Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Tonight, the first batch of 2020 presidential candidates will likely face questions about gun control. It’s an issue that many of them have been putting front and center.
So far, some gun violence prevention experts say, New Jersey senator Cory Booker has produced the most ambitious and comprehensive plan, including funding for local gun violence prevention strategies in communities burdened with daily gun violence, and endorsing federal licensing for gun ownership, a policy that Obama labeled out of the question just three years ago.
“The person that has had the most thoughtful approach, as well as the most robust approach, is Cory Booker,” said Dakota Jablon, director of federal affairs at the Coalition to Stop Violence, a gun violence prevention group.
20 presidential hopefuls go head-to-head in Miami on 26-27 June – but what will they discuss, and who needs it the most?
The Republican primary debates in 2015 featured 17 candidates – a number interpreted as unwieldy at best and, at worst, a bit ridiculous.
Well step aside, Republicans, because this year Democrats have gone one better. Or three better: over the evenings of 26th and 27th June, 20 presidential hopefuls will have it out on stage,as they attempt to sell themselves as the one Democratic candidate to take on Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election.
Ten candidates took the stage for the first of back-to-back debates, and cast themselves in sharp contrast with Trump
Ten Democratic presidential candidates cast themselves in sharp contrast to Donald Trump in the first primary debate of the 2020 election on Wednesday night, even as they disagreed on how far left the next US president should lean.
The Democratic hopefuls took to the stage at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami for the first of back-to-back debates over two nights, which see the 2020 race kick-off in earnest and give the 20 candidates who qualified for the events a national platform that could help to clarify the leaders in the enormous and unsettled field.
Billionaires call for tax on extreme wealth to combat inequality
‘America has a moral responsibility to tax our wealth more’
More than a dozen prominent US billionaires are calling for a new government tax on extreme wealth to help combat income inequality, provide funding for climate change initiatives and range of public health issues.
The US state department's expert on Iran, Brian Hook, is repeatedly asked by Democrats how the Trump administration interprets its powers to declare war, following a recent rise in tensions with Iran. Hook repeatedly stressed the US was pursuing diplomacy with Tehran, saying: 'No one should be uncertain about our desire for peace'
Danny Glover among witnesses who debated the legacy of slavery – and the modern scourges of inequality and poverty that afflict black Americans
For the first time in more than a decade, a debate has taken place between lawmakers in Congress on the original sin of the United States – the enslavement of 4 million Africans and their descendants – and the question of what can be done to atone for it through reparations.
Officials confirm to me Patrick Shanahan is not only withdrawing from consideration, he is resigning his current Pentagon post. Last day unclear. https://t.co/zufBzZ9nmz
The New York Times is reporting that the Justice Department has intervened to keep former Trump adviser Paul Manafort out of the notorious Rikers Island jail complex.
Manafort was set to be transferred to Rikers this month to await trial on a separate state case, according to the New York Times. But then Manhattan prosecutors received a letter from Jeffrey Rosen, the top deputy for attorney general William Barr, that indicated that “he was monitoring where Mr. Manafort would be held in New York”.
And then, on Monday, federal prison officials weighed in, telling the Manhattan district attorney’s office that Mr. Manafort, 70, would not be going to Rikers.
Democrat hopeful says they could have children in White House
Buttigieg is first openly gay major party presidential candidate
The Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg wants to start a family with his husband, Chasten, and says that could happen if he makes it to the White House.
“I don’t see why not,” the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said in a Father’s Day television interview that also marked his first wedding anniversary.
NBC announces pairings for debates later this month, the first of the 2020 presidential campaign season
The first 2020 presidential debate will be divided into two nights later this month, with senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker going up against the former congressman Beto O’Rourke in the first session. The former vice-president, Joe Biden, will face off with South Bend’s mayor, Pete Buttigieg, and senators Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders on the second evening.
