June 2, 2018

Southern Baptist seminary drops bombshell: Why Paige Patterson was fired

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/06/01/southern-baptist-seminary-drops-bombshell-why-paige-patterson-was-fired/?utm_term=.c6712857270c

Leaders of a Southern Baptist seminary dropped a bombshell Friday night about why they two days earlier fired their president, a longtime leader of the huge denomination: He lied about his treatment of an alleged rape victim, according to a new statement, and he tried to isolate another woman from the seminary’s chief of security so he could “break her down.”

Paige Patterson, who until a few weeks ago was a towering figure in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination with about 15 million members, set off a firestorm among conservative evangelicals in recent months after comments were revealed about counseling a woman to go back to her abusive husband.

Last week, the 75-year-old was demoted from his position as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a decision that upset many Southern Baptists who considered the decision too lenient because he would have remained on paid staff as “president emeritus” and been able to retire on campus.

June 2, 2018

to get Cambodia to start accepting deportees, US gov stopped issuing visas to Cambodia diplomats

“For the longest time these individuals have been living in the country basically as Americans,” says Mariategue. “They just didn't know that there would be deportation consequences to their actions.”

In 2002, Cambodia and the US signed an agreement that allowed the country to receive deportees. But the Cambodian government continued to accept anywhere between 30 to fewer than 100 people. In 2017, the US stopped issuing visas for high-ranking Cambodian diplomats to protest that they were not issuing travel documents to people whom the US wanted to deport.

According to the Department of Homeland Security in September 2017, “There are more than 1,900 Cambodian nationals residing in the United States who are subject to a final order of removal, of whom 1,412 have criminal convictions.”

Advocates say that pressuring the Cambodian government to accept more detainees is a departure from previous administrations. The Cambodian government wants to change its 2002 memorandum of understanding with the US to look more like agreements with other countries. The Vietnamese government, for example, has an agreement that prevents repatriation of anyone who arrived in the US before 1995, which is meant to protect refugees.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-05-10/after-deportation-family-wisconsin-will-start-anew-cambodia?itok=rQyAyDx7

Sothy Kum was detained by Immigration and Custom Enforcement in December 2016. He was released in time to celebrate his daughter’s first birthday, with his wife Lisa Kum, in August 2017 at Devil’s Lake State Park in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Sothy, who came to the US from Cambodia at age 2, was detained again that October and deported in April 2018. Credit: Courtesy of Lisa Kum

June 2, 2018

ICE Deports Uncle Of Kids Recently Orphaned After Parents Died Fleeing Immigration Officers

ICE Deports Uncle Of Kids Recently Orphaned After Parents Died Fleeing Immigration Officers
Celestino Hilario Garcia’s brother and sister-in-law died in a car crash while fleeing immigration agents in March. On Wednesday ICE deported him.
By Elise Foley and Sarah Ruiz-Grossman

Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained and quickly deported an undocumented man on Wednesday, leaving behind his four children as well as his six nieces and nephews who were recently orphaned when their parents got into a car crash fleeing ICE.

The arrest of Celestino Hilario Garcia, 33, was the type of ICE action that takes place every day. He has a criminal record for driving under the influence and was previously deported to his native Mexico. It was clear that ICE already had had him in its sights. When ICE agents went to an apartment complex in Delano, California, in mid-March, they were looking for him.

But given what happened next that day, Hilario Garcia’s wife and local advocates condemned ICE’s decision to move forward with his removal.

On March 13, ICE agents went looking for Hilario Garcia and instead followed another man who fit his description: his brother, 35-year-old Santos Hilario Garcia, who was in the car with his wife, 33-year-old Marcelina Garcia Profecto. The two sped to get away from ICE, then veered off the road and crashed their car. Both of them died at the scene.

“We’re still not recovered from the loss, and now they separate us,” said Celestino Hilario Garcia’s wife, who requested anonymity because she fears for her safety, in an interview in Spanish.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ice-deportation-separates-man-from-family_us_5b104987e4b0e096a4627497

June 2, 2018

"Not a single word of respect" regarding Trump heard during economist's trip of Europe

“Much more likely, Trump is just mentally unstable and narcissistic,” he added, calling the new announcement of tariffs on exports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union part of a “psychopath’s trade war.”

Sachs, a renowned Columbia University professor who heads its Center for Sustainable Development and serves as a senior adviser at the United Nations, said no one expressed “a single word of respect for Trump” during his recent trip to Europe. Their question was: “How did America fall so far so fast?” Sachs wrote. 

Trump’s “so-called policies are not really policies,” he added. “Trade wars are on, off, on hold, on again, within the span of days. ... Foreign companies are sanctioned today and rescued the next. ... Global agreements and rules are ripped to shreds. Trump’s garbled syntax and disorganized thoughts are impossible to follow.” 

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5b11e510e4b0d5e89e1fc756

June 2, 2018

Pruitt wanted to omit EPA seal, feature his name, Make the challenge coin over to reflect himself

The New York Times reported this spring that Pruitt asked the agency for fountain pens, stationery and leather-bound notebooks “from which he wanted to omit the E.P.A. seal and upon which he wanted to feature his name prominently.” Ultimately, the items retained a small version of the seal, according to several people familiar with the orders, the Times reported.

That article, which did not include any cost details, also reported that Pruitt initially sought to refashion the agency’s “challenge coin” — a sort of souvenir medallion handed out by many civilian and military leaders in government — by making the coin larger and removing the logo. Pruitt “instead wanted the coin to feature some combination of symbols more reflective of himself and the Trump administration. Among the possibilities: a buffalo, to evoke Mr. Pruitt’s home state, Oklahoma, and a Bible verse to reflect his faith,” the Times reported.

