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Libs alarmed at number of conservative judges being appointed

Kaylee McGhee
Liberty Headlines
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
Manpeekbox
© istock
'It oftentimes depends on whose ox is being gored...'

Congress held a hearing on Thursday to address the overburdened judiciary, made so by growing caseloads and not enough approved judicial nominees.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Ohio, described the judiciary's predicament as a "crisis point." Several federal districts are unable to keep up with the growing number of cases filed in both the civil and criminal courts, he said.

And while Republicans are gradually filling the empty seats left during former President Barack Obama's time in office, the legal system is still struggling.

Judge Lawrence Stengel testified before the House Judiciary Committee, and said Congress needs to approve new judgeships.
"It has now been 15 years since the last judgeship was established," he said. "For the 27 district courts the conference has recommended new judgeships for, the average waited filings are 577 per judgeship. Twenty courts have about 500 waited filings, six above 700, and one above 1,000."

Comment: Overriding the disconnect, filling the gaps...will that be enough to certify a society with proper and functional mechanisms that adhere to the Constitution via a legitimate method of judicial governance?

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Blackbox

Flashback Maajid Nawaz: Case study of an (ex) status-driven extremist?

Neil Godfrey
Vridar
Sat, 06 Feb 2016 16:01 UTC
maajid nawaz
© Wikipedia

Comment: Nawaz was recently awarded $3.4 million in a settlement with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC had labeled Nawaz an "anti-Muslim extremist" in one of their reports. They subsequently removed the report, and posted an apology to Nawaz and his think tank. That's the good news - the SPLC stifles free speech like no other. But with Nawaz back in the news, it's worth taking a closer look at the man; thus, this Vridar report from 2 years ago.

Unlike his inspiration Barannikov, however, Mirsky was unable to contain himself: he told everyone who would listen that he was the attempted assassin. . . . Soon [the police arrested him].

Only a few weeks later, Mirsky was already betraying his comrades from People's Will and writing humble petitions to the czar. His loyalty to the radical movement evaporated completely; there is even evidence he was recruited to serve as an informant for the prison authorities. . . .
Barannikov sought the thrill of adventure; Mirsky status. The two kinds of motives are often linked in experience and can be linked in theory. Gang activity is a familiar setting where certain young men seek status. In an earlier post in a series addressing factors that attract persons to extremist radical groups, Terrorists on Status Seeking Adventures, I did not discuss Mirsky. But this morning I caught up with a detailed investigation into another (ex)Islamist radical I have posted on a few times and am struck by some similarities.

The contemporary example of someone who was driven by a pursuit for social status in his involvement in an extremist Islamist group appears to be Maajid Nawaz.
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Clipboard

Poll: Confidence in Trump to deal appropriately with Mueller probe split on party lines, age ranges๏ปฟ

Alec Tyson
Pew Research Center
Sat, 23 Jun 2018 16:45 UTC
Mueller
© Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesSpecial counsel Robert Mueller following a meeting with Senate Judiciary Committee members at the U.S. Capitol in June 2017.
As special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into Russian involvement in the 2016 election continues, most Americans express confidence in him to conduct a fair investigation. But the public is far less confident in Donald Trump to handle matters related to the investigation appropriately.

Republicans and Democrats offer starkly different assessments of Mueller's conduct of the investigation and Trump's ability to deal with it, and these partisan differences extend to views of the importance of the investigation itself.
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Light Saber

Russian MoD reports Syrian Army, FSA repel al-Nusra attack in south de-escalation zone


Sputnik
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 16:34 UTC
syria tanks
© Sputnik/Mikhail Alaeddin/FileTanks of the Syrian Army at combat positions.
Tensions in the southern de-escalation zone have intensified amid an anti-terrorist operation conducted by the Syrian Army.

The Russian Defense Ministry has stated that the Syrian government forces, jointly with the Free Syrian Army (FSA), has repelled over a thousand al-Nusra Front* attacks in the southern de-escalation zone.

As a result of the attack, five Syrian soldiers were killed and 19 others injured, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Comment: South Front also reports:



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Hourglass

Six year standoff: A timeline of Assange's exile at Ecuadorian Embassy

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 20:56 UTC
Assange
On Tuesday June 19th, 2012, Julian Assange walked into the Ecuador's embassy in London to claim asylum.

The WikiLeaks founder walked into the Ecuadorian embassy and claimed asylum under the UN's human rights declaration. This followed an unsuccessful attempt to appeal against his deportation to Sweden to face allegations of rape.

The following morning on June 20th the Metropolitan police declared that Assange, who is still under bail conditions following his unsuccessful appeal to extradition, had breached those conditions.

They police stated that they will arrest him and are aware of his current location at the embassy in Knightsbridge, west London.

The six year standoff between Julian Assange, UK police, and the US Deep State had begun.

Check out the video below which chronicles Assange's six year ordeal at the hands of UK authorities and the Deep State, along with a segment from Assange's first public appearance on August 19th, 2012 on the balcony of the Ecuador Embassy, where he would reside for the next six years.


Comment: Is world opinion finally shifting in Julian Assange's favor?
At the time of writing, Julian Assange has been cut off from communication with the outside world, apart from counsel with his lawyers, for 74 days. The Nelson Mandela Rules apply "torture" to just 15 days spent in isolation. Julian Assange is fast approaching five times the limit of consecutive days in isolation that is classified as torture under these rules.

All this is happening when the world's top legal authority on unlawful detention, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, already determined more than two years ago that the UK has arbitrarily detained the WikiLeaks Editor-In-Chief, and that he should be released and compensated immediately. The establishment's viciousness towards Julian Assange has been demonstrated repeatedly by calls from figures within the plutocratic class (or those cheerleading for them) for Assange to be murdered, and by then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo's comparison of WikiLeaks with terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda.

