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June 2019: Get the latest monthly headline news from multiple news sources and news links. Get real facts, real news from major news originations.  
What goes around, comes around.
By Ian Millhiser
Indelible in the hippocampus is the anger. The rage. The red faced, snarling incomprehension from Brett, who spent decades preparing for his ascension, only to have it threatened by some woman he claims not to remember assaulting. Brett was careful. Brett came from the right family. Took the right jobs. Made all the right friends. And wrote all the right opinions. When excessive partisanship was a liability for men seeking ascension, Brett artfully said nothing about Obamacare. When ideological purity became fashionable, Brett made sure everyone knew he would overrule That Decision. Brett. Went. To. Yale. But now she was here. And she wanted Brett to pay for something that men like him do not pay for. “I love coaching more than anything I have ever done in my whole life,” Brett screamed to his inquisitors. “But thanks to what some of you on this side of the committee have unleashed, I may never be able to coach again.” (Brett still coaches.)
By Jonathan Lemire & Zeke Miller
OSAKA, Japan (AP) — President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping agreed to a cease-fire Saturday in their nations’ yearlong trade war, averting for now an escalation feared by financial markets, businesses and farmers. Trump said U.S. tariffs will remain in place against Chinese imports while negotiations continue. Additional trade penalties he has threatened against billions worth of other Chinese goods will not take effect for the “time being,” he said, and the economic powers will restart stalled talks that have already gone 11 rounds. “We’re going to work with China where we left off,” Trump said after a lengthy meeting with Xi while the leaders attended the Group of 20 summit in Osaka. While Trump said relations with China were “right back on track,” doubts persist about the two nations’ willingness to compromise on a long-term solution. Among the sticking points: The U.S. contends that Beijing steals technology and coerces foreign companies into handing over trade secrets; China denies it engages in such practices.
By Ben Blanchard, Michael Martina
BEIJING/OSAKA (Reuters) - China and the United States will face a long road before they can reach a deal to end their bitter trade war, with more fights ahead likely, Chinese state media said after the two countries’ presidents held ice-breaking talks in Japan. The world’s two largest economies are in the midst of a bitter trade war, which has seen them level increasingly severe tariffs on each other’s imports. In a sign of significant progress in relations on Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, agreed to a ceasefire and a return to talks. However, the official China Daily, an English-language daily often used by Beijing to put its message out to the rest of the world, warned while there was now a greater likelihood of reaching an agreement, there’s no guarantee there would be one. “Even though Washington agreed to postpone levying additional tariffs on Chinese goods to make way for negotiations, and Trump even hinted at putting off decisions on Huawei until the end of negotiations, things are still very much up in the air,” it said in an editorial late Saturday.
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
(CNN) - On Thursday, the Supreme Court showed how much difference who wins the presidency makes.
Armed with a five to four conservative majority thanks to President Donald Trump's appointment of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh over the past two years, the Supreme Court said it had no role to play in partisan gerrymandering -- a decision that amounts to a massive political victory for Republicans, not just in the moment, but also likely for the next decade-plus. While the court didn't give Republicans everything they wanted on Thursday -- rejecting the addition of a citizenship question to the census that the Trump administration had pushed for -- the ruling on line-drawing with political concerns as a primary motivation is an absolute game-changer for a party that has already reaped the considerable rewards of its ongoing domination at the state legislative level. What SCOTUS said Thursday was, essentially, if state legislators want to draw the lines of their own districts and those of their members of Congress using political calculations, it's not the court's job to stop them. That state legislatures are given that power and can exert it as they see fit. On its face, this ruling impacts both parties equally. After all, both parties have shown a willingness over the last several decades to push their partisan advantage in the decennial line-drawing process. And the cases on which the court ruled on Thursday involved one Democratic gerrymander (Maryland) and one Republican one (North Carolina). But, to see things through that this-hurts-both-sides-equally frame is to miss the forest for the trees. Thanks to avalanche elections in their favor in 2010 and 2014, Republicans have an absolute stranglehold on the state governments. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Republicans currently have full control over 30 of the 49 partisan legislatures in the country. (Nebraska has a unicameral legislature where members are elected on a nonpartisan basis.) In 22 states, Republicans not only control both chambers of the state legislature but also hold the governorship -- giving them total control over state government. (Democrats have total control in 14 states while control is divided between the parties in 13 states.)
