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solarbirdWhelp time to separate out fascism and police violence editions again.
----- 1 -----
‘Absolute immunity:’ Kayleigh McEnany claims Trump has monarch-like powers despite Supreme Court ruling
on July 9, 2020
By David Edwards
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/absolute-immunity-kayleigh-mcenany-claims-trump-has-monarch-like-powers-despite-supreme-court-ruling/
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday said that President Donald Trump continues to believe that he has “absolute immunity” from prosecution despite a Supreme Court ruling that said otherwise.
At a White House briefing, McEnany argued that a high court ruling which gives prosecutors the right to subpoena Trump’s financial records is actually a “win for the president.”
“The president was making general point about deference and on the principal of absolute immunity,” she explained. “He believes there should have been more deference [to him by the court].”
“On the ruling today, the Supreme Court is rejecting this assertion from the president that he is immune to investigation while in office,” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins noted. “Does he agree that he is not immune?”
“He still maintains his initial position,” McEnany replied. “He takes issue with the point that with the majority made on absolute immunity but, nevertheless, I would underscore the victory here.”
“If the president still believes he has absolute immunity, it makes it sound as though he thinks he’s above the law while he is president of the United States, at least,” another reporter pointed out.
“It’s almost as if folks don’t understand a legal term,” the press secretary complained. “Absolute immunity is a legal term of art.”
----- 2 -----
Ankit Panda
twitter.com/nktpnd
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1281621674295791616
“...voting privilege” — This is dangerous. And wrong.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Donald J. Trump
twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1281621674295791616
....Absentee Ballots are fine because you have to go through a precise process to get your voting privilege. Not so with Mail-Ins. Rigged Election!!! 20% fraudulent ballots?
----- 3 -----
Daniel Dale
twitter.com/ddale8
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1281605063358775296
It seems almost quaint amid a pandemic, but the hurricane-tweet fiasco was really illustrative and important. A whole administrative machine sprung into action to try to make the president's trivial wrongness appear right.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Capital Weather Gang
twitter.com/capitalweather
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/capitalweather/status/1281596651174584320
Key email from then WH chief of staff Mulvaney to Commerce Sec Ross in #Sharpiegate, released in probe Thurs. "it appears as if the NWS intentionally contradicted the president."realdonaldtrump wants "a correction or an explanation or both."
Our report: https://wapo.st/2ZfWK9x
----- 4 -----
WATCH: Fox’s Dobbs Says Supreme Court “Infiltrated by Deep State”
BY Todd Neikirk July 10, 2020
https://hillreporter.com/watch-foxs-dobbs-says-supreme-court-infiltrated-by-deep-state-73038
Thanks to some nifty filibustering by Mitch McConnell and a timely retirement by Anthony Kennedy, Donald Trump has appointed two Supreme Court justices. And Republicans have expected his appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to willingly do the President’s bidding. It has not exactly worked out that way.
On Thursday, both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch voted to allow the state of New York access to Donald Trump’s tax return. This decision did not sit well with Fox News’ Lou Dobbs who claimed the court has been infiltrated by the “deep state.”
----- 5 -----
The U.S. Army Twitch Channel Is Banning People for Asking About War Crimes
During the stream, the Green Beret on camera characterized viewers asking about U.S. atrocities as "internet keyboard monsters" and said, "I'm bigger than you."
by Matthew Gault
July 9, 2020
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7w38m/the-us-army-esports-twitch-channel-is-banning-people-for-asking-about-war-crimes
The American military is getting big into esports. The U.S. Army has launched its own Twitch channel where members of its team stream Call of Duty: Warzone and interact with users on the site. The channel has videos going back two months, but things got spicy in the chat on Wednesday night when viewers started asking questions about U.S. war crimes.
The U.S. Army esports team’s Twitch channel maintains its own chat rules that go beyond Twitch’s terms of service and community guidelines. Those rules don’t specifically mention asking about war crimes. Regardless, the moderator in the U.S. Army's channel quickly banned anyone who brought up, say, the My Lai Massacre or the Kunduz hospital airstrike.
