Biden picks Sen. Kamala Harris as running mate
The pick fulfills the Democratic presidential contender’s promise to select a woman as his running mate, and puts to rest the sometimes bristly rivalry the pair shared during the early phase of the Democratic primary.
WASHINGTON - Joe Biden has finally announced his selection for his 2020 election running mate – Kamala Harris.
The pick fulfills the Democratic presidential contender’s promise to select a woman as his running mate, and puts to rest the sometimes bristly rivalry the pair shared during the early phase of the Democratic primary.
The rivalry provided one of the nomination race’s most memorable moments when Harris sharply criticized Biden for his record on racial justice, calling his positive description of a past working relationship with segregationist statesmen as “hurtful.”
Harris has since dialed back the attack, reportedly telling a colleague that the exchange was “just politics.”
Harris dropped out of the race for president in December 2019 and endorsed Biden in March 2020.
RELATED: Arizona, long considered a GOP stronghold, could be swing state in 2020 presidential election, experts say
Harris, who is also Indian American, joins Biden in the 2020 race at a moment of unprecedented national crisis. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people in the U.S., far more than the toll experienced in other countries. Business closures and disruptions resulting from the pandemic have caused an economic collapse. Unrest, meanwhile, has emerged across the country as Americans protest racism and police brutality.
She is the Democrats’ first female running mate since Walter Mondale selected Geraldine Ferraro in the 1984 presidential election. The last time a woman was picked as a vice-presidential candidate was 2008 when Republican John McCain tapped Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Should Biden win the 2020 election, Harris would be the first woman to serve as vice president.
Biden taps Kamala Harris as his running mate
The former vice president made his announcement on Aug. 11.
Harris beat out a short list that reportedly included Stacey Abrams, Tammy Baldwin, Karen Bass, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Val Demings, Tammy Duckworth, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Susan Rice, Elizabeth Warren and Gretchen Whitmer.
With the country still in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, Biden holds a significant lead over President Donald Trump in most major polls, including an eight-point lead in the most recent FOX News poll.
RELATED: Why choice of running mate matters more than usual this year
Biden also leads in battleground states like Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
Harris, an Oakland native who graduated from Howard University and received her law degree from the University of California, cut her teeth in politics as California’s attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2016.
Harris’ record as California attorney general and district attorney in San Francisco was heavily scrutinized during the Democratic primary and turned off some liberals and younger Black voters who saw her as out of step on issues of systemic racism in the legal system and police brutality. She tried to strike a balance on these issues, declaring herself a “progressive prosecutor” who backs law enforcement reforms.
As her national profile grew, Harris built a reputation around her work as a prosecutor. After being elected to the Senate in 2016, she quickly gained attention for her assertive questioning of Trump administration officials during congressional hearings. In one memorable moment last year, Harris tripped up Attorney General William Barr when she repeatedly pressed him on whether Trump or other White House officials pressured him to investigate certain people.
Harris has taken a tougher stand on policing since the killing of George Floyd. She co-sponsored legislation in June that would ban police from using chokeholds and no-knock warrants, set a national use-of-force standard and create a national police misconduct registry, among other things. It would also reform the qualified immunity system that shields officers from liability.
“We made progress, but clearly we are not at the place yet as a country where we need to be and California is no exception,” she told The Associated Press recently. But the national focus on racial injustice now shows “there’s no reason that we have to continue to wait.”
Then, since only their selectively chosen audience received the accidentally released presser on the investment, stock prices soared from $2.00 a share to $60.00 a share, overnight.
But, during the maximum price peak, some of the top executives and their in-laws, in the midst of the stock price climax, ejaculates its shares either by sale or tax write off to a local synagogue.
Then, word got out and the stock price dropped back to $9.00 a share and now there is an FEC investigation.
The US DFC tweeted that ‘recent allegations of wrongdoing raise serious concerns’
An agreement between the US government and Kodak to develop generic drug ingredients appears to be on hold, after the US International Development Finance Corporation tweeted that “recent allegations of wrongdoing raise serious concerns.”
“We will not proceed any further unless these allegations are cleared,” the agency tweeted, without specifying what the allegations were.
On July 28, we signed a Letter of Interest with Eastman Kodak. Recent allegations of wrongdoing raise serious concerns. We will not proceed any further unless these allegations are cleared.
Kodak said Friday it was conducting an internal review of recent activity by the company in connection with a $765 million loan it would receive under the Defense Production Act to produce pharmaceuticals. The company’s stock price surged in the days before the deal was announced, CBS News reported, leading Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether there were any instances of insider trading.
Kodak, best known for its camera and film equipment, said it planned to create a new business arm called Kodak Pharmaceuticals to make ingredients that have “lapsed into chronic national shortage.” Kodak CEO Jim Continenza told The Wall Street Journal that he expected pharmaceuticals to become 30 to 40 percent of the company’s business. The company’s plans included production of ingredients for drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, according to The Wall Street Journal. President Trump has touted hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for COVID-19, despite evidence that the anti-malaria drug has been ineffective against the virus.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chair of the House Financial Services Committee and other Democrats sent a letter to DFC head Adam Boehler August 4th asking why the agency was supporting a loan for Kodak, “an organization that was on the brink of failure in 2012 and was unsuccessful in its previous foray into pharmaceutical manufacturing, in its efforts to develop the capacity to produce up to 25 percent of domestic pharmaceutical components.” The committee is asking to see all communications concerning the loan.
