Woodstock

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Woodstock 1969

Performance Lineup

Day One: Friday, August 15 1969

Richie Havens
1. Minstrel From Gault
2. High Flyin’ Bird
3. I Can’t Make It Anymore
4. With A Little Help
5. Strawberry Fields For Ever
6. Hey Jude
7. I Had A Woman
8. Handsome Johnny
9. Freedom

Sweetwater
1. Motherless Child
2. Look Out
3. For Pete’s Sake
4. Day Song
5. What’s Wrong
6. Crystal Spider
7. Two Worlds
8. Why Oh Why

Bert Sommer
1. Jennifer
2. The Road To Travel
3. I wondered where you’d be
4. She’s Gone
5. Things Are Going My Way
6. And When It’s Over
7. Jeanette
8. America (first standing ovation at Woodstock)
9. A Note That Read
10. Smile

Tim Hardin
1. Misty Roses
2. If I Were A Carpenter

Ravi Shankar
1. Raga Puriya-Dhanashri / Gat In Sawarital
2. Tabla Solo In Jhaptal
3. Raga Manj Kmahaj / Alap Jor / Dhun In Kaharwa Tal / Medium & Fast Gat In Teental

Melanie
1. Beautiful People
2. Birthday Of The Sun

Arlo Guthrie
1. Coming Into Los Angeles
2. Walking Down The Line
3. Amazing Grace

Joan Baez
1. Joe Hill
2. Sweet Sir Galahad
3. Drug Store Truck Driving Man
4. Swing Low Sweet Chariot
5. We Shall Overcome

Day Two: Saturday, August 16 1969

Quill
1. Waitin’ For You

Country Joe McDonald
1. I Find Myself Missing You
2. Rockin’ All Around The World
3. Flyin’ High All Over The World
4. Seen A Rocket
5. Fish Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixing-To-Die-Rag

John B. Sebastian
1. How Have You Been
2. Rainbows All Over Your Blues
3. I Had A Dream
4. Darlin’ Be Home Soon
5. Younger Generation

Keef Hartley Band
1. Believe In You
2. Rock Me Baby
3. Leavin’ Trunk/Halfbreed/Just To Cry/And Sinnin’ For You

Santana
1. Persuasion
2. Savor
3. Soul Sacrifice
4. Fried Neckbones

Incredible String Band
1. Catty Come
2. This Moment Is Different
3. When You Find Out Who You Are

Canned Heat
1. I’m Her Man
2. Going Up the Country
3. A Change Is Gonna Come
4. Leaving This Town
5. The Bear Talks
6. Let’s Work Together
7. Too Many Drivers at the Wheel
8. I Know My Baby
9. Woodstock Boogie
10. On the Road Again

Grateful Dead
1. St. Stephen
2. Mama Tried
3. Dark Star / High Time
4. Turn On Your Lovelight

Leslie West & Mountain
1. Blood Of The Sun
2. Stormy Monday
3. Theme From An Imaginary Western
4. Long Red
5. For Yasgur’s Farm
6. You And Me
7. Waiting To Take You Away
8. Dreams Of Milk And Honey
9. Blind Man
10. Blue Suede Shoes
11. Southbound Train

Creedence Clearwater Revival
1. Born On The Bayou
2. Green River
3. Ninety-Nine And A Half
4. Commotion
5. Bootleg
6. Bad Moon Rising
7. Proud Mary
8. I Put A Spell On You
9. Night Time Is The Right Time
10. Keep On Choogin’
11. Suzy Q

 

Janis Joplin
1. Raise Your Hand
2. As Good As You’ve Been To This World
3. To Love Somebody
4. Summertime
5. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
6. Kosmic Blues
7. Can’t Turn You Loose
8. Work Me Lord
9. Piece Of My Heart
10. Ball and Chain

Sly & The Family Stone
1. M’Lady
2. Sing A Simple Song
3. You Can Make It If You Try
4. Stand!
5. Love City
6. Dance To The Music
7. Music Lover
8. I Want To Take You Higher

The Who
1. Heaven And Hell
2. I Can’t Explain
3. It’s A Boy
4. 1921
5. Amazing Journey
6. Sparks
7. Eyesight To The Blind
8. Cristmas
9. Tommie Can You Hear Me
10. Acid Queen
11. Pinball Wizard
12. Abbie Hoffmann Incident
13. Fiddle About
14. There’s A Doctor I’ve Found
15. Go To The Mirror Boy
16. Smash The Mirror
17. I’m Free
18. Tommy’s Holiday Camp
19. We’re Not Gonna Take It
20. See Me Feel Me
21. Summertime Blues
22. Shakin’ All Over
23. My Generation
24. Naked Eye