The game being played, Call of Duty: Warzone, is a tactical military shooter in which highly skilled players can use the weapon white phosphorus (which the U.S. has admitted to using) against opponents as they outrun deadly gas on a modern battlefield.
A video posted to Twitter by esports personality Rod Breslau shows them attempting to ask, "What's your favorite U.S. war crime?" in the Twitch chat before receiving a notification saying their message couldn't be sent due to the channel moderation settings. They changed their question to: “what’s your favorite u.s. w4r cr1me?”
"Have a nice time getting banned, my dude," replied Green Beret Joshua “Strotnium” David, the Army esports member and 12-year veteran on camera.
The U.S. Army esports team became the target of trolling on Twitter on June 30 when its official twitter account used “UwU”—an emoji that symbolizes overwhelming cuteness—and heart emojis when replying to Discord’s twitter account. Seeing a symbol of overwhelming military force act like a teenage anime fan online spurred trolls to turn it into a meme, mock the U.S. esports Army account, and make a game of seeing how fast they could get banned from the team's Discord server.
During the stream, David characterized the viewers reminding others of documented U.S. atrocities as "internet keyboard monsters" and said, "I'm bigger than you."
“I think every post that I do from now on is going to say UwU in it just to flex,” David said on Twitch. “Ya’ll are gonna talk all that crap to my angels on the esports team, the nicest person in the entire world, you little internet keyboard monsters. No, I won’t stand for that. I’m bigger than you.”
Shortly after the exchange, the stream stopped. When it returned, only viewers who’d been following the U.S. Army esports channel for at least 24 hours could post in chat.
----- 6 -----
Trump news – live: President considers commuting Roger Stone's prison sentence as New Hampshire rally cancelled
Alex Woodward, Joe Sommerlad
10 July 2020
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-live-us-coronavirus-latest-update-fauci-deaths-a9611786.html
Donald Trump is mulling whether to commute Roger Stone's prison sentence, days before he's expected to report to jail following a host of charges related to Robert Mueller's 2016 investigation into foreign interference in US elections.
Before touring Florida on Friday, the president postponed its New Hampshire rally scheduled for Saturday as a storm threatens the East Coast and as a growing number of Americans are concerned about coronavirus infections, which have surged across the US in recent weeks.
The president used an interview with Fox News ally Sean Hannity to attempt to pin the blame for a spike in cases on Anthony Fauci, whom the president called “a nice man" but said that "he’s made a lot of mistakes” – despite the president's disregard for medical advice to push for states to reopen.
State health officials reported more than 55,000 new cases of Covid-19 for the third day in a row on Thursday, with California, Florida and Texas recording new daily death rates highs of 149, 120 and 105, respectively, as Kentucky became the latest state to order its residents to wear face coverings in public. Officials at the World Health Organisation warned on Friday that it's "very unlikely" that the world, as is, can eradicate the virus and should consider retreating to lockdown measures.
----- 7 -----
Never Again Action
twitter.com/NeverAgainActn
9 July 2020
https://twitter.com/NeverAgainActn/status/1281284890886103043
[THREAD]
Trump & ICE are moving closer and closer to their vision of white supremacy.
Here's some of what's going on JUST THIS WEEK:
[NEXT]
1) ICE is planning on using a recent ruling to pull children away from their families. They can #FreeTheFamilies at any time, but instead, they choose this:
[QUOTED TWEET]
RAICES
twitter.com/RAICESTEXAS
2 July 2020
https://twitter.com/RAICESTEXAS/status/1278833545293844480
ABSOLUTELY NOT. This is exactly what we feared twitter.com/ICEgov would do. Family separation 2.0 IS NOT A CHOICE.
