Here’s a brief breakdown of the five rulings — and one dissent: Tax returns — DC Circuit Court of Appeals In a 2-1 ruling, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Trump’s attempt to stop his accounting firm, Mazars USA, from turning over eight years of financial records to House Democrats. It’s a major loss in … Read More
In Other News…
The Senate has voted 54-41 to terminate President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border and to stop the diversion of military funds to pay for a wall along the border.
El Paso Victims Say No To Trump
Daily Kos: Donald Trump’s visit to El Paso was packaged with slick videos and pictures of a grinning Trump posing with medical staff. But one thing the White House will not be releasing pictures of is Trump with the shooting victims still being treated at University Medical Center—because none of the eight patients was willing to meet with him. “This is a very sensitive time … Read More
Weekend, Bloody Weekend
This weekend saw two mass shootings with a total casualty count (so far) of 29 people. On Sunday, Americans woke up to news of a shooting rampage in an entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio, where a man wearing body armor shot and killed nine people, including his own sister. Hours earlier, a 21-year-old with a rifle entered a Walmart in … Read More
“Send Her Back” Is The New “Lock Her Up”
It is clear from the Trump rally in Greenville, NC, that Trump is hoping to make Rep. Ilhan Omar the face of the Democrats in 2020, and run against her. The strategy itself is grounded in racism and xenophobism. During President Trump’s Wednesday night rally in Greenville, North Carolina, he took aim at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), one of the … Read More
DOJ Swaps Out Lawyers In The Citizenship/Census Case
The Department of Justice switched up the team of lawyers representing the Trump administration in its push to get a citizenship question on the 2020 census, according to the Washington Post. The DOJ announced the decision in a statement after the Post asked the department about the move. A person familiar with the matter told the Post that some career lawyers … Read More
Document Dump: The OIG Report On Border Detainees Is Disturbing
The Atlantic: The report echoed the accounts of lawyers who visited a border facility in Clint, southwest of El Paso, last month. Department of Homeland security officials had sought to rebut those claims. During a meeting with reporters last Friday to discuss border arrests, Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of DHS, called the lawyers’ descriptions “unsubstantiated allegations.” The Trump administration has repeatedly … Read More
SCOTUS WrapUp: Trump Denied Citizenship Question In 2020 Census; On The Other Hand, Democracy Is Screwed
The last day of the term meant the handing down of two critical and important opinions. The first, Department of Commerce v New York, was a blow to the Trump administration. The issue involves the inclusion of a question non the census about citizenship. It was challenged on the grounds that it was arbitrary and capricious — in essence, that … Read More
The Perils Of Immigrants
This photo hit the public yesterday and went viral. Chuck Schumer: “President Trump, I want you to look at this photo. These are not drug dealers or vagrants or criminals. They are people simply fleeing a horrible situation in their home country for a better life.”Via The Hill pic.twitter.com/r9an1kA7Br — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 26, 2019 The man and his … Read More
Fine. Don’t Call Them Concentration Camps. They’re Still Unconscionable
CNN: A 14-year old told us she was taking care of a 4-year old who had been placed in her cell with no relatives. “I take her to the bathroom, give her my extra food if she is hungry, and tell people to leave her alone if they are bothering her,” she said. She was just one of the children … Read More
The Purge Begins (In Words Only, Probably)
Trump announced, on Twitter, a massive sweep of undocumented immigrants across the United States: “Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of … Read More
Trump Ends Tariffs Threat After Working Out A Deal With Mexico, Except….
Except the “deal” was going to happen anyway. Yup: The deal to avert tariffs that President Trump announced with great fanfare on Friday night consists largely of actions that Mexico had already promised to take in prior discussions with the United States over the past several months, according to officials from both countries who are familiar with the negotiations. Friday’s … Read More
Trump Opens Another Trade War Front
Defenders of President Trump’s trade wars have tried to argue that his reckless moves are actually part of a cunning strategy to lower tariffs, knock down trade barriers, and usher in true free trade. But Trump just threw that defense out the window by announcing a plan to impose a 5% (and escalating to 25%) tariff on Mexican imports “until the … Read More
Meanwhile, A Fifth Migrant Child Dies In Custody Of Border Patrol
The U.S. government says a 16-year-old Guatemalan died Monday at a Border Patrol station in South Texas, the fifth death of a migrant child apprehended by border agents since December. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that Border Patrol apprehended the teenager in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley on May 13. The agency says the teenager was … Read More
Kirstjen Nielsen Ousted As Secretary Of Human Cruelty
So Kirstjen Nielsen, whose legacy will be the most heartless and lawbreaking immigration policy this nation has known in at least 70 years, wasn’t heartless and lawbreaky enough for Donald Trump, who accepted her resignation Sunday evening so he can move immigration policy in “a tougher direction.” Trump essentially fired Nielsen because he wants a “tougher” approach to the migrant crisis … Read More