Don't let the census case fool you.
By Ian Millhiser
The Supreme Court handed down two opinions on Thursday which could shape American democracy for decades. The first, Rucho v. Common Cause, held that suits challenging partisan gerrymanders are entirely beyond the power of the federal courts to adjudicate. Henceforth, state lawmakers may draw the most aggressively partisan gerrymanders they (and their computers) can come up with. They may draw, as Wisconsin did, a gerrymander so impervious to democracy that Republicans win nearly two-thirds of the state assembly seats even in an election where they won 54% of the popular vote. And the entire federal bench must sit on its hands and allow this to happen. The second decision, Department of Commerce v. New York, involves a racist conspiracy by the Trump administration to rig the 2020 census in a way that would discourage many immigrants from participating. The apparent goal of this conspiracy, as one Republican map-drawer revealed in files discovered after his death, is to allocate congressional seats in a way that “would clearly be a disadvantage to the Democrats” and “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.”
By Ryan Poppe
When Austin Savage heard about the migrant children who said they didn't have toothbrushes, soap or enough to eat at a nearby Border Patrol station, the concerned resident headed to the store. He loaded up a van full of toiletries, diapers and other supplies and drove to the facility in Clint, Texas. But he said the agents in the parking lot refused to speak to him. "The agents were just choosing to ignore us," Savage said, adding that he tried on Sunday to deliver the donations and again on Monday. "And neither attempt was successful." Savage isn't the only one who says acts of kindness have been rebuffed by the Border Patrol. A state lawmaker also says the Border Patrol informed him that the agency doesn't take donations when he asked how his concerned constituents could help. The outpouring of concern stems from allegations that more than 300 children — from infants to teenagers — were being detained at the West Texas station without adequate food, water and sanitation. Advocate lawyers who toured the facility said they saw children who were filthy and older kids caring for infants, and that the children described a lack of basic necessities. The lawyers are allowed into the detention centers under a federal court-enforced settlement aimed at ensuring children aren't mistreated. A Customs and Border Protection official told reporters on Tuesday that officials were working with the agency's Office of Chief Counsel to determine whether Border Patrol stations can legally accept donations. The Border Patrol did not respond Wednesday to further requests for comment.
By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Washington (CNN) - The Supreme Court said Thursday that federal courts must stay out of disputes over when politicians go too far in drawing district lines for partisan gain -- a dramatic and sweeping ruling that could fundamentally affect the balance of power in state legislatures and Congress. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 5-4 decision for the conservative majority. "Excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust. But the fact that such gerrymandering is 'incompatible with democratic principles' ... does not mean that the solution lies with the federal judiciary," he wrote. "We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts," Roberts added. "Federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two major political parties, with no plausible grant of authority in the Constitution, and no legal standards to limit and direct their decisions." Justice Elena Kagan read a scathing dissent from the bench for the four liberals. "(G)errymandering is, as so many Justices have emphasized before, anti-democratic in the most profound sense," Kagan wrote. "Of all times to abandon the Court's duty to declare the law, this was not the one," Kagan said. "The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court's role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. With respect but deep sadness, I dissent." Roberts said he believes this ruling does not mean there cannot be limits on partisan gerrymandering.
By Dave Goldiner
The Supreme Court ruled against President Trump’s move to add a controversial citizenship question to the 2020 census — for now. The decision means the critical count will go ahead without including the question, which critics said would’ve led to a huge undercount of Latinos and strip immigrant-heavy states of funding and representation. The top court voted 5-4 to send the case back to a lower court for further arguments about the administration’s motivations. But any further decision is likely to come too late to affect next year’s watershed count. Chief Justice John Roberts joined with liberal judges to make the ruling. Although the decision was a blow to Trump, it left the door open for the question to be added in the future.