Steve Bing, a Hollywood lifer and father of actress Elizabeth Hurley’s child, has reportedly died.
TMZ is reporting that Bing, whose other notable efforts in the industry include a writing credit on “Kangaroo Jack” and a role as an investor in the Tom Hanks film “The Polar Express,” is dead after a jump Monday from the 27th floor in his Century City, LA, neighborhood. They claim sources close to Bing said he was depressed about being isolated in quarantine.
Bing, 55, dropped out of Stanford his junior year after receiving a $600 million inheritance from his grandfather, a real estate developer. He had a hand in writing Chuck Norris’ “Missing in Action” franchise in the 1980s, and moved into producing in the early 2000s with the Sylvester Stallone remake “Get Carter.”
Bing initially denied that he was the parent of Hurley’s son Damian Charles, born in 2002, claiming that the pair’s 2001 relationship was brief and non-exclusive. A DNA test eventually established him as the child’s father.
In 2012, Bing joined with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet for a “Giving Pledge” aimed at donating to give away the majority of his wealth over his lifetime. TMZ reports that Bing donated to multiple progressive causes.
"When the money comes into the cities, the feds will activate a facility that will quickly leverage the money for the cities through corporate bonds to unlock primary and secondary bond markets so they do not crash, and the people will all cherish the Public Private Partnerships we own, which own the bond markets, so they do not collapse and everyone goes homeless, like the black and brown people, so they can borrow."
The Federal Reserve and the Treasury are going to "adapt" and "provide flexibility to the states".
I shall assume that flexibility has to do something with the next round of massive foreclosures, and, as such, another round of stealin' the children, land & vote, because it worked for TARP.
FUN FACT! MANY MUNICIPALITIES USED FAKE MORTGAGE & TAX FORECLOSED PROPERTIES AS LEVERAGE IN MUNICIPAL BONDS FOR PENSIONS IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS LIKE STRIP MALLS LIKE DETROIT
The government could never be transparent about TARP being spent because the Detroit Land Bank Authority never incorporated, which means they did not have a bank account, or a tax return, or contracts, which is how they operated behind closed doors.
Will these new facilities be vetted on their state instruments of authority to engage in commerce by ensuring they are incorporated before or after they get the money?
Select Committee on Cornovirus Oversight has been proposed.
The timing is spectacular considering that Elizabeth Warren made headlines, but not for her seat on the Select Committee on TARP Oversight.
Her Flatulent Boviness, Sheila Jackson Lee has that crown, now.
More money for stealin' the children, land & votes because these re-election campaigns do not pay themselves.
What you are hearing is the transposable model, federally funded, for TARP 4.0 & 5.0, reparations, but, before the finale, the masked marauders will pitch the "save the children" - Child Welfare needs more money, for those Targeted Populations that can catch meningitis, you know.
A quorum in the House of Representatives is when a majority of the Members are present. When there are no vacancies in the membership, a quorum is 218. When one or more seats are vacant, because of deaths or resignations, the quorum is reduced accordingly. Because of Members' other duties, a quorum often is not present on the House floor. But any Member may insist that a quorum must participate in any vote that takes place in the House. If a Member makes a point of order that a quorum is not present, and the Speaker agrees, a series of bells ring on the House side of the Capitol and in the House office buildings to alert Members to come to the Chamber and record their presence.
If a quorum of 218 Members of the House is necessary to vote which is ≩ 122 Members of the House who did vote; and, 307 Members did not check in with the Clerk of the House to vote which is ≩ 122 Members of the House who did check in with the Clerk of the House to vote; then, when is the lawsuit going to be filed on Voting Rights violations?
Mr. McGovern submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules
RESOLUTION
Establishing a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis as a select investigative subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Resolved, That there is hereby established a select investigative subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Reform called the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis (hereinafter referred to as the “select subcommittee”).
Sec. 2. (a) The select subcommittee shall be composed of not more than 12 Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner appointed by the Speaker, of whom not more than 5 shall be appointed on the recommendation of the minority leader. The Speaker shall designate one member of the select subcommittee as its chair. Any vacancy in the select subcommittee shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment.
(b) Each member appointed to the select subcommittee shall be treated as though a member of the Committee on Oversight and Reform for purposes of the select subcommittee.
