A federal appeals court has stayed a judge's order allowing people who said they could not obtain photo IDs to sign an affidavit and vote anyway -- the latest in the legal tug-of-war over Wisconsin's voter ID requirement.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday blocked an order U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman issued in July that allowed anyone without a valid photo ID to sign an affidavit at his or her polling place in order to vote. Adelman's order did not apply in Tuesday's primary, but was on course to take effect for the November general election.

The appeals court judges said the stay was based on the fact that the decision "is likely to be reversed on appeal and that disruption of the state’s electoral system in the interim will cause irreparable injury."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is among the plaintiffs challenging the voter ID law, said in a statement that the decision "guarantees the disenfranchisement of vulnerable Wisconsin citizens in November."

<snip>


read:http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/federal-appeals-court-issues-stay-of-voter-id-ruling/article_da79480c-9d7a-5bf4-8240-8ab3c21f97b4.html

In terms of style and substance, tenor and tone, the two parties’ conventions could not have differed more dramatically. Whereas the Republican gathering focused on fear and division, the Democratic convention called forth hope and constructive action.

And yet, almost paradoxically, there was a common message reverberating through the convention halls in Cleveland and Philadelphia: The system is rigged.
While the causes and consequences of the public perception are many, there’s one hot-button issue in this campaign that exemplifies what people see as wrong with the system: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Negotiated in secret under the advisement of multinational corporations, the TPP gives handouts to the multinational corporate class at the expense of the middle class. It pits workers here against those abroad, boosting profits of multinational corporations while our workers see downward pressure on wages. It allows fossil fuel corporations to sue governments in private tribunals to overturn policies that protect our families and our environment. It gives the pharmaceutical industry monopoly protections while consumers endure skyrocketing prices for medicine.

Despite these concerns, it is an open secret that an overwhelming number of Republicans and a few of their Democratic counterparts are quietly seeking to push TPP through during the lame duck session of Congress. That period after the November elections is when legislators are least accountable. With a lame duck vote, Members of Congress who lost their November elections would still able to throw their weight behind the extraordinarily unpopular deal. Newly-elected Members would not have a voice. And reelected legislators would feel free to take a controversial vote that would please their corporate benefactors, confident that voter anger over their decision will subside in the two years before their next election.


<snip>

Much more about how this could be a big boost for Trump and harm HRC's campaign.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/290791-lame-duck-tpp-vote-could-be-disastrous-for-dems-and

08 Aug, 2016


A new legal opinion, written by two former Justice Department officials from the Antitrust Division, argues that a merger between Bayer and Monsanto would violate the Clayton Act, a law enacted by Congress to curb anti-competitive business practices.

According to the white paper, a Bayer-Monsanto merger would also be in direct violation of a 2008 court order, where Monsanto was forced to divest itself of certain cottonseed and cotton breeding assets, which were sold to Bayer. If the merger proceeds, Monsanto would re-acquire these anti-competitive traits, thereby violating the US Department of Justice’s judgement.

The legal opinion points out that:
•The merger would eliminate direct competition between two of the largest players in the traited seed sector, with direct consequences for seed development, herbicide markets, and innovative and open research and development.
•A merger will mean the new Bayer-Monsanto conglomerate will control nearly 70% of the cotton acreage in the United States – unacceptably high by antitrust standards. It would also have unacceptable market concentration in wide swaths of commercial seed development and sales for other commonly used varieties, including traited canola, soybeans, and corn developed in North America.
•The new corporation would likely lead to higher input prices, with less choice and higher food prices for consumers, and fewer non-biotechnology options available to farmers and consumers.

“A merger between Bayer and Monsanto is a five-alarm threat to our food supply and to farmers around the world,” explained Anne Isakowitsch, Senior Campaigner with SumOfUs. “This new mega corporation would be the world’s biggest seed maker and pesticide company, defying important antitrust protections, giving it unacceptable control over critical aspects of our food supply — undermining consumer choice and the freedom and stability of farmers worldwide.”

<snip>

http://www.lawyer-monthly.com/2016/08/antitrust-experts-warn-against-proposed-bayer-monsanto-merger/

So the fuck what if he bought a house on Lake Champlain?

He has been nothing but gracious and honorable and stuck to his word. And there are still people here sneaking in their contempt and dislike- and stronger- for him.

