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DonViejo's JournalRoughly half of Americans think Christian nationalism is a rising threat to freedom
By Bil Browning · Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Roughly half of registered voters in the United States think “Christian nationalism” is a rising threat to America’s freedom. A poll from Morning Consult shows almost half of respondents think it is “an important or critical threat to the vital interests of the country within the next 10 years.”
They defined Christian nationalism as “the belief that the country is or should be a Christian nation that can often include social and political campaigns supposedly aimed at maintaining or reverting back to that status.”
These would include laws targeting LGBTQ rights and “religious freedom” laws intended to give Christians a license to discriminate against women, LGBTQ people, racial minorities, and other religions.
The ideology uses “efforts to restrict the space for religious pluralism in the country and give special privileges to a narrow segment of white Christians in America,” according to Rachel Laser, president of the nonpartisan Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
“There is a strong movement to preserve white Christian power in America right now, and a real feeling of fragility about the changing demographics of America,” she said.
more
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/04/roughly-half-americans-think-christian-nationalism-rising-threat-freedom/
Trump backs off threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border
Source: Politico
By CAITLIN OPRYSKO 04/04/2019 12:49 PM EDT
President Donald Trump eased off his threat to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border, instead giving Mexico a “one-year warning” and threatening to first impose auto tariffs before closing the border.
“The only thing frankly better, but less drastic than closing the border, is to tariff the cars coming in,” he told reporters at the White House on Thursday. "We're going to give them a one-year warning and if the drugs don't stop or largely stop, we'll put tariffs on Mexico and products, in particular cars.”
Trump’s shift comes days after he said he would close the border as soon as this week if Mexican leaders were unable to stem the flow of migrants crossing into the U.S.
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Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/04/trump-backs-off-threat-to-close-the-southern-border-1255926
Trump backs off threat to close southern border immediately, says he’ll give Mexico ‘one-year warning’ on drugs, migrants
By Felicia Sonmez April 4 at 1:11 PM
President Trump on Thursday backed down from his threat to close the southern border immediately, telling reporters at the White House that he is giving Mexico a “one-year warning” before taking action.
Trump had said he would close the border or at least large sections of it, this week if Mexico does not halt illegal immigration into the United States.
But in Thursday’s exchange with reporters, Trump shifted gears, saying that if Mexico does not make progress on stemming the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States within the next year, he will impose tariffs on cars and close the border.
“We’re going to give them a one-year warning, and if the drugs don’t stop or largely stop, we’re going to put tariffs on Mexico and products, particularly cars .?.?. And if that doesn’t stop the drugs, we close the border,” Trump said.
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-backs-off-threat-to-close-southern-border-immediately-says-hell-give-mexico-one-year-warning-on-drugs-migrants/2019/04/04/5fd35dfa-56f6-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html
Chuck Grassley Says He Supports 'Release of the Mueller Report'
Source: Mediaite
by Caleb Ecarma | Apr 4th, 2019, 11:29 am
As Republicans and Democrats fight over the release of special counsel Robert Mueller‘s full report, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) tweeted his support for making the two-year investigation public.
https://twitter.com/ChuckGrassley/status/1113806805715574784
In a recent letter to Congress, Attorney General William Barr stated the full report will be released by the middle of this month or “sooner.”
“Everyone will soon be able to read it on their own,” Barr added.
Some Democrats have criticized Barr’s decision to release a summary of the report, which noted that Mueller found insufficient proof of criminal conspiracy between Trump and Russia.
Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/online/chuck-grassley-says-he-supports-release-of-the-mueller-report/
Trump Blasts NY Times For 'No Legitimate Sources' on Mueller Report Story: 'Fake News Paper'
Source: Mediaite
by Julio Rosas | Apr 4th, 2019, 11:50 am 100
President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday how The New York Times has “no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report.”
He added how they “are a Fake News paper who have already been forced to apologize for their incorrect and very bad reporting on me!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1113819627212169219
The tweet comes after the Times reported on Wednesday some on Robert Mueller’s special counsel think Attorney General William Barr “failed to adequately portray [their] findings,” and that Mueller’s full report is “more troubling for President Trump” than Barr’s summary portrayed.
The Times’ Peter Baker pushed back:
https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt/status/1113823533430452225
Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-blasts-ny-times-for-no-legitimate-sources-on-mueller-report-story-fake-news-paper/
At Northeastern University, Buttigieg has a message for the young: Get involved
At NU, Buttigieg has a message for the young: Get involved
By Matt Stout and Martin Finucane GLOBE STAFF APRIL 03, 2019
Pete Buttigieg was fielding questions from a swarm of reporters about charter schools, what it’s like to run as a gay candidate, and Joe Biden’s behavior with women when he finally stumbled through an answer. After a few exchanges with one of his questioners, he gave up, his linguistic abilities exhausted.
“Sorry,” the South Bend, Ind., mayor said to a reporter questioning him in a foreign language. “I’m out of Italian.”
Buttigieg, the 37-year-old polyglot — he is conversational or fluent in seven languages — took his unlikely quest for the Democratic presidential nomination to Northeastern University on Wednesday. Speaking to an audience of more than 1,100, he positioned himself as the voice of a younger generation and urged his youthful audience to get involved.