By Jeff Cox
One of the key issues that will be discussed between U.S. and China officials at this week’s G-20 summit in Japan is getting a balanced deal. China believes any new agreement will need to be evenhanded, while U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told his Chinese counterparts that balance won’t happen, according to CNBC’s Kayla Tausche, citing a person with knowledge of the White House position. The reason why the U.S. will not prioritize balance is because of China’s past trade transgressions. Among other things, China has been accused of stealing U.S. technology. President Donald Trump has targeted China for tariffs as he seeks level ground and to reduce the deficit the U.S. has consistently run in trade between the two sides. The deficit in 2018 stood at $419.5 billion and was already at $106.9 billion through the first four months of 2019, according to Census Bureau data. Trump said Wednesday he would like to see a deal but is content with where things are now. “They want a deal more than I do,” he told Fox Business Network. The U.S. has levied 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and has threatened to put additional duties on the remaining $300 billion of imports.
By Jack Stubbs, Joseph Menn, Christopher Bing
LONDON (Reuters) - Hackers working for China’s Ministry of State Security broke into networks of eight of the world’s biggest technology service providers in an effort to steal commercial secrets from their clients, according to sources familiar with the attacks. Reuters today reported extensive new details about the global hacking campaign, known as Cloud Hopper and attributed to China by the United States and its Western allies. A U.S. indictment in December outlined an elaborate operation to steal Western intellectual property in order to advance China’s economic interests but stopped short of naming victim companies. A Reuters report at the time identified two: Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM. Now, Reuters has found that at least six other technology service providers were compromised: Fujitsu, Tata Consultancy Services, NTT Data, Dimension Data, Computer Sciences Corporation and DXC Technology, HPE’s spun-off services arm. Reuters has also identified more than a dozen victims who were clients of the service providers. That list includes Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson, U.S. Navy shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries and travel reservation system Sabre.
By Jack Stubbs, Joseph Menn, Christopher Bing
Eight of the world's biggest technology service providers were hacked by Chinese cyber spies in an elaborate and years-long invasion, Reuters found. The invasion exploited weaknesses in those companies, their customers, and the Western system of technological defense. LONDON – Hacked by suspected Chinese cyber spies five times from 2014 to 2017, security staff at Swedish telecoms equipment giant Ericsson had taken to naming their response efforts after different types of wine. Pinot Noir began in September 2016. After successfully repelling a wave of attacks a year earlier, Ericsson discovered the intruders were back. And this time, the company’s cybersecurity team could see exactly how they got in: through a connection to information-technology services supplier Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Teams of hackers connected to the Chinese Ministry of State Security had penetrated HPE’s cloud computing service and used it as a launchpad to attack customers, plundering reams of corporate and government secrets for years in what U.S. prosecutors say was an effort to boost Chinese economic interests. The hacking campaign, known as “Cloud Hopper,” was the subject of a U.S. indictment in December that accused two Chinese nationals of identity theft and fraud. Prosecutors described an elaborate operation that victimized multiple Western companies but stopped short of naming them. A Reuters report at the time identified two: Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM. Yet the campaign ensnared at least six more major technology firms, touching five of the world’s 10 biggest tech service providers.
By Brett Samuels
The House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday voted to subpoena White House counselor Kellyanne Conway after she did not appear voluntarily at a hearing focused on her repeated alleged violations of the Hatch Act. The committee voted 25-16 to compel Conway's testimony following roughly 30 minutes of arguments over the validity of the Office of Special Counsel's (OSC) findings that she repeatedly violated the law, which prohibits federal officials from weighing in on elections in their government capacity. Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) was the lone Republican to side with Democrats to authorize the subpoena. The White House blocked Conway from appearing for public testimony before the committee Wednesday, citing "long-standing precedent" of declining to offer presidential advisers for congressional testimony. "There are rarely issues that come before our committee that are so clear-cut, but this is one of them," committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said in opening remarks. "This is about right and wrong. This is about the core principle of our precious democracy, that nobody, not one person, nobody in this country is above the law." Cummings called the White House's reasoning for blocking Conway's testimony "baseless," noting the committee was not seeking information on private conversations involving the president.
