15 December 19
We’re down a good 40% from where we were at this time last year. That’s one thing we did not need and cannot sustain or survive.
With less than a week to go it is nervous time for sure. Time and operating capital are running out. We need some support folks.
Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News
Founder, Reader Supported News
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Reader Supported News
PO Box 2043
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CA 95611
15 December 19
NY Times Editorial Board | Impeach.
The New York Times Editorial Board
Excerpt: "In the end, the story told by the two articles of impeachment approved on Friday morning by the House Judiciary Committee is short, simple and damning: President Donald Trump abused the power of his office by strong-arming Ukraine, a vulnerable ally, holding up hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid until it agreed to help him influence the 2020 election by digging up dirt on a political rival."
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Greta Thunberg. (photo: Getty Images)
The New York Times Editorial Board
Excerpt: "In the end, the story told by the two articles of impeachment approved on Friday morning by the House Judiciary Committee is short, simple and damning: President Donald Trump abused the power of his office by strong-arming Ukraine, a vulnerable ally, holding up hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid until it agreed to help him influence the 2020 election by digging up dirt on a political rival."
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Greta Thunberg. (photo: Getty Images)
Why Is the President of the United States Cyberbullying a 16-Year-Old Girl?
Nancy Jo Sales, Guardian UK
Sales writes: "The morning after election day 2016, I got a call from a girls' school in New York where I was scheduled to speak. 'We have to reschedule,' said a representative from the school. 'The girls are too upset.'"
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Judge Paul Malloy. (photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Nancy Jo Sales, Guardian UK
Sales writes: "The morning after election day 2016, I got a call from a girls' school in New York where I was scheduled to speak. 'We have to reschedule,' said a representative from the school. 'The girls are too upset.'"
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Judge Paul Malloy. (photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Judge Orders 234,000 Purged From Wisconsin Voter Rolls
Bruce Vielmetti and Patrick Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Excerpt: "A Wisconsin judge on Friday ordered the state to remove hundreds of thousands of people from Wisconsin's voter rolls because they may have moved."
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Bruce Vielmetti and Patrick Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Excerpt: "A Wisconsin judge on Friday ordered the state to remove hundreds of thousands of people from Wisconsin's voter rolls because they may have moved."
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Outgoing Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky.
Outgoing Kentucky Republican Governor Pardons Violent Offender Whose Brother Hosted Fundraiser for His Campaign
Josh Wood, Guardian UK
Wood writes: "Days after leaving office, the former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin is facing widespread backlash and calls for an investigation following a number of controversial pardons of violent offenders on his way out the door."
Josh Wood, Guardian UK
Wood writes: "Days after leaving office, the former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin is facing widespread backlash and calls for an investigation following a number of controversial pardons of violent offenders on his way out the door."
Pardons are traditional at the end of a governor’s term – and most of the Republican’s more than 400 pardons were for drug offenses. But a number of the pardons were for particularly violent crimes, like a woman who gave birth in a flea market porta-potty and dumped her newborn into the toilet’s septic tank; a man who hired a hitman to murder his business partner in front of his family; a man convicted of beheading a woman and stuffing her body in a 55-gallon drum; a man convicted last year of raping a nine-year-old child; and a man convicted in a home invasion homicide whose brother hosted a fundraiser for the governor last year.
In that last case, Patrick Baker was pardoned just two years into his 19-year sentence for an incident in which he and several others impersonated law enforcement officers to gain entry to a home before shooting and killing a man inside. Two others imprisoned for the crime were not pardoned, despite prosecutors saying that Baker was the one who pulled the trigger.
In announcing the pardon, Bevin questioned the evidence presented in the case and the jury’s decision to convict Baker.
“The evidence supporting his conviction is sketchy at best,” wrote Bevin in the pardon. “I am not convinced that justice has been served on the death of Donald Mills, nor am I convinced that the evidence has proven the involvement of Patrick Baker as murderer.”
Bevin’s conclusion is starkly at odds with the judge who sentenced Baker, David Williams, who according to the Louisville Courier-Journal said: “I’ve never seen a more compelling or complete case … the evidence was just overwhelming.”
Baker’s brother Eric hosted Bevin at a fundraiser for the then governor at his home last year, raising $21,500, according to the paper, which has sparked accusations that the pardon was a favor, not the righting of a wrongful conviction.
In a letter to the Republican attorney general-elect, Daniel Cameron, on Friday, the Democratic senate minority leader, Morgan McGarvey, and the state representative Chris Harris asked for a special prosecutor or bipartisan special prosecuting team to investigate Bevin’s pardons, particularly the Baker pardon.
The power to pardon “was granted to serve justice and hold public officeholders accountable, not to grant political favors to powerful friends and campaign donors”, they wrote. “The appearance of corruption in this instance is overwhelming and cannot be overlooked or brushed aside.”
In the case of Micah Schoettle, who was found guilty last year of raping a nine-year-old girl, Bevin also lashed out against the evidence and the jury’s decision.
“Micah Schoettle was tried and convicted of a heinous crime based only on testimony that was not supported by any physical evidence,” wrote Bevin in his pardon. “This case was investigated and prosecuted in a manner that was sloppy at best. I do not believe that the charges against Mr Schoettle are true.”
Rob Sanders, the commonwealth’s attorney who prosecuted the case, told the Courier-Journal that Bevin’s pardon was an “irresponsible manipulation of the justice system”.
