People disrespect the American flag every day, according to Flag Code

President Donald Trump recently stated on social media that athletes who don’t stand during the national anthem are “disrespecting our flag.”

His comments were mostly directed toward NFL players who have sat or knelt while “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played, an action started by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last year.

Donald J. Trump 

✔@realDonaldTrump

If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!

6:44 AM - Sep 24, 2017

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While people will debate whether NFL stars or other athletes are disrespecting the flag, chances are you really have, according to guidelines in the United States Flag Code.

Section 176 of the code discusses respect for the flag. Some common forms of disrespect include:

▪ Clothing designed as the American flag.

▪ Carrying the flag horizontal to the ground and/or allowing it to touch anything beneath it.

▪ Putting any marks, words or images on the flag.

▪ Using the flag on advertisements.

▪ Folding the flag’s image into athletic logos or uniforms.

Are you guilty of any of these everyday violations? To learn more about how to respect the American flag, see the full code for more information.

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Equality PAC Makes First 2018 Endorsement of a Non-Incumbent: Gina Ortiz Jones (TX-23)

Equality PAC, a political action committee formed by leaders of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, announced today the PAC’s first endorsement of a non-incumbent candidate:  Gina Ortiz Jones, who is running in the 23^rd Congressional District of Texas.

“Gina Ortiz Jones is exactly the kind of candidate we need to gain a pro-equality majority in 2018,” said Equality PAC Chair Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA).  “Gina bravely served our country in uniform under Don't Ask Don't Tell, and knows first hand the corrosive effect of anti-LGBT policies.  Her voice and perspective will be an invaluable addition to not just debates on equality, but military readiness, national security, health care policy, and all the myriad issues members of Congress face every day.  Equality PAC is proud to announce Gina as our first non-incumbent endorsement, a sign of how much faith we have in her and her campaign for Congress.”

“Talent is everywhere; opportunity is not,” said Jones.  “I am excited to join with Equality PAC in working to fix that, and I am honored by their early endorsement.  Representation matters now more than ever, and it's important that we have a Congress that looks like America.  I look forward to taking my lived experiences to Washington, and fighting to protect the opportunities of every American.”

Jones, a former Air Force intelligence officer, has dedicated her career to keeping this country safe.  After serving the Air Force, which included a deployment in Iraq, Jones joined the Department of Defense’s Intelligence Agency, ultimately serving as special advisor to the deputy director.

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Trump Administration Argues Against LGBTQ Protections

Why does President Donald Trump care about what gay people do in the bedroom? The question came up this week, when a lawyer for Trump's Department of Justice argued that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect LGBTQ Americans from being fired because of their sexual orientation — a complete reversal of the government's…

‘Will & Grace’ Is Still Necessary in Trump's America

American audiences needed Will & Grace when it premiered in 1998. Many had not known an openly gay person (that they were aware of) in real life or on the small screen. Society has made huge strides on LGBTQ rights in the two decades since, including the Supreme Court's historic 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage.…

How Russians use social media to divide Americans

"Twitter may have been used even more extensively than Facebook in the Russian influence campaign last year," the N.Y. Times' Daisuke Wakabayashi and Scott Shane report on A1:

• What's new: "In addition to Russia-linked Twitter accounts that posed as Americans, the platform was also used for large-scale automated messaging, using 'bot' accounts to spread false stories and promote news articles about emails from Democratic operatives that had been obtained by Russian hackers."
• How it happened: "Unlike Facebook, the service does not require its users to provide their real name (or at least a facsimile of one) and allows automated accounts."
• Why it matters: "Twitter has said almost nothing about what it knows about Russia's use of its platform."
• What's next: Twitter today will brief staff of the Senate and House intelligence committees.

Be smart: Conservatives on the Hill are hungry to go after Big Tech.There's an irony: The evidence points to the platforms helping Trump. But the Russian revelations clearly add to the companies' regulatory and legislative vulnerability.

Go deeper:

• "How Russians use social media to divide Americans," by Axios' Sara Fischer and David McCabe.
• "What to expect in Twitter's Russia probe briefing," by Axios' David McCabe.

Source Axios
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Trump's Tax Reform Nightmare

President Trump has built an escape hatch from his own tax plan. In Indianapolis yesterday, he bragged that it's the "largest tax cut in our county's history."

But in the West Wing earlier, Trump resisted the framework that had been cooked up by congressional leaders, plus economic adviser Gary Cohn and Steve Mnuchin:

Why it matters: If Trump shows the fickleness he showed on repeal-and-replace (championing the House plan, then later calling it "mean"), that could increase the chances the plan sinks, with him blaming Congress.

What happened: On Monday, there were some tense moments for Republicans at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, as word got out Trump wasn't thrilled with the framework, sources tell Axios' Jonathan Swan.

• Trump wanted to propose an even lower corporate rate. It's "The Art of the Deal": Don't open the bidding with the number you ultimately want — 20% (the figure announced yesterday), down from 35%. Open with an extreme bid and work back. Trump wanted to propose 15%.
• Trump was also attuned to the political risks of raising the bottom rate from 10% to 12%, while cutting the top individual rate. (That would shift the pitch to a zero rate with the doubling of the standard deduction, and leave room for a higher top rate. Yesterday's plan could drop the top rate for individuals to 35% from 39.6%.)
• On Monday, Republicans on the Hill were genuinely uneasy, and thought there was a chance POTUS wouldn't sign off.

