Rashida Tlaib & Harley Rouda Forgot To Discuss The Industry Of Trafficking Tiny Humans In Detroit

Infant mortality in the city is twice the rate of the rest of the state, children have elevated levels of lead in their blood, and the life expectancy of Detroit residents is lower than the statewide average in almost every neighborhood, Harley Rouda said.

Not one mention of the industry of infant mortality, the contractual opportunities of Public Private Partnerships of Targeted Case Management Child Welfare Services in Michigan, nor its campaign funding.

Congressional lawmakers discuss Detroit's water, air quality

Detroit — Emma Lockridge often slips on a surgical mask at bedtime. She then piles pillows over her head and a blanket, hoping she'll get enough sleep.

Lockridge lives in southwest Detroit, just across the road from the Marathon Oil Refinery. It's a site that neighbors have long complained has compromised their health and quality of life.

"I want you to just imagine if you will be sleeping at 3:30 in the morning and all of a sudden you start coughing," Lockridge testified Monday before members of U.S. Congress and a packed audience inside Detroit's Kemeny Recreation Center.

"Then, your own coughing wakes you up, and you don't have a cold and your nose alerts you to the fact that there are chemicals in your bedroom, and you can't breathe, and they are toxic and they are choking you," she said. "This is no way to live."


Residents are concerned that children playing soccer at Kemeny Recreation Center across the freeway from a Detroit oil refinery might be breathing bad air. (Photo: Daniel Mears, The Detroit News)

Lockridge was part of a five-member panel of residents and environmental advocates called upon Monday to provide testimony at a congressional field hearing on air and water quality.

The hearing, focused on the disparate impacts of pollution on low-income communities and neighborhoods of color in Detroit and Flint, was hosted by U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, vice chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Environment, and Chairman Harley Rouda, a California Democrat.

"It makes me heartsick that the people of Detroit and Flint have been living without their basic rights, and that they have lost trust in elected officials’ commitment to preserving and protecting those rights," Rouda said in an opening statement.

Rouda, during the two-hour hearing, cited figures from the Detroit Community Health Assessment from last year, which noted that 38 percent of residents in the city live in poverty — the highest rate of any major U.S. city.

Infant mortality in the city is twice the rate of the rest of the state, children have elevated levels of lead in their blood, and the life expectancy of Detroit residents is lower than the statewide average in almost every neighborhood, he said.

Tlaib noted the 48217 ZIP Code in Detroit is among the state's most polluted while in the shadow of the Marathon Oil Refinery.

Tlaib, who grew up in the neighborhood, told the crowd Monday "we have a right to breathe, and water is a human right."

"Entire generations grow up in sacrifice zones, where our air and water is polluted by wealthy corporations for profit, and we are expected to accept that," she said.

Tlaib’s first bill in Congress, the Justice For All Civil Rights Act, would expand U.S. civil rights protections to address "environmental racism" and other critical issues.

Monday's hearing comes after the refinery last week emitted a vapor that prompted an evacuation of the facility and worried residents. In February, a flare also malfunctioned there, emitting an odor that sparked fear across the community and several others nearby.

Tlaib raised concern over the latest issue at the refinery, saying residents are "still searching for answers."


Audience members listen to speakers during a congressional hearing with U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib and other lawmakers regarding air and water quality in one of Detroit's most polluted zip codes. (Photo: Daniel Mears, The Detroit News)

David Leaver, general manager for Marathon, said the incident stemmed from a valve leak while the company was decommissioning some equipment. They are now working to determine what caused the valve to leak and assessing procedures to avoid future incidents.

The company, he said, acted quickly to notify authorities, shut the unit down and knocked down the vapors with water. Stationary and mobile air monitoring for hours after the incident turned up no problematic levels, he said.

Two contract workers were sent to the hospital. One was treated and released. The other is expected to make a full recovery and be discharged Monday, Leaver said.

In the face of criticism, Leaver noted Marathon has owned the facility for 60 years, and in the last two decades has reduced its emissions by 80 percent. It also has invested $350 million in the last eight years to lower emissions.

"We are part of the community. We breathe the same air that the community breathes," he said. "We as a company are doing everything we can to be an active member of the community."

Earlier Monday, residents and environmental justice groups sent a letter to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board requesting a probe following the Thursday chemical release from the refinery.

