Trump: E-Verify Would Make It Too Hard to Hire Undocumented Workers
Since taking office, Donald Trump has revoked the legal status of roughly 1 million longtime U.S. residents, used the mass psychological torture of children as a means of deterring asylum seekers, overseen the deportation of U.S. Army veterans, and encouraged the American military to use lethal force against unruly migrants at our southern border.

Through it all, the president has insisted that his “tough” immigration agenda is not motivated by hatred of “illegals” — but only love for the American worker.

And yet, even as his administration found creative new ways to terrorize and immiserate undocumented workers, it has done little to systematically deter corporations from hiring them. In fact, the Trump family did not even cease employing undocumented laborers at its own company until this January, when negative press forced the Trump Organization to adopt E-Verify — a system that allows employers to confirm the legal status of job applicants.

This belated gesture did not augur any broader policy change. Last week, the president unveiled his new vision for immigration reform — and a call for all employers to adopt (and rigorously enforce) E-Verify was conspicuously absent. In an interview with Fox News that aired Sunday night, Trump explained the rationale behind that omission:
The one problem is E-Verify is so tough that in some cases, like farmers, they’re not — they’re not equipped for E-Verify. I mean I’d say that’s against Republicans. A lot of the Republicans say you go through an E-Verify. I used it when I built the hotel down the road on Pennsylvania Avenue. I use a very strong E-Verify system. And we would go through 28 people — 29, 30 people before we found one that qualified.

Trump’s argument here is not that E-Verify is easily subverted or prone to error. Rather, in the president’s view, the problem with E-Verify is that it works: When he built his D.C. hotel, his company struggled to find legal U.S. residents who were willing to do the work (at the wages that the Trump Organization was willing to pay). And Trump believes that agribusiness struggles with the same issue. Which is to say: The president’s complaint with E-Verify is ostensibly that it might force employers to pay more for “low-skill” labor, since legal U.S. residents aren’t quite as exploitable as workers who lack basic political and labor rights.

Now, Trump’s opposition to E-Verify is ultimately a good thing. So long as millions of law-abiding, longtime U.S. residents lack legal status, denying undocumented people the ability to feed their families through gainful employment is a monstrous proposition. But the president’s remarks nevertheless constitute an admission that he has been lying about the motivations behind his “hawkish” border policies.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/t...documented.html

Judge upholds House panel subpoena for Trump financial records
District Judge Amit Mehta on Monday ruled in favor of a subpoena issued by the House Oversight Committee for President Trump's financial records from the accounting firm Mazars.

In a 41-page-long opinion, Mehta found that "President Trump cannot block the subpoena to Mazars."

Trump's attorneys had argued that the subpoena, issued by Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), was unconstitutional because it wasn't tied to legislation. But attorneys for the House said that the records will help strengthen ethics and disclosure laws and see if Trump is in compliance with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
"These are facially valid legislative purposes, and it is not for the court to question whether the Committee’s actions are truly motivated by political considerations," Mehta wrote.
https://thehill.com/regulation/444638-ju...nancial-records

Trump blocks former White House counsel McGahn from testifying to Congress
President Donald Trump has directed former White House counsel Donald McGahn not to testify on Tuesday before Congress about events relating to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, the White House said on Monday.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-ho...ory?id=63155923

How Throwing Justin Amash Out of the GOP Might Make Trump Lose 2020
Saturday, Representative Justin Amash became the first Republican in Congress to call for impeaching President Trump on the basis of the massive misconduct detailed by the Mueller report. It was a rare act of bravery, one likely to end his career in Congress. Amash’s fellow Republicans immediately set about proving how brave it was by excommunicating him from the party.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appeared on Fox News to unleash a wild flurry of lies. ...
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/j...n.html#comments

Kris Kobach’s Willing to Be Trump’s Immigration Czar if He Gets a Jet, a Future Cabinet Post, a State Named After Him, Etc.
President Donald Trump is in the market for an immigration czar to help implement his dystopian policies at the border, and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is in the market for, well, a job of some sort. What’s not to like here! To be fair, Kobach has immigration and voter suppression instincts similar to Trump’s, not to mention a kindred penchant for self-aggrandizing. All of that has added up to Kobach’s name being bandied about as a potential figurehead to lead Trump’s anti-immigration charge.

