Daily News Dump – April 26

Judge blocks Trump again

“A federal judge in Washington state on Thursday granted a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s abortion clinic referral restriction, according to a news release by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

The revised regulations to the Title X family planning program prohibit taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from talking about abortion with patients or referring patients to abortion providers. The administration’s regulations were set to go into effect on May 3.

The Title X program serves approximately 4 million people a year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, and clinics that don’t abide by what opponents call a “gag rule” would be forced to forgo federal funding. Critics argue the regulations would affect low-income people, communities of color, the uninsured and rural residents the most.” via CNN

Air Force needs $5 billion for repairs

“The U.S. Air Force says it needs $4.9 billion in new funding over the next two and a half years to cover the costs of rebuilding two air bases hit by natural disasters.

About one-third of Offutt Air Force Base, in eastern Nebraska, was underwater earlier this month as flooding hit large swaths of the Midwest. And Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle was hit hard by Hurricane Michael in October.

The Air Force is asking for $1.2 billion in supplemental funding for fiscal year 2019 and $3.7 billion for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Congress would need to approve the funding.” via NPR

This is an older story, but it’s important, so it’s worth repeating. Trump is still trying to appropriate money from DOD to pay for his vanity project when there’s an *actual* emergency in progress at two vitally important Air Force Bases.

Connolly threatens jail for Trump officials

“Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly on Thursday threatened jail time for White House officials who are declining to comply with congressional committees’ efforts to conduct oversight of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Three officials have refused to comply with congressional requests to testify at the administration’s urging, ratcheting up the long-brewing battle with House Democrats ready and willing to take their multi-front investigations to the courts.

The House Oversight Committee had asked to hear from senior White House adviser Stephen Miller on immigration, former security official Carl Kline on security clearances and Justice Department Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Gore on adding a citizenship question to the US census.” via CNN

Connolly isn’t the first one who has suggested jailing those held in contempt to put some teeth behind Congress’ demands – Nadler also discussed the possibility in a private meeting earlier this week. I’m being told that Pelosi is reluctant to go there, but she is willing if necessary. We’re getting pretty close to it being necessary.

Deranged Donald

President Donald Trump called 2016 texts between former FBI officials evidence of an attempted “coup” after a news report showed they were discussing people inside the Trump administration who they could “develop for potential relationships.”

Trump was responding to a Fox News report about the texts exchanged between former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and former FBI agent Peter Strzok. The President immediately claimed the text messages were evidence of a plot against him, but the Fox News report notes that it “was not clear from the messages whether Strzok and Page merely sought to build bridges with the incoming administration, or wanted to engineer the briefings to investigate Trump and his associates.”

“Really it’s a coup, it’s spying,” Trump told Fox News in an interview, adding that Strzok and Page, were “trying to infiltrate the administration.” via CNN

This is absolutely nuts. He went on to (again) call it worse than Watergate, perhaps the greatest scandal of all time, and whatever other superlatives is tiny, dementia-ridden brain could think of.

He also broke a little bit of news that is good for us, but he doesn’t seem to think so:

“Trump’s congressional allies have been pushing him to declassify the applications to the court for a month, accusing those in the senior ranks of the Justice Department and FBI of being biased against the President. On Thursday, Trump said he plans to grant their request.

“Everything’s going to be declassified,” Trump said. “And I’m glad I waited.”

Congressional allies who have been pushing the President to do this have privately expressed hope that he would renew efforts to declassify these documents now that the Russia investigation is over and doing so can’t be perceived as undermining an ongoing probe. Trump had said previously that he would declassify the FISA applications but was persuaded not to last year.”

This is going to be a fantastic self-own, because everyone will be able to see that everything was done by the book, and the surveillance warrants on Trump’s campaign were 100% legit.

Miller’s time in the barrel

“A trio of top Democrats demanded documents Thursday related to President Donald Trump’s recent staff shakeup at the Homeland Security Department.

In a letter to acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called on the department to turn over communications tied a spate of resignations and forced exits earlier this month. The lawmakers cited reports that White House senior adviser Stephen Miller had pressed department officials “to make extreme immigration policy decisions.”

“We are deeply concerned that the firing and forced resignation of these officials puts the security of the American people at risk,” the lawmakers wrote. “We are also concerned that the president may have removed DHS officials because they refused his demands to violate federal immigration law and judicial orders.“ via Politico

The Democrats are doing everything they need to right now. They’re going through all the proper channels to request documents, so when they issue subpoenas and start hamming folks, nobody can say they were being biased, or get a court case thrown out on a technicality. I know it’s hard to be patient; it is for me too, but I’m trying.

Biden is in

Well, duh, right? Everyone knew Biden was going to run. I’m not going to get into any serious discussions about who is right for 2020 until we actually get into the real campaign season, but Trump is terrified of Biden, and that’s good enough for me right now.

Shanahan cleared? Pfft.

“Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan did not violate ethics agreements or promote his longtime employer, Boeing, the Defense Department inspector general has concluded in a probe that was viewed as the major obstacle preventing his nomination to be Pentagon chief.

“The Office of Inspector General took these allegations seriously,” acting Inspector General Glenn Fine said in a statement accompanying the report’s release. “The evidence showed that Acting Secretary Shanahan fully complied with his ethical obligations and ethical agreements with regard to Boeing and its competitors.” via Politico

Shanahan is being accused of calling the F-35 “f—-ed up” and disparaging the fight while boosting Boeing at Pentagon meetings.

If this is true, it shows that Shanahan is woefully unqualified to be our acting SECDEF; the F-35 is certainly not a perfect plane, but if he really doesn’t understand what a gamechanger it is – or can’t look past his business bias enough to accept it – he needs to go, immediately.

4 thoughts on “Daily News Dump – April 26”

  1. Thanks for keeping us informed . Hope all is good with your little person ! Patience is always important in this present climate . Take care

  2. Ah, I’d love to see the one I believe you called Trump’s ‘balding, virgin henchman’ jailed for contempt. Throw him in with the general jail population and see how he fares. Betcha he’s not nearly as tough as he talks. Followed by the creepy Mnuchin. He needs to miss a few more of his ‘very important meetings.’

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