Congress needs to demand ICE do the following:
--> Release families together NOW
--> Demand that ICE commit to a permanent family unity policy
#FreeThemAll #SafeAndTogether
[QUOTED TWEET]
Camilo Montoya-Galvez
twitter.com/camiloreports
2 July 2020
DOJ says ICE is looking to "negotiate the implementation of a process" to obtain permission from parents to have their kids be released without them to a sponsor, "if the parent so chooses."
twitter.com/RAICESTEXAS, twitter.com/aldea_pjc lawyers for families have opposed that:
[LINKS TO:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-migrant-families-congress-release-court-order-coronavirus/
]
[NEXT]
2) ICE is starting a "Citizen's Academy" in Chicago to train people on "firearms familiarization" and "targeted arrests".
They want to show civilians how to target, intimidate, and harm immigrants. This is, simply put, Nazi shit.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Ashley Huebner
twitter.com/A_Huebner
6 July 2020
https://twitter.com/A_Huebner/status/1280257924137390085
Holy hell. This is a new level of repulsive
[EMBEDDED IMAGE OF INVITATION TO ERO CITIZENS ACADEMY OFFERING TRAINING ON ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL OPERATIONS, PAGE ONE. THERE IS AN IMPLIED PAGE TWO NOT INCLUDED. TRANSCRIPTION BY EDITOR.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
To whom it may concern:
You have been identified as a valued member of the community who may have interest in participating in the inaugural class of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Chicago Citizens Academy.
The ERO Citizens Academy (ECA) is an interactive 6-day program, occurring one day a week over 6 weeks. This [sic] first of its kind, the Chicago ECA will serve as a pilot for nationwide implementation. During the ECA, participants will gain insights into the many facets and responsibilities of ICE/ERO operations, and hopefully an awareness and appreciation of the issues our officers face every day in the performance of their duties. We also want to learn from you, our key stakeholders, so I look forward to your participation.
Your valued participation will build a strong foundation of knowledge for those intrigued by the ERO mission. The curriculum includes an introduction to ERO Chicago staff, mapping the lifestyle of a subject through ERO, including the role of the Office of Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA). Attendees will participate in scenario-based training and exercises conducted in a safe and positive environment, including, but not limited to defensive tactics, firearms familiarization, and targeted arrests.
The ECA will be held every Tuesday from 2-6 p.m.; it will commence on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, and conclude on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. The ECA will be held at the Chicago Field Office; 101 W Idea B. Wells Parkway, Suite 4000, Chicago, IL., as well as other locations in the area based on the learning objectives. After completion of the ECA, a graduation ceremony will be held on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020; graduates will be awarded a certificate and a commemorative coin. Continuing Education credits (CEUs) may be available upon request.
Your personal health and safety are our priority. Participants will be issued Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and we will adhere to social distancing guidelines. ERO is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other federal, state, and local agencies to facilitate a speedy, whole-of-government response in confronting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), keeping everyone safe, and helping detect and slow the spread of the virus.
]
[THREAD CONTINUES AT UPPERMOST LINK]
----- 8 -----
U.S. Broadcasting Agency Will Not Extend Visas For Its Foreign Journalists
David Folkenflik
July 9, 2020
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/09/889301025/u-s-broadcasting-agency-will-not-extend-visas-for-its-foreign-journalists
Dozens of foreign nationals working as journalists in the U.S. for Voice of America, the federal government's international broadcaster, will not have their visas extended once they expire, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.
Those people — each with current or past ties to the agency — said the new CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Michael Pack, signaled he will not approve the visa extensions.
"That is horrible," Matt Armstrong, a former member of the governing board over the agency, told NPR. "Many are likely to face repercussions, some very severe." (That board, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, no longer exists.)
A spokesman for the agency did not respond to requests for comment.
----- 9 -----
Vicky Ward
twitter.com/VickyPJWard
9 July 2020
https://twitter.com/VickyPJWard/status/1281217680222097409
An official said that Trump had requested a deadline extension because the report was “complicated” and the president had “been focused on addressing the coronavirus crisis and other matters.”
[QUOTED TWEET]
Vicky Ward
twitter.com/VickyPJWard
9 July 200
https://twitter.com/VickyPJWard/status/1281217445190131714
Trump’s annual financial disclosure report was due to be released more than a week ago and is still not published. Trump was already given a 45-day extension.
