August 31, 2018

man takes down robbery suspect with punch

https://abc7.com/video-oc-stater-bros-robbery-suspect-punched-to-ground/4104711/

A one-punch takedown at a Santa Ana Stater Bros. supermarket parking lot was caught on camera.

Santa Ana police said on June 17, suspect Jose Prado was loading up his truck with items he did not pay for when store employees confronted him.

Prado responded aggressively. As employees appeared intimidated by the suspect's size, a man in shorts and a brown shirt walked up and laid Prado out with one punch.

Prado got up and took off. Police said they are still looking for him and considering him a robbery suspect.

Authorities said they also want to talk to the man who punched him -- as a witness.

August 31, 2018

Texas judge says he'll likely kill DACA -- but not yet

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/31/politics/texas-daca-continues/index.html

A federal judge on Friday hinted he will likely invalidate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in the future -- but for now the program can continue to operate.

The ruling was an unexpected, albeit temporary, reprieve for the program, which President Donald Trump opted to end almost exactly a year ago.
Texas-based District Judge Andrew Hanen wrote Friday that he believes DACA is likely illegal and ultimately will fail to survive a challenge before his court. DACA is an Obama-era program that protects young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation.
But despite that -- and despite finding that the continuation of DACA could harm the eight states and two governors who challenged the program -- Hanen decided not to issue a ruling that would have immediately blocked DACA's continuation.

August 31, 2018

new photo of Trump looking weird becomes meme

?cache=yells6ybdj&ops=scalefit_720_noupscale

President Donald Trump pulled this awkward pose in the Oval Office on Monday as he announced the overhaul of the North American Free Trade Agreement:

And of course, folks online noticed.

Reddit user mynameis_neo shared the snap to the site’s “PhotoshopBattles” thread on Thursday, where it was then reimagined in multiple funny ways.

Including Trump as a toddler? Check.



https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-crossed-arms-photoshop-battle_us_5b88e456e4b0162f47217dd3

August 31, 2018

The fight for Donald Trump's tax returns is heating up -- again

From Congress to the courts, Democrats are seeking to capitalize on efforts to bring President Trump’s tax returns into public view, hoping the documents could shed fresh light on possible conflicts of interest, foreign business deals and even the Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.


Questions about Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns have followed the president from the campaign trail to the Oval Office and reemerged in force last week as a pair of Trump’s closest former aides -– his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his former personal attorney Michael Cohen –- confronted serious tax fraud charges that will likely land both of them behind bars.

Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who sponsored legislation last year to require all sitting presidents to release their most recent three years of tax returns, says Trump’s tax returns are of vital public interest.

“Trump’s tax returns will deliver honest answers to key questions from the American public,” Wyden said.

Trump was the first major party candidate in four decades to refuse to disclose his tax returns. When his refusal sparked controversy, he agreed to release the records, but only after an audit.

"Tax experts throughout the media agree that no sane person would give their tax returns during an audit," Trump wrote on Twitter in February of 2016. "After the audit, no problem!"

But Trump appears to have reversed his position after the election, and his top aides have deflected questions about the issue.

“We litigated this all through the election,” Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told ABC News on This Week with George Stephanopoulos when asked about the prospect of Trump releasing his tax returns. “People didn't care.”

Last week’s courtroom developments have further emboldened Trump’s political rivals.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fight-donald-trumps-tax-returns-heating/story?id=57524995

August 31, 2018

what are Trump poll numbers with Hispanic Americans? He's going after them with everything he's got

with the passport thing now.

August 31, 2018

Trump's latest rally rant is much more alarming and dangerous than usual

At his rally on Thursday night in Indiana, President Trump unleashed his usual attacks on the news media, but he also added a refrain that should set off loud, clanging alarm bells. Trump didn’t simply castigate “fake news.” He also suggested the media is allied with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe — an alliance, he claimed, that is conspiring not just against Trump but also against his supporters.

“Today’s Democrat Party is held hostage by left-wing haters, angry mobs, deep-state radicals, establishment cronies and their fake-news allies,” Trump railed. “Our biggest obstacle and their greatest ally actually is the media.”

