRIVERS PUSH TO UNIONIZE FOR BETTER PAY
(SLAVERY 21ST CENTURY)
*MASSIVE LAWSUIT SAYS SACKLER FAMILY BROKE LAWS TO PROFIT FROM OPIOIDS
(CORPORATE CRIMINALS)
*JOHN MCCAIN TORPEDOED TRUMP’S ATTEMPT TO GET FEDERAL AID FOR LUXURY HOUSING IN 1996
(TRUMP)
✔PROFILES IN CHICKENSHIT FROM THE GRAND OLD PARTY AS TRUMP SPITS ON JOHN MCCAIN'S AMERICAN GREATNESS(COMMENTARY)
*ACLU AND CENTER FOR MEDIA JUSTICE SUE FBI FOR RECORDS ON SURVEILLANCE OF BLACK ACTIVISTS
(RACE MATTERS)
*WHITE SUPREMACIST ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPING AND SEXUALLY ASSAULTING BLACK WOMAN DURING FLORIDA RAMPAGE
(AMERICA)
*JOE BIDEN IS HILLARY CLINTON 2.0 — DEMOCRATS WOULD BE MAD TO NOMINATE HIM
(DEMO POLITICS)
*HERE’S WHAT REPUBLICANS AND BILLIONAIRES REALLY MEAN WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT ‘FREEDOM’
(TALKERS)
*STUNNING VIDEO OF DEVIN NUNES DEFENDING THE N-WORD EMERGES AFTER HIS DISASTROUS LAWSUIT AGAINST PARODIES
(GOP POLITICS)
*TRUMP IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT AS A FLAT-OUT RACIST — AND WE’RE ABOUT TO LEARN SOMETHING IMPORTANT ABOUT AMERICA(AMERICA)
*CHICK-FIL-A DONATED TO ANTI-LGBTQ GROUP THAT BARS EMPLOYEES FROM ‘HOMOSEXUAL ACTS’
(RIGHTS)
*EL SALVADOR CONSIDERS AMNESTY FOR THOSE ACCUSED OF CRIMES DURING ITS CIVIL WAR
(WORLD)
*'THE VICTIM BECOMES THE CRIMINAL': HOW PROSECUTORS VILIFY THOSE KILLED BY POLICE
(GESTAPO USA)
*GOOGLE RESISTS PRESSURE TO PULL LGBT "CONVERSION THERAPY" APP
(WORTHLESS MEDIA)
*PESTICIDE RESIDUES FOUND IN 70% OF PRODUCE SOLD IN US EVEN AFTER WASHING
(ENVIRONMENT)
Such a catchy slogan for Nazi's. Soph0571 - Demo Underground
*late news of interest*
good ole religion!!!
Financial planner linked to Trump evangelical adviser Robert Jeffress indicted for
stealing $19 million from senior citizens
Noor Al-Sibai - raw story
21 MAR 2019 AT 18:40 ET
A Christian financial planner endorsed by Donald Trump’s evangelical advisor Robert Jeffress has been indicted on Ponzi scheme charges after allegedly stealing millions from senior citizens.
Religion News Network reported Thursday that W. Neil “Doc” Gallagher, age 78, allegedly stole more than $19 million from senior citizens who heard his paid radio broadcasts in Texas.
The day prior to his March 8 arrest, the Securities and Exchange Commission claimed Gallagher ran a “classic Ponzi scheme” in a complaint filed against him and two of his companies, the report noted.
In the scheme alleged by the SEC, Gallagher “continually signed up new investors and used their money to make monthly disbursements to earlier investors,” telling the senior citizens who gave him their money that those payments “were the profits generated through his surefire management of their retirement portfolios,” RNS reported.
The man who billed himself as “The Money Doctor” on the radio claimed he would help seniors plan their retirement and was guided by the scripture, blending investment advice with Christian messages.