Jefferson Airplane
1. The Other Side Of This Life
2. Plastic Fantastic Lover
3. Volunteers
4. Saturday Afternoon / Won’t You Try
5. Eskimo Blue Day
6. Uncle Sam’s Blues
7. Somebody To Love
8. White Rabbit

Day Three: Sunday, August 17 1969

Joe Cocker
1. Delta Lady
2. Some Things Goin’ On
3. Let’s Go Get Stoned
4. I Shall Be Released
5. With A Little Help From My Friends

Country Joe & The Fish
1. Barry’s Caviar Dream
2. Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine
3. Rock And Soul Music
4. Thing Called Love
5. Love Machine
6. Fish Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixing-To-Die-Rag

Ten Years After
1. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
2. I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes
3. I May Be Wrong, But I Won’t Be Wrong Always
4. I’m Going Home

The Band
1. Chest Fever
2. Don’t Do It
3. Tears Of Rage
4. We Can Talk About It Now
5. Long Black Veil
6. Don’t Ya Tell Henry
7. Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos
8. Wheels On Fire
9. Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
10. The Weight

Johnny Winter
1. More And More
2. I Love You Baby More Than You Ever Know
3. Spinning Wheel
4. I Stand Accused
5. Something Coming On

Blood Sweat And Tears
1. Mean Town Blues

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
1. Suite Judy Blue Eyes
2. Blackbird
3. Helplessly Hoping
4. Guinnevere
5. Marrakesh Express
6. 4 + 20
7. Mr Soul
8. Wonderin’
9. You Don’t Have To Cry
10. Pre-Road Downs
11. Long Time Gone
12. Bluebird Revisited
13. Sea Of Madness
14. Wooden Ships
15. Find The Cost Of Freedom
16. 49 Bye-Byes

Day Four: Monday, August 18 1969

Paul Butterfield Blues Band
1. Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
2. Driftin’
3. Born Under A Bad Sign
4. All My Love Comin’ Through To You
5. Love March

Sha Na Na
1. Na Na Theme
2. Jakety Jak
3. Teen Angel
4. Jailhouse Rock
5. Wipe Out
6. Who Wrote The Book Of Love
7. Duke Of Earl
8. At The Hop
9. Na Na Theme

Jimi Hendrix
1. Message To Love
2. Getting My Heart Back Together Again
3. Spanish Castle Magic
4. Red House
5. Master Mind
6. Here Comes Your Lover Man
7. Foxy Lady
8. Beginning
9. Izabella
10. Gypsy Woman
11. Fire
12. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) / Stepping Stone
13. Star Spangled Banner
14. Purple Haze
15. Woodstock Improvisation / Villanova Junction
16. Hey Joe



There were almost 500,000 people there. There was a shortage of food, water, and toilets, but no one got hurt and there were no fights reported. There was some bad acid and people did get sick. There was a huge traffic jam. As you just read, the performers were the best.

Just a month after man had landed on the Moon. The Vietnam war protests were at their height. The bloody riots at the Chicago Democratic National convention were just a year before, and so were the murders of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Nixon was President, but Watergate was in the future, so were the killings at Kent State.

Some of the bands that declined the invitation to play at Woodstock were: The Doors, Led Zepplin, Jethro Tull, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Moody Blues, Joni Mitchell, and Tommy James and the Shondells.

Insects Are Dying En Masse, Risking ‘Catastrophic’ Collapse Of Earth’s Ecosystems

The insect apocalypse is indeed upon us, according to the first global scientific review of insect population decline.

By Dominique Mosbergen

 

There have been warning signs for years about plummeting insect populations worldwide, but the extent of the potentially “catastrophic” crisis had not been well-understood — until now.

 

Full story here

U.S. Freedoms Under Attack, Threatening Worldwide Domino Effect, Report Says

Part of the blame is being pinned on the Trump presidency.

By Amy Russo

 

The erosion of democratic liberties in the United States could trigger a worldwide regression of freedom, a new report warned.

And part of the blame belongs to President Donald Trump.

On Monday, Freedom House, a primarily government-funded NGO dedicated to advocating for democracy, released its annual study assessing global freedoms. For the 13th year in a row, the group found such freedoms were on the decline.

The organization’s president, Michael Abramowitz, wrote that while the issue preceded Trump’s presidency, “there remains little question that [he] exerts an influence on American politics that is straining our core values and testing the stability of our constitutional system.”