Republican state senators in Oregon remain in hiding Wednesday, in an attempt to avoid a vote on a controversial climate bill. But as a result, more than 100 other bills – including funding for state agencies – are at risk of being scrapped. Activists who want the Oregon state senate to pass the climate bill are running out of time.  Last week, 11 GOP lawmakers walked off the job -- and with only five days left in the legislative session, the senate doesn't have enough people to vote on the climate bill or the many others. "They are turning their backs on Oregonians and they are turning their backs on the democratic process," said the state's Democratic governor, Kate Brown. The Republicans' refusal to show up for work since last Thursday has also frustrated some voters. "Why do we elect them if they're not going to make a decision for us?" Sara Nickel said. Gov. Brown authorized state police to track down the runaway senators. But many have fled to neighboring states, including state Sen. Tim Knopp, who told CBS News that he's "in Idaho at a cabin by a lake."
By Terrence Dopp and Alyza Sebenius
President Donald Trump said substantial additional U.S. tariffs would be placed on goods from China if there’s no progress on a trade deal after his planned meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G-20 Summit in Japan. “My Plan B with China is to take in billions and billions of dollars a month and we’ll do less and less business with them,” Trump said Wednesday during an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo. Trump has previously said he may decide to raise tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports if he doesn’t like what he hears from Xi at this weekend’s summit in Osaka. The two leaders are expected to meet Saturday -- something financial markets worldwide will be watching carefully. The president’s latest remarks added an element of doubt to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin‘s comment earlier Wednesday on CNBC that he’s “hopeful” about U.S.-China trade negotiations.
By Chris Nichols
In his recent interview on "Meet the Press", President Donald Trump claimed there’s proof to support his repeatedly debunked claim that "serious voter fraud" took place in California during the 2016 presidential election. Trump alleged California "admitted" there were "a million" illegal votes in the 2016 presidential election.  "Take a look at Judicial Watch. Take a look at their settlement. California admitted to a million votes. They admitted to a million votes," Trump told Chuck Todd, the show’s host, in an interview that aired June 23, 2019. Election officials and fact checkers have previously called out Trump’s baseless claims on the subject. In November 2016, PolitiFact National rated Pants on Fire his contention that he lost the popular vote because "millions of people voted illegally." PolitiFact California handed out the same rating for his claim of "serious voter fraud" in California. Hillary Clinton won the state by more than 4 million votes and she won the national popular vote by about 2.8 million. Trump won the decisive Electoral College tally. We wanted to know the veracity of Trump’s new claim. So, we examined the settlement that he said is evidence of massive voter fraud in California.
David Barstow tried to ghostwrite a book with a top-secret source on the Pulitzer-winning story.
By Lachlan Cartwright
On April 15, the New York Times staff gathered in the newsroom, looking up at Executive Editor Dean Baquet on a crimson staircase where he announced to rapturous applause that reporters David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner had won the Pulitzer Prize for their groundbreaking story on President Trump’s taxes. The trio “shattered Donald Trump’s myth of self-made billionaire,” Baquet said, exposing how the president and his family had evaded paying taxes for decades and committed “outright fraud.” Their story drew the fury of Trump who labeled it a “hit piece” from the “failing New York Times” and threatened to sue the paper. The reporters spoke after Baquet. Craig paid special tribute to their sources. “I wish they could stand here today with us. Some took great risks to get us the information we needed to expose the truth—and as people in power work to hide the truth—sources become even more important to what we do. They deserve safe harbor and to know they are in good hands,” she said.