Leaver, in response, said "we have nothing to hide" and that Marathon wants to have discussions on air quality with Tlaib, area businesses and others.

Officials with the state department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy have said the agency is investigating Thursday’s vapor release and working with all parties to ensure public health and the environment are protected.

Nayyirah Shariff, director of the group Flint Rising, attended the hearing Monday to speak about the water crisis that's still plaguing residents of her hometown.

More than five years after the ill-fated drinking water source switch to the Flint River, residents there remain fearful.

"If there hasn't been a long-term plan developed to fix Flint, how can you fix any other community?" said Shariff, who spoke of how her water went from brown to yellow and smelled like "an open sewer."

Tlaib concluded the hearing Monday by telling attendees that this is just the start of federal lawmakers' efforts to bring change.

"We, at the federal level in Congress, need to do more, and we know that," she told the crowd. "I just want you to know that this makes us feel like 'we have to move quicker.' How many times do we need to study the fact that we're dying?"

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Rashida Tlaib Bears False Witness In The Public Record About What Happened In Detroit

Rashida Tlaib bears false witness in the public record, fraudulently advising the Congress, manipulating the public record, corrupting the annals of history, by breaching her oath of office.

This CNN article, alone, would do Nancy Pelosi well to initiate proceedings to expel her from Congress.

I say we impeach Rashida.

Now, why would I use such strong language in advocating to impeach Rashida?

Because the lady doth lie.

Liars give me the Saddy Face, which is never a good thing to do, particularly when you were mean to my Sweetie.

Very mean.

To begin, I would like a definition in law, be it a law of the divinity, land, nature, science or maritime, of what she considers as "black" because she lies about Detroit.

Rashida seems to throw that #coloredrevolution talking point around alot.

The reason homeownership declined in Detroit was due to the invasion of foreign entities, functioning as Public Private Partnerships, as NGOs.

Homeownership declined due to the long term implementation of the plan to use Detroit as a test tube socioeconomic experiment of a Smart City, where operations were put in play to steal the children, the land and the votes.

Rashida is well versed in all three sections of stealin'.

Rashida covers up for the crimes of the Detroit Land Bank Authority and its co-conspirators, such as herself, the MDP and Wayne County.

Rashida needs to tell the truth.

Rashida was a willing participant in the overthrow of my Sweetie.

Perhaps, Trump should stop obstructing justice and pull that IG Report from his backpocket so everyone can witness Rashida bearing false witness in the annals of history.

She cites his work, but refuses to #sayhisname.

See cited Watergate and Civil Rights.

#sayhisname

Rashida Tlaib: How to reverse the decline in black homeownership

(CNN)This summer marks the 55th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act, which paved the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the expansion of civil rights in this country.

These three landmark pieces of legislation pushed back against discrimination and segregation and the impact of each cannot be overstated: Schools and universities across America were forced to take meaningful steps to desegregate; African Americans, especially in Southern states, were granted unprecedented access to the ballot box; and racial discrimination in the sale and rental of housing was banned, a first step in desegregating entire neighborhoods.

While that progress should be celebrated, it is now more important than ever to acknowledge how far we've strayed from their intended purposes. When black homeownership is plunging across the country -- with the worst losses of all here in Michigan -- something is broken.

In Detroit for example, we are seeing more and more of our families renting instead of owning their own homes. The result is less economic stability for residents and communities, especially when 56.8% of households in the 13th congressional district pay more than 30% of their income for housing -- the threshold for affordability.

Census Bureau data shows that black homeownership nationwide has fallen to the lowest rate in nearly 50 years. And last year, a series of reports released by the Urban Institute showed Michigan suffered the steepest decline, from 60% in 2000 to 41% in 2016.

While there are a number of contributing factors, including the Great Recession spurred by Wall Street greed and predatory lending, one thing is certain: Provisions in the Fair Housing Act of 1968 do not go far enough to protect our communities in this time of corporate-driven economics that puts profits before people.

An analysis of 31 million mortgage records by The Center for Investigative Reporting found that mortgage lending redlining persisted in 61 metro areas -- including Detroit -- with people of color, especially African Americans and Latinos, being denied home loans at disproportionate rates.

And the White House is determined to make the situation worse.

