SEPTEMBER 20 AND 21, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


PERSONAL HEROISM LIVES!!!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marines-say-they-had-to-act-to-save-senior-citizens-from-d-c-fire/
By DAVID MARTIN CBS NEWS September 20, 2018, 6:45 PM
Marines say they "had to act" to save senior citizens from D.C. fire

WASHINGTON — A quick-moving fire in the nation's capital could have turned tragic Wednesday afternoon, when flames raced through a building home to more than 100 senior citizens.

But when the smoke went up, Marines came running.

"These are our neighbors. They needed help. We had to act," said Capt. Trey Gregory.

The fire was about 200 yards from their small outpost in downtown Washington, D.C. When they got there, a construction worker told them all they needed to know.

"He yelled to us, 'There's more people in there,' and that's when the Marines decided we need to go get them," said Cpl. Magdaleno Arroyo.

0920-en-marine-rescue-martin-5.jpg
A group of Marines rushed to the scene of a fire in Washington, D.C., helping to rescue senior citizens inside. CBS NEWS

"I don't think there was really any thought to it. We were just saying we had to get these people out of here before anything serious happens and just the instincts kicked in to go," said Gunnery Sgt. Matthew Cale.

There were firefighters there, of course, and residents of the neighborhood as well. But it's safe to say the Marines were the youngest and fittest, which mattered because some of the residents were trapped on the fourth floor.

"It was a pretty bad fire, especially on the top floor. Some paralyzed immoble people in there," said Gregory. "We actually just picked people up as best we possibly could and then had the wheelchairs at the exit and then put them right into the wheelchair."

All 190 residents got out alive, with only six sent to the hospital. Marines have a saying: "No better friend, no worse enemy." In this firefight, they proved to be the best of friends.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



NEWS FROM THE RIGHT – THEY “SWARM” LIKE A BUNCH OF ANGRY BEES – HOW DANGEROUS THOSE WOMEN WERE!!

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/kavanaugh-protesters-swarm-chuck-grassleys-office
Kavanaugh protesters swarm Chuck Grassley’s office
by Caitlin Yilek
| September 20, 2018 12:32 PM

Demonstrators sympathetic to Christine Blasey Ford crowded into Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office and marched through the Hart Senate Office Building on Thursday to protest Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her decades ago when the two were in high school. She alleges Kavanaugh pinned her down on a bed and tried to remove her clothing during a party. When she tried to escape, he allegedly covered her mouth so no one could hear her scream, she said.

Kavanaugh vehemently denies the allegation.

Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had originally planned for a committee vote on Kavanaugh for Thursday. The vote was postponed after Ford detailed her allegations to the Washington Post and Grassley, R-Iowa, has planned a hearing for Monday for Kavanaugh and Ford to address the allegation. So far Kavanaugh has agreed to testify while Ford is holding out, demanding that an FBI investigation take place first.

[Related: Alan Dershowitz: Christine Blasey Ford ‘has to testify’]

“We believe Christine Ford,” protesters chanted before they silently walked with their fists raised in the air into Grassley’s office.

Some shared their own stories of sexual assault and harassment.

Grassley was not in his office on Capitol Hill, according to a reporter at the scene.


“TRUMP: IT WOULD BE UNFORTUNATE IF KAVANAUGH ACCUSER DOESN'T SHOW UP FOR HEARING.”
CRUDE IRONY, OR A THREAT? BE CAREFUL, DR. FORD. TWEET CAREFULLY, MR. PRESIDENT.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/accuser-s-schoolmate-says-she-recalls-hearing-alleged-kavanaugh-incident-n911111
Accuser's schoolmate says she recalls hearing of alleged Kavanaugh incident
Cristina King Miranda says she recalls the alleged assault being discussed at their school, but does not know if it occurred.
by Ken Dilanian, Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Popken / Sep.19.2018 / 2:19 PM EDT / Updated Sep.20.2018 / 10:05 AM EDT

VIDEO – KAVANAUGH ACCUSER’S FRIEND SPEAKS IN HER DEFENSE DURATION 05:19

WASHINGTON — A former schoolmate of Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser wrote a Facebook post saying she recalls hearing about the alleged assault involving Kavanaugh, though she says she has no first-hand information to corroborate the accuser’s claims.

"Christine Blasey Ford was a year or so behind me," wrote the woman, Cristina King Miranda, who now works as a performing arts curator in Mexico City. "I did not know her personally but I remember her. This incident did happen."

She added, "Many of us heard a buzz about it indirectly with few specific details. However Christine's vivid recollection should be more than enough for us to truly, deeply know that the accusation is true."

In an interview with NPR Thursday, King Miranda was more equivocal than she was in her Facebook post.

"That it happened or not, I have no idea," she told NPR's Nina Totenberg. "I can't say that it did or didn't."

"In my [Facebook] post, I was empowered, and I was sure that it probably did. I had no idea that I would have to now go to the specifics and defend it before 50 cable channels and have my face spread all over [MSNBC] and Twitter.”

But King Miranda did not back off her assertion that she recalls hearing about an incident involving Kavanaugh at a party.

PHOTOGRAPH -- Cristina King MirandaCristina King Mirandavia Twitter

Ford, a research psychologist in Northern California, has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her more than 30 years ago at a drunken high school party. He denies the allegation.

The assertion that other people heard about and discussed an incident between Ford and Kavanaugh at the time it is alleged to have happened could loom as an important factor in any investigation of the claim.

Democrats are calling for the FBI to investigate, but the bureau cannot do so unless the White House asks it to. There is no allegation of a federal crime, so the bureau's role would be to examine the matter as part of its background check into the fitness and character of a Supreme Court nominee.

King Miranda has since taken down her Facebook post, which NBC News verified as having appeared on her account. She said on Twitter that she deleted it "because it served its purpose and I am now dealing with a slew of requests for interviews … Organizing how I want to proceed. Was not ready for that, not sure I am interested in pursuing. Thanks for reading."

How the FBI could investigate the Brett Kavanaugh allegation
SEP.19.201801:33

She later posted on Facebook: "To all media, I will not be doing anymore interviews. No more circus for me. To clarify my post: I do not have first hand knowledge of the incident that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford mentions, and I stand by my support for Christine. That's it. I don't have more to say on the subject. Please don't contact me further."

NBC News confirmed that the statements were hers, but did not confirm her allegation. King Miranda has also been critical of Trump administration policy on social media.

At next Kavanaugh hearing, the stakes are higher than a Supreme Court seat

GOP to Kavanaugh's accuser: Testify on Monday or we'll move on

Ford's lawyer has said she wants the FBI to conduct an inquiry before she testifies in a public hearing. Republicans have scheduled a hearing for Monday at which they want to hear from her and Kavanaugh.

Blasey Ford told The Washington Post that she told no one of the incident "in any detail" until 2012, when she was in couples therapy with her husband.

