Dentists “need to be included in this conversation around antibiotic use.”
All posts by nedhamson
Just A Few Words About Impeachment
Just a few words on Impeachment.
The Constitution is clear: The Congress is the one that has the power to hold a wanton, unlawful President to account. It’s sort of odd – the framers of the Constitution absolutely believed that this country would be confronted with a person undeserving of being President, and gave us the solution to dealing with them: Impeachment.
Impeachment in the United States is the process by which the lower house of a legislature brings charges against a civil officer of government for crimes alleged to have been committed, analogous to the bringing of an indictment by a grand jury. At the federal level, this is at the discretion of the House of Representatives. Most impeachments have concerned alleged crimes committed while in office, though there have been a few cases in which officials have been impeached and subsequently convicted for crimes committed prior to taking office.[1] The impeached official remains in office until a trial is held. That trial, and their removal from office if convicted, is separate from the act of impeachment itself. Analogous to a trial before a judge and jury, these proceedings are (where the legislature is bicameral) conducted by upper house of the legislature, which at the federal level is the Senate.
At the federal level, Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 of the Constitution grants to the House of Representatives “the sole power of impeachment”, and Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 grants to the Senate “the sole Power to try all Impeachments”. In considering articles of impeachment, the House is obligated to base any charges on the constitutional standards specified in Article II, Section 4: “The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors
I believe that Robert Mueller was clear, just as the Southern District of New York was clear:
IF NOT for him being President of the United States, Donald Trump would most certainly be UNDER INDICTMENT.
PERIOD.
For me, Impeachment was always what should be done, because, either we are a nation of laws, or we are not. There is no in between.
But, as long as THAT is agreed to, then I am willing to give the Democratic Party leadership the time they need to bring the country along. Make no mistake – the Democrats are on their own. We know that the Republicans are lockstep traitors with Dolt45.
We know that we can’t depend upon the MSM, who has spent nearly every phucking day, trying to normalize Dolt45, and tell us that he’s ‘Presidential’.
We know that they can’t be depended upon, because you can look at the difference in attention and kinds of attention that they give between Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell. They insist on questioning Pelosi and pestering her at every turn. All the while, they are quiet as churchmice on the person most responsible for obstruction in our government today – McConnell. After the Democrats vote for impeachment, after laying out all the proof…I would be the farm, that they won’t approach McConnell OR any other Republican Senator, about the proof laid out by the Democrats. Won’t challenge them in the least. Just let them put on a bullshyt trial in the Senate, and not pushback on it being garbage.
There is only one shot for this. We need to make sure that we get all the evidence out there. With every refusal of a subpoena, that’s obstruction. With every refusal to turn over evidence, that’s obstruction. Threatening of witnesses – obstruction. Obstruction of justice, up and down this Administration. The breaking of the Emoluments Clause – bribery. There is PLENTY for impeachment. And, we should lay it out , everyday, with hearing after hearing.
Impeachment – yes.
But, let’s slow walk it. More evidence revealed, drip drip drip, everyday.
Friday Open Thread | The Chicanery With the 2020 Census
Ever since we saw Wilbur Ross trying to put a Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census, we knew that phuckery was afoot. The Constitution is very clear – everyone in the United States is to be counted. Period. There has always been some finagling with the Census – hell, it’s how we got the 3/5 compromise.
But, when we saw that they wanted to put the Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census, it was nothing but rotten. WE KNOW that Ross LIED as to how the request for the question was done. He lied and said that the Justice Department wanted it put on the Census – to back up the Voting Rights Act. Are you kidding me? Lying like a mofo. When has THIS Justice Department given two shyts about the Voting Rights Act.
We know now that they LIED when they testified before Congress, and judges. Not just Ross, but a Trump Transition Official, and John Gore, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and the DoJ’s chief overseer of voting rights issues, also lied under oath about the intended effects of the census question and the origin of the documents.
So now, because of this NYTimes Article, the intent for the Citizenship Question goes even BEFORE THE 2016 ELECTION.
Hard Drives Reveal Details on Citizenship Question
May 30, 2019 at 8:59 am EDT
Thomas Hofeller achieved near-mythic status in the Republican Party as the Michelangelo of gerrymandering, the architect of partisan political maps that cemented the party’s dominance across the country, the New York Times reports.
But after he died last summer, his estranged daughter discovered hard drives in her father’s home that revealed something else: Mr. Hofeller had played a crucial role in the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
Files on those drives showed that he wrote a study in 2015 concluding that adding a citizenship question to the census would allow Republicans to draft even more extreme gerrymandered maps to stymie Democrats… The disclosures represent the most explicit evidence to date that the Trump administration added the question to the 2020 census to advance Republican Party interests.
Files on those drives showed that he wrote a study in 2015 concluding that adding a citizenship question to the census would allow Republicans to draft even more extreme gerrymandered maps to stymie Democrats. And months after urging President Trump’s transition team to tack the question onto the census, he wrote the key portion of a draft Justice Department letter claiming the question was needed to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act — the rationale the administration later used to justify its decision.
Those documents, cited in a federal court filing Thursday by opponents seeking to block the citizenship question, have emerged only weeks before the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the citizenship question. Critics say adding the question would deter many immigrants from being counted and shift political power to Republican areas.…………….
The documents cited in the Thursday court filing include an unpublished August 2015 analysis by Mr. Hofeller, who was hired by The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet financially backed by Paul Singer, a billionaire New York hedge fund manager and major Republican donor. Mr. Hofeller’s charge was to assess the impact of drawing political maps that were not based on a state’s total population — the current practice virtually everywhere in the nation — but on a slice of that population: American citizens of voting age.
………………………….
Mr. Hofeller’s exhaustive analysis of Texas state legislative districts concluded that such maps “would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites,” and would dilute the political power of the state’s Hispanics.
The reason, he wrote, was that the maps would exclude traditionally Democratic Hispanics and their children from the population count. That would force Democratic districts to expand to meet the Constitution’s one person, one vote requirement. In turn, that would translate into fewer districts in traditionally Democratic areas, and a new opportunity for Republican mapmakers to create even stronger gerrymanders.
I want to tie this into another story that I read a few weeks ago, about the number of offices being cut for the 2020 Census. It is being done because of something the GOP did in 2014 – after they had taken back Congress. The DELIBERATE SABOTAGE OF THE CENSUS PREDATES DOLT45. So, when folks like me say, uh uh, you can’t isolate Dolt45 from the GOP. That they are ONE. That they are hooked together. Getting rid of Dolt45 doesn’t resolve the problem that the entire GOP is nothing but a rotten cesspool.
And, anything that resembles little ‘ d’-democracy, the GOP is against it. They know that the demographics are against them, but, they are determined that the MINORITY of this country will try and rule over the MAJORITY. THAT is why they must be defeated, because they do not want to live in a country where THEY aren’t ruling over us.
EPA takes Monsanto’s side on glyphosate
wtf

