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Reason Roundup

Justice Department Tells Republicans to Hand Over Records on Cindy Yang and Other Chinese-American Supporters

Plus: humanitarians face felonies for helping migrants, Huawei scientists banned from reviewing prestigious journal, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 5.30.2019 9:45 AM

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yang2- | screenshot/ABC News
(screenshot/ABC News)

Following a request from congressional Democrats, the U.S. Department of Justice is now subpoenaing records related to the Floridian entrepreneur and small-time Republican donor Li "Cindy" Yang.

The Miami Herald reports that federal prosecutors have sent subpoenas to the Mar-a-Lago Club and to Trump Victory (a fundraising team for Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, the Republican National Committee, and GOP committees from 11 states), seeking information on contributions and event attendance by Yang, her husband and parents, several former members of her staff, her colleague on the National Committee of Asian American Republicans, and several other Chinese Americans.

Right now, federal investigators don't know or aren't letting on much. But the Herald says the case is aimed squarely at "Yang and possibly others close to her," not the Trump family business or Republican fundraisers.

Yang—who built up and then sold a spa and massage chain in South Florida—had in recent years launched G.Y. U.S. Investments, an endeavor that helped Chinese business owners navigate U.S. regulations and make contacts, investments, and operational inroads here.

As part of this consulting business, Yang sometimes offered clients access to events at Trump's private club in Palm Beach and to other Republican parties. Prosecutors say some of these events were ticketed fundraisers, meaning someone had to pay for the access—a payment that counts as a political contribution. And non-citizens are prevented from donating to U.S. political campaigns.

Yang herself has been a citizen here for years. But if she brought Chinese nationals who paid her to a paid-ticket party for Trump, she may have run afoul of campaign finance laws. Yang has denied any wrongdoing. She is also suing the Herald for defamation.

Nonetheless, people are already spinning wild tales about what we supposedly know about Yang—that she funneled money from China to Trump, and that she earned her money from human trafficking. The trafficking rumor stems from recent (and rapidly unraveling) prostitution cases against Patriots owner Robert Kraft and others, involving activity at a massage place that isn't affiliated with Yang. (Yang simply owned a business in the same location years ago.)

And while we may yet find some funny business with her books, all the FBI seems to have right now is receipts on some legal and relatively small donations ($70,000 from Yang and her family to Trump fundraisers since the 2016 election, the Herald reports) and records of contributions from several other Chinese Republicans or massage business owners. It's not even clear that some of those have any association with Yang.

The new subpoenas demand any documents and communications related to Yang and 11 others, dating back through January 2017. They also seeks information related to "one charity and seven companies affiliated with" Yang, an unnamed "person familiar with the investigation" tells the Herald. The paper adds that the

investigation is being handled by the FBI and the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington. While special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election has ended, the new probe examining Chinese money may add to growing concerns over foreign influence heading into the 2020 election.

It seems unlikely to be just coincidence that this story and others hinting about Chinese influence starting sparking so much attention right around the time Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling and collusion was dying down.


FREE MINDS

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) can no longer let Huawei scientists serve as editors or peer reviewers for its journals, or else it risks running afoul of the Trump administration's sanctions on the Chinese company.

Unbelievable, IEEE is forced to ban Huawei employees from peer-reviewing papers or handling papers as editors. pic.twitter.com/pkvQeOUI07

— J Q (@JQinsight) May 29, 2019

Science reports:

The IEEE ban has sparked outrage among Chinese scientists on social media. "I joined IEEE as a Ph.D. student because it is recognized as an International academic platform in electronics engineering," wrote Haixia (Alice) Zhang of Peking University in Beijing in a letter to IEEE leadership. "But this message is challenging my professional integrity. I have decided to quit the editorial boards [of two IEEE journals] until it restores our common professional integrity."


FREE MARKETS

Humanitarians offering material assistance to migrants crossing the Sonoran Desert are being prosecuted on federal charges. Arizona geographer Scott Warren is one of them, charged with a felony for offering water, food, and other basic necessities to those passing through.

"In the Sonoran Desert, the temperature can reach 120 degrees during the day and plummet at night," writes Warren:

Water is scarce. Tighter border policies have forced migrants into harsher and more remote territory, and many who attempt to traverse this landscape don't survive. Along what's become known as the Ajo corridor, dozens of bodies are found each year; many more are assumed to be undiscovered.

Local residents and volunteers organize hikes into this desert to offer humanitarian aid. We haul jugs of water and buckets filled with canned food, socks, electrolytes and basic first-aid supplies to a few sites along the mountain and canyon paths. Other times, we get a report that someone has gone missing, and our mission becomes search and rescue—or, more often, to recover the bodies and bones of those who have died.

