Day 1009

[matt (Matt Kiser)]

1/ A federal judge directed the Justice Department hand over Robert Mueller's secret grand jury evidence to the House Judiciary Committee, which Attorney General William Barr has withheld from lawmakers. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell rejected the Trump administration's claim that the impeachment probe is illegitimate, saying the material could help the House Judiciary Committee substantiate "potentially impeachable conduct" by Trump. The materials must be disclosed by Wednesday. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/10/25/day-1009/

[Keaton_James]

U.S. bans flights to all Cuban cities except Havana

Starting in December, the U.S. will ban flights to all major airports in Cuba, except for the one located in Havana. The decision, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, comes in response to Cuba’s support for Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and aims to ensure that the Cuban government cannot profit from U.S. travel.

In a tweet, Pompeo said he asked Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao to suspend air service so Cuba cannot profit from U.S. air travel and use the revenues to “repress the Cuban people.”

Pompeo says, “This action will prevent the Castro regime from profiting from U.S. air travel and using the revenues to repress the #Cuban people.”

China is just as repressive of its people, yet we allow our citizens to fly there and we allow China to profit from that travel. Could it be that this ban is just more sour grapes from Trump who appears to be methodically toppling every pillar of Obama’s legacy? Obama lifted a 50-year old ban on scheduled flights to Cuba in the final months of his presidency.

How Trump is rolling back Obama’s legacy

The WaPo list was last updated in January of last year. Here’s a more recent article with the focus on how Trump, who slammed Obama for using as many Executive Orders as he did, has now outstripped him in that department – many of Trump’s Executive Orders are aimed at reversing Obama’s.

Trump outstripping Obama on pace of executive orders

[Exjourno]

He’s essentially trying to nullify the results of two past elections with a stroke of the presidential pen. I am beyond words at the contempt I have for this administration – and GOP members of Congress.