Demovictory9
Demovictory9's JournalONE WEEK'S WORK: NEW JERSEY AND KENTUCKY RESTORE VOTING RIGHTS TO MORE THAN 200,000
https://theappeal.org/politicalreport/new-jersey-and-kentucky-restore-voting-rights/
New Jersey Governor Signs Bills Restoring Voting Rights To More Than 80,000 People
Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday signed a bill restoring voting rights to more than 80,000 people who are on probation or parole, making New Jersey one of several states to enact legislation granting former felons access to the ballot box.
Amid cheers at a public signing, Murphy said the law, which goes into effect in March 2020, ensures that a person can "once again walk into a voting booth and have a say in our democracy" upon their release from prison.
"These are residents who are living as full participants in their communities and yet have been needlessly prevented from having a voice in the future direction of their communities," Murphy added.
The governor also signed legislation that will allow residents with low-level drug and nonviolent offenses to have their records expunged if they do not commit another offense for 10 years. He said a task force will soon begin work on developing a free automatic system that will complete the expungements for individuals who meet the criteria.
"I am proud that we are giving New Jersey one of the most progressive expungement laws in the nation, allowing more people to fully participate in our society, in our economy," Murphy said.
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/18/789538148/new-jersey-governor-signs-bills-restoring-voting-rights-to-more-than-80-000-peop
Medical screenings are the latest U.S. tactic to discourage asylum seekers, advocates say
for three months, Claudia Quesada Rodriguez and her 12-year-old daughter Maria Jose lived in a migrant camp in this Mexican border city waiting for their day in U.S. immigration court.
Now it had finally arrived.
Mother and daughter woke early Wednesday and made their way to the border bridge, where they waited with dozens of other asylum seekers who also had hearings scheduled at a tent court on the other side.
But soon after the two entered the country, U.S. Customs and Border Protection staff noticed the girl looked ill and took her temperature and a nose swab.
Then they sent the pair back to Mexico and the judge postponed their hearing to March 12 — another three months of waiting after Quesada said she fled gang threats in El Salvador.
“It’s an injustice,” Quesada, 36, told her daughter after they walked back. “There are a lot of sick people here and when you’re living in a tent, what can you do?”
Migrant rights advocates say that medical screenings have become the latest tactic used by the U.S. government to discourage asylum seekers from pursuing their claims.
“It’s just one more example of the arbitrariness of the process,” said Denise Gilman, who directs the University of Texas Law School Immigration Clinic in Austin. “It’s not really an adjudicatory process — it’s more of an obstacle course.”
Indeed, at the Matamoros camp where Quesada and her daughter have been living, migrants said it’s common for those who fail medical screenings to return home.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-12-10/migrants-returned-to-mexico-barred-from-u-s-courts
https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6fde125/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6720x4480+0+0/resize/1080x720!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8e%2Fdb%2F710e8ad648eabc5b1567e4e5287a%2Fla-photos-1staff-474621-na-sick-migrants-courts-gxc-1078.JPG
Trump administration to impose new restrictions on who qualifies for asylum
Washington — The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed a new set of restrictions to the nation's asylum system, unveiling a proposal to significantly expand the crimes that render migrants ineligible for asylum in the U.S. to include convictions of using false documents and crossing the border illegally more than once.
The proposed rule by the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, which oversees the nation's immigration courts, would also disqualify foreign nationals who have been convicted of possession of a controlled substance or drug paraphernalia, driving under the influence, unlawful use of public benefits, a crime related to gang activity or any felony.
Convictions related to domestic violence would also make individuals ineligible for asylum. But those found "to have engaged in acts of battery or extreme cruelty in a domestic context" would also be disqualified even if they were not convicted, according to the proposal.
Under current policy, only those who have committed "particularly serious crimes," persecuted others, engaged in terrorist activity or pose a national security threat are barred from requesting asylum.
If enacted, the rule would erect even more regulatory barriers for migrants seeking asylum, a congressionally-authorized humanitarian protection that the administration has already dramatically limited access to.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asylum-seekers-face-new-restrictions-under-proposed-trump-administration-rule/
Judge orders early prison release 4 convicted ex-WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers, citing his dire health
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the early release from prison of former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers — mastermind of one of the biggest accounting frauds in history — citing his increasingly dire medical condition.
Ebbers, 78, has so far served about 13 years of his 25-year prison sentence for orchestrating the $11 billion accounting fraud by the defunct telecommunications company WorldCom.