Over the years, humanitarian groups and local residents navigated a coexistence with the Border Patrol. We would meet with agents and inform them of how and where we worked. At times, the Border Patrol sought to cultivate a closer relationship. "Glad you're out here today," I remember an agent telling me once. "People really need water." In a town as small as Ajo, we're all neighbors, and everybody's kids go to the same school. Whether it was in the grocery store or out in the field, it was commonplace for residents and volunteers to run into Border Patrol agents and talk.

Those kinds of encounters are rare these days. Government authorities have cracked down on humanitarian aid: denying permits to enter the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and kicking over and slashing water jugs. They are also aggressively prosecuting volunteers. Several No More Deaths volunteers have faced possible imprisonment and fines of up to $10,000 on federal misdemeanor charges from 2017 including entering a wildlife refuge without a permit and "abandonment of property"—leaving water and cans of beans for migrants. (I face similar misdemeanor charges of "abandonment of property.")

More here.


QUICK HITS

A book's dedication page is a great place to give credit where credit is due. Here's the dedication from How To Become a Federal Criminal, which comes out Tuesday and is available at https://t.co/97E1Bcc4TF pic.twitter.com/7yWz6FXlKl

— A Crime a Day (@CrimeADay) May 29, 2019

  • Must read of the day:

This is a really well done and fascinating deep dive into Instagram and and it's attack on sex workers.

"Infantilism and secrecy, coupled with tech-bro culture, makes Silicon Valley the second element of this Perfect Storm against sex workers"https://t.co/ZnVvldcol2 via @xbiz

— Mistress Matisse (@mistressmatisse) May 30, 2019

  • Rep. Nancy Pelosi intensifies her crusade against Facebook, declaring yesterday in response to a doctored video it didn't take down: "I think they have proven—by not taking down something they know is false—that they were willing enablers of Russian interference in our election." (As Cato's Julian Sanchez comments, "that is just a bizarre non sequitur.")
  • An Illinois Newsroom investigation into prison library book removals finds "a majority of the books removed from the program's library are about race."
  • Government is just another word for…

The government is so insanely officious in NJ that it limits how many 65-inch TVs a craft brewery is "allowed" to have https://t.co/gPW7yUYlym cc @senatorshoshana pic.twitter.com/qJUrEwhNJ2

— Paul Sacca (@Paul_Sacca) May 29, 2019

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NEXT: Bill Weld: Mueller Shows How 'Trump Is Not Worthy of the Oval Office'

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason.

Reason RoundupCampaign FinanceChinaDonald Trump
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  1. Fist of Etiquette   6 years ago

    "I think they have proven—by not taking down something they know is false—that they were willing enablers of Russian interference in our election."

    "That's not how any of this works!"

    1. Rufus The Monocled   6 years ago

      Hello.

      China. Whatever. I don't get worked up over what's happening to an authoritarian county that steals and often flouts agreements and is loved by jackasses like Justin Pink Sox.

      Any better stories out there?

    2. Brian   6 years ago

      According to modern democrat policy, that’s exactly how it works (as tenuous as it is.)

      1. Zeb   6 years ago

        You (or they) have a strange definition of "works".

  2. Fist of Etiquette   6 years ago

    The government is so insanely officious in NJ that it limits how many 65-inch TVs a craft brewery is "allowed" to have...

    However for a donation to the NJ Bureaucrats Fund they'll look the other way.

    1. Ray McKigney   6 years ago

      Insanely Officious was my nickname in college.

  3. Fist of Etiquette   6 years ago

    Humanitarians offering material assistance to migrants crossing the Sonoran Desert are being prosecuted on federal charges.

    Aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of invasion!

    1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

      ^This guy gets that Summer is Coming!

    2. Mickey Rat   6 years ago

      Creating an attractive nuisance encouraging people to do something risky.

      1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

        They are actively helping illegals break US laws.

        1. Zeb   6 years ago

          Unless they are actually helping them across the border, I'm not sure which laws those would be.

          1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

            Immigration law also covers unlawful employment, concealing and harboring of illegals....
            8 U.S. Code § 1324. Bringing in and harboring certain aliens

            1. Zeb   6 years ago

              OK, if they give them rides, they would be breaking the law too. die.

              1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

                Stuff left out on federal land is littering.

                Which is a crime.

                I mean...nice try I guess.

                1. Zeb   6 years ago

                  Were they arrested for littering?

              2. Zeb   6 years ago

                I don't know how "die" got there at the end.
                I am not asking you to die, just to be clear.

                1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

                  Figured it was lost sentence. It happens on this crappy reason format.

          2. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

            Title 8 U.S.C. Chapters 12 & 13 cover most criminal aspects of Immigration laws.

      2. Zeb   6 years ago

        Do you suppose that the prospect of help in the desert encourages more people to cross there? I honestly don't know.
        Not sure that "attractive nuissance" is quite the right term. But I suppose there is some sort of moral hazard there.