Sec. 3. (a) The select subcommittee is authorized and directed to conduct a full and complete investigation and study and issue a final report to the House of its findings (and such interim reports as it may deem necessary) regarding—
(1) the efficiency, effectiveness, equity, and transparency of the use of taxpayer funds and relief programs to address the coronavirus crisis, including through Federal agencies, State and local government entities, financial institutions and other private businesses, contracts, grants, loans, loan guarantees, investments, cooperative agreements, or any other means;
(2) reports of waste, fraud, abuse, price gouging, profiteering, or other abusive practices related to the coronavirus crisis;
(3) the implementation or effectiveness of any Federal law applied, enacted, or under consideration to address the coronavirus crisis and prepare for future pandemics;
(4) preparedness for and response to the coronavirus crisis, including the planning for and implementation of testing, containment, mitigation, and surveillance activities; the acquisition, distribution, or stockpiling of protective equipment and medical supplies; and the development of vaccines and treatments;
(5) the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis on individuals, communities, small businesses, health care providers, States, and local government entities;
(6) any disparate impacts of the coronavirus crisis on different communities and populations, including with respect to race, ethnicity, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and geographic region, and any measures taken to address such disparate impacts;
(7) executive branch policies, deliberations, decisions, activities, and internal and external communications related to the coronavirus crisis;
(8) the protection of whistleblowers who provide information about waste, fraud, abuse, or other improper activities related to the coronavirus crisis;
(9) cooperation by the executive branch and others with Congress, the Inspectors General, the Government Accountability Office, and others in connection with oversight of the preparedness for and response to the coronavirus crisis; and
(10) any other issues related to the coronavirus crisis.
(b) The select subcommittee may report to the House or any committee of the House from time to time the results of its investigations and studies, together with such detailed findings and legislative recommendations as it may deem advisable.
(c) The select subcommittee may not hold a markup of legislation.
Sec. 4. (a) Rule XI and the rules of the Committee on Oversight and Reform shall apply to the select subcommittee in the same manner as a subcommittee except as follows:
(1) The chair of the select subcommittee may authorize and issue subpoenas pursuant to clause 2(m) of rule XI and rule 12(g) of the rules of the Committee on Oversight and Reform in the investigation and study conducted pursuant to section 3, including for the purpose of taking depositions.
(2) The chair of the select subcommittee is authorized to compel by subpoena the furnishing of information by interrogatory.
(3) Subpoenas so authorized may be signed by the chair of the select subcommittee or a designee.
(4) The chair of the select subcommittee may order the taking of depositions, under oath and pursuant to notice or subpoena, by a member of the select subcommittee or a counsel of the select subcommittee. Such depositions shall be governed by rule 15 of the rules of the Committee on Oversight and Reform. For purposes of such rule, references to “the Committee” shall be construed as references to the select subcommittee.
(5) The chair of the select subcommittee may, after consultation with the ranking minority member, recognize—
(A) members of the select subcommittee to question a witness for periods longer than five minutes as though pursuant to clause 2(j)(2)(B) of such rule XI; and
(B) staff of the select subcommittee to question a witness as though pursuant to clause 2(j)(2)(C) of such rule XI.
(6) Agenda and reports required by rule 2(f) and rule 4(c) of the rules of the Committee on Oversight and Reform shall be required on the third calendar day before a meeting, hearing, or consideration of a report, as applicable.
(b) The provisions of this resolution shall govern the proceedings of the select subcommittee in the event of any conflict with the rules of the House or of the Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Sec. 5. Any committee of the House having custody of records in any form relating to the matters described in section 3 shall transfer copies of such records to the select subcommittee within 7 days of the adoption of this resolution or receipt of such records. Such records shall become the records of the select subcommittee.
Sec. 6. Service on the select subcommittee shall not count against the limitations in clause 5(b)(2)(A) of rule X.
Sec. 7. The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the “successor in interest” to the select subcommittee for purposes of clause 8(c) of rule II.
Sec. 8. The select subcommittee shall cease to exist 30 days after filing the final report required under section 3.
Sec. 9. (a) For further expenses of the Committee on Oversight and Reform for the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, there shall be paid out of the applicable accounts of the House of Representatives an additional amount of $2,000,000.
(b) Payments under this resolution shall be made on vouchers authorized by the Committee on Oversight and Reform, signed by the chair of that committee, and approved in the manner directed by the Committee on House Administration.
Sec. 10. Amounts made available under this resolution shall be expended in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Committee on House Administration.
Don Reed Herring (center), along with Elizabeth
Warren's other brothers, David Herring (left) and
John Herring, in a video released
by her presidential campaign in January.
Donald Reed Herring, the oldest brother of Senator Elizabeth Warren, died on Tuesday night in Norman, Okla., about three weeks after testing positive for coronavirus.
Herring, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, was 86.
Warren, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s halting response to the pandemic for months, has not previously revealed that her family was waging its own personal battle against the virus. She confirmed his death in a statement provided to the Globe and said the cause was coronavirus.
“I’m grateful to the nurses and other front-line staff who took care of my brother, but it is hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say ‘I love you’ one more time. And now there’s no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close,” Warren said. “I will miss my brother.”