In case there is any doubt about what Trump meant by the “deep state” that is supposedly allied with the news media, Trump also lashed out at the FBI and the Justice Department, claiming that “people are angry” and threatening to personally “get involved.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/08/31/trumps-latest-rally-rant-is-much-more-alarming-and-dangerous-than-usual/?utm_term=.77ae96b3f03f

This time, something different is happening. At this point, there is no longer any denying that Trump continues to direct incendiary attacks against working members of the free press even though his own language is being cited by clearly unhinged people making horrifying death threats against them.

Trump’s assaults on the media are different in another way, too. Previous presidents have tangled with the press, most notably Richard Nixon, who sicced his vice president on the TV networks. But as I discuss in my forthcoming book, even these presidents maintained a grudging acceptance of the news media as an adversarial mechanism of accountability that legitimately informs the public debate and thus retains a vital institutional role in our democracy.

Trump simply does not accept this at all. He is trying to destroy this foundational set of ideas in the minds of his supporters. And it seems to be working.

August 31, 2018

President Trump's Disapproval Rating Has Hit an All-Time High (ABC news/Washington Post Poll)

President Trump’s disapproval rating has hit an all-time high.

According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Friday, 60% of those surveyed disapprove of Trump’s performance in office—the highest of his presidency. Just 36% approve, which is on par with his all-time low.

The last ABC News/Washington Post poll, conducted in April, put his approval rating at 40% and disapproval rating at 56%. ABC reports that Trump’s average approval rating is the lowest of any president since the 1940s.

The poor showing in this most recent poll, however, may not come as a total surprise. It was conducted Aug. 26 to 29—just a week after Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted of tax fraud and former lawyer Michael Cohen admitted that he violated campaign finance laws at Trump’s behest.

https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1035482716731596800/photo/1

http://fortune.com/2018/08/31/trump-disapproval-rating/

August 31, 2018

What Is Trump Getting for Sucking Up to Saudi Arabia? experts have never seen such groveling

What Is Trump Getting for Sucking Up to Saudi Arabia?

In our 65-plus years of experience working on U.S. Middle East policy, we’ve never seen anything like the Trump administration’s willingness to prostitute American interests to Saudi Arabia.

By AARON DAVID MILLER and RICHARD SOKOLSKY August 29, 2018

But nothing in the 70 plus-year history of U.S.-Saudi ties comes close to the cosmic groveling that now defines President Donald Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and his slavish obeisance to its dangerous and irresponsible policies.


Since Trump became president, the U.S. has enabled and supported a disastrous Saudi war in Yemen; watched as Riyadh launched a political and economic war against Qatar that’s split the Gulf Cooperation Council and enhanced Iran’s influence; stood by as the Saudis virtually kidnapped the pro-American Lebanese Prime Minister in a bungled attempt to weaken Hezbollah; remained silent while the Saudis under the guise of reform cracked down on journalists, bloggers, businessmen and anyone else who dared criticize the 30-something crown prince; and said nothing as Riyadh battered Canada—a close U.S. ally that dared challenge Saudi human rights abuses.

In our 65-plus years of combined experience working inside and outside the State Department on U.S. Middle East policy, we have never seen anything like the Trump administration’s willingness to prostitute U.S. interests to Saudi Arabia—a country that increasingly pursues policies at home and abroad that undermine American values and interests.

Indeed, amid all its failures, the most successful Saudi foreign policy initiative in recent memory is the successful capturing and bamboozling of Donald Trump.

How to explain the Trump administration’s abnormal and unseemly attachment to Saudi Arabia? Why the suck-up and, more important, exactly what is America getting in return?

August 31, 2018

Oregon construction company requires attendance at Bible Study

An Oregon man who says he was fired from his construction job for refusing to attend Christian bible study is appealing to a higher power: the court. In a lawsuit filed this month, Ryan Coleman, 34, says he didn't find out about the weekly bible study requirement until after Joel Dahl of Albany-based Dahled Up Construction hired him as a painter in late 2017, OregonLive reports. He says he went along with it for about six months before telling Dahl, "It's just not my thing." Dahl's response, per Coleman, "He said, 'well, I'm going to have to replace you." That was in April, KEZI reports.

