Appeals court places Trump abortion referral ban on hold…
July 3, 2019
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has vacated a previous ruling that allowed the Trump administration to impose additional restrictions on facilities that serve low-income women seeking abortions, according to The Associated Press.
The federal appeals court said Wednesday that a panel of 11 judges would reconsider the bevy of lawsuits filed by states and civil rights groups challenging the plans.
The ruling was handed down just weeks after a three-judge panel in the 9th Circuit ruled that the government's plan to ban federally funded family planning clinics from giving abortion referrals would be allowed to go into effect nationwide.Facebook says glitches affecting across platforms resolved…
July 3, 2019
Facebook Inc said on Wednesday an issue with uploading or sending media files on its apps and platforms has been resolved... “During one of our routine maintenance operations, we triggered an issue that is making it difficult for some people to upload or send photos and videos,” Facebook had said... The disruption appears to be related to an internal infrastructure or application issue,” said ThousandEyes, a company that monitors internet traffic globally... More than 14,000 users reported issues with Instagram, while more than 7,500 and 1,600 users complained about Facebook and WhatsApp, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.
9th Circuit Court blocks military funds for Trump’s border wall…
July 3, 2019
“The use of those funds violates the constitutional requirement that the Executive Branch not spend money absent an appropriation from Congress,” the 9th Circuit judges wrote in Wednesday’s 2-1 decision....
ABC, CBS, and NBC follow MSNBC and have announced that they will not air Trump’s July 4th “parade”…
July 3, 2019
BREAKING: ABC, CBS, and NBC follow MSNBC and have announced that they will not air Trump’s July 4th “parade”#4thofJuly
— BNL NEWS (@BreakingNLive) July 3, 2019
Court to unseal up to 2,000 pages of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents…
July 3, 2019
A New York federal appeals court on Wednesday ordered the unsealing of up to 2,000 pages of judicial documents that are expected to show evidence relating to whether New York financier Jeffrey Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, were recruiting underage girls and young women as part of an international sex trafficking operation.
The decision comes two days after the Miami Herald urged the court to issue a ruling in the civil case in the wake of last week’s Justice Department announcement in the federal criminal case that it would not void Epstein’s controversial 2008 non-prosecution agreement.
Korean Central TV (KCTV) video of President Trump and Kim Jong Un meetup…
July 3, 2019
Navy SEAL Sentenced for Posing With Dead Iraq War Casualty…
July 3, 2019
A Navy SEAL who was acquitted of killing a wounded Islamic State captive but convicted of posing with the corpse was sentenced by a military jury Wednesday to a reduction in rank and four months of confinement. A judge, however, credited Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher with enough time already spent in custody to ensure he won't be locked up... The jury reduced Gallagher's rank by one grade to petty officer 1st class and ordered his monthly pay cut by $2,697 for four months... The judge then modified the sentence, capping the pay cut at two months...
American Suburbs Swell Again as a New Generation Escapes the City…
July 3, 2019
Just like generations before them, millennials -- between the ages of 23 and 38 -- are leaving cities and moving to the suburbs to find affordable housing, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal... But unlike their parents and grandparents, millennials are being more selective in where they’re going, the outlet reported, primarily in the South and Southwest, with good weather and good jobs nearby. The suburbs where millennials are moving -- such as Apex, N.C., near Raleigh -- are growing so fast that they can hardly keep up. Schools are over capacity and commutes are slowed by traffic jams, according to The Journal...
S&P 500 hits new record high. Up 19% for the year while the Dow is up more than 15% and Nasdaq is up 23% for the year….
July 3, 2019
The S&P 500 rose 22.81 points, or 1.8%, to close at 2,995.82. The third record high close in as many days also pushed the index closer to breaching the 3,000 mark.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average also reached a record, gaining 179.32 points, or 0.7%, to close at 26,966.
Technology stocks led the gains, helping the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite join the record-breaking club. The Nasdaq rose 61.14 points, or 0.8%, to 8,170.23.
Boeing to pay $100 million to help families and communities affected by two crashes of its 737 Max plane that killed 346 people…
July 3, 2019
The Chicago-based company said some of the money will go toward living expenses and to cover hardship suffered by the families of passengers killed in the crashes... Lawyers who are suing Boeing on behalf of passengers’ families said the new $100 million promise won’t stop them from demanding that Boeing provide details about how the plane and the new flight-control software were developed. Some of them discounted the amount of aid... Boeing didn’t give many details about the financial help. It did not say how much will go to families and how they will apply for aid. The company said it will work with local governments and nonprofits on programs and economic development to help affected communities.
12 children, a pregnant woman, a convicted felon, & 19 illegal aliens were found locked in a produce truck at a checkpoint…
July 3, 2019
THANK YOU to our heroic Border Patrol agents, whose vigilance caught this smuggler and potentially saved lives! pic.twitter.com/uvKQzBFPR1
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 3, 2019
Lawmakers Target Pentagon Pedophiles With Bipartisan Child Porn Bill…
July 3, 2019
Hundreds of government employees were implicated as part of ICE's 2006 "Operation Flicker" - which identified over 5,000 individuals who had used credit cards or PayPal to buy child porn, or subscribe to websites that offered the material. Of those, ICE identified 264 DoD employees or contractors who had purchased child pornography online.
Nine of them had "Top Secret Sensitive Compartmentalized Information" security clearances, while 76 of them held clearances of Secret or higher.
