March, 2019

According to reports, the state filed the motion to dismiss the case and the judge signed off. The judge also granted a motion to seal the case, according to Charlie De Mar of CBS Chicago.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Tuesday proposed a plan to dramatically increase public-school teachers’ salaries, marking her first major entry into public policy planning as the 2020 race begins to heat up.

Under Harris’s plan, the average teacher in the U.S. would receive a $13,500 pay raise over four years – for a hefty price tag of $315 billion in federal funding. It would be paid for by making unspecified changes to the estate tax (which is levied on assets, like real estate and cash, when a person dies).

WSJ: Obama Admin Must Account for ‘Abuse of Surveillance Powers’ https://t.co/mIE0vOFZae via @BreitbartNews

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 26, 2019

The Education Department has opened investigations into 8 universities tied to the sweeping college admissions and bribery scandal unveiled by federal prosecutors earlier this month... Department investigators are examining whether any of the universities violated any laws or rules “governing the Federal student financial aid programs” or “any other applicable laws,” according to a document reviewed by POLITICO. If the department decides that any of the schools violated federal education regulations, it could assess penalties, which at the most extreme would include cutting off an institution’s access to Pell Grants and federal student loans.

Jussie Smollett faces years in prison for falsely accusing someone of a crime.

What is the penalty for falsely accusing a President of treason?

— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) March 25, 2019

The first group, totaling 216 illegal aliens, was encountered early Saturday morning, after they illegally entered the country. Agents operating mobile surveillance technology spotted the group spread out along a desolate road that parallels the international boundary fence.

Composed of mostly family units of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the group is consistent with dozens of other large groups arrested in the area over the past few months.

Monday morning, agents encountered a large group totaling 179 persons. Much like the first, the group was comprised of Central American family units and children, who sought agents out after entering the country illegally.

While Democrats and other members of the “Resistance” flail about in the wake of news the Robert Mueller investigation did not find evidence that President Donald Trump’s campaign “conspired or coordinated” with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election, Freeman observed Monday the report confirms it is former President Barack Obama who “owes the country an explanation” for his administration’s “historic abuse of government surveillance powers.”

Freeman wrote:

The Mueller report confirms that the Obama administration, without evidence, turned the surveillance powers of the federal government against the presidential campaign of the party out of power. This historic abuse of executive authority was either approved by President Barack Obama or it was not. It’s time for Mr. Obama, who oddly receives few mentions in stories about his government’s spying on associates of the 2016 Trump campaign, to say what he knew and did not know about the targeting of his party’s opponents.

A Pentagon budget reprogramming notification sent to Capitol Hill on Monday and obtained by CNN indicates that up to $1 billion will go toward building 57 miles of fencing, improving roads and other measures on the southern border.
The Department of Defense authorized the Army Corp of Engineers to begin planning and construction for the project Monday night. The department will direct the funds toward 18-foot-high fencing along the Yuma and El Paso sections of the border, according to a letter acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan sent to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen.

In an interview with Yahoo! News over the weekend, Bannon predicted that the president will "come off the chains" and will use the Mueller report findings against opponents especially if they demand additional documents.

"He will use it to bludgeon them," Bannon said.

The settlement with Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter is the first to result from a wave of recent lawsuits accusing Purdue of deceptively marketing painkillers. The deal came after Purdue lost a bid to delay a May 28 trial in the case, the first to be scheduled of around 2,000 lawsuits nationally.
[...]
As part of the overall settlement, Purdue will contribute $102.5 million to help fund an addiction treatment center at Oklahoma State University, a source said. The Sacklers, who were not named in the Oklahoma litigation, agreed to contribute $75 million toward the university center as part of the settlement, the source said. Other money will go toward, among other things, covering costs stemming from the lawsuit, including legal fees, the source said.

“CJNG is one of the most dangerous drug cartels in the world, and its members and associates are actively operating in the Shenandoah Valley and Southside Virginia,” United States Attorney Cullen stated today. “Dismantling organized drug activity and staunching the flow of deadly substances like heroin and cocaine into our communities are among my top priorities as U.S. attorney. I am grateful that our federal, state, and local partners share this goal and for their hard work during the course of this investigation.”

The alleged ISIS commander charged here last week with taking part in 20 beheadings obtained a special refugee passport in Greece that gave him air travel access to much of Europe...

Former President Barack Obama is looking to make some new friends in Washington.

He's set to gather with the more than 60 freshman House Democrats next week at a meet and greet in Washington, Politico reported Friday, including controversial members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

Looks like he's holding a rules-for-radicals seminar.

Freshmen House Democrats departed the Capitol on buses moments ago for a meeting in Washington with President Obama

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) March 25, 2019

The second man who died in the span of 18 months at the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck, a 64-year-old who has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic Party candidates and is well known in LGBTQ political circles, died from a methamphetamine overdose, according to a report.

“Toxicology results are back and the cause of death is an overdose,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Investigator Quilmes Rodriguez told The Daily Beast on the death of 55-year-old Timothy Dean of West Hollywood, Calif. Rodriguez later said the drug was meth. Dean was pronounced dead at the apartment in January after police responded to a report of a person not breathing.

U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor ruled in December that the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of law is therefore invalid.

The DOJ said Monday that it agrees the decision should stand as the case works its way through the appeals process in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

Duke University will pay $112.5 million to settle a lawsuit over its alleged submission of falsified data to obtain $200 million in federal research grants.
The lawsuit, filed by a former lab analyst, Joseph Thomas, alleged that from 2006 to 2013 a research technician, Erin Potts-Kant, fabricated data that Duke used to get research funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency.