rawstory--2020-12-18--Bombshell report: Jared Kushner set up shell company that diverted campaign cash to Trump family mem

Bombshell report: Jared Kushner set up shell company that diverted campaign cash to Trump family members

Jared Kushner helped set up a shell company that secretly paid President Donald Trump ’ s family members and spent nearly half of his 2020 campaign ’ s funds .
The president ’ s son-in-law and White House senior adviser directed his sister-in-law Lara Trump , Vice President Mike Pence ’ s nephew John Pence and Trump campaign CFO Sean Dollman to sit on the shell company ’ s board , a source familiar with the operation told Business Insider .
The company , which was incorporated as American Made Media Consultants Corporation and American Made Media Consultants LLC , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s $ 1.26 billion war chest , according to campaign finance records .
Trump ’ s top advisers and campaign staff told Insider they were unaware of how the shell company operated , and campaign officials even conducted an internal audit of its operations under former campaign manager Brad Parscale but never reported those findings , and the next campaign manager Bill Stepien had little involvement with AMMC .
“ Nothing was done without Jared ’ s approval , ” said a former advisor to Trump ’ s 2016 campaign .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because Jared doesn ’ t want him to know.
” The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed a civil complaint in July with the Federal Election Commission accusing the campaign of disguising ” about $ 170 million in spending “ by laundering the funds ” through AMMC .
“ [ It ’ s a ] scheme to evade telling voters even the basics on where its money is really going [ and a ] shield to disguise the ultimate recipients of its spending , ” said Brendan Fischer , the center ’ s director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Justice may open a criminal investigation if the government suspects the payments were a “ knowing and willful ” violation of election law .
Several sources from the Justice Department and FEC told Insider that investigators may already be looking into the campaign ’ s activity .
“ Lara Trump and John Pence resigned from the AMMC board in October 2019 to focus solely on their campaign activities , however , there was never any ethical or legal reason why they could not serve on the board in the first place , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s communications director .
“ John and Lara were not compensated by AMMC for their service as board members .
”

Jared Kushner helped set up a shell company that secretly paid President Donald Trump's family members and spent nearly half of his 2020 campaign's funds.
The president's son-in-law and White House senior adviser directed his sister-in-law Lara Trump, Vice President Mike Pence's nephew John Pence and Trump campaign CFO Sean Dollman to sit on the shell company's board, a source familiar with the operation told Business Insider.
The company, which was incorporated as American Made Media Consultants Corporation and American Made Media Consultants LLC, spent $617 million of the campaign's $1.26 billion war chest, according to campaign finance records.
Trump's top advisers and campaign staff told Insider they were unaware of how the shell company operated, and campaign officials even conducted an internal audit of its operations under former campaign manager Brad Parscale but never reported those findings, and the next campaign manager Bill Stepien had little involvement with AMMC.
"Nothing was done without Jared's approval," said a former advisor to Trump's 2016 campaign. "What Stepien doesn't know is because Jared doesn't want him to know."
The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed a civil complaint in July with the Federal Election Commission accusing the campaign of disguising" about $170 million in spending "by laundering the funds" through AMMC.
"[It's a] scheme to evade telling voters even the basics on where its money is really going [and a] shield to disguise the ultimate recipients of its spending," said Brendan Fischer, the center's director of federal reform.
The Department of Justice may open a criminal investigation if the government suspects the payments were a "knowing and willful" violation of election law.
Several sources from the Justice Department and FEC told Insider that investigators may already be looking into the campaign's activity.
"Lara Trump and John Pence resigned from the AMMC board in October 2019 to focus solely on their campaign activities, however, there was never any ethical or legal reason why they could not serve on the board in the first place," said Tim Murtaugh, the campaign's communications director. "John and Lara were not compensated by AMMC for their service as board members."


rawstory--2020-12-20--Homeland Security told Trump attorney DHS can't seize voting machines: report

Donald Trump 's post-election efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential results have distracted from his response to the coronavirus pandemic , as cases surged in November and December .
On Saturday night , The Washington Post published a deep-dive titled , `` The inside story of how Trump 's denial , mismanagement and magical thinking led to the pandemic 's dark winter . ''
< p > '' As the number of coronavirus cases ticked upward in mid-November — worse than the frightening days of spring and ahead of an expected surge after families congregated for Thanksgiving — four doctors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to stage an intervention , '' the newspaper reported.
< br/ > < /p > < p > The intervention was reportedly led by Deborah Birx , Anthony S. Fauci , Stephen Hahn and Robert Redfield.
< /p > < p > '' White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows , among the many Trump aides who were infected with the virus this fall , was taken aback , according to three senior administration officials with knowledge of the discussions .
He told the doctors he did not believe their troubling data assessment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problems without prescribing solutions , '' the newspaper explained .
`` The doctors explained that the solutions were simple and had long been clear — among them , to leverage the power of the presidential bully pulpit to persuade all Americans to wear masks , especially the legions of Trump supporters refusing to do so , and to dramatically expand testing .
`` < br/ > < /p > < p > Trump , as his Twitter followers can attest , was focused on the fact he lost the 2020 election.
< /p @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days without mentioning the pandemic other than to celebrate progress on vaccines .
The president by then had abdicated his responsibility to manage the public health crisis and instead used his megaphone almost exclusively to spread misinformation in a failed attempt to overturn the results of the election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden , '' the newspaper reported.
< /p > < p > Reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb , Ashley Parker , Josh Dawsey and Philip Rucker spoke with `` one of Trump 's closest advisers .
`` < /p > < p @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' I think he 's just done with COVID , '' the advisor , who was granted anonymity , said .
`` I think he put it on a timetable and he 's done with covid .
.
.
.
It just exceeded the amount of time he gave it .
`` < /p > < p > Read the < a href= '' https : //www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/trump-covid-pandemic-dark-winter/ ?
itid=hp-top-table-main '' target= '' _blank '' > full report < /a > .
< /p > < div class= '' rm-shortcode '' data-rm-shortcode-id= '' c493d067ca8da5285969e2ed876ad66a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blockquote class= '' twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet '' data-partner= '' rebelmouse '' data-twitter-tweet-id= '' 1340105528622497793 '' > < div style= '' margin:1em 0 '' > Our daily update is published .
States reported 2.1 million tests , 229k cases , and 2,751 deaths .
There are a record… https : //t.co/kCm7vbDQ9m < /div > — The COVID Tracking Project ( @ The COVID Tracking Project ) < a href= '' https : //twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/statuses/1340105528622497793 '' > 1608341030.0 < /a > < /blockquote > < /div >

"If you look at the sheer number of people charged in the Georgia case, you're talking about 18 Trump allies, including Trump himself," said anchor Abby Phillip. "They're accused of racketeering, at least one, and at least one related crime. There's a lot of conduct alleged here, including trying to tamper with voting machines, and actual voting information. What is your take on the actual information contained in this document?"
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
"So, a couple things," said Sununu. "I'm not a lawyer. I will say, this is incredibly similar to the federal indictment that Jack Smith is doing out of DOJ. Other than, as you brought up, now 18 people involved. That's a much bigger swath of individuals. Something that I think republicans need to take note of, this is a grand jury in a very conservative state. That said, this guy needs to be indicted. This isn't just the Department of Justice and the idea that it's all politicized. This is a grand jury in Georgia of all states."
All of this, said Sununu, underscores the fact that "this guy can't win in November."
"You might give him the nomination — I hope we don't — but this guy cannot win a state like New Hampshire, or Arizona, where these two states they absolutely have to have," said Sununu. "Last time I checked, you can't govern if you don't win. It's just gonna be another sob story for Donald Trump. And he's gonna crush the Republican ticket going down. I still am very hopeful the Republicans as a whole make a smart choice and find that one or two candidates to go against him by the time Iowa in New Hampshire hit."
Watch the video below or at the link.


rawstory--2020-12-20--Trump adviser admits he’s stopped caring about the pandemic: ‘He’s just done with COVID’

Donald Trump 's post-election efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential results have distracted from his response to the coronavirus pandemic , as cases surged in November and December .
On Saturday night , The Washington Post published a deep-dive titled , `` The inside story of how Trump 's denial , mismanagement and magical thinking led to the pandemic 's dark winter . ''
`` As the number of coronavirus cases ticked upward in mid-November — worse than the frightening days of spring and ahead of an expected surge after families congregated for Thanksgiving — four doctors on President Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intervention , '' the newspaper reported .
The intervention was reportedly led by Deborah Birx , Anthony S. Fauci , Stephen Hahn and Robert Redfield .
`` White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows , among the many Trump aides who were infected with the virus this fall , was taken aback , according to three senior administration officials with knowledge of the discussions .
He told the doctors he did not believe their troubling data assessment .
And he accused them of outlining problems without prescribing solutions , '' the newspaper explained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solutions were simple and had long been clear — among them , to leverage the power of the presidential bully pulpit to persuade all Americans to wear masks , especially the legions of Trump supporters refusing to do so , and to dramatically expand testing . ''
Trump , as his Twitter followers can attest , was focused on the fact he lost the 2020 election .
`` Trump went days without mentioning the pandemic other than to celebrate progress on vaccines .
The president by then had abdicated his responsibility to manage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his megaphone almost exclusively to spread misinformation in a failed attempt to overturn the results of the election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden , '' the newspaper reported .
Reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb , Ashley Parker , Josh Dawsey and Philip Rucker spoke with `` one of Trump 's closest advisers . ''
`` I think he 's just done with COVID , '' the advisor , who was granted anonymity , said .
`` I think he put it on a timetable and he 's done with covid .
.
.
.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ he gave it . ''