He had been scheduled to be freed in 2028 before Wednesday’s ruling by Judge Valerie Caproni at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Ebbers, who has been held in a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, was not in the courtroom during the hearing.
But his family was, and they wept when Caproni said he would be set free and allowed to live with them in Mississippi.
Ebbers, who is legally blind, has suffered from dementia, dramatic weight loss and other ailments while in prison, his family and lawyers have said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/18/ex-worldcom-ceo-bernie-ebbers-released-from-prison-early.html
Police officer forced homeless man to lick a urinal, laughed about other times he's done the same th
A police officer in Hawaii confessed Monday that he gave a homeless man the option of licking a urinal or going to jail. He also laughed about the cruel act and bragged it wasn’t the first time he’d done it, according to NBC News.
Office John Rabago and his partner Reginald Ramones were reportedly responding to a nuisance call in January when they found Samuel Ingall, 39, seeking shelter in a public bathroom that the man said an employee sometimes left unlocked for him.
Ingall’s family also claimed that Rabago, aided by Ramones, made the homeless man, who has struggled with drug problems, sit in urine while they held his head in toilet water to the point of where “he couldn’t breathe and that he was choking when they brought him up.”
Ragabo reportedly told his partner to shut the bathroom door so they wouldn’t be caught on video violating the victim’s civil rights. That’s when the bullying began.
After Ingall licked the urinal, he was allowed to leave the bathroom carrying whatever possessions he had. Ragabo reportedly followed him out laughing and boasting to other cops that what he had just done to Ingall “was just like what happened at Cartwright Field.”
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Ramones, who left the force in August, agreed to work with investigators. Ragabo could be removed from the police force and sentenced to 30 days in priso
Ingall, who has had several run-ins with law enforcement according to Hawaii News Now, did not report the incident when it happened. The FBI was alerted to the abuse when a fellow police officer reported it.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-police-offficers-homeless-man-toilet-lick-urinal-20191217-haetcryvuffkncr5l64b5ypyny-story.htmln.
Stray dog that wandered into house during storm now being kept by family that lives there
Stray dog that wandered into house during storm now being kept by family that lives there
One of the homeowners, Emily Jokinen, was shocked when she came across the dog on their stairs.
“She was extremely terrified, cold, wet, visibly malnourished and walking with a limp,” Jokinen wrote in an Instagram post. “Upon checking security footage, we discovered that our front door didn’t latch correctly last night, the wind pushed it open and this little girl found her way in.”
Jokinen and her husband, Jack, decided to keep the dog, who is 9 years old, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. They named her Suzyn Pupman, playing off the name of longtime Yankees radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman.
Jack is a big Yankees fan, he told the newspaper, and their other dog is named Jorge Pawsada after five-time World Series champion Jorge Posada.
The Jokinens, who have a 1-month-old daughter, said the dog’s medical requirements include treatment for ticks, fleas, a heart murmur and foot infections, according to The Inquirer. They are accepting donations to help cover the fees.
“She’s got a long road ahead of her, but we intend to give her a dignified life and a happy home for the remainder of her years,” Jokinen wrote. “I hate when people say ‘Everything happens for a reason’, but I really do feel like this happened for a reason.”
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-stray-dog-home-20191217-wslctm7crnentlv3aeyayatuey-story.html
What a bigot Tucker Carlson is,1950s level bigot. claims that immigrants make the Potomac "dirtier
New York (CNN Business)A conservancy group denounced Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday for claiming that immigrants make the Potomac River "dirtier."
"There's a time to speak truth against ignorance and to stand up for our values -- and that time is now," Hedrick Belin, president of the Potomac Conservancy, said in a statement.
Belin added, "We at Potomac Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust and leading clean water advocate in the region, feel compelled to respond to this groundless accusation not just because it's factually incorrect, but because it's racist plain and simple."
Carlson, whose rhetoric on immigration has generated outrage before, told The Atlantic for a profile published Sunday that immigrants are "almost exclusively" responsible for the littering in the Potomac River. Carlson did not provide any data to back up his claim, only telling the magazine that he knows, "Because I'm there. I watch it."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/16/business/tucker-carlson-potomac-river/index.html
NYC settles w/ Jazmine Headley for 625K - the mom tazed/baby ripped away for sitting on floor
A year ago, New York City cops wrestled Jazmine Headley to the floor of a social services office, and forcibly wrested her 1-year-old son from her arms in a videotaped struggle that eventually culminated in an apology from Mayor Bill de Blasio. Now the city will fork over $625,000 for the incident, reports NBC News.
