As Lee Fang pointed out, the Kamala Harris campaign claimed that it “is not taking any money from pharmaceutical executives,” though FEC records show the opposite.
The tweet itself was just really a repeat of what I heard over the news,” Trump said. “I know his house was robbed and I thought that was too bad.”
“That was really just — that was not meant as a wise-guy tweet,” the president said “His house was robbed. It came over the news at a certain moment last night and I had just mentioned it.”
Mediaite
In this episode of On Topic, you'll also hear what the Trump Administration is doing to deter immigration through inhumane policies and actions, what athey're hoping to hide from the public, and how and why things are the despicable mess they are. And what you can (and can't) do about it.Renato and Patti discuss recent news that the Trump Administration has separated over 900 children from their parents despite a court order prohibiting that practice. They are joined by Lee Gelernt, Deputy Director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, who brought that disturbing fact to light in a court filing.
The were doing this in Afghanistan, remember? So, why the need to "test" them domestically? New and better balloons? Or to get it through the courts?Up to 25 unmanned solar-powered balloons are being launched from rural South Dakota and drifting 250 miles through an area spanning portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, before concluding in central Illinois.
Travelling in the stratosphere at altitudes of up to 65,000ft, the balloons are intended to “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats”, according to a filing made on behalf of the Sierra Nevada Corporation, an aerospace and defence company.
The balloons are carrying high tech radars designed to simultaneously track many individual vehicles day or night, through any kind of weather. The tests, which have not previously been reported, received an FCC license to operate from mid-July until September, following similar flights licensed last year.
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Sometimes it’s referred to as ‘combat TiVo’ because when an event happens somewhere in the surveilled area, you can potentially rewind the tape to see exactly what occurred, and rewind even further to see who was involved and where they came from.”
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“We do not think that American cities should be subject to wide area surveillance in which every vehicle could be tracked wherever they go,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Even in tests, they’re still collecting a lot of data on Americans: who’s driving to the union house, the church, the mosque, the Alzheimer’s clinic,” he said. “We should not go down the road of allowing this to be used in the United States and it’s disturbing to hear that these tests are being carried out, by the military no less.”
Guardian
It's a stampede."I have made the decision to not seek reelection for the 23rd Congressional District of Texas in order to pursue opportunities outside the halls of Congress to solve problems at the nexus between technology and national security," Hurd said on Twitter.
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Hurd's abrupt decision to not seek reelection comes amid a period of flux inside the Republican Party. He becomes the sixth GOP lawmaker and third House Republican from Texas to announce his retirement in the past two weeks.
The Hill
Well done.Trump has threatened to impose a 10% tariff on $300bn in Chinese goods starting 1 September, in addition to those already being penalized, if there is no new trade deal.
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Moody’s Investors Service swiftly warned that the extra tariffs would prove to be an economic burden amid “decelerating growth”.
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Within moments of Trump’s announcement of the threat of new tariffs, stocks and oil prices plunged.
Guardian
Double-down Don. That's his name. That's his game.The footwear distributors and retailers of America trade association said the tariffs could also have a chilling effect on hiring.
“President Trump is, in effect, using American families as a hostage in his trade war negotiations,” the group’s president, Matt Priest, said in a statement.
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“We are disappointed the administration is doubling down on a flawed tariff strategy that is already slowing US economic growth, creating uncertainty and discouraging investment,” said David French, senior vice-president for government relations at the National Retail Federation.
“These additional tariffs will only threaten US jobs and raise costs for American families on everyday goods,” he added.
And I haven't forgotten that he has been telling us all along that China had already agreed to buy lots and lots of US agricultural product.Oil prices fell 7%, with the international benchmark Brent crude registering the biggest daily percentage drop since February 2016. On Wall Street the S&P 500, which had been in solidly positive territory on Thursday afternoon, closed down 0.9% while the Dow Jones industrial average shed 1%.
In Asia, the Nikkei index in Tokyo dropped 2% at the opening on Friday morning and in South Korea the Kospi fell 1.3%.
Shocked "accidentally".James Calvert had been a difficult defendant. On trial in 2015 on charges of murdering his wife and kidnapping his son, Calvert had chosen to represent himself, but was having trouble following the judge’s instructions to stand up when addressing the Smith County court in East Texas.
Heightening the tension, Calvert, who was considered a security risk, wore an electronic stun cuff on his right leg capable of delivering an extended jolt of 50,000 volts. Throughout the trial, Judge Jack Skeen had threatened to activate it.
“If I’m sitting here, I’m no security threat,” Calvert said, according to court records cited in an appeal later filed by Calvert’s lawyer.
“I’m not talking a security threat,” Skeen replied. “I’m talking about you listening to me.”
Later, Skeen ordered Calvert to sit down and then, a moment later, to answer a question. When Calvert again failed to stand up to address the judge, an officer activated the device, according to court records. Calvert screamed for five seconds. “I’m sure the Court very much enjoyed that,” he said. Skeen then revoked Calvert’s right to represent himself.
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Last year, a Texas appeals court reprimanded a judge for “barbarism” after he ordered a defendant shocked three times for making objections. The appeals court sent the case back to the lower court for retrial.
And, in 2016, a Maryland judge was ousted from office for shocking a defendant who did not stop talking when asked, leaving the man hollering on the ground in pain while the court took a recess.
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The European Trade Commission, the United Nations and Amnesty International have all called for the ban of electronic restraints. Manufacturers and critics alike note the psychological impact of the devices, and one court found that wearing a stun belt has a “chilling effect” on the ability of defendants to participate meaningfully in their trials.
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Over the years, defendants have sometimes been shocked accidentally at key moments, leading to mistrials. Others, following a shock, have been too scared to return to the courtroom or have missed participating in their trial while recovering, infringing upon their right to be present at all stages of their trial. Research has also shown that 50,000 volts of electricity can impair brain function for up to an hour and can even trigger cardiac arrest.
The Marshall Project
