(Washington, DC) – A ruling on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was said to be set for Thursday but testimony by a woman accusing Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her when they were teenagers may derail any chance of an appointment.
Kavanaugh has received heavy criticism for his stance on abortion rights among other things but it seems like a republican heavy senate was willing to ignore facts and push him on through. That was, of course, until Dr.. Christine Blasey Ford came forward with accusations against Kavanaugh that include attempted rape.
The federal judge is denying the allegations, but Ford says it did in fact happen and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley says Ford deserves to be heard. Ford will detail her sexual assault claims on Monday.
(San Francisco, CA-AP) — Governor Jerry Brown is slamming the Trump administration over climate change. The governor says the current proposal by the White House to roll back regulations on methane gas leaks for oil companies “borders on criminality.”
Methane gas traps heat in the atmosphere at a much higher rate than carbon dioxide and contributes to more severe weather conditions like droughts and hurricanes. Brown’s comments come a day before the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco where community and national leaders will convene to find ways to address climate change.
(New York, NY-AP) — More tapes secretly recorded at the White House are being released by Omarosa Manigault Newman. In an interview on MSNBC, Newman says the tapes about a deadly Niger ambush was from a meeting with the White House communications team that President Trump walked in on.
The former White House aide says that none of the attendees had proper security clearance to discuss he topic of Niger. Newman released another tape this morning on “The View” of Trump discussing Hillary Clinton. The White House has not commented on the newly released audio tape.
(Washington, DC-AP) — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he believes the judiciary has the authority to check the power of the President. The federal court judge dodged questions about President Trump’s criticism of the judicial system.
Kavanaugh also denied having any conversations about special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation with the law firm that has represented Trump. The denial came during a heated exchange between Trump’s Supreme Court nominee and Democratic Senator Kamala Harris of California. Democrats also pressed Kavanaugh over newly-released emails focusing on his views on racial issues and abortion.
Democrats began releasing documents today from Kavanaugh ‘s years working for the White House under President George W. Bush. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republican leadership had earlier decided not to make the emails public.
(Des Moines, IA) – The father of an Iowa student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant is asking people not to use her death to promote a political agenda that Molly herself didn’t agree with.
Molly with her dad Rob.
Molly was abducted while running in mid July. Her body was found in a cornfield a couple of weeks ago after the suspect led authorities to it. An autopsy shows that she died of multiple stab wounds and Cristhian Bahena Rivera has been arrested and charge with first degree murder. Surveillance video helped place Rivera on the same route that Mollie was jogging on.
Donald Trump has been using Mollie’s death to taunt Democrats and further push the idea of enforcing tough immigration laws calling the crime despicable; adding that it’s a shame that a man in the country illegally was able to murder the young woman. During a recent rally in WVa he said it never should’ve happened.
It’s heartless and despicable regardless. Just like every school shooting, church shooting or even the most recent mass shooting at the Jacksonville Landing during the Madden 19 tournament. Mollie’s death has become a lighting rod for various groups and politicians in the immigration debate. Her dad, Rob is imploring people to show decency and avoid using his daughter to advance a political agenda.
The 24-year old suspect has a child with a young woman who went to High School with Mollie. They were also friends on Facebook.
(Washington, DC) – Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were on hand to pay their respects to political titan Senator John McCain at the late war hero’s behest.
McCain, orchestrating his final outing down to the exclusion of Donald Trump, made a specific request for both former Presidents to give a eulogy. Both said how much they valued McCain and how his positioning on certain issues and policies made them both better politicians.
McCain died a week ago at the age of 81. Obama called McCain a man of deep principles and said the senator understood that “some principles transcend politics, that some values transcend party.”
McCain will be laid to rest Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
(Tallahassee, FL) — Ron DeSantis is taking a page right out of Donald Trump’s book by stirring up racial tensions with inappropriate remarks. On Tuesday DeSantis, warned Florida voters not to “monkey this up” by electing Gillum. Apparently, he didn’t pay attention to the whole Roseanne Bar fiasco.
Gillum isn’t backing down though. Florida’s Democratic candidate for governor says the “monkey” comment by his Republican opponent is straight out of the Trump handbook. When asked if he thought it was racist, Gillum said, in the handbook of President Trump, they no longer do whistle calls, they are now using bullhorns. DeSantis says it’s absurd to think he was taking a jab at anyone for racial reasons.
His words were widely condemned as racist.
Andrew Gillum is Florida’s first African-American candidate for governor from a major party.
(Florida) – Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has sent a shock wave through the world of politics after winning the Democratic primary for Florida Governor. Armed with less money than his rivals, Gillum narrowly beat former Congresswoman Gwen Graham by a small margin of about 3%.
The upset makes Gillum the first black nominee for Governor in Florida’s history.
Gillum says he’s overwhelmed that he won but he’s looking to unite Floridians under the belief that every one of them deserves a shot at the American Dream. Gillum had the support of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and ran to the left of the rest of the field.
(Washington, DC-AP) – The McCain family announced Friday that he was stopping medical treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer. He began chemotherapy treatment in July 2017 and has been absent from Washington since December. He spent the remaining time at his ranch in Arizona. McCain, known as a moderate conservative, was a retired Navy captain and POW during the Vietnam War.
John McCain is administered to in a Hanoi, Vietnam hospital as a prisoner of war in the fall of 1967. (AP)
The abuse he suffered while in captivity which included being hung by his arms from he ceiling, was the reason mobility was restricted in his upper limbs.
McCain’s bomber was hit by a surface-to-air missile on Oct. 26, 1967, destroying the aircraft’s right wing. According to McCain, the plane entered an “inverted, almost straight-down spin,” and he ejected.
