“President Trump has placed a death sentence for the Christians that currently face deportation to Iraq.” – Mark Arabo, President, Minority Humanitarian Foundation, San Diego

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Miriam Raftery:  Iraqis Chaldeans and Assyrian Christians at Santa Sophia's Church in Spring Valley held a mass to mourn the murder of  Iraqi Christians  in a Baghdad church in 2010.

June 15, 2017 (San Diego) -- A class action lawsuit has been filed against the federal government in Michigan seeking to halt deportation of Iraqi refugees to Iraq. The suit seeks protections for over 100 Chaldean Christian detainees,  as well as other religious minorities including Shiite Muslims, Kurds, and Yezidis who would could face persecution, torture or death at the hands of ISIS if returned to war-torn Iraq.

“Not only is it immoral to send people to a country where they are likely to be violently persecuted, it expressly violates United States and international law and treaties,” said Kary Moss, Executive Director for the ACLU of Michigan, in a statement on the ACLU website. “We are hoping that the courts will recognize the extreme danger that deportation to Iraq would pose for these individuals. Our immigration policy shouldn’t amount to a death sentence for anyone.”

Ruling also affirms block on refugee ban, but allows review of vetting procedures

By Miriam Raftery

June 13, 2017 (San Francisco) --  A second federal appeals court has blocked nearly all of President Donald Trump’s executive order  that included a 90-day travel ban from six mainly Muslim nations, though the two courts found different rationales for their rulings, the New York Times reports.

Federal agencies refuse to provide records on environmental compliance until after wall prototypes are built, environmental group says

East County News Service

June 2, 2017 (San Diego) -- The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a formal notice of intent to sue the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection over impacts to endangered species and critical habitat from building up to 20 border-wall “prototype” designs in San Diego County. 

By Jordan Damond

May 31, 2017 (Washington D.C.) -- Ever since President Donald Trump released his budget plan for 2018, it’s caused an uproar among concerned citizens and some members of Congress. Many have deemed the plan illogical or harmful, while others defend and even praise it.

By Miriam Raftery

May 16, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – After the Washington Post reported yesterday that President Donald Trump leaked classified information to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Moscow’s Ambassador Sergey Kisylyak, multiple major media outlets now report that they have independently confirmation this through their own sources, including the New York Times,  Politico, Buzzfeed and CNN.

Source:  Operation 45; Documents & Graphic Excerpts Available HERE

Photo: Kremlin in Moscow

East County News Service

May 11, 2017 (Washington D.C.) -- President Trump’s May 9, 2017 letter firing now-former FBI Director James Comey in part reads, “I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation[.]” 

Source:  Center for Biological Diversity

May 3, 2017 (San Diego) -- The Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit conservation organization, today filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking public records on whether planned prototypes for President Trump’s border wall in Southern California comply with laws meant to protect wildlife, people and wild places.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, UCSB collection

April 29, 2017 (San Diego) – The Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969 was the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history at the time.  Three million gallons of crude oil contaminated the ocean and beaches with thick, black goo. Oil bubbled from the blown well and from cracks in the sea bed, killing countless sea birds, seals and other marine life. 

The last remaining oil derrick off California's coast is slated to be decommissioned,  Public News Service reported last week. But now an executive order by President Donald Trump could result in offshore oil wells again pumping in the waters off California.

View video of round dance 

Source: Indigenous Environmental Network

April 27, 2017 (Washington, D.C.) -- Hundreds of Indigenous people from around the country converged on the Trump Hotel tonight to project messages of resistance, and hold a traditional round dance that shut down Pennsylvania Ave and 12th St NW for about half an hour starting at 9 p.m. Messages projected on the side of the Trump Hotel included “#IndigenousRising,” “Resist Trump,” “Resist Pipelines,” and “Renew Treaties.”

East County News Service

April 19, 2017 (San Diego) -- The Center for Biological Diversity and Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva, who serves as ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, sued the Trump administration this week over the proposed border wall and other border security measures, calling on federal agencies to conduct an in-depth investigation of the proposal’s environmental impacts.

By Miriam Raftery

April 16, 2017 (San Diego) – The U.S. is poised to lose $7.4 billion in lost tourism dollars this year and $10.9 billion next year due to President Donald Trump’s travel ban and other policies making travelers feel unwelcome in the U.S., Tourism Economics estimates, the Washington Post reports.  

East County News Service

April 15, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – The U.S. on Thursday dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed to destroy caves used by ISIS fighters in the Achin area of Afghanistan, the Pentagon confirms.  Some Afghan officials estimate that as many as 94 ISIS fighters and four commanders may have been killed, with no civilian deaths reported, according to NBC news.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer also draws fire for Holocaust denial comment;

White House also fumbles annual Easter Egg roll

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: White House Seder, with Trump seat vacant

April 11, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – The annual White House Seder dinner marking the start of Passover was held on Monday with Jewish staffers and friends. But President Donald Trump did not attend, even though he was reportedly at home in the White House at the time.

By Miriam Raftery

April 4, 2017 (San Diego) – One of the harshest cuts in President Donald Trump’s budget is his proposal to completely eliminate the U.S. interagency Council on Homelessness.  The Council helps all homeless people, but has been particularly effective helping homeless veterans. It has been successful in ending homelessness among veterans in three states and cutting veterans’ homeless nationwide by 47 percent. Associated Press reports.

By Shaun Mullen, originally published at The Moderate Voice, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Shaun Mullen was an award-winning editor and reporter who covered the Vietnam War, O.J. Simpson trials, Clinton impeachment, Osama bin Laden and more before turning to blogging and social commentary. He was a five-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, covered 12 presidential campaigns and authored several books. Much of his work is archived and accessible online in the Shaun D. Mullen Journalism Papers in Special Collections at the University of Delaware Library. ​

March 29, 2017 (Washington D.C.) -- Just because people with connections to Donald Trump’s Russia scandal keep dying or disappearing unexpectedly does not necessarily mean that their heart attacks, assassinations in broad daylight, mysterious exits and other premature departures are any more than an uncanny number of coincidences. (Cough, cough.) But the guy authorities claim was critically injured when his bathtub fell on him on the eve of a court appearance that would have been deeply embarrassing to the Vladimir Putin regime who also happens to be a key witness in a U.S. fraud case took my conspiracy-averse, never-leap-to-conclusions investigative self over the top.