House at work and Senate (nope) and White House – nope. Nation broken by ego and false fears. Passed House (Senate next):
Last Action: On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 237 – 187 (Roll no. 39).
Explanation: This bill passed in the House on January 16, 2019 and goes to the Senate next for consideration.
Thursday Open Thread | Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Trump’s State of the Union is off
Nancy Smash dunked on them..
Game. Blouses. B^tches…….
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Wednesday said President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address “is off.”
“The speaker is the one who invites the president,” Hoyer told CNN, adding, “The State of the Union is off.”
Earlier Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Trump telling him to either postpone the annual address — set to be delivered before a joint session of Congress on January 29 — or submit it in writing, citing security concerns linked to the government shutdown.
“Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government re-opens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has re-opened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on January 29th,” Pelosi said.
“The U.S. Secret Service was designated as the lead federal agency responsible for coordinating, planning, exercising, and implementing security for National Special Security Events by Public Law 106-544, December 19, 2000,” Pelosi added. “However, both the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security have not been funded for 26 days now — with critical departments hamstrung by furloughs.”
A representative for Hoyer told INSIDER he had “not read Speaker Pelosi’s letter and mischaracterized it” when he told CNN that the State of the Union address “is off.”
The government shutdown, the longest in US history, is a product of Trump’s insistence on obtaining funding for a wall he wishes to build along the US-Mexico border. Democrats have refused to grant the funding.
If Trump were to deliver the State of the Union address on January 29 amid the impasse, it would be the first to occur during a government shutdown.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER.
Here’s Why Los Angeles Parents Are Standing with Striking Teachers against Billionaire-Backed Charters
Yesterday for the second day in a row, 50,000 people rallied in support of the striking teachers of Los Angeles.
This time our target was the California Charter School Association, the lobbying arm behind the rapid expansion of unregulated charter schools in Los Angeles. It’s funded by billionaires like Eli Broad and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.
The CCSA has pursued a plan to move one million students from public schools into charter schools by 2022.
Bid to keep U.S. sanctions on Russia’s Rusal fails in Senate
Human Rights Group—Politically Motivated Use of Death Penalty Widens in Saudi Arabia
Executions have soared in Saudi Arabia amid widening pursuit of politically motivated death sentences, mass death penalty trials, and use of the death penalty against female activists, according to a European-based Saudi human rights organization. In its 2018 Death Penalty Report: Saudi Arabia’s False Promise, issued January 16, 2019, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) said Saudi Arabia conducted at least 149 executions in 2018, more than double the number conducted in 2013, continuing a four-year surge the group associates with the ascension of King Salman to the throne in January 2015. Half of those executed were foreign nationals, including 33 from Pakistan and women from Ethiopia and Indonesia. ESOHR reported that the Saudi government concealed at least one execution and failed to announce the execution of the Indonesian woman, and the human rights group expressed concern that the actual number of executions in the country may be higher.
The Saudi royal family has sought to deflect international criticism of its escalated use of the death penalty by pointing to the use of capital punishment by the United States and other countries. In an April 2018 interview with TIME magazine, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman deflected a question on whether the Kingdom would reduce the number of public beheadings and executions in his country, saying: “I believe until today the United States of America and a lot of states, they have capital punishment. We’ve tried to minimize [its use],” he said, and suggested that the monarchy was working with the Saudi parliament on an initiative to change punishments for some offenses from execution to life in prison. The ESOHR report, however, said bin Salman’s statement “is not reflected in the death penalty statistics of 2018. Execution rates have sky rocketed [sic] in the last four years [and] do not indicate any attempts to ‘minimise’ or ‘reduce’” death penalty use.
ESOHR’s report catalogues an intensified use of “politically motivated death sentences … against an increasing spectrum of government critics,” including human rights advocates, non-violent clerics, and other political opponents. It lists among the politically motivated death sentences the case of Israa al-Ghomgham, the first female activist to face execution in Saudi Arabia for non-violent human rights-related work. Al-Ghomgham was detained in December 2016 during a raid on her home. Her case is being prosecuted in Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court, which was established to address acts of terrorism. However, Oliver Windridge – an international human rights lawyer who has written briefs supporting al-Ghomgham – says that its “focus appears to have moved from terrorist suspects to human rights defenders and anti-government protesters.” The ESOHR report describes the terrorism charges against al-Ghomgham as “trumped up” and the trial proceedings as “grossly unfair.” UN human rights experts also have condemned the prosecution, saying that “[m]easures aimed at countering terrorism should never to be used to suppress or curtail human rights work.”
ESOHR says that 59 Saudi prisoners are currently at risk of imminent execution, including eight who were minors at the time of their purported crimes and twelve men convicted of spreading the Shia faith and allegedly spying for Iran.
(2018 Death Penalty Report: Saudi Arabia’s False Promise, European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, January 16, 2018; Haley Ott, U.S. lawyers “paying attention” as female Saudi activist Israa al-Ghomgham due in court, CBS News, January 14, 2019; TIME, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Talks to TIME About the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s Plans and President Trump, TIME, April 5, 2018.) See International and Women.
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Turkish Prosecutors Seek Arrest of the Knicks’ Enes Kanter
Neo-Ottomans… stuff it! The prosecutors requested an international warrant and accused Kanter, who has harshly criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, of membership in a terrorist organization.
Recycled Christmas trees become spawning ground for fish
Fish are spawning on the underwater reef that fishery biologist John Kärki is making out of recycled Christmas trees.
Lyssna: Recycled Christmas trees become spawning ground for fish
Old Christmas trees are getting new life on the bottom of lake Mälaren, where they are turned into underwater reefs so that fish can spawn.
A harbour dug out to allow for big boats and cruise ships is not good for fish. That’s why the city of Stockholm and the Swedish Anglers Association have initiated a project to help fish in the lake – and take care of people’s old Christmas trees at the same time.
“Waters that are shallow and have a lot of vegetation are important for the spawning for fish like perch, pike and zander. If we build away these areas, we don’t get enough fish in the sea,” says fishery biologist John Kärki with the Swedish Anglers association.
Kärki and his colleagues have been collecting used Christmas trees from Stockholmers, and use them to create underwater reefs for the fish to spawn in. This winter, over 400 used Christmas trees will be sunk into lake Mälaren.
Ulla Engberg
ulla.engberg@sverigesradio.se
Photos: Gorgeous New Murals At Reopened 167th Street Station Celebrate Bronx Icons
The MTA reopened the 167th Street B/D station in the Bronx last week, after five months of major repairs and renovations, including new concrete and metal platforms, stairs, beams and columns; new LED lighting; digital signage for real-time service information; new turnstiles; and brighter lightning. As with other station updates, there’s also new artwork, and the 167th Street station has stunning new murals that pay tribute to figures important to the community. [ more › ]
Oregon governor’s husband cleans park bathroom – and sends Trump the bill | Environment | The Guardian
Dan Little, a retired forest service worker, took matters into his own hands when the shutdown left his local wilderness a mess
Six in 10 wild coffee species endangered by habitat loss
oops

Kew scientists’ analysis of 124 wild species shows 60% facing possible extinction, risking viability of commercial stock
Wild coffee species are under threat, with 60% of them facing possible extinction, including Arabica, the original of the world’s most popular form of coffee, researchers say.
Most coffee species are found in the forests of Africa and Madagascar. They are threatened by climate change and the loss of natural habitat, as well as by the spread of diseases and pests.

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