Friend of Kavanaugh accuser speaks in her defense
SEP.19.201805:19

In her original post, King Miranda said she knew Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, the man Ford says was present during the alleged assault. Judge has said through his attorney he remembers no such incident.

King Miranda graduated in 1983 from Holton-Arms, the elite all-female private school that Ford also attended, according to an open letter King and many other alumnae signed in support of Ford.

King Miranda's post described a culture of heavy drinking among the students of the elite male and female private schools of Washington, D.C., including her own Holton-Arms and also Georgetown Preparatory School, which Judge and Kavanaugh attended.

Judge has written two memoirs acknowledging his heavy drinking during that period. In his 1997 memoir, "Wasted," Judge writes about a "Bart O'Kavanaugh," who passes out drunk and throws up in a car.

Trump: It would be unfortunate if Kavanaugh accuser doesn't show up for hearing
SEP.19.201801:37

Holton-Arms did not return a call seeking verification of King Miranda's attendance. But a 1982 yearbook lists "Cristina King" as a student, and member of the Holton-Arms Athletic Association, an honor society. In her senior year, she led the school chorus as president, according to the 1983 yearbook. "Cristina King was able to keep the chorus members in tune as they trooped up to Hill and Lawrenceville to dazzle the boys with their talent and good looks," the club's yearbook page reads.

Ford appears in both yearbooks as well. She graduated in 1984.

King Miranda's LinkedIn page says she attended Brown University and worked for a decade in Washington, D.C. before moving to Mexico.

Ken Dilanian reported from Washington. Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Popken reported from New York.


http://time.com/5402513/christine-blasey-ford-testimony-conditions/
Christine Blasey Ford May Testify About Kavanaugh Accusation Under Right Conditions, Lawyer Says
By ALAN FRAM AND LISA MASCARO / AP September 20, 2018

PHOTOGRAPH -- Women protest the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, outside of a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 4, 2018. Jacquelyn Martin/AP/REX/Shutterstock

(WASHINGTON) — Christine Blasey Ford would testify next week to the Senate about her accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when both were high school students if agreement can be reached to “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” a Ford attorney told the Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

The message and positive tone of the attorney’s email breathed new life into the possibility that the panel would hold a dramatic hearing at which both Ford and Kavanaugh could give their versions of what happened at a party in the 1980s in a Maryland suburb of Washington. The allegation has jarred Kavanaugh’s prospects for winning Senate confirmation to be a justice, which until Ford’s emergence last week had seemed all but certain.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has scheduled a hearing for Monday morning, and he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have indicated Monday would be Ford’s only chance to make her case.

In one obstacle that must be overcome, attorney Debra Katz’s email said a hearing Monday is “not possible” and that scheduling it that day “is arbitrary in any event.”

Taylor Foy, spokesman for Republicans who control the committee, said in a written statement, “We are happy that Dr. Ford’s attorneys are now engaging with the Committee.”

Katz reiterated that Ford, now a psychology professor in California, has received death threats and for safety reasons has relocated her family.

“She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” Katz wrote in the email, which was obtained by The Associated Press after first being reported by The New York Times.

The email was a sharp turnabout from statements by Ford and her lawyers in the past few days, in which her insistence on an FBI investigation of her allegations and other demands had cast strong doubts on her willingness to appear. Because of that, it had become unclear whether Republicans would even hold the hearing.

The email said Ford’s “strong preference” remains that the committee permit a thorough investigation of her claim before she appears. But that wording fell short of a non-negotiable demand.

Grassley had said that in the interest of making Ford comfortable, he’d be willing to let Ford testify in public or private. He offered to send committee aides to her California home to take testimony.

“Dr. Ford has asked me to let you know that she appreciates the various options you have suggested,” Katz wrote. The email did not say any option was preferred.

Katz asked committee aides for a telephone conversation later Thursday to discuss terms.


SENATOR SCOTT NEWMAN: “THIS TYPE OF ALLEGATION SERIOUSLY JEOPARDIZES WOMEN WITH A LEGITIMATE CLAIM, FOR WHO WILL BELIEVE THEM.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/allegations-against-brett-kavanaugh-are-not-simply-he-said-she-ncna910771?icid=recommended
The allegations against Brett Kavanaugh are not simply a 'he said, she said' situation
Prosecutors look for corroborating evidence — and there are strong indications already that Christine Blasey Ford is telling the truth about her attack.
Sep.18.2018 / 3:41 PM EDT
Mimi Rocah, Barbara McQuade, Jill Wine-Banks, Joyce White Vance and Maya Wiley

PHOTOGRAPH -- Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies during the second day of his confirmation hearing on Sept. 5, 2018.Zach Gibson / Getty Images file

Allegations of sexual assault are deserving of a full and fair investigation, particularly when a lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court is at stake.

We now have the specifics of an alleged attack Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor, says occurred in the 1980s when she and Judge Brett Kavanaugh were in high school in Maryland. Speaking to The Washington Post, Ford claims that Kavanaugh “physically and sexually assaulted” her and provided very specific details about how he allegedly pinned her to a bed, groped her and covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming — with such force that she was afraid he might suffocate her.

So now the question is: What’s next? The latest proposal is for Ford and Kavanaugh to testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. However, these allegations are extremely serious and we — five former federal prosecutors with a combined experience of many decades — believe that a Senate hearing, if it indeed occurs, is not enough. It will not adequately provide the American public with the full facts and truth about these allegations, nor, importantly, will it allow the Senate to fulfill its constitutional role of “advice and consent” in the context of potential Supreme Court justices. Rather, there must be a thorough, unrushed investigation by the FBI or by another independent investigator and a full and fair public hearing, including all relevant witnesses and not just Kavanaugh and his accuser.

There must be a thorough, unrushed investigation by the FBI or by another independent investigator and a full and fair public hearing, including all relevant witnesses, not just Kavanaugh and his accuser.

Because, if true, the allegation alone should disqualify Kavanaugh from serving on the Supreme Court.

While some argue that the truth about this incident will come down to a “he said, she said” situation, that’s not how it looks to us. Prosecutors and investigators are confronted with these scenarios frequently and don’t just throw up their hands and say, “We can’t decide.” Instead, prosecutors look for corroborating evidence — and there are strong indications already that Ford is telling the truth about her attack. Here are some of those indicators:

First, there is corroboration. Ford’s therapist’s notes in 2012, provided to The Washington Post, generally record her account of the attack. To believe that this is a made-up tale to prevent Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Ford would have had to plant the seeds of this story in 2012. That makes no sense.

Second, while not determinative, the fact that Ford passed a polygraph administered by a former FBI agent lends credence to her claims. Polygraph exams are inadmissible in court because they are not always reliable, but the FBI and other law enforcement agencies frequently use polygraph tests to assess the credibility of witnesses and defendants.

