US Politics Mega-thread - Page 4149

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch plans to announce on Friday that she will accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server, a Justice Department official said. Her decision removes the possibility that a political appointee will overrule investigators in the case.

The Justice Department had been moving toward such an arrangement for months — officials said in April that it was being considered — but a private meeting between Ms. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton this week set off a political furor and made the decision all but inevitable.

Republicans said the meeting, which took place at the Phoenix airport, had compromised the independence of the investigation as the F.B.I. was winding it down. Some called for Ms. Lynch to recuse herself, but she did not take herself off the case — one that could influence a presidential election.

Ms. Lynch has said she wants to handle the Clinton investigation like any other case. Since the attorney general often follows the recommendations of career prosecutors, Ms. Lynch is keeping the regular process largely intact.

She plans to discuss the matter at a conference in Aspen, Colo., on Friday. The Justice Department declined to comment. The official who confirmed the discussion did so on the condition of anonymity because the internal decision-making process is normally kept confidential.

The F.B.I. is investigating whether Mrs. Clinton, her aides or anyone else broke the law by setting up a private email server for her to use as secretary of state. Internal investigators have concluded that the server was used to send classified information, and Republicans have seized on the matter to question Mrs. Clinton’s judgment.

For the Justice Department, the central question is whether the conduct met the legal standard for the crime of mishandling classified information.

Ms. Lynch said that the meeting with Mr. Clinton was unplanned, largely social and did not touch on the email investigation. She suggested that he walked uninvited from his plane to her government plane, both of which were parked on a tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Let's ignore the polling averages and the 538 election forecast

Many countries and treatment providers, including Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), rely on affordable quality generic medicines to treat life-threatening diseases. We need to keep prices low so our patients—and millions of others still waiting for treatment in the developing world—can get the medicines they need.

But right now the U.S. government is advocating for a trade deal with eleven other Pacific Rim nations that includes terms that will restrict access to generic medicines, making life-saving treatments unaffordable to millions.

Damaging intellectual property rules in the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) would give pharmaceutical companies longer monopolies over brand name drugs. Companies would be able to charge high prices for longer periods of time. And it would be much harder for generic companies to produce cheaper drugs that are vital to people’s health.

California has adopted expanded background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines as part of a sweeping package of gun control laws that advocates hope will pave the way for stronger firearm restrictions across the country.

Governor Jerry Brown signed into law six measures on Friday that include a wide range of new limits on the purchase and possession of rifles in the Golden State at a time when federal lawmakers have remained in a deadlock over any potential gun reforms.

The successful passage of the bills, signed two weeks after the deadliest US shooting in modern history in Orlando, Florida, offers a sharp contrast to the theatrical and unproductive fights in Washington DC over proposed gun control measures that some progressive activists don’t even support.

“California has taken a giant step forward in sensible gun safety regulations,” said state senator Loni Hancock, who sponsored one of the new bills, which bans the possession of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. “Taken together, they really will make our neighborhoods safer.”

Brown, a Democrat, also vetoed five gun control proposals on Friday, which pundits expected given his mixed record on firearms. Recently, however, the governor has been outspoken in criticizing neighboring states’ loose laws that he said create a “gigantic back door through which any terrorist can walk”.

In addition to the magazine ban, Brown signed into law legislation that outlaws assault rifles with a so-called “bullet button” that allows shooters to quickly eject and reload ammunition magazines.

Another approved measure mandates background checks when a gun is loaned to someone other than a close family member.

On July 02 2016 23:52 Slaughter wrote:


Can't help but think that these kind of state level laws are kinda useless when people have easy access to states with looser laws.

On July 02 2016 22:07 iPlaY.NettleS wrote:

Sounds very much an underreported figure.
Anyway i don't know if anybody was aware but the U.S. bombing of the Medicines-sans-frontiers hospital in Afghanistan late last year came shortly after that organisation came out against the trans-pacific-partnership (a very strange coincidence).You can read this section on their website where they lay out their opposition to the pact : http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/help-us-fix-tpp