Herring was born in 1933 and attended the University of Oklahoma, but did not graduate, before enlisting in the Air Force, where he flew B-47 and B-52 bombers. He flew 288 combat missions in Vietnam, eventually becoming a B-52 squadron pilot and a squadron aircraft commander. He earned numerous decorations before retiring in 1973 as a lieutenant colonel and starting an auto-detailing business. In her statement, Warren described Herring as a natural leader with a quick, crooked smile.
Known as Don Reed, Herring was the oldest of Warren’s three brothers, and he is survived by the other two, John Herring and David Herring. The trio became a silent fixture of their sister’s presidential campaign, because she spoke often of them as a link to her upbringing in a more conservative world, highlighting their military service and the fact that two of them — Don Reed and David — were Republicans who agreed with her on some fundamentals. They never spoke to the press, but all three appeared in video footage used by her campaign.
Don Reed Herring lived with his wife, Judith Anne Hart, in Newcastle, Okla. before his death, in a small house amid wide fields. According to information provided by his family, he had been diagnosed with cancer years ago and undergone treatment, and was hospitalized for pneumonia in February. He then moved to a rehabilitation center to recover. The family did not identify the center.
The coronavirus has posed a particular risk to people at inpatient care facilities. Other patients in the facility where Herring was staying had active cases, according to what the family was told, and he was tested for the virus in early April. He received a positive result the next day, but did not show symptoms of the virus for another 11 days.
Herring was moved to intensive care at Norman Regional Hospital on April 15 and died six days later. He was not on a ventilator.
The coronavirus has separated people around the country from loved ones fighting the illness, and that was no different for Warren’s family. Herring’s wife was unable to visit him in recent weeks. Warren spoke with him daily before he was transferred to the hospital, but that became more difficult to do as he grew sicker. She last spoke with him on Sunday, when he seemed to be doing better.
In addition to his siblings and his wife, Herring is survived by his two sons, John and Jeffrey. His first wife, Nancy McKelvain, died in 1982 of leukemia after the two were married for about 27 years.
Herring was 16 years older than Warren, and she was a toddler when he joined the military at the age of 19.
“My first memory of Don Reed was when he left for the service and then of his wedding,” she wrote in her autobiography. “He was adventurous and dashing, and his very existence was like a distant light.”
President Donald Trump won impeachment acquittal Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, bringing to a close only the third presidential trial in American history with votes that split the country, tested civic norms and fed the tumultuous 2020 race for the White House.
With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, senators sworn to do “impartial justice” stood and stated their votes for the roll call – “guilty” or “not guilty” – in a swift tally almost exclusively along party lines. Trump, the chief justice then declared, shall “be, and is hereby, acquitted of the charges.”
The outcome followed months of remarkable impeachment proceedings, from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House to Mitch McConnell’s Senate, reflecting the nation’s unrelenting partisan divide three years into the Trump presidency.
What started as Trump’s request for Ukraine to “do us a favor” spun into a far-reaching, 28,000-page report compiled by House investigators accusing an American president of engaging in shadow diplomacy that threatened U.S. foreign relations for personal, political gain as he pressured the ally to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of the next election.
No president has ever been removed by the Senate.
A politically emboldened Trump had eagerly predicted vindication, deploying the verdict as a political anthem in his reelection bid. The president claims he did nothing wrong, decrying the “witch hunt” as an extension of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian 2016 campaign interference by those out to get him from the start of his presidency.
Trump’s political campaign tweeted videos, statements and a cartoon dance celebration, while the president himself tweeted that he would speak Thursday from the White House about “our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax.”
However, the Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said there will always be “a giant asterisk next to the president’s acquittal” because of the Senate’s quick trial and Republicans’ unprecedented rejection of witnesses.
A majority of senators expressed unease with Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that resulted in the two articles of impeachment. But two-thirds of them would have had to vote “guilty” to reach the Constitution’s bar of high crimes and misdemeanors to convict and remove Trump from office. The final tallies in the GOP-held Senate fell far short.
On the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, the vote was 52-48 favoring acquittal. The second, obstruction of Congress, also produced a not guilty verdict, 53-47.
Only one Republican, Mitt Romney of Utah, the party’s defeated 2012 presidential nominee, broke with the GOP.
Romney choked up as he said he drew on his faith and “oath before God” to vote guilty on the first charge, abuse of power. He voted to acquit on the second.
All Democrats found the president guilty on the two charges.
Both Bill Clinton in 1999 and Andrew Johnson in 1868 drew cross-party support when they were left in office after impeachment trials. Richard Nixon resigned rather than face sure impeachment, expecting members of his own party to vote to remove him.
Ahead of Wednesday’s voting, some of the most closely watched senators took to the Senate floor to tell their constituents, and the nation, what they had decided.
Influential GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee worried a guilty verdict would “pour gasoline on the fire” of the nation’s culture wars over Trump and “rip the country apart.’’ He said the House proved its case but it just didn’t rise to the level of impeachment.
Other Republicans siding with Trump said it was time to end what McConnell called the “circus” and move on.
