Trudeau Broke The Law When He Expelled Critics From Liberal Caucus, MP Says

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can't seem to get out of his own way.

Just as the furor from what's become known as the SNC-Lavalin scandal was dying down, Trudeau has given two of his former cabinet ministers who were at the center of the drama reason to revive it. Former Treasury Board minister Jane Philpott, who resigned from Trudeau's cabinet in protest after the scandal broke, has asked the speaker of Canada's House of Commons to rule that Trudeau violated Canadian law when he unilaterally expelled her and former Justice Minister and AG Jody Wilson-Raybould from the Liberal Party caucus last week.

According to the Globe and Mail, a law called the Parliament of Canada Act - which was amended in 2015 to include a process for expelling members from a party caucus - stipulates that a caucus vote via secret ballot must be held before an MP can be ejected. Trudeau didn't hold a vote before effectively exiling the two dissident women from the party last week.

Trudeau told journalists last week he made the decision to oust them, saying "I have taken the decision to expel the honourable members from caucus."

For those who haven't been following the scandal, it started when the Globe and Mail reported earlier this year that Trudeau had pushed Wilson-Raybould out of his cabinet by demoting her to a lesser position after she refused to offer SNC-Lavalin, a Quebec-based engineering firm accused of corruption for bribing Libyan government officials, a deferred prosecution in accordance with the PM's wishes. During testimony before a Parliamentary committee, Wilson-Raybould described a campaign of inappropriate political pressure carried out by employees in Trudeau's office and the privy service, supposedly at the direction of the PM.

When Wilson-Raybould refused, she was moved during a cabinet shakeup. Wilson-Raybould has alleged that Trudeau was concerned about job losses in his home constituency in Quebec should SNC-Lavalin be stripped of its ability to win government contracts. The prime minister has maintained that he did nothing wrong, and that he told Wilson-Raybould that the decision was ultimately hers to make.

Adding a layer of irony to the situation, both MPs, who resigned from Trudeau's cabinet in March, were part of the new wave of more diverse MPs elected in 2015, and were part of the "gender balanced" cabinet appointed by the PM in 2017 after his electoral victory. Trudeau's treatment of the two has prompted accusations that Trudeau is a "fake feminist" - claims that will undoubtedly be bolstered by the fact that he violated the law to discriminate against them.

With the party's standing in the polls sliding due to the scandal, the Liberal majority has nevertheless rallied around their leader, recently blocking two Commons committee investigations into the scandal.

The opposition, meanwhile, has called on Trudeau to resign. But without any pressure from within his own party, it's unlikely that he will acquiesce to these demands.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-09/trudeau-broke-law-when-he-expelled-critics-liberal-caucus-mp-says

Secret Service Director Will Be Moved To New Role At DHS

After pushing out Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and dropping Ronald Vitiello, his nominee to lead ICE, President Trump is reportedly throwing a bone to critics who are wondering who is left to run DHS.

According to Bloomberg, Secret Service Director Randolph Alles will be reassigned to another job within the agency, possibly a senior position within ICE, where he previously worked.

Alles confirmed on Monday that he would be leaving his position following reports that he had been fired by Trump amid an ongoing purge of DHS. Trump aide Stephen Miller, a well-known immigration hardliner, has reportedly been tasked with running the administration's immigration policy and is working to consolidate his control over the department.

Senator Mitt Romney said at a hearing of the Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday that he’s "deeply troubled" by the vacuum at the top of DHS.

"It is dangerous," Romney said. "Dangerous given what’s happening at the border, dangerous given the broad responsibilities the Department of Homeland Security has for protecting our nation. It is seriously troubling."

Alles said he had been alerted by the White House that he would be asked to step down weeks before the news broke. According to BBG, Trump likes Alles - who is a veteran Marine like former Chief of Staff and DHS Secretary Gen. John Kelly - and wants to find another role for him within the administration.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-09/secret-service-director-will-be-moved-new-role-dhs

Here’s President Trump’s pick for the next Army vice chief

With Gen. James McConville likely heading to his next role as the Army’s top officer, there were a handful of senior-ranking generals who could have filled his shoes.

The top choice is Lt. Gen. Joseph Martin, currently the director of the Army staff, according to a nomination from the president sent to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Monday.

He would pin on a fourth star later this year, as Joint Chiefs chairman nominee Gen. Mark Milley vacates the Army chief of staff role, and, in all likelihood, McConville moves into that job.

Martin, 56, is a career armor officer who graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1986. He most recently commanded the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas, a job he was thrust into after the previous division commander was relieved amid a misconduct investigation.

That job came with a fifth deployment to Iraq, he told Army Times in 2016.

“It comes with the territory. It’s part of what we do,” he said. “I think there’s a natural human tendency that when you leave, you say, let’s hope we set the conditions so that this is the last time. Every time we come here we want to get it right and that’s my endeavor this time as well. I think we’re well on our way to do it.”

Martin and his troops went on to lead the coalition of Iraqi forces who liberated Mosul from the Islamic State as the commander of Operation Inherent Resolve’s Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command.

A confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled, according to the Senate calendar.

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/04/09/heres-president-trumps-pick-for-the-next-army-vice-chief/

Putin mocks Mueller probe: 'A mountain gave birth to a mouse'

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed vindication Tuesday in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, saying “a mountain gave birth to a mouse,” according to the Associated Press.

