‘I didn’t need to do this’: Trump declares emergency to build wall ‘much faster’

It’s not an emergency? He just wants to break Constitution to do it faster! Traitor 1st class!

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Saying there’s “an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people” at the southern border, US President Donald Trump makes official his declaration of a national emergency to secure funding for his border wall.

The VA Is Paying for a Top Official’s Cross-Country… — ProPublica

Selnick is a prominent critic of the VA’s government-run health system. In between his time in government, he has worked for Concerned Veterans for America, a political group funded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch that has advocated for expanding private care for veterans. In 2016, Selnick signed onto a report that called the VA “seriously broken” with “no efficient path to repair it” and proposed shifting all veterans to the private sector.

Source: The VA Is Paying for a Top Official’s Cross-Country… — ProPublica

Antisemitism rising sharply across Europe, latest figures show

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France reports 74% rise in offences against Jews and Germany records 60% surge in violent attacks

Antisemitism is rising sharply across Europe, experts have said, as France reported a 74% increase in the number of offences against Jews last year and Germany said the number of violent antisemitic attacks had surged by more than 60%.

Related: Hungary tells UK Jewish group to ‘mind its own business’ over antisemitism

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What the pesticides in our urine tell us about organic food | Kendra Klein and Anna Lappé | Opinion | The Guardian

Of the 14 chemicals tested, every single member of every family had detectable levels. After switching to an organic diet, these levels dropped dramatically. Levels across all pesticides dropped by more than half on average. Detectable levels for the pesticide malathion, a probable human carcinogen according to the World Health Organization, decreased a dramatic 95% . Malathion was just one of the pesticides found in this study that are part of a group called organophosphates, which have long concerned public health experts because of their impact on children’s developing brains. Created as nerve agents in World War II, organophosphates have been linked to increased rates of autism, learning disabilities, and reduced IQ in children. The organophosphate chlorpyrifos, found in all of the family members, is so worrisome to public health that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) planned to ban it in 2017 – a proposal dropped by the Trump administration. In the wake of inaction from the administration, Hawaii passed the first state level chlorpyrifos ban in 2018; and Representative Nydia Velázquez introduced a federal bill to ban it.

Source: What the pesticides in our urine tell us about organic food | Kendra Klein and Anna Lappé | Opinion | The Guardian

Amazon made an $11.2bn profit in 2018 but paid no federal tax

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Company is not paying any taxes for the second year in a row, due to various unspecified ‘tax credits’ and executive stock options

Amazon has had a bad week but there is some comfort for the tech titan – it will not pay a single cent in income tax on the $11.2bn of profits it made last year.

The online shopping and tech giant scrapped plans to build a second headquarters in New York this week after a backlash over a proposed $3bn in taxpayer subsidies. Local politicians questioned why a company that made $1bn a month in the last three months of 2018 alone should be lured to New York with taxpayers’ cash.

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Germany rebukes Trump over criticism of Nato spending

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Defence minister’s comments at Munich conference reflect deepening transatlantic rift

The Nato alliance is about decency and dependability, not just cash and contributions, Germany’s defence minister has said in a rebuke to Donald Trump over his insistence that European countries rapidly increase their defence spending.

Ursula von der Leyen told a gathering of defence ministers in Munich the alliance was about fairness in collective decision-making, and not just during military missions.

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