Donald Trump's post-election efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential results have distracted from his response to the coronavirus pandemic, as cases surged in November and December.
On Saturday night, The Washington Post published a deep-dive titled, "The inside story of how Trump's denial, mismanagement and magical thinking led to the pandemic's dark winter."
"As the number of coronavirus cases ticked upward in mid-November — worse than the frightening days of spring and ahead of an expected surge after families congregated for Thanksgiving — four doctors on President Trump's task force decided to stage an intervention," the newspaper reported.
The intervention was reportedly led by Deborah Birx, Anthony S. Fauci, Stephen Hahn and Robert Redfield.
"White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, among the many Trump aides who were infected with the virus this fall, was taken aback, according to three senior administration officials with knowledge of the discussions. He told the doctors he did not believe their troubling data assessment. And he accused them of outlining problems without prescribing solutions," the newspaper explained. "The doctors explained that the solutions were simple and had long been clear — among them, to leverage the power of the presidential bully pulpit to persuade all Americans to wear masks, especially the legions of Trump supporters refusing to do so, and to dramatically expand testing."
Trump, as his Twitter followers can attest, was focused on the fact he lost the 2020 election.
"Trump went days without mentioning the pandemic other than to celebrate progress on vaccines. The president by then had abdicated his responsibility to manage the public health crisis and instead used his megaphone almost exclusively to spread misinformation in a failed attempt to overturn the results of the election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden," the newspaper reported.
Reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb, Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Philip Rucker spoke with "one of Trump's closest advisers."
"I think he's just done with COVID," the advisor, who was granted anonymity, said. "I think he put it on a timetable and he's done with covid. . . . It just exceeded the amount of time he gave it."
Read the full report.


rawstory--2020-12-19--Body cam catches Boston cop bragging about running over Black Lives Matter protestors

It is a tall order to earn the title of `` Worst U.S .
Senator '' in the current environment , but Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is certainly making a fine run for the honor .
Today Johnson attacked Americans from sea to shining sea by at least temporarily sabotaging a bipartisan plan to provide everyone $ 1,200 stimulus checks .
Johnson 's acts of principle are customarily confined to such causes as carrying out dirty political tricks in Ukraine , dispelling the hoax of climate change and fighting against people getting health care .
But he has added @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Blocking help to citizens in a pandemic .
< p > As Axios reported earlier in the day , Johnson used U.S. Senate rules to personally block a bipartisan effort championed by fellow right-wing Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri -- working across the aisle with Senator Bernie Sanders -- that would have provided the $ 1,200 payments by unanimous consent.
< /p > < p > Not so fast , said Johnson , dismissing the idea as `` mortgaging our children 's future , '' according to Business Insider and other sources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ present for the children of people we do n't even know ?
< /p > < p > `` The response from Johnson despite his support for the $ 2.2 trillion CARES Act , along with a more recent $ 741 billion defense budget — typified the clunky return many in the GOP have been making to fiscal conservatism as President Donald Trump heads out of office .
The federal debt rose by $ 7 trillion during Trump 's tenure and is now $ 27 trillion , '' Business Insider noted .
< @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is n't alone among Republicans offended at the notion of writing stimulus checks to people not limited to the 74 million or so Americans who failed to re-elect Trump .
But he was the one willing to take the stand earlier today against the bipartisan senators.
< /p > < p > It quickly earned Johnson the scorn he so richly deserved.
< /p > < div class= '' rm-shortcode '' data-rm-shortcode-id= '' 244319f11dc6d57bf59331063592417c '' id= '' ccc06 '' > < blockquote class= '' twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet '' data-partner= '' rebelmouse '' data-twitter-tweet-id= '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ margin:1em 0 '' > '' Senator says $ 1,200 checks would be 'mortgaging our children 's future ' '' Now there 's a face even Gandhi would pun… https : //t.co/hX0VidmvTr < /div > — Craig Rozniecki ( @ Craig Rozniecki ) < a href= '' https : //twitter.com/CraigRozniecki/statuses/1340025548534403074 '' > 1608321961.0 < /a > < /blockquote > < /div > < p > < br/ > < /p > < div class= '' rm-shortcode '' data-rm-shortcode-id= '' cbdc4bf240ac089cfa4c5b1acba600d6 '' id= '' e0a97 '' > < blockquote class= '' twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet '' data-partner= @ @ @ @ @ @ @ > < div style= '' margin:1em 0 '' > Sen .
Ron Johnson had a net worth over 10 million two years ago , I ’ m sure that amount has only increased since .
Russ… https : //t.co/eHkUZJTZRi < /div > — NoelCaslerComedy ( @ NoelCaslerComedy ) < a href= '' https : //twitter.com/CaslerNoel/statuses/1340037844698591233 '' > 1608324893.0 < /a > < /blockquote > < /div > < p > < br/ > < /p > < p > < br/ > < /p > < div class= '' rm-shortcode '' data-rm-shortcode-id= '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ < blockquote class= '' twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet '' data-partner= '' rebelmouse '' data-twitter-tweet-id= '' 1340053468090916866 '' > < div style= '' margin:1em 0 '' > Washington , DC in four tweets -- Ron Johnson edition : https : //t.co/mxSRC0ifnc < /div > — Glenn Greenwald ( @ Glenn Greenwald ) < a href= '' https : //twitter.com/ggreenwald/statuses/1340053468090916866 '' > 1608328618.0 < /a > < /blockquote > < /div > < p > < br/ > < /p > < p > Yes , Johnson is such an ethical bottom-feeder than maybe Gandhi would have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's not just a rich guy personally standing in the way of payments to Americans who are literally starving .
He 's a guy who vastly enriched himself in politics doing that very sort of thing.
< br/ > < /p > < p > Space does not permit a full recounting of Johnson 's political atrocities , only one of which was serving as a partisan bagman trying to destroy President-elect Joe Biden 's candidacy with the help of some of Ukraine 's least noble citizens .
The progressive group One Wisconsin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that chronicles his misdeeds called `` The Wrong Johnson Archive : < /p > < p > An Anthology of U.S .
Senator Ron Johnson 's Embarrassingly Out-of-Touch Record .
It 's online yet space barely permits a full recounting of what 's wrong this guy.
< /p > < p > Johnson 's willingness to fight against direct relief for Americans is consistent with his statement , reported at the Wrong Johnson archive , in which he was quoted , `` When you continue to extend unemployment benefits , people really do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jobs .
`` < /p > < p > One group of people with an incentive to take Johnson 's job is the Wisconsin Democratic Party , whose members duly noted Johnson 's effort today to take a stand against the scurrilous idea of helping Americans in the pandemic.
< /p > < p > Here 's how the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Johnson ' opposition to direct payment to Americans : < /p > < p > `` Johnson said he instead supported a program targeted for small businesses .
'What I fear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bipartisan package and what the senator from Missouri is talking about is the same thing , is a shotgun approach , ' he said.
< /p > < p > `` Johnson 's comments drew sharp criticism from Democrats , who say < a href= '' https : //www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/12/03/tony-evers-asks-feds-prioritize-wisconsin-covid-19-vaccine/3812476001/ '' rel= '' noopener noreferrer '' target= '' _blank '' > federal assistance is desperately needed < /a > as the pandemic has continued to wreak havoc on people 's livelihoods and the economy.
< /p > < p > `` 'Ron Johnson has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need survival checks , ' said Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson , who has said he will run for Johnson 's seat in 2022 .
'Time for a new senator . '
'' < /p > < p > < br/ > < br/ > < /p > < p > < br/ > < br/ > < br/ > < /p > < p > < img alt= '' the Wrong Johnson Archive '' src= '' https : //lh4.googleusercontent.com/GOjCIfbI4n0zDG3x_wIglpMnEQNafRJHqcUq-xUSG6IJkd-LpqySX9588UW24-sArV8-Ouv__Y04Od-WnkC83cD6QUh_EB8lMYaArleRZqlS7JBbxntgQcf8loVMq-1u3zvJAd6qSNZ3JPVb_Q '' / > < /p > < p > < br/ > < @ @ @ @ @ @ @ > < br/ > < br/ > < /p > < p > < br/ > < br/ > < /p > < p > < br/ > < br/ > < /p > < p > < br/ > < br/ > < /p > < p > < br/ > < br/ > < /p >

