Während man weiter über "collusion" und "obstruction" spinnt, wird die Meinungsfreiheit scheibchenweise von den Internetkonzernen im Silicon-Valley abgeschafft...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9BiTV9vvZ4

Hans, wann wirst du hate speech nach dem "I want them shut down"-Prinzip endlich bannen?
Ach nee, geht nicht, dann dürfen nur noch Willie, Nadine und Marlies hier schreiben. :-)

William Barr Is Orchestrating a Slow-Rolling Coup Against the Constitutional Order
Jerry Nadler threw down the gauntlet after the attorney general flouted congressional subpoenas, but he's dead wrong about what the future might hold
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/...BCiYFdsNpel67Ts

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...ba1&oe=5D6ED0DB

Juan Williams: The reality of the Trump economy

Do you recall this golden promise from Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign?
“We’re going to make America wealthy again,” he promised. “You have to be wealthy in order to be great.”

Well, Trump voters, how is that working out for you?
After almost two-and-a-half years with Trump in the White House — including two years with Republican control of both houses of Congress — the middle class is getting squeezed to a pulp.

The rich got their Trump tax cut. GDP looks good. And the stock market is doing great for people with money to invest. But it is only the rich who get the big rewards in Trump’s economy.

What about the middle class?
Wages remain stagnant. Trump’s trade wars are hurting farmers. Coal mines keep closing. Teachers in several states have been on strike.
Housing prices are up; prescription drug prices and healthcare costs are up; gas prices are up and student debt is soaring.
This is the reality for the middle class. ...
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/...N5m_YChVrus0u1s

Omarosa claims White House destroyed 5 boxes of documents — that should have been turned over to Mueller
President Donald Trump’s White House likely destroyed five boxes of emails, a top former advisor explained on MSNBC.

Omarosa Manigault Newman worked for the White House, transition, campaign and was a contestant on “The Apprentice.”
She was interviewed on MSNBC on Saturday by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
“I think it’s important to realize that very early on in the administration, we got letters directing us to preserve all information related to the Mueller investigation, all investigations, any information, any emails, any correspondence,” she explained. “We had a clear directive to preserve those documents, preserve emails, preserve text messages.”

“So I thought it was very interesting that after my discussion with General Kelly in the Situation Room when I went to take my things, I was instructed that I had to leave seven boxes of documents that came from the campaign, the inauguration, the transition, and they would not allow me to get them,” she continued.
“What’s very curious to me is that, as I stated, it was seven boxes of documents, and in my emails, they only referenced two, which leads me to believe that they’ve destroyed the other five,” Manigault Newman said.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/05/longtim...ver-to-mueller/

RENEWABLES SURPASS COAL IN THE US FOR THE FIRST TIME
April was a momentous month for coal — but not in a way the industry is likely to celebrate.

According to a newly published report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), America generated more electricity from wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal sources than coal-fired plants in April — a U.S. first that could signal a tipping point in the nation’s transition to renewables.

“Five years ago this never would have been close to happening,” Dennis Wamstead, research analyst at IEEFA, told CNN. “The transition that’s going on in the electric sector in the United States has been phenomenal.”
https://futurism.com/the-byte/renewables...v_e6CRkr3WI4pmk

The Decline of Historical Thinking
Having ignored questions of economic inequality for decades, economists and other scholars have recently discovered a panoply of effects that go well beyond the fact that some people have too much money and many don’t have enough. Inequality affects our physical and mental health, our ability to get along with one another and to make our voices heard and our political system accountable, and, of course, the futures that we can offer our children. Lately, I’ve noticed a feature of economic inequality that has not received the attention it deserves. I call it “intellectual inequality.”

I do not refer to the obvious and ineluctable fact that some people are smarter than others but, rather, to the fact that some people have the resources to try to understand our society while most do not. Late last year, Benjamin M. Schmidt, a professor of history at Northeastern University, published a study demonstrating that, for the past decade, history has been declining more rapidly than any other major, even as more and more students attend college. With slightly more than twenty-four thousand current history majors, it accounts for between one and two per cent of bachelor’s degrees, a drop of about a third since 2011. The decline can be found in almost all ethnic and racial groups, and among both men and women. Geographically, it is most pronounced in the Midwest, but it is present virtually everywhere.

