turbinetree
turbinetree's JournalGOP Lawmakers Flirt With Drastic Change To How U.S. House Map Is Drawn
By Tierney Sneed | June 8, 2018 1:01 pm
Multiple witnesses appeared in front of a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Friday to testify in favor or against the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census — a Trump administration move that is roiling the civil rights community and prompting numerous lawsuits.
But the Republican lawmakers who showed up to participate in the hearing seemed most interested in speaking to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who is bringing a lawsuit seeking to alter how the U.S. congressional map is drawn to diminish the political power of immigrant-friendly states.
His lawsuit is parallel to the push for a census citizenship question, but if successful, could have just as drastic of an effect, if not more. Whereas the Trump administration has claimed it needs census citizenship data for Voting Rights Act enforcement (a claim viewed skeptically by voting rights activists), the Alabama lawsuit explicitly seeks to exclude undocumented immigrants from how U.S. congressional seats are apportioned.
To do so, it would require the Census Bureau adding another question seeking to know immigrants’ legal status, beyond the citizenship question, which civil right rights groups fear will chill immigrant participation on the survey.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/republicans-congressional-apportionment-census-hearing
When they have acts of treason being perpetuated by a criminal organization sitting in the white house............this Goodlatte asshole is worried about how to gerrymander elections through the census and a clear violation of the Constitution...................
Florida stopped background checks on concealed weapons permits for a year because of a login error
Commissioner Adam Putnam, who is currently running for governor, oversaw the department in question.
LINDSAY GIBBS JUN 8, 2018, 6:12 PM
In a bombshell report, the Tampa Bay Times reports that the state of Florida didn’t conduct national background checks on tens of thousands of applications for concealed weapons permits because an employee in charge of performing the checks couldn’t log into the necessary FBI crime database.
The background checks at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services stopped in February of 2016 and didn’t resume until another employee noticed in March 2017 — a time span that included the June 12, 2016 massacre at Pulse nightclub that left 50 dead, and a historic spike in requests for concealed weapon permits in the state.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a former Republican U.S. representative currently running for governor in Florida, is the head of the department in question. He proudly calls himself an “NRA sellout.”
Throughout his time as commissioner, Putnam has boasted about how much he streamlined the process of applying for a concealed weapons permit; he was elected in 2010, and in 2012, he held a press conference to celebrate the state’s one millionth concealed weapons permit, and the fact that the wait time to process an application dropped from 12 weeks to 35 days under his watch.
https://thinkprogress.org/florida-stopped-background-checks-840061bdf381/
How fucking convenient from a "law and order" POS, that couldn't even do the job correctly the first time, but he thinks that he is now a fucking doctor, and if someone with PTSD from a combat zone should get a gun................what could possibly go wrong...............
-snip-
“As Commissioner of Agriculture, Adam expanded the state’s concealed weapon license program so it is now the largest in the country,” the website reads. “He expedited over 75,000 Florida concealed weapon license applications for active military members and veterans. He believes if you carried a gun in Iraq, you should be able to own one at home.”
solution:
https://gwengraham.com/
Mountain Valley Pipeline protesters targeted by Virginia anti-terrorism center
Monitoring of activists in Virginia is part of a growing national trend.
MARK HAND JUN 8, 2018, 2:05 PM
Virginia police agencies are coordinating with a state anti-terrorism center to monitor residents opposed to a major pipeline that will transport large volumes of natural gas from West Virginia into Virginia. Civil liberties advocates are concerned that the collaboration represents another example of U.S. police agencies seeking to crack down on peaceful environmental protests.
The anti-terrorism unit, known as the Virginia Fusion Center, is partnering with sheriffs along the route of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline and EQT Midstream, the primary sponsor of the pipeline, to conduct surveillance of pipeline protesters. Documents obtained by the Climate Investigations Center and provided to the Richmond Times Dispatch reveal close coordination between the Virginia Fusion Center and EQT Midstream, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh, Pa.-headquartered EQT Corp.
There are 79 state fusion centers across the country. The collaboration among pipeline companies, private security companies, and fusion centers has become increasingly common as opposition has grown to the massive build-out of energy infrastructure across the nation. These centers have also been known to share tips and lessons learned with centers in other states to help them conduct surveillance of participants of protest campaigns.
In Virginia, the records show that the Virginia Fusion Center distributed “pipeline situation reports” that included information on how many people on Facebook were “interested” in meetings of groups such as the Sierra Club, Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), and Preserve Floyd — a grassroots organization created to preserve the rural nature of Floyd County, Virginia.
https://thinkprogress.org/state-police-work-with-anti-terrorism-center-to-spy-on-pipeline-protesters-7cf02f5be875/
I really do hate police state mentality when we have a First Amendment in Constitution, that says that I can protest.....................who really is the terrorist, just throw the word around to justify an end to the means?