Published an hour agoUpdated 7 min ago
By Yun Li, Maggie Fitzgerald
More than 300 companies are talking to government officials in Washington this month about how detrimental the trade war between the U.S. and China has been and will be to their business. Testifying in front of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, major U.S. companies including Best Buy, HP and Hallmark Cards are voicing concerns about how the additional tariffs that President Donald Trump threatened to slap on China would impact their businesses and cause them to lose business to foreign competitors. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China have heightened since early May after a trade deal fell through. Last month, Trump hiked tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and China retaliated with tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. imports. Trump also threatened to slap tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports. Corporate America and Wall Street are hoping the beginnings of a new deal can be hatched at the G-20 Summit  this week when Trump and President Xi Jinping are set to meet. Here are what some of the executives said last week.
It raises new questions about what else the Trump administration is hiding.
By Zack Ford
A former top adviser to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed the secretary lied about his intentions for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, according to House testimony made public on Tuesday. The Trump administration has blocked many of its officials from answering questions for House Democratic investigations. James Uthmeier, who served as senior adviser and counsel to Ross, appeared before the House Oversight Committee earlier this month and refused to answer more than 100 questions. Still, he “confirmed key information” about the changes to the census, according to Democratic members of the committee. His testimony informs the committee’s recent recommendation for contempt charges against Ross and Attorney General William Barr. As a new U.S. Census Bureau report explains, including a question on citizenship status in the census could result in as many as 9 million people not being counted as living in the United States. This undercount would largely impact racial minorities who fear that disclosing their status could lead to their deportation or that of friends, family members, and neighbors. Because the census determines redistricting for congressional representation, the resulting erasure would drastically benefit Republicans in the next decade of elections.
By Shirley Tay
U.S. President Donald Trump’s fresh sanctions on Iran are a “symbolic act” and may leave Washington with no room to exert further pressure on the nuclear power, a former U.S. diplomat said Tuesday. Trump on Monday signed an executive order to impose “hard-hitting” sanctions on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom he said was responsible for the “hostile conduct” of the regime. While the new sanctions aim to deny top Iranian officials access to important financial resources, “the Ayatollah and most of the people closest to him don’t really have bank accounts in their names ... in Europe or outside of Iran” that would be hit by the sanctions, said Amos Hochstein, who served as U.S. special envoy for international energy affairs under the Obama administration. Washington’s new sanctions come on the back of tense U.S.-Iran rhetoric after Tehran downed an American military drone last Thursday. The Trump administration has accused Iran of being responsible for a recent attack on six oil tankers in or near the Strait of Hormuz. However, Washington may be treading into dangerous waters in its Iran policy, Hochstein told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia. ”
By MELANIE ZANONA, KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN
Federal prosecutors have accused Rep. Duncan Hunter of improperly using campaign funds to pursue numerous romantic affairs with congressional aides and lobbyists, according to a new court filing late Monday night. The Justice Department alleged that Hunter (R-Calif.) and his wife Margaret Hunter illegally diverted $250,000 in campaign funds for personal use, including to fund lavish vacations and their children’s school tuition. Monday’s court filings also spell out allegations that Hunter routinely used campaign funds to pay for Ubers, bar tabs, hotel rooms and other expenses to fund at least five extramarital relationships. “At trial, the United States will seek to admit evidence of defendant Duncan D. Hunter’s expenditure of campaign funds to pay for a host of personal expenses. Among these personal expenses were funds Hunter spent to pursue a series of intimate personal relationships,” the Justice Department said in a motion to admit evidence filed on Tuesday. “This evidence is necessary to establish the personal nature of the expenditures to demonstrate Hunter’s knowledge and intent to break the law, and to establish his motive to embezzle from his campaign.” Prosecutors said they approached the defense to reach an agreement “that would eliminate the need to introduce this potentially sensitive evidence at trial,” but the congressman’s lawyers declined. Hunter’s wife has pleaded guilty and agreed earlier this month to cooperate with prosecutors. Prosecutors also filed motions to permit Margaret Hunter’s testimony to be used at trial, which is slated for September 10.