The pesticide world has been abuzz with the outcome of the third glyphosate trial. Earlier this month, Bayer (Monsanto) was found liable for Alva and Alberta Pilliod’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and was ordered to pay over $2 billion total in damages.
In light of the World Health Organization’s determination in 2015 that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s flagship herbicide Roundup, is a ‘probable human carcinogen,’ more than 10,000 individuals who have been exposed to the herbicide and suffered from cancer are in the process of suing the chemical giant, recently acquired by Bayer.
You’d think this precedent-setting verdict, the third consecutive against Bayer, would put the gears in motion for EPA to withdraw glyphosate from circulation. But disturbingly, the agency plans to keep the chemical on the market.
Seriously EPA?
Internal memos show that this administration went as far as to reassure Monsanto that they “have their back” when it comes to pesticides like Roundup.
We’ve already seen this EPA getting cozy with industry executives. Consider the chlorpyrifos fiasco — former Administrator Scott Pruitt decided not to ban the neurotoxic pesticide after meeting with Dow Chemical (chlorpyrifos’ manufacturer) executives.
But this is a new low. Ignoring recommendations of the World Health Organization, and dismissing concern from members of EPA’s own Scientific Advisory Panel over the hazards of glyphosate is a blatant disregard for sound science and public health.
Glyphosate has to go
Glyphosate is used on more than 100 crops, including corn, soy, cotton, canola and sugar beets. Use as skyrocketed over the past decade as “Roundup ready” crops that are genetically engineered to tolerate application of the herbicide have become standard in industrial agriculture systems.
While dangers are highest for pesticide applicators, farmworkers and rural communities exposed during spraying, residues of the chemical have been found in numerous food and drink products as well.
The U.S. Geological Survey found glyphosate in nearly all water and air samples taken in recent testing, and a recent study found the chemical in the bodies of pregnant women. In addition to its link to cancer, studies have also linked glyphosate to birth defects, liver damage, and hormone disruption.
Given the widespread exposure to this chemical that science has shown can harm human health, EPA must revise the recommendation that glyphosate be re-registered without restrictions. It’s time to invest in effective systems of farming and weed control that don’t rely on chemicals that put our health at risk.
Sign on to PAN’s petition today, telling EPA it’s time to put public health and the environment above the interests of corporations like Monsanto (Bayer).
Photo: Global Justice Now | Flickr
Measles Cases Reach Highest Level in More Than 25 Years, C.D.C. Says
There have been 971 known cases of measles in the United States so far this year.
Report: NYPD Has Systematically Undercounted Rapes In NYC For Years
A new analysis of city crime stats has found that the NYPD systematically undercounted rape statistics for the last seven years. [ more › ]
John Bolton to present his evidence that Iran was behind Gulf attacks
AKA: Updated and remixed WMD lies from 2002!

Trump national security adviser says he can show evidence as early as next week
The US national security adviser, John Bolton, has said he is to present evidence to the UN security council as early as next week that he claims will show Iran was behind recent attacks on oil tankers and pipelines in the Gulf.
Bolton has previously said Iran was almost certainly responsible for the attacks, but without presenting evidence.In what is likely to be a showdown over the US’s aggressive Iran strategy, in which Bolton has taken a leading role, much will depend on how credibly the US intelligence agencies can show the Iranian government is directing attacks by proxies.
New Hampshire abolishes death penalty after state senate overrides governor

Vote came a week after the 400-member house voted to override the governor’s veto of a bill to repeal capital punishment
New Hampshire, which hasn’t executed anyone in 80 years and has only one inmate on death row, has became the latest US state to abolish the death penalty when the state senate voted to override the governor’s veto.
“Now it’s up to us to stop this practice that is archaic, costly, discriminatory and final,” said New Hampshire state senator Melanie Levesque.
Nuclear watchdog chief: no evidence that Russia is violating test ban

- US general said Moscow had ‘probably’ violated moratorium
- Lassina Zerbo contradicts claims of testing at remote island
The head of the international watchdog that monitors signs of nuclear testing has said there is no evidence to support a US allegation that Russia has conducted low-yield tests in violation of an international ban.
Lassina Zerbo, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), said the agency had already investigated the claim made on Wednesday by the head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt Gen Robert Ashley, that Russia had “probably” violated the moratorium on tests of any yield.
Erase Your Computer Hard Drive Before You Die Unless You’re a Republican Operative Known as the ‘Michelangelo of Gerrymandering’

When the Republican political consultant Thomas Hofeller died last year, he left behind a toxic legacy—as one of the key architects of his party’s efforts to consolidate political power through redistricting and gerrymandering.

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