Daniel Villarreal, New Civil Rights Movement

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
Still, Ron DeSantis refuses to expand Medicaid, even though 93 percent of the cost is covered with money from Washington, DC. It’s the principle of the thing, apparently: he’s one of 11 red state governors who believes that working poor people simply shouldn’t get health coverage. After all, they didn’t have the good sense to be born into a wealthy family!
Michael, 30, lives in Orlando and has asthma, but running his little business buying and selling used furniture hasn’t earned him enough to cover his medical bills and to pay rent. He recently got an eviction notice, telling the Florida Health Justice Project:
“I was given a list of homeless shelters to choose from but I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.
Violence, hate, bigotry, and cruelty are the four cardinal points of fascism. Compassion and concern for the greater good, for the poor and weak, for the victims of fate and accident have no place in the fascist world.
Historians and political observers have been predicting that America would get our very own Mussolini ever since the days of Barry Goldwater. And there’s been no shortage of candidates: bribe-taking Nixon; Central American fascist-loving Reagan; Gitmo torturing and war-lying Bush; and, of course, Trump.
But with Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American politician who has Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see people die to advance his political career, all while being smart and educated enough to avoid the easily satirized buffoonishness of Trump.
Mussolini was a famously short man who strutted with his muscular chest pushed out and his chin jutted forward, just like DeSantis, who Trump says is musclebound, likes to do.
Both men were socially awkward, craved power, lacked empathy, displayed casual cruelty, sucked up to the wealthiest men in the nation, and demonized opposition politicians — literally calling or implying their fellow citizens are “the enemy” (a favorite trick of Hitler and Orbán, as well) — to encourage their followers to support them or entertain the rhetoric of violence and threats of violence to achieve political ends.
Miriam, a single parent of two young children, discovered a lump in her breast but postponed visiting the doctor for months because she had no health insurance with her job as a housekeeper.
Finally, she realized the potential gravity of her situation.
“I needed to live to be there for my children,” she said.
She got treatment through the charity ward of a hospital, but even that treatment came with a cost of $2,183. She slipped behind in the $200 monthly payments when her job vanished with the pandemic and now she’s struggling to pay the $1783 she still owes in co-payments from her treatments. She’s been sent to collection and is living in fear of what’s next when the court finally comes after her.
Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.
George Washington, in his Farewell Address, warned us of the possible rise of politicians like DeSantis who would suggest other Americans are enemies of the nation’s values, who would exaggerate policy differences in war-like terms, and who would ascribe the most evil of motives and intentions to simple political opponents.
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
But it wasn’t just that calling other politicians enemies or attributing evil motivations to them produced dissension and could tear a society apart, although those concerns were at the top of Washington’s mind.
He also knew that such rhetoric was the platform from which a literal strongman could arise in America, destroying the democracy he’d fought the Revolutionary War to create:
“But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism,” he told the nation. “The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”
Such a warlike approach to politics, Washington said, could only lead in one direction:
“It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”
Such rhetoric, Washington argued, produces:
“A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.”
It’s been 225 years since George Washington uttered those words. And now we’re here.
Hipolito, the father of four, is worried about his life’s partner, the mother of their children.
“My wife has been in pain for weeks now but we can’t afford to find out why,” Hipolito told the Florida Health Justice Project. “I swear, I’m very afraid. She is pale and suffering every day.”
He notes that his wife hasn’t visited the doctor because their family can’t afford the expense when they must also house, feed, and clothe their kids on his job as a cook.
Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.
Arresting black men for voting, terrifying them and ruining their lives while making sure they all get paraded in chains before the cameras.
Threatening public school teachers with prison for simply teaching history.
Lying about medical science regarding vaccines to suck up to the Trump base, resulting in fewer Floridians being protected from a disease that is killing literally hundreds of Americans every day.
Using rhetoric that feeds bigotry and hate against gay, lesbian, and trans people.
Intimidating the college board so they strip the Black Lives Matter movement out of their advanced placement African-American Studies curriculum.
Lying to asylum-seekers to get them on a plane to Martha’s Vineyard as a stunt to elevate his own political fortunes.
Ron DeSantis is just fine with all of this. Cruelty is his trademark.
Ignoring the health and safety of his state’s citizens, DeSantis led Florida into a veritable Covid Armageddon, letting (as of January 16th) 84,176 of his citizens die from the disease. As former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CBS’ Face The Nation:
“They let the virus spread largely unchecked in terms of personal mitigation. People weren't wearing masks. They weren't encouraged to wear masks. Vaccination was encouraged for the elderly population, but not widely… So they made policy choices, and the consequence was an infection that largely engulfed most parts of the state.”
After this orgy of death and disease, at the end of 2021 about 12 percent of Florida’s population — almost 2.6 million — still lacked any form of medical insurance because of DeSantis’ refusal to expand Medicaid for low-income people.
And now as many as 2 million more Floridians will join the ranks of the uninsured in the coming months.
Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.


rawstory--2020-12-21--Trump biographer perfectly explains why president is MIA on COVID and Russian hack

Biographer of President Donald Trump , Tim O'Brien , penned TrumpNation , the 2005 story details what it is like to be the larger than life figure who spends `` most evenings he 's at home watching TV and munching Oreos . ''
But in a recent Bloomberg column , O'Brien explained that the United States would spend a very long time trying to deal with the aftermath of his presidency .
`` Nothing in his past had prepared him for the presidency or for effectively managing a bureaucracy as complex , influential and sprawling as the federal government , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how to fix it , '' Trump infamously proclaimed .
`` I alone can fix it . ''
O'Brien called it `` a hollow claim four years ago , and it remains so today , as Trump winds down his last month in office .
It 's also unfortunate that two primo examples of Trump 's ineptitude landed with full force over the past week .
They 're reminders of the devastating consequences of living with a president who has no interest in putting his shoulder to the wheel so he can capably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His failures rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine should n't come as a surprise given Trump bought into the `` herd immunity '' theory of curing the virus .
The president seems more focused on taking credit for the vaccine than he does in distributing it .
While Operation Warp Speed helped to contribute to a speedy vaccination , O'Brien said that `` there 's reason to suspect that the government is mismanaging distribution . ''
There are already problems .
Some states were promised doses only to find out what they got was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of relief but also a lot of confusion .
Where is President Trump ?
He appears to be tweeting and watching a lot of Fox News .
The second example of Trump 's failures in office stems from the recent announcement that Russia , again , hacked the U.S. government and that the president suggested it was probably China , not Russia .
His government clarified that he was wrong .
Even that comment took a week for him to say about the cyberattack .
`` Perhaps some of this is due @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coddling and solicitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin has had visible and detrimental consequences , including this recent cyberattack , '' said O'Brien .
`` Trump is n't one to acknowledge that his dances with dictators were n't really in his control .
Perhaps he also realizes that he and his government were asleep at the switch for months while federal networks were being fleeced , and he 's not one to acknowledge a failure such as that , either . ''
O'Brien said that while this may be some reasons for Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ simply does n't care .
It does n't matter what he does , how many lawsuits there are or angry tweets at the Supreme Court ; he 'll be gone on Jan. 20 .
`` As surprised as anyone that he won the election in 2016 , he immediately began leaning on others to run the government for him and has never cared for the responsibilities that come with occupying the White House , '' O'Brien recalled .
In the end , it is n't Trump 's incompetence that will haunt him , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ generations , he closed .

Biographer of President Donald Trump, Tim O'Brien, penned TrumpNation. The 2005 story details what it is like to be the larger than life figure who spends "most evenings he's at home watching TV and munching Oreos." But in a recent Bloomberg column, O'Brien explained that the United States would spend a very long time trying to deal with the aftermath of his presidency.
"Nothing in his past had prepared him for the presidency or for effectively managing a bureaucracy as complex, influential and sprawling as the federal government," wrote O'Brien.
"I know how to fix it," Trump infamously proclaimed. "I alone can fix it."
O'Brien called it "a hollow claim four years ago, and it remains so today, as Trump winds down his last month in office. It's also unfortunate that two primo examples of Trump's ineptitude landed with full force over the past week. They're reminders of the devastating consequences of living with a president who has no interest in putting his shoulder to the wheel so he can capably manage the country's affairs."
His failures rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine shouldn't come as a surprise given Trump bought into the "herd immunity" theory of curing the virus. The president seems more focused on taking credit for the vaccine than he does in distributing it.
While Operation Warp Speed helped to contribute to a speedy vaccination, O'Brien said that "there's reason to suspect that the government is mismanaging distribution."
There are already problems. Some states were promised doses only to find out what they got was less than expected. There's a lot of relief but also a lot of confusion. Where is President Trump? He appears to be tweeting and watching a lot of Fox News.
The second example of Trump's failures in office stems from the recent announcement that Russia, again, hacked the U.S. government and that the president suggested it was probably China, not Russia. His government clarified that he was wrong. Even that comment took a week for him to say about the cyberattack.
"Perhaps some of this is due to the reality that Trump's repeated coddling and solicitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin has had visible and detrimental consequences, including this recent cyberattack," said O'Brien. "Trump isn't one to acknowledge that his dances with dictators weren't really in his control. Perhaps he also realizes that he and his government were asleep at the switch for months while federal networks were being fleeced, and he's not one to acknowledge a failure such as that, either."
O'Brien said that while this may be some reasons for Trump's disinterest, another is that he simply doesn't care. It doesn't matter what he does, how many lawsuits there are or angry tweets at the Supreme Court; he'll be gone on Jan. 20.
"As surprised as anyone that he won the election in 2016, he immediately began leaning on others to run the government for him and has never cared for the responsibilities that come with occupying the White House," O'Brien recalled.
In the end, it is Trump's incompetence that will haunt him, and haunt America likely for generations, he closed.
Read the full editorial at Bloomberg.


rawstory--2020-12-21--Congress has 'grave concerns' Trump team is trashing White House records