Putin said the findings of the 22-month investigation prove that allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia were the result of Democrats’ failure to accept the results of the 2016 presidential election.

"It was clear for us from the start that it would end like this," Putin said at an Arctic forum in St. Petersburg, according to the AP. "A mountain gave birth to a mouse."

Putin went on to call the collusion claims “sheer nonsense” and argued that continued emphasis on the investigation disrespected the will of voters.

"We have been saying from the start that this notorious commission led by Mr. Mueller won't find anything, because no one knows better than us: Russia has not meddled in any U.S. election," Putin said, according to the AP. "There was no collusion between Trump and Russia that Mr. Mueller was looking for."

Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly denied that Russia meddled in the 2016 election.

“Unjustified accusations of interference in the domestic affairs of particular countries are made while simultaneously engaging in an open campaign to undermine and topple democratically elected governments,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the United Nations in September.

Putin repeated those denials Tuesday, saying the Russian government had no contact with Trump when he visited Moscow as a private citizen, according to the AP.

In a four-page summary of Mueller’s findings, Attorney General William Barr said the special counsel found no evidence of criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia and did not draw a conclusion on obstruction of justice.

https://thehill.com/homenews/438091-putin-mocks-mueller-probe-a-mountain-gave-birth-to-a-mouse

I believe Putin wanted to get in on the trolling… he must be seeing POTUS is having a great time.

Another Blockbuster Storm Could Hit The Plains And Midwest States This Week

One month after one of the most powerful storms on record pummeled the Plains and Midwest, another storm of similar strength has been forecasted to strike the same region this week.

"Another strong storm is poised to impact the central U.S. from Colorado to the Great Lakes mid-to-late week this week, with strong winds, and heavy precipitation" reported Meteorologist and owner of Empire Weather, Ed Vallee.

"While likely not a "bomb" (requires a 24mb drop in 24 hours or less), this will be another very strong storm with significant impacts. Rain and snow will break out across South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa Tuesday night, and expand in coverage across the central Plains and Midwest into Wednesday. As this storm deepens, winds will be strong, gusting 40-60 mph across the Plains, leading to strong wind generation. Alternatively, heavy rain and snow will impact SD, northern NE, and MN with some areas seeing up to 2 feet of accumulation. Data points to total liquid falling from this storm ranging from 2-4", with locally higher amounts. Regardless of exact numbers, this region is moisture laden due to heavy winter rain and snow, and this additional moisture will lead to catastrophic flooding in the Upper Midwest. This will continue to promote disruptions to planting processes in the central and southern U.S., and likely lead to delays further north as we head deeper into the Spring," Vallee added.

Vallee explains the probabilities of the storm developing into a "bomb cyclone" (an area of low pressure that drops 24 millibars in 24 hours) are low. However, some weather models are showing the storm is on the brink of becoming one. Either way, this storm is expected to unleash severe weather in the next 12 to 48 hours.

The storm is currently developing in the Rockies Tuesday, where it will quickly intensify and bring blizzard conditions to the Plains on Wednesday.

Blizzard and winter storm warnings are posted for Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Arctic air will collide with the storm, could unleash up to 20 inches of snow with wind gusts of 45-50 mph in some parts.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-09/another-blockbuster-storm-could-impact-plains-and-midwest-week2

This could be hype or some serious $#!^ for or pals in the mid west.

Opening Statement of Attorney General William P. Barr Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies

Washington, DC ~ Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Thank you, Chairman Serrano, Ranking Member Aderholt, and other Members of the Subcommittee. I am pleased to be here today to present to you the President’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget for the Department of Justice.

I am joined here today by the Department’s Chief Financial Officer: Assistant Attorney General for Administration Lee Lofthus.

We look forward to discussing how our requested appropriations will help protect the safety and the rights of your constituents.

For two fiscal years in a row, the Department has broken records for prosecuting violent crime. The Department has also significantly increased prosecutions of firearms offenses, and in Fiscal Year 2018 prosecuted more firearm defendants than ever before.

As prosecutions have gone up, crime has gone down. In 2017—after two years of increases under the previous administration—violent crime and homicide rates went down nationwide.

The FBI’s preliminary data for the first six months of 2018 show a 4.3 percent decline in violent crime overall, a 6.7 percent decline in murders, and a 12 percent decline in robbery and burglary compared to the first six months of 2017.

In order to continue this momentum, President Trump has requested an additional $137.9 million for violent crime and transnational organized crime prosecutions, as well as $100 million for Project Safe Neighborhoods grants to state and local law enforcement. The Department also requests $5.8 million to enhance violent crime and firearms prosecutions.

Over the first two years of the Trump Administration, we have also gained ground against the opioid epidemic, which is, by far, the deadliest drug crisis that this country has ever faced.

The Department of Justice increased the number of defendants charged with federal opioid-related crimes by 28 percent from Fiscal Year 2017 to Fiscal Year 2018.

Prescriptions for the seven most frequently abused prescription opioids are down more than 23 percent since 2016, to the lowest level in at least a decade. Over the same period, the DEA has lowered the legal limits on production of the active ingredients in these opioids by 47 percent.

More importantly, drug overdose deaths may have finally stopped rising. According to preliminary data from the CDC, overdose deaths decreased slightly from September 2017 to August 2018.

But there is a lot more work to be done.

(More to read, see site if interested)

https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/opening-statement-attorney-general-william-p-barr-house-appropriations-subcommittee