“No president in living memory has shown less respect for its tenets, norms and principles,”
Abramowitz added. “Trump has assailed essential institutions and traditions, including the separation of powers, a free press, an independent judiciary, the impartial delivery of justice, safeguards against corruption and most disturbingly, the legitimacy of elections.”

Abramowitz also accused Congress of failing to check Trump’s power and resist his threats to democracy.

For 2019, the U.S. received a score of 86 out of 100 on the organization’s freedom scale, with 0 being the least free and 100 being the most. But that’s untraditionally low.

“The current overall U.S. score puts American democracy closer to struggling counterparts like Croatia than to traditional peers such as Germany or the United Kingdom,” Abramowitz said.

While America remains solidly in the “free” category, Abramowitz cautioned that there was no guarantee things would stay that way.

“Irresponsible rhetoric can be a first step toward real restrictions on freedom,” he said, pointing to oppressive regimes in Venezuela, Turkey and Hungary as examples.

Syria, Eritrea and North Korea ranked as the report’s least free countries. Saudi Arabia, which ranked 4th worst, has been linked to the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in one of its embassies. Despite CIA intel verifying this connection, Trump called Saudi Arabia a “great ally” and doubted its role in the murder.

Click here to read the full report (PDF).

ICE Let Sexual Assault Reports Slide At Migrant Detention Centers Run By Contractors: Inspector General

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general slams immigration officials for poor oversight of facilities.

By Mary Papenfuss

 

 Federal immigration officials are not adequately policing contractors running immigrant detention centers where serious problems are often going unreported, according to a report the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security released last week. 

Full story here

Trump Admin Says It’s Too Hard To Reunite Thousands Of Separated Families: Court Filing

It referred to the process of reuniting separated families as a “burden.”

By Angelina Chapin

 

On Friday, officials from the Trump administration said it would require too much effort to reunite the thousands of families it separated before implementing its “zero-tolerance” policy in April, according to a declaration filed as part of an ongoing lawsuit between the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Last month, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services released a report stating that “thousands” more immigrant families had been separated than the government had previously disclosed. In the declaration submitted Friday, HHS officials said they don’t know the exact number of children who were taken from their parents before “zero tolerance” and that finding them would be too much of a “burden” since there was no formal tracking system in place.

“The Trump administration’s response is a shocking concession that it can’t easily find thousands of children it ripped from parents and doesn’t even think it’s worth the time to locate each of them,” said Lee Gelernt, the lead lawyer in the ACLU’s ongoing lawsuit against ICE, in a statement. “The administration also doesn’t dispute that separations are ongoing in significant numbers.”

HHS did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

The deputy director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Jallyn Sualog, said that 100 ORR analysts would have to work eight hours each day for between seven and 15 months to “even begin reconciling” data on separated families. “In my judgment, ORR does not have the requisite staff for such a project,” Sualog wrote in the declaration. 

Immigration advocates are appalled by the fact that the government didn’t bother to properly track separated families and that it is now shirking its responsibility to reunite parents and children.

“They are saying they just don’t care,” said Michelle Brané, the director of the Migrant Rights and Justice Program at the Women’s Refugee Commission. “It’s shocking from a human rights perspective for a government to behave this way.”

“I think the policy of taking the children away in the first place was cruel,” said Gelernt, the ACLU lawyer, “but to not even have a system to return the parents to the children just increases the magnitude of the cruelty.”

The government also failed to properly track the roughly 2,800 children that it separated from their parents under the “zero-tolerance” policy between April and June. The administration was required to reunite families as part of an ACLU lawsuit, an ongoing process that has at times required immigration advocates to search for deported parents on foot in remote, crime-ridden areas of Central America. 

According to the inspector general’s report, 159 children who were separated under “zero tolerance” are still in ORR care, most of whose parents were deported and decided to keep their kids in the U.S. due to dangerous situations back home. If the government doesn’t allow those parents to re-apply for asylum in the U.S., families may remain permanently separated. Gelernt worries that before “zero tolerance” the government could have deported hundreds more parents who might not have had a say in their children’s futures.

In the declaration, Jonathan White, a commander with the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, said that most unaccompanied children are released to family sponsors and that in addition to logistical challenges, trying to reunite separated kids with their parents could be destabilizing and “would present grave child welfare concerns.” 