He is not wealthy by the standards of those in Congress. The Sanders were able to buy this house because they sold a lake house in Maine that Jane Sanders inherited.

Bashing Bernie in this passive aggressive way is contemptible.

There's no other way to look at it.

Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will commit to three debates this fall with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, but may try to re-negotiate the terms that have been agreed upon by a bipartisan commission.

“I will absolutely do three debates,” Trump told TIME in a phone interview. “I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions.”

<snip>


Trump said he reserved the right to object to the commission’s choice of moderators, which have not yet been announced. The choice has stirred controversy before. In 2012, Republicans bristled after CNN’s Candy Crowley inserted herself into an exchange between Presidential Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

“I’ll have to see who the moderators are. Yeah, I would say that certain moderators would be unacceptable, absolutely,” Trump said. “I did very well in the debates on the primaries. According to the polls, I won all of them. So I look forward to the debates. But, yeah, I want to have fair moderators … I will demand fair moderators.”

More Tweaseling here:

http://time.com/4445182/donald-trump-debate-terms/

The worst republican governors, in my mind, in no particular order:

Brownback of Kansas for destroying the KS economy and for imposing his insane far right Christian beliefs on the state.

McCrory of North Carolina for his corruption, his anti-LGBT hate laws and his hideous environmental record.

LePage of Maine because he's a piggy mini-me Trump who promotes hate and penalizes the most vulnerable populations in Maine

Rick Snyder of Michigan. Another cruel fuck who shifted the state tax burden onto the back of the middle class and the working poor, not to mention Flint and insane "pro-life" regulations.

Scott Walker of Wisconsin because of... everything. From union busting to anti-choice regulations to immigration to shredding the social safety net to...

Bobby Jindahl of Louisiana for his profound damage to the economy of Louisiana, the damage he did to education and because he's another xian nutcase who tried to impose his beliefs on institutions across the state.

Rick Scott of Florida. I suppose it's not his fault that he looks like my mind picture of Voldemort or a lizard man from some cheesy 1950s movie, but it certainly is his fault that he's as corrupt as they come, hates poor people and lies like Trump.

Feel free to add or annotate. I'm not from any of the above states and I know others here know far more than I about their republican governors.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to attend a radical anti-LGBT event in being held in Orlando this week exactly two months after the Pulse nightclub shooting, according to news reports from Jenna Browder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News.

As we reported last week, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and a host of anti-LGBT extremists are slated to address the “Rediscovering God in America” event, which is sponsored by the American Renewal Project.

Self-described “political operative” David Lane founded the American Renewal Project as a way to mobilize conservative Christian voters and inspire right-wing pastors to run for elected office. He told Jacobs that he intends to quiz Trump on how he plans to fight “homosexual totalitarianism” and the gay rights “militants.”

Lane, a vocal opponent of LGBT equality, has said that “homosexuals praying at the Inauguration” in 2012 would cause “car bombs in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Des Moines, Iowa” as a sign of God’s judgment and that the “pagan onslaught” of the LGBT rights movement will lead to the destruction of America.

According to an invitation posted by the group Liberty Counsel Action, the speakers will also include:

<snip>
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donald-trump-address-extremist-anti-lgbt-summit-orlando



Donald Trump, Marco Rubio Blasted for Plans to Attend “Extremist Anti-LGBT Summit” in Orlando

Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to LinkedInShare to RedditShare to TumblrShare to Email

“Just when you think Donald Trump and Marco Rubio couldn’t go any lower, they announce plans to court anti-LGBTQ activists in Orlando,” Human Rights Campaign says


Donald Trump is under fire from LGBT advocates for his and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s decision to attend what they consider an anti-LGBT event just miles from Pulse nightclub in Orlando, where a gunman claimed the lives of 49 people at the reputedly gay venue in June.

Adding insult to injury, the gathering is set to take place on the two-month anniversary of the shooting.

“Just when you think Donald Trump and Marco Rubio couldn’t go any lower, they announce plans to court anti-LGBTQ activists in Orlando,” the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBT group, said in a statement on Tuesday.