Headley sued the city in August, alleging she was "humiliated, assaulted, physically injured, threatened with a taser, brutally separated from her son, handcuffed, arrested, and jailed—all by employees of the City of New York."
Headley was seated on the floor after the center in Brooklyn ran out of available seating, and officers asked her to leave. When she demanded to see a supervisor, a struggle ensued and she can be heard in a bystander's video crying, "They're hurting my son! They're hurting my son!" All charged against her were eventually dropped.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/13/nyregion/jazmine-headley-video-settlement.html
$625,000 Settlement for Woman Whose Child Was Torn From Her Arms
Jazmine Headley sued over a confrontation with New York City workers that was captured in a widely seen video.
The video spread quickly online: Security guards and police officers pry a baby boy from his mother’s arms as she lies on the floor of a public benefits office in Brooklyn.
“They’re hurting my son!” the mother, Jazmine Headley, can be heard crying as she struggles to hold onto the boy while the officers try to arrest her. “They’re hurting my son!”
The episode, in December 2018, touched a nerve, capturing what New Yorkers who rely on public benefits say is the uncaring and even hostile treatment they often get from city workers who themselves feel pressure to follow rules.
The charges against Ms. Headley were ultimately dropped. Her public benefits, which had been stripped, were restored, and Mayor Bill de Blasio apologized to her publicly. Nonetheless, saying she was standing up for herself and others in similar circumstances, she filed a federal lawsuit against the city.
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Ms. Headley had taken the day off from her job cleaning offices on Dec. 8, 2018, to go to a public benefits office in Boerum Hill. She wanted to find out why the city had abruptly stopped paying for day care for her son, who was 1 at the time.
Unable to find a seat in the office’s crowded waiting room after about three hours, Ms. Headley sat on the floor next to her son’s stroller. When security guards told her to leave, she asked to speak with a supervisor.
When she walked away from the guards, they and police officers who had been called in grabbed her. She was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child, obstructing governmental administration and trespassing.
“By the end of the day, Ms. Headley had been humiliated, assaulted, physically injured, threatened with a Taser, brutally separated from her son, handcuffed, arrested, and jailed — all by employees of the City of New York,” her lawsuit said, noting that the guards and police officers should have been trained in how to defuse such situations.
trump voter sentenced for illegally voting
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article238208449.htmlGustavo Araujo Lerma, who was convicted by a jury in August of passport fraud, voting by an alien and aggravated identity theft, had sought a sentence of 34 months, while federal prosecutors asked for 45 months to “reflect the seriousness of the offense.”
He could have faced a maximum sentence of 15 years, but U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez agreed to the government’s recommendation after delivering a stern lecture to Lerma, who continued insisting to the end Tuesday that he hadn’t really done anything that wrong.
For the past 20 years, prosecutors say, Lerma voted illegally in federal elections and was an avid Trump supporter who sent money to the Republican Party and was rewarded for his fealty with letters of thanks from the president, former Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus and current RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
Lerma, a Sacramento resident and former auto mechanic who prosecutors say was born in Mexico in 1955, is believed to have married his wife there and had children in that country. Then, they say, he came to the United States and remarried his wife in Los Angeles so he could — purportedly as a U.S. citizen — provide legal status to his family members.
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Man accused of illegally voting in five federal elections
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KYMA, KSWT, KECY) - A Mexican national who spent more than 20-years living under the assumed identity of a U.S. citizen will spend almost four-years in a federal prison.
In August, a jury found 64-year-old Gustavo Araujo Lerma guilty of aggravated identity theft, making false statements on a passport application, and five counts of illegal voting in a federal election. On Tuesday a judge sentenced him to three-years and nine-months behind bars for his crimes.
Lerma insists he is an American named Hiram Enrique Velez. His defense claims there is no proof he's a Mexican citizen. Lerma claims he was found on the streets of San Antonio, Texas when he was five. He says he has no knowledge of where, when, or to whom he was born.
However, prosecutors say Lerma was born in Leon, Mexico in 1955. They say he bought a birth certificate and social security card in 1992, and assumed a false identify. Prosecutors say he used that identity to get a fraudulent passport, and then used that passport to fly back and forth between the U.S. and his hometown in Mexico.
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Prosecutors say he used his fake documentation to register to vote. They say he cast illegal ballots in at least five federal elections.
During his trial Lerma told the court, he supports President Donald Trump, and has donated to the Republican Party.
https://kyma.com/news/2019/12/10/illegal-immigrant-sentenced-for-impersonating-u-s-citizen-for-more-than-20-years/
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