Monthly Archives: August 2019

DOJ Won’t Prosecute James Comey Over Memos

NBC News reports: The Department of Justice will not prosecute former FBI director James Comey after an internal probe of Comey’s handling of memos he kept of his interactions with President Donald Trump. In a report released Thursday, the Office of the Inspector General said its probe found that Comey violated department policy. “Upon completing its investigation, the OIG provided …

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Trump Admin Clarifies New “Born Overseas” Rule With Policy Update Contradicting Memo Released Yesterday

Courthouse News reports: The Trump administration announced Wednesday new citizenship rules for some children of U.S. service members serving abroad, creating confusion among legal scholars and immigration attorneys until clarifying late last night. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released an 11-page memo Wednesday that initially implied children of American citizens would no longer have automatic citizenship if born in another …

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Strengthening Dorian Could Make Landfall At Cat 4

NPR reports: Hurricane Dorian may reach Category 4 strength before slamming into Florida over Labor Day weekend. The second level of “major” hurricane status, a Category 4 storm has the potential to cause “catastrophic damage” according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. At least one model, as of Wednesday evening, showed a 31% chance of Dorian reaching high enough sustained …

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Trump Gloats Over Lawrence O’Donnell’s Apology

From the Hollywood Reporter: Never one to sit out a cable news controversy, President Donald Trump launched a three-tweet attack on Lawrence O’Donnell on Thursday morning, even as the MSNBC host already apologized for a thinly sourced report on his financial activities. O’Donnell already “retracted” a Tuesday night report, when he said that “Russian oligarchs” co-signed a loan taken by …

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Trump Campaign Spox: Trump Has Never Lied [VIDEO]

The Washington Post reports: CNN’s Chris Cuomo had a question for President Trump’s campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday: Has the president ever lied to the American public? “He doesn’t lie,” said McEnany, at the start of a heated three-and-a-half-minute exchange. “The press lies.” “You don’t think this president has lied to the American people?” the CNN host replied. “No, …

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EPA To Roll Back Regulations On Methane Emissions

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is set to announce on Thursday that it intends to sharply curtail the regulation of methane emissions, a major contributor to climate change, according to an industry official with knowledge of the plan. The Environmental Protection Agency, in a proposed rule, will aim to eliminate federal government requirements that the oil and …

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Marriott Joins Move To Eliminate Small Plastic Bottles

The Associated Press reports: It could be lights out for tiny toiletries. Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain, said Wednesday it will eliminate small plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel from its hotel rooms worldwide by December 2020. They’ll be replaced with larger bottles or wall-mounted dispensers, depending on the hotel. The move follows a similar announcement …

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Trump Lifts Logo From White Supremacist Account

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump promoted a new campaign video via his Twitter feed on Wednesday afternoon, which unto itself, is not terribly newsworthy. The discovery, however, that the logo used at in end screen title card features a lion illustration that appears to have been taken from a Dutch Twitter account suspended for promoting white supremacy. The inspiration for …

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Only Ten Democrats Qualify For September Debate

The New York Times reports: The deadline was Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. Two new polls released in the morning did not change the equation, but it did send reporters and campaign operatives scrambling to discover whether any further polls would be released. By early evening, though, it seemed clear that no 11th-hour reprieve was coming for the billionaire Tom Steyer, …

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Darrell Issa Likely To Run For Duncan Hunter’s Seat

San Diego’s Fox affiliate reports: Former Rep. Darrell Issa has launched an exploratory committee for California’s 50th Congressional District, a seat currently held by embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine. “I have received such a tremendous outpouring of encouragement from supporters inside the district, and around the state and across the Nation. I’m truly grateful for the many encouraging phone calls, …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

The Tennessean reports: The “Old Town Road” now leads to country music’s biggest night. Once kicked off the Billboard country music charts for not embracing “enough elements of today’s country music” the Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus musical phenomenon earned a ticket Wednesday to the 53rd CMA Awards. The song received a “Musical Event of the Year” nomination. …

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White House Press Secretary: The President Doesn’t Lie

The Washington Post reports: Does Grisham think Trump ever lies? After all, as of Aug. 5, The Washington Post Fact Checker had documented 12,019 false or misleading claims made by Trump during his presidency. “No,” she responds without hesitation. “I don’t think they’re lies. I think the president communicates in a way that some people, especially the media, aren’t necessarily …

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The Chosen One Trolls Gillibrand For Dropping Out

The Washington Examiner reports: President Trump went into full troll mode Wednesday evening as the Democratic presidential primary field continued to thin. He took to Twitter to spike the football about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat, dropping out, paying her … a compliment – if meant. As someone promptly pointed out on Twitter, Mr. Trump had previously disparaged the …

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MSNBC’s O’Donnell Apologizes For Trump/Russia Story

CNN reports: MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell said he was “wrong” to report a thinly sourced story about President Trump’s finances on his prime time show Tuesday night. “Last night I made an error in judgment by reporting an item about the president’s finances that didn’t go through our rigorous verification and standards process,” O’Donnell said in a tweet Wednesday afternoon. …

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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Drops Out Of Presidential Race

The New York Times reports: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who presented herself in the presidential race as a champion of women and families, said Wednesday that she was withdrawing from the Democratic primary after failing to qualify for a third debate next month — a development she described as fatal to her candidacy. Ms. Gillibrand said in an …

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Florida Gov Declares Emergency Ahead Of Hurricane

The Miami Herald reports: As Hurricane Dorian neared a likely Florida landfall, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Wednesday afternoon for 26 counties in the storm’s path, spanning the east coast from Duval to Monroe counties. The state Emergency Operations Center is also activating to Level 2, he announced, bringing in more emergency management staff to coordinate a …

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Trump Admin: Children Born To US Service Members Overseas Will No Longer Be Considered US Citizens

Task & Purpose reports: Children born to U.S. service members and government employees overseas will no longer be automatically considered citizens of the United States, according to policy alert issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Wednesday. Previously, children born to U.S. citizen parents were considered to be “residing in the United States,” and therefore would be automatically …

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Trump Sends Legal Warning To Lawrence O’Donnell

Raw Story reports: Lawyers representing President Donald Trump have demanded that MSNBC retract claims made by host Lawrence O’Donnell that the president’s Deutsche Bank loans were co-signed by Russian oligarchs. As reported by the Washington Post’s Paul Farhi, Trump attorney Charles Harder sent a letter to NBC Universal that called O’Donnell’s claims “false and defamatory” and demanded that the network …

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Hurricane Dorian Now Forecast To Hit Florida At Cat 3

USA Today reports: The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center has Dorian strengthening into a major Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph by Sunday off the U.S. East Coast. What does this mean? A “major” hurricane is any hurricane that’s rated as a Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. A …

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Ex-Trump Aide Loses “Abortion Pill” Defamation Suit

Law & Crime reports: Former Trump communications staffer and ex-CNN commentator Jason Miller has lost his legal battle with Gizmodo Media Group for reporting that he tried to induce an abortion in a woman. For about a year, Miller pursued a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Gizmodo after one of its subsidiaries released an article that said Miller gave a …

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