But Gelernt says the government should not be making decisions on behalf of mothers and fathers. “[The administration] had no right to just give these kids away unless the parent was making an informed decision,” he said. “This is not a situation where the parents put the child up for adoption. This is a situation where the child was forcibly taken from the parents.”

On Feb. 21, Gelernt will argue in front of a federal judge in California that all families separated before “zero tolerance” should be part of the ACLU’s ongoing lawsuit and that the government has a responsibility to reunify these parents with their children. He is disappointed that the administration failed to act humanely towards immigrant families in its declaration. 

“The [government] is saying it’s not legally required for them to [reunite families] and therefore they won’t do it,” he said. “But why not do it because it’s the right thing to do?”

GOP Tax Cut Had No Major Impact On Business Investment Or Hiring

Reuters

Full story here


There's a big surprise, NOT

Shutdown Hitting Reservations Harder Than Most Places

By Evan Ramstad, Minneapolis Star Tribune on Jan 21, 2019 at 7:23 p.m.

MINNEAPOLIS — The federal government shutdown is hitting Native Americans harder than most people, with jobs on hold and critical funds cut to some of the nation's poorest communities.

Under treaties stretching back to before the founding of the country, the U.S. government pays for basic economic needs to Native American nations, including health services, education and infrastructure. Nearly all funding has been cut since the shutdown began Dec. 22, however, leaving Indian communities to dip into reserves or make cuts.

"We are in a cash flow crisis," Darrell Seki, chairman of the Red Lake Nation in northern Minnesota, said Monday. "But we are doing everything we can not to lay off people and to keep up services."
As well, Native American reservations have a higher proportion of federal employees than most parts of the country except for the Washington, D.C., area, making the lack of income resulting from the furlough of employees an acute economic problem.

On some in the Dakotas and other Western states, the income has been cut to more than 1,000 people, leading to a ripple in spending and consumption that is affecting thousands more.

"People are suffering," Patrice Kunesh, director of the Center for Indian Country Development at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, which has been studying the effects across the country, said.

"Many of the furloughed employees are one-income families," she added. "Small businesses that depend on tribal spending are having a hard time. Even the relief programs are feeling pain."

Many Native Americans rely on the federal Indian Health Service for essential needs and a special banking system that processes land leases and other payments. The poor rely on a federal food distribution system. All of those services — along with the lead agency that deals with Native Americans, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) — have been closed by the shutdown.

"The BIA is AWOL," Seki said. He said he would like to see President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate leader Mitch McConnell visit a Native American community to see the effects firsthand.

Red Lake Nation suspended construction of two fire halls and a dialysis treatment center while it waits for the federal government to reopen, but it has maintained health services, Seki said.
The Bureau of Indian Education and most related schools have remained open because that agency's funding is scheduled differently. That bureau sent funds to schools weeks or months ago for today's operations.

Kunesh said fund transfers are staggered, however, and that some Native American schools that ran out of federal funds may have to be supported locally until the shutdown ends.

The federal government's outsized role on Native American life is rooted in history. In hundreds of treaties dating as far back as 1774, the government agreed to assist tribes that ceded vast tracts of land to the United States.

To some, the shutdown represents another moment when the government has abrogated its responsibilities to the country's 5 million Indians.

"Once again we have failed to meet our trust and treaty responsibilities to tribal nations," Rep. Betty McCollum of St. Paul said at a Democratic hearing on the shutdown's impact on Native Americans last week.

In some reservations, federal agencies employ one out of six people. In North and South Dakota, the Indian Health Service is one of the state's largest employers.

On Friday, the Federation of Indian Service Employees, a union representing federal workers across Indian country, filed suit against the government for failing to pay people who were ordered to keep working during the shutdown.

TSA Union Warns Of ‘Massive Security Risk’ As Some Officers Quit Amid Shutdown

By Amy Russo

At first, Transportation Security Administration screeners were just calling out sick from work. Now, some are quitting altogether, their union says.

In a statement released Tuesday, the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents the workers, warned that safety could take a big hit in transit hubs as the federal government shutdown drags into week three, leaving staff without pay.

“Every day I’m getting calls from my members about their extreme financial hardships and need for a paycheck,” said Hydrick Thomas, the organization’s TSA Council president. “Some of them have already quit and many are considering quitting the federal workforce because of this shutdown. The loss of officers, while we’re already shorthanded, will create a massive security risk for American travelers since we don’t have enough trainees in the pipeline or the ability to process new hires.”

Last week, AFGE launched a lawsuit against the federal government for forcing federal employees to show up to work uncompensated, calling the demands “inhumane.”