        1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

          Do you suppose that French resistance fighters helping US Army aircraft crew escape Nazi Europe encouraged more shot down pilots to use the French Resistance for help?

          Ab-so-fucking-lutely!

          Humans typically seek out people that will help them accomplish their goals. Illegal Aliens would be no different.

          1. chemjeff radical individualist   6 years ago

            That's not the proper comparison.

            The proper comparison would be,

            "Do you think the existence of the French resistance encouraged more Americans to volunteer to be fighter pilots, knowing that they *might* be helped out *if* they got shot down and *if* they evaded capture by the Nazis?"

            I think that's pretty far-fetched. Who goes wandering in the desert just to get some free water?

            1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

              Luckily, the illegals are not wandering into the desert to get free water. They are doing it to get to a known supplies depot of water and food, so the hordes can continue to break US law.

            2. ThomasD   6 years ago

              If you stand in a parking lot handing out firearms and ski masks it does not matter if the only person you serve was already intent on robbing the bank.

              You are still an accomplice.

              1. ThomasD   6 years ago

                Nor does it matter that seven other people took the gun and the ski mask but did not rob the bank.

        2. Mickey Rat   6 years ago

          "Attractive nuisance" is the term of art I have heard for things like swimming pools, which is why most jurisidictions require a fence.

          I do not think that it is stretch that the idea that caches are left in the desert in this area would encourage more people to try and cross there. Maybe saving some people while letting more people think that the risk is mitigated and putting themselves in great danger. I can see what they are doing is at best a wash or will cause more people to die.

          1. chemjeff radical individualist   6 years ago

            People are going to try to cross the desert, whether there is water or not.

            At least with water, there is a chance that these people won't die.

            This is harm reduction, just like with the needle exchange programs. No one seriously starts shooting up heroin just so they can get free needles. Similarly no one seriously wanders into the desert just so they can get free water.

            1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

              People are going to murder and steal, whether there are rules or not.

              Americans should never get a say in who enters the USA.

              /Chemjeff

              1. chemjeff radical individualist   6 years ago

                Murder violates the rights of the victim.
                Theft violates the rights of the victim.
                Whose rights are violated by migrants who lack permission slips from the state?

                Americans should never get a say in who enters the USA.

                Individual Americans who choose to associate with whom they wish? Of course, they are the ones who have rights.

                Americans *collectively*? Well, no. Why should they?

                Should Americans *collectively* decide whether you deserve permission to travel from Idaho to Montana? Why or why not?

                1. ThomasD   6 years ago

                  So sovereign nations only have property rights if Jeff says it has property rights.

                  Yes, you are a progressive, we get that.

                  1. chemjeff radical individualist   6 years ago

                    INDIVIDUALS have property rights.

                    YOU are the one advocating the progressive view here, that all property is collectively owned by the state and therefore may be disposed of by the state at the whim of the government.

                    YOU are the one abrogating personal property rights in favor of supremacy of the state.

                    If you want to play the game of "who's more progressive", then I'm not the one winning, pal.

                  2. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

                    Chemjeff does not understand the concept of volunteer association to form a government. There does not need to be force to pay taxes etc because we are all on the same page about the role of a tiny and limited government.

    3. jagjr   6 years ago

      uncle, please sit!!

  4. Conchfritters   6 years ago

    Government is just another word for…

    Don’t fucking move to New Jersey.

    1. Bee Tagger   6 years ago

      or IN new jersey, it seems

    2. Zeb   6 years ago

      Nothing left to lose?

  5. Blowhard Woodchip   6 years ago

    A comment not by Fist of Etiquette.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   6 years ago

      Who let you in?

      1. Blowhard Woodchip   6 years ago

        I'm the bot inspector. Routine checkup. You're fine.

  6. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   6 years ago

    "Rep. Nancy Pelosi intensifies her crusade against Facebook, declaring yesterday in response to a doctored video it didn't take down: 'I think they have proven—by not taking down something they know is false—that they were willing enablers of Russian interference in our election.'"

    Good for Pelosi. It's always encouraging to hear Democrats talk tough about Russia, especially since Mueller proved they hacked our election to install a Kremlin asset as President.

    #LibertariansForPelosi
    #LibertariansForGettingToughWithRussia

    1. Ray McKigney   6 years ago

      Yes. Muller did not find that Trump is not a KGB asset.

    2. jagjr   6 years ago

      you keep using that word "libertarian". I do not think it means what you think it means.

  7. Fist of Etiquette   6 years ago

    ...entering a wildlife refuge without a permit and "abandonment of property"—leaving water and cans of beans for migrants.

    So suddenly they don't care about the sanctity of our pristine national parks.

    1. Don't look at me!   6 years ago

      It’s not littering if you have good intentions.

    2. EscherEnigma   6 years ago

      The "sanctity" of our parks has never trumped saving lives.