There’s a catch, however. It’s boom time for history at Yale, where it is the third most popular major, and at other élite schools, including Brown, Princeton, and Columbia, where it continues to be among the top declared majors. The Yale history department intends to hire more than a half-dozen faculty members this year alone. Meanwhile, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, Bernie L. Patterson, recently proposed that the school’s history major be eliminated, and that at least one member of its tenured faculty be dismissed. ...

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk...f-V2LBMxA3uNknM

Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #6407

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The Decline of Historical Thinking
Having ignored questions of economic inequality for decades, economists and other scholars have recently discovered a panoply of effects that go well beyond the fact that some people have too much money and many don’t have enough. Inequality affects our physical and mental health, our ability to get along with one another and to make our voices heard and our political system accountable, and, of course, the futures that we can offer our children. Lately, I’ve noticed a feature of economic inequality that has not received the attention it deserves. I call it “intellectual inequality.”

I do not refer to the obvious and ineluctable fact that some people are smarter than others but, rather, to the fact that some people have the resources to try to understand our society while most do not. Late last year, Benjamin M. Schmidt, a professor of history at Northeastern University, published a study demonstrating that, for the past decade, history has been declining more rapidly than any other major, even as more and more students attend college. With slightly more than twenty-four thousand current history majors, it accounts for between one and two per cent of bachelor’s degrees, a drop of about a third since 2011. The decline can be found in almost all ethnic and racial groups, and among both men and women. Geographically, it is most pronounced in the Midwest, but it is present virtually everywhere.

There’s a catch, however. It’s boom time for history at Yale, where it is the third most popular major, and at other élite schools, including Brown, Princeton, and Columbia, where it continues to be among the top declared majors. The Yale history department intends to hire more than a half-dozen faculty members this year alone. Meanwhile, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, Bernie L. Patterson, recently proposed that the school’s history major be eliminated, and that at least one member of its tenured faculty be dismissed. ...

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk...f-V2LBMxA3uNknM

---

Trump says tariffs on China will be increased to 25% as trade talks stall
President Trump tweeted on Sunday that tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods will be raised from 10% to 25% on Friday, as trade talks between the U.S. and China progress "too slowly."

"For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods. These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday. 325 Billions Dollars of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25%. The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!"

Reality check: Trump has repeatedly claimed that tariffs have caused China to pay billions of dollars to the U.S. treasury. This is incorrect. The tariffs are paid by U.S. importers of affected Chinese goods, not by China's government or by Chinese companies. Importers then either raise costs on consumers, lower their own profit margins or both. (Trumski doesn't have a clue of what is talking about there.)

Driving the news: Chinese Vice Premier Liu He — along with a 100+ person delegation — will be in Washington on Wednesday, per the Washington Post, for another round of trade talks. Sources have told CNBC that a trade deal could possibly come as soon as Friday, a day after the latest numbers on the U.S. trade deficit are released, though Trump's latest tweets suggest otherwise.
https://www.axios.com/trump-china-tariff...aeb5921c2c.html

Beim Import nach DE zahlt China oftmals gar keine Zollgebühren, weil man dazu neigt, über Drittländer EU zu liefern, deren Zoll gefügiger ist. Frankreich. Belgien. Estland.

Fake news website created to test Donald Trump supporters' gullibility - Reveals they will believe anything
James McDaniel's website claimed Barack Obama was plotting a coup from a secret bunker and Hillary Clinton was a child-sacrificing maniac. The site got more than one million views within two weeks, and hundreds of thousands of likes and shares.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...VXXLi7YJTAYOwX4

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods. These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday. 325 Billions Dollars....
9:08 AM - 5 May 2019

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
....of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25%. The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!
9:08 AM - 5 May 2019

Das vom "Praesidenten" der USA. Das muss sich einer mal vorstellen.

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
The United States has been losing, for many years, 600 to 800 Billion Dollars a year on Trade.
With China we lose 500 Billion Dollars. Sorry, we’re not going to be doing that anymore!
4:08 AM - 6 May 2019

Frances Hudson@Franymag
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
Under your trade war strategy, our trade deficit was higher last year than before.
I don’t think that is being successful. 🤦‍♀️🤥🤥
5:46 AM - 6 May 2019

375 former prosecutors say Trump would be indicted if he weren't president
375 former federal prosecutors have signed onto a statement asserting that if the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) did not prohibit a sitting president from being indicted, President Trump would be charged with obstruction of justice.