Around that time, the union said TSA agents were starting to skip work. The situation now appearing to be escalating.

In addition to raising security issues, fewer staffers on duty would increase wait times with longer lines at airports.

“It is completely unacceptable that the women and men who risk their lives safeguarding our airports are still required to report for work without knowing when they’ll be paid again,” AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. said.

Cox argued that compared with other agencies, the workers are facing tougher conditions and lackluster wages, making the shutdown especially grueling.

“TSA Officers already have the least amount of rights of any federal officer, some of the lowest pay and highest attrition rates in government, and among the lowest morale of any federal agency. Working for weeks on end without being compensated ― while already being short-staffed ― only makes their situation worse,” he said.

The federal government spiraled into a partial shutdown last month over Congress’ inability to pass a spending bill including President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding. He’s seeking more than $5 billion, but Democrats have yet to budge and no end to the impasse is in sight.

Trump Orders FEMA To Cut Off Aid For California Wildfire Recovery

The president said the fire-ravaged state will receive no more money until “they get their act together.”

By Chris D’Angelo 

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cut off wildfire relief aid for fire-scorched California until state officials “get their act together” and do a better job of managing forests.

The bizarre proclamation furthers the administration’s attempt to pin the devastation on environmentalists while ignoring the clear impact climate change is having on extreme fires out west.

“Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forrest (sic) fires that, with proper Forrest (sic) Management, would never happen,” he wrote in a since-deleted post to Twitter. “Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!”

There was no further information on the veracity of Trump’s Twitter claim. The White House and FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. FEMA is also impacted by the ongoing partial government shutdown and, as Washington Post reporter Damian Paletta highlighted, doesn’t have money to send to the state.

The announcement comes as California reels from one of its worst wildfire seasons on record. The Mendocino Complex fire, the largest wildfire in the state’s recorded history, burned more than 450,000 acres north of Santa Rosa in July. November’s Camp fire ― the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history — engulfed more than 153,000 acres, destroyed nearly 19,000 structures and killed at least 86 people.

Trump has blamed the state’s devastating infernos on everything from a lack of raking to a nonexistent water shortage resulting from “bad environmental laws.” And the administration has used the disasters to push partisan policy, connecting the blazes to a longstanding fight between farmers and environmentalists over water resources.

But the reality is that the federal government manages more land in California than the state. And many of the state’s worst fires have burned primarily federal lands, as the Redding Record Searchlight reported.

Last month, Trump signed an executive order to boost logging and forest thinning on more than 4 million acres of federal lands to combat extreme wildfires. The order directs the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture to identify ways to reduce “regulatory barriers” to better manage forests and get rid of hazardous fuels, and it calls for “treating” 4.25 million federal acres — an area larger than Connecticut — to cut fuel loads.

Newly inaugurated California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) were among the state leaders that swung back at Trump’s announcement.

“Disasters and recovery are no time for politics,” wrote Newsom, who on Tuesday announced an interstate partnership and a pair of executive orders to combat the wildfire problem.

“I’m already taking action to modernize and manage our forests and emergency responses,” he added in a post to Twitter. “The people of CA ― folks in Paradise ― should not be victims to partisan bickering.”

“We should work together to mitigate these fires by combating climate change, not play politics by threatening to withhold money from survivors of a deadly natural disaster,” Harris wrote in her own post.

Millions Could Lose Food Assistance If Government Shutdown Continues

Does Donald Trump want a border wall badly enough to let struggling Americans go hungry?

 By Arthur Delaney

Full story here

House Democrats Introduce Their Sweeping New Reform Bill

The legislation would make it easier to vote, create publicly financed elections, rein in corruption and restore voting rights to millions.

By Paul Blumenthal 

House Democrats unveiled Friday the For the People Act, a comprehensive package of democratic reforms and the first major bill of the 116th Congress. The bill is a sweeping combination of election, campaign finance and ethics reforms designed to make voting easier, curb the power of big donors and reduce conflicts of interest in all three branches of government.

Full story here

House Democrats Not Rushing To Get Trump’s Tax Returns

By Arthur Delaney and Paul Blumenthal

WASHINGTON ― The first thing Democratic lawmakers have to do to obtain copies of President Donald Trump’s personal and business tax returns is to send a letter to the Internal Revenue Service ― but they’re not going to do it this week.

And they might not even do it this month.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee ― who is legally entitled to see any American’s tax returns ― has indicated that he wants to wait and “lay out a case” so he doesn’t look too partisan.

