The FBI’s warrant for Clinton’s email “never should have been granted.”
“The warrant application seems to reflect a belief that any email sent by Hillary Clinton from a private email server is probably evidence of a crime,” Katkin said. “If so, then it must be seen as a partisan political act, rather than a legitimate law enforcement action.”
Trump
The Office of Special Counsel is looking into that request for climate scientists’ names that was sent to the DOE, which “appear to have violated long-standing federal laws designed to protect civil servants against coercion for partisan purposes.”
Meanwhile, the Trump team has sent another questionnaire, this time to the State Department, asking “employees to report how much money the agency had paid to international environmental organizations.”
The Trump team is working to erase any public perception that Russia influenced the election.
Welcome to the Trump kleptocracy: “How the Trump family will use his presidency to rake in the cash.”
Transition Team & Cabinet Appointees
Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor Met with ‘Alt-Right’ Freedom Party Leader “It should be obvious that this meeting between Trump’s National Security Advisor and the leader of a neo-Nazi movement is extremely alarming.”
Zinke, named for Secretary of the Interior, “committed travel fraud when he was a member of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6, according to three former unit leaders and a military consultant.” Even the ones who don’t look like kleptocrats are kleptocrats.
“Mick Mulvaney, the ultra-conservative South Carolina congressman whom Donald Trump has tapped to be his budget director, has questioned whether the federal government should spend any money on scientific research.”
Trump’s selection for Army secretary is a guy who hasn’t been in the service for quite some time. But, “as owner of the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, he has sent the team to West Point for training, and there are several West Point graduates and military veterans working in the front office.” So that’s nice. Let’s see, what kind of experience does this secretary usually have?
Viola would replace Eric Fanning, who became secretary this year after spending the last eight years in various leadership positions across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Defense Department, including acting secretary of two services and chief of staff for Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Fanning’s tenure gave him extensive experience navigating the enormous and complicated Pentagon administrative and fiscal infrastructure — a key challenge for any successor.
Oh.
Voting
This is a very good summary of North Carolina’s bullshit.
First, after taking power after the 2010 election for the first time since 1870, North Carolina Republicans gerrymandered legislative and congressional districts by resegregating the state politically in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Federal courts have already struck down two congressional districts for racial gerrymandering and ordered new elections for 28 General Assembly districts next year. In other words, the legislature that stripped power from the next Democratic governor was elected by illegal means.
Other Fascist Nonsense
Anti-choice groups like to claim that women’s health services would be largely unaffected if Planned Parenthood were stripped of its federal funding, and so they created a website listing alternatives. “But in an investigation into the facilities, Rewire has found that these “real choices” include hundreds of elementary, middle, and high schools; clinics that provide care for homeless people; nursing homes; pediatrics centers; and even the D.C. jail. Rewire called and emailed hundreds of the facilities listed on the map, and discovered that many of their spokespeople were bewildered by the notion that women would be directed to their facilities for reproductive health services.”
Sen. Joe Manchin's solution for West Virginia's opioid epidemic: "We need to declare a war on drugs" https://t.co/2o0uOoKYz1
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) December 20, 2016
Senator Manchin's daughter is CEO of Mylan. Mylan sells Fentanyl. Senator Manchin blames recreational marijuana for opioid problem. https://t.co/M3qK8ntUr1
— Timothy Sutton (@tsutton94) December 20, 2016
I’m adding this to today’s post because Trump has praised Philippine president Rodrigo Dutarte on his handling of drug criminals, and I view any calls for another war on drugs with great suspicion.
When he was mayor of Davao City, Mr. Duterte was known to carry a .38 pistol and was accused of overseeing a death squad to kill criminal suspects. As president, he has led a nationwide war on drugs, which has singled out drug dealers and users and has left more than 3,000 people dead.
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