Now, Coleman is seeking $800,000—$50,000 in lost earnings and $750,000 for "severe emotional distress, anguish, humiliation, anger, shame, and anxiety," per the lawsuit's ironically titled "prayer for relief." Dahl's attorney, accusing Coleman of seeking "unjustified financial gain," concedes that Dahled Up employees are required to go to bible study. But it's legal, he argues, because they're still on the clock when they attend. Colman's attorney disagrees: "This is so illegal," she says, adding that only religious organizations could have such a requirement. Dahl, who admits to past legal problems, says he's a "second-chance employer," with OregonLive noting that "God is a big part of Joel Dahl's life."

http://www.newser.com/story/264008/man-said-he-was-fired-for-refusing-to-go-to-bible-study.html

According to Coleman and his lawsuit, owner Joel Dahl told him all employees were required to partake in regular Bible study sessions led by a Christian pastor during the work day, while on the clock.

Coleman told Dahl that the requirement was illegal, but Dahl wouldn’t budge, according to the lawsuit. In order to keep his job, Coleman obliged for nearly six months but ultimately told Dahl he couldn’t go, the suit says.

“I said ‘I’ve kept an open mind, and it’s just not my thing.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’m going to have to replace you,'” Coleman told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

“He said ‘You’re not going to tell me how to run my own company,’” Coleman continued. “I said ‘I’m not trying to tell you how to run your own company, but you’re not going to tell me what god to pray to.’”

https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/08/lawsuit_oregon_construction_wo.html

August 31, 2018

the bulk of Texas police dept wiped out by indictments for abuse of power

no waarant? just pick the lock



August 30, 2018
Two Texas police officers are facing charges of unlawful arrest, criminal trespass, and damaging property after forcibly entering a man’s home. Bodycam footage shows Officer Mark Burke and Deputy Duncan Roberts attempting to use a lock pick before eventually kicking the door open.

https://nypost.com/video/lock-picking-cops-charged-after-kicking-in-door-and-handcuffing-man/


https://reason.com/blog/2018/08/28/llano-police-department-abuse-of-power

Picking Locks, False Arrests, and Other Abuses of Power Lead to Indictments Against the Majority of a Texas Police Department

The bulk of a Texas police department has been wiped out by a series of grand jury indictments. The Llano Police Department had just nine employees, nearly two-thirds of whom have now been indicted for misconduct and abuse of power.

The central incident took place in May 2017, when a body camera captured footage of resident Cory Nutt confrontation with Police Chief Kevin Ratliff and Officers Grant Harden, Jared Latta, and Aimee Shannon.

Nutt yelled at Harden for speeding in the neighborhood late at night. The four approached Nutt at his home and asked him to step outside to speak with them. Nutt refused and asked why the officers wanted him outside. Rather than present any kind of warrant, the cops accused him of public drunkenness. They spent several minutes threatening to call Nutt's supervisor and have him fired from his job, and they also pointed a taser towards Nutt, switching between his crotch and his abdomen, and threatened to deploy it should he not comply. He said "Please don't" and walked outside, where he was then arrested and taken to jail.

The public drunkenness charges against Nutt were later dropped. The four were subsequently indicted on charges related to abuse of power. All but Ratliff pleaded not guilty.

Harden also received several indictments for tampering with dash camera footage during a DWI stop, tampering with arrest footage, using excessive force, and unlawful arrest. At one point, Harden allegedly attempted to falsely charge a woman with assaulting a public servant and resisting arrest. He is also accused of assaulting another woman and attempting to charge her with resisting arrest.

Another incident led to indictments against Officer Mark Burke and Llano County Deputy Duncan Roberts. When Roberts and Burke responded to a domestic dispute in June, the woman who made the call met them in her driveway. She told them that her live-in boyfriend, Clay Holley, tried to keep her and her children from leaving the house, said that he didn't hit her, and walked back inside the house and locked the door. The pair knocked on the door several times to no avail. This prompted Burke to use a lock pick kit and begin working on the door. While the men picked the lock, Holley insisted from inside that they had no business entering. Burke yelled at one point, "Open the door or we're coming through it! A domestic occurred here, we're going to conduct an investigation." While Burke trained his taser, Roberts kicked the door in. The men then placed Holley in handcuffs and put him in the back of their patrol unit. Holley sat there for an hour before his handcuffs were removed. He was let go without being charged for a crime.

This incident was also captured by a body camera.