When the most militaristic and corrupt powers on the planet repeatedly flout international law in their pursuit of exacting sadistic revenge for being 'found out', it is up to all of us - the public who WikiLeaks has served - to fight for our own rights and freedoms and for those who through their fearless publishing protect them. In doing so, we must unanimously fight for the restoration of the rights of Julian Assange.


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Star of David

Times are a-changing for Israeli Lobby: Mal Hyman's outspokenness on Gaza massacre is a sign of things to come in Democratic races

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 16:08 UTC
Mal Hyman
Mal Hyman, left, meeting Palestinians in 1989
Next week, South Carolina progressive Mal Hyman faces a runoff with South Carolina State Rep. Robert Williams to decide who will be the Democratic nominee for Congress in the state's 7th District. And amazingly, Hyman is not mincing words about Israel's slaughter of Gaza protesters.

"The Fourth Geneva Convention seems to have been broken, and if I was a member of Congress, I would be calling for the International Criminal Court to investigate not only the 2014 massacre but this current one," Hyman told me.

The college prof has been just as outspoken on social media, offering condolences to the family of a slain Palestinian journalist, denouncing the "Shooting Spree at the Gaza Border," and calling on the U.S. to abandon its "colonial mentality" and hold Israel to account.
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Cult

French priest suspended after video of him slapping toddler during baptism goes viral on social media


RT
Sat, 23 Jun 2018 14:35 UTC
Baptism
© Getty Images
A French priest seen slapping a baby for crying during baptism was suspended, the church has confirmed. The video, viewed over five million times on social media, sparked widespread condemnation and outrage.

On Friday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Meaux, where Father Jacques Lacroix, 89, served, said that it took measures to ensure the priest was suspended from all baptism and marriage celebrations. He is now only allowed to conduct mass by special request of the parish.

"This loss of coolness can be explained by the tiredness of this elderly priest, but that does not excuse him," the diocese stated, adding that the video, viewed over five million times on social media, only provokes indignation.

The notorious footage of Father Jacques performing a bizarre baptism ceremony in the Collegiate Church of Champeaux in the Paris suburbs went viral on Wednesday.
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Chart Pie

New 2019 GOP budget calls for deep cuts in Medicaid, Medicare and welfare

Niv Elis and Peter Sullivan
The Hill
Tue, 19 Jun 2018 15:45 UTC
Medicare rally
© Getty Images
House Republicans offered a budget proposal on Tuesday that would cut mandatory spending by $5.4 trillion over a decade, including $537 billion in cuts to Medicare and $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and other health programs.

On Medicare, the budget would move towards a system of private health insurance plans competing with one other, rather than the current open-ended, government-provided Medicare system.

On Medicaid, the budget would impose new caps that could lead to cuts in payments over time.

The budget also sets up a fast-track process known as reconciliation that could allow ObamaCare repeal to pass without Democratic votes in the Senate.

But that is a long way off at this point.

The Senate would have to adopt a budget as well to unlock the process, and GOP leaders have indicated they have moved on from ObamaCare repeal for now.

Comment: Social Security and Medicare to go belly-up sooner than expected

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No Entry

Unofficial 'no-fly' list: Canada secretly using US's massive anti-terror database at every border

Justin Ling
The Guardian
Sat, 23 Jun 2018 11:00 UTC
Obama and Trudeau no-fly list
Ottawa has never formally recognised the scope of Tuscan, although it is forging ahead with a closely guarded plan to expand and update it. Originally created in 1997 as a consular aid, the list was repurposed and expanded after 9/11, and in 2016 Justin Trudeau and Barack Obama agreed to expand it still further.
Canadian border guards have been screening travellers using a huge, secretive US anti-terrorism database that is almost never referred to publicly, new documents reveal.

The database, called Tuscan, is provided to every Canadian border guard and immigration officer, and empowers them to detain, interrogate, arrest and deny entry to anyone found on it.

Hundreds of pages of documents obtained by the Guardian through Canada's access to information system reveal the fullest picture yet of a database that, although employed in Canada, is maintained exclusively by the US. It contains the personal information of as many as 680,000 people believed by US authorities to be linked with terrorism, and functions effectively as a second no-fly list that is cloaked in secrecy.

Canada's official no-fly list is called the Passenger Protect Program, which lists known and suspected terrorists who are forbidden from flying to or from Canada. One estimate concludes it has around 100,000 names, and the government has offered a redress so travellers can apply to have their name removed.

Tuscan, however, is much larger and is managed entirely by the US government. There is no clear process in Canada to have your name removed from the list - nor would the US be required to oblige.
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Dollar

Internet taxation without representation is now legal according to the Supreme Court

David G. Savage
Liberty Headlines
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 15:16 UTC
Grover Norquist
© Gage SkidmoreGrover Norquist
The Supreme Court on Thursday standardized taxing rules for traditional retailers and online transactions, ruling that states and localities may collect sales taxes on all purchases over the internet.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled that online sellers can be required to collect state and local taxes from customers even if the internet vendors have no physical presence, such as a store or factory, in that state.

Conservative groups decried the decision as a constitutional abomination, even though four of the five votes in the majority came from the right-leaning justices on the court.

"Today the Supreme Court said 'yes - you can be taxed by politicians you do not elect and who act knowing you are powerless to object,'" said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform.

"This power can now be used to export sales taxes, personal and corporate income taxes, and opens the door for the European Union to export its tax burden onto American businesses-as they have been demanding."
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