Hesitating is a “big mistake,” said Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow with the Tax Policy Center, a partnership of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute.

“Congress’ oversight responsibilities are clear and Trump’s tax returns are critical to that oversight,” Rosenthal said. “To pretend otherwise just plays into Trump’s narrative.”

“It is indefensible,” said Jeff Hauser, director of the Revolving Door Project at the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research. “By being slow to act on this, Richard Neal is messing up both politically and legally.”

Politically, Neal is “acceding to the notion” that even beginning the process to obtain Trump’s tax returns is an “outrageous or drastic” act of a partisan nature, Hauser argued. Legally, he added, Neal’s hesitation just delays a likely effort by Trump and the Treasury Department to drag a tax return request through the courts.

Federal law says that in response to a written request from the Ways and Means chairman, the Treasury secretary “shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request.” A Treasury spokesperson told HuffPost last year that the department would review any such request to get the president’s returns “for legality,” strongly hinting that the Trump administration would not simply obey the law. This could mean a protracted legal battle.

“Trump may order the IRS to resist, but Neal should get the clock running,” Rosenthal said.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump broke with decades of precedent by refusing to disclose his tax returns, which could reveal detailed information about his income, debts and charitable giving. Democrats previously said they would try to obtain the returns if they won back the House of Representatives in November, which they did. Democrats assume control of the House on Thursday afternoon.

Other Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee told HuffPost last month that they considered getting Trump’s tax returns a top priority. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) hinted that they were developing a strategy.

“We have thought about some things which I’m not going to communicate,” he said.

As for the prospect of a prolonged legal battle: “The law’s on our side,” said Pascrell. “There’s stronger reason now to do what we wanted to do than there was 18 months ago.”

Disclosures that Trump and his businesses may have fraudulently dodged taxes over the years make obtaining the president’s returns important as a policy matter, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said.

“We need to look at whether we can have confidence that our tax laws are being fairly enforced,” 
Doggett said. “I see getting the tax returns as not an attempt to indicate partisanship against Trump but as part of the work we do in the administration of tax law.”
__________________________________________________________________________________

These are the wimpy Democrats who intend to stop Trump?

This Is Our President

Trump Blames Democrats For Deaths Of 2 Children In Border Patrol Custody

“If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try!” the president claimed.

By Sara Boboltz 

 

President Donald Trump on Sunday pinned the recent deaths of two migrant children on the southern U.S. border on his usual political foe, the Democrats, along with what he called “their pathetic immigration policies.”

 

Full story here 

This Is Our President

Trump Blocks Federal Workers’ Pay Hike While They’re Out Of A Job

 In the middle of a government shutdown, Trump ordered that federal worker pay not be increased for 2019.

By Dave Jamieson 

Full story here

Shutdown Slashes Nearly All Federal Food Stamps Office Staff

As of Wednesday morning, remaining employees dwindled down to a mere 5 percent.

By Amy Russo

 

As the government shutdown drags into its fifth day, nearly all employees in the office overseeing federal food stamps have been cut.

As of Wednesday morning, the remaining staff dwindled down to a mere 5 percent.

The drastic change was flagged by CNN, which pointed a U.S. Department of Agriculture summary breaking down each of its resources under threat, and the days left until they disappeared. The Food Nutrition and Consumer Services office deals not only with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but also the Child Nutrition Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

While SNAP benefits will remain available in January and Child Nutrition programs will continue into February, the future of WIC is uncertain as the shutdown lingers on. The USDA suggested that states turn to local resources if needed.

In a statement Friday just before the government’s partial closure, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue attempted to ease concerns, noting the agency would try its best to keep to business as usual.

“There may be a lapse in funding for the federal government, but that will not relieve USDA of its responsibilities for safeguarding life and property through the critical services we provide,” Perdue said. “Our employees work hard every day to benefit our customers and the farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers who depend on our programs. During a shutdown, we will leverage our existing resources as best we can to continue to provide the top-notch service people expect.”

The agency echoed Perdue’s message on Twitter hours after the shutdown kicked in.

Key USDA services that won’t be cut include its inspections of poultry, meat and eggs and its monitoring of imports and exports for pests.

So far, there’s no end to the shutdown in sight as President Donald Trump continues battling for a spending bill with border wall funding, which has been stymied by the House despite passing the Senate. It is becoming increasingly possible the government might not reopen until January when Democrats gain control of the House.

Denver Mayor Moves To Ban Conversion Therapy For LGBTQ Minors

“These terrible practices that target our youth, simply for being who they are, are dangerous and immoral,” Mayor Michael B. Hancock said.

