Vote Passes Allowing Subpoenas for Mueller Report 4/3/19

The House Judiciary Committee has voted 24-17, along party lines, to allow for subpoenas for the Mueller Report, as well as to five former employees of the Trump Administration:

Don McGahn – Former White House Counsel
Ann Donaldson – Don McGahn’s former Chief of Staff
Steve Bannon – Former Adviser to the President and White House Chief Strategist
Hope Hicks – Former White House Director of Strategic Communications
Reince Priebus – Former White House Chief of Staff

The Subpoenas have not been filed, as of this moment, since Jerrold Nadler, Chairman of the Committee, has stated he will still try to negotiate for the full release with Attorney General Barr before issuing them.

The reason for this is because, by filing a Subpoena, any push-back from Attorney General Barr would force either a charge of Contempt of Congress or for it to be taken up by the courts, likely resulting in a Supreme Court case [1][2].

Sources

Source 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/us/politics/mueller-report-subpoena-house.html

Source 2: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/03/709404618/house-judiciary-approves-subpoena-for-full-mueller-report-in-party-line-vote

Climate Change: Mapped 3/31/19

Climate Change is a subject that will affect the world, yet most people don’t know where or how it is affecting us today.

Thanks to the website CarbonBrief, who created a world map based on more than 230 peer-reviewed studies, we can now see what the current effects of climate change are and where they are causing the most damage.

Beyond that, CarbonBrief made sure to outline which results were and were not influenced by humans, giving a fair and unbiased outline of these issues.

Carbon Brief’s analysis suggests 68% of all extreme weather events studied to date were made more likely or more severe by human-caused climate change. Heatwaves account for 43% such events, droughts make up 17% and heavy rainfall or floods account for 16%.

Source: https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-how-climate-change-affects-extreme-weather-around-the-world

Supreme Court to Rule on Gerrymandering 3/30/19

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took on the case of Extreme Partisan Gerrymandering in both North Carolina, by Republicans, and Maryland, by Democrats.

The result of this case could effect elections all across the country, impacting how redistricting is done nationwide.

The likelihood of that result, however, seems slim, as the Court has, as recently as 2016, kept out of the States methods of redistricting:

In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold Arizona’s independent redistricting commission.
The justices last year failed to deliver a definitive ruling on the legality of partisan gerrymandering. They got another chance in the cases before them on Tuesday challenging a Republican-drawn 13-district statewide U.S. House of Representatives map in North Carolina and a single Democratic-drawn House district in Maryland.
“Have we really reached the moment, even though it would be a big lift for this court to get involved, where the other actors can’t do it?” Kavanaugh asked, referring to states.

It seems that Justice Kavanaugh will likely be the deciding vote.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/us-supreme-court-divided-on-partisan-electoral-maps-idUSKCN1R70Z2

Trump’s Transgender Military Ban to go into Effect 3/29/19

Trump’s Ban on Transgender people in the military is to go into effect starting on April 12th.

The current version of the law will allow for the military to ban new transgender recruits from joining the military, as well as allowing for the discharge of members in need of hormone treatment and/or surgery.

The case against the ban is still open, however, and the DC Court of Appeals may still decide against the ban. Currently they have only allowed for the injunctions to be lifted.

Source: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/435945-appeals-court-clears-path-for-pentagon-to-enforce-transgender-ban-april-12

Alabama Suspending Thousands of Licenses 3/28/19

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has suspended somewhere around 23,000 Alabama residents Drivers Licenses due to nonpayment on unpaid traffic tickets. The SPLC argues that such a law is unconstitutional due to the State not first assessing the individuals ability to pay these tickets.

The lawsuit challenges a law that allows a person’s driver’s license to be suspended for unpaid traffic tickets, without taking into account the person’s ability to pay. The law is unconstitutional, and harms thousands of low-income families across the state, according to the complaint. [1]

This is not the first time that the SPLC has fought a similar law. In Mississippi, over 100,000 drivers had their licenses suspended for the very same reason, and SPLC was able to reach an agreement with the State, allowing for reinstatement of suspended licenses, an end to the practice, and waiving of the $100 reinstatement fee in the State for those drivers affected [2].

Sources

Source 1: https://www.splcenter.org/news/2018/11/19/splc-sues-alabama-unlawfully-suspending-thousands-driver%E2%80%99s-licenses

Source 2: https://www.splcenter.org/news/2017/12/19/splc-reaches-agreement-mississippi

Ukraine’s Battle Against Foreign Disinformation 3/28/19

Ukraine, as well as many other countries across the world, are combating Fake News coming from multiple nations in order to sow doubt and disorder.

Ukraine dealt with these issues very recently, with the attacks from the Russian Government and Russian Backed separatists began a civil war within the country 5 years ago. Now, the Russian Playbook for Disinformation has begun to be utilized by a multitude of countries [1].

The Ukraine government, in cooperation with IREX, a global education organization, have been working to combat disinformation by working within the education system to teach students how to discern accurate information from that which is misleading.

The Listen to Discern program, funded by the U.S. and U.K. embassies in Ukraine, was tested in 50 schools, including in the eastern city of Mariupol which saw major fighting in the war’s first years.
A group of fact checkers, journalists and teachers wove the training into some 15 existing lesson plans.

IREX is also working to educate adults through it’s Learn to Discern program, hosting courses in Ukraine to try and educate the citizens of the country [2].

IREX is currently working to expand their Learn to Discern program and is working to implement it in Guatemala, Jordan, Serbia, Tunisia, and the United States [3].