Most Democrats, though, echoed the House managers’ warnings that Trump, if left unchecked, would continue to abuse the power of his office for personal political gain and try to cheat again ahead of the the 2020 election.
Even key Democrats from states where Trump is popular – Doug Jones in Alabama and Joe Manchin in West Virginia – risked backlash and voted to convict.
“Senators are elected to make tough choices,” Jones said.
Several senators trying to win the Democratic Party’s nomination to face Trump – Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar – dashed back from early primary state New Hampshire to vote.
During the nearly three-week trial, House Democrats prosecuting the case argued that Trump abused power like no other president in history when he pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, ahead of the 2020 election.
They detailed an extraordinary effort by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani that set off alarms at the highest levels of government. After Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine, the White House temporarily halted U.S. aid to the struggling ally battling hostile Russia at its border. The money was eventually released in September as Congress intervened.
When the House probed Trump’s actions, the president instructed White House aides to defy congressional subpoenas, leading to the obstruction charge.
Questions from the Ukraine matter continue to swirl. House Democrats may yet summon former national security adviser John Bolton to testify about revelations from his forthcoming book that offer a fresh account of Trump’s actions. Other eyewitnesses and documents are almost sure to surface.
In closing arguments for the trial, the lead prosecutor, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., appealed to senators’ sense of decency, insisting “right matters” and “truth matters” and Trump “is not who you are.’’
Schiff told The Associated Press he hoped the votes to convict “will serve as a constraint on the president’s wrongdoing.”
“But we’re going to have to be vigilant,” he said.
Pelosi was initially reluctant to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump when she took control of the House after the 2018 election, warning against a partisan vote.
But a whistleblower complaint of his conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy set off alarms. The president’s call was placed the day after Mueller announced the findings of his Russia probe.
When Trump told Pelosi in September that the call was perfect, she was stunned. Days later, the speaker announced the formal impeachment inquiry.
The result was the quickest, most partisan impeachment in U.S. history, with no Republicans joining the House Democrats to vote for the charges. The Republican Senate kept up the pace with the fastest trial ever, and the first with no witnesses. Seventeen ambassadors, national security officials and others had testified in the House.
Trump’s star attorney Alan Dershowitz made the sweeping, if stunning, assertion that even if the president engaged in the quid pro quo as described, it is not impeachable, because politicians often equate their own political interest with the national interest.
McConnell braced for dissent, but with a 53-47 Republican majority he refuted efforts to prolong the trial with more witnesses, arguing the House should have done a better job.
Roberts, as the rare court of impeachment came to a close, wished senators well in “our common commitment to the Constitution,” and hoped to meet again “under happier circumstances.”
Someone should ask him who owns the patent because it looks like it is possibly the land patent to the City of Detroit, courtesy of the Detroit Land Bank Authority, but, hey, what do I know?
'Progress Fund' has spent $750,000 in secret since '14
DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan refuses to disclose how a non-profit set up “to promote the City of Detroit’s turnaround” has spent $750,000 since 2014.
His decision, allowable by the IRS, stands in stark contrast to a 2013 promise Duggan made while running for mayor, vowing that he would have “no part in a secret fund when I’m elected.”
But in 2014, shortly after Duggan took office, the Detroit Progress Fund was created to “assist the Office of the Mayor on expenditures necessary to conduct the business for the City but for which there are no funds available in the City budget.”
The fund summarizes its expenses in broad categories, like spending more than $16,000 last year on “meals,” nearly $34,000 on “community outreach” and more than $41,000 on “travel.”
Fund administrator Abbey Dinsmore, who is also a fundraiser for Duggan's mayoral campaign, says the Progress Fund has been used for things like flying in job candidates from out of state and helping put on an annual dinner during Ramadan.
“We are following the law, we are disclosing everything the IRS requires that we disclose to the IRS,” Duggan said when questioned by 7 Investigator Ross Jones earlier this month.
Unlike many similar non-profits, the Detroit Progress Fund discloses its donors quarterly or bi-annually. But expenses have remained a secret and, as Duggan points out, the IRS doesn't require funds to disclose them publicly.
History of controversy
Duggan is hardly the first Michigan politician to be associated with a non-profit 501(c)(4) like the Progress Fund. Over the years, a number of elected leaders have come under fire over how their non-profits spent money.
Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick insisted his Kilpatrick Civic Fund was in complete compliance, saying in 2001: “We’ve done all the paperwork, followed every rule, every regulation from the IRS.”
But reporters and eventually federal prosecutors would reveal that the Civic Fund was used to pay for things like Kilpatrick’s lavish family vacations, golf clubs and even yoga lessons.
Ex-Governor Rick Snyder said his NERD Fund was acting above board, saying in 2012 that “there’s nothing that exciting about it. We’re just following the rules and moving ahead.”
But the fund was ultimately closed after reporters learned it was paying Snyder’s top aide, Rich Baird, a salary of $100,000 from donors who were unknown.
Former Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano ran into trouble with his non-profit, the Wayne County Business Development Corporation, when it was revealed by 7 Action News to have paid his economic development czar a secret $75,000 annual bonus, paid in part by county contractors.