So will Kobach get the gig? The New York Times reports that Kobach has, ahem, a few demands before he would consider signing on the dotted line. Kobach’s deal-breakers include, but are not limited to: “24/7 access” to a jet, a guarantee he will be nominated to head the Department of Homeland Security by November, along with a pledge that current Cabinet members will defer to him on immigration matters.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019...-after-him.html

House releases Michael Cohen's closed-door testimony
Newly released, closed-door transcripts reveal that Michael Cohen alleged President Trump's attorney Jay Seklow had instructed him to lie about negotiations over Trump Tower Moscow.
https://www.axios.com/house-intel-votes-...0b4ae286a9.html

Fox News Host Pete Hegseth Privately Lobbied Trump to Pardon Accused War Criminals
The president isn’t just watching the network, he’s taking policy advice from its morning hosts.

If the president pardons U.S. servicemen accused and convicted of war crimes, you can thank one of Donald Trump’s favorite cable-news hosts.

Over the weekend, news broke that Trump is preparing to pardon several U.S. servicemen involved in high-profile cases of gunning down civilians or killing detainees, with the White House having already ordered that the necessary paperwork be drawn up ahead of the coming Memorial Day. The news came roughly two months after Trump publicly intervened in what the president called “restrictive” confinement conditions of one of the alleged war criminals.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-and-fr...d-war-criminals

Kriminelle Politiker wollen, tolerieren und brauchen auch kriminelles Militaer.
Nur kriminelle Politiker wollen, tolerieren und brauchen auch kriminelles Militaer.

Trump’s ‘pro-life’ administration just killed a program on children’s health
For more than 20 years, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and National Institutes of Health have partnered to fund a unique nationwide program studying environmental impacts on children’s health.

No more. The Trump administration is zeroing out the EPA contribution to the program, forcing many of the 13 university-based research centers to curtail their multiyear projects and leaving the NIH to scramble for a rescue plan.

Whatever the NIH comes up with, researchers say, it will be a shadow of the original program. That’s a devastating blow to the cause of children’s health.
https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik...0520-story.html

Russian documents reveal desire to sow racial discord — and violence — in the U.S.
The revelations come as U.S. intelligence agencies have warned of probable Russian meddling in the 2020 election.

Russians who were linked to interference in the 2016 U.S. election discussed ambitious plans to stoke unrest and even violence inside the U.S. as recently as 2018, according to documents reviewed by NBC News.

The documents — communications between associates of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked oligarch indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for previous influence operations against the U.S. — laid out a new plot to manipulate and radicalize African-Americans. The plans show that Prigozhin’s circle has sought to exploit racial tensions well beyond Russia’s social media and misinformation efforts tied to the 2016 election.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russi...ce-u-s-n1008051

Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #6659

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Russian documents reveal desire to sow racial discord — and violence — in the U.S.
The revelations come as U.S. intelligence agencies have warned of probable Russian meddling in the 2020 election.

Russians who were linked to interference in the 2016 U.S. election discussed ambitious plans to stoke unrest and even violence inside the U.S. as recently as 2018, according to documents reviewed by NBC News.

The documents — communications between associates of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked oligarch indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for previous influence operations against the U.S. — laid out a new plot to manipulate and radicalize African-Americans. The plans show that Prigozhin’s circle has sought to exploit racial tensions well beyond Russia’s social media and misinformation efforts tied to the 2016 election.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russi...ce-u-s-n1008051

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh8rfHX-F54

"The face of evil". Ich würde eher schreiben "the face of dumbness" - so wie man in der Regel Dummheit statt Verschwörungen bemühen sollte, sollte man nicht das Böse verantwortlich machen, wenn Dummheit reicht.

Die beiden Texanerinnern werden bestimmt die Partei wählen, die die geringsten Probleme damit hat, auch Abtreibungen bis zur Geburt zu vollziehen...