The Trump administration is eliminating existing protections that serve as the last line of defense against the declining rate of minority homeownership. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for example, recently proposed gutting the disparate impact protection granted by the Fair Housing Act, which says that banks, landlords and other housing providers may not enact any policy that has a discriminatory effect — even if the policy was not intended to be explicitly discriminatory. This is critical, especially when lenders have used practices that get around showing intentional discrimination.

Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced its intention to roll back the 2014 expansion of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), an Obama-era set of rules meant to combat modern-day redlining.

The CFPB intends to give 1,720 banking institutions, many of which serve low-income and communities of color, a pass on having to report the race and gender of customers receiving and being denied loans. It also intends to cut off public access to lending data that housing advocate groups have used to flag for trends of modern-day redlining.


HUD hire spotlights Trump administration's defining failure
These rollbacks would rob Americans of the dream of homeownership, a vital part of the economic stability for families across the nation. One answer is to oppose the Trump administration's policy changes and demand that these protections remain, but even more critically, we need to update the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) so that megabanks are only given credit when they make loans to individuals who are low and moderate income and require so-called non-banking institutions, like Detroit-based Quicken Loans to also comply with the same rules.

Since 1977, the CRA has driven inclusion and equity in the financial markets. The act compels banks to serve the credit needs of their communities. It became an indispensable tool for historically marginalized communities excluded from the financial mainstream. Currently, 98% of banks passed their CRA examinations, and the CRA as currently written does not successfully address the lack of access to banking or the community development needs in my district.

Much of my district is either unbanked or underbanked, with few options or access to credit. Although some banks in my district have been criticized for performance in some areas that is not satisfactory, ultimately, they still receive their CRA credit largely because they lend in low and moderate income areas versus receiving credit for lending to low and moderate income borrowers. It is time to explore a change that would ensure that CRA credits are based more heavily on a person's income, rather than location.

We must also ensure that area assessments of banks continue to be based on the locations of their branches and beat back attempts to change this. The Community Reinvestment Act should be as community-focused as possible, and that means the policy should be reflective of the community's true needs.

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Rashida Tlaib Was Mean To Trump

UPDATE: The original video has been removed by Youtube, so I put up another one, 4719.

That was very mean for Rashida to call Trump, a sitting president, a muthafukker.

Then again, she was mean to my Sweetie.

This gave me saddy face, again.

But, I am quite sure she will not say anything mean about me, considering the fact I am a woman, a whistleblower, and the simple fact that child welfare has those privacy laws.

I first met Rashida at Southwest Solutions on a child welfare case.

I bet Trump has something in his backpocket that would make Rashida stop being mean.

Your son was right, Rashida, "bullies never win" and neither do those who were mean to my Sweetie.

You should really talk to Nancy Pelosi, or a good lawyer over there at Sugar Law.

“People love you and you win,” the video showed Tlaib telling supporters Thursday night. “And when your son looks at you and says, ‘Momma, look you won. Bullies don’t win.’ And I said, ‘Baby, they don’t, because we’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the motherf***er.’”

Rashida Tlaib uses expletive in cry to impeach Trump

Washington — Newly sworn-in Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit told a cheering crowd that “we’re going to ... impeach the mother (expletive),” referring to President Donald Trump.

After the video of her remarks went viral on social media, Tlaib tweeted Friday morning: “I always speak truth to power. #unaplogeticallyme.”

The video clip starts with Tlaib recounting her son telling her, “‘Look, Mama, you won. Bullies don’t win.’ And I said, ‘Baby, they don’t because we’re going to go in there and we’re going to impeach the (expletive).’”

Tlaib was sworn into Congress Thursday, succeeding former Rep. John Conyers Jr. this week in representing Michigan’s 13th District, which includes parts of Detroit and Wayne County.

Tlaib has previously called for impeachment proceedings against Trump. During orientation last November, she gave each member of the the freshman class a book arguing for his impeachment.

"I have been very open from the beginning that this is about electing the jurors to impeach this president — in many ways holding him accountable," she told Detroit News last week.

"I wanted make sure my new colleagues understand we have a duty and responsibility in the balance of government, and we have to hold him accountable and have to have a transparent process."

In a tweet Friday morning, Tlaib repeated her call for change, saying that she "will always speak truth to power" and later adding, "This is not just about Donald Trump. This is about all of us. In the face of this constitutional crisis, we must rise."