“Government doesn’t always run best on ‘trust me,'” said Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor who today is a law professor at Wayne State University.
“That’s the key to government is transparency,” he said. “That we know this much is coming in and here’s what it’s being spent on.”
'Erodes confidence in government'
Henning isn’t alone in cautioning public officials from using secret funds as an extension of government. Duggan himself spoke out against them in 2013 when he was a candidate for mayor.
In an interview on Channel 7, Duggan was asked specifically about non-profit funds that got Kilpatrick, Snyder and Ficano into trouble.
“You’ll notice in this campaign, I did not create one of those funds,” Duggan said. “I had advisers telling me, let’s create secret funds where you don’t know the donors. I said absolutely not, I’m not going to participate in that. I think it erodes confidence in government, and I’m going to have no part in a secret fund when I’m elected.”
Earlier this month, Duggan was asked by 7 Action News about his change in heart.
“I didn’t change my mind,” Duggan said. “The issues were raised about people not disclosing their donors. We have disclosed our donors from the beginning,” he said.
“As you know, these funds have been abused, from Kilpatrick to Ficano to Snyder for how they've been spending money,” said Channel 7’s Ross Jones. “And the question is, if you have nothing to hide, why not show us exactly how it’s being spent?”
“There has been no suggestion of anything wrong,” Duggan said.
Close ties to Mayor
The Detroit Progress Fund is overseen by a board of five, but neither Duggan nor the fund's spokesman will say who selected the board members. All of them have ties to Duggan or his campaign.
Jonathan Quarles is the chairman of the Progress Fund’s Board. In 2014, he was appointed by Duggan to the city's Economic Development Corporation board.
Trunetta Roach, the Progress Fund’s treasurer, is the wife of Duggan’s spokesman John Roach. Campaign records show that she's donated $1,000 to Duggan’s campaign.
Attorney Thomas Bruetsch also sits on the board. In 2013, he represented Duggan in his fight to stay on the mayoral ballot. He's also donated nearly $2,500 to Duggan’s campaign.
Board member David Katz is one of Duggan’s longtime friends, having worked with him since his days in Wayne County government. Katz donated more than $10,000 to Duggan’s campaign.
In addition to serving on the Progress Fund’s board, Tatiana Grant also worked to help get the mayor elected. Records show that her company, Infused PR, has been paid more than $43,000 by Duggan’s campaign.
Fund spokesman Mario Morrow called the board “very competent people” and said their past history with Duggan doesn’t influence their judgment.
“They all seem to be pretty close to the mayor,” said Channel 7’s Ross Jones.
On this exciting episode of Cocktails & Popcorn, we are in the 48 hour countdown to meltdown in Judiciary with the testimony of Mueller.
The NAACP, Stabenow, Tlaib & Nancy did not #sayhisname.
Will Nancy throw Rashida under the bus first?
Has Rashida joined forces with Stabenow to proceed with the next episode of the #coloredrevolution in Detroit and blame Pelosi for 2010 - 2018 election interferences?
Stay tuned, because the NAACP has a half time show that will blow your minds.
Michigan’s congressional leaders sounded a call to action Monday, urging people attending the national NAACP convention in Detroit to stand up and fight the current administration of President Donald Trump.
Debbie Stabenow
U.S. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, used the president’s own words – “I really wish she wasn't from Michigan, I think we should send her back” – when talking about Trump Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who hails from Grand Rapids.
She also said that today is no time to be complacent.
"Let’s be clear today, President Trump is a bully and we stand up to bullies," she said. "This is a critical moment in our history, the leadership of NAACP is needed as we see the poison of racism. Donald Trump has given permission to people who used to stand in sheets in the middle of night to stand in the light in front of the microphones. This is wrong."
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who has been the target of racist tweets from Trump, got a standing ovation from the crowd and said, “I’m not going nowhere, not until I impeach this president.”
Tashida Tliab
She also said that "The Squad" is not just the four progressive congresswomen — Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — who have created a stir at the U.S. Capitol.
"It’s beyond just the four of us. You are all the squad, trust me," she said.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib D-Detroit, speaks during the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 110th Annual Convention at Cobo Center in Detroit Monday, July 22, 2019.Buy Photo
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib D-Detroit, speaks during the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 110th Annual Convention at Cobo Center in Detroit Monday, July 22, 2019. (Photo: Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press)
Trump ignited a firestorm last week after he tweeted about the four women of color, saying they "originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world … Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Three of the four congresswomen – Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley — were born in the United States and Omar is a refugee from Somalia and an American citizen.
Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-California, didn’t speak of the tweets or the president directly, but quoting both Thomas Payne and Martin Luther King Jr., she told those attending the 110th annual NAACP convention that the turbulent times have found us.
“The times have found all of us to make the difference that our country is crying out for now,” she said. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off … Today, the times have found us to achieve a future full of justice, worthy of our founders.”