It is the only official public document detailing Trump’s personal finances.
https://nytimes.com/2020/07/08/us/politics/trump-financial-disclosure.html
----- 10 -----
GOP House Candidate Blames 2018 California Wildfires On “Ray Beams” During Appearance On #QAnon Show
July 8, 2020
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/07/gop-house-candidate-blames-2018-california-wildfires-on-ray-beams-during-appearance-on-qanon-show/
“There’s a lot of suspicion, and I think there’s a lot of truth to this, that they had a lot of the – when you put in the new homes you have the meters that go in there – these meters were set off by a lucid ray beam that blew up these meters in the start of the Paradise fire, which took so many lives.
“So is it planned? I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole, but I can tell you there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered now. And they’ve been doing it primarily, these natural disasters, is primarily to grab more federal funds because they know that federal, the feds will bail us out.
“And here we are again, coronavirus, 52 billion, finally came out and they said it. So that is the beginning of the, beginning of the end of the Newsom regime.
“And hopefully with that, some of the other nefarious characters will be taken out as well.” – Republican US House candidate James Bradley, speaking on the YouTube show of leading QAnon nutbag Amy Vandersteel.
Bradley is running to unseat Rep. Ted Lieu and has been “proudly endorsed” by the California Republican Party.
----- 11 -----
Trump commutes longtime friend Roger Stone’s sentence
By JILL COLVIN and ERIC TUCKER
10 July 2020
https://apnews.com/4d9cba90d023cde628040b1ca0eb89fd
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called Roger Stone to inform his longtime political confidant that he would commute his sentence for crimes related to the Russia investigation, Stone told The Associated Press on Friday, just days before he was set to report to prison.
The White House later confirmed the commuting of the sentence in a statement, saying Stone was a victim of the Russia “hoax.”
The move, though short of a full pardon, is sure to alarm critics who have long railed against the president’s repeated interventions in the nation’s justice system.
“The president told me he thought my trial has been unfair,” Stone told the AP in a phone call from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Stone said he expressed his gratitude and was popping Champagne.
Stone had been sentenced in February to three years and four months in prison for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. He was set to report to prison by Tuesday.
A commutation would not erase Stone’s felony convictions in the same way a pardon would, but it would protect him from serving prison time as a result.
[SEE ALSO:
Celeste Katz Marston
twitter.com/CelesteKatzNYC
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/CelesteKatzNYC/status/1281741909338337280
“Roger Stone is now a free man!” — Here’s the full White House statement on the Trump commutation:
[EMBEDDED IMAGES OF STATEMENT]
[EDITOR: ...which are batshit insane, seriously. Worth a read.]
]
----- 12 -----
Doctors, teachers reject Trump's pressure to reopen U.S. schools
Susan Heavey
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-uda-education/doctors-teachers-reject-trumps-pressure-to-reopen-us-schools-idUSKBN24B2D3
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Groups representing the nation’s doctors, teachers and top school officials on Friday pushed back against pressure from President Donald Trump to fully reopen U.S. schools despite a surge in coronavirus cases, saying science must guide the decisions.
...
Trump ramped up his threat on Friday, saying the Treasury Department would re-examine schools’ tax-exempt status and their federal funding.
...
Trump has accused Democrats of exploiting the pandemic for political gain by refusing to reopen schools and businesses to hurt the economy and his re-election prospects, even as health experts caution against easing restrictions too quickly.
“Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education,” he said in a Twitter post on Friday. “Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!”
It was not immediately clear how Treasury could restrict funds, and the department could not be immediately reached for comment. Most primary and secondary school funding is local.
- ‘Absolute immunity:’ Kayleigh McEnany claims Trump has monarch-like powers despite Supreme Court ruling
- Echoing rightist language, Trump calls voting a "privilege," as opposed to a right.
- A whole administrative machine sprung into action to try to make the president's trivial wrongness appear right.
- WATCH: Fox’s Dobbs Says Supreme Court “Infiltrated by Deep State”
- The U.S. Army Twitch Channel Is Banning People for Asking About War Crimes
- Trump news – live: President considers commuting Roger Stone's prison sentence as New Hampshire rally cancelled
- ICE is starting a "Citizen's Academy" in Chicago to train people on "firearms familiarization" and "targeted arrests".