House Oversight Committee chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney expressed `` grave concerns '' Monday that the outgoing Trump administration `` may be disposing '' of presidential records in violation of federal law .
`` Every bit of this information belongs to the American people and the White House can not deprive the public of this information . ''
—New York AG Letitia JamesMaloney ( D-N.Y. ) voiced her concerns in a letter to Archivist of the United States David Ferriero .
She referenced the Presidential Records Act and the requirements the post-Watergate statute imposes on President Donald Trump and the National @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which Ferriero heads .
The law says that the president ca n't get rid of presidential records , including memos , emails , and notes , without first getting `` the views , in writing , of the Archivist concerning the proposed disposal . ''
The archivist must `` request the advice '' of several congressional committees—including the House Oversight Committee—regarding such proposals to see if the records in question `` may be of special interest to the Congress '' or if congressional consultation may be `` in the public interest .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ her committee `` has no visibility into what is happening at the White House in terms of archiving and transferring records to NARA . ''
What 's more , in light of Covid-19 , `` NARA has not detailed any employees to the White House to assist or oversee this process , as it has in past transitions .
`` The Democratic congresswoman also pointed to reporting indicating that Trump has not been compliant with record-keeping obligations , citing a 2018 report from Politico indicating that White House staffers were forced—in the face @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and throwing them in garbage or on the floor—to reassemble pieces with Scotch tape .
Maloney added that `` our existing laws may need review and revision to strengthen oversight and compliance . ''
She demanded answers by January 5 , 2021 to a number questions including whether any Trump administration official has disposed of records since Inauguration Day and `` What efforts , if any , have you made to determine whether President Trump and White House officials are disposing of presidential records without '' adhering to PRA requirements .
The congresswoman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sent last week by a coalition of state attorneys general to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone reminding the administration of its `` record preservation obligations . ''
Led by New York 's Letitia James and dated December 16 , the 15 AGs wrote that they `` have serious concerns about compliance by White House personnel with their Presidential Records Act obligations , including preservation of records and proper use of non-official electronic message accounts . ''
Beyond the reported ripping of papers , fueling concerns about record-keeping are Trump son-in-law and senior advisor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump 's use of personal email for White House business .
`` The Trump administration should n't have to be told that they need to comply with the law and keep all records of official business , but the last four years have shown that the president needs to be constantly reminded what the law is and how he must comply with it , '' James said in a statement Wednesday .
`` Even the president 's tweets , the private conversations he had with Russian President Putin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must be archived , '' added James .
`` Every bit of this information belongs to the American people and the White House can not deprive the public of this information . ''

#BREAKING Chair @RepMaloney sent a letter to the Archivist of the United States expressing grave concerns that the outgoing #TrumpAdmin may not be complying with the Presidential Records Act.
Read the full release here: https://t.co/V9cszapaWq — Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) December 21, 2020
I wrote a letter to the White House today to remind the Trump administration that it must preserve and maintain all presidential records.
By law, every bit of this information belongs to the American people, and this president and the White House cannot deprive them of it. — NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) December 16, 2020
House Oversight Committee chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney expressed "grave concerns" Monday that the outgoing Trump administration "may be disposing" of presidential records in violation of federal law. "Every bit of this information belongs to the American people and the White House cannot deprive the public of this information." —New York AG Letitia JamesMaloney (D-N.Y.) voiced her concerns in a letter to Archivist of the United States David Ferriero. She referenced the Presidential Records Act and the requirements the post-Watergate statute imposes on President Donald Trump and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which Ferriero heads. The law says that the president can't get rid of presidential records, including memos, emails, and notes, without first getting "the views, in writing, of the Archivist concerning the proposed disposal." The archivist must "request the advice" of several congressional committees—including the House Oversight Committee—regarding such proposals to see if the records in question "may be of special interest to the Congress" or if congressional consultation may be "in the public interest." And yet, wrote Maloney, her committee "has no visibility into what is happening at the White House in terms of archiving and transferring records to NARA." What's more, in light of Covid-19, "NARA has not detailed any employees to the White House to assist or oversee this process, as it has in past transitions."The Democratic congresswoman also pointed to reporting indicating that Trump has not been compliant with record-keeping obligations, citing a 2018 report from Politico indicating that White House staffers were forced—in the face of Trump's habit of ripping papers and throwing them in garbage or on the floor—to reassemble pieces with Scotch tape. Maloney added that "our existing laws may need review and revision to strengthen oversight and compliance." She demanded answers by January 5, 2021 to a number questions including whether any Trump administration official has disposed of records since Inauguration Day and "What efforts, if any, have you made to determine whether President Trump and White House officials are disposing of presidential records without" adhering to PRA requirements. The congresswoman's demands to Ferriero follow a letter sent last week by a coalition of state attorneys general to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone reminding the administration of its "record preservation obligations." Led by New York's Letitia James and dated December 16, the 15 AGs wrote that they "have serious concerns about compliance by White House personnel with their Presidential Records Act obligations, including preservation of records and proper use of non-official electronic message accounts." Beyond the reported ripping of papers, fueling concerns about record-keeping are Trump son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner's communications via WhatsApp and first daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump's use of personal email for White House business."The Trump administration shouldn't have to be told that they need to comply with the law and keep all records of official business, but the last four years have shown that the president needs to be constantly reminded what the law is and how he must comply with it," James said in a statement Wednesday. "Even the president's tweets, the private conversations he had with Russian President Putin, and Ivanka's private email server must be archived," added James. "Every bit of this information belongs to the American people and the White House cannot deprive the public of this information."


rawstory--2020-12-25--Our judicial system keeps swatting away Republican lawsuits like flies

The Republican Party 's astonishing judicial losing streak was increased by at least two Thursday with major rejections in Wisconsin and Georgia .
In Wisconsin , a unanimous 3-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected Donald Trump attorneys ' argument that state election officials violated the U.S. Constitution by taking steps to make voting easier during the COVID-19 pandemic .
And in Georgia , a Fulton County judge dismissed a Republican lawsuit that had attempted to close absentee ballot drop boxes after normal business hours .
The case in Wisconsin was especially striking in that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the opinion written by a Trump appointee , Judge Michael Scudder .
Here 's how Politico reported it : '' President Donald Trump 's ineffectual bid to persuade the courts to overturn his defeat at the polls last month suffered another defeat on Christmas Eve as a federal appeals court rejected his attempt to challenge President-elect Joe Biden 's win by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin .
`` A panel unanimously dismissed arguments from Trump 's attorneys that the Wisconsin Election Commission violated the U.S. Constitution through steps prompted by the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and allowing the use of drop boxes to collect absentee ballots . ''
It turns out that Scudder was not so gentle with his judicial spanking of the president .
`` Scudder said the election changes were not significant enough to run afoul of the Constitution 's provision that state legislatures determine the manner of selecting presidential electors .
He also faulted Trump for challenging those provisions after the election , rather than before , '' Politico reported .
`` The President had a full opportunity before the election to press the very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claims .
Having foregone that opportunity , he can not now — after the election results have been certified as final — seek to bring those challenges , '' Scudder wrote .
`` All of this is especially so given that the Commission announced well in advance of the election the guidance he now challenges . ''
It did n't go any better in Georgia , in a case with implications for the crucial U.S. Senate races .
There , Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams ' issued a ruling that allows voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a day under video surveillance until polls close for the U.S. Senate runoffs Jan. 5 .
She rejected the case after an online court hearing , according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution .
`` The decision is the latest defeat for Republicans who have filed a series of lawsuits in the wake of the presidential election seeking to invalidate its results or change election procedures in the runoffs , '' the newspaper noted .
`` None of these lawsuits has been successful in federal or state courts in Georgia . ''
The Journal-Constitution had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last spring the State Election Board approved a rule that allows counties to collect ballots at drop boxes and requires those ballots to be monitored by video 24 hours a day .
The board adopted the rule as part of a strategy to encourage absentee voting to limit human contact amid the coronavirus pandemic . ''
Arguing against 24-hour access to monitored drop boxes pretty much meets most people 's definition of voter suppression .
Not so , claimed attorney Leah Zammit in the failed Republican lawsuit .
`` The eyes of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this process , '' Zammit had argued .
`` This case is absolutely not about the expansion or dilution of voter rights .
...
This case and this motion is about ensuring that individual counties , 159 within the state of Georgia , do not themselves alter the election rules . ''
Funny how a statement like that sounds so righteous before a case get tossed unceremoniously by a judge .
So it 's on to the next defeat as the shameless Republican legal teams seek to find a Kraken in the judicial @ @

The Republican Party's astonishing judicial losing streak was increased by at least two Thursday with major rejections in Wisconsin and Georgia.
In Wisconsin, a unanimous 3-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected Donald Trump attorneys' argument that state election officials violated the U.S. Constitution by taking steps to make voting easier during the COVID-19 pandemic. And in Georgia, a Fulton County judge dismissed a Republican lawsuit that had attempted to close absentee ballot drop boxes after normal business hours.
The case in Wisconsin was especially striking in that it was handed down by an all-Republican panel with the opinion written by a Trump appointee, Judge Michael Scudder.
Here's how Politico reported it:
"President Donald Trump's ineffectual bid to persuade the courts to overturn his defeat at the polls last month suffered another defeat on Christmas Eve as a federal appeals court rejected his attempt to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's win by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin.
"A panel unanimously dismissed arguments from Trump's attorneys that the Wisconsin Election Commission violated the U.S. Constitution through steps prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, including easing photo identification requirements and allowing the use of drop boxes to collect absentee ballots."
It turns out that Scudder was not so gentle with his judicial spanking of the president.
"Scudder said the election changes were not significant enough to run afoul of the Constitution's provision that state legislatures determine the manner of selecting presidential electors. He also faulted Trump for challenging those provisions after the election, rather than before," Politico reported.
"The President had a full opportunity before the election to press the very challenges to Wisconsin law underlying his present claims. Having foregone that opportunity, he cannot now — after the election results have been certified as final — seek to bring those challenges," Scudder wrote. "All of this is especially so given that the Commission announced well in advance of the election the guidance he now challenges."
It didn't go any better in Georgia, in a case with implications for the crucial U.S. Senate races. There, Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams' issued a ruling that allows voters to continue using drop boxes 24 hours a day under video surveillance until polls close for the U.S. Senate runoffs Jan. 5. She rejected the case after an online court hearing, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"The decision is the latest defeat for Republicans who have filed a series of lawsuits in the wake of the presidential election seeking to invalidate its results or change election procedures in the runoffs," the newspaper noted. "None of these lawsuits has been successful in federal or state courts in Georgia."
The Journal-Constitution had reported just 15 days earlier that "last spring the State Election Board approved a rule that allows counties to collect ballots at drop boxes and requires those ballots to be monitored by video 24 hours a day. The board adopted the rule as part of a strategy to encourage absentee voting to limit human contact amid the coronavirus pandemic."
Arguing against 24-hour access to monitored drop boxes pretty much meets most people's definition of voter suppression. Not so, claimed attorney Leah Zammit in the failed Republican lawsuit.
"The eyes of the nation are on Georgia, closely watching this process," Zammit had argued. "This case is absolutely not about the expansion or dilution of voter rights. ...This case and this motion is about ensuring that individual counties, 159 within the state of Georgia, do not themselves alter the election rules."
Funny how a statement like that sounds so righteous before a case get tossed unceremoniously by a judge. So it's on to the next defeat as the shameless Republican legal teams seek to find a Kraken in the judicial system.