“I guess Matt Bevin thinks he’s smarter than 12 citizens that heard the actual evidence,” he said. “I’ve got news for him: child molesting rarely happens in front of witnesses or leaves physical evidence. If we don’t pursue those cases, 99% of child rapists would never be prosecuted.”
On Friday evening, Bevin responded to the controversy with a Twitter thread, defending the pardons by saying that he had spent “hundreds of hours” reviewing applications for pardons and saying that he would welcome anybody he pardoned as a “co-worker, neighbor, or to sit beside me or any member of my family in a church pew or at a public event”.
He also appeared to lash out at those who accused him of corruption in pardoning Baker, whose brother hosted a fundraiser for him.
“The myriad of statements and suggestions that financial or political considerations played a part in the decision making process, are both highly offensive and entirely false,” he said. “To repeat such uncorroborated rumors and lies is reprehensible.”
But Bevin was finding few defenders, even within his own party.
On Friday, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said Bevin’s pardons were “completely inappropriate”.
“I expect he had the power to do it, but looking at the examples of people who were incarcerated as a result of heinous crimes – no, I don’t approve of it,” the Republican senator told reporters in Kentucky’s capital of Frankfort.
Bevin did not leave office quietly following his narrow loss to the Democrat Andy Beshear in last month’s election. Known as a pugnacious governor, Bevin, who campaigned with Donald Trump in the days leading up to the vote, disputed the election results and, without evidence, charged that widespread voter fraud occurred, a move that stoked rightwing conspiracy theories about the election.
Beshear was sworn into office just after midnight on Tuesday, but his first days in office have been overshadowed by his predecessor’s pardons.
On Thursday, Bevin told the Washington Post he was “a big believer in second chances” after the paper asked about the pardons.
On January 19, 2019, protesters advocating for and against abortion access demonstrate at the US Supreme Court in Washington DC. (photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Mississippi's Ban on Abortions at 15 Weeks Gets Shut Down Second Time
Casey Quinlan, Vox
Quinlan writes: "A federal appeals court blocked Mississippi's 15 week abortion ban on Friday, simultaneously affirming abortion access in the state, and paving the way for further legal challenges to current federal abortion regulations."
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Casey Quinlan, Vox
Quinlan writes: "A federal appeals court blocked Mississippi's 15 week abortion ban on Friday, simultaneously affirming abortion access in the state, and paving the way for further legal challenges to current federal abortion regulations."
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Iran has struggled to import medicine due to US sanctions. (photo: AFP)
Fatal Flu Kills 81 as Sanctions Make Vaccines Scarce
The Middle East Eye
Excerpt: "A fatal flu has claimed the lives of at least 81 people in Iran this year, made worse due to a shortage of the imported influenza vaccine, a direct consequence of US sanctions on the country."
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The Middle East Eye
Excerpt: "A fatal flu has claimed the lives of at least 81 people in Iran this year, made worse due to a shortage of the imported influenza vaccine, a direct consequence of US sanctions on the country."
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'The U.S. Forest Service is allowing Canadian-based company Midas Gold to take a lead role in the creation of a biological assessment of its proposed open-pit gold mines in central Idaho.' (photo: Getty Images)
US Forest Service Allows Mining Company to Write Its Own Environmental Analysis
Brooke Seipel, The Hill
Seipel writes: "New documents reveal that the Trump administration has let a mining company take on a major role in writing the environmental report that is key to getting its Idaho gold mine project government approval, the Idaho Statesman reports."
Brooke Seipel, The Hill
Seipel writes: "New documents reveal that the Trump administration has let a mining company take on a major role in writing the environmental report that is key to getting its Idaho gold mine project government approval, the Idaho Statesman reports."
According to documents obtained by Earthworks and reported by the Statesman, the U.S. Forest Service is allowing Canadian-based company Midas Gold to take a lead role in the creation of a biological assessment of its proposed open-pit gold mines in central Idaho.
The environmental report would asses the mines' impact on fish protected under the Endangered Species Act, including salmon, steelhead and bull trout. An assessment could shut down Midas Gold’s Stibnite Gold Project if it meant the company had to undertake costly habitat restoration work to protect the surrounding area.
February 2018 documents show the U.S. Forest Service initially denying Midas Gold's request to take part in the biological assessment, citing concerns that the project would harm endangered animals, but by October 2018, the company was leading the assessment.
Documents also show that the company heavily lobbied the Trump administration while obtaining approval for its involvement in the report, including meetings between Midas Gold and President Trump's deputy under secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's natural resources and environment.
After the meetings, internal documents reportedly show the U.S. Forest Service's opposition to Midas Gold's involvement caving.
Midas Gold's vice president of external affairs told the Statesman that it's normal to be a part of the assessment, calling the process "collaborative" with federal and state officials.
However, some are skeptical of the company's involvement and the Nez Perce Tribe, which has treaty rights to the land, opposes mining. The Nez Perce has cited concerns for nearby fish habitat as the mines would be erected near 80 river miles that are home to federally protected fish.
The Statesman reports that since the 1990s taxpayers have covered $4 million worth of habitat cleanup to restore land left in poor condition by past mining activity in the area.
Midas Gold officials told the Statesman that a draft of the report has not yet been written, but it is expected to inform an environmental impact report set to be released in early 2020.
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