    3. Ray McKigney   6 years ago

      They're after the cans. The Feds hate cans.

      1. Longtobefree   6 years ago

        Especially cans of bean.
        Global climate warming change and all that.

    4. Zeb   6 years ago

      National parks are there to attract all the shitty people so I know where not to go.

  8. Fist of Etiquette   6 years ago

    As Cato's Julian Sanchez comments, "that is just a bizarre non sequitur."

    Maybe she was drunk.

    1. Don't look at me!   6 years ago

      I think there is a video of her drunk.

      1. Echospinner   6 years ago

        I haven’t watched it because if I did I might start to like her.

  9. Longtorso, Johnny   6 years ago

    The Welfare State is Tearing Sweden Apart.
    While not specifically related to the welfare state; minimum wage requirements and other protectionistic union regulations exacerbate this mechanic. In Sweden, hardly a day goes by without some enterprising tax-paying immigrant getting a deportation notice because of having “taken too few vacation days,” or having “accepted too low a salary.” Yes, migration authorities actively enforce union edicts! In the face of this, who can blame a migrant who simply decides to play it safe and remain on welfare?

  10. Bee Tagger   6 years ago

    a majority of the books removed from the program's library are about race

    gonna need an alarm clock to get woke every day

  11. Bee Tagger   6 years ago

    The government is so insanely officious in NJ that it limits how many 65-inch TVs a craft brewery is "allowed" to have

    and while we're at it, there better be some glue, popsicle sticks, and glitter to make DIY birdhouses

  12. Fist of Etiquette   6 years ago

    I have decided to quit the editorial boards [of two IEEE journals] until it restores our common professional integrity.

    Uh, take that, Mr. President?

  13. Bee Tagger   6 years ago

    This is a really well done and fascinating deep dive into Instagram

    i'm going to stop you there

  14. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   6 years ago

    Cory Booker is close to making my top tier of 2020 candidates.

    Robert Mueller’s statement makes it clear: Congress has a legal and moral obligation to begin impeachment proceedings immediately.

    The walls are closing in. It's the beginning of the end.

    #TrumpRussia
    #ItsMuellerTime
    #Impeach
    #Resist

    1. Don't look at me!   6 years ago

      Oh noes! Not again!

    2. Ray McKigney   6 years ago

      Muller made clear that he could not rule out an absence of non-impeachable conduct by Trump.

  15. NashTiger   6 years ago

    Huawei is a state run surveillance/intel gathering agency. Much worse than Google, which is a surveillance /intel agency, but only does censoring/propaganda for it's state clients.

    1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

      +100

      reason wants cheap shit from China, no matter what the real world national defense consequences are.

      Its pre-Trump mananged trade policy or bust!

      1. Nardz   6 years ago

        Look, you can't have global socialism and worldwide totalitarianism if the US remains proud, powerful, and independent.
        Import dependents, export jobs, fuck the US.
        Reason is a progressive clown show

        1. Ryan (formally HFTO)   6 years ago

          To me Reason is mostly selective ancaps. By selective I mean it would be ancap but some editors have obligations to the Cathedral (Suderman, Welch)

          *Shout out to Michael Malice's new book

          1. Zeb   6 years ago

            I think that's closer to the truth. The idea that they are secretly really progressive Democrats is pretty silly (some of the interns and short term junior writers might just be desperate for a job, but the ones who stick around I think are more or less sincere in their expressed beliefs). But most of them aren't really hard-line libertarians either (though a few are). I don't think Welch even claims to be any kind of libertarian anymore.

            1. Robert   6 years ago

              Could you please spell that out better? I've been wondering about an explanation for a while now. Which "Cathedral" is this?

              1. 68W58   6 years ago

                “The Cathedral” is sort of shorthand for corporations, universities and government agencies who who promote the prog/left zeitgeist. It’s reasonably useful if you accept that much of that worldview is similar to a set of religious beliefs that aren’t to be questioned or held up to serious scrutiny. OBL does a pretty good job of parroting many of its suppositions.

              2. Zeb   6 years ago

                I don't know about the "Cathedral" part.

        2. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

          +10000 Nardz

          1. Zeb   6 years ago

            What are you going to do with that many Nardz?

            1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

              Snort the Glass?

      2. Ray McKigney   6 years ago

        reason wants cheap shit from China

        Not to mention a little Yang on the Honorable Wang, amirite?

  16. Bee Tagger   6 years ago

    Humanitarians offering material assistance to migrants crossing the Sonoran Desert are being prosecuted on federal charges.

    supporting the government should be a felony

    1. Homple   6 years ago

      There are laws about helping illegals. And if you don't like the laws, get the laws repealed.