"Congresswoman Tlaib was elected to shake up Washington, not continue the status quo. Donald Trump is completely unfit to serve as President," Denzel McCampbell, spokesman for Tlaib's office, said in an emailed statement. "The Congresswoman absolutely believes he needs to be impeached.

She ran and won by making this very clear to the voters in her district. Donald Trump’s actions have harmed the 13th Congressional District and this country, and Congresswoman Tlaib will not stay silent while this happens."

This is not just about Donald Trump. This is about all of us. In the face of this constitutional crisis, we must rise.

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 4, 2019

Tlaib was escorted from the audience of Trump's August 2016 Detroit Economic Club speech after disrupting it.

Tlaib’s former campaign spokesman described the congresswoman as a “force of nature” whose “unwavering passion for the people of the 13th“ includes a bringing some of the grit from that district to D.C.

“I think she sees the president as the biggest threat to the middle class and working men and women and she is determined to put a crimp in those plans,” said T.J. Bucholz, who now is an advisor for Tlaib.

From the traditional Palestinian dress she wore for her swearing in, to her animation on the floor, to her comments Thursday night, Tlaib has shown “she’s going to be a different kind of Congresswoman,” Bucholz said.

“She does not mince words,” Bucholz said. “Rashida will tell you exactly what she thinks.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking Friday to a town hall sponsored by MSNBC at Washington's Trinity University, said she didn't like Tlaib's choice of words and isn't ready to pursue impeachment, calling it "divisive."

"I probably have a generational reaction to it," Pelosi said, according to NBC News. "I'm not in the censorship business. I don't like that language, I wouldn't use that language, but I wouldn't establish language standards for my colleagues."

The speaker added that Tlaib's remark was "nothing worse than the president has said."

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Rashida Tlaib Wants To Replace Conyers

Rashida Tlaib wants to run for congress.  <=== Make sure to click the links!

What an interesting way to entitle an article by insinuating that Conyers is still in his seat.

Quite the political move, just in case he is still in his seat, or will arise from the ashes to reclaim his seat, but hey, what do I know?

Either that or she is trying to co-opt some cheap political shot with the Conyers name recognition in making history for political clout.

In any event, to assist Rashida Tlaib in her "push to Impeach Trump" I thought about her best interests by supporting her lofty endeavor in providing her with the original federal impeachment complaint, below.

To further encourage her passionate campaign to make history by doing nothing to address the frauds in the 13th Congressional District which are currently under federal investigation, particularly her contractual demolition associations with the Detroit Land Bank Authority through Southwest Solutions, child trafficking in foster care and adoption, and questionable campaign finance activities, which she has a strong expertise in this industries, I have provided a link to a one-stop-shop to "quiet title" all the decades of work John Conyers, Jr. has done in the legal realm of impeachment.

Conyers Impeachment Link

Conyers Emoluments Link

Rashida Tlaib should consider herself an expert when it comes to the subject matter of emoluments.

Rashida Tlaib wants to run for congress.  <=== Make sure to click the links!

Dem hoping to replace Conyers pushes Trump impeachment

Rashida Tlaib could make history this fall as the first Muslim woman elected to Congress - and she's making impeaching President Trump central to her campaign.

Tlaib is running in a crowded Democratic primary on Aug. 7 to fill the deep-blue Detroit seat last held by former Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D), who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

And while some Democrats - especially party leaders - have shied away from talk of impeaching Trump, Tlaib plans to make impeachment a core part of her campaign.

"I keep telling people this is about electing a jury that will impeach him, and I make a heck of a juror," Tlaib, who became the first Muslim woman elected to the Michigan state legislature in 2009, told The Hill.

"Not only as a mother raising two Muslim boys that are now questioning if they can tell people whether or not they're Muslim ... what I hear from people supporting me is there's a tremendous amount of hope sending a voice like mine to Congress."

This isn't the first time Tlaib has sought to confront Trump. In August 2016, Tlaib was one of a dozen women escorted out of the Detroit Economic Club for interrupting Trump's speech and telling the president to read the Constitution.

Voters in Michigan's 13th District are used to hearing impeachment talk from their representative - Conyers wanted to impeach former President George W. Bush during Bush's second term. Now political observers in Michigan see Tlaib attempting to take up that mantle.