Here's the kicker: Of those 264 DoD suspects, just 52 were investigated... meaning the Bush administration willfully ignored over 200 suspected pedophiles working for the Defense Department.
The new bill, The End Network Abuse Act will require the Pentagon to enter into contracts with groups which will be involved in the effort, including law enforcement, social services, child protection services and trauma-informed healthcare providers. It would also provide for additional training and technical expertise among military investigators...
DOJ reverses, says it’s trying to find ways to include citizenship question on 2020 census…
July 3, 2019
A lawyer with the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Wednesday that agency officials have been ordered to determine whether there is a way the administration can include a citizenship question on the 2020 census, hours after a tweet from President Trump raised confusion over the status of the question.
Joseph Hunt, an assistant attorney general with DOJ’s civil division, said Wednesday that the department has been “instructed to examine whether there is a path forward, consistent with the Supreme Court's decision, that would allow us to include the citizenship question on the census.”
Russian Navy starts tracking NATO warships in Black Sea…
July 3, 2019
"The forces and hardware of the Black Sea Fleet have begun tracking the activities of the British Royal Navy HMS Duncan destroyer and the Canadian Forces HMCS Toronto frigate, which entered the waters of the Black Sea on July 2, 2019," the statement reads.
The Kasimov small anti-submarine ship and Pytlivy patrol ship are tracking the NATO vessels, the center clarified.
The defense agency said that "naval air force jets and the Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems have been put on duty in designated regions." Radio electronic tracking is also being conducted.
Putin signs law suspending INF treaty with US…
July 3, 2019
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation suspending a 1987 nuclear missile treaty, according to the law published on Wednesday on an official government website. The United States is set to pull out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) on Aug. 2 citing Russia’s development of a missile that breaks the accord.
Former Google exec, Android co-founder accused of having a ‘sex ring’…
July 3, 2019
Andy Rubin, the man who co-created the Android platform and left Google under a cloud of harassment complaints, is in for one messy divorce. According to a sensational lawsuit by soon to be ex-wife Rie Hirabaru Rubin, her ex had several mistresses, one of which was “complicit with Rubin in running what appeared to be a sex ring,” according to allegations detailed in a complaint filed in San Mateo County court in California... The complaint alleges that Rubin paid for the expenses of multiple mistresses "in exchange for offering them to other men." He did so, the complaint alleges, so that he could watch them engage with other men, and often joined in for threesomes.
Police on alert as protesters descend on DC for Trump’s military-themed July 4th…
July 3, 2019
Anti-war Code Pink members began arriving at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday, saying in a press release they intend "to protest the militarization of July 4" and hold an "anti-imperialist festival" Thursday on the National Mall. They are looking to float a “Baby Trump” balloon -- versions of which have been flown at protests in London -- blocks away from the national celebration. The National Park Service denied their initial request to fly the blimp, but Code Pink has filed additional paperwork in a last-ditch bid to see the inflated caricature of the president take float.
But other left-wing activists organized by All Out D.C. are set to mobilize on Saturday in response to a planned rally by self-described “Western chauvinist” group the Proud Boys. U.S. Park Police, which covers the National Mall, is on alert, according to the Washington Post. "We'll have people in different locations and watching," spokesperson Sgt. Eduardo Delgado told the Post. "We prepare for the worst and hope for the best."
Trump Administration Hits Some Illegals With Fines Up To $500,000 for failing to take steps to leave after being ordered to do so…
July 3, 2019
The Department of Homeland Security sent out a batch of notices across the country to targeted individuals ordering them to pay fines of up to nearly $500,000 for "failing to depart the U.S. as previously agreed," among other factors... An ICE official said undocumented immigrants who willfully refuse to meet the obligations of an order issued by the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review may receive a "Notice of Intention to Fine" and then are subsequently provided a 30-day period to respond before a formal decision whether to issue a fine is made. ICE officials said the agency began issuing these notices in December 2018 on a case-by-case basis, taking into account steps the individual has taken to fulfill the court's orders.
The Old West desert town of Needles, California wants to be a ‘sanctuary city’ for gun owners…
July 3, 2019
The City Council in the town of 5,000 that borders Arizona and is a few miles from the southern tip of Nevada last month unanimously declared Needles a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City.” The vote had no immediate practical impact on how guns are treated in the city. Rather, the Needles city attorney was directed to draw up a resolution asking the California Legislature to allow licensed gun owners in other states to carry their firearms in town.
What the city wants is to make it easier for visitors to this roadside stop on the way to Las Vegas and Los Angeles to not worry they could face a felony arrest if a traffic stop turns up a loaded but legally registered gun from outside California... The city also wants the state Legislature to tweak a law that took effect Monday. It requires gun owners to undergo a background check to purchase ammunition and outlaws people from bringing ammunition into California from other states.
Another mysterious deep space signal traced to the other side of the universe. Fast radio bursts suddenly seem to be everywhere in the news, but they’re still coming from very far away…
July 3, 2019
Since 2007, astronomers have been finding very brief, powerful signals from across the cosmos in observations gathered by radio telescopes. In the past week, researchers pinpointed the location of a non-repeating signal for the first time, and two days later, another group announced they'd discovered nine more. The sources of these so-called "fast radio bursts" remains a mystery, but recently researchers have been honing their ability to locate their origins...