      8 U.S. Code § 1324. Bringing in and harboring certain aliens

      https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1324

      1. Zeb   6 years ago

        OK, so looks like if you are helping or encouraging them over the border, or giving them rides, you are breaking the law. But I don't think that law says you can't give them food or water to help them not die. Not sure what exactly the people helping were doing.

        I find ignoring laws you don't think are just to be a perfectly reasonable response as well. There is no virtue in obeying unjust laws. Though you shouldn't be surprised when you get punished.

        1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

          Zeb, regulating immigration is an enumerated power of Congress.

          If illegal immigration is made a crime (which it is), aiding and abetting said crime is illegal. Aiding and abetting a crime is considered illegal for a wide range of other crimes.

          While I agree that Americans have no obligation to follow unconstitutional laws (like gun control), immigration regulation is perfectly constitutional.

          1. Zeb   6 years ago

            Yes, immigration laws are constitutionally legitimate. I don't think that necessarily means they are just. The Constitution is great, but that doesn't mean everything allowed under the Constitution is something we must support.
            I take what you say a step further and say no person is obliged to obey an unjust law.

            1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

              You can disobey any law you wish. Its a basic natural freedom. There are consequences though.

              If you didnt know already, I do not agree with your position that Rule of Man supercedes Rule of Law. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land and besides slavery (which is illegal for all but prisoners), was a very rights protecting basic structure of government.

              If this open borders thing and water in the desert is your hill to die on, good for you.

              You, Zeb, are an Anarchist IIRC and therefore dont want the Republic that we have having Constitutional control like it does.

              So, I take from this that open borders and water in the desert is just another topic to push Anarchism on America that does not want it. Its knowing that your real agenda is to not obey any law by a Constitutional government like ours.

              1. Zeb   6 years ago

                It's not a hill I'm willing to die on. It's just a thing I'm willing to argue about while wasting a little time at work.
                Yes, I am an anarchist at the base of my political philosophy (though I am not one that thinks anarchy in the An-Cap sense is something that is practically possible). But no, I'm not trying to push anything on anyone. I don't have an agenda to promote. Just like to discuss and argue and try to understand what people think about things.
                You want to know a secret? I don't actually think that fully open borders is a practical or desirably way to do things in the real world.

                1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

                  Good to know.

            2. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

              I still support all the Anarchists buying some land outside the USA and starting Anarchy-Land. There you can decide which of the Warlord laws you want to obey.

              We already have a Constitutional Democratic Republic.

              America doesn't want what you are peddling.

              1. Zeb   6 years ago

                America doesn't want what anyone commenting here is peddling. America wants a big government and a welfare state and a president to be Daddy to the country.

                1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

                  Millions of Americans do what something different than they are getting from their government.

                  Trump is clearly a sign that 60 some million Americans want something different.

                  The millions of GayJay voters definitely want something different for America.

  17. Fist of Etiquette   6 years ago

    Infantilism and secrecy, coupled with tech-bro culture, makes Silicon Valley the second element of this Perfect Storm against sex workers

    I don't think it's official yet, but womanhood has voted to relinquish agency.

    1. Ray McKigney   6 years ago

      Shouldn't the tech-bro culture be in favor of sex workers? I mean, that's how the whole Internet came about, isn't it?

      1. Zeb   6 years ago

        I have no idea what "tech-bro" culture involves.

        1. Ray McKigney   6 years ago

          I just assume that anything ending in "bro" involves beer and objectivization of women.

          1. Zeb   6 years ago

            You'd think so, but the world is getting pretty weird.

            1. Heedless   6 years ago

              Like "fascism", it has largely lost its original meaning. These days it largely translates to "something the author does not like with which men are involved in at least a tangential fashion."

  18. Bee Tagger   6 years ago

    The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) can no longer let Huawei scientists serve as editors or peer reviewers for its journals

    #forcryingoutloud, does trump not realize this is the 50th state?

    1. Nardz   6 years ago

      Audible chuckle

  19. Bee Tagger   6 years ago

    The trafficking rumor stems from recent (and rapidly unraveling) prostitution cases against Patriots owner Robert Kraft and others, involving activity at a massage place that isn't affiliated with Yang.

    it's almost like this was about something else entirely

    1. Mickey Rat   6 years ago

      Asian massage parlors require human trafficking to function, duh.

  20. Fist of Etiquette   6 years ago

    Following a request from congressional Democrats, the U.S. Department of Justice is now subpoenaing records related to the Floridian entrepreneur and small-time Republican donor Li "Cindy" Yang.

    Oh please please please let this be the new bipartisan norm. Let them go after every donor to presidential campaigns.

    1. damikesc   6 years ago

      Trump's problem, OBVIOUSLY, was not hitting up Buddhist monks (who take a vow of poverty) for donations as a certain President did in 1996. That was a non-issue.

  21. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   6 years ago

    Teenage climate experts give me hope for the future.