But the sheer force of the ejection broke his right leg and both arms, knocking him unconscious, the report said. McCain came to as he landed in a lake, but burdened by heavy equipment, he sank straight to the bottom. Able to kick to the surface momentarily for air, he somehow managed to activate his life preserver with his teeth.
Once he reached the surface, he was pulled ashore by some North Vietnamese, the account said.
IN CAPTIVITY
As his captors tore at his clothes in the wake of the crash, McCain recalls realizing the extent of his injuries. When he noticed the injuries to his right leg –- which he says had fractured at the knee –- one of his captors slammed a rifle butt into his right shoulder, shattering it, the account said. He was then bayoneted in the abdomen and foot.Over the next few days, he “lapsed from conscious to unconsciousness” while the North Vietnamese interrogated him, he said. “I refused to give them anything except my name, rank, serial number and date of birth,” McCain said in the U.S. News report. “I was in such a bad shape that when they hit me it would knock me unconscious,” he said.
Though initially refusing to give McCain medical treatment, the North Vietnamese, upon discovering that McCain’s father was an admiral in the Navy, decided to give him medical care, according to U.S. News. As word got around of McCain’s imprisonment and his father’s high military rank, several high ranking North Vietnamese officers came to the prison to observe McCain. Vietnamese surgeons operated on McCain’s broken leg, damaging several ligaments in the process. To this day, there is a noticeable limp in McCain’s step.
After receiving less than adequate treatment, McCain says he was moved to a prison camp known as “The Plantation” and locked in a cell with George “Bud” Day and Norris Overly, two Air Force majors. Day, who survived the ordeal, said of McCain: “He was in this great big white case, and his hair was snow white. He just looked like he was absolutely on the verge of death,” the report quoted him as saying.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT AND TORTURE
When he was moved into solitary confinement in March 1968 and when his father was named commander-in-chief of all US Pacific forces several months later, McCain’s troubles were just beginning. The North Vietnamese hoped to score a propaganda victory by offering McCain an early release. McCain has said he refused the offer on the condition that he would only accept if every man captured before him was released as well. When McCain was brought to the senior North Vietnamese officer -– a man he refers to as “The Cat” –- he refused the offer of an early release yet again.
McCain says his torture began in August of 1968. “For the next four days, I was beaten every two or three hours by different guards. My left arm was broken again and my ribs were cracked,” he said according to U.S. News. The North Vietnamese wanted a confession for crimes committed against the North Vietnamese people. After holding out for four days, McCain, at the point of suicide, agreed to write a confession. Looking back on his decision, McCain reflected “I felt just terrible about it… Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine,” he said, according to the report.
HIS RELEASE
McCain notes that toward the end of 1969, the treatment which he and his fellow POWs received became more tolerable. He reports of torture ended around October of 1969 and his solitary confinement concluded in March 1970. “Aside from bad situations now and then, 1971 and 1972 was a sort of coasting period,” McCain told U.S. News. After the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on Jan. 27, 1973, putting an end to the Vietnam War, McCain was released on March 14, 1973.
Though he made a recovery, many of McCain’s injuries have remained with him -– the combination of a hazardous ejection from his jet, torture and inadequate medical treatment have left him incapable of raising either arm above his shoulders.
He’s leaving behind a long political legacy. Republican McCain was a conservative icon in the Senate for three decades. He also relished a reputation as a political maverick and was always willing to work with Republicans and Democrats. One of McCain’s top achievements was passage of a bipartisan campaign finance reform bill in 2002. Key provisions of the bill were later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. McCain also led bipartisan efforts to reform the U.S. immigration system. The Senate passed a sweeping immigration bill in 2013 but the House refused to take it up.
McCain served two terms in the U.S. House before being elected to the Senate. He ran for president in 2000 but could not get past George W. Bush in the Republican primaries. McCain tried again in 2008 and became the Republican presidential nominee. He lost the general election to Democrat Barack Obama.It was during that campaign that another example of McCain’s character was displayed. During a rally, one of his supporter was asking a question and preceded it by speaking disparagingly about Barack Obama. McCain took the mic and refuted the woman’s claims and clarified that he may not agree with Barack on some of the issues but that he was a good man.
McCain was a frequent traveler to Iraq and Afghanistan and was a harsh critic of Obama’s policies in both war-torn countries. McCain became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2015.
McCain died Saturday following a battle with aggressive brain cancer. He’ll be given a full funeral at the Washington National Cathedral before his burial in Annapolis, Maryland, at the U.S. Naval Academy. McCain will be the 13th former Senator to lie in state at the national capitol. His office said the official schedule would be released once all the arrangements are finalized. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has ordered all flags there to be flown at half-staff.
(New York, NY-AP) — Prosecutors in New York are thinking about pursing criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two senior company officials.
The New York Times reports that the Manhattan district attorney is considering an investigation connected to payments President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Cohen pleaded guilty this week to eight charges related to the payment to Daniels and another woman who claimed to have had an affair with President Trump.
Court papers in Cohen’s case showed the Trump Organization paid him and he later used that money to pay off the two women. Investigators now want to know if the business falsified records when it paid Cohen.
Over the next few days, he “lapsed from conscious to unconsciousness” while the North Vietnamese interrogated him, he said. “I refused to give them anything except my name, rank, serial number and date of birth,” McCain said in 
Though he made a recovery, many of McCain’s injuries have remained with him -– the combination of a hazardous ejection from his jet, torture and inadequate medical treatment have left him 
It was during that campaign that another example of McCain’s character was displayed. During a rally, one of his supporter was asking a question and preceded it by speaking disparagingly about Barack Obama. McCain took the mic and refuted the woman’s claims and clarified that he may not agree with Barack on some of the issues but that he was a good man.