House Freedom Caucus condemns Amash over impeachment comment
The House Freedom Caucus on Monday night formally condemned one of its founding members for declaring that President Trump committed impeachable offenses, but stopped short of kicking Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) out of the hard-line conservative group.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee and a former chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said that every single member in attendance during a weekly caucus meeting was unified in their opposition toward Amash’s comments. The group, which took a show of hands, needs the support of 80 percent of its members to take a formal position on an issue.
“It was every single person who totally disagrees with what he says,” Jordan said after the meeting.

Amash, however, could be in jeopardy back home, with Michigan state Rep. Jim Lower announcing a primary challenge against Amash on Monday.
The conservative Club for Growth also put out a statement criticizing Amash, though did not indicate whether they would back his primary challenger.

Trump, who discussed Amash’s comments with McCarthy, also slammed the Michigan lawmaker on Twitter, calling him a "lightweight" and "loser."
"Never a fan of @justinamash, a total lightweight who opposes me and some of our great Republican ideas and policies just for the sake of getting his name out there through controversy," the president wrote.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/2...-caucus-1336684

Cohen told lawmakers Trump's lawyer told him to make false claims about timing of Trump Tower Moscow
According to the Washington Post, Cohen said Jay Sekulow instructed him to claim in a written statement to Congress in 2017 that the dealmaking over Trump Tower Moscow ended in January 2016, when in fact it continued into June of that year. Specifically, Cohen testified that Sekulow said using Jan. 31, 2016 was important since the Iowa caucuses began on Feb. 1, officially kicking off the GOP primary race.

House Democrats are investigating whether Sekulow or other attorneys associated with Trump, his family, and his business helped massage the false testimony that ultimately landed Cohen in jail for three years for lying to Congress.
“We’re trying to find out whether anyone participated in the false testimony that Cohen gave to this committee,” House Intelligence chair Adam Schiff told the Post.

THE CHAIRMAN: And just to be perfectly clear about this, the statement about the Trump Tower negotiations ending in January that was part of your original draft was false, and Mr. Sekulow knew that it was false?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

The House Intelligence panel has requested information from Sekulow and three other attorneys, all of whom were participating in a joint defense agreement: Alan Futerfas representing Don Jr., Alan Garten representing the Trump Organization, and Abbe Lowell representing Ivanka Trump. The committee is investigating whether any of the lawyers obstructed justice.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1859162

The Unchecked Corruption of Trump’s Cabinet
The lavish spending of top officials rarely makes headlines anymore, but that doesn’t mean the problem has gone away.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...oIMElHDe5PR-d8w

Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #6663

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Cohen told lawmakers Trump's lawyer told him to make false claims about timing of Trump Tower Moscow
According to the Washington Post, Cohen said Jay Sekulow instructed him to claim in a written statement to Congress in 2017 that the dealmaking over Trump Tower Moscow ended in January 2016, when in fact it continued into June of that year. Specifically, Cohen testified that Sekulow said using Jan. 31, 2016 was important since the Iowa caucuses began on Feb. 1, officially kicking off the GOP primary race.

House Democrats are investigating whether Sekulow or other attorneys associated with Trump, his family, and his business helped massage the false testimony that ultimately landed Cohen in jail for three years for lying to Congress.
“We’re trying to find out whether anyone participated in the false testimony that Cohen gave to this committee,” House Intelligence chair Adam Schiff told the Post.

THE CHAIRMAN: And just to be perfectly clear about this, the statement about the Trump Tower negotiations ending in January that was part of your original draft was false, and Mr. Sekulow knew that it was false?

MR. COHEN: Yes, sir.

The House Intelligence panel has requested information from Sekulow and three other attorneys, all of whom were participating in a joint defense agreement: Alan Futerfas representing Don Jr., Alan Garten representing the Trump Organization, and Abbe Lowell representing Ivanka Trump. The committee is investigating whether any of the lawyers obstructed justice.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1859162

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Fox News Legal Analyst says Trump violated Constitution's ‘Separation of Powers’ three times in past Week
Fox News’ senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano warned that President Donald Trump had continued a “very dangerous trend” by violating the Constitution’s “separation of powers” three times in the past week alone.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-violated-...V9MTi2bw-i8izeE

America's Reproductive Slaves
Ignore the religious rhetoric and moral posturing about abortion. This is about capitalism's cruelty.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/...oductive-slaves

This Is How Republics Die
And no, the nation will not just "bounce back" once Trump is gone
by Thom Hartmann

The American republic could die, just like Rome.