    "This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced." Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg calls on world leaders to acknowledge the seriousness of global warming and that not enough is being done to curb it.

    The planet will become literally uninhabitable within 12 years unless we put Democrats back in charge of the entire federal government.

    #Only12YearsLeft
    #ILoveScience

    1. MiloMinderbinder   6 years ago

      11.5 years now.

    2. Ray McKigney   6 years ago

      Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg

      How come there aren't any physics activists or immunology activists or structural engineering activists?

      1. Zeb   6 years ago

        immunology activists

        Do anti-vaxxers count?

        1. Ray McKigney   6 years ago

          I think those fall under the heading of Immunology Deniers.

    3. damikesc   6 years ago

      Isn't that girl certifiably batshit insane?

    4. buybuydandavis   6 years ago

      I posted you on Dissenter and Gab.

      Your light must no be hid under a bushel.

  22. Juice   6 years ago

    Why anyone lives in New Jersey is beyond me.

    1. Rufus The Monocled   6 years ago

      Will never forget the day I got out of my car to gas up when an attendant came flying out saying by law he had to pump my gas.

      So I had to hand the pump over and watch this poor dork put gas in my own car.

      Fucken reatrded pussies in NJ. Pissed me off.

      1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

        New Jersey has NEVER had a gas pump fire because of their law...

        except for this time:

        New Jersey Gas Station Explodes

      2. damikesc   6 years ago

        Ditto. Then the dude expected a tip.

        "Dude, only reason you're doing it is because I'm legally barred from doing it. I didn't want you to do it. I can pump gas just fine myself."

  23. Longtorso, Johnny   6 years ago

    Tech Giant Brings Software To a Gun Fight (washingtonpost.com)
    On its website, Salesforce touts retailer Camping World as a leading customer of its business software, highlighting its use of products to help sales staff move product. A Camping World executive is even quoted calling Salesforce's software "magic." But behind the scenes in recent weeks, the Silicon Valley tech giant has delivered a different message to gun-selling retailers such as Camping World: Stop selling military-style rifles, or stop using our software.

    1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

      Free market will work through this.

      Companies will stop picking these 'woke' companies because the hassle is too expensive and choose other software companies.

      1. Nardz   6 years ago

        Fuck it.
        Just start shooting progressives.
        Them or us.

        Oh, and before they spout off their "righteous" indignation - yes, collectivistjeff and eunuch, you are included in them. Fuck off and die now

        1. $park¥ is the Worst   6 years ago

          Fuck it.
          Just start shooting progressives.
          Them or us.

          YEAH! Kill a bunch for me too while you’re out there executing The Great Progressive Purge.

          1. Square = Circle   6 years ago

            The way to engender Perfect Freedom is to figure out who's against freedom, round them up into camps, and slaughter them.

            Why has no one figured that out before?

            1. Longtobefree   6 years ago

              They figured it out decades ago.
              That is why they propose all those 'common sense' gun control laws.
              As soon as we are disarmed, we can be free.

        2. Blowhard Woodchip   6 years ago

          Reports of far-right Republicans being violent sociopaths have been greatly exaggerated.

          1. Don't look at me!   6 years ago

            As shown by the lack of mass graves.

            1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

              +10000

        3. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

          Nardz, I need one more step before Civil War 2.0 begins.

          Use eminent domain to seize Lefty property and give them compensation in the form of ObamaCare and Social Security benefits, then banish them from the USA indefinitely.

          Amend the Constitution to add Treason to the Constitution and defined as actively trying to ignore and usurp Constitution protections and supreme law. Punishment- banishment from the USA and death if someone died because of your actions.

        4. chemjeff radical individualist   6 years ago

          Well, I'll put you down alongside Shithead then with "advocating murder of one's political opponents"

          This is just the edgy right's version of virtue signaling I suppose. They aren't actually going to start shooting people, but they'll shoot off their fingers on the keyboard all day long proclaiming how they desperately want the next Civil War to start.

          Murdering your political opponents won't actually solve the problem. Because, then, YOU become the problem.

          1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

            This from the guy who adores Socialists who steal property, bloat the Nanny and Police State, and is shocked when people get fed up and fight back against Socialism.

            1. Square = Circle   6 years ago

              This from the guy who adores Socialists who steal property, bloat the Nanny and Police State, and is shocked when people get fed up and fight back against Socialism.

              This from the guy who literally three inches above this post advocates using government goons to confiscate the property of people with incorrect political views.

              You are such an idiot it's painful.

              1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

                The idiocy you feel is you and you alone.

                I welcome stupid political views, so I can bash them. Yours are a great example of that. You post stupid shit and always have as far as I can remember

                Thats different than people in America actively trying to take everything that I have, destroy my country, send me to gulags or try and kill me.

                Maybe you dont actually know the difference. I probably do give you too much credit.

