US Army investigating attack helicopter ‘photoshoot’ at Kid Rock’s home
The U.S. Army said it had opened an investigation into an apparent visit to conservative singer Kid Rock's home by two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
In a social media post over the weekend, the singer shared a video of himself saluting an Army helicopter hovering over his so-called "Southern White House" near Nashville.
"Fort Campbell leadership is aware of a video circulating on social media depicting AH-64 Apache helicopters operating in the vicinity of a private residence associated with Mr. Robert Ritchie (also known as 'Kid Rock')," 101st Airborne Division spokesperson Maj. Jonathon Bless said in a statement. "The command has initiated an investigation to review the circumstances surrounding this activity."
"The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell maintain strict standards for aviation safety, professionalism, and adherence to established flight regulations," the statement continued. "We take all concerns regarding aircraft operations and their impact on the surrounding community seriously."
The helicopters were also seen over a "No Kings" protest in downtown Nashville. Bless told NewsChannel 5 that he could not explain why the Army flew over the demonstration.
"This is a level of respect that s--- for brains Governor of California will never know," Rock wrote in his social media post on Saturday. "God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her."
Occupy Democrats condemned what was called a "photoshoot."
"Why are taxpayers paying for military helicopters to fly past Kid Rock's house for a photoshoot?" the group wrote on Facebook.
Trump may have accidentally torpedoed his own bid to seize voter rolls: analyst
President Donald Trump's executive order demanding states put new procedures in place for mail-in voting and turn over information about who is voting by mail is almost certain to be struck down in court, Jim Saksa wrote for Democracy Docket on Friday — but that's not the only way it could derail Trump's ambitions.
That's because this order could also undermine one of the main arguments Trump's Justice Department has used in court to defend the lawsuits filed against dozens of states to seize their voting rolls.
"In those lawsuits, the DOJ has claimed it needs millions of voters’ private sensitive data in order to ensure the states are complying with federal laws that require states to take steps to ensure accurate rolls," said the report. "But outside of court, DOJ officials like Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon have undermined that claim by boasting that the state voter records they’ve already obtained have been used to verify citizenship status using the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program."
After judges began ruling against the lawsuits on these grounds, DOJ officials backpedaled somewhat and said there was no plan to help the Department of Homeland Security build a national database of voters.
Trump, however, may have blown that excuse by outright acknowledging in his executive order that he "directs DHS to create a nationwide voter registration database," noted the report.
"Along with Dhillon’s statements and Trump’s orders, the DOJ’s courtroom attestations have been impeached repeatedly," wrote Saksa. For example, "last week, CBS reported that DOJ and DHS were working to formalize a data-sharing agreement for the voter rolls. And on the same day Tucker was assuring a federal judge that the DOJ wouldn’t share state records with DHS, Eric Neff, acting chief of the DOJ’s Voting Rights Section, admitted to another judge in Rhode Island that they, in fact, would."
Trump's lawsuits for state voting data are not just limited to Democratic-controlled states, but even some Republican-controlled states where GOP election officials have concluded sharing the data would be illegal. Some of these lawsuits have run into legal blunders, including the revelation that there was no proof the suit against Washington State was properly served.