It is highly suggested that those within above countries try to Contact Ms. Tara Susman-Peña here to attempt to take these courses.

Sources

Source 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/technology/twitter-disinformation-united-states-russia.html

Source 2: https://www.npr.org/2019/03/22/705809811/students-in-ukraine-learn-how-to-spot-fake-stories-propaganda-and-hate-speech

Source 3: https://www.irex.org/project/learn-discern-l2d-media-literacy-training

DCCC Fights Democratic Primary Challengers 3/27/19

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which is the campaigning organization for House Democrats, revealed a new policy this past Friday, which will hurt Primary Challengers.

The DCCC will refuse to award contracts to any political firms that work alongside Democratic Primary Challengers of House Members in 2020 in an attempt to keep their majority within the House.

This new policy is an attack on Democratic Elections, hurting the ability to openly debate an campaign on equal footing for those who are not already within the political realm.

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/435332-dems-seek-to-stifle-primary-challenges-to-incumbents

Mueller Report Filed but is Not the End (Updated) 3/27/19

While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.
Robert Mueller on Obstruction of Justice Charges

Robert Mueller has finished it’s report and openly stated that the President has not Conspired with Russia, a relief to many Republicans on the Hill [1].

What the report did not outline however, and actually avoided concluding on, was if Trump had committed Obstruction of Justice in trying to prevent the investigation, which the House Judiciary Committee is currently looking into and actively investigating [2].

The current best case situation is that Trump committed no discernible crime.

The worst case is that he did and the Department of Justice will refuse to act upon it, setting precedent that a President is more than a man of the people, the very thing the founders wanted to avoid by beginning this country [3].

We won’t know which is true until the majority or entirety of the report is obtained, as William Barr doesn’t believe a President can be indicted especially on Obstruction of Justice charges [4], which Trump has already openly admitted to attempting when he fired James Comey and said it was for the Russia Investigation [5], as well as when he asked Russia to hack the DNC and they did so within hours [6].

This is why the Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, are trying to ensure that Congress gets a more thorough view of Mueller’s Report [7].

Let us also not assume that the case is closed, as even though Mueller has stated his team will serve no more indictments [8], he has handed off many cases to Federal and State prosecutors.

The still-live investigations range from an expansive probe into the Trump inaugural committee, to various investigations relating to former top Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, to tips that stemmed from Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen’s experience with Trump and his family’s company. It’s possible other investigations are being conducted quietly, as well. [9]

For a good summation on the possible legal implications, please look at THIS DISCUSSION about US Attorney General Barr’s Summary of the Mueller Report to listen to this clip of a discussion between former US Attorney for SDNY, Preet Bharara, and former AG of NJ, Anne Milgram, on what they’ve read so far [10].

Sources

Source 1: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/24/mueller-report-donald-trump-barr-congress-russia

Source 2: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/26/mueller-obstruction-of-justice-legislation-1237498

Source 3: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-america-has-president-instead-exalted-highness-180961841/

Source 4: http://time.com/5505438/wiliam-barr-confirmation-hearing-attorney-general/

Source 5: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-he-didn-t-fire-comey-because-russia-contradicting-n878836

Source 6: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/politics/trump-russia-clinton-emails.html

Source 7: https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/32419/

Source 8: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/03/25/trump-russia-mueller-evidence-danger-even-without-indictments-column/3268632002/

Source 9: https://wtvr.com/2019/03/24/investigations-will-continue-despite-end-of-mueller-report/

Source 10: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/stay-tuned-with-preet/e/59625778?autoplay=true

Trump Administration Eyes Change to Medicaid 3/27/19

The Trump Administration has been focused on finding ways to cut Medicaid over the past two years and believe that their best method is by implementing Work Requirements, in which a citizen is required to show proof of employment within a certain amount of time to continue to receive service.

The issue with this plan is that Arkansas has already tested it and shown that Work Requirements do not lead to more people working, but instead to fewer people being insured.

Of the roughly 18,000 Arkansans who lost their coverage last year due to the new rules, only about 2,000 have re-enrolled in 2019, according to HHS.
…
Only 1,981 of those people matched entries in the state’s database of new hires, CBPP says, suggesting that the rest didn’t find work.
Even that number may be overstated, because the database includes people who found new work for a short time, and those who switched jobs.
It also doesn’t say whether people who found employment get health coverage through those jobs.

Source: https://www.axios.com/medicaid-work-requirements-labor-participation-arkansas-9fa3d173-1ed5-4c81-82f0-ee50b433df3a.html

House Fails to Prevent Emergency Declaration, Funding from Pentagon 3/26/19

The House failed to override President Trump’s Veto, voting 248-181, with 14 Republicans joining all Democrats [1], yet falling 38 votes short of the required 2/3 majority needed to pass [2].

Due to this, the Department of Defense has stated that they’ve procured $1 Billion for the border fencing.

Even though the Pentagon never informed Congress of their allocation, which is required to consult with them before any reallocation of funding could be performed, the Defense Secretary, Patrick Shanahan, stated that this process can be skipped in the case of an Emergency Deceleration by the President [3].

Sources

Source 1: https://www.c-span.org/video/?458887-1/us-house-fails-override-presidents-veto-border-resolution-248-181

Source 2: https://www.apnews.com/056c0ce531a34b999a6a50179e2265ad

Source 3: https://www.npr.org/2019/03/26/706795716/pentagon-authorizes-1-billion-for-fence-construction-at-mexico-border