- U.S. Broadcasting Agency Will Not Extend Visas For Its Foreign Journalists
- Trump’s annual financial disclosure report was due to be released more than a week ago and is still not published. Trump was already given a 45-day extension.
- GOP House Candidate Blames 2018 California Wildfires On “Ray Beams” During Appearance On #QAnon Show
- Trump commutes longtime friend Roger Stone’s sentence
- Doctors, teachers reject Trump's pressure to reopen U.S. schools as Trump calls schools, universities "Radical Left Indoctrination."
----- 1 -----
‘Absolute immunity:’ Kayleigh McEnany claims Trump has monarch-like powers despite Supreme Court ruling
on July 9, 2020
By David Edwards
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/absolute-immunity-kayleigh-mcenany-claims-trump-has-monarch-like-powers-despite-supreme-court-ruling/
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday said that President Donald Trump continues to believe that he has “absolute immunity” from prosecution despite a Supreme Court ruling that said otherwise.
At a White House briefing, McEnany argued that a high court ruling which gives prosecutors the right to subpoena Trump’s financial records is actually a “win for the president.”
“The president was making general point about deference and on the principal of absolute immunity,” she explained. “He believes there should have been more deference [to him by the court].”
“On the ruling today, the Supreme Court is rejecting this assertion from the president that he is immune to investigation while in office,” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins noted. “Does he agree that he is not immune?”
“He still maintains his initial position,” McEnany replied. “He takes issue with the point that with the majority made on absolute immunity but, nevertheless, I would underscore the victory here.”
“If the president still believes he has absolute immunity, it makes it sound as though he thinks he’s above the law while he is president of the United States, at least,” another reporter pointed out.
“It’s almost as if folks don’t understand a legal term,” the press secretary complained. “Absolute immunity is a legal term of art.”
----- 2 -----
Ankit Panda
twitter.com/nktpnd
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1281621674295791616
“...voting privilege” — This is dangerous. And wrong.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Donald J. Trump
twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1281621674295791616
....Absentee Ballots are fine because you have to go through a precise process to get your voting privilege. Not so with Mail-Ins. Rigged Election!!! 20% fraudulent ballots?
----- 3 -----
Daniel Dale
twitter.com/ddale8
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1281605063358775296
It seems almost quaint amid a pandemic, but the hurricane-tweet fiasco was really illustrative and important. A whole administrative machine sprung into action to try to make the president's trivial wrongness appear right.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Capital Weather Gang
twitter.com/capitalweather
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/capitalweather/status/1281596651174584320
Key email from then WH chief of staff Mulvaney to Commerce Sec Ross in #Sharpiegate, released in probe Thurs. "it appears as if the NWS intentionally contradicted the president."
realdonaldtrump wants "a correction or an explanation or both."Our report: https://wapo.st/2ZfWK9x
----- 4 -----
WATCH: Fox’s Dobbs Says Supreme Court “Infiltrated by Deep State”
BY Todd Neikirk July 10, 2020
https://hillreporter.com/watch-foxs-dobbs-says-supreme-court-infiltrated-by-deep-state-73038
Thanks to some nifty filibustering by Mitch McConnell and a timely retirement by Anthony Kennedy, Donald Trump has appointed two Supreme Court justices. And Republicans have expected his appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to willingly do the President’s bidding. It has not exactly worked out that way.
On Thursday, both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch voted to allow the state of New York access to Donald Trump’s tax return. This decision did not sit well with Fox News’ Lou Dobbs who claimed the court has been infiltrated by the “deep state.”
----- 5 -----
The U.S. Army Twitch Channel Is Banning People for Asking About War Crimes
During the stream, the Green Beret on camera characterized viewers asking about U.S. atrocities as "internet keyboard monsters" and said, "I'm bigger than you."
by Matthew Gault
July 9, 2020
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7w38m/the-us-army-esports-twitch-channel-is-banning-people-for-asking-about-war-crimes
The American military is getting big into esports. The U.S. Army has launched its own Twitch channel where members of its team stream Call of Duty: Warzone and interact with users on the site. The channel has videos going back two months, but things got spicy in the chat on Wednesday night when viewers started asking questions about U.S. war crimes.