rawstory--2020-12-28--Saudi women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul given five-year prison sentence

A researcher who identified a novel coronavirus variant in Nigeria has cautioned against automatic assumptions that it poses similar risks to strains that have emerged elsewhere .
The new strain was uncovered last week by scientists at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases ( ACEGID ) in southeastern Nigeria .
< p > ACEGID director Christian Happi said the variant was found in two out of 200 samples of virus collected from patients between August 3 and October 9.
< /p > < p > The two samples were taken from the same state in Nigeria @ @ @ @ @ @ @ p > They show a variant `` different to the one that has been circulating in Nigeria , different from the one in South Africa and different from the one in the UK , '' he said in an interview with AFP.
< /p > < p > Britain tightened restrictions after finding a new strain there that it said was more contagious than initial forms of the virus.
< /p > < p > South Africa says a new strain detected there could explain the rapid spread of a second wave that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ > < p > Happi stressed that scientists were racing to unlock knowledge about the Nigeria strain and urged people not to `` extrapolate .
`` < /p > < p > '' We have no idea , no evidence to say that this variant is linked to the spike we are seeing in Nigeria or not , '' said Happi , explaining that samples from the latest cases were being analysed for an answer.
< /p > < p > Nigeria has recorded more than 82,000 cases of Covid-19 , of which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ p > Compared to the country 's population of some 200 million people , this number is tiny.
< /p > < p > However , the tally of cases has been rising by several hundred a day since the start of December .
There has been a major increase in Lagos , Nigeria 's economic capital , prompting the authorities there to reinstate a curfew and gatherings of more than 50 people.
< /p > < p > But the number of deaths in Nigeria has not experienced a proportionate surge.
< @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mutation - < /p > < p > Happi , a Cameroon-raised , Harvard-trained professor of molecular biology , works in a state-of-the-art lab in Ede , southeastern Nigeria.
< /p > < p > It is one of only 12 in Africa designed to sequence viral genetic code and track mutations -- telltale changes that can be used to build a family tree of the microbe.
< /p > < p > From this , the scientists at Ede believe the variant evolved `` within Nigeria , I do n't think it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Happi.
< /p > < p > '' When changes occur , what matters most , what we 're focusing on , is the spike protein , '' he said , referring to the prong-like protein by which coronavirus latches onto a cell and infects it.
< /p > < p > Happi said there was a `` tendency to extrapolate '' after a discovery of this kind.
< /p > < p > But he cautioned strongly against automatically assuming that what happened in one population setting would also happen elsewhere.
< @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difference ?
- < /p > < p > '' A lot of the models drawn at the onset of the pandemic , all got it wrong , '' he said.
< /p > < p > '' They were saying by now that a third of the African population would be dead .
So people need to think , '' he said.
< /p > < p > '' It is very wrong to assume models based on knowledge that are not accurate or on assumptions that are dependent on data obtained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it to a continent like Africa -- we are genetically different , we are immunologically different .
`` < /p > < p > All of Africa has recorded 2.4 million cases , according to an AFP tally -- just 3.6 percent of the global tally , although testing is also far less widespread .
The continent 's death toll of 57,000 is less than a fifth of that of the United States.
< /p > < p > John Nkengasong , head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also urged patience as scientists worked to understand the Nigerian variant.
< /p > < p > '' Give us some time , '' he said in a videoconference from Addis Ababa .
`` It 's still very early .
`` < /p > < p > Nkengasong appealed to Africans not to let down their guard , warning of the danger of a second wave of infection.
< /p > < p > © 2020 AFP < /p >

In new allegations revealed Wednesday, Texas House investigators accused suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton of engaging in a complex cover-up to hide his relationship with real estate investor Nate Paul as senior aides grew increasingly concerned about Paxton’s willingness to use his office to benefit Paul.
The subterfuge allegedly included Paxton and Paul creating an Uber account under an alias so they could meet each other and so the attorney general could visit the woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair.
And once Paxton learned several high-ranking officials in his office reported his behavior to the FBI, the House impeachment managers alleged, he took immediate steps to cover up his relationship with Paul, including wiring a $122,000 payment to a Paul-affiliated company in an effort to hide home renovations that Paul had provided for free.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
The allegations, outlined in a series of filings with the Texas Senate’s court of impeachment, shed new light on the relationship between Paul and Paxton that is at the core of his impeachment proceedings.
Among the new claims: Top deputies in the attorney general’s office persistently warned Paxton that Paul was a “crook” and that there was no merit to his claims that he had been unfairly treated by law enforcement, and that the two met at least 20 times in spring and summer 2020, sometimes discussing the FBI investigation into Paul’s faltering real estate empire.
Paxton “blindly accepted Paul’s conspiracy,” impeachment managers alleged. “Senior Staff urged Paxton to stay away. But when it came to Paul, Paxton was immune to reason.”
Paul was arrested in June on federal felony charges of lying to financial institutions to secure business loans.
Responding to Paxton’s pretrial motions that seek to dismiss all 20 articles of impeachment, including four that will not be included in the Sept. 5 impeachment trial, House managers also detailed multiple actions in which Paxton allegedly sought to use his office to benefit Paul.
They alleged that Paxton conducted a “sham criminal investigation” into Paul’s “adversaries,” routinely overriding concerns from agency staff who told him that Paul was a “criminal” and that Paxton needed to “get away.”
Instead, House managers alleged, Paxton became increasingly “entangled in Paul’s web of deceit” and “went to great lengths” to hide his relationship with Paul — using a burner phone and secret email accounts, ditching his security detail and using the fake Uber name to be “ferried to his lover’s or Paul’s properties more than a dozen times.”
In response to Paul’s favors — including allegedly employing the woman and paying to remodel Paxton’s home — Paxton “continually abused the power of his office to advance Paul’s aims,” House managers alleged.
In one instance, Paxton allegedly told agency staff that he did not want the office to assist law enforcement “in any way” with an investigation into Paul, who Paxton claimed was being “railroaded” and needed “unprecedented” access to sensitive information about his case.
After meeting with “alarmed” senior staff, Paxton allegedly demanded files about Paul’s criminal case that included an unredacted FBI letter that identified individuals involved in a 2019 raid on Paul’s home and businesses.
“Paxton held onto the file for more than a week,” House managers wrote. “Ultimately, OAG did not disclose the information to Paul. But Paxton did.”
In another instance, Paxton was accused of issuing a legal opinion that staved off a pending foreclosure sale of Paul’s businesses at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. House investigators cited two agency employees who said they were forced to work through the night to produce the opinion while Paxton frequently called them.
Paxton “sounded like someone was holding him hostage,” one of the staffers told investigators.
The opinion, which Paxton allegedly edited himself, was published at 1 a.m. Aug. 2, 2020, and said foreclosure proceedings posed a public health threat — despite the state’s “open for business” mantra throughout the pandemic, managers said.
The next day, managers alleged, Paul cited the opinion to successfully delay the foreclosures.
“It is hard to imagine a more blatant abuse of Paxton’s office,” House managers wrote.
Paxton’s legal team had filed more than a dozen motions to dismiss all articles of impeachment, often arguing that the underlying allegations were baseless or fell under the legitimate duties of the attorney general’s office.
His attorneys also accused the Texas House of trying to “overturn the will of voters” who reelected Paxton to a third term last year despite various public scandals dating to 2015. One argument stressed that Paxton cannot be impeached for alleged misconduct that predated his most recent election under the so-called “prior-term doctrine.” And they downplayed some of the allegations he faces, saying that, even if true, they are not severe enough to warrant his removal from office.
Paxton’s lawyers also attacked two bribery-related impeachment articles, saying there was no evidence of a “quid pro quo” and that Paxton’s ties to Paul were nothing more than “a personal relationship with a constituent and that the constituent found something the Attorney General did to be agreeable in some way.”
Under rules adopted by the Senate, any pretrial motion to dismiss or quash an article of impeachment must be voted on by senators. A majority — 16 senators — can approve dismissal of an article, placing an early test on the determination of the chamber’s 19 Republicans to allow a trial on the allegations. Those votes are set to be taken shortly after the trial begins in September.
In a written response, filed with the Senate on Tuesday and made public Wednesday, the impeachment team challenged other pretrial assertions from Paxton’s lawyers, who claimed the articles of impeachment were deficient because they failed to list specific laws that Paxton allegedly broke.
“Impeachable offenses need not be indictable crimes,” the House team argued. “Impeachment in Texas seeks to protect against conduct that undermines the integrity of the office, disregards constitutional duties and oaths of office, abuses government process and power, and adversely impacts the system of government.”
What’s more, the team argued, many of the articles listed particular crimes, and several detailed “how Paxton abused his office for his own personal benefit or that of Nate Paul and business entities controlled by Paul.”
More broadly, the managers emphasized that the impeachment trial is not a criminal or civil proceeding, as Paxton’s side has implied. In one new filing, the managers wrote that an impeachment trial is “a unique, if not mostly Political, with a capital ‘P’, proceeding — i.e., an action by the representatives of the people challenging official actions that are contrary to the public interest.”
That view aligns with the view that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate and is acting as judge in the impeachment trial, offered in a TV interview Tuesday.
“It’s not a criminal trial. It’s not a civil trial. It’s a political trial,” Patrick told the Fox affiliate in Houston.
The House managers also asked the Senate to dismiss Paxton’s motion to quash the articles or return them to the House to add more detail to the allegations. The managers said the demand shows a “fundamental misunderstanding” of how impeachment works, arguing that the Texas Constitution does not require the level of detail common in a civil or criminal proceeding.
“A person can be impeached without an indictment, therefore Paxton does not have any right to demand more details,” the managers said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.


