Seedersandleechers
Seedersandleechers's JournalTrump inauguration spending under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors: Dow Jones
Source: CNBC
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/13/trump-inauguration-spending-under-criminal-investigation-by-federal-prosecutors-dow-jones.html
The First Iraq War Was Also Sold to the Public Based on a Pack of Lies
Polls suggest that Americans tend to differentiate between our “good war” in Iraq — “Operation Desert Storm,” launched by George HW Bush in 1990 — and the “mistake” his son made in 2003.
Across the ideological spectrum, there’s broad agreement that the first Gulf War was “worth fighting.” The opposite is true of the 2003 invasion, and a big reason for those divergent views was captured in a 2013 CNN poll that found that “a majority of Americans (54%) say that prior to the start of the war the administration of George W. Bush deliberately misled the U.S. public about whether Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction.”
But as the usual suspects come out of the woodwork to urge the US to once again commit troops to Iraq, it’s important to recall that the first Gulf War was sold to the public on a pack of lies that were just as egregious as those told by the second Bush administration 12 years later.
https://billmoyers.com/2014/06/27/the-first-iraq-war-was-also-sold-to-the-public-based-on-a-pack-of-lies/
Trump says 'no one more competent in the world' than daughter Ivanka to replace Nikki Haley as UN am
Source: Independent
There is no-one more qualified “in the world” to become the next US ambassador to the United Nations than Ivanka Trump, her father Donald has claimed.
Speaking to the media on the White House lawn, the US president described his second child as "dynamite".
He told reporters that he has heard the 36-year-old's name discussed for the post, but said if he selected her he'd be accused of nepotism.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ivanka-trump-nikki-haley-nepotism-un-ambassador-us-donald-replace-2020-a8576526.html?utm_source=reddit.com
Oh Hell NO!
Ted Cruz declines, so challenger Beto O'Rourke gets an hour on national TV by himself
Source: star-telegram.com
CNN is shining a light on three of the “most consequential races” in 2018 — including the Texas bid for U.S. Senate — through debates or town halls in the coming weeks.
But Texans won’t get to see incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso face off in this series.
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R) declined CNN’s invitation to participate in the town hall,” a CNN statement noted.
So O’Rourke will be featured in a live, one-hour town hall with CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash in South Texas on Oct. 18.
Read more: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article219732670.html
BrettKavanaugh.com is Now a Resource for Sexual Assault Survivors
Source: Law & Crime
On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh promised to exercise his role on the nation’s high court with “no bitterness” following the brutal confirmation battle in which he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.
Kavanaugh’s paean to non-partisanship doesn’t mean that widespread bitterness, scorn, and acrimony won’t follow his name. It seems, however, that exactly the opposite is true. Quite literally.
The url BrettKavanaugh.com now directs users to several resources for sexual assault survivors.
A project of non-partisan judicial reform organization Fix The Court, the website’s splash page features a black-and-white image of the U.S. Supreme Court emblazoned with the phrase: “We Believe Survivors.”
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/brettkavanaugh-com-is-now-a-resource-for-sexual-assault-survivors/
KS congressman: Farmers are 'such great patriots' they'll ride out Trump trade woes
Source: KansasCityStar
Despite the “short-term pain” they’re experiencing because of President Donald Trump’s efforts to renegotiate trade deals and add tariffs to some imports, farmers are still supportive, U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall said Thursday.
Marshall, a Republican representing Kansas’ 1st District, was in Kansas City on Thursday and offered his support to Trump despite concerns that the president’s trade policy has had an adverse effect on farmers. The issue is something Marshall said he hears about constantly when he’s in his district.
“It’s been a long summer, I’ve got to tell you,” Marshall said. “And this has really impacted not just my agriculture producers but a lot of people in manufacturing. It’s impacting every consumer for many reasons.”
Despite that, Marshall said, farmers in his district haven’t abandoned Trump. He said they understand Trump’s perspective when Marshall talks about problems the U.S. has with trading partners’ respect for intellectual property and tariff imbalances.
Read more here: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article217580620.html#storylink=cpy
Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article217580620.html
EPA is now allowing asbestos back into manufacturing
Source: The Architect's Newspaper
One of the most dangerous construction-related carcinogens is now legally allowed back into U.S. manufacturing under a new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On June 1, the EPA authorized a “SNUR” (Significant New Use Rule) which allows new products containing asbestos to be created on a case-by-case basis.
