Thursday, July 2, 2020
With 'Partial Human Remains' Found in Texas, Family of Missing Soldier Vanessa Guillen Say They Believe She Is Dead
https://time.com/5862245/missing-fort-hood-soldier-vanessa-guillen-remains-found/
Guillen’s family allege that the 20-year-old was sexually assaulted
before her disappearance, and said Wednesday that a man they believed to
be the perpetrator of that assault had recently killed himself. Fort
Hood officials announced
separately on Wednesday that one military suspect is dead after killing
himself in Killeen, Texas; authorities said that as law enforcement
agents, not including the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command Special
Agents, tried to “make contact with the suspect, the suspect reportedly
displayed a weapon and took his own life.” The deceased man’s name has
not been released.
Natalie Khawam, the family’s lawyer, said they believe that the man
had sexually harassed Guillen by walking in on and watching her while
she was taking a shower in a locker room.
“How can this happen on a military base?” Lupe Guillen, Vanessa
Guillen’s sister, said through tears.”They didn’t keep my sister safe.”
Khawam explained that Guillen did not report the sexual harassment to
an internal agency because she indicated that “she was afraid to
because the sexual harassment was coming from her superiors” and she
worried about potential retaliation. “She wanted to have a career in the
military and she didn’t want [this] to ruin her career,” Khawam said.
(Guillen did, however, disclose the incident to her sisters, her mother,
her friends and other soldiers on the military base, she said.)
What Vanessa experienced “was not an isolated incident,” Khawam says.
“They are brave soldiers protecting us, and especially now, we need
legislation.”
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is an Iraq war
veteran, also spoke at Wednesday’s event, saying that Congress has
pushed the Department of Defense to adopt necessary for reforms for
years, and while “some changes have been made,” they “have not gone
nearly far enough.”
“What is happening here today is evidence of that,” Gabbard said.
Trump's anti-mask crusade is coming back to bite him
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/02/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-masks-politics-joe-biden-election-2020/index.html
President Donald Trump's refusal to set an example by wearing a face covering, despite growing evidence that it may be one of the most effective ways to slow America's increasingly disastrous coronavirus pandemic, was always a political statement.
Now, as the clinical and electoral damage builds from a resurgent virus that is close to racing out of control after another record day for new cases on Wednesday, the President may be edging, very slowly, toward a rethink.
Yet Trump's position has left him increasingly isolated even from the Republican leaders who have facilitated his unchained presidency, as public health officials and local and state leaders of all political stripes plead with Americans to cover up in public so the country can heal itself.
Far from becoming a mark of strength and defiance, Trump's isolated crusade against masks-- he dubbed himself a "LONE WARRIOR" in a recent tweet, is now emblematic of his denial of a fast-worsening national disaster, a botched federal government response and his refusal to take even the most basic steps to save American lives.
Trump's mask apostasy is an act of rebellion against the establishment figures and scientists and professional officials of the government with which he has been waging an internal war ever since he took his office. It's a natural fit for a lifelong outsider who is personally and politically compelled to break the rules.
The President's slight softening of position Wednesday on wearing a mask came after many of his political allies implicitly repudiated his stance, stressing repeatedly that wearing a mask was not a political act but a gesture of humanity.
"We must have no stigma, none, about wearing masks," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on Tuesday. In hard-hit Texas over the weekend, Vice President Mike Pence -- who has himself spent weeks undermining government messaging on the issue and is loath to get crossways with his boss -- backed wearing a mask. Pence is still, however, not going all in -- typically saying that mask wearing should be done where it is "indicated" by local authorities.
Several of Trump's top aides, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and son-in-law Jared Kushner, have begun to worry about the President's reelection chances and have urged a focus on the economy. But other advisers believe he has suffered severe damage amid the pandemic.
"There is a fair amount of concern," one adviser said, describing the President as "frustrated" by recent polling indicating Biden could win the November election by a wide margin.
Court sides with publisher of tell-all book by Trump's niece
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/01/media/mary-trump-book-reliable-sources/index.html
Bad news for President Trump and his younger brother, Robert Trump, who has been trying to block an unflattering tell all book by the President's niece, Mary Trump, that Simon & Schuster is set to publish in July.
On Wednesday evening, a New York appellate court lifted the temporary restraining order against
Simon & Schuster, a decision that allows the publisher to move
forward with printing copies of the book and shipping them to retailers.
The court left the temporary restraining order in place for Mary Trump
until a hearing on July 10.
Make
no mistake: This is a blow to Robert Trump's attempt to block the book.
Simon & Schuster had already said that it had printed 75,000 copies
of the book and shipped copies to booksellers. By July 10's hearing,
the publisher will be further along in its preparation for publishing
the book on its scheduled release date of July 28. In other words, the
horse will be that much closer to being out of the barn.
The
appellate court also noted that "while parties are free to enter into
confidentiality agreements, courts are not necessarily obligated to
specifically enforce them" and said that such agreements are
"alternatively enforceable through the impassion of money damages." The
suggestion that money damages might be a way to resolve the legal
dispute, instead of an injunction, also doesn't appear to bode well for
Robert Trump's case...
Partisan divide over virus deepens as Republicans push Trump on masks
https://www.foxnews.com/media/partisan-divide-over-virus-deepens-as-republicans-push-trump-on-masks
At the same time, a whole bunch of prominent Republicans are urging
people to wear masks to protect themselves and others. These include
Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Chuck Grassley and Dick Cheney. Such
Fox News hosts as Sean Hannity and Steve Doocy have also joined the
chorus. They were, in effect, breaking with the president.
“The recent shift on the political right has left Trump isolated,
with the president and his White House staff openly resisting the calls
for mask-wearing,” the Washington Post reported.
Sen.
Lamar Alexander nailed it at a hearing: “Unfortunately this simple
life-saving practice has become part of a political debate that says: If
you’re for Trump, you don’t wear a mask. If you’re against Trump, you
do.”
The Tennessee Republican says he’s suggested that the
president wear a mask occasionally, even though it’s not necessary,
because others will follow his lead.
Trump has resisted wearing a
mask in public and sounded ambivalent about whether it’s good advice.
But yesterday, the message from his party seemed to have gotten through.
“I’m
all for masks. I think masks are good,” Trump told Fox Business
Network. He said he has worn one and “I sort of liked the way I looked.”
Trump Falsely Asserts Biden Was Fed Questions
https://www.snopes.com/ap/2020/07/01/trump-falsely-asserts-biden-was-fed-questions/
President Donald Trump has fabricated a complaint that Democratic rival Joe Biden was fed questions at a news conference and read his answers from a teleprompter.
Fact Check: Trump Falsely Asserts Biden Was Fed Questions
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/ap-fact-check-trump-falsely-asserts-biden-was-fed-questions/2399301/
President Donald Trump has fabricated a complaint that Democratic
rival Joe Biden was fed questions at a news conference and read his
answers from a teleprompter. This didn't happen.
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Ed Henry fired from Fox News over sexual misconduct allegation
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/01/media/ed-henry-fired-fox-news/index.html
Fox News said Wednesday that Ed Henry, one of its top news anchors, had
been fired after the network received a complaint last week of sexual
harassment from years ago.
Months after Henry was sidelined, Ailes was forced out of Fox News
after numerous women came forward and accused him of sexual harassment
and assault. The scandal exposed deep-rooted cultural problems at Fox,
sparked numerous lawsuits and led the Murdochs to make sweeping changes.
Bill O'Reilly, once the network's top star, was forced out of the network less than a year later after facing allegations of sexual harassment, which he also denied.
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