<snip>
read:http://www.thewrap.com/donald-trump-marco-rubio-anti-lgbtq-orlando/

Cross posted in LGBT Civil Rights and Activism Group.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to attend a radical anti-LGBT event in being held in Orlando this week exactly two months after the Pulse nightclub shooting, according to news reports from Jenna Browder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News.

As we reported last week, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and a host of anti-LGBT extremists are slated to address the “Rediscovering God in America” event, which is sponsored by the American Renewal Project.

Self-described “political operative” David Lane founded the American Renewal Project as a way to mobilize conservative Christian voters and inspire right-wing pastors to run for elected office. He told Jacobs that he intends to quiz Trump on how he plans to fight “homosexual totalitarianism” and the gay rights “militants.”

Lane, a vocal opponent of LGBT equality, has said that “homosexuals praying at the Inauguration” in 2012 would cause “car bombs in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Des Moines, Iowa” as a sign of God’s judgment and that the “pagan onslaught” of the LGBT rights movement will lead to the destruction of America.

According to an invitation posted by the group Liberty Counsel Action, the speakers will also include:

<snip>
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donald-trump-address-extremist-anti-lgbt-summit-orlando



Donald Trump, Marco Rubio Blasted for Plans to Attend “Extremist Anti-LGBT Summit” in Orlando

Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to LinkedInShare to RedditShare to TumblrShare to Email

“Just when you think Donald Trump and Marco Rubio couldn’t go any lower, they announce plans to court anti-LGBTQ activists in Orlando,” Human Rights Campaign says


Donald Trump is under fire from LGBT advocates for his and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s decision to attend what they consider an anti-LGBT event just miles from Pulse nightclub in Orlando, where a gunman claimed the lives of 49 people at the reputedly gay venue in June.

Adding insult to injury, the gathering is set to take place on the two-month anniversary of the shooting.

“Just when you think Donald Trump and Marco Rubio couldn’t go any lower, they announce plans to court anti-LGBTQ activists in Orlando,” the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBT group, said in a statement on Tuesday.

<snip>
read:http://www.thewrap.com/donald-trump-marco-rubio-anti-lgbtq-orlando/

(and his SS detail)

The Secret Service may have bungled Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s elevator ride before a July rally in Colorado, according to emails obtained in local reports.

A “Civilian of the Year” fire marshal shamed by the GOP nominee for not packing more people into his July 29 rally detailed what really happened during the “elevator fiasco” when Trump found himself stuck for about 15 minutes inside a Mining Exchange Hotel lift.

“It was funny,” Brett Lacey told a friend the following Mondayin an email obtained by KMGH-TV. “Turns out someone (Secret Service or his entourage) had an elevator bypass key.”


<snip>

“Our folks went and fished them out,” he added. “Elevator guys get there and say ‘What the crap? Who turned this off?’ Turned it back on a voila.”

CNN reports firefighters lowered a ladder into the elevator for the blowhard candidate and his staff to climb. Despite the brief mishap, the Denver television station states Trump was an hour late to a rally at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

More:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/colo-firefighters-fished-donald-trump-elevator-article-1.2745305

PUBLISHED July 14, 2016


Beijing is sinking.


In some neighborhoods, the ground is giving way at a rate of four inches a year as water in the giant aquifer below it is pumped.


<snip>


Beijing isn’t the only place experiencing subsidence, or sinking, as soil collapses into space created as groundwater is depleted. Parts of Shanghai, Mexico City, and other cities are sinking, too. Sections of California’s Central Valley have dropped by a foot, and in some localized areas, by as much as 28 feet.

<snip>

Around the world, alarms are being sounded about the depletion of underground water supplies. The United Nations predicts a global shortfall in water by 2030. About 30 percent of the planet’s available freshwater is in the aquifers that underlie every continent.


More than two-thirds of the groundwater consumed around the world irrigates agriculture, while the rest supplies drinking water to cities. These aquifers long have served as a backup to carry regions and countries through droughts and warm winters lacking enough snowmelt to replenish rivers and streams. Now, the world’s largest underground water reserves in Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas are under stress. Many of them are being drawn down at unsustainable rates. Nearly two billion people rely on groundwater that is considered under threat.

<snip>

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/world-aquifers-water-wars/


Amazing map at link.

Water wars are going to exacerbate the oil wars currently being fought, and eventually dominate the geopolitical world.