The agency never ordered new coins.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/06/01/epas-pruitt-spent-1560-on-12-customized-fountain-pens-from-washington-jewelry-store/?utm_term=.45838aae360f

June 2, 2018

the guy who hit "some n****r" with his truck... "words got twisted says friend

This is the guy who ran over a black man and laughed that he killed "some nigger." Matthew Martin, 18, from Louisiana struck Sherell Lewis on the highway in Vernon Parish. Lewis had stopped his car on the shoulder to move debris out the way when he was hit by Martin's truck. Lewis was 31 when he died.

Screenshots of a Snapchat conversation are circulating online, which appear to show Martin laughing about the incident. A friend says: "it'll buff out," referring to Martin's dented Chevy and then asks: "The guy die on impact or what." Martin responds: "yes sir 😂 no he died otw to the hospital."

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One of Matthew Martin's friends defended him on Instagram, saying his words "got twisted." She added: "Matthew knows he's in the wrong for using the words he did but others got taken completely out of context."

https://babe.net/2018/05/31/matthew-martin-62918

June 1, 2018

A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on. U.S. Customs took it without charging him with a

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/05/31/a-64-year-old-put-his-life-savings-in-his-carry-on-u-s-customs-took-it-without-charging-him-with-a-crime/?utm_term=.698e24558bd5



A 64-year-old Cleveland man is suing U.S. Customs and Border Protection after agents strip-searched him at an airport in October and took more than $58,000 in cash from him without charging him with any crime, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week in Ohio.

Customs agents seized the money through a process known as civil asset forfeiture, a law enforcement technique that allows authorities to take cash and property from people who are never convicted or even charged with a crime. The practice is widespread at the federal level. In 2017, federal authorities seized more than $2 billion in assets from people, a net loss similar in size to annual losses from residential burglaries in the United States.

Customs says it suspects that the petitioner in the case, Rustem Kazazi, was involved in smuggling, drug trafficking or money laundering. Kazazi denies those allegations and says that the agency is violating federal law by keeping his money without filing any formal complaint against him.




Under federal forfeiture law, the government was required to initiate a forfeiture case within 90 days after the Kazazis responded to the seizure notice. If it failed to initiate a forfeiture case within that window, it would be required to promptly return the money to the claimants.

That deadline passed over a month ago, on April 17. CBP has not filed a forfeiture complaint; nor has it returned the money. Erald Kazazi said he has called CBP several times was told that the case was now with the U.S. attorney's office in Ohio and that CBP had no additional information on it. So this week, the Kazazis filed their lawsuit, demanding the immediate return of their property.

June 1, 2018

California governor's race might be Dem vs. Repub, rather than Dem vs. Dem

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Newsom-John-Cox-top-new-California-governor-s-12957716.php

Newsom, Cox top new California governor’s poll: Villaraigosa in trouble

Days before Tuesday’s election, Democrat Gavin Newsom and Republican John Cox are on their way to a top-two finish in the governor’s race and a head-to-head rematch in November, according to a new poll.

Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa is at 13 percent, just ahead of Orange County GOP Assemblyman Travis Allen at 12 percent. Democratic state Treasurer John Chiang is at 7 percent and Delaine Eastin, a Democrat and former state schools chief, is at 4 percent.

While Newsom has led in every poll of the governor’s race, Cox’s rush into second place has been a surprise, said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll.

“Newsom has moved up in every poll we’ve taken, and it’s pretty much a slam dunk that he’ll finish on top,” DiCamillo said Thursday. “But Cox was at 9 percent in the December poll, and now he’s at 20.”

Much of Cox’s surge is hooked to Republicans settling on a candidate, which came as President Trump endorsed him in a May 18 tweet. The president may have sealed the deal with his California supporters when he came back Monday with another tweeted endorsement:

June 1, 2018

"America's allies are stunned", Trump has put more tariffs on allies than on China

President Trump campaigned on going hard after China for ripping off the United States on trade. Yet a year and a half into his presidency, Trump has put more tariffs on longtime U.S. allies than he has on China, his supposed "bad guy" on trade. The Trump administration announced new tariffs Thursday on the European Union, Canada and Mexico.

Almost all of the reaction has been negative. Many are calling it a political and economic mistake.

America's allies are stunned, stocks slid on Wall Street as trade-war fears returned, and economists are warning that Americans will soon face higher prices on a wide variety of products. A slew of Republican lawmakers immediately trashed the move as bad for the economy and foreign relations.

"Europe, Canada & Mexico aren't China. You don’t treat allies the same way you treat opponents. Blanket protectionism is a big part of why we had a Great Depression. 'Make America Great Again' shouldn’t mean 'Make America 1929 Again.' " tweeted Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), joining an opposition that included many Republican officials and business groups.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/05/31/trump-has-officially-put-more-tariffs-on-u-s-allies-than-on-china/?utm_term=.da74c2750b4d

June 1, 2018

Man loses job after viral video of him cursing at family with broken down truck

www.nydailynews.com/news/ny-news-man-loses-job-berating-family-campsite-0180531-story.html



“Get the f--k out of here,” Pack shouts in the video posted to YouTube Sunday.

“We need somebody to help,” a woman responds off-camera

“Go back this motherf----r out, and you get your f-----g s--t out of here!” Pack shouts back.

The Caballeros’ truck had broken down so they called for help before Pack and his family arrived. At the campsite, the family was trying to explain to an aggravated Pack their situation.

“We kept going back and forth about how we can’t leave right now and if we could we would,” Caballero told KUTV. “We weren’t trying to take their spot, we were just people who needed help.”

In the video, Pack agrees to help the family in exchange for money.