Sometime later today, Pres. Biden will sign a bill, having passed overwhelminmgly in both the House and Senate, to make Juneteenth a national holiday. The House saw only 14 members opposed (one being Tom Tiffany, R-WI 7) and the Senate voted after Sen. Ron Johnson withdrew his opposition to a vote. Making Juneteenth a national…
Federal Government
Federal Government, Immigration, Law, Migrants, Trump
Psaki Reminds on Federal Immigration Policy
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
White House press sec. Jen Psaki: "We don't take our advice or counsel from former Pres. Trump on immigration policy." https://t.co/kdimldYgxN pic.twitter.com/ohsrECEXfZ — ABC News (@ABC) March 5, 2021
America, Biden-Harris, Constitution, Federal Government, Poetry
Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Coronavirus, Covidiocy, Culture, Federal Government
Private Meetings in Public Monuments During a Pandemic
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Washington Post reports that Interior [Department] shuts Washington Monument after interior secretary tests positive for the coronavirus (‘Park Service staff say they may have been exposed when David Bernhardt led a private, after-hours tour’): Officials have taken the extraordinary step of closing the Washington Monument starting Friday as a precaution after Interior Secretary David Bernhardt —…
2020 Presidential Election, America, Biden-Harris, Constitution, Elections, Federal Government, Presidential race 2020
President-Elect Biden’s 12.14.20 Address to Nation After Electoral College Tallies
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Federal Government, Housing, Poverty
Frontline: Poverty, Politics and Profit (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the billions spent on affordable housing, and why so few get the help they need. In a nine-month investigation that takes FRONTLINE and NPR from Dallas to Miami, NPR’s Laura Sullivan and FRONTLINE’s Rick Young find that just one in four households eligible for Section 8 assistance are getting it, and…
Federal Government, Portland, Trump
Videos Show How Federal Officers Escalated Violence in Portland
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Peaceful protests were already happening for weeks when federal officers arrived on July 4. [This] video shows how President Trump’s deployment ignited chaos.
Coronavirus, Documentary, Federal Government, ICE, Negligence, Public Health
How ICE Helped Spread the Coronavirus
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Embedded above is a video documentary to accompany the reporting of Emily Kassie and Barbara Marcolini on How ICE Exported the Coronavirus (linked at FREE WHITEWATER earlier today.)
Courts, Federal Government, Law, Laws/Regulations
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on DACA in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program allows certain persons who arrived in the United States as children to apply for a forbearance of removal. Today, a five-person majority of the nation’s high court ruled in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California that the Trump Administration violated the Administrative…
Business, Federal Government, Government Spending
Trump Admin Conceals Recipients of Hundreds of Billions in Public Business Loans
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Babbittry, City, Corruption, Federal Government, Law, Local Government, Official Misconduct, Open Government, Police, Politics, State Government
Cameras, Not Committees
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Recent protests across America against excessive and biased use of police force began after ordinary people in those communities recorded official (to the point of murderous) actions, and then shared their recordings with others. It was not government – local, state, or federal – that promptly shared these recordings of excessive force; it was ordinary…
Authoritarianism, Federal Government, Freedom of Speech, Police, Trump, Unfit, Violence, William Barr
Detailed Video Timeline of the Crackdown on Protesters Before Trump’s Photo Op
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Washington Post analyzed hours of video footage and obtained audio of police communications and other records to assemble the most complete account to date of the June 1 crackdown on protesters in Washington D.C.. Late in the day on June 1, demonstrators gathered near the White House, on the edge of Lafayette Square, to…
Federal Government, Science/Nature, William Barr
Attorney General William Barr Fails Chemistry (and Trial Advocacy)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
On CBS’s Face the Nation, United States Attorney General William Barr offered his scientific assessment of the use of pepper spray, by contending that “pepper spray is not a chemical irritant…it’s not a chemical.” (See transcript, Face the Nation, 6.7.20). As science — This is false – and wackily ignorant: of course pepper spray is…
Coronavirus, Courts, Federal Government, Law, Local Government, Public Health, State Government, Trump
Practical Implications After Wisconsin v. Palm: The Divide over the Novel Coronavirus
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
On March 24th, I first began a draft of this post. It seemed to probable then – and it is true now – that Trump would effectually abandon a social distancing or stay-at-home approach, and encourage business as usual to resume promptly. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling in Wisconsin v. Palm has brought that abandonment to Wisconsin…