Alabama GOP nominates Roy Moore's confederacy-obsessed protege to be chief justice
They never learn.
IAN MILLHISER JUN 8, 2018, 8:00 AM
Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker’s record reads like a bad parody of a white southern Republican from some over-dramatic liberal’s chapbook. And yet, if the Alabama Republican Party gets its way, Parker will be the state’s next chief justice. Earlier this week, Parker defeated incumbent Chief Justice Lyn Stuart for the GOP nomination to take over her job.
Before joining the court himself, Parker was a top aide to then-Chief Justice Roy Moore, the Republican U.S. Senate hopeful whose campaign imploded due to credible allegations that Moore preyed sexually on young teenagers.
Like Moore, Parker holds a deep animus against LGBTQ people, and he believes that his judicial decisions should be driven by his conservative religious beliefs. Parker once compared a federal judge, who ruled against the now-defunct ban on gay members of the military serving openly, to Al-Qaeda. He also wrote a judicial opinion claiming that the Supreme Court’s decision permitting same-sex couples to marry “conclusively demonstrates that the rule of law is dead.”
Oh, and there’s one other thing. Parker appears to be quite enamored of a treasonous war fought to defend the idea that white people can own black people.
https://thinkprogress.org/gop-nominee-to-be-alabama-chief-justice-is-a-roy-moore-protege-tied-to-white-supremacists-c9c6674c7241/
In other words he is a clone of Moore, what could possibly go wrong...................
Lawyer linking NRA and Russia helped lead Marsha Blackburn campaigns, documents show
Kline Preston said he helped head Blackburn's re-election efforts—while bringing NRA and Russian officials together.
CASEY MICHEL JUN 8, 2018, 4:02 PM
When G. Kline Preston IV first introduced National Rifle Association (NRA) leadership to Russian officials in 2011, he’d been close to Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) for years.
Both Preston and Blackburn have a long history in and around Brentwood, the tony Nashville suburb. And as Preston — the lawyer whose relationship with both NRA leadership and sanctioned Russian officials facilitated the unexpected cooperation between the two — recently told the Tennessean, he and Blackburn have been “family friends” for a “long time.”
But as documents obtained by ThinkProgress reveal, Blackburn was far closer to Preston than has previously been reported. Preston not only listed himself as the “Campaign Finance Chairman” for Blackburn, but additionally worked for years as the president of Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc.
According to information now removed from his website, Preston says he served as president for Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc. through at least 2014, with official documents showing the work beginning in 2003. During the same time period, he also introduced Alexander Torshin, a now-sanctioned Russian official accused of mafia ties and massive money laundering in Europe, to then-NRA President David Keene. For good measure, documents filed show that Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc., also listed Blackburn’s husband as the registered agent, and listed Blackburn’s address as its own.
https://thinkprogress.org/new-documents-link-nra-and-russia-to-marsha-blackburn-ff68e923eb7e/
Is it just me or are republicans just drawn to Russia operatives and a terrorists organization................who do they really represent Russia in Congress................I mean really, we already know about actions of the Dana Loesch organization with its blood on there hands mentality
I have a solution for this enabling from Russian operatives and Marsha Blackburn:
https://www.bredesen.com/
Chinese Hackers Steal Unclassified Data From Navy Contractor
By Helene Cooper
June 8, 2018
WASHINGTON — China has stolen sensitive data related to naval warfare from the computers of a Navy contractor, American officials said on Friday, in another step in the long-running cyberwar between two global adversaries.
The breach occurred this year, the officials said, when Chinese government hackers infiltrated the computers of a company working on a Navy submarine and underwater programs contract. The company, which was not identified, was doing work for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, which is based in Newport, R.I.
Officials said that the data gleaned by China was unclassified.
Navy officials declined to speak publicly about the hack, which was first reported by The Washington Post.
But in a statement, Lt. Marycate Walsh, a Navy spokeswoman, cited “measures in place that require companies to notify the government when a cyberincident has occurred that has actual or potential adverse effects on their networks that contain controlled unclassified information.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/us/politics/china-hack-navy-contractor-.html
Unclassified or Classified.........................
To the Washington Capitals Hockey fan's from a Chicago Blackhawks fan..........congratulations
Washington becomes a sea of red in celebration of the Capitals’ first Stanley Cup championship
Downtown Washington turned red Thursday afternoon and evening, as fans turned out in unprecedented numbers to watch Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals.
