kpete

kpete's Journal

February 26, 2019

For McConnell, politics is about accruing political power for the sole purpose of accruing more

At the New York Review of Books Daily, Michael A. Cohen pens Mitch McConnell, Republican Nihilist.

But if there is one defining characteristic of McConnell’s more than three decades in national politics, it is the prizing of political expediency over integrity, ideology, and any other impulse that should define public service in a representative democracy. For McConnell, as for the president whom he has repeatedly enabled, winning is the only thing that matters. All other considerations are secondary to that goal.

. . .

Indeed, as alarming as Browning’s comparison might seem, it doesn’t quite do justice to the malign impact that Mitch McConnell has had on modern American politics. No politician has done more to weaken American democracy and undermine the nation’s most basic norms than McConnell. Nor is any politician more responsible for Trump’s rise to power. All of it has been in pursuit of the narrowest, most parochial goals.

What separates McConnell from other destructive political actors, such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his fellow congressional Republican revolutionaries, or President George W. Bush and his vice president, Dick Cheney, is that McConnell’s political actions are unmoored from ideology and policy. For McConnell, politics is fundamentally about accruing political power for the sole purpose of accruing more political power.

https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/michael-a-cohen/

February 26, 2019

Taxes so simple they can be done on a postcard.

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February 26, 2019

Univision says Jorge Ramoa and his crew members have been detained in Caracas, Venezuela:

** URGENT ** @jorgeramosnews, prominent anchor of prestigious news channel @UniNoticias, has been arbitrarily detained with his crew in Venezuela’s presidential palace following orders of Maduro. They should be immediately released.

https://twitter.com/JMVivancoHRW/status/1100195320041037825

@DCoronell

Atención: Un grupo periodístico de @Univision, encabezado por @jorgeramosnews, está arbitrariamente retenido en el Palacio de Miraflores en Caracas porque a @NicolasMaduro no le gustaron sus preguntas. También están confiscados los equipos técnicos.

https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1100196227235364864

February 26, 2019

Women loses baby during DHS custody - ICE: "a stillbirth is not considered an in-custody death"

Joint Statement from ICE and CBP on stillbirth in custody
On Feb. 22, while being processed for release from DHS custody, a 24-year-old Honduran woman went into premature labor and delivered a stillborn baby at the Port Isabel Detention Center (PIDC).

The woman, whose name and identifying details are being withheld in order to protect her privacy, reported being six months pregnant at the time of her apprehension by the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP), shortly before midnight on February 18 near Hidalgo, Texas. While in USBP custody, she was taken to the hospital and cleared for release on Feb. 21 after receiving two medical screenings. In the late afternoon on Feb. 22, she was transferred to ICE custody to be processed for release.

That same evening, while being processed for release by ICE, she began complaining of abdominal discomfort and was examined by the ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC). The clinical director was called and ordered that she be sent to the hospital. EMS was called. At that time, she conveyed that the baby was coming. She went into premature labor, at 27 weeks pregnant, and delivered an unresponsive male infant. IHSC initiated CPR and EMS transported them both to the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas, where the infant was later pronounced dead.

The woman remains in ICE custody awaiting medical clearance, after which she will be released from custody.

Although for investigative and reporting purposes, a stillbirth is not considered an in-custody death, ICE and CBP officials are proactively disclosing the details of this tragic event to be transparent with Congress, the media and the public.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/joint-statement-ice-and-cbp-stillbirth-custody
https://twitter.com/JessicaValenti/status/1100154437237125120

February 26, 2019