“Our mission is to be a vehicle of God’s peace and comfort to as many people as possible,” the Gallagher Financial Group claimed on its website, “helping first with their financial peace of mind, then also with their spiritual, emotional, and family well-being.”
According to the SEC, Gallagher has “no valid securities-industry credentials” and was in 1999 “reprimanded by the Texas State Securities Board for engaging in fraudulent business practices, including falsifying receipts and falsely advertising himself as a registered investment adviser.”
Religion News Network reported Thursday that W. Neil “Doc” Gallagher, age 78, allegedly stole more than $19 million from senior citizens who heard his paid radio broadcasts in Texas.
The day prior to his March 8 arrest, the Securities and Exchange Commission claimed Gallagher ran a “classic Ponzi scheme” in a complaint filed against him and two of his companies, the report noted.
In the scheme alleged by the SEC, Gallagher “continually signed up new investors and used their money to make monthly disbursements to earlier investors,” telling the senior citizens who gave him their money that those payments “were the profits generated through his surefire management of their retirement portfolios,” RNS reported.
The man who billed himself as “The Money Doctor” on the radio claimed he would help seniors plan their retirement and was guided by the scripture, blending investment advice with Christian messages.
“Our mission is to be a vehicle of God’s peace and comfort to as many people as possible,” the Gallagher Financial Group claimed on its website, “helping first with their financial peace of mind, then also with their spiritual, emotional, and family well-being.”
According to the SEC, Gallagher has “no valid securities-industry credentials” and was in 1999 “reprimanded by the Texas State Securities Board for engaging in fraudulent business practices, including falsifying receipts and falsely advertising himself as a registered investment adviser.”
payback, you elect republicans!!!
Hundreds of Texas landowners get notice of Trump administration's land grab
Gabe Ortiz
Daily Kos Staff
Wednesday March 20, 2019 · 6:20 PM PDT
90-year-old Texan Elvira Canales said that while no one from the federal government has told her a proposed border wall could go through her land, she’s nonetheless prepared to fight to defend what is hers. "I won't sell it,” she said, “or I won't give it permission because it's my property for generations and generations.” Hundreds of others, however, could be bracing for a bitter fight.
“More than 570 landowners in two counties, Hidalgo and Starr, have received right-of-entry letters from the government asking to survey their land for possible border wall construction,” NPR reports. Possible, because Congress has firmly rejected Donald Trump’s border wall, and now his fake emergency is seeking to raid military pensions. The administration is seeking billions, but Texans who have fought the government over previous plans to build border barriers have been paid fractions of that. In 2007, Eloisa Tamez fought a plan to seize her land and lost. She got $56,000. "I converted some of that for scholarships for graduate nursing students,” she said.
Those hundreds of Texas landowners should know who’s to blame for this current mess. “We look forward to Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz explaining to this 90-year old border landowner and others how this represents constituent service at its finest,” said Mario Carrillo of immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice. “The land grab pushed by Republicans seems strikingly at odds with the GOP's self-image as the party of small government and property rights, but Cornyn and Cruz’s acquiescence to Trump is on brand for our state’s senators.”
“More than 570 landowners in two counties, Hidalgo and Starr, have received right-of-entry letters from the government asking to survey their land for possible border wall construction,” NPR reports. Possible, because Congress has firmly rejected Donald Trump’s border wall, and now his fake emergency is seeking to raid military pensions. The administration is seeking billions, but Texans who have fought the government over previous plans to build border barriers have been paid fractions of that. In 2007, Eloisa Tamez fought a plan to seize her land and lost. She got $56,000. "I converted some of that for scholarships for graduate nursing students,” she said.
Those hundreds of Texas landowners should know who’s to blame for this current mess. “We look forward to Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz explaining to this 90-year old border landowner and others how this represents constituent service at its finest,” said Mario Carrillo of immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice. “The land grab pushed by Republicans seems strikingly at odds with the GOP's self-image as the party of small government and property rights, but Cornyn and Cruz’s acquiescence to Trump is on brand for our state’s senators.”