The U.S. Army esports team’s Twitch channel maintains its own chat rules that go beyond Twitch’s terms of service and community guidelines. Those rules don’t specifically mention asking about war crimes. Regardless, the moderator in the U.S. Army's channel quickly banned anyone who brought up, say, the My Lai Massacre or the Kunduz hospital airstrike.
The game being played, Call of Duty: Warzone, is a tactical military shooter in which highly skilled players can use the weapon white phosphorus (which the U.S. has admitted to using) against opponents as they outrun deadly gas on a modern battlefield.
A video posted to Twitter by esports personality Rod Breslau shows them attempting to ask, "What's your favorite U.S. war crime?" in the Twitch chat before receiving a notification saying their message couldn't be sent due to the channel moderation settings. They changed their question to: “what’s your favorite u.s. w4r cr1me?”
"Have a nice time getting banned, my dude," replied Green Beret Joshua “Strotnium” David, the Army esports member and 12-year veteran on camera.
The U.S. Army esports team became the target of trolling on Twitter on June 30 when its official twitter account used “UwU”—an emoji that symbolizes overwhelming cuteness—and heart emojis when replying to Discord’s twitter account. Seeing a symbol of overwhelming military force act like a teenage anime fan online spurred trolls to turn it into a meme, mock the U.S. esports Army account, and make a game of seeing how fast they could get banned from the team's Discord server.
During the stream, David characterized the viewers reminding others of documented U.S. atrocities as "internet keyboard monsters" and said, "I'm bigger than you."
“I think every post that I do from now on is going to say UwU in it just to flex,” David said on Twitch. “Ya’ll are gonna talk all that crap to my angels on the esports team, the nicest person in the entire world, you little internet keyboard monsters. No, I won’t stand for that. I’m bigger than you.”
Shortly after the exchange, the stream stopped. When it returned, only viewers who’d been following the U.S. Army esports channel for at least 24 hours could post in chat.
----- 6 -----
Trump news – live: President considers commuting Roger Stone's prison sentence as New Hampshire rally cancelled
Alex Woodward, Joe Sommerlad
10 July 2020
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-live-us-coronavirus-latest-update-fauci-deaths-a9611786.html
Donald Trump is mulling whether to commute Roger Stone's prison sentence, days before he's expected to report to jail following a host of charges related to Robert Mueller's 2016 investigation into foreign interference in US elections.
Before touring Florida on Friday, the president postponed its New Hampshire rally scheduled for Saturday as a storm threatens the East Coast and as a growing number of Americans are concerned about coronavirus infections, which have surged across the US in recent weeks.
The president used an interview with Fox News ally Sean Hannity to attempt to pin the blame for a spike in cases on Anthony Fauci, whom the president called “a nice man" but said that "he’s made a lot of mistakes” – despite the president's disregard for medical advice to push for states to reopen.
State health officials reported more than 55,000 new cases of Covid-19 for the third day in a row on Thursday, with California, Florida and Texas recording new daily death rates highs of 149, 120 and 105, respectively, as Kentucky became the latest state to order its residents to wear face coverings in public. Officials at the World Health Organisation warned on Friday that it's "very unlikely" that the world, as is, can eradicate the virus and should consider retreating to lockdown measures.
----- 7 -----
Never Again Action
twitter.com/NeverAgainActn
9 July 2020
https://twitter.com/NeverAgainActn/status/1281284890886103043
[THREAD]
Trump & ICE are moving closer and closer to their vision of white supremacy.
Here's some of what's going on JUST THIS WEEK:
[NEXT]
1) ICE is planning on using a recent ruling to pull children away from their families. They can #FreeTheFamilies at any time, but instead, they choose this:
[QUOTED TWEET]
RAICES
twitter.com/RAICESTEXAS
2 July 2020
https://twitter.com/RAICESTEXAS/status/1278833545293844480
ABSOLUTELY NOT. This is exactly what we feared twitter.com/ICEgov would do. Family separation 2.0 IS NOT A CHOICE.