By Kate Bennett, CNN
(CNN) - Melania Trump's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham will get a major new role as both White House press secretary and communications director, the first lady tweeted Tuesday. "I am pleased to announce @StephGrisham45 will be the next @PressSec & Comms Director! She has been with us since 2015 - @POTUS & I can think of no better person to serve the Administration & our country. Excited to have Stephanie working for both sides of the @WhiteHouse. #BeBest" Melania Trump tweeted. President Donald Trump didn't look far for his next press secretary in Grisham, who for the past two years has been the communications director for the first lady. Grisham will keep her current job too. However, Trump has tweaked the job duties before handing the reins to Grisham, whose purview will include a larger scope of responsibility than that of her predecessor Sarah Sanders, and one as yet unprecedented in this administration. Trump has appointed Grisham both White House director of communications as well as press secretary, a senior White House official tells CNN. Grisham will be assuming the roles formerly held by Bill Shine, who departed as White House communications director in March, and Sanders, who has said her last day will be this Friday. Additionally, Grisham will remain in charge of communications for the East Wing in addition to her new West Wing responsibilities, staying on as the spokeswoman for the first lady, says the official. Grisham will be accompanying the President in her new capacity on his trip to Japan and Korea this week.
By Carma Hassan and Tatyana Bellamy-Walker, CNN
(CNN)University of Michigan police are investigating after a noose was found on an employee's desk at a university hospital. The university has "taken immediate action" to investigate the incident that occurred Thursday as an act of discrimination and criminal ethnic intimidation, said Dr. Marschall S. Runge, the dean of the University of Michigan Medical School. "This act of hate violates all of the values that we hold dear and will not be tolerated," Runge said in a statement, calling the noose a "symbol of hate and discrimination." Heather Young, a university police spokeswoman, told CNN the desk is "a shared workspace, shared by multiple people," and it's "difficult to answer" questions about the race or ethnicity of the employees who use it.
By Hannah Allam
In the back of a nondescript building at the University of Maryland, a team of researchers combs through the files of homegrown extremists who have plotted attacks in the name of far-right causes. In each case, researchers are hunting for the motivation, the ideology, that inspired the violence. That means digging into the many elements that make up the far right, as researcher Michael Jensen explained on a recent afternoon. "White supremacist, white nationalist, white extremist, sovereign citizen, anti-government, Patriot [movement], neo-Nazis, skinhead. What else?" Jensen asked two of his colleagues, Elizabeth Yates and Patrick James. "I've seen 'anti-federalist' recently," Yates said. "We also deal with a lot of just specifically anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant," James added. "Kind of xenophobic cases." That list, rattled off on the spot, is nowhere near exhaustive, but it shows the complexities of trying to better understand far-right violence, which federal authorities say is the deadliest and most active form of domestic extremism. The labels the researchers use to code attacks are part of a wider debate over what to call the far-right threat — and how politics plays into that debate.
For decades, Williamson said that medicines don’t cure disease but positive thinking does. Now she’s taking her quackery to a new and dangerous level: the anti-vaxxer conspiracy.
By Jay Michaelson
To most observers, Marianne Williamson’s quirky presidential candidacy is a footnote. She’s running at around 1 percent in the polls. Few Americans know who she is, even though she’s written a few best-sellers and has managed to qualify for the 20-person Democratic debate squad next week. But that may change thanks to Williamson’s anti-vaxxer statement last week that policies requiring children to get life-saving vaccines is “Orwellian” and “draconian” and that the issue is “no different than the abortion debate.” Now she’s headline news—at least in the context of the noxious, moronic, false, and dangerous anti-vaxxer conspiracy theory, which now has a Democratic presidential candidate backing it. (Donald Trump, of course, has backed it for years.)