rawstory--2020-12-28--House passes bipartisan bill to raise stimulus to $2000 — now it heads to the Senate

On Monday , the House of Representatives passed a bill expanding the stimulus payments on COVID-19 relief from $ 600 @ @ @ @ @ the vote was to expedite the measure outside of the normal rules , two thirds @ @ @ @ @ were required to approve it , including those voting by proxy .
Ultimately , over @ @ @ @ @ Democrats to pass the measure , under pressure from outgoing President Donald Trump who held @ @ @ @ @ part over a demand to increase the size of the payments — blindsiding Republicans in @ @ @ @ @ own administration who helped craft the original agreement .
The bill now heads to the @ @ @ @ @ is unclear ; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-KY ) has not supported increasing @ @ @ @ @ , although he is under pressure as a result of the runoff elections in Georgia @

Trained in political science and the law, he has no formal education in disaster preparedness or response. And prior to his current role, he never held a full-time job dedicated to emergency management.
Instead, his main qualification was being chief of staff to then-mayor Alan Arakawa. But in that role, he told Civil Beat Tuesday, he assisted during emergency operations. And he said he participated in online FEMA trainings and workshops throughout the years.
In 2017, Andaya beat out 40 other applicants for the job, Maui Now reported at the time.
As the mayor’s administration was coming to a close, a panel of government officials – which said it was independent of the mayor – chose Andaya for the civil service role.
Civil Beat reviewed Andaya’s experience after historic Lahaina was swallowed by an inferno last week, killing scores of residents and visitors who never saw it coming.
The Maui Emergency Management Agency had the authority to issue siren warnings that might have alerted people. After Andaya’s agency decided not to sound them, many survivors reported they only became aware of the fire when they saw and smelled smoke.
Andaya said sounding the sirens wasn’t an option officials considered because they’re “mainly used for tsunamis.” That’s why they’re mostly located on the coast, he said.
But the state’s own website says the sirens are useful for many kinds of emergencies.
“The all-hazard siren system can be used for a variety of both natural and human-caused events; including tsunamis, hurricanes, dam breaches, flooding, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, terrorist threats, hazardous material incidents, and more,” the site states.
Andaya wasn’t on the island when the fires started, and he hasn’t made any appearances at press conferences since the disaster occurred.
Asked about Andaya’s resume, David Hafner, a retired telecommunications planner for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, questioned whether his relative inexperience affected his agency’s performance in a crisis.
“It’s a good ol’ boy network,” Hafner said. “This time it cost lives.”
Hafner said it’s “absolutely essential” for emergency management leaders to have experience in the field so they make the right decisions both before and after disasters strike.
Not having it, he said, “can lead to grave mistakes in judgment.”
Andaya’s hiring came at a time when Hawaii’s counties had just taken on increased responsibility for disaster response, according to Hafner. State emergency management officials used to be the designated authority to respond to emergencies, he said, but an update to the law in 2014 put the counties in the driver’s seat.
Asked about Andaya’s LinkedIn resume, Colin Moore, a political scientist at the University of Hawaii, said he was shocked by the emergency administrator’s lack of relevant experience. He said the public is owed an explanation.
“It’s a legitimate question to ask why the person leading the county emergency services agency has no clear background in fire, police, public health, the usual emergency services backgrounds,” he said.
“Having that on-the-ground experience, you develop the instincts and the connections to be able to perform a job like this. And if you just have general government experience, there is just no opportunity to have that kind of on-the-ground knowledge that often is really useful in a crisis.”
Andaya said as a former member of the mayor’s cabinet, he was qualified for the job.
“Whenever there was an activation in the emergency operations center, we were involved,” he said. “To say that I have no experience or no background in emergency management is not correct.”
‘Political Influence’ A Concern
Andaya, 52, is from Maui and graduated from HP Baldwin High School.
He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from the University of Hawaii Manoa. He also has a law degree from the UH Richardson School of Law, although he never became a licensed attorney, according to the Hawaii State Bar Association’s online database.
He began his career clerking for Maui Judge Artemio Baxa. He then worked for the law office of Lynn Araki-Regan, an attorney who is the wife of Arakawa’s managing director, Keith Regan.
When Andaya vacated his position as chief of staff, it was filled by Araki-Regan, who was by then the county budget director. Regan said he had no involvement in Andaya’s hiring.
From the early 2000s onward, Andaya has held leadership positions in Maui’s Department of Housing and Human Concerns and worked as the assistant to the chancellor of UH’s Maui College, according to his LinkedIn resume. He is married to Rowena Dagdag-Andaya, a former elementary school teacher who served as Maui’s public works director and now works in Maui’s Office on Aging.
Andaya was Arakawa’s chief of staff from 2011 through 2017. That year, the mayor appointed him acting administrator of MEMA, and he became permanent by the end of that year.
In contrast, Honolulu’s emergency management director, Hiro Toiya, has technical training in emergency response, worked for years as a preparedness planner for the Hawaii health department and rose up the ranks of Honolulu’s Department of Emergency Management. He worked there for more than seven years before becoming the director.
Asked how he stood out among a pool of 40 job candidates, Andaya said Maui doesn’t have a lot of emergency management professionals to begin with. He noted that he had to take an exam and based on his score was determined to be a finalist.
“You would have to question the civil service process if you can believe that politics was involved,” he said. “This is something that my predecessors have to go through as well.”
Before Andaya was hired, there were concerns in Maui’s political scene that the county was considering someone who wasn’t qualified.
“In the past, this position has sometimes been filled by individuals without the proper emergency response background.”
Former Maui County Council Chairman Mike White
In July 2017, the chair of the Maui County Council at the time, Mike White, took the unusual step of writing a Maui News column warning that the job of emergency management was too important to be “subject to political influence.”
“In the past, this position has sometimes been filled by individuals without the proper emergency response background,” White wrote.
“The administration must search for well-qualified candidates who can make a seamless transition in leading our Emergency Management Agency. The stakes are too high and our community has grown to a point where emergency coordination has become quite sophisticated in its implementation.”
In his column, White praised the outgoing emergency management chief, Anna Foust, who had previously worked for years leading the Maui branch of the Red Cross. White emphasized her expertise.
“During her tenure, she used her emergency response experience and training to help guide the county to keep citizens safe during hurricane warnings and watches, flooding events and tsunami warnings,” White wrote.
Civil Beat wasn’t able to reach White for comment.
Panel Of Specialists Chose Andaya
On Tuesday, Arakawa’s former managing director, Keith Regan, said that politics was not a factor in Andaya’s hiring. Asked why Andaya was the best candidate, Regan said he didn’t know because he wasn’t on the hiring committee. But he was adamant there was “zero” political influence in the process.
“This was a straightforward civil service process,” said Regan, who is now the state comptroller.
When Regan ran for Maui County Council in 2015, Andaya was his campaign manager. This year, Andaya wrote a letter of support of Regan’s nomination to state comptroller.
Regan noted that the hiring panel included numerous experts in the field. Maui Now identified them at the time as then-Maui Police Chief Tivoli Faaumu; then-Maui Fire Chief Jeff Murray; Elton Ushio, administrator of the Kauai Emergency Management Agency; and Vern Miyagi, then-administrator of the Hawaii State Emergency Management Agency.
At the time, Ushio was quoted by Maui Now as saying Andaya’s “proven leadership abilities, executive level experience, and impressive knowledge of emergency management” made him a great fit for the job. Murray cited Andaya’s familiarity with government processes, his “institutional knowledge of the various emergency incidents” in recent years, and his then-recent work as acting leader of the department.
“These are not people that, you know, are just political people,” Regan said. “They’re people who understand emergency management and are going to make the right choice for the community.”
In a statement, former HI-EMA director Miyagi said the public’s focus should be on working together on response and recovery.
“Herman Andaya and his staff at MEMA are really good people,” he said. “They carried Maui successfully through numerous hurricanes, floods, and other disasters.”
He said the public should wait for the attorney general’s investigation before drawing conclusions.
Civil Beat left messages with the other hiring committee members on Tuesday, but they were not returned. Former mayor Arakawa also did not respond to a request for comment.
“Herman is a very skilled, experienced, knowledgeable, professional individual,” Regan said. “I trust that is making the right decisions … There is no question in my mind that he cares about that community, and he’s going to do everything he can to keep that community safe.”


rawstory--2020-12-29--Right-wing conspiracy theories are leading to ‘radicalization’ and ‘violent extremism’: security exp

Right-wing conspiracy theories are leading to ‘radicalization’ and ‘violent extremism’: security experts