      2. Overt   6 years ago

        The problem with platforms like salesforce is that they are designed to make it so hard to migrate that it becomes a significant capital expenditure. While it makes sense for companies to focus on their core revenue lines and let other companies provide the ancillary services, this is a cost that many IT folks don't consider when purchasing a platform.

        1. damikesc   6 years ago

          How about just barring companies that process transactions from refusing to do so?

          Their freedom of speech should consist of "Thanks". Monetary system is too important to leave in the hands of woke morons.

        2. ThomasD   6 years ago

          "so hard to migrate" = You don't even own your own data.

    2. ThomasD   6 years ago

      Isn't this pretty much what is happening to the IEEE? Isn't Uncle Sugar basically saying "continue to do business with Huawei and we won't do business with you."

  24. Aloysious   6 years ago

    To refer to cleavage as 'Silicon Valley' is sexist and unwoke.

    Unless it is Chuck U. Schumer's. In which case, yuck.

  25. Alan Vanneman   6 years ago

    "It seems unlikely to be just coincidence that this story and others hinting about Chinese influence starting sparking so much attention right around the time Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling and collusion was dying down."

    Innuendo much, Elizabeth Nolan Brown? Actually, this is the first I've heard of the Cindy Young thing in a month or two, while the Mueller thing is all over the news. Just ask Matt Welch and Bill Weld. But (seriously) continued nice work on the phony "sex trafficking" racket: just cops looking for non-threatening people to arrest.

  26. aajax   6 years ago

    Don't these humanitarians realize the policy is intended to kill immigrants so they stop coming? They've obviously been taking Jesus too seriously.

  27. Blowhard Woodchip   6 years ago

    Never Mind, Never Happened, Oops

    WASHINGTON — President Trump tweeted on Thursday that Russia helped “me to get elected,” and then quickly retracted the idea. “No, Russia did not help me get elected,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for Colorado Springs. “I got me elected.” He spoke less than an hour after his Twitter post.

    The original comment, a clause in one of several Twitter posts this morning, is an extraordinary admission from Mr. Trump, who has avoided saying publicly that Russia helped him win the presidency in 2016 through its election interference. American intelligence agencies and federal prosecutors have long concluded that Russia tried to influence voters.

    Donald J. Trump
    ✔@realDonaldTrump
    Russia, Russia, Russia!* That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax...And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected. It was a crime that didn’t exist...
    7:57 AM - May 30, 2019

    *Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/us/politics/trump-russia-help-elected.html

    1. Brian   6 years ago

      We can all start thinking bad things about Russia now.

  28. Mickey Rat   6 years ago

    It is not Facebook's job to police its users for posting untrue things. Especially attempts at humor, which the "doctored" video is a mainstream example of, that technique has been used by network comedy hosts against republican figures without an eye link from anyone before.

    1. Mickey Rat   6 years ago

      And where is the hand wringing about Pelosi being an authoritarian threat to free speech/press?

      1. Don't look at me!   6 years ago

        A drunken authoritarian threat to free speech/press.

      2. Zeb   6 years ago

        Right here in this post?

        1. Mickey Rat   6 years ago

          There are no aspersions cast on her personally by ENB. The post is non-judgemental about her.

          1. ThomasD   6 years ago

            Principal, principles...

  29. Rockabilly   6 years ago

    Fuck the government and all the ass hole politicians and ass hat point head bureaucrats and all their fucking rules, laws, regulations, taxes, fees, and fines.

    1. Rockabilly   6 years ago

      And their fucking forms and instructions.

    2. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

      And their fucking bureaucratic permission requirements.

  30. Rockabilly   6 years ago

    A book's dedication page is a great place to give credit where credit is due. Here's the dedication from How To Become a Federal Criminal:

    -------
    Anyone who defeats Hillary Clinton will be deemed a "Federal Criminal," and be hounded by the DC open borders globalist elite and their media lap dogs.

  31. Ken Shultz   6 years ago

    "People are already spinning wild tales about what we supposedly know about Yang—that she funneled money from China to Trump, and that she earned her money from human trafficking. The trafficking rumor stems from recent (and rapidly unraveling) prostitution cases against Patriots owner Robert Kraft"

    Kraft has been a vocal supporter and personal friend of Trump for a long time.

    whipping boy
    noun [ C ]
    us ​ /ˈhwɪp·ɪŋ ˌbɔɪ, ˈwɪp-/
    ​
    someone who is blamed or punished for the faults and mistakes of others

    ----Cambridge Dictionary

    https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/whipping-boy

    Even if we found out that the Happy Ending "Oriental" Massage Parlor was operating out of Mira Largo and Trump was a frequent customer, it wouldn't sway a single vote one way or the other in 2020.