Brett Kavanaugh's sexual assault public hearing set for Monday
SEP.18.201805:47

In addition, consider the motives of Ford, who by all accounts is not a particularly politically active person, to go public with allegations of sexual assault. It appears that she did not want to speak publicly at all, but that reporters discovered her identity and pursued her. Ford knew that she would be personally attacked in front of her children, colleagues, students and friends. There is no reasonable explanation for why she would subject herself to such humiliation other than the reason she has given: that she felt she had a duty as a citizen to speak up.

Many people have pointed to Ford’s delay in going public as evidence that she is lying. As prosecutors, we have learned that victims of sexual assault do not always come forward immediately — and often never do — because they are shamed by society, fear not being believed, worry that they will be blamed for the attack or just want to move on with their lives. Delay in reporting — particularly in the area of sexual assault — does not mean a report is false. And difficult as it is to come forward now, it would likely have been even more daunting for a 15-year-old girl in the 1980s, when Ford says she had this experience.

If you are still inclined to believe that Ford is lying, ask yourself: Why would she create a defense witness by identifying Mark Judge, who was and still is indisputably a friend of Kavanaugh’s, as being present and participating in this attack? Why would she place at the scene an individual who could, because of loyalties to his friend, contradict her account if she were making this up? She wouldn’t.

GOP Senators say they can't delay Kavanaugh vote. But they can.
SEP.14.201810:45

In our view, Ford is providing a credible account about a painful, horrible incident that occurred many years ago and which she hoped she would never have to talk about to anyone again, let alone the whole country. Now that she has courageously come forward publicly, everyone (including Kavanaugh, if the allegations are not true) deserve to have a full and fair investigation.

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What should that investigation include? Witnesses, in addition to Ford and Kavanaugh, should be interviewed by nonpartisan investigators before they testify. These should include Mark Judge, other people who may have been present at the party that night (even if they did not actually witness the alleged attack) and Ford’s therapist from the 2012 session. One way to judge witnesses’ credibility is to look at how consistent their statements are over time and how witnesses’ statements line up with one another. This assessment cannot be done on the telephone and cannot be done in a vacuum by interviewing only two of the witnesses under oath.

Meanwhile, there is no legitimate reason to rush a confirmation vote. Confirming Kavanaugh under the current circumstances would undermine both his legitimacy and the integrity of the Supreme Court. Before a lifetime appointment, the FBI must have time to investigate this allegation and to determine if it is, for example, the only one.


Pioneer Press
✔
@PioneerPress
· Sep 16, 2018
Woman comes forward to accuse SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct http://pipr.es/nLaUalS pic.twitter.com/XCYjqLwqdz

View image on Twitter

Sen. Scott Newman
✔
@SenatorNewmanMN
Even if true, teenagers! Frankly, I don't believe her. Almost 40yrs and now she self righteously comes forward to save us from a dangerous sex offender. This type of allegation seriously jeopardizes women with a legitimate claim, for who will believe them.

173
2:38 PM - Sep 17, 2018
4,622 people are talking about this
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Some have said that because these alleged acts occurred so long ago, when Kavanaugh was a teenager, they should not be disqualifying — even if true. We strongly disagree. In our criminal justice system, people 17 years old (and younger) are held accountable for acts they commit, sometimes in very harsh ways. It is simply not acceptable for one of the people tasked with overseeing that criminal justice system to not be held to the same standard.

Additionally, attempted rape is not simply an act of youthful recklessness, as some have cautioned. Few of us have such serious crimes in our pasts — and those who have committed them should not expect to easily be confirmed to posts like Supreme Court justice.

Finally, if these allegations are true, then that means that Kavanaugh has lied about them. That alone should disqualify someone from serving on the country’s highest court.

This is not about politics or investigating the ideological views of Brett Kavanaugh. Indeed, if his nomination does not succeed, President Donald Trump will almost certainly nominate someone with similar views and positions. This debate is instead about our country’s respect for women, for victims of crime and for our justice system.


http://time.com/5402513/christine-blasey-ford-testimony-conditions/
POLITICS CONGRESS
Christine Blasey Ford May Testify About Kavanaugh Accusation Under Right Conditions, Lawyer Says
By ALAN FRAM AND LISA MASCARO / AP September 20, 2018

PHOTOGRAPH -- Women protest the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, outside of a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 4, 2018. Jacquelyn Martin/AP/REX/Shutterstock

(WASHINGTON) — Christine Blasey Ford would testify next week to the Senate about her accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when both were high school students if agreement can be reached to “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” a Ford attorney told the Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

The message and positive tone of the attorney’s email breathed new life into the possibility that the panel would hold a dramatic hearing at which both Ford and Kavanaugh could give their versions of what happened at a party in the 1980s in a Maryland suburb of Washington. The allegation has jarred Kavanaugh’s prospects for winning Senate confirmation to be a justice, which until Ford’s emergence last week had seemed all but certain.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has scheduled a hearing for Monday morning, and he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have indicated Monday would be Ford’s only chance to make her case.

In one obstacle that must be overcome, attorney Debra Katz’s email said a hearing Monday is “not possible” and that scheduling it that day “is arbitrary in any event.”

Taylor Foy, spokesman for Republicans who control the committee, said in a written statement, “We are happy that Dr. Ford’s attorneys are now engaging with the Committee.”

Katz reiterated that Ford, now a psychology professor in California, has received death threats and for safety reasons has relocated her family.

“She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” Katz wrote in the email, which was obtained by The Associated Press after first being reported by The New York Times.

The email was a sharp turnabout from statements by Ford and her lawyers in the past few days, in which her insistence on an FBI investigation of her allegations and other demands had cast strong doubts on her willingness to appear. Because of that, it had become unclear whether Republicans would even hold the hearing.

The email said Ford’s “strong preference” remains that the committee permit a thorough investigation of her claim before she appears. But that wording fell short of a non-negotiable demand.

Grassley had said that in the interest of making Ford comfortable, he’d be willing to let Ford testify in public or private. He offered to send committee aides to her California home to take testimony.

“Dr. Ford has asked me to let you know that she appreciates the various options you have suggested,” Katz wrote. The email did not say any option was preferred.

Katz asked committee aides for a telephone conversation later Thursday to discuss terms.


http://time.com/5399809/brett-kavanaugh-abortion-rights-protests/
Abortion Rights Groups See Protests Paying Off as Kavanaugh Hits Snag
By CHARLOTTE ALTER September 19, 2018

A claim of sexual misconduct as a teen-ager has put the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in question for the first time, but abortion rights activists say their protests helped lay the groundwork for this moment.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund held more than 100 events with partners over the August recess in Senators’ home states. On Aug. 26 alone, NARAL and its partners were behind more than 200 protests against Kavanaugh in what organizers said was the largest single-day protest against a Supreme Court nomination in history.

