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MORNING MESSAGE
What They Want to Hide Tells You Who They Are
Trump's Treasury Department wants to take us back in time to before the housing crisis. They want to make it easier for lenders to make fraudulent home loans, foreclose, and then hide the evidence.
Show of Unity
Baseball shooting changes mood on Capitol Hill. CNN:“Five people were shot Wednesday morning, including Majority Whip Steve Scalise, shattering a sense of security on Capitol Hill. But members’ response to the shooting came down to one goal: unity. In a Capitol building that is typically full of partisan rancor, the mood was somber and quiet Wednesday. Votes were canceled in the House of Representatives as members waited anxiously to get more news on Scalise’s condition. The Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer’s staff delivered pizza to Scalise’s office in the late afternoon.”
GOP-led hearing on deregulation of gun silencers cancelled after shooting. ThinkProgress:“After the shooting at a Congressional baseball practice Wednesday morning, the House cancelled a scheduled hearing in which a National Rifle Association leader was to push for the deregulation of gun silencers… the gun lobby claims that these regulations are costly and unnecessary. They argue it’s more important to protect law-abiding gun owners against potential hearing loss.”
Trump Inquiry Expands
Special counsel may be investigating Trump for obstruction of justice. WaPo:“The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice… Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates, officials said.”
Office of Government Ethics rejects Steve Bannon’s undated, unsigned, retroactive ethics waiver. DailyKOS:“In May, four Democratic senators wrote a letter to the Office of Government Ethics probing the Trump administration’s supposed “retroactive” waiver exempting Steve Bannon, poster child for White House dysfunction, from certain federal ethics rules… does Mr. Bannon have such a waiver? No. No, he does not. Because the “waiver” the White House presented to nullify ethics claims wasn’t even signed.”
Judge Orders New DAPL Review
Federal judge orders more environmental analysis of Dakota pipeline. Reuters:“A federal judge ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider its environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Wednesday, opening up the possibility that the line could be shut at a later date. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington said the Army Corps did not adequately consider the effects of a possible oil spill on the fishing and hunting rights of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.”
Trump’s Judicial Nominees
Trump judicial nominees defend conspiracy-filled blog posts. NPR:“At Wednesday’s hearing, the two nominees found themselves trying to explain hundreds of their own blog posts, posts they admitted were “intemperate” and “political.” The posts included material ranging from radical rants, to conspiracy theories and false allegations.”
SBC Watershed on Race
Southern Baptists vote to condemn white supremacy. WaPo:“Members of the Southern Baptist Convention voted Wednesday to condemn a white nationalist movement, but only after fierce backlash following their decision a day earlier not to move forward with a similar resolution. The decision was met with a standing ovation as about 5,000 members of the denomination voted at their annual convention to affirm their opposition to the alt-right movement, which seeks a whites-only state.”
What SBC condemnation of alt-right says about evangelicals in America. VOX:“From the outside, this might seem like a stunning about-face for the SBC. After all, white evangelicals famously voted four to one to put Donald Trump in the White House. But the tensions in play during the SBC annual meeting this week — tensions that transcend the fact of the resolution itself — tell a far more complicated story about age, race, and the changing face of religious leadership in evangelical America.”
Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People's Action.more »
