Singapore News Channel, Singapore News Network

First openly gay federal judge Deborah Batts, who was set to preside over Michael Avenatti’s trial on charges of stealing money from Stormy Daniels, is dead at age 72

United States District Judge Deborah Batts, the first openly gay member of the federal judiciary, has died at age 72, just three months before she was set to preside over Michael Avenatti’s embezzlement trial.

Batts passed away on Sunday. So far, her cause of death has not been made public.

‘Deborah Batts was a trailblazer in every respect: an openly gay African-American woman who became a United States District Judge after a distinguished career as a federal prosecutor and law professor,’ Manhattan federal Chief Judge Colleen McMahon said in a statement.

VA Deputy James Byrne Fired

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie on Monday fired his deputy, James Byrne, without explanation other than a loss in confidence, Axios reports.

“Today, I dismissed VA Deputy Secretary James Byrne due to loss of confidence in Mr. Byrne’s ability to carry out his duties,” Wilkie said in a statement. “This decision is effective immediately.”

Byrne was confirmed by the Senate about five months ago, following more than two years working in senior positions in the department.

More here

A Viewer Writes……..Coming after our gun rights

MD State Legislature page for HB302

Status

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 27-0)
Status: Introduced on January 20 2020 – 25% progression
Action: 2020-01-22 – Hearing 2/05 at 2:00 p.m.
Pending: House Judiciary Committee
Hearing: Feb 5 @ 2:00 pm House Judiciary Hearing
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Summary

Altering the scope of a certain prohibition against carrying or possessing a deadly weapon on public school property to include nonpublic school property; and extending specified exceptions that allow the carrying or possessing of a deadly weapon on public school property to nonpublic school property.

Democrats’ Total Failure and Utter Humiliation Delights All Real Americans

Now that the Democrats’ dream of stealing the 2016 election through the power of MSNBCNN-fueled outrage, and through plots by fussy lib bureaucrats, lies in ruins, some people might argue that we should be gracious in our total victory and not mock the stinging pain that accompanied this latest agonizing failure. Some people are sissies. Hoist a stein overflowing with the tears of these losers and chug chug chug away.

Then tap another keg. This party is finally getting started, and it’s going to rage on until January 2025.

Maybe even longer, if you listen to the Bozos, Pennywises, and Krustys they find for those CNN panels. Their genius takeaway from their soul-crushing defeat in trying to impeach Donald Trump for the crime of revealing the massive corruption of Senile Joe and his son Snorty Strippertap is that Trump might decide to never leave office. That’s a good point. What would they do if he didn’t? Take up arms like real men would? Yeah, right.

Trump State of the Union: Challenges facing president in coming year

For President Trump, 2020 is shaping up to be a critical year as the United States barrels toward a contentious general election in November as Americans decide whether or not they want four more years of his administration.

While Trump has touted a booming economy and low unemployment figures, his 2020 has already been marred by slumping poll numbers, an ongoing impeachment trial, attacks from his Democratic rivals on the campaign trail and combative relations with foreign powers.

Below is a look at some of the challenges facing the Trump administration as the clock ticks down toward Election Day 2020:

More

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-state-of-the-union-challenges-facing-president-in-coming-year

Trump acquittal to spur more House Democratic investigations

President Trump’s looming acquittal in his Senate trial doesn’t mean he’ll be off the hook in the Democrat-held House that impeached him.

If anything, say House Democratic lawmakers, investigations are likely to ramp up in the nine months before Election Day. That means the Senate impeachment acquittal set to happen Wednesday concerning charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to the Ukraine military aid affair will be just a midpoint rather than an end of clashes between the Democratic House majority that took power in January 2019 and the Trump White House.

The impeachment trial of Trump, 73, is set to end Wednesday. The only lingering question in its outcome is whether any Republican senators will defect and vote to convict Trump. Two Republican senators bucked their party to vote for witnesses in the trial — Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah.

Iowa Democratic caucus results are plunged into crisis as party says it has found ‘INCONSISTENCIES’ and will have to use paper ballots in panicked statement saying it has NOT been hacked – and candidates leave without knowing who won

The Iowa Democratic caucus results were plunged into crisis Monday night as a new app failed, party organizers warned they had found ‘inconsistencies,’ and issued a panicked public statement to say they had not been hacked.

Caucusing around the state started at 7pm Central Standard Time. Three hours later, not a single precinct’s results were officially in.

‘We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results. In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report,’ Iowa Democratic Party Communications Director Mandy McClure said in a statement. ‘This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion.’

The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results,’ McClure added. Earlier, other Iowa officials had pointed a finger at the app.

Judicial Watch: Eight Iowa Counties Have Registration Rates Larger than Eligible Voter Population

Judicial Watch announced that eight Iowa counties have more voter registrations than their eligible voting-age population. According to Judicial Watch’s analysis of data released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in 2019 and the most recent U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey, eight Iowa counties are on the list of 378 counties nationwide that have more voter registrations than citizens living there who are old enough to vote, i.e., counties where registration rates exceed 100%. These 378 counties combined had about 2.5 million registrations over the 100%-registered mark. In Iowa, there are at least 18,658 “extra names” on the voting rolls in the eight counties at issue.

Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), Judicial Watch sent notice-of-violation letters to 19 large counties in five states (California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, and Colorado) that it intends to sue unless the jurisdictions take steps to comply with the law and remove ineligible voter registrations. Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act requires jurisdictions to take reasonable efforts to remove ineligible registrations from its rolls.

Schiff Warns Donald Trump Could Give Alaska to the Russians If Not Impeached

House Impeachment Manager and House Oversight Chairman Adam Schiff warned Monday that President Donald Trump might give Alaska to the Russians if he is not impeached.

Schiff disagreed with the president’s lawyers, who argued that Trump’s actions were not criminal and should thus not be considered impeachable.

He warned that they were setting a precedent that would only encourage Trump to pursue “unacceptable” actions if exonerated.

“Trump could offer Alaska to the Russians in exchange for support in the next election,” he said. “Or decide to move to Mar-a-Lago personally and let Jared Kushner run the country, delegating to him the decision whether to go to war.”

(FEDERALSBURG, MD) – A death investigation is underway by the Maryland State Police after skeletal remains were found yesterday in Caroline County.

The identity of the deceased has not yet been determined. The skeletal remains along with the clothing found at the scene were transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for analysis and to determine cause and manner of death.

Shortly after 2:00 p.m. yesterday, troopers from the Easton Barrack responded to the Idylwild State Wildlife Management Area in Federalsburg. They received a phone call from a hunter reporting what appeared to be human bones found while walking through the woods.

Along with the skeletal remains, several articles of clothing were recovered. There was no identifying property found at the scene or in the recovered clothing.

Investigators from the Maryland State Police Easton Barrack responded to the scene, as did State Police crime scene technicians, the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit and Criminal Enforcement Division personnel. Crime scene technicians processed the area and a search was conducted.

State police were assisted by officers from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police, deputies from the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office and the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators from the Criminal Enforcement Division, Upper Shore are the lead in this case. The investigation is continuing.