Panelists on MSNBC 's `` Morning Joe '' puzzled over President Donald Trump 's continued silence on a suicide bombing that ripped apart downtown Nashville on Christmas morning .
The bomb injured eight people and damaged dozens of buildings , but Trump has n't mentioned the explosion while vacationing at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida , and the president 's silence is growing louder as President-elect Joe Biden denounced the bomber and thanked police officers who helped clear the area .
< p > '' In contrast , President Trump has yet to publicly comment on the attack , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ co-host .
`` I mean , has he just stopped being president ?
`` < /p > < p > Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire , also filling in as guest co-host , agreed.
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v=j29S3m31fII & feature=youtu.be '' target= '' _blank '' > www.youtube.com < /a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ < p > < br/ > < /p > < p > `` In many ways he has , '' Lemire said .
`` We have n't heard from him on the virus in weeks and he 's not offered a word of sympathy or even thanks to those who responded to the blast in Nashville , and the governor of Tennessee said he 's heard from the White House who offered resources of support , and the mayor of Nashville said he had not heard anything from President Trump .
This sort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ often do n't hear from the president after matters of domestic terror , when he has been so quick , however , as both candidate and chief executive to do speak out when it 's more of a perhaps an international incident .
What do you make of this ?
Why do you think the president has yet again remained silent on this ?
Is it simply he is n't president anymore ?
`` < /p > < p > Elise Jordan , an MSNBC contributor who served as an aide in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agreed that Trump had simply stopped doing his job.
< /p > < p > `` Sure looks that way , '' Jordan said .
`` I wish that , you know , to be that narcissistic and just have the lack of empathy where you could have so many people dying every day from coronavirus and you could have a suicide bomber explode in downtown Nashville and yet not bat an eyelash , not worry at all and just go along playing golf and making your < a data-linked-post= '' 2649673207 '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' _blank '' > videos < /a > about how great you are and rage tweeting , it just really is incredible .
`` < /p > < p > `` If the suicide bomber had been perhaps of a different ethnicity , do you think that Donald Trump would have raised a little bit more holy hell about it ? ''
she added .
`` Yes , so I want to -- I do n't want to talk before we know the full details of what happened .
It seems like it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bomber who did n't care about collateral damage , but luckily no one was killed .
It 's crazy that this many years after 9/11 , when for so many years we were worried about getting bombed at Walmart , something like this happens on the streets of a major American city and it 's kind of just -- you hear a collective 'whatever , ' and the American president does n't even comment about it .
`` < /p >

Far-right conspiracy theorists are not a new phenomenon. The late conservative National Review founder William F. Buckley famously railed against the John Birch Society during the 1960s, denouncing them as extremists who he believed were bad for the conservative movement. But during the Trump era, far-right conspiracy theorists have become increasingly prominent — and experts on domestic terrorism and national security, according to National Public Radio's Hannah Allam, fear that the number of violent attacks could escalate.
"Domestic terrorism analysts are raising concern about the security implications of millions of conservatives buying into baseless right-wing claims," Allam reports. "They say the line between mainstream and fringe is vanishing, with conspiracy-minded Republicans now marching alongside armed extremists at rallies across the country."
Allam notes that during a recent online conference for the group Millions of Conversations, Mary McCord — a former federal prosecutor who now teaches law at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. — warned, "This tent that used to be sort of 'far-right extremists' has gotten a lot broader. To me, a former counterterrorism official, that's a radicalization process."
Another person who spoke at that online conference was Elizabeth Neumann, a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security official. Although Neumann is conservative, she has become a vehement critic of President Donald Trump and supported former Vice President Joe Biden in the United States' 2020 presidential election. Neumann warned, "Breaking through that echo chamber is critical — or else, we'll see more violence."
Although President-elect Biden enjoyed a decisive victory — winning 306 electoral votes and defeating Trump by over 7 million in the popular vote — the president received 74 million votes. And Allam notes that counterterrorism experts are wondering how many of those 74 million Trump voters are buying into far-right conspiracy theories.
Allam explains, "Political conspiracies drew thousands to last weekend's pro-Trump rally, after which the Proud Boys and other violent extremist groups wreaked havoc in Downtown Washington, D.C…. While it's impossible to pin down the scope of such beliefs, analysts say, the numbers are staggering if even a fraction of President Trump's more than 74 million voters support bogus claims that say, for example, the election was rigged, the coronavirus is a hoax, and liberals are hatching a socialist takeover."
Kori Schake, formerly a senior adviser for the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Security Council, told those attending Millions of Conversations' online event, "It really matters that the president of the United States is an arsonist of radicalization. And it will really help when that is no longer the case."
Arie Kruglanski, who teaches at the University of Maryland and has written a lot about radicalization, is worried as well. Allam quotes Kruglanski as saying, "We don't trust the government. We don't trust the Congress. We don't trust the Supreme Court. We don't trust now the science. We don't trust medicine. We don't trust the media for sure. So, who do we trust? Well, we trust our tribe. We trust conspiracy theories that tell us what we want to hear."
Kruglanski warned, "Every large political movement started at one point as a small fringe minority. And when it catches on, it can engulf the whole society. So, you know, the danger is there."


rawstory--2020-12-29--Health expert reveals how Trump's administration is repeating its COVID-19 failures with vaccine rol

Health expert reveals how Trump's administration is repeating its COVID-19 failures with vaccine rollout

Public health expert Dr. Ashish Jha explained why he 's frustrated with the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine so far -- and revealed who 's to blame .
Jha , who serves as dean of the Brown University School of Public Health , told MSNBC 's `` Morning Joe '' the federal government promised 20 million doses of the vaccine , but he said millions of doses sit unused in hospitals because distribution has n't been properly coordinated .
`` The federal government has does a very good job for setting up the infrastructure to get the vaccines out the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way of helping states get the vaccines into people 's arms , '' Jha said .
`` States are really stretched , they have gotten little money .
The latest COVID relief bill finally gets some dollars to states , which will help , but states are trying to figure this all out on their own , and 50 states figuring out vaccinations on their own -- this is a repeat of testing , of PPE , and at each step the federal government has n't done its part in this partnership .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ play an important role , '' he added .
`` States know a lot about their own populations much better than the federal government does , that 's all true .
But the bottom line is , in the national crisis , we do n't say to every state , 'Hey , good luck , figure this out . '
When we got into World War II , President Roosevelt did n't say to every state , 'Hey , make sure you 've got to build up your own defenses and good luck @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal government has a really important role here , [ and ] they 're not doing that on getting people vaccinated in a way that 's necessary . ''


rawstory--2020-12-31--Sen. Josh Hawley is saying 'Black people voting is fraud' with his election overthrow: Tyranny exper

Sen. Josh Hawley is saying 'Black people voting is fraud' with his election overthrow: Tyranny expert

Sen. Josh Hawley ( R-MO ) is taking up the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election from the U.S. Senate while Rep. Mo Brooks ( R-AL ) plans to do it in the House .
Yale historian and expert on authoritarianism , Timothy Snyder , explained on MSNBC Wednesday that it would n't be hyperbolic to call it an attempted coup d'etat .
He also noted that Hawley 's attempts are an attack on people of color .
Snyder , who literally wrote the book on tyranny , explained that the worst part about Hawley and his ilk is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and that they all know it .
`` Senator Hawley knows that the claims he 's making are not true , '' Snyder told Mehdi Hasan , who was filling in for Chris Hayes .
`` He knows that he is , in effect , endorsing a conspiracy theory .
He knows that what he 's doing is endorsing a story in which Mr. Trump is the victim .
Mr. Trump has been stabbed in the back , and from the point of view of American history and American voters , the sad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the real victims in the history of American voters are the people whose votes are not counted -- African Americans , historically . ''
According to President Donald Trump , it 's the `` cities '' and `` urban '' areas that `` stole '' the election .
What that 's code for is Black people .
Many Trump allies have shown county maps that went blue , lamenting that it should n't be possible that so few counties went for Biden , yet he won the presidency .
What they neglect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shifted significantly over the past several decades and rural areas are dying .
There just is n't the population there that once was .
`` So , what Nr .
Hawley is doing , and that is what is shameful about it for him , I think as a young man , as a white man , it 's shameful to stand up there and endorse the claim that Black people voting is fraud , '' Snyder said .
`` But in addition to the moral shame of it , there is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like this , you 're basically saying , 'The other side has cheated , and so we 're going have to cheat the next time around . '
'' Hasan asked about the allegations that these attempts by the GOP could be considered an attempted coup d'etat .
Technically , the only way it could be a coup d'etat is if Biden was already in power .
But , Snyder said that it was n't hyperbole .
`` I think there is no problem at all calling this a coup or a self-coup @ @ @ @ @ @ @ explained .
`` The only thing which is a little bit different about this , historically speaking , is how much of it Mr. Trump broadcast in advance .
He spent six or seven months before November telling us how he would try to throw the election after November , and he did basically all the things he said he was going to do .
I mean , for people who think the military has to be involved , it 's not for lack of trying . ''
See the full interview below @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about people of color voting