Why it matters: Special counsel Robert Mueller laid out extensive evidence of possible obstruction by Trump in volume 2 of his report, though he ultimately opted not to make a "traditional prosecutorial judgment" in part because of the OLC opinion.

The statement is signed by more than 20 former U.S. Attorneys and more than 100 career Justice Department officials who worked in every administration dating back to President Eisenhower. It cites a number of episodes Mueller detailed in his report as "acts that satisfy all of the elements for an obstruction charge" — meaning obstructive conduct and "corrupt intent." Specifically, the prosecutors point to:

"The President's efforts to fire Mueller and to falsify evidence about that effort;
The President's efforts to limit the scope of Mueller’s investigation to exclude his conduct; and
The President’s efforts to prevent witnesses from cooperating with investigators probing him and his campaign."
https://www.axios.com/trump-obstruction-...j2UU3ou73wimsr4

Another Chinese American Trump Donor Tried to Sell Mar-a-Lago Access to Overseas Clients
Businessman Daniel Lou raised money for Trump—and the GOP won’t let him talk about it.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/201...erseas-clients/

Laurence Tribe@tribelaw
Whether this unprecedented prosecutorial consensus will register on the seismograph of public opinion is impossible to predict.
But it clearly should. This is volcanic. It’s HUGE.
Only 45’s office shields him from likely felony conviction and imprisonment
11:26 AM - 6 May 2019


Tea Pain@TeaPainUSA
The office of President is the only thing protectin’ the Criminal-in-Chief from arrest and prison.
We must remove him from office and prosecute him aggressively so that no one is above the law.
11:53 AM - 6 May 2019

Michael Cohen hat heute seine Gefaengnisstrafe angetreten.

Ob Trumski wohl seinen Rechtsanwalt und Co-conspirator -oder irgendeinen anderen seiner kriminellen Unterlinge mal im Knast besuchen wird? Hm.

Trump's approval rating hits all-time high in Gallup poll

President Trump’s approval rating reached new heights in the second half of April, according to the Gallup poll, as nearly half of voters gave him positive marks.

Trump’s approval rating ticked up to 46 percent, up slightly from 45 percent in the first part of April and the highest mark to date for Trump in the Gallup poll.

Zitat von nahal im Beitrag #6418

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Trump's approval rating hits all-time high in Gallup poll

President Trump’s approval rating reached new heights in the second half of April, according to the Gallup poll, as nearly half of voters gave him positive marks.

Trump’s approval rating ticked up to 46 percent, up slightly from 45 percent in the first part of April and the highest mark to date for Trump in the Gallup poll.

---

Das auch noch!

https://twitter.com/senschumer/status/1125143336837206016

Dow Chemicals donates $1 million to Trump, asks Administration to ignore Pestcide Study
The fact that C.E.O. Andrew Liveris is a close adviser to Donald Trump can’t hurt.

Chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion are a group of pesticides that are a big money-maker for Dow Chemical, with the company selling approximately 5 million pounds of chlorpyrifos in the U.S. each year, according to the Associated Press. Dow Chemical, however, has a small problem on its hands, and it’s not the fact that the pesticide was “originally derived from a nerve gas developed by Nazi Germany,” per the AP, though that’s certainly not great for marketing materials. In this case, it’s the fact that studies by federal scientists have found that chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion are harmful to almost 1,800 “critically threatened or endangered species.” Historically, groups like the Environmental Protection Agency would want to avoid killing frogs, fish, birds, mammals, and plants, which is why the regulator and two others that it works with to enforce the Endangered Species Act are reportedly “close to issuing findings expected to result in new limits on how and where the highly toxic pesticides can be used,” the AP reports.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/04/...wc_glewzDWsQwPU

Over 400 former prosecutors say Trump would be indicted if he weren't president
More than 400 former federal prosecutors have signed onto a statement asserting that if the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) did not prohibit a sitting president from being indicted, President Trump would be charged with obstruction of justice.
https://www.axios.com/trump-obstruction-...43224f55e2.html

The numbers keep climbing.