NBC announced the lineup on Friday for its two-night debate, which will begin 26 June in Miami, and is set to be the first direct showdown between the Democrats vying to take on Donald Trump.
The campaign aims to build a political infrastructure that can operate regardless of what Mr. Trump says on stage or on social media. Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed is spoken of as his own brand, separate from the campaign.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has only a few weeks left of her tenure as White House press secretary and the rumor mill is churning with possible replacements.
Four possible replacements, according to Reuters, are: Stephanie Grisham, Melania Trump’s communications director; Heather Nauert, the former State Department spokeswoman; Tony Sayegh, the outgoing Treasury department spokesman and Hogan Gidley, deputy White House secretary.
Once, after watching Gidley on his screen in the residence, the President walked over to the communications office to tell the staff he thought they were handling the shutdown well.
In the days afterward, Trump confused several officials when he directed them to, “Get me Tidley.”
Sticking with the 2020 race, we have a report that former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is taking time off from exploring a presidential run.
Hallie Golden has a quick story for us:
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will be taking the summer off from exploring his potential 2020 bid for the US presidency. In a statement released Wednesday, Schultz said he experienced “acute back pain” while he was traveling in Arizona as part of his campaign work, and ultimately had to undergo three back surgeries. He said he has decided to spend the summer focused on rest and rehabilitation.
“I take this detour from the road reluctantly,” Schultz said. “My concern for our country’s future remains, as does my belief that the American people deserve so much more from our elected officials.”
In January, the billionaire announced he would explore a potential run for the presidency as an independent candidate. The news sparked a backlash from leading Democrats worried such a move could help President Donald Trump win his reelection bid in 2020.
Schultz has spent months traveling to 15 states, talking with thousands of local residents as part of his campaign. In January, he visited his home town of Seattle to promote his new book and was greeted by dozens of protestors. He said he will be back in touch after Labor Day.
We’ll return to the Democratic 2020 campaign for a short while and to my colleague Adam Gabbatt who spent the morning with Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke here in New York.
O’Rourke, whose campaign has dropped off in recent weeks according to some polls was her to take part in a morning run with LGBTQ activists.
O’Rourke turned up right on time, ready for action. The 47-year-old was decked out in full running garb for the two-mile jog, mid-thigh shorts displaying willowy legs. He was wearing an Iowa Cubs baseball hat, which seemed on message given the importance of the Hawkeye State in the Democratic primaries.
“Everybody ready to run?” O’Rourke asked the roughly 30 people who had assembled on a popular running path close to the Hudson River. There was a muted response. “Two miles is all we’re doing,” he added, which served to lift spirits a little.
Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at new polling results showing the president in deep trouble as he mounts his 2020 re-election bid.
A day after a survey found at least six Democratic presidential candidates would defeat Trump in a head-to-head election matchup, the president revived his attacks on the media while dismissing the numbers as, in his view, “fake polling”.
Well, Donald Trump is tweeting again ... (not that he ever stopped).
The president took to his favorite social media platform on Tuesday to refer to the Russia investigation as “the Greatest Witch Hunt of all time” and once again suggest, falsely, that he had been exonerated by special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
“Mueller has spoken. He found No Collusion between the Trump Campaign and the Russians. The bottom line is what the Democrat House is doing is trying to destroy the Trump Presidency (which has been a tremendous success), and I can assure you that we’re done with the Mueller......
....investigation in the Senate. They can talk to John Dean until the cows come home, we’re not doing anything in the Senate regarding the Mueller Report. We are going to harden our Infrastructure against 2020!” @LindseyGrahamSC
Vice president Mike Pence has defended the Trump administration’s move to bar US embassies from flying the rainbow pride flag during LBGTQ pride month as “the right decision”.
“We’re proud to be able to serve every American,” Pence said in an interview with NBC News late Monday. “But when it comes to the American flagpole, and American embassies, and capitals around the world, one American flag flies.”