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is taking up the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election from the U.S. Senate while Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) plans to do it in the House. Yale historian and expert on authoritarianism, Timothy Snyder, explained on MSNBC Wednesday that it wouldn't be hyperbolic to call it an attempted coup d'etat. He also noted that Hawley's attempts are an attack on people of color.
Snyder, who literally wrote the book on tyranny, explained that the worst part about Hawley and his ilk is that it's a "big lie" and that they all know it.
"Senator Hawley knows that the claims he's making are not true," Snyder told Mehdi Hasan, who was filling in for Chris Hayes. "He knows that he is, in effect, endorsing a conspiracy theory. He knows that what he's doing is endorsing a story in which Mr. Trump is the victim. Mr. Trump has been stabbed in the back, and from the point of view of American history and American voters, the sad -- the tragic thing about this is that the real victims in the history of American voters are the people whose votes are not counted -- African Americans, historically."
According to President Donald Trump, it's the "cities" and "urban" areas that "stole" the election. What that's code for is Black people. Many Trump allies have shown county maps that went blue, lamenting that it shouldn't be possible that so few counties went for Biden, yet he won the presidency. What they neglect to understand is that the population has shifted significantly over the past several decades and rural areas are dying. There just isn't the population there that once was.
"So, what Nr. Hawley is doing, and that is what is shameful about it for him, I think as a young man, as a white man, it's shameful to stand up there and endorse the claim that Black people voting is fraud," Snyder said. "But in addition to the moral shame of it, there is the political consequences. When you make claims like this, you're basically saying, 'The other side has cheated, and so we're going have to cheat the next time around.'"
Hasan asked about the allegations that these attempts by the GOP could be considered an attempted coup d'etat. Technically, the only way it could be a coup d'etat is if Biden was already in power. But, Snyder said that it wasn't hyperbole.
"I think there is no problem at all calling this a coup or a self-coup or an attempted coup," Snyder explained. "The only thing which is a little bit different about this, historically speaking, is how much of it Mr. Trump broadcast in advance. He spent six or seven months before November telling us how he would try to throw the election after November, and he did basically all the things he said he was going to do. I mean, for people who think the military has to be involved, it's not for lack of trying."
See the full interview below:


rawstory--2020-12-31--Trump could be using arms sales in the Middle East for quid pro quo post-presidency: columnist

On Monday , writing for The Washington Post , columnist Brian Klaas tore into outgoing President Donald Trump for a final round of foreign military sales in the Middle East that function as a `` parting gift to dictators '' — and suggested he could even be using them to set up a private quid pro quo down the road in his post-presidency .
`` All three regimes have abysmal human rights records , '' wrote Klaas .
`` Saudi Arabia has beheaded dissidents , subjugated women and detained female activists who have pushed for reforms , and murdered and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The United Arab Emirates is home to torture , arbitrary detention and forced disappearances .
Egypt 's dictatorship has carried out extrajudicial killings and has tortured activists . ''
`` Given past behavior , we know how these weapons will likely be used , '' warned Klaas .
`` Despots will use them to help facilitate war crimes in places such as Yemen and the Sinai Peninsula while maintaining an iron grip over their own populations — all aided and abetted by the U.S .
government . ''
And even worse , Klaas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these sales to call in a personal favor from these countries in his post-presidency .
`` Once Trump leaves the White House , odds are good that he will cash in , '' he wrote .
`` Seen in that light , the recently approved arms sales and military technology transfers are even more worrying .
Are they just the beginning of a quid pro quo ? ''
All of this is occurring as President-elect Joe Biden alleges the Pentagon is obstructing him from getting all of the national security information he requires @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deny .
`` For the past four years , Trump has painted the image of a United States that consistently sides with tyrants , '' concluded Klaas .
`` Biden now has an opportunity to reverse Trump 's catastrophic foreign policy .
He should take it . ''
You can read more here .

On Monday, writing for The Washington Post, columnist Brian Klaas tore into outgoing President Donald Trump for a final round of foreign military sales in the Middle East that function as a "parting gift to dictators" — and suggested he could even be using them to set up a private quid pro quo down the road in his post-presidency.
"All three regimes have abysmal human rights records," wrote Klaas. "Saudi Arabia has beheaded dissidents, subjugated women and detained female activists who have pushed for reforms, and murdered and dismembered Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The United Arab Emirates is home to torture, arbitrary detention and forced disappearances. Egypt's dictatorship has carried out extrajudicial killings and has tortured activists."
"Given past behavior, we know how these weapons will likely be used," warned Klaas. "Despots will use them to help facilitate war crimes in places such as Yemen and the Sinai Peninsula while maintaining an iron grip over their own populations — all aided and abetted by the U.S. government."
And even worse, Klaas argued, Trump himself could be using these sales to call in a personal favor from these countries in his post-presidency. "Once Trump leaves the White House, odds are good that he will cash in," he wrote. "Seen in that light, the recently approved arms sales and military technology transfers are even more worrying. Are they just the beginning of a quid pro quo?"
All of this is occurring as President-elect Joe Biden alleges the Pentagon is obstructing him from getting all of the national security information he requires for the transition — something administration officials deny.
"For the past four years, Trump has painted the image of a United States that consistently sides with tyrants," concluded Klaas. "Biden now has an opportunity to reverse Trump's catastrophic foreign policy. He should take it."
You can read more here.


rawstory--2020-12-31--Trump takes credit for defeating COVID-19 in New Year’s Eve rant: ‘Everyone is calling to thank me’

Donald Trump on Thursday celebrated the end of 2020 with an upbeat video message where he used xenophobic language to describe the novel coronavirus and claimed that he is receiving calls from around the globe thanking him for his response to the pandemic .
Trump 's comments came one day after the United States set a new record for COVID-19 deaths .
`` 3,927 people died of Covid-19 in 24 hours in the US , according to a count released by Johns Hopkins University , a new daily record for fatalities from the virus , '' AFP reported Wednesday .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 19,715,899 infections and 341,845 deaths since the pandemic began . ''
The surge in death comes against the backdrop of the Trump administration failing to meet their own goals for vaccinations .
`` Nearly 2.8 million people in the U.S. have received 1st dose of # covid19 vaccine .
20 million vaccinations were promised until recently .
Before that , 100 million , '' Dr. Leana Wen noted on Thursday .
`` We need to ramp up speed ASAP . ''
`` They said it would take a medical miracle and that 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ argued .
`` Years from now they 'll be talking about it , they 'll be talking about this great , great thing we did with the vaccines , '' he predicted .
`` We 've already begun a nationwide vaccination program and we 're sending the vaccine all over the world , '' Trump said , despite the shortages of the vaccine in America .
`` The world will benefit , we 'll benefit , and everybody is calling to thank me , '' he claimed .

Donald Trump on Thursday celebrated the end of 2020 with an upbeat video message where he used xenophobic language to describe the novel coronavirus and claimed that he is receiving calls from around the globe thanking him for his response to the pandemic.
Trump's comments came one day after the United States set a new record for COVID-19 deaths.
"3,927 people died of Covid-19 in 24 hours in the US, according to a count released by Johns Hopkins University, a new daily record for fatalities from the virus," AFP reported Wednesday. "That brought the US total to 19,715,899 infections and 341,845 deaths since the pandemic began."
The surge in death comes against the backdrop of the Trump administration failing to meet their own goals for vaccinations.
"Nearly 2.8 million people in the U.S. have received 1st dose of #covid19 vaccine. 20 million vaccinations were promised until recently. Before that, 100 million," Dr. Leana Wen noted on Thursday. "We need to ramp up speed ASAP."
Nevertheless, Trump declared victory.
"They said it would take a medical miracle and that's exactly what it is," Trump argued.
"Years from now they'll be talking about it, they'll be talking about this great, great thing we did with the vaccines," he predicted.
"We've already begun a nationwide vaccination program and we're sending the vaccine all over the world," Trump said, despite the shortages of the vaccine in America.
"The world will benefit, we'll benefit, and everybody is calling to thank me," he claimed.


rawstory--2020-02-03--‘He’s effed’: Rick Wilson worries John Bolton may be imprisoned for crossing Donald Trump

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton could end up imprisoned as retribution for refusing to go along with Donald Trump ’ s scheme to solicit foreign election interference in the 2020 presidential election .
On Monday , Vanity Fair published a story on the topic titled , “ It ’ s payback time ” : With acquittal certain , Trump plots revenge on Bolton , impeachment enemies.
” “ With Senate Republicans on track to acquit Donald Trump on Wednesday , Washington is bracing for what an unshackled Trump does next .
Republicans briefed on Trump ’ s thinking believe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against his adversaries .
‘ It ’ s payback time , ’ a prominent Republican told me last week .
‘ He has an enemies list that is growing by the day , ’ another source said .
Names that came up in my conversations with Republicans included Adam Schiff , Jerry Nadler , Mitt Romney , and John Bolton .
“ Trump ’ s playbook is simple : go after people who crossed him during impeachment , ” correspondent Gabriel Sherman reported .
Veteran GOP strategist Rick Wilson described the dynamic at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump Touches Dies : A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever .
He worried Attorney General Bill Barr might lock up Bolton .
“ Unless the manuscript leaks before the vote , he ’ s f*cked and Trump will likely use Barr to put him in prison , ” Wilson predicted .

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton could end up imprisoned as retribution for refusing to go along with Donald Trump's scheme to solicit foreign election interference in the 2020 presidential election.
On Monday, Vanity Fair published a story on the topic titled, "It's payback time": With acquittal certain, Trump plots revenge on Bolton, impeachment enemies."
"With Senate Republicans on track to acquit Donald Trump on Wednesday, Washington is bracing for what an unshackled Trump does next. Republicans briefed on Trump’s thinking believe that the president is out for revenge against his adversaries. 'It’s payback time,' a prominent Republican told me last week. 'He has an enemies list that is growing by the day,' another source said. Names that came up in my conversations with Republicans included Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Mitt Romney, and John Bolton. “Trump’s playbook is simple: go after people who crossed him during impeachment," correspondent Gabriel Sherman reported.
Veteran GOP strategist Rick Wilson described the dynamic at play in his bestselling 2018 book Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever.
"As I predicted," Wilson tweeted. "Bolton blew his one shot."
He worried Attorney General Bill Barr might lock up Bolton.
"Unless the manuscript leaks before the vote, he’s f*cked and Trump will likely use Barr to put him in prison," Wilson predicted.