Other activists disrupted his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, dressed up as Handmaids around the country, sent 3,000 coat hangers to potential swing vote Sen. Susan Collins’ office and raised $1 million worth of pledges for her next opponent if she votes to confirm Kavanaugh.

Still, Kavanaugh seemed set to be confirmed mostly along party lines until California professor Christine Blasey Ford went public, saying that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed at a Maryland house party when he was 17, holding his hand over her mouth as he tried to remove her clothes.

But after the Washington Post published an interview with Ford over the weekend, the Judiciary Committee delayed a committee vote by a week as it sought to hold a hearing on the issue.

“This very credible story is coming on top of a very, very damaged nominee,” says NARAL president Ilyse Hogue, who says this level of activism around a Supreme Court nominee is unprecedented. “He was already, because of the work of so many people, the least-popular nominee in modern history.”

Polling by Gallup conducted just as the allegation surfaced shows that opposition to Kavanaugh had been rising, with 42% of Americans opposed to his confirmation and 39% supporting it — a margin that is closer to historical polls for failed nominees like Harriet Miers and Robert Bork.

“Six weeks ago, people were like ‘pooh pooh,’ and here we are now,” says Jess Morales Rocketto, political director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance who helped organize the Rise Up for Roe national tour to mobilize opposition to Kavanaugh. “The allegation is when people started to feel like ‘OK, this could actually be the nail in his coffin.’”

For weeks, activists have focused their energy on Collins and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, two potential swing votes who occasionally break with the GOP party line. They’ve now doubled down their efforts to pressure all senators, especially retiring Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who have publicly said they will not vote for Kavanaugh until the Judiciary Committee can hear from Ford.

Indivisible Anchorage got 3,000 Alaskans to pledge to make calls to Murkowski over the past few weeks, and even though she didn’t come to Anchorage for the recess, it got another Indivisible group to deliver a letter to her in while she was visiting Lake Tahoe.

Activists noted that Murkowski called for Democratic Sen. Al Franken to step down in 2017 amid accusations that he groped women, noting in a tweet that Americans are “seeing a culture of harassment and assault being exposed on a daily basis.”

“She had a super-definitive statement about Franken, saying that he should step down,” says Shoshana Stone, 55, a retired nurse practitioner who runs Indivisible Anchorage, of Murkowski. “It seems very hypocritical of her to be able to make a statement like that in regards to Franken and not make a statement like that in regards to Kavanaugh.”

“I think if she votes yes, her career would be done,” says Stone. “Maybe she thinks people forget. I don’t think people will forget. No way will people forget.”

Activists in Maine are even more energized. According to Planned Parenthood Action Fund, four times as many people have called Collins about Kavanaugh as called to lobby her not to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Health-care activist Ady Barkan and local activists started a pledge drive to raise money for whoever runs against Collins if she votes to confirm Kavanaugh. As of Tuesday, they had raised nearly $1.4 million in pledges.

When Mainers for Accountable Leadership — a Maine-based group that uses the Indivisible model — announced a protest against Kavanaugh in Portland, 150 people showed up on a day’s notice. They went to her office in Portland every single day of the Senate recess, and held rallies attracting as many as 500 people, according to Marie Follayttar Smith, who runs the group.

“The grassroots responsiveness has been increasing during the last month,” says Smith, 42, who runs Mainers for Accountable Leadership full-time. “It increased during the hearings, it increased during the release of the emails.”

“Maine was absolutely the most electric place,” says Morales Rocketto. “I think activists are the only ones who really thought that if we made enough noise and exposed who this guy really was, we could actually stop the nomination.”

In Arizona, activists have been dressing up as Handmaids from the dystopian Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale” to illustrate what Kavanaugh’s confirmation could do to reproductive rights.

“In my years of activism, I have never seen anything like what we’re seeing now,” says Serena Knierim, 35, a regional organizing lead [sic] with the Human Rights Campaign who has been volunteering with Planned Parenthood and wearing the trademark red cloak and white bonnet. “A 17-year-old immigrant was denied an abortion by Kavanaugh. He’s saying what happened at 17 doesn’t matter. Why did it matter for her and not you?”

While she’s hopeful that Senator Flake will vote against Kavanaugh, she’s not holding her breath. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” says Knierim. “Flake is notoriously flaky.”

Smith says that the Kavanaugh vote is Collins’s last chance to live up to the example of Maine hero Margaret Chase Smith, who famously urged her fellow Republicans to denounce McCarthyism in a speech on the Senate floor. Chase Smith is Collins’s role model, and Smith says that she is running out of time to live up to her legacy.

“This vote is Senator Collin’s legacy, her final chance for what we in Maine call a Margaret Chase Smith moment,” says Smith. “She made a stand against her party and made a stand for Maine values. And many of us are calling on Senator Collins to do the same thing.”


WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARRESTED. WHAT ELSE IS NEW? I SAW A GLIMPSE OF THEM ON A NEWS VIDEO YESTERDAY AND THEY REALLY WERE ROWDY. WE NEED MORE AND MORE OF THAT.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/20/politics/congress-protests-brett-kavanaugh/index.html
More than 50 arrested on Capitol Hill after Senate office Kavanaugh protests
Ted Barrett-Profile-ImageSunlen Serfaty-Profile-Image
By Ted Barrett and Sunlen Serfaty, CNN
Updated 5:19 PM ET, Thu September 20, 2018

VIDEO -- Protesters arrested outside Grassley's office

(CNN)Dozens of protesters opposed to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court targeted the offices of swing vote Republican senators Thursday to pressure them to vote against President Donald Trump's nominee, who is denying allegations he sexually assaulted a woman when they were both in high school in the 1980s.

Capitol Hill Police said they arrested 56 people on Thursday related to Kavanaugh protests on Capitol Hill. Roughly two dozen of those were arrested outside the office of Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, according to a police officer on the scene.

Defiantly blocking the hallway in front of Corker's office, the protesters, representing a coalition of progressive groups, chanted, "We believe women" and "Corker vote no" as US Capitol Police removed them.

Kavanaugh case shows how little has changed for Judiciary Committee

The senator was not there, his staff said.

The protesters then moved down the hall to the office of Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Maine Republican and a key vote who supported the Judiciary Committee delaying a vote on the judge to get testimony from his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Protesters opposed to President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, demonstrate in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

They spoke at length to Collins' staffers in her main lobby, imploring the senator to oppose Kavanaugh.

"Dr. Ford should not be put on trial," one protester said. "As someone who survived sexual assault, please do not put a monster on the Supreme Court."

At the office of Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, one protester compared the Kavanaugh confirmation process to the incendiary confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

No one was arrested at Collins' or Flake's offices.

The protesters continued to visit the offices of key senators throughout the day, including Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.