According to environmental advocates, this new rule gives chemical companies the upper hand in creating new uses for such harmful products in the United States. In May, the EPA released a report detailing its new framework for evaluating the risk of its top prioritized substances. The report states that the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments.
This news comes after the EPA reviewed its first batch of 10 chemicals under the 2016 amendment to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which required the agency to continually reevaluate hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals to see whether they should face new restrictions or be removed from the market. The SNUR greenlights companies to use toxic chemicals like asbestos without thinking about how it will endanger people who are indirectly in contact with it.
Asbestos, once seen as a magical mineral, was widely used in building insulation up until it was banned in most countries in the 1970s. The U.S. is one of the only developed nations in the world that has placed significant restrictions on the substance without banning it completely. New data revealed that asbestos-related deaths now total nearly 40,000 annually, with lung cancer and mesothelioma being the most common illnesses in association with the toxin. That number could rise if new asbestos-containing products make their way into brand new buildings.
Read more: https://archpaper.com/2018/08/epa-asbestos-manufacturing/
Hackers break into voting machines within 2 hours at Defcon
Source: CBS News
Hackers from around the world had the rare opportunity to crack election-style voting machines this weekend in Las Vegas -- and they didn't disappoint.
After nearly an hour and a half, Carsten Schürmann, an associate professor with IT-University of Copenhagen, successfully cracked into a voting machine at Las Vegas' Defcon convention on Friday night, CNET reports.
Schürmann penetrated Advanced Voting Solutions' 2000 WinVote machine through its Wi-Fi system. Using a Windows XP exploit from 2003, he was able to remotely access the machine, CNET reports.
Voting technology was thrust into the political spotlight when election systems in several states were targeted by Russian cyber attacks. The convention purchased more than 30 voting machines for the event, although, organizers didn't specify how many models those units represented.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hackers-break-into-voting-machines-defcon-las-vegas/
Trump Just Made It Legal to Bring Back the Heads of Slaughtered Lions
Source: MotherJones
The federal government has issued more than three dozen permits allowing hunters to import lion trophies from two African nations since 2016, according to copies of the applications obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The documents, obtained by the group Friends of Animals, provide insight into the often secretive permitting process to import threatened or endangered species killed abroad during luxury hunting trips. Thirty-three Americans were issued permits to import 38 lion trophies between 2016 and 2018, at least half of whom have donated to Republican lawmakers or are affiliated with the hunting lobby Safari Club International.
It’s unclear how many permit applications are currently before the agency or how many were issued in past years. In a statement, the Fish and Wildlife Service said that all permit applications are carefully reviewed and granted only if they meet several legal standards in accordance with international treaties and other requirements of the country in which the animal was hunted.
Read more: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/07/trump-just-made-it-legal-to-bring-back-the-heads-of-slaughtered-lions/
RNC Chair complains about internet bias on Fox News after Republicans killed net neutrality
Source: Thinkprogress
The chair of the Republican National Committee complained on Friday morning that conservatives are being censored by Silicon Valley, citing the debunked conspiracy theory that Twitter and other net platforms are intentionally targeting voices on the right. But even if the problem were real, her party has done everything in its power to make that sort of Internet censorship possible.
Back in the Obama years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enforced a 2015 regulatory policy called “net neutrality,” aimed at protecting an open Internet. Under those rules, service providers were prohibited from throttling or blocking Internet sites. “We cannot allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas,” then-President Barack Obama explained as his administration implemented the protections.
McDaniel’s party was outraged. In their 2016 Republican National Committee platform, they vowed to repeal the protections and to allow companies to censor content as they saw fit. In an Orwellian “Protecting Internet Freedom” section of the platform, they wrote “The survival of the internet as we know it is at risk. Its gravest peril originates in the White House, the current occupant of which has launched a campaign, both at home and internationally, to subjugate it to agents of government. The President ordered the chair of the supposedly independent Federal Communications Commission to impose upon the internet rules devised in the 1930s for the telephone monopoly.”
When Donald Trump came in and appointed a new majority on the FCC, it moved quickly to kill net neutrality, calling the deregulation a return to “the light-touch regulatory scheme that fostered the internet’s growth, openness and freedom.” Freedom, in this case, meant freedom for companies to decide what Internet content users can access and what content they cannot.
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/gop-killed-net-neutrality-rnc-chair-complains-internet-bias-against-conservatives-e20d70680d03/
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