Be smart: Tax reform is now an existential issue for House Speaker Ryan and Senate Leader McConnell. If they botch this, as they did health care, both chambers could lose their Republican majorities.

• Some conservative Republicans worry about a "nightmare scenario" for the party: no health care repeal, no tax reform — and the party's top two accomplishments of this Congress are a "bailout" for insurance companies (fixes to the Affordable Care Act), and "amnesty" ("Dreamer" legislation).
• That would depress Republicans and excite Democrats — the surest formula for the GOP to blow its majorities.

How it's playing ... USA Today banner, "Trump could reap millions in tax plan: Proposals to cut estate taxes, AMT would benefit wealthy" ... L.A. Times lead story, "Tax plan would hit state hard: GOP proposal would end a big tax break for Californians and may curtail the mortgage interest deduction."

The standard by which the Trump tax plan should be judged is the standard that the Trump administration itself has set.

“There will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said shortly after the election. “My plan is for the working people,” President Trump said yesterday. “I don’t benefit.”

None of that is true. It’s the latest disturbing example of politicians telling falsehoods about a proposed policy. Trump has done so repeatedly, and now members of Congress are doing it more often, too. These aren’t mere exaggerations or truth shadings; they are often just lies.

“Trump’s tax plan: prioritize cuts for the rich, say he isn’t,” as New York Magazine succinctly puts it.

You can read The Times Editorial Board’s analysis — that the plan relies on the discredited notion that tax cuts for the rich help everyone — here.

Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center, probably the single best source for tax analysis, writes that the plan “may cut taxes modestly for some middle-income households, but it appears to be a far bigger tax cut for high-income households.”

Wealthy households, Gleckman explains, would benefit from individual rate cuts, repeal of both the alternative minimum tax and the estate tax, as well as tax cuts for corporations and “pass-through” businesses (such as sole proprietorships and partnerships).

In Fortune, Seth Hanlon points out that this last provision would shower huge benefits on Trump’s family.

And the tax cuts for the affluent are so large — trillions of dollars over the coming decade, says Lily Batchelder of N.Y.U. — that they would cause the deficit to soar.

James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute writes that “their plan should be a non-starter.” He adds, “It also makes a joke of the GOP’s supposed deficit worries during the Obama years.”

As those comments suggest, the plan didn’t even win good marks from many conservatives. National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru had one of the less harsh takes and argued that the plan would be much better with a large child tax credit.

The search now begins for three Republican senators — enough to stop this plan — who are willing to take a stand for the deficit and the middle class.

You can watch a video of Trump’s tax speech here.

Source Axios

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“We have been attacked. We are at war.”

“We have been attacked. We are at war.”

So begins a video released  by The Committee to Investigate Russia, an organization founded by When Harry Met Sally director Rob Reiner and conservative senior editor of The Atlantic David Frum. The video, which stars Morgan Freeman and is rife with patriotic images of American flags, soldiers and bald eagles, continues as follows:

Imagine this movie script: A former KGB spy, angry at the collapse of his motherland, plots a course for revenge. Taking advantage of the chaos, he works his way up through the ranks of a post-Soviet Russia, and becomes president. He establishes an authoritarian regime, then he sets his sights on his sworn enemy: the United States. And like the true KGB spy he is, he secretly uses cyber warfare to attack democracies around the world. Using social media to spread propaganda and false information, he convinces people in democratic societies to distrust their media, their political processes, even their neighbors. And he wins.

Vladimir Putin is that spy, and this is no movie script.

We need our president to speak directly to us and tell us the truth. We need him to sit behind the desk in the Oval Office and say, “My fellow Americans. During this past election, we came under attack by the Russian government. I’ve called on Congress and our intelligence community to use every resource available to conduct a thorough investigation to determine exactly how this happened.”

The free world is counting on us for leadership. For 241 years, our democracy has been a shining example to the world of what we can all aspire to. And we owe it to the brave people who have fought and died to protect this great nation and save democracy. And we owe it to our future generations to continue the fight.

For generations, ppl have fought to protect democracy. Now it’s our turn. Watch Morgan Freeman explain Russia’s plot to undermine the U.S.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO 

http://footprintsstrategies.com

Mike Cernovich Sues to Obtain Court Records in Case Involving Pedophile Ring

Cernovich seeks to unseal records in a course case involving accused pedophile madame Ghislaine Maxwell and her friend Jeffrey Epstein.

Filed in federal court in New York, a lawsuit accuses socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is accused of running a pedophile operation on behalf of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

Read: Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘sex slave’ Virginia Roberts wins round in defamation lawsuit against British socialite and alleged ‘pimp’ Ghislaine Maxwell who ‘passed her around for sex’ and trained her to be ‘everything a man wanted’

Although the lawsuit’s existence was covered widely in the media, the allegations remained hidden , as every legal document filed in the case is under seal. When a court document is filed under seal, the public loses the right to inspect these documents.