“WRONG, RACIST AND HURTFUL” – OUR SOCIETY IN GENERAL IS BEGINNING TO BE “WOKE,” I THINK. IT’S GOING TO TAKE TIME, AND THE KKK AND THEIR FRIENDS WILL MARCH AND RAMPAGE, BUT WHAT HAPPENED IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA IS NOT GOING UNNOTICED ANYMORE. THERE ARE ALSO THOSE WHO ARE STRONGLY MOVED TO COMBAT AGAINST IT.

SOME PEOPLE TALK AGAINST THE BLACK BLOC FIGHTERS AS MUCH AS THEY DO AGAINST THE FASCISTS, BUT I JUST CAN’T. IT ISN’T SO MUCH THAT I HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR PACIFISTS, OR A THEORETICAL BELIEF THAT THEY TO SOME DEGREE ARE RIGHT, BUT IT NOT ONLY ISN’T PRACTICAL AS A SOLUTION, IT ISN’T FAIR. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH WHITE MOB RULE IN THIS COUNTRY. ANTIFA TO THE RESCUE.

BLM AND ANTIFA ARE THE DEFENDERS OF DEMOCRACY AS MUCH AS GOOD CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS ARE – AND GOOD SHERIFFS! LET ME ADD TO THAT, GOOD SCHOOL TEACHERS AND PREACHERS AND CITIZENS WHO WHEN THE SITUATION DEMANDS, WILL SPEAK OUT. UNTIL WE GET THROUGH THIS ANTI-EVERYBODY MOVEMENT THAT WE ARE IN BOTH IN THE USA AND IN EUROPE, WE WILL HAVE TO FIGHT ON ALL FRONTS – VOICE, THE PRESS, AND OCCASIONALLY IN THE STREETS. SORRY TO HAVE TO SAY THAT, MY CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bergen-county-sheriff-michael-saudino-resigns-over-racist-remarks-phil-murphy-sheila-oliver/
CBS NEWS September 21, 2018, 3:49 PM
New Jersey sheriff resigns after racist remarks caught on tape

PHOTOGRAPH -- Bergen County Sheriff Michael Budino resigned on Friday, Sept. 21. BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey sheriff who was recorded making disparaging remarks about African-Americans and the state's first Sikh attorney general has resigned, the Bergen County Sheriff's Office said Friday in a statement.

"The Bergen County Sheriff's Office announces that effective this date and at this time Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino has submitted his resignation as the Sheriff of Bergen County," said the statement, posted on Facebook.

The statement said four others also resigned, effective immediately: Executive Undersheriff George Buono, Undersheriff Robert Colaneri, Undersheriff Brian Smith and Undersheriff Joseph Hornyak.

The announcement came after Saudino said in an earlier statement, released by a spokesman, that the remarks were "not representative of the person that I am and they are in no way consistent with the manner in which I have conducted my life personally and as a law enforcement professional with over 46 years of service to the residents of Bergen County."

WNYC public radio obtained the tape from a person who was present during the meeting between Saudino and subordinates. It was recorded on the day of Gov. Phil Murphy's inauguration in January.

On the recording, Saudino is heard saying Attorney General Gurbir Grewal was appointed because of "the turban."

He also said Murphy's policies would allow blacks to "come in, do whatever the (expletive) they want, smoke their marijuana, do this, do that. And don't worry about it. We'll tie the hands of cops."

On the tape, Saudino also wonders aloud whether Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who is not married, is gay.

In a statement Thursday, Murphy called the comments "appalling" and said if the voice on the recording is Saudino's, then he should resign.

"Without question, the comments made on that recording are appalling, and anyone using racist, homophobic, and hateful language is unfit for public office," Murphy said.

Grewal, who worked closely with Saudino when he served as Bergen County prosecutor before being appointed attorney general, echoed Murphy's call for Saudino to resign.

"I have thick skin and I've been called far worse," Grewal said in a statement. "But the comments about the African-American community are wrong, racist and hurtful. New Jersey and Bergen County deserve better."

Chris Weston, president of the local police benevolent association, said, "Somebody who makes these types of comments should not be in charge of this great, diverse agency we have." CBS New York reports Weston organized a rally earlier this year when a former officer filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Bergen County sheriff's office, claiming he was fired for being gay.

In a statement prior to his resignation, Saudino said he had "reached out directly to several respected leaders in the communities I have offended and I have personally offered my apologies and I have asked for their forgiveness and for their communities' forgiveness."

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


LOVE ACROSS THE SPECIES LINE. YOU SAY, “WHAT??” LOOK AT THE ENCOURAGING PHOTO THAT GOES WITH THIS ARTICLE ABOUT GOOD PET CARE. IT GIVES ME HOPE FOR HUMANKIND.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/some-flea-and-tick-treatments-increase-the-risk-of-seizures-in-pets-fda-warns/
By ASHLEY WELCH CBS NEWS September 21, 2018, 4:27 PM
Some flea and tick treatments increase risk of seizures in pets, FDA warns

PHOTOGRAPH – NO CAPTION (AND NONE NEEDED!) ISTOCKPHOTO

Health officials are alerting pet owners and veterinarians that certain flea and tick treatments might put dogs and cats at an increased risk of neurologic issues, including seizures. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the drugs are in the isoxazoline class and include Bravecto, Credelio, Nexgard and Simparica.

These products are approved for the treatment and prevention of flea and tick infestations. While these treatments are considered to be generally safe and effective for use in cats and dogs, the FDA recommends pet owners consult with their veterinarian to review their pets' medical histories and determine whether a product in the isoxazoline class is appropriate for their animal.

The affected products have been associated with neurologic adverse reactions, including muscle tremors, ataxia (the loss of full control of bodily movements), and seizures in some dogs and cats, the FDA reports.

Puppies spread antibiotic-resistant infections to 118 people, CDC reports
While most dogs and cats don't experience neurologic problems related to the treatments, seizures can occur in those even without a prior history.

The FDA says it is working with manufacturers of isoxazoline products to include new label information to highlight the risk of neurologic events.

If your dog or cat experiences any health problems while using an isoxazoline treatment, talk to your veterinarian.

The FDA also encourages pet owners and veterinarians to report any adverse reactions to the agency directly.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


LISTEN TO B. OBAMA ON THE STUMP. HE’S ON FIRE TODAY! HE SPEAKS ABOUT WHAT MATTERS, AND DOES IT BEAUTIFULLY!!! HE’S AS GOOD AS BERNIE SANDERS!

https://6abc.com/politics/fmr-president-obama-stumping-for-dems-in-philadelphia/4301679/
POLITICS
Obama turns focus on Pennsylvania, hopes to boost Democrats
By JUANA SUMMERS Associated Press
Updated SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 1 hr 39 mins ago

VIDEO – OBAMA ON THE STUMP

PHILADELPHIA -- Barack Obama was turning his political attention Friday to a state that Donald Trump won as the former president prepared to campaign Friday in Philadelphia with two leading Pennsylvania Democrats running for re-election, Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.