By Alanna Vagianos 

Denver is the latest city to propose a ban on “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ youths.

Mayor Michael B. Hancock (D) and two City Council members introduced the proposal on Monday, which will be reviewed by the Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee on Wednesday. If passed, the ban would be the first anti-conversion therapy legislation to pass in the state of Colorado.

“These terrible practices that target our youth, simply for being who they are, are dangerous and immoral. We’re going to make sure that they never happen within our city,” Hancock said in a Monday statement.

The proposed ban hopes to protect LGBTQ youth form “dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression,” according to the mayor. The proposal aims to target state-licensed therapists within the city of Denver who claim that being gay, bisexual or transgender is a mental illness.

Conversion therapy is rooted in the belief, often found in religious communities, that sexuality and gender identity is a choice, and something that can be changed through therapy. Dozens of government health organizations have condemned the practice, including the American Psychological Association, which said the risks of conversion therapy include “depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior.”

The American Psychoanalytic Association described the controversial practice as going “against fundamental principles of psychoanalytic treatment,” which “often result in substantial psychological pain by reinforcing damaging internalized attitudes.”

In his Monday statement, Hancock recalled when his brother came out as gay to his family and was met with love and support.

“All our LGBTQ+ youth here in Denver deserve the same, and they should be proud of who they are,” he added. “We celebrate who they are, and they should feel welcome and that our city is open to them. Their safety, well-being and happiness are our highest priority with this proposal.”
Colorado lawmakers have previously tried to ban conversion therapy throughout the state, but the proposed legislation has failed four times, according to CBS.

Fourteen states, in addition to Washington, D.C., have banned conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth. Other states that have outlawed conversion therapy for minors include New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Washington and Hawaii.

Mother Barred From Seeing Dying Toddler Due To Trump Travel Ban

The child’s father is an American citizen who brought the 2-year-old to California for treatment.

By Sara Boboltz 

A California man on Monday begged the U.S. State Department to allow his wife into the country to see the couple’s reportedly dying 2-year-old son.

Ali Hassan, 22, is an American citizen who says his wife has been barred from the country due to the Trump administration’s travel ban, which restricts visa applicants from the Muslim-majority nations of Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

The child’s mother, 21-year-old Shaima Swileh, is a native of Yemen who lives in Egypt, according to the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is advocating on behalf of the family.

Hassan had brought the toddler, Abdullah, to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California, a few months ago for treatment for a genetic brain condition.

According to CAIR, doctors have said that Abdullah cannot endure life support for much longer.

“My wife is calling me every day wanting to kiss and hold her son,” Hassan said at a tearful press conference Monday.

“For the one last time ― time’s running out. Please help us. I am here today for your support to help bring my family together for the one last time,” he said.

In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court voted in late June to uphold the travel ban, which was the Trump administration’s third attempt to crack down on immigration from select nations. Critics say the ban unfairly targets Muslims, while the measure’s supporters claim it strengthens national security.

Swileh has applied for a waiver in order to see her son, CAIR said.

U.S. Border Agents Who Detained Girl Won’t Speak With Congress About Her Death

Congressional Hispanic Caucus members plan to visit the patrol station where 7-year-old Jakelin Caal was taken.

Andrew Hay - Reuters

 

U.S. Border Patrol agents who detained a 7-year-old Guatemalan migrant girl who later died in federal custody will not speak with U.S. lawmakers investigating her death, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Monday, citing their union membership.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Tuesday plan to visit the New Mexico patrol station where Jakelin Caal and her father were taken on Dec. 7 to learn more about why she died the next day.

Caal’s death fueled criticism of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies from Democrats and migrant advocates.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said it showed the dangers of her journey and the family’s decision to cross the border illegally.

U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat who leads the Hispanic Caucus, said lawmakers needed to see how Border Patrol stations were equipped to protect the health and safety of migrants. The lawmakers want to question agents who were present when Caal became ill.

DHS said the majority of agents involved in the girl’s detention were union members and, as such, their duties did not include speaking to members of Congress.

Art Del Cueto, a spokesman for the agents’ union, the National Border Patrol Council, said it advised them not to speak to anyone outside DHS about the incident until the agency completes its investigation.

The DHS said visiting lawmakers would be able to speak with the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Border Patrol leaders.

“While DHS respects the oversight role of Congress, it is important to allow the review process to occur unimpeded by politics,” DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman said in a statement.