Congress needs to demand ICE do the following:
--> Release families together NOW
--> Demand that ICE commit to a permanent family unity policy
#FreeThemAll #SafeAndTogether
[QUOTED TWEET]
Camilo Montoya-Galvez
twitter.com/camiloreports
2 July 2020
DOJ says ICE is looking to "negotiate the implementation of a process" to obtain permission from parents to have their kids be released without them to a sponsor, "if the parent so chooses."
twitter.com/RAICESTEXAS, twitter.com/aldea_pjc lawyers for families have opposed that:
[LINKS TO:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-migrant-families-congress-release-court-order-coronavirus/
]
[NEXT]
2) ICE is starting a "Citizen's Academy" in Chicago to train people on "firearms familiarization" and "targeted arrests".
They want to show civilians how to target, intimidate, and harm immigrants. This is, simply put, Nazi shit.
[QUOTED TWEET]
Ashley Huebner
twitter.com/A_Huebner
6 July 2020
https://twitter.com/A_Huebner/status/1280257924137390085
Holy hell. This is a new level of repulsive
[EMBEDDED IMAGE OF INVITATION TO ERO CITIZENS ACADEMY OFFERING TRAINING ON ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL OPERATIONS, PAGE ONE. THERE IS AN IMPLIED PAGE TWO NOT INCLUDED. TRANSCRIPTION BY EDITOR.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
To whom it may concern:
You have been identified as a valued member of the community who may have interest in participating in the inaugural class of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Chicago Citizens Academy.
The ERO Citizens Academy (ECA) is an interactive 6-day program, occurring one day a week over 6 weeks. This [sic] first of its kind, the Chicago ECA will serve as a pilot for nationwide implementation. During the ECA, participants will gain insights into the many facets and responsibilities of ICE/ERO operations, and hopefully an awareness and appreciation of the issues our officers face every day in the performance of their duties. We also want to learn from you, our key stakeholders, so I look forward to your participation.
Your valued participation will build a strong foundation of knowledge for those intrigued by the ERO mission. The curriculum includes an introduction to ERO Chicago staff, mapping the lifestyle of a subject through ERO, including the role of the Office of Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA). Attendees will participate in scenario-based training and exercises conducted in a safe and positive environment, including, but not limited to defensive tactics, firearms familiarization, and targeted arrests.
The ECA will be held every Tuesday from 2-6 p.m.; it will commence on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, and conclude on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. The ECA will be held at the Chicago Field Office; 101 W Idea B. Wells Parkway, Suite 4000, Chicago, IL., as well as other locations in the area based on the learning objectives. After completion of the ECA, a graduation ceremony will be held on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020; graduates will be awarded a certificate and a commemorative coin. Continuing Education credits (CEUs) may be available upon request.
Your personal health and safety are our priority. Participants will be issued Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and we will adhere to social distancing guidelines. ERO is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other federal, state, and local agencies to facilitate a speedy, whole-of-government response in confronting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), keeping everyone safe, and helping detect and slow the spread of the virus.
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[THREAD CONTINUES AT UPPERMOST LINK]
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U.S. Broadcasting Agency Will Not Extend Visas For Its Foreign Journalists
David Folkenflik
July 9, 2020
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/09/889301025/u-s-broadcasting-agency-will-not-extend-visas-for-its-foreign-journalists
Dozens of foreign nationals working as journalists in the U.S. for Voice of America, the federal government's international broadcaster, will not have their visas extended once they expire, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.
Those people — each with current or past ties to the agency — said the new CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Michael Pack, signaled he will not approve the visa extensions.
"That is horrible," Matt Armstrong, a former member of the governing board over the agency, told NPR. "Many are likely to face repercussions, some very severe." (That board, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, no longer exists.)
A spokesman for the agency did not respond to requests for comment.