In the Nov. 6 contests, Democrats are trying to oust Republicans in four U.S. House districts and more than a dozen state legislative seats in the Philadelphia area alone. Obama twice carried Pennsylvania in his presidential races, and Democrats hope the state can help them retake control of Congress from the GOP.

Casey's Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, told The Associated Press that Obama's visit will stir up GOP voters in an election year when their party faces an uphill battle to retain its Capitol Hill majorities. Obama will "energize those blue-collar Democrats who worried about their jobs under Obama and went out to vote for Donald Trump," Barletta said.

Democrats in other states where Obama has campaigned recently say his stops have drawn big crowds, giving the party a chance to organize, update voter contact lists, motivate new donors and boost volunteerism. Obama planned a fundraiser after the Philadelphia rally.

Obama's trip is the latest in a string of appearances before the midterm elections. While his full schedule is taking shape, aides said he is considering how best to help candidates throughout the country.

Obama has endorsed more than 80 Democrats in more than a dozen states. A second round of endorsements is expected this fall.

(Copyright ©2018 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


BERNIE’S NOT COLD POTATOES TODAY, EITHER. CHECK OUT THESE THREE BERNIE STORIES. THE DEMOCRATS ARE DOING WHAT IN BASKETBALL IS CALL A FULL COURT PRESS, AND IT IS CLEAR FROM ELECTIONS SO FAR THAT IT IS REALLY HELPING.

I WONDER IF WHAT THE CORPORATIST DEMOCRATS DISLIKE SO ABOUT BERNIE IS HIS ABILITY TO SPEAK THE TRUTH, GO RIGHT TO THE HEART OF A MATTER, AND, WORST OF ALL, THE PUBLIC’S REACTION TO IT. HE ALSO HAS AN UNSHEATHED SENSE OF HUMOR: “MY POLITICAL GUT TELLS ME WHAT WE ARE PROPOSING IS WILDLY POPULAR.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/09/20/bernie-sanders-is-tired-of-inside-the-beltway-liberalism/
Post Partisan Opinion
Bernie Sanders is tired of inside-the-Beltway liberalism
By Helaine Olen
Opinion writer
September 20, 2018 at 6:01 PM

PHOTOGRAPH -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) responds to a question during a town hall meeting in Jackson, Miss., in April. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

When I sat down with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) last week, he was a bit annoyed — admittedly not unusual. He was just back from a news conference where he and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — among others — introduced the new Expand Social Security Caucus in Congress.

It barely made a media blip.

“Go out and ask people about the desperation many seniors are living under,” Sanders told me, picking up a copy of the most recent National Journal. The cover story? Meet 2020’s Millennial Kingmaker. “Isn’t that an issue everybody’s worried about?” he asked sarcastically.

It is not hard to understand why Sanders sounds so frustrated. Even as the once-radical Medicare-for-all and a $15-an-hour minimum wage turned into must-have policy accoutrements for Democratic presidential hopefuls, Sanders still feels his proposals are met with a fierce resistance from those who should like them.

Case in point: His recent Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act, also known as Stop BEZOS. The bill, which Sanders introduced with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) earlier this month, would require companies with more than 500 employees whose workers still need to access benefits like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to pay the government back, dollar for dollar.

And yes, that’s a reference to Jeffrey P. Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com, the world’s wealthiest man and owner of The Post. Sanders jokingly asked if talking about him during our interview would put my salary at risk. I assured him I’ll be okay.

In Sanders’s view, there is something wrong when “the wealthiest guy in the history of the world, worth about $155 billion, $160 billion … pays workers wages so low that many of them — we don’t know how many of them — are forced to go on public assistance, on food stamps, Medicaid and public housing.”

Amazon, as could be predicted, pushed back hard, saying Sanders’s claims were “inaccurate and misleading” because he did not differentiate between full-time, part-time and temporary employees. More surprisingly, many mainstream and left-leaning Democrats — both establishment figures and media pundits alike — derided it too, accusing Sanders of denigrating the government social safety net and promoting a policy that would make corporations less likely to support such programs and employ people who needed access to them. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank, quickly published a paper tearing the proposal apart.

“That’s inside-the-Beltway push back, I would argue,” Sanders said. “My political gut tells me what we are proposing is wildly popular.”

He continued: “I ran for president. I was criticized for every bloody thing I did. Medicare-for-all. ‘Oh, it’s an impossible idea,’ right? ‘American people won’t support it.’ Last poll, 70 percent. ‘Oh public colleges and universities, tuition free, terrible idea.’ Sixty percent of American people support that idea, okay. ‘Raising the minimum wage, you’re crazy, you can’t double it.’ Overwhelming support for it.”

Sanders believes that will happen for Stop BEZOS, too.

“Is my legislation perfect? Probably not,” he said. “Of course, the establishment folks are going to attack us … That’s great. They can come up with better legislation. We’ll look forward to working with them.”

This is where we get to heart of the matter. Sanders and his detractors on the Democratic side are often talking past one other. On a policy level, it is helpful to think of what Sanders is doing as both offering a picture of how the world should be and jump-starting a conversation about how we should get there. To turn to a cliche, Sanders is discussing the forest of income inequality, while many Washington insiders, maybe out of habit, discuss the trees.

Take Social Security. Sanders is not wrong that expanding Social Security is a popular position. Earlier this year, Social Security Works, an advocacy group backing the Sanders effort, released a poll showing two-thirds of voters said they are more likely to vote for a candidate who says they will expand and increase benefits. Just this week, the advocacy group the National Institute on Retirement Security found that more than half of American workers have no money saved for their post-work lives.

Yet, one rarely hears that in Washington, where the conversation is forever about “saving” Social Security — by cutting back on benefits via such mechanisms as raising the age of retirement and changing the annual inflation adjustment to make it less generous.

In Sanders’s view, this demonstrates how the Washington establishment is disconnected from the concerns of American life — obsessing about the never-ending Washington horse race while ignoring the financial stress many Americans face. Money from the 1 percent seeking to influence the political process both causes and compounds that separation.

The result? Too many Americans live in financial desperation. “Are they living in freedom?” Sanders asks.

This brings us back to the STOP Bezos Act. It’s worth noting that Sanders’s overarching point about work and government benefits was not controversial on the left in the past. Those highlighting the poor quality of jobs in the retail and fast-food sectors have long made similar arguments. In 2014, the liberal Center for American Progress released a report arguing that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would cut federal money spent on SNAP by $4.6 billion annually. That same year, Americans for Tax Fairness estimated that Americans subsidize Walmart, the nation’s largest employer, by paying out $7.8 billion in social welfare benefits to its employees annually.

