All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Tami]

Federal Judge Reverses Conviction of Border Volunteers, Challenging Government’s “Gruesome Logic”

A federal judge in Tucson, Arizona, reversed the conviction of four humanitarian aid volunteers on religious freedom grounds Monday, ruling that the government had embraced a “gruesome logic” that criminalizes “interfering with a border enforcement strategy of deterrence by death.”

The reversal, written by U.S. district judge Rosemary Márquez, marked the latest rebuke of the Trump administration’s crackdown on humanitarian aid providers in southern Arizona, and the second time in matter of months that a religious freedom defense has prevailed in a federal case involving the provision of aid to migrants in the borderlands.

The defendants in the case — Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse, and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick — were fined and given probation in March of last year for entering the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge in the summer of 2017 without a permit, driving on a restricted access road and leaving food, water and other humanitarian aid supplies for migrants passing through in the summer heat. They were the first among a group of volunteers with the faith-based humanitarian group, No More Deaths, to go to trial for their aid work in 2019.

The remains of roughly 3,000 migrants have been recovered in Pima County alone since 2000. Experts are confident that the true death toll is much higher. Situated at the heart of the Sonoran Desert, the Cabeza Prieta refuge is one of the deadliest spaces in the region. As Márquez made clear in her decision, the No More Deaths volunteers admitted to the factual claims in the case; that they left aid supplies in “an area of desert wilderness where people frequently die of dehydration and exposure.” But in appealing their convictions, Márquez went on to write, the defendants had successfully argued that their actions — imbued “with the avowed goal of mitigating death and suffering” — were protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA.

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Greg Kuykendall, who represented @NoMoreDeaths
volunteer Scott Warren in two other cases stemming from the administration's crackdown, said the reversal reveals what the government refuses to acknowledge.

"They need dead bodies in order for their deterrence strategies to work."

Twitter Link

[Michael Watkins]

Btw for people who actually follow elections this is a big deal. New Hamphire is in a week. A lot of people put a lot of money and volunteer time into Iowa. They didn’t have to allocate that many resources. Candidates like Buttigieg pretty much were riding and dying on a good performance here that they could parlay that into future momentum. They could get the results they want and it’s too late to matter for New Hampshire because you were setting up this weeks media blitzes based on Iowa.

For context Obama’s campaign would have been seriously damaged if he won Iowa, but this happened and the story was about a prolonged mess up and not how people performed, then by the time he was declared the winner, the shine of it came off and Hillary won NH. Something like this could have completely changed the course of American politics.

if i had said this they'd be accusing me of floating conspiracy theories.

The important thing is that they get an accurate count -- if it takes a little more time for them to do so, it's not the end of the world.

It's something they could have prevented but if the results are accurate then the problems are mainly superficial.

Not to disregard the effects of momentum, but this race is a marathon, not a sprint.

it is if your candidate didn't do so hot in Iowa. meanwhile, Trump taking full advantage of the incompetence.

[Tami]

Susan Collins’ Campaign Is Being Helped by a Mysterious Hawaii Company

A mysterious Hawaii company may have illegally funneled a six-figure contribution to a political group boosting an embattled Republican senator 5,000 miles away, an ethics watchdog alleged on Monday.

The company, Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers LLC, was formed in late November, according to corporate records in Hawaii. Just over a month later, on Dec. 31, the company donated $150,000 to 1820 PAC, a deep-pocketed super PAC with ties to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that was created to help reelect Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).

There is scant public information about the company. It does not appear to have a website or any social media presence. Its listed address is a P.O. box in Honolulu (listed as a “unit” number in 1820’s FEC filings). Google searches turn up no information on the company. And there’s no record of prior political involvement by its sole officer, Jennifer Lam.

All of that suggests that the Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers was set up for the sole purpose of making political contributions, according to the Campaign Legal Center, which filed a complaint on Monday asking the Federal Election Commission to investigate its December contribution to 1820 PAC, which was named after the year Maine was founded.

“The available facts do not suggest that SYWSE conducted any business or had sufficient income from assets, investment earnings, business revenues, or bona fide capital investments to cover the $150,000 contribution to 1820 PAC at the time the contribution was made, without an infusion of funds provided to them for that purpose,” the group wrote.

[Tami]

Donald J Trump on Twitter Man shot inside Paris police station Germany.jpg

You tell me, does Trump think Paris is in Germany? Or is it he doesn't know proper grammar?

