President Trump nominated a permanent U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia on Monday, naming current U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Justin Herdman to the position.
Continue reading “Trump Nominates Cleveland US Attorney To DC Post, Overseeing Flynn Case”
A Mother’s Day church service held in violation of California’s coronavirus public health orders resulted in the exposure of over 180 people to the virus.
If you’re trying to make sense of the ‘re-opening’ debate, here’s one resource that is worth looking at: Google’s COVID-19 Mobility Reports. This is just a slice of the oceans of data Google has at its corporate fingertips. Mainly it’s from geo-tracking data tied to your cellphones. In another conversation we can discuss the pros and cons of Google having access to this data and access to it as its own property. For now, it’s a valuable and fascinating resource for government officials and public health planners because it uses anonymized cellphone tracking data to produce very reliable and granular data on social and economic activity. As I said, Google has always had this and related data and it’s one of their core business assets. But they’ve made an edition of it available for the COVID19 Crisis.
Continue reading “Looking at the Real Data on Lockdowns and Not-So-Lockdowns”
There are no plans to change the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina from its at least partial in-person format when it formally nominates President Donald Trump, according to Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel.
Continue reading “Music To Trump’s Ears: GOP Chair Says Convention Will Still Be Held In-Person”
This piece is part of our weekly Prime series on voting rights, but it has been moved outside of the paywall while we cover COVID-19.
As most states are proactively trying to expand absentee voting in light of the pandemic, Texas is pushing for the opposite, by aggressively fighting efforts by local officials and voter advocates to make absentee voting easier. The state’s Republican officials secured a preliminary victory in the fight. Democrats and voting rights groups had gone to court to make fear of contracting the virus a valid excuse for voting absentee, as some local officials indicated they would treat the fear as such. The groups had some success in lower state courts, and also have a related federal lawsuit pending, but the state Supreme Court on Friday said it was putting the lower state court rulings on hold while it considers the case on its merit. Friday’s ruling was a victory for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is arguing that only those who show signs of having contracted the virus qualify for the state’s exemptions to vote absentee.
Continue reading “Texas Supreme Court Sides With AG To Pause COVID-19 Absentee Voting Push”
A proposal was filed Monday outlining potential next steps in cleaning up the mess in the Michael Flynn case.
Continue reading “Buckle Up For The Next Phase Of The Flynn Case”
But it probably won’t.
I wrote last week about my fascination with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s months-long crusade to use the media to pressure the secretary of state to run for Senate in Kansas. McConnell views Mike Pompeo as the ideal candidate: He has enough establishment support to unite the party in the key state that’s about to dive into a messy GOP primary over the open seat, where a top contender is polarizing, even in Republican circles.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: This Should Change The Narrative”
Attorney General Bill Barr upped his bashing of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe on Monday while also taking some wind out of the sails of the so-called “Obamagate” claims that President Trump and his allies are pushing.
Continue reading “Barr Chucks Some Anti-Mueller Red Meat But Distances Himself From ‘Obamagate’”
President Donald Trump axed State Department Inspector General Steve Linick late Friday night, a decision he announced in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D).
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) put forth on Monday a different reason why President Donald Trump may have fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick last week, beyond the watchdog’s investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s alleged misuse of staff.
Continue reading “Foreign Affairs Dem Points To Saudi Arms Sale As Possible Reason For IG’s Ouster”