With Their Reaction to Bill Barr’s Deception, ‘Conservative’ Media Has Fallen From State-Run to Lobotomized
Here is a super-short history of the evolution of the relationship between the most respectable elements of the so-called conservative media and Donald Trump: Amusement, Ratings-whoring, Hand-wringing, Capitulation, Rationalization, Acceptance, Fake Enthusiasm, Obedience, and Protection. At least until very recently, very few people in this group (to be clear, it does not include the Sean Hannitys of the world) really truly believed what they were saying, and instead were mostly just acting because they knew that if they didn’t, Trump’s “Cult 45” audience would abandon them.

That premise has now seemed to shift with their near universal justification of the egregious actions of Attorney General Bill Barr in regard to the Mueller report. Barr, who has acted exactly as if he thinks his job is that of a PR hack paid personally by President Trump, has been nearly immune from criticism from the vast majority of the conservative media industrial complex, with the few exceptions proving the rule.

The really scary part of this most recent act of enabling the type of corruption that would have caused a conservative earthquake if ever even contemplated by Democratic president, is that it genuinely seems like most of these “conservative” hypocrites have become so brain-washed that they appear to sincerely believe what they currently selling. Because the case against Barr is so clear-cut, and this isn’t 100% about Trump himself, this issue really is a telling litmus test for who has forever lost all credibility as a conservative.

In my view, the facts are clear that Barr purposely misled the American people, likely committed perjury, and used the power of his office to actively diffuse for his boss the devastating results of one of the most significant investigations in our nation’s history. That kind of disgraceful and dangerous behavior used to matter to conservatives in the media, but there is very little evidence that is still the case.

The opinion hosts at Fox News have been nearly universal in their acceptance and defense of Barr’s behavior. When two Fox personalities, anchor Chris Wallace and analyst Andrew Napolitano dared to commit blasphemy by holding Barr to the same standard that they would if he was blocking a Democratic president from a scandal, they were immediately attacked like Mitt Romney was when he simply admitted the reality that the Mueller report makes Trump look truly bad.

Wallace stirred the extreme ire of Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, and Mark Levin, all of whom would have surely been beyond outraged at Barr if he was of a different political tribe. While, in an act so egregiously wrong that it would cause any other president to be forced, by his own party, to apologize for it, Trump himself retweeted a call for Napolitano to be taken off the air entirely.

Most hilariously, Fox News even brought out Ken Starr, the man who zealously and openly pursued Bill Clinton’s impeachment, who claims to be an admirer of Robert Mueller, to — get this — rip Mueller for having the gall to write a letter telling Barr that he had mischaracterized his report; a report that was far more legally generous to Trump than Starr’s was to Clinton. Starr’s inevitable whoring of himself out to discredit Mueller on behalf of the Fox News audience from which he now craves approval is exactly why I confronted him during an event at the Ronald Reagan Library last fall.

But it hasn’t just been Fox News that has been helping Barr get away with all of this. Even conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro, Rich Lowry, and David French, who are normally still at least somewhat principled, thoughtful and, to varying degrees, less sycophantic to Trump than the average conservative media sellout, have all rationalized that the Barr scandal is really much ado about very little. ...
https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/with-th...to-lobotomized/

Mnuchin willing to risk prison time because he is ‘compromised’ by Trump: Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter
Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston said Monday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin could be putting himself in legal jeopardy by blocking access to President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

In a recent interview with The Nation, Johnston explained that Congress can obtain anyone’s tax return at any time under a 1924 anti-corruption law. ...

And both Mnuchin and Charles Reddig, the IRS commissioner — who is the person with the technical legal authority who is supposed to turn it over — run some risk here. If they are ultimately prosecuted, which certainly wouldn’t happen during this administration, they’re at risk of five years in prison and, of course, being labeled felons which would seriously interfere with Mnuchin’s going back to Wall Street and Reddig continuing to practice law as a tax avoidance lawyer.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/05/mnuchin...nning-reporter/

Trump pardons former US soldier who killed Iraqi prisoner
President Donald Trump has pardoned a former U.S. soldier convicted in 2009 of killing an Iraqi prisoner, the White House announced Monday.

Trump signed an executive grant of clemency, a full pardon, for former Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna, of Oklahoma, press secretary Sarah Sanders said.

Behenna was convicted of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone after killing a suspected al-Qaida terrorist in Iraq. He was paroled in 2014 and had been scheduled to remain on parole until 2024.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStor...isoner-62864825