The area around Capital One Arena was packed for blocks in every direction; fans queued up in massive lines outside bars, restaurants, sandwich shops and liquor stores. They filled the G Street watch party between 7th and 9th Streets hours before the Washington Capitals began their quest to clinch their first Stanley Cup. Meanwhile, thousands poured into a different watch party inside the arena.
Inside the arena, fans roared during every pregame clip of the Capitals, roared during every near miss, roared during the first intermission when Caps broadcasters led a round of “Let’s Go Caps!” chants. When Washington killed a second-period power play, the noise inside the arena was earsplitting. When Jakub Vrana scored on a breakaway moments later, the noise was … what’s louder than ear-splitting?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2018/06/07/washington-celebrates-capitals-stanley-cup-championship-live-updates/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c628751cd2ee
And especially to TJ Oshie, and to your family and father................
'He would be an incredible president': Steve Kerr is US sport's voice of reason
The Golden State Warriors coach is on the verge of leading his team to a third title in four years. But he is just as remarkable off the court
The coach of the NBA’s most powerful team will not stick to sports. Steve Kerr, whose Golden State Warriors are set to win their third NBA title in four years, has transformed from a master of unselfish offenses to an essential voice of reason in a world in which reason dies on cable news.
“I think he’s got a fire burning,” the Warriors general manager, Bob Myers, told the Guardian in the run-up to Friday night’s Game 4 of the NBA finals. “It smolders in there. It lives in there. It’s there right now. I don’t know what he’s thinking right now but he’s thinking about something that he’s either read or heard that he didn’t like that he wants to speak on if asked about it.”
Chances are, Kerr will be asked. Chances are, Kerr will answer. No topic seems off limits. No question is too dangerous.
On the behavior of Donald Trump: “You want for there to be respect and dignity and there hasn’t been any.”
On gun control: “We have to look at this as having nothing to do with partisanship, political parties. It’s got to be a public safety issue.”
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jun/08/steve-kerr-golden-state-warriors-coach-political-views
You know what if he ran for the job....................I would seriously take a hard look at him
Democrats Have Now Flipped 42 State Legislative Seats From Red to Blue
Since Trump became president, Democrats have been on a legislative winning streak that sends a powerful signal about resistance politics.
By John Nichols
Lauren Arthur is a former middle-school teacher who campaigned as a progressive Democrat in a special election to fill a Missouri State Senate seat that a Republican won in 2016 with more than 60 percent of the vote. Her race, which highlighted support for expanded funding of education and access to health care, was run in a district that backed Republican presidential nominees Donald Trump in 2016 and Mitt Romney in 2012.
It should have been an uphill bid.
It wasn’t. On Tuesday, Arthur beat her well-funded and serious Republican foe by a landslide, winning 60 percent of the vote.
That was a big victory for Arthur, a labor-backed state representative who declared in her victory speech that “For too long the priorities and pet projects of billionaires and corporations have been put ahead of investing in Missourians. We sent a message loud and clear that we demand great public schools [and] a transparent and responsive state government.”
But it was also a big victory for Democrats nationally, as this is the 42nd Republican legislative seat that has flipped to the Democrats since Donald Trump assumed the presidency.
https://www.thenation.com/article/democrats-now-flipped-42-state-legislative-seats-red-blue/
North Carolina Republicans Want a Constitutional Amendment to Require ID to Vote
The voter ID law was struck down in court, so now the GOP is putting it on the November ballot.
ARI BERMANJUN. 7, 2018 6:03 PM
North Carolina Republicans are resurrecting their efforts to require voters to present specific forms of identification in order to cast a ballot, after an earlier voter ID law was struck down for discriminating against African Americans. This time, they’re trying to do it through a constitutional amendment.
On Thursday, Republicans in the legislature introduced a constitutional amendment that would require a photo ID to vote. It is expected to pass the legislature in the coming days and be placed on the ballot for voters’ approval in November.
A voter ID law passed by the legislature in 2013 was blocked by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2016 for targeting “African Americans with almost surgical precision.” The court found that African Americans in North Carolina “disproportionately lacked DMV-issued ID” and that the legislature wrote the bill to exclude IDs that African Americans were more likely to possess, such as student IDs and public employee IDs. According to the state’s own numbers, 316,000 registered voters didn’t have a driver’s license or state ID from the DMV; 34 percent were African Americans (who make up 22 percent of the state’s population) and 55 percent were registered Democrats.
Now North Carolina Republicans are asking voters to pass the same type of law. But given that the earlier law was struck down in federal court for violating the US Constitution, it’s not clear how an amendment to the state constitution would change that.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/06/north-carolina-republicans-want-a-constitutional-amendment-to-require-id-to-vote/
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