At least four US embassies – in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia – were denied permission to fly the pride flag. Richard Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany, is spearheading an American campaign to decriminalize homosexuality around the world and said he would be “proud” to fly the rainbow flag.
But Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, believes that embassy flagpoles should be reserved for the American flag only, according to a spokeswoman.
‘We lost my brother Tony last night,’ former senator says
Sibling was a sometimes unruly presence in politician’s life
Hillary Clinton’s youngest brother, Tony Rodham, died on Friday night, the former Democratic presidential candidate said on Twitter.
Rodham’s age was not immediately known but he was born in 1954, six years after Clinton, 71, and four years after the other Rodham sibling, Hugh, 69, in the Chicago suburbs.
Billionaire Charles Koch’s conservative political network is launching four new PACs, CNN reports.
The groups will back incumbents in primaries who have sided with Koch’s positions on trade, immigration and other issues. His organization, Americans for Prosperity, is working to distance itself from Donald Trump and his wing of the Republican party, CNN reports.
More than three quarters of Americans support upholding the Roe v Wade decision legalizing abortion, according to a new poll.
In the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll, a total of 77% of Americans said they support keeping the landmark decision in place in some form, while 13% want it overturned. Americans are split, however, on how many restrictions there should be on abortion access: 26% say they want to keep Roe but add more restrictions, 21% want to expand it to allow abortion in any circumstance, 16% want to keep it in its current form, and 14% want to keep it while removing some abortion restrictions.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg returned to the Supreme Court bench after surgery for cancer this year and is leaning on her colleagues for support. From the Associated Press:
Since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s return in late winter from cancer surgery and broken ribs , she has regularly accepted Justice Clarence Thomas’ extended hand to help her down the three steps behind the Supreme Court bench when the gavel falls and court ends for the day.
There’s something touching about seeing the 86-year-old liberal icon and the 70-year-old conservative stalwart briefly join hands to exit the courtroom. Most people in the courtroom can’t see the justices once they leave the bench, but the seats reserved for reporters offer a good view.
Troops deployed to California are being tasked with painting the border wall between the US and Mexico, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said on Wednesday, in a tweet that called it “a disgraceful use of government spending.”
DHS informed Congress today that troops are going to spend the next month painting the border wall & “the primary purpose is to improve the aesthetic appearance.” A disgraceful misuse of taxpayer $$. Our military has more important work to do than making Trump’s wall beautiful.
Vice President Mike Pence will meet Wednesday with top Mexican officials who are seeking to head off the administration’s threatened tariffs, the Hill reports.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard is representing his country at the talks and expected to argue Mexico is already taking steps to prevent migrants from crossing the US-Mexico border.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Paul Manafort should not be held in solitary confinement, and nor should anyone else. Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign chair, is reportedly heading for Rikers Island where he’s likely to be held in solitary while awaiting trial on New York state charges.
Yes - released from solitary.
NYT used the term solitary confinement, & that’s what I am commenting on.
“Protective custody” IS a separate practice, but does not necessarily exclude solitary. If he is in fact not being held in solitary, great. Release everyone else from it too.
Warren: everyday gun violence should get same coverage
Leading Democrats attend convention in San Francisco
A day after the deadliest US mass shooting this year in which 12 people were shot dead at a government building, Elizabeth Warren was asked what she would do to confront an “overwhelming surge” in such events.
The Massachusetts senator said she wanted to reframe the question, then continued: “It’s not just mass shootings.” Every day in America, she said, gun violence occurs “on sidewalks and playgrounds and people’s backyards. It’s happening family by family across the country. And it doesn’t get the same headlines. And that is wrong.”
The New York congresswoman serves food and mixes drinks in a restaurant as part of an effort to promote increased wages for tipped staff. Ocasio-Cortez told cheering workers the federal tipped minimum wage of $2.13 an hour was equivalent to 'indentured servitude'. She worked as a bartender before getting elected to Congress last year.