“The reason they don’t respond to the policy preferences of young people is because they’re not afraid of young people,” he said of other political leaders. “They will be if you fire them.”
more
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2019/04/03/northeastern-buttigieg-says-millennials-want-better-answers-economy/qfEzw4Mr3JxQMQ1dsD3b4H/story.html
Mormon Church to allow baptisms, blessings for children of LGBT parents, reversing 2015 policy
By Sarah Pulliam Bailey April 4 at 11:44 AM
Children of LGBT parents will be allowed to be blessed or baptized, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declared in a new policy on Thursday, reversing a decision made in 2015 to exclude those children from the rituals until they were 18. The church will also update its handbook for leaders, removing the label of “apostasy” for same-sex marriage.
The initial policy, announced in June 2015, was met with fierce criticism across the Mormon Church. Several Mormon leaders weren’t sure how to implement the policy, said Matthew Bowman, a historian of the Mormon Church.
“There have been local leaders who have slow-peddled it, put it on hold, who sought further clarification,” he said. “Because of that, the impact of it has not been what it could have been.”
The policy was announced during the leadership session of the church’s 189th Annual General Conference.
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/04/04/mormon-church-allow-baptisms-blessings-children-lgbt-parents-reversing-policy/
House rebukes Trump with vote ending U.S. support for Yemen war
Source: Politico
By ANDREW DESIDERIO 04/04/2019 11:45 AM EDT
The House approved a measure to cut off U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s bloody civil war, in a harsh rebuke of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.
Trump is expected to veto the measure, which passed with bipartisan support in the Senate and marks the first time in history that a War Powers resolution will reach the president’s desk.
The effort was a top priority for House Democrats after they took control in January amid a worsening humanitarian crisis on the ground in Yemen.
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Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/04/house-rebukes-trump-with-vote-ending-us-support-for-yemen-war-1255866
Filling in the gaps between Mueller and Barr
April 4, 2019, 8:47 AM EDT
By Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann
WASHINGTON — There appear to be gaps in the Mueller report — or, more accurately, Attorney General William Barr’s summary of it,
The New York Times and the Washington Post essentially say that Barr was spinning/finessing/covering up Mueller’s findings.
“Some of Robert S. Mueller III’s investigators have told associates that Attorney General William P. Barr failed to adequately portray the findings of their inquiry and that they were more troubling for President Trump than Mr. Barr indicated,” per the Times.
“[M]embers of Mueller’s team have complained to close associates that the evidence they gathered on obstruction was alarming and significant,” the Post adds. “‘It was much more acute than Barr suggested,’ said one person, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity.”
More from the Post: “Some members of the office were particularly disappointed that Barr did not release summary information the special counsel team had prepared, according to two people familiar with their reactions… Summaries were prepared for different sections of the report, with a view that they could made public, the official said.”
more
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/filling-gaps-between-mueller-barr-n990871?cid=public-rss_20190404
Eric Swalwell Is Running for President on Gun Safety
The California congressman is partnering with a Parkland student and says he isn’t afraid of the NRA.
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE
7:27 AM ET
There are more long-shot Democrats running for president this year than there have been total candidates in previous campaigns—and next week, Eric Swalwell is joining the pack. The California congressman and frequent cable-news guest on all things related to President Donald Trump and Russia will announce his presidential plans in an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. But he won’t be running on Russia, or on the continuing fallout from the Mueller report and the Barr letter. Swalwell will center his campaign on gun control.
Helping him do that will be Cameron Kasky, a survivor of the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who became prominent in the March for Our Lives student movement. Swalwell has written about being inspired by the youth movement in his call to ban all assault weapons, and Kasky was his guest at the State of the Union address in February. Together, they’re organizing a town hall that Swalwell will host in Coral Springs, Florida, on Monday. Swalwell announced the town hall on Wednesday afternoon, but made no mention in the public announcement of his political plans.
When I reached out to Swalwell on Wednesday evening, he wouldn’t confirm the news, but he didn’t leave much doubt that he intends to run for president. “We are doing a town hall in Parkland,” he told me. “And I do believe that gun safety has to be a top 2020 issue.”
Swalwell, a fourth-term congressman from Northern California who’s been involved in politics since he won a city-council seat as a college senior at the University of Maryland, is 38 years old. He has been building up to a run for months, with his staff stepping up outreach to donors in recent weeks. But the gun-control focus has developed quietly. Last week, he invited Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Gun Safety, to join him at an annual event with veterans at a shooting range. He tweeted a photo of himself firing at a target and one posing with Watts on the range, but made no mention of his political plans.
more
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/eric-swalwell-says-gun-safety-must-be-top-2020-issue/586483/
ICE conducts largest workplace raid in a decade at Texas business
Source: The Hill
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 04/04/19 08:53 AM EDT
Nearly 300 people were arrested Wednesday in what officials say is the largest workplace immigration raid in a decade.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) authorities arrested over 280 people at CVE Technology Group Inc. and four affiliated companies in Allen, Texas.
In a release, ICE said that the employees were “arrested on administrative immigration violations” for allegedly working illegally at the telecommunications repair company.
The arrests were part of an ongoing investigation into the New Jersey-based company’s alleged hiring of undocumented immigrants, many of whom ICE says were using fraudulent identification documents.
Read more: https://thehill.com/latino/437318-ice-conducts-larges-workplace-raid-in-a-decade-at-texas-business
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