    Hell, Trump met his trophy wife after he bought the modeling agency she was working for, which from an old man, horny ass, billionaire playboy perspective is a fucking stroke* of genius. If that, pussy-grabbing braggadocio, and a dozen charges of sexually assaulting porn stars didn't hurt Trump in 2016, charges of being mixed up with the owner of the Patriots and a massage parlor won't even register in 2020--not even if the worst of the allegations turn out to be 100% true.

    *pun intended

  32. Dillinger   6 years ago

    love the Crime a Day book.

  33. Rockabilly   6 years ago

    RAMBO 5: LAST BLOOD

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km_L0v3C0ms

    1. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

      No Col. Troutman to tame the mighty Rambo.

  34. Ken Shultz   6 years ago

    “French officials have claimed they do not want their nationals to face the death penalty, but if that is actually the case, then why haven’t they brought them home for investigation and prosecution?” said Belkis Wille, senior Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/iraq-sentences-seven-isis-fighters-from-france-to-death-11559221325?

    France is in a tough spot with French nationals who joined ISIS and were captured in Syria and Iraq. On the one hand, they don't want the ISIS fighters back in France for fear that they'll be cleared of charges for lack of evidence, because of forced confessions, etc. Can't have hundreds of ex-ISIS fighters roaming the streets of Paris because they got off on technicalities!

    On the other hand, the Iraqi solution to the problem of ISIS fighters is . . . um . . . final. They just execute them. They've got some 2,000 foreign ISIS fighters in custody in Syria and Iraq, and plenty of them are French. Letting them be executed doesn't win Macron any support from Muslims in France, but it also offends France's sense of national pride to have their citizens summarily executed without any apparent respect for French . . . um . . . grandeur.

    I suspect there are whole streaks of the French chattering classes who are eating their words about Guantanamo right about now. Say what you want about the awful things the Bush Administration did, and I'll happily agree with you. On the other hand, John Walker Lindh is a free man.

    1. Zeb   6 years ago

      Best move is probably to protest the executions, but not so strongly as to change anything.

  35. Finrod   6 years ago

    Democrats going after Asian-Americans, just like they did 75+ years ago.

  36. Azathoth!!   6 years ago

    So, am I crazy or does the first link accuse Trump of cozying up to the Chinese while the second link accuses him of screwing with the Chinese?

    Because that's bad even for the new 'woke' version of reason.

    1. Zeb   6 years ago

      Seems to me that both links are fairly neutral reports on current news stories. Not sure where you think the contradiction or inconsistency is.

      1. Azathoth!!   6 years ago

        Seems to me that both links are fairly neutral reports on current news stories. Not sure where you think the contradiction or inconsistency is.

        I'm sure it does seem like that to you, Zeb. You may be too far gone.

        But I'll give it a shot, in tdsese so you can understand.

        There are links to two fairly neutral reports on current news stories.

        One of the fairly neutral reports on current news stories suggests that Trump is favoring the Chinese-- in a fairly neutral way, of course.

        While the other fairly neutral report on a current news story suggests that he's being unfair towards them, in a fair neutral manner.

        Do you see it yet? Or is your head so far up your ass that you're using your nostrils for periscopes and wondering why the view is so shitty?

    2. loveconstitution1789   6 years ago

      I was laughing at the same thing.

      I just chock it up to typical shitty reason editing and Narrative following.

      1. Mongo   6 years ago

        Confucius say: "Man who peek under skirt of Koch/Reason trans may see missing link."

    3. Longtobefree   6 years ago

      So you forgot the part in the book about doublethink?

  37. RussianPrimeMinister   6 years ago

    How To Become a Federal Criminal

    Exist

  38. buybuydandavis   6 years ago

    "Humanitarians offering material assistance to migrants crossing the Sonoran Desert are being prosecuted on federal charges."

    It is a crime to knowingly employ illegals, bring in illegals to the US, induce illegals to come or remain here, transport illegals, and conceal, harbor, or shield illegals from detection.

    8 U.S. Code § 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens
    https://liicr.nl/2J1fUo9

  39. Echospinner   6 years ago

    Well fuck 8 U.S. Code § 1324

    How you like them apples?

    I guess that is what these people did.

    They got them New York lawyers too.

    Let the games begin. Water bottles and bean cans in the desert vs 8 U.S. Code § 1324.

  40. Longtobefree   6 years ago

    "Prosecutors say some of these events were ticketed fundraisers, meaning someone had to pay for the access—a payment that counts as a political contribution. And non-citizens are prevented from donating to U.S. political campaigns."
    As an example, if you have to pay some has-been hack politician half a million dollars to come and give a brief speech, just to get to talk to his powerful politician wife, it has to be reported?
    #stillwithher (?)

  41. Andrew Reymond   6 years ago

    Get introduced to financing news and know more about financing technology world. FinanceNewsGlobal will provide you with the most important insights about all economy & business news.

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