Agents involved in the incident will participate in the DHS inspector general’s investigation of Caal’s death, DHS said.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Caal and her father crossed a remote stretch of border in a group of 163 immigrants and were apprehended by Border Patrol. They waited eight hours to be transported to the nearest Border Patrol station. On arrival at the Lordsburg, New Mexico station, Caal was found to have a high fever. She died Dec. 8 in an El Paso, Texas hospital after being diagnosed with liver failure, according to CBP.

Attorneys for the family released a statement on Saturday calling for “a transparent and neutral” investigation into her death. The family disputed a statement made by CBP officials to the Washington Post that Jakelin had not eaten or had water in several days.

Dogs Thrown From Vehicle On New York Highway, Police Say

The two beagle mixes are recovering after being rescued by a state trooper and a truck driver who said he witnessed the horrific scene.

By Nina Golgowski 

Two beagle mixes are recovering after authorities said they were tossed from a moving vehicle onto a New York highway, igniting a search for the culprits.

A man driving a tractor-trailer said he was traveling along Interstate 81 in Cortland County around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday when he saw the dogs tossed from an SUV’s back window in the southbound lane, according to the New York State Police.

The truck driver, whom police identified only as Adam, said he immediately hit the brakes and parked his vehicle on the side of the road to help. A passing state trooper assisted after spotting the trucker’s abandoned vehicle and then the two dogs, one of which was described as seriously injured.

“[Adam] seemed to be very angry that somebody could do such a despicable act to dogs,” police spokeswoman Trooper Aga Dembinska told WBNG 12 News.

The dogs, since named Adam and Trooper after their heroes, were taken to the Broome County Humane Society in Binghamton for treatment. Trooper, who suffered the worst injuries of the two, had one of his legs amputated. Adam suffered only a few abrasions, the Humane Society said.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, the Humane Society described Trooper as “alert” and “determined” to get well.

“He was very alert and mobile this evening. He was moving on 3 legs!” the organization shared. “Although a bit unsteady, and only moving a short distance, it is very obvious that he is determined.”

An earlier Facebook update showed photos of Adam also in good spirits while donning a Santa hat and a Snoopy bandana.

The person or people responsible for the dogs’ injuries remain wanted by police. The vehicle involved is believed to be an older, dark blue Dodge Durango. It was described by the responding trucker as very dirty and with rust along the hatch near the bumper area, police said.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the New York State Police Department at (607) 749-1614. Those wanting to help Trooper and Adam’s recovery can donate to the Broome County Humane Society.

7-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies Of Dehydration In Border Patrol Custody:

The Guatemalan child was taken to an El Paso hospital after her temperature topped 105.

 By Antonia Blumberg

A 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock while in U.S. Border Patrol custody last week, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The girl, who the Post said was not identified by the CBP, started having seizures roughly eight hours after the Border Patrol took her into custody along with her father and a group of 163 other people who had crossed the border illegally along a stretch of New Mexico desert.

The migrants had turned themselves in to U.S. agents and were taken into custody about 10 p.m. Dec. 6. The girl began having seizures at 6:25 the following morning, CBP records stated. 

She “reportedly had not eaten or consumed water for several days,” CBP said. Emergency responders measured her temperature at 105.7 degrees and took her by helicopter to an El Paso hospital. There, she went into cardiac arrest and “was revived,” CBP said. “However, the child did not recover and died at the hospital less than 24 hours after being transported.”

CBP officials did not immediately provide comment to HuffPost.

“Our sincerest condolences go out to the family of the child,” Andrew Meehan, a spokesman for the agency, said in a statement to the Post.

“Border Patrol agents took every possible step to save the child’s life under the most trying of circumstances,” Meehan said. “As fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, we empathize with the loss of any child.”

Meehan did not comment to the Post on whether Border Patrol agents provided the girl with food and water in the eight hours between when she was taken into custody and when her seizures began.

Border Patrol agents detained a record 25,172 “family unit members” in November and 5,283 “unaccompanied minors,” according to Department of Homeland Security figures released last week.

The Trump administration is no longer enforcing the family separations carried out in May and June, which sparked a nationwide outcry and prompted a federal judge to order the government to reunite children with their guardians.

But the child’s dehydration death last week could inflame anger over the agency’s treatment of children, especially with new reports this week about the conditions of CBP facilities.

The government is currently holding nearly 15,000 unaccompanied migrant children in federally contracted detention facilities, the Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday. Shelters holding children are about 92 percent full, agency spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer told CNN.