"For Rashida, her play is not so much being the farthest-left candidate on policy, it's being the farthest left on rhetoric and tactics," said Democratic strategist Susan Demas. "And she's not afraid to say, 'If I'm elected, I'm impeaching Donald Trump, that's my calling card.' "

Tlaib further bucks Democratic leaders by saying that, if elected, she "probably" won't vote for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to keep her leadership role.

A growing number of Democratic candidates running in swing districts this cycle have said they won't vote for Pelosi. But the frustration for Tlaib, who's running in a solidly Democratic district, mainly stems from how Pelosi handled the Conyers situation as the harassment allegations against him grew.

Pelosi initially defended Conyers, dodging questions about whether he should resign and calling on the House Ethics Committee to investigate the allegations. But a few days later, Pelosi called on Conyers to step down.

The committee opened up a probe in late November, but those investigations typically don't continue once a member leaves office.

Psst!  The matter was referred to the U.S. Department of Justice.  All you had to do was acknowledge that Perkins Coie Sucks.

#perkinscoiesucks

"I said 'probably not' about Nancy Pelosi primarily because it was very painful to see what happened with John Conyers," said Tlaib, who said she's a victim of sexual harassment herself.

"I do believe the survivors, and I just felt like they deserved a much better process instead of him being pushed out to retire. Because honestly all of us were like, 'We need an Ethics Committee hearing. We want to know what's happening and how to make sure it doesn't happen again.' "

All you have to do is read my blog.

Conyers's seat is a majority-black district that encompasses much of Detroit but also extends far into the suburbs. The Democratic stronghold - which the party's presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, swept by 60 points in 2016 - has attracted nine other candidates, but the field won't be settled until the April 24 filing deadline.

You really need to read my blog as it seems you have lack the legal acumen of the federal investigative process surrounding the integrity of the 2016 Michigan Primary and General Election.

Girl, we should do lunch.  I will catch you up to speed.

There will be two November elections taking place in the 13th District: one to fill the remainder of Conyers's term, which ends on Dec. 31, and the other to serve out the next two-year term for the seat starting on Jan. 1, 2019.

Michigan political strategists say there's a path for nonblack candidates like Tlaib in the race.

Tlaib, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, represented southwest Detroit in the state legislature from 2009 to 2014, when she had to leave her seat because of term limits. As a state lawmaker, she's won elections representing a predominantly African-American and Latino district.

Labels, labels, labels.  Waiting for the scan codes for those predictive models!

While running for her last term, Tlaib said she knocked on close to 30,000 doors.

Now she plans to mount another aggressive canvassing operation for the House seat. Tlaib's campaign told The Hill that she raised more than $500,000 in the first fundraising quarter of 2018 and knocked on 12.5 percent of the doors in the district since launching in February.

Where the hell did you find that much money?  I will wait for your first FEC report, trust me.

But Tlaib isn't the only nonblack candidate seen as a strong contender. Strategists point to Westland Mayor Bill Wild, a white candidate and the only hopeful in the race from outside of Detroit, as a potential contender who could draw on suburban votes to surpass the rest of the field.

Label, label, label.

The primary has also sparked some family drama, with two candidates with the Conyers name running for the seat.

Conyers shocked political observers when he endorsed his son, John Conyers III, following his resignation. His son, who has no political experience and has split his time between Los Angeles and Detroit, officially jumped into the race in late January.

That'll pit him against his cousin, state Sen. Ian Conyers, who was elected to office in 2016 and has a much larger base of support.

While the Conyers name is still highly regarded in the district, strategists believe that two Conyers candidates in the race will ultimately split their vote while benefitting the other candidates.

"One of our residents said it beautifully: 'You shouldn't be able to inherit this seat, you have to earn it,' " Tlaib said.

But political observers also expect a strong showing from Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, a black candidate who has drawn a powerful endorsement from Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. Many see her as a leading contender who's expected to shore up most of the support from the business and labor communities.

Label, label, label.

"[Tlaib] is a dynamic campaigner," said Bill Ballenger, a former state GOP lawmaker who now runs the Ballenger Report news site. "She's going to be a major contender. It's conceivable she could win, but Brenda Jones has a leg up on her in that she has a much bigger base in the district than Tlaib has."

And Brenda Jones is endorsed by Mayor Mike Duggan.

Congress Emoluments Clause suit by New Mexico Political Report on Scribd

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