It’s a common talking point in Britain, too. Last year, a parliamentary report accused gig-economy companies of “free-riding on the welfare state,” leaving “ordinary taxpayers [to] pick up the tab.” And earlier this month, shortly after Sanders announced his plan, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the highest ranking member of the Anglican church, similarly argued that not paying workers a living wage was tantamount to “leaching” off the taxpayers.

Even if critics are right and Sanders’ bill is sloppy and rife with unintended consequences, it gets at an essential truth about our society: Few Americans want to work a 40-hour week and still need government help to get by, especially in a country where such benefits are often stigmatized.

Perhaps Sanders shouldn’t have named the act for Bezos (and I don’t say that because I am writing this piece for The Post). Bezos might indeed be the world’s wealthiest man, but Walmart employs multitudes more people than Amazon in the United States. In fact, one analysis last year by 24/7 Wall St. and Olivet Nazarene University found it is the largest private employer in 19 states. Meanwhile, the Communications Workers of America released a report earlier this year claiming 1 in 5 employees of American Airlines subsidiary Envoy Air turned to food stamps. Disney was recently the subject of yet another union-sponsored report claiming two-thirds of its employees at Disneyland Resort are “food insecure.”

Sanders knows all this — heck, he talks about it frequently — but the effect of naming the bill after Bezos means the majority of the attention is concentrated on one company.

There are also practical reasons to highlight the role of all the employers whose workers need to turn to the government to get by: These same social safety net provisions are under prolonged attack by the Trump administration. They have proposed cuts for both Medicaid and SNAP. The administration also gave four states permission to attach work requirements to Medicaid eligibility. In Arkansas, more than 4,000 people have been removed from Medicaid as a result. This could, in turn, increase the power of employers over employees and could force people who receive them to remain in low-paying jobs for fear of losing their benefits.

In many ways, the default on the left is still, even after the disaster that is President Trump, to emphasize the practical, often technocratic fixes over making the moral argument. It’s not wrong, but it doesn’t grab the popular imagination.

“The issues that I talk about are not going to create utopia in the United States of America,” Sanders said. “But what they will do is lift a lot of anxiety off the shoulders of working families. We need to force that discussion.”

Helaine Olen
Helaine Olen is a contributor to the PostPartisan blog and the author of "Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry." Her work has appeared in Slate, the Nation, the New York Times, the Atlantic and many other publications. She serves on the advisory board of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Follow


THIS IS THE FIRST SPEECH ON FOREIGN POLICY THAT I’VE SEEN SANDERS DO IN OVER A MONTH. I THINK PERHAPS HE DOESN’T TALK ON THESE SUBJECTS AS OFTEN. HE IS, AS USUAL, CONCERNED ABOUT THE EFFECT OF POMPEO’S BOOSTING MILITARY CONTRACTS, AMID EXTREME LOSS OF LIFE.

https://truthout.org/articles/bernie-sanders-to-pompeo-yemeni-lives-are-worth-more-than-contractor-profits/
WAR & PEACE
Bernie Sanders to Pompeo: Yemeni Lives Are Worth More Than Contractor Profits
BY Jake Johnson Common Dreams
PUBLISHED September 21, 2018

PHOTOGRAPH -- Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks in support of Brent Welder during a rally at The Reardon Convention Center on July 20, 2018, in Kansas City, Kansas.
DAN VIDETICH / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES

American-made bombs are being used to massacre large numbers of civilians in Yemen, and new reporting shows that the Trump administration is allowing this carnage to continue and escalate in order to protect the profits of defense contractors.

Just days after the Yemen-based human rights group Mwatana gave CNN exclusive access to documents showing that US-manufactured bomb fragments have been found at the scene of at least 11 separate Saudi-led attacks on Yemeni civilians since 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo opted to continue American military support for Saudi Arabia over the objections of his staff in an effort to preserve $2 billion in weapons sales to the brutal monarchy.

“Pompeo overruled concerns from most of the State Department specialists involved in the debate who were worried about the rising civilian death toll in Yemen,” the Journal reported, citing a classified State Department memo. “He sided with his legislative affairs team after they argued that suspending support could undercut plans to sell more than 120,000 precision-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).”

“Secretary Pompeo’s certification last week that the Saudi-led coalition was taking appropriate steps to protect civilians in Yemen was ridiculous on its face,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote in response to the Journal’s reporting on Thursday. “But now we find out that Pompeo overruled the advice of his own State Department experts and legal advisers in order to make that certification to Congress, because he feared not doing so would endanger US arms sales to the Saudis and Emiratis currently destroying Yemen.”

name@email.com
“Mr. Pompeo: human lives are worth far more than defense contractor profits,” Sanders added. “The Senate must also investigate this effort to mislead us.”


Matt Duss
✔
@mattduss
This is disgusting. Pompeo lied to Congress about Saudi/UAE killing civilians in Yemen in order to protect US defense contractor profits. https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-u-s-diplomat-backed-continuing-support-for-saudi-war-in-yemen-over-objections-of-staff-1537441200 …

392
8:05 AM - Sep 20, 2018
410 people are talking about this
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News that Pompeo’s decision to “certify” US military support for the Saudis was motivated by a desire to appease war profiteers comes shortly on the heels of CNN‘s report detailing the American-made bombs that have been used to slaughter Yemeni civilians since 2015.

“This report makes it clear that the United States is participating in the commission of war crimes,” Win Without War wrote on Twitter. “Congress must stop our participation in the war in Yemen and it must stop it now.”

In seven of the 11 attacks examined by CNN and the human rights organization Mwatana, bomb fragments were traced back to the major American defense contractor Raytheon — which stands to profit massively from the Trump administration’s recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

“Yemeni civilians are dying every day because of this war and you (America) are fueling this war, so stop fueling this war,” Radhya al-Mutawakel, chairwoman of Mwatana said in a statement. “It is a shame that financial interests are worth more than the blood of innocent people.”

The US, al-Mutwakel added, bears a “legal and moral responsibility for selling weapons to the Saudi-led coalition.”

Raytheon did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

CNN International
✔
@cnni
Last month, a CNN investigation found remnants of a US-made bomb at the scene of an airstrike in Yemen that killed dozens of children.

Now, CNN has identified a string of other incidents in which US-made bombs killed or put civilians in harms way. https://cnn.it/2D5ho3m

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8:54 AM - Sep 18, 2018
174 people are talking about this
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In a Twitter thread reacting to CNN’s report, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) — one of the few members of Congress who has worked on legislation to end American support for the Saudi-led coalition’s assault on Yemen — wrote, “How can someone look at these photos and continue to support this war in Yemen?”

“While this reporting just confirms what we already knew, seeing the photos of these US-made bombs should be a wake-up call to all Americans,” Khanna concluded.