[KOSLOX]

Donald J Trump on Twitter Man shot inside Paris police station Germany.jpg

You tell me, does Trump think Paris is in Germany? Or is it he doesn't know proper grammar?

Also, maybe he's a big Don Adams fan?

[Tami]

Why You May Never Learn the Truth About ICE

Last month the National Archives found itself in the middle of a firestorm after it put a doctored photograph of the Women’s March on Washington on display. Even if the photo was not part of the National Archives’ own collection, the exhibit distorted history, and David S. Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, soon apologized.

This was only the latest example — and hardly the most important — of a great and growing threat to our nation’s capacity to protect and learn from history. The press and the public have focused on the immediate, obvious problems, like this president’s exaggerated claims of executive privilege and national security to conceal information. But less appreciated is the fact that vital information is actually being deleted or destroyed, so that no one — neither the press and government watchdogs today, nor historians tomorrow — will have a chance to see it.

President Trump has long made it a practice to tear up his papers and throw them away. It is a clear violation of the Presidential Records Act, which is supposed to prevent another Watergate-style cover-up. When the National Archives sent staff members to tape these records together, the White House fired them.

In 2017, a normally routine document released by the archives, a records retention schedule, revealed that archivists had agreed that officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement could delete or destroy documents detailing the sexual abuse and death of undocumented immigrants. Tens of thousands of people posted critical comments, and dozens of senators and representatives objected. The National Archives made some changes to the plan, but last month it announced that ICE could go ahead and start destroying records from Mr. Trump’s first year, including detainees’ complaints about civil rights violations and shoddy medical care.

[Celgress]

What a mess (the Iowa vote) lol.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Did anyone really expect trump would lose to the 3 tokens plopped up against him?

It wasn't about whether he would win or lose and such, it was more that in Iowa the Republican party uses a different and far simpler method when they do their caucus nights, so the big problem now is all on the democrats side, the Republicans had everything wrapped up on their side early last night...

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Nevada decided they won’t use the same app as Iowa

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Why You May Never Learn the Truth About ICE

Beyond the molehill that's last night's hiccup in Iowa, THIS is a story that demands REAL attention. God only knows what sort of records about the depravities and civil rights abuses committed by ICE have gone through the shredder and thus remain secret. Human lives have been severely affected, perhaps permanently by what's going on at the border and beyond, stories that are being buried by an administration desperate to keep it's abominable record of immigrant mistreatment from going public.

[Malvolio]

Won't it be funny if we finally get the results of the Iowa Caucuses in a few weeks, but no one cares because we're already talking about South Carolina and Super Tuesday?

[Jack Dracula]

My wife caucused for Biden and was stunned when he was initially declared non-viable.

The Biden supporters really over estimated his electability here.

He just squeeked by at our caucus. They were one person short to be viable and at the last minute managed to pick up the only independant who showed up.

[Jack Dracula]

The important thing is that they get an accurate count -- if it takes a little more time for them to do so, it's not the end of the world.

It's something they could have prevented but if the results are accurate then the problems are mainly superficial.

Not to disregard the effects of momentum, but this race is a marathon, not a sprint.

This.
The problems were with the reporting of the results not the results themselves. The selection cards are not destroyed on caucus night and can be recounted and submitted relatively easily. What did people do in the dark ages before phone apps?
Frankly, the tendency to over-hype minor issues among some of the people here is ridiculous.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Won't it be funny of we finally get the results of the Iowa Caucuses in a few weeks, but no one cares because we're already talking about South Carolina and Super Tuesday?

Exactly. By the time the results are in from Iowa, few will remember the screw-up that caused all that needless angst.

[PwrdOn]

I'd say it's a really bad stumble starting the Democratic primary off in two of the whitest states in America.

But it is what it is.

Of all the things that the American political system does to screw minorities out of leverage and influence, this isn't really one of them. The current Frankenstein primary system we have wasn't really designed that way but sort of just coalesced into its current form over time as the importance of machine politics and national conventions diminished. In practice it makes it easier for the candidates to be able to just focus on a narrow group of voters rather than trying to address the concerns of all voters at once. Also, the racial demographics of any particular area are not an intrinsic property but rather fluid over time, there's nothing stopping black people from moving to Iowa or New Hampshire, and frankly I wouldn't be at all surprised to see this happen soon as more of them are squeezed out of cities by gentrification and look to settle in areas with more affordable housing.