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Vicky Ward
twitter.com/VickyPJWard
9 July 2020
https://twitter.com/VickyPJWard/status/1281217680222097409
An official said that Trump had requested a deadline extension because the report was “complicated” and the president had “been focused on addressing the coronavirus crisis and other matters.”
[QUOTED TWEET]
Vicky Ward
twitter.com/VickyPJWard
9 July 200
https://twitter.com/VickyPJWard/status/1281217445190131714
Trump’s annual financial disclosure report was due to be released more than a week ago and is still not published. Trump was already given a 45-day extension.
It is the only official public document detailing Trump’s personal finances.
https://nytimes.com/2020/07/08/us/politics/trump-financial-disclosure.html
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GOP House Candidate Blames 2018 California Wildfires On “Ray Beams” During Appearance On #QAnon Show
July 8, 2020
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/07/gop-house-candidate-blames-2018-california-wildfires-on-ray-beams-during-appearance-on-qanon-show/
“There’s a lot of suspicion, and I think there’s a lot of truth to this, that they had a lot of the – when you put in the new homes you have the meters that go in there – these meters were set off by a lucid ray beam that blew up these meters in the start of the Paradise fire, which took so many lives.
“So is it planned? I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole, but I can tell you there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered now. And they’ve been doing it primarily, these natural disasters, is primarily to grab more federal funds because they know that federal, the feds will bail us out.
“And here we are again, coronavirus, 52 billion, finally came out and they said it. So that is the beginning of the, beginning of the end of the Newsom regime.
“And hopefully with that, some of the other nefarious characters will be taken out as well.” – Republican US House candidate James Bradley, speaking on the YouTube show of leading QAnon nutbag Amy Vandersteel.
Bradley is running to unseat Rep. Ted Lieu and has been “proudly endorsed” by the California Republican Party.
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Trump commutes longtime friend Roger Stone’s sentence
By JILL COLVIN and ERIC TUCKER
10 July 2020
https://apnews.com/4d9cba90d023cde628040b1ca0eb89fd
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called Roger Stone to inform his longtime political confidant that he would commute his sentence for crimes related to the Russia investigation, Stone told The Associated Press on Friday, just days before he was set to report to prison.
The White House later confirmed the commuting of the sentence in a statement, saying Stone was a victim of the Russia “hoax.”
The move, though short of a full pardon, is sure to alarm critics who have long railed against the president’s repeated interventions in the nation’s justice system.
“The president told me he thought my trial has been unfair,” Stone told the AP in a phone call from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Stone said he expressed his gratitude and was popping Champagne.
Stone had been sentenced in February to three years and four months in prison for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. He was set to report to prison by Tuesday.
A commutation would not erase Stone’s felony convictions in the same way a pardon would, but it would protect him from serving prison time as a result.
[SEE ALSO:
Celeste Katz Marston
twitter.com/CelesteKatzNYC
10 July 2020
https://twitter.com/CelesteKatzNYC/status/1281741909338337280
“Roger Stone is now a free man!” — Here’s the full White House statement on the Trump commutation:
[EMBEDDED IMAGES OF STATEMENT]
[EDITOR: ...which are batshit insane, seriously. Worth a read.]
]
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Doctors, teachers reject Trump's pressure to reopen U.S. schools
Susan Heavey
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-uda-education/doctors-teachers-reject-trumps-pressure-to-reopen-us-schools-idUSKBN24B2D3
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Groups representing the nation’s doctors, teachers and top school officials on Friday pushed back against pressure from President Donald Trump to fully reopen U.S. schools despite a surge in coronavirus cases, saying science must guide the decisions.
...
Trump ramped up his threat on Friday, saying the Treasury Department would re-examine schools’ tax-exempt status and their federal funding.
...
Trump has accused Democrats of exploiting the pandemic for political gain by refusing to reopen schools and businesses to hurt the economy and his re-election prospects, even as health experts caution against easing restrictions too quickly.
“Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education,” he said in a Twitter post on Friday. “Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!”
It was not immediately clear how Treasury could restrict funds, and the department could not be immediately reached for comment. Most primary and secondary school funding is local.