This is a massive case alleging a worldwide pedophile ring, which the public has an interest in discovering. And no one has any idea who is leading this pedophile ring or how many people they have allegedly victimized.

Working with free speech lawyer Marc Randazza, Mike Cernovich of Cernovich Media filed a lawsuit to unseal records in a case involving billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

At considerable financial expense and personal risk (Epstein is well-connected and dangerous, counting Donald Trump as among his closest friends), Cernovich sued because taking on the rich and powerful is what real journalists do. The trial court denied Cernovich’s motion to unseal records, and Cernovich appealed.

Today the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Files filed an amicus curie brief in support of Cernovich’s arguments.

You can download the full brief here.

The brief opens up with a powerful discussion on free speech law:

This Court has long recognized that access to judicial documents is essential to the fostering of a well-informed citizenry and the integrity of our judicial system. Amici write to emphasize their concern with the breadth of the sealing permitted by the district court in this case, which is contrary to both the common law and First Amendment presumptions of access…. The strong public interest in access to the judicial records at issue in this case weighs in favor of their disclosure, and under the common law and First Amendment presumptions of access, no compelling interest exists to seal them. For the reasons set forth herein and in Appellants’ briefs, amici respectfully urge this Court to reverse the district court’s order.

Many people attack Mike Cernovich’s good name and call him fake news.

How may of those people have paid $25,000 out of their own pockets to file a lawsuit to expose billionaire pedophiles? (The lawsuit was paid for with Patreon funds, and Cernovich is grateful to his backers.)

Mike Cernovich is creating High Impact Journalism! | Patreon
Become a patron of Mike Cernovich today: Read 10 posts by Mike Cernovich and get access to exclusive content and…www.patreon.com

You can read the full brief filed today below:

CLICK HERE

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Popovich: 'Our country is an embarrassment'

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich took the opportunity of the Spurs' media to blast President Donald Trump for rescinding the Golden State Warriors' invitation to the White House and for comments about NFL players kneeling or sitting during the national anthem. "Our country is an embarrassment in the world," Popovich said referring to Trump saying in…

Trump signaled his support for the Alt Right In October 2015

October 2015 Donald Trump Tweeted Himself as Pepe 

Pepe the Frog - a meme of an anthropomorphised cartoon frog - became the most ubiquitous symbol of the broad Alternative Right. 

First popularized on 4chan in 2008, the meme gained an association with the Alternative Right due to increasing variations using far right imagery.

Trump’s posting on Twitter of a picture of himself characterized as Pepe the Frog was seen as a signal to the Alternative Right by the loose movement's followers.

LINK

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Inside the alt-right: 'Genocidal behind closed doors'

Read The Complete Report Here

Patrik Hermansson, a gay anti-fascist activist, would seem like an obvious target for the white supremacists, far-right populists and neo-Nazis who make up the alt-right movement. Yet the 25-year-old was able to successfully infiltrate the alt-right's ranks as part of a year-long undercover investigation for Hope Not Hate, a UK-based organisation that monitors hate groups. Posing…

Choose your news for Politics

Joe Biden will deliver news briefings via Amazon Echo and Google Home Political heavyweights on both sides of the aisle are creating and endorsing new media organizations to communicate with voters directly ahead of the 2020 election. Former VP Joe Biden has launched a new daily podcast-like program called "Biden's Briefing" in which he shares the articles he's reading, according to CNN. Hillary Clinton has been promoting a website called Verrit,which advertises itself as a portal that "contextualizes noteworthy facts, stats, and quotes for politically engaged citizens," per Business Insider. Why it matters: Earlier this year, Axios reported on the explosion of conservative news sites. Audience measurement company Chartbeat confirmed that these sites continue to dominate in volume over left-wing entities, but there's also been an uptick in partisan Facebook pages on the left, per NewsWhip. Source Axios

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The FEC's plans for political ad disclosures

Officials at the Federal Election Commission are reaching out to political ad buyers, among others, to solicit more comments about potential new disclosure rules, Axios has learned. At this point, most of the FEC's efforts are around gathering ideas about ways to modernize outdated disclosure laws.

Among a few other ideas expected to be considered (they're still far away from actual implementation):

1. Creating a database of all political ads
2. Banning programmatic (automated) political ads from being sold

Why it matters: The past election cycle showed just how much modern campaigns lean on programmatic advertising to reach voters and donors with persuasive ads that could push them to vote one way or another.

Where it gets tricky: It will be hard for the six-person commission, divided equally among party lines, to come to a consensus, according to sources within the FEC, meaning that any major disclosure efforts would have to come from Congress.

• Republican commissioners have traditionally approached regulations around election disclosures with hostility, and in order to push measures forward, two of the three Republican commissioners would need to break with party lines, because a Democratic commissioner seat is vacant at the moment.

Timing: The commission is accepting comments for 30 days. After that, FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub tells Axios, "I think things are moving fast and we need to get moving fast."

The back story: Per Borrell Associates, $800 million was spent on automated advertising on Google and Facebook during last year's election. The Trump campaign spent nearly as much money on programmatic ads as TV ads.

Go deeper: Read full story.

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