By Hilary Brueck
Fifty years ago today, on June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga river in Cleveland, Ohio caught fire. At the time, the river was one of the most polluted in the US. Journalists filled glasses with pitch-black river water, while politicians dipped cloth into the waves that came up oil-soaked. The river fire lasted roughly 20 minutes, but it sparked public outrage that in part led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the federal office tasked with making sure "Americans have clean air, land, and water." Take a look at what the Cuyahoga River — and other waters around the US — looked like before the EPA existed. The 1969 fire on the Cuyahoga was not the first. Flames broke out somewhat often on the water in Ohio in those days, sparked by oil and other contaminants dumped into the river.
By Matt Hamilton and Maya Lau
President Trump’s warning that “millions” of migrants would be deported starting this weekend was abruptly changed Saturday when he issued a surprise tweet announcing a two-week delay to the crackdown, urging Congress to hammer out reforms on immigration policy. “If not, Deportations start!” Trump said in a tweet. The shifting plans for mass removals drew swift condemnation from immigration advocates in Southern California, who called the sweeps an inhumane strategy for enforcement and a dangerous scare tactic that was cleaving communities. “I think it is so cruel what he is doing,” said Angelica Salas, the executive director of the nonprofit Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, or CHIRLA. “It’s clear that he has no sense of how this impacts real human beings.” What was particularly striking, Salas argued, was the “level of dishonesty, in that he’s using the fear and people as leverage for his demands on Congress.” Salas opined that the president was getting pushback about the logistics of his announced sweeps, as well as backlash from across the political spectrum. “Even law enforcement — our LAPD, our sheriff — everyone is saying this is the wrong way to do what you are doing,” Salas said. “I can only use the word ‘harmful.’ Others say ‘disgraceful.’ All those adjectives really speak to his lack of thinking through about the impact this has.”
Donald Trump promises new sanctions over shooting down of US drone as Iran warns of 'crushing' response if attacked.
US President Donald Trump has vowed to impose fresh sanctions on Iran and said military action was still "on the table" as tensions continued to rise in the Gulf following the downing of an unmanned US drone by Iranian forces. Trump's threat on Saturday came as Tehran warned Washington that "one bullet towards Iran" would cause its interests across the Middle East to go up in flames. Frictions between the United States and Iran have been at fever pitch since Thursday when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) downed a US surveillance drone. Washington claims the incident happened in international airspace, but Tehran said the drone was shot down over its territory. Trump said the US planned retaliatory attacks on Iran, but he called them off because 150 people could have been killed. Speaking in Washington, DC, before heading to the US presidential retreat at Camp David, where he said he would deliberate on Iran, Trump said his administration intended to pile economic pressure on Tehran.
CBS News
President Trump announced Saturday on Twitter that he's delayed plans to deport undocumented immigrants. Mr. Trump said the postponement was to allow for lawmakers to create a plan that would tackle issues he believes are plaguing the border. CBS News politics reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez spoke with CBSN about the policy, which was set to take effect on Sunday and impact multiple cities
By Oren Liebermann and Tara John, CNN
Jerusalem (CNN) - United States national security adviser John Bolton warned Sunday that Iran should not "mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness," days after President Donald Trump called off a retaliatory military strike against Iran after the downing of an American drone. Bolton also warned of the possibility of a strike against Iran in the future during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. "Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness. No one has granted them a hunting license in the Middle East," Bolton, who has publicly and repeatedly called for regime change in Tehran in the past, said. After coming within minutes of military strikes, Trump stepped back from the brink of a dangerous escalation Thursday. The President said Friday he called off an attack because he decided there would be too many deaths for a proportionate response to the downing of the US drone. The President's stance on the dramatic escalation in tensions with Iran has been in stark contrast to harsh public warnings from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and particularly the views of Bolton. Referring to Trump's decision to call of the strike, Bolton threatened possible military action in the future. "The President said, 'I just stopped the strike from going forward... at this time,'" said Bolton on Sunday. "As President Trump said on Friday, our military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go -- by far the best in the world," Bolton said. "Sanctions are biting, and more were added last night. Iran can never have nuclear weapons, not against the USA, not against the world."
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