Wavering for some time on the verge of becoming a complete oligarchy, America is on the verge of flipping from a democratic republic to a strongman or autocratic form of government, something that’s happened to dozens of democracies in the past few decades, but never before here. It’s possible we won’t recover from it.

The death of a republic is different from the death of a nation; Rome was a nation for nearly 2,000 years, but its period of being a republic was only around 300 years long. For the rest, it was a brutal empire with a small but wealthy and corrupt ruling class and a thin patina of democracy-for-show.

Trump is openly defying the norms and laws of our republic, while calling for the imprisonment of both his political enemies and members of the very law enforcement agencies that might hold him to account. And he’s only able to do it because billionaires like Rupert Murdoch, with Fox News, and the billionaires Republicans depend on to fund their re-elections are providing him with cover.

And they’re largely able to do that because five “conservatives” on the Supreme Court empowered billionaires to own the political system with the 1976 Buckley and 2010 Citizens United decisions. ....
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/...w-republics-die

'This Is the Cover-Up': Trump DOJ Instructs McGahn to Disregard Subpoena by House Judiciary
"Our democracy is built on an understanding that one branch of government won't systematically obstruct another," said Rep. Ro Khanna. "Mueller named McGahn as a critical witness: the American people need to hear his testimony."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/0...house-judiciary

GOP Senator Says Trump’s Trade War Has Farmers On ‘Verge Of Financial Collapse’
Jerry Moran of Kansas urged Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to find a better response than unreliable government aid.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jerry-mor...4b075a35a2be586

Is Trump DOA in the Rust Belt? (DOA =Dead on Arrival)
A Republican "autopsy" of 2018 losses in Wisconsin shows a party struggling to reconcile racist policies with midwestern politics.
https://newrepublic.com/article/153963/r...-lose-wisconsin

May 21, 2019 - Good Feelings On Economy Don't Help Trump, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds;
The nation's economy is "excellent," 22 percent of American voters say in a Quinnipiac University National Poll today, the highest "excellent" rating for the economy. Another 49 percent of voters say the economy is "good." The total 71 percent for "excellent" and "good" is the highest total number for American voter attitudes on the economy in almost 18 years.

Some 52 percent of American voters say they are better off financially today than they were in 2016, while 21 percent say they are worse off and 23 percent say they are the same.

But American voters give President Donald Trump a negative 38 - 57 percent approval rating, compared to a negative 41 - 55 percent approval in a May 2 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University National Poll.
"The nation's economy is pretty darn good and President Donald Trump's approval numbers are pretty darn awful," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2622

The Criminalization of Women’s Bodies Is All About Conservative Male Power
The goal of the wave of anti-abortion laws in America is to put female sexuality under strict and brutal state control.
https://newrepublic.com/article/153942/c...tive-male-power


How Gerrymandering Leads to Radical Abortion Laws
Georgia's "fetal heartbeat" bill never would have passed if the state legislature truly reflected the voters' political preferences.
https://newrepublic.com/article/153901/g...l-abortion-laws

GEN(R) Marty Dempsey@Martin_Dempsey (ehem. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs)
Absent evidence of innocence or injustice the wholesale pardon of US servicemembers accused of war crimes signals our troops and allies that we don’t take the Law of Armed Conflict seriously. Bad message. Bad precedent. Abdication of moral responsibility. Risk to us. #Leadership
5:15 AM - 21 May 2019

Patrick O'Shea@poshea
Absolutely correct, General. Thank you for stating this publicly; the seriousness of this cannot be exaggerated.
6:22 AM - 21 May 2019


Frolicking Gadfly@FrolickinGadfly
"Abdication of moral responsibility."
Those four words sum up the entirety of Donald Trump's personal life, his business life, and now his political life.
6:19 AM - 21 May 2019

Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #6673

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How Gerrymandering Leads to Radical Abortion Laws
Georgia's "fetal heartbeat" bill never would have passed if the state legislature truly reflected the voters' political preferences.
https://newrepublic.com/article/153901/g...l-abortion-laws

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