Pelosi has been plagued this month with a pair of problems. First, there has been a simmering tension between much of the Democratic caucus in the House and the Squad.
The four, and their supporters, have been highly critical of Pelosi for a vote on immigration aid that they opposed and Pelosi has been dismissive of the strength of their coalition.
But Trump, and his racist tweets about the four women and attempts to paint them as the face of the Democratic Party, have actually worked to unite the warring factions of the party against Trump.
Pelosi spoke of the need for justice in many aspects of public policy, from the environment, to criminal justice, to civil rights.
Quoting Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama, saying, 'I'm tired of giving in," Pelosi said, "We, too, must be tired of giving in. We, too, must continue to stand for fairness and genuine equality."
But she left the more fiery rhetoric to Michigan's Democratic congressional delegation and they delivered.
U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield, spoke of the importance of the 2020 election.
"If you can't believe what's happening and you’re tired of all the attacks and you feel like there's a cloud over America, black people, we can change all of that," she said. "Our mission: we cannot have a black person sit at home on election day because we know that we fight with our vote."
The convention continues through Wednesday when a presidential forum will be held, featuring Democratic candidates, including former vice president Joe Biden, U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker; former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke and Republican candidate Bill Weld.
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.
Each House can determine its own Rules (assuming a quorum is present), and may punish any of its members. A two-thirds vote is necessary to expel a member. Section 5, Clause 2 does not provide specific guidance to each House regarding when and how each House may change its rules, leaving details to the respective chambers.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., left, joined by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
Washington – President Donald Trump on Sunday assailed a group of Democratic congresswomen of color, including Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, as foreign-born troublemakers who should go back to the “broken and crime infested places from which they came,” ignoring the fact that the women are American citizens and all but one was born in the U.S.
Trump was almost certainly referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and her allies in what’s become known as "the squad." The others are Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Tlaib. Only Omar, from Somalia, is foreign-born.
Tlaib, who has frequently jousted with Trump, vowing shortly after taking office in January that “we’re going to ... impeach the (expletive),” fired back Sunday.
"Detroit taught me how to fight for the communities you continue to degrade & attack," she wrote on Twitter. "Keep talking, you just make me work harder. I'm proud of my Palestinian roots & a WEAK bully like you never wins. This is what America looks like."
Trump’s tweets prompted a wave of searing condemnation from Democrats, who set aside their rifts to speak as one in calling Trump’s remarks racist and breathtakingly divisive.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president wants to “make America white again.”
Ocasio-Cortez, fighting for days with Pelosi, said Trump “can’t conceive of an America that includes us.”
“Mr. President, the country I come from, & the country we all swear to, is the United States,” she tweeted. “You are angry because you can’t conceive of an America that includes us. You rely on a frightened America for your plunder.” Omar said as if addressing Trump: You are stoking white nationalism (because) you are angry that people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hate-filled agenda.”
Michigan's congressional Democrats took to Twitter to defend "the squad."
Rep. Debbie Dingell of Dearborn said, "We should call this what it is: hate. We can never forget it’s our diversity that makes us strong. There is no place for this kind of talk in our country."
Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Holland said, Trump's "willingness to drag our values through the mud is appalling."
Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield, said "Divisive rhetoric will NEVER 'Make America Great Again.'"
"America, we are better than this," added Rep. Dan Kildee of Flint.
With his latest tweet, Trump again inserted himself into a rift between Pelosi and the liberal congresswomen, after offering an unsolicited defense of the Democratic speaker days earlier. Pelosi has been seeking to minimize Ocasio-Cortez’s influence in recent days, prompting Ocasio-Cortez to accuse Pelosi of trying to marginalize women of color. “She is not a racist,” Trump said Friday.
On Sunday, Trump’s tone changed.
“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run,” he said in tweets. “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
He added: “These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!”
In a fundraising email, Tlaib told supporters that Trump's comments were "un-American."
"Three of us were born here, and Ilhan Omar came here as a child, a refugee who is as American as any of us," she wrote. "We all call this country home, and as someone wrote on Twitter today, we’re all more patriotic than Trump will ever be."
The attacks may have been meant to further the divides within the Democrat caucus, strained over internal debates on liberal policies and on whether to proceed with impeachment proceedings against Trump. Instead, Democrats united in denouncing the comments, which evoked the old racist trope of telling a black person to go back to Africa.
“Let’s be clear about what this vile comment is: A racist and xenophobic attack on Democratic congresswomen,” tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate.
Another 2020 contender, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, tweeted at the president: “This is racist. These congresswomen are every bit as American as you – and represent our values better than you ever will.”
Few Republicans immediately weighed in on the president’s comments, but Rep. Justin Amash of Cascade Township, a Trump critic who recently took steps to leave the Republican party, called the remarks “racist and disgusting.”
Shortly after the tweets, and a later post defending the harsh scenes at a border detention facility where hundreds of migrant men are being held in sweltering, foul-smelling conditions, Trump left the White House to go golfing at his Virginia club.
It was far from the first time that Trump has been accused of holding racist views.