Rep. Ro Khanna
✔
@RepRoKhanna
THREAD -- How can someone look at these photos and continue to support this war in Yemen? While this reporting just confirms what we already knew, seeing the photos of these U.S.-made bombs should be a wake-up call to all Americans. https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2018/09/world/yemen-airstrikes-intl/index.html …

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11:27 AM - Sep 18, 2018
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Rep. Ro Khanna
✔
@RepRoKhanna
Replying to @RepRoKhanna
American bombs are being dropped on innocent civilians in Yemen and we are fueling the planes that drop these bombs. The American people know far too little about the role we are playing in a war that is causing suffering for millions of people.

255
11:28 AM - Sep 18, 2018
199 people are talking about this
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Rep. Ro Khanna
✔
@RepRoKhanna
Replying to @RepRoKhanna
Hopefully this news will reach the living rooms of all Americans, because I have faith the great people of this country do not support a war like this.

84
11:28 AM - Sep 18, 2018
52 people are talking about this


TO SEE A VERY HAPPY DOG, WATCH THIS VIDEO!

https://6abc.com/pets-animals/rescued-dog-climbed-onto-kitchen-counter-to-escape-florence-flooding/4287713/
HURRICANE FLORENCE
Dog rescued from Florence floodwaters had climbed onto kitchen counters to stay safe
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 07:04PM

LUMBERTON, NC -- A dog rescued from a flooded North Carolina home after Hurricane Florence had climbed onto kitchen counters to escape the rising floodwaters.

PETA volunteers rescued the dog, Max, from the kitchen of a Lumberton home after the storm had moved through. In a tweet, PETA said firefighters in the area contacted the organization after noticing the dog from the outside.


peta2
✔
@peta2
This dog climbed on top of the kitchen counter to escape the ever-rising waters after being left inside his flooded home. Firefighters & PETA's rescue team waded through waist-deep water to save Max ‼️ #HurricaneFlorence

(See thread to see his happy face after being saved.)

529
11:21 AM - Sep 18, 2018
317 people are talking about this
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The team also rescued two other dogs and a cat that was trapped on the porch of a flooded home.


PETA 🐾
✔
@peta
PETA's Rescue Team is in #NorthCarolina and found this cat trapped on a porch with nowhere to go and a dog who appears to have a skin disease abandoned in a flooded home. They were both brought swiftly to safety! #HurricaneFlorence

597
8:00 PM - Sep 18, 2018
234 people are talking about this


MSNBC
MADDOW BLOG

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/21/18
Republicans play deadline games with Kavanaugh accuser
Rachel Maddow reports on Republicans setting and then moving arbitrary deadlines for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford to testify about her accusation of sexual assault against Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh. Duration: 9:48


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/21/18
NY Times story may give Trump excuse he seeks to fire Rosenstein
Just as Donald Trump went soft on what seemed intended to be a confrontation with the DoJ over declassifying Trump Russia investigation documents, a sensational New York Times story may give him a new excuse to fire Rod Rosenstein. Duration: 14:20


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/21/18
Reports contest NY Times on Rosenstein plotting against Trump
Chuck Rosenberg, former U.S. attorney talks with Rachel Maddow about conflicting reports on whether Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire to secretly record Donald Trump. Duration: 7:23


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/21/18
GOP actions on Kavanaugh accusation expose bad faith motives
Ben Wittes, editor in chief of Lawfare, talks with Rachel Maddow about why Republicans seem to be avoiding ways to ascertain the truth in the accusation of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh, and whether Donald Trump is likely to fire Rod Rosenstein in a move to shut down the Mueller investigation. Duration: 9:27


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/21/18
Flooded coal ash dump threatens downriver NC city with toxicity
Rachel Maddow reports on post-Florence floodwaters breaching the retaining walls of a toxic coal ash dump, with video suggesting that the toxic coal ash has washed into the Cape Fear River a short distance upriver from the flooded city of Wilmington, North Carolina. Duration: 1:38


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/18
GOP fails to explain excluding FBI from Kavanaugh investigation
Rachel Maddow reviews the precedents for the FBI conducting background checks on federal nominees, and reports on the latest developments in negotiations to have Dr. Christine Blasey Ford about her accusation against Brett Kavanaugh. Duration: 21:04


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/18
Leahy on GOP's Kavanaugh push: 'Not even a pretense' of fairness
Senator Patrick Leahy talks with Rachel Maddow about Senate Republicans on the Judiciary Committee insisting on hurrying to a vote on Brett Kavanaugh without a real investigation of the sex assault accusation against him, and with no explanation for why. Duration: 7:35


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/18
Kavanaugh impartiality threatened by close Trump strategizing
Michael Beschloss, NBC News presidential historian, talks with Rachel Maddow about the bad precedents for Supreme Court justices working too closely with presidents and why Brett Kavanaugh's close strategizing for confirmation hearings leaves him compromised by a debt to Trump. Duration: 6:08


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/18
Michael Cohen talked Trump, Russia with Mueller for hours:...
Rachel Maddow relays reports from ABC News and the Wall Street Journal that Michael Cohen has spent hours talking with Robert Mueller about Russia and the Donald Trump operation. Duration: 6:30


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/18
Kavanaugh allies float bizarre doppelganger sex assault theory
Rachel Maddow reports on the rejection by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford of a theory put forth by Brett Kavanaugh supporters that maybe she just mis-remembers who attacked her and mistook Kavanaugh for someone else. Duration: 2:30


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/19/18
Republicans mislead on FBI role to avoid Kavanaugh investigation
Rachel Maddow shows the history of the FBI performing background checks on judicial nominees and wonders what it is about Brett Kavanaugh and the sex assault accusation against him that his accuser is calling for an FBI investigation but Republicans are pretending that's not the FBI's job. Duration: 25:56


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/19/18
Hirono: Kavanaugh investigation should include witness tampering
Senator Mazie Hirono talks with Rachel Maddow about the need for the FBI to investigate the sex assault accusation against Brett Kavanaugh, and to furthermore investigate the threats and intimidation of Kavanaugh's accuser as witness tampering. Duration: 7:35


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/19/18
Flooded animal farms add 'toxic soup' to post-Florence concerns
Michael Biesecker, reporter for The Associated Press, talks with Rachel Maddow about the serious, toxic environmental pollution from hog farms and coal ash ponds that was swamped by water from what was formerly Hurricane Florence. Duration: 6:19


THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/19/18
Trump suspected of using declassifications to force DoJ turnover
Rachel Maddow reports on speculation among experts that Donald Trump's ill-advised declassification of documents related to the ongoing Trump Russia investigation may be a means of forcing resignations or justifying firings from the Department of Justice. Duration: 2:41



FOR HUMAN ENLIGHTENMENT, GO TO THIS WEBSITE:
https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/culture-of-jeju-haenyeo-women-divers-01068
FOR FUN, GO TO THIS SITE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4vRxwXCElQ