Europe Pub

A group of renegade House Republicans and Democrats deployed the same procedural trick used to force a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files to wrangle a vote on a measure to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) filed her discharge petition to force the vote on her legislation, a proposal that has been supported by an unexpected coterie of members ranging from progressives like liberal darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to archconservatives like Rep. Burchett (R-Tenn.).

Under the rules of the House of Representatives, a member can file a discharge petition on legislation to force a vote on their legislation as a way to get around Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and hold a vote. Once the petition receives enough signatures, they are locked in.

Afterward, seven legislative days must pass. Then Johnson must designate a time and place for the vote.

😜 OK MAGA I brought some 🍿 to watch the mental gymnastics justifying her release.

Pete Hegseth asked U.S. Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey to retire in October after Holsey expressed concerns about the legality of the Trump administration’s boat bombings in the Caribbean, according to a new report.

On Wednesday, the _Wall Street Journal_published a report that cited two unnamed Pentagon officials, who said Hegseth asked the admiral to step down in “a de facto ouster that was the culmination of months of discord between Hegseth and the officer” after Holsey expressed “concerns about the legality of lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.”

Shortly after, Hegseth announced that Holsey – the commander of U.S. Southern Command – would be retiring.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/35204999

cross-posted from: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/c/onehundredninetysix/p/442261/britney-rules

Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) announced Wednesday he plans to introduce articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Why it matters: The long-shot effort centers on two scandals currently rocking the Pentagon — a new report about Signalgate and allegations of a follow-up strike against an alleged Venezuelan drug boat.

The bombshell report by The New York Post alleged that sources within the FBI had called Patel “in over his head” and his deputy, Dan Bongino, “something of a clown.”

“Patel apparently did not have his own FBI raid jacket with him and refused to step from the plane without wearing one,” the report, citing a highly respected agent, read.

FBI agents who were working on Kirk’s case “had to stop and ask around to find an FBI raid jacket — a medium-sized one — that would fit,” and eventually Patel was given a jacket belonging to a female agent.

However, according to the report, the FBI director complained that “two areas on the upper sleeves did not have Velcro patches attached” and refused to leave the plane until those areas were patched, prompting agents to remove their own to loan to him.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/22464831

cross-posted from: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/c/onehundredninetysix/p/442262/spoke-rule

The Oakland Police Department has declined to provide the public with access to police body camera videos that would show what happened on Oct. 18, the morning former Oakland Raiders running back Doug Martin died while in the custody of several OPD officers.

In response to a public records request by The Oaklandside, the department argued Tuesday that Martin’s death did not happen during a “critical incident,” and is therefore not subject to state laws governing the release of police body camera footage.

The decision was made by Acting Police Chief James Beere. Beere determined that, under the state Public Records Act’s public-interest balancing test exemption, and because the Community Police Review Agency, or CPRA, is investigating the incident, the video and audio recordings may be kept secret. According to the balancing test exemption, agencies may keep records secret if the public interest in doing so outweighs the public interest in disclosing them.

“Specifically, disclosure at this time would compromise privacy interests, and interfere with an ongoing investigation,” OPD wrote in response to our request.