His political career was launched on the backs of falsely claiming that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. In his campaign kickoff in June 2015, he deemed many Mexican immigrants “rapists.” And last year, during a White House meeting on immigration, he wondered why the United States was admitting so many immigrants from “shithole countries” like Haiti, El Salvador and several African nations.
Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, was born in the Bronx, New York, and raised in suburban Westchester County.
Pressley, the first black woman elected to the House from Massachusetts, was born in Cincinnati.
Omar, the first Somali native elected to Congress and one of its first Muslim women, was born in Somalia but spent much of her childhood in a Kenyan refugee camp as civil war tore apart her home country. She immigrated to the United States at age 12, teaching herself English by watching American TV and eventually settling with her family in Minneapolis.
Tlaib was born in Detroit.
Tlaib and Trump have had a few heated exchanges since she took office. After taking office in January Tlaib said “we’re going to ... impeach the (expletive),” referring to Trump, who called her remarks "disgraceful."
In May, Trump accused Tlaib of being anti-Semitic after an interview in which she spoke of her Palestinian ancestors experience as Israel became a refuge for European Jews after the Holocaust.
So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......
“Mr. President, As Members of Congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States. Which is why we are fighting to protect it from the worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen. … You are stoking white nationalism bc you are angry that people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hate-filled agenda.” – Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota on Twitter.
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“Racial arsonist strikes again. Shut. Your. Reckless. Mouth. Racist attack on four strongly progressive congresswomen of color will not weaken them. IT ONLY MAKES US STRONGER.” – Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, on Twitter.
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“You’re going to have to ask the president what he means by those specific tweets.” – Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, when asked about the tweets, on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
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“To tell these American citizens (most of whom were born here) to ‘go back’ to the ‘crime infested places from which they came’ is racist and disgusting.” – Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a Trump critic who announced this month he was leaving the Republican Party to become an independent.
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“This president is hurting our country and bigotry like he just spewed is something that we need to end in this nation.” – New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Democratic presidential candidate, speaking to reporters in Pelham, New Hampshire.
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“Unfortunately there is an American tradition of telling people to go back where they came from. It’s a very bad tradition that we need to weed out of our nation because we are a nation of immigrants, that is who we are by our nature for hundreds of years. But you don’t expect to hear it from the president of the United States.” – New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Democratic presidential candidate, on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
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“Let’s call the president’s racist attack exactly what it is: un-American.” California Sen. Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential candidate, on Twitter.
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“There’s nothing new about denying the belonging of those who call our nation to its highest values and criticize those in power. Those who launch such attacks reveal that they do not understand what is greatest about America.” – Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Democratic presidential
This is going to be a hot mess, but, hey, what d I know?
I know everyone is going to have to #sayhisname.
I also know that Detroit wants to replenish TARP with their economic development reparations foreign fraud scheme.
I also know no one is going to speak about what happened in Detroit, or the 2016 election, or the 2014 election, or the 2012 election, or the 2010 election, or the Detroit Land Bank Authority, or SIGTARP, or the 2017 insurrection, or the Detroit Bankruptcy, or the Detroit Grand Bargain, or the *russian/israeli/ukrainian* invasion, or infant mortality, or child poverty, or foster care, or adoption, or the Michigan Children's Trust Fund, or the uranium trade, or human trafficking, or...
"We have no problem with throwing the race card as a legal defense."
Eight of the more than two dozen candidates competing for the Democratic 2020 presidential ticket are scheduled to visit Detroit this month to speak at the NAACP national convention.
Among the presidential candidates attending a July 24 event at the five-day convention at Cobo Center are U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar as well as former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, according to the NAACP.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was confirmed Wednesday as an eighth attendee for the July 24 forum.
The NAACP release indicate other candidates could be added to the forum.
“The candidates listed as are the ones confirmed as of this morning but candidates are still being confirmed and more will be added to list,” spokesman Austyn Ross told The Detroit News on Wednesday.
The NAACP invites both Republican and Democratic nominees for president to speak at the July convention during each presidential election, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. Recent Republican nominees who have addressed the Democratic-friendly NAACP convention have been President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain.
“We remain committed to ensuring black voters are heard and counted throughout this next election cycle,” Johnson said in a statement. “This presidential forum allows us to hear from the candidates as well as bring their attention to our most pressing concerns as a community.”
People can suggest questions for the presidential candidate forum at naacp.org/candidatesforum.
The candidates are set to return to Detroit a week after the convention for the second round of Democratic presidential debates July 30 and 31.
In this second supplement to SCOTUS Certiorari Petition No. 18-7752, the Petitioner - Mohan A. Harihar identifies several NEW discoveries, including: (1) Mortgage Fraud Audits conducted on properties owned by Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Breyer, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), US Attorney Andrew Lelling (MA) & Middlesex Superior Court Judge Kenneth Fishman; (2) Contradicting Testimony from WELLS FARGO CEO (former) Tim Sloan; & (3) New FOIA request filed with the Office of the Attorney General
