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Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Thu, 13 Sep 2018 05:06:01 +0000 Thu, 13 Sep 2018 05:06:01 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Open thread for night owls: Pompeo rubber-stamps U.S.-armed Saudi slaughter in Yemen https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795395/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Pompeo-rubber-stamps-U-S-armed-Saudi-slaughter-in-Yemen Julia Conley at Common Dreams writes—<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/09/12/outrageous-fury-pompeo-puts-us-rubber-stamp-approval-saudi-slaughter-civilians-yemen" target="_blank" title="">'Outrageous': Fury as Pompeo Puts US 'Rubber Stamp' of Approval on Saudi Slaughter of Civilians in Yemen</a>: <blockquote> As local journalists in Yemen reported that at least 15 civilians were killed in Saudi airstrikes in the port city of Hodeidah on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo officially certified that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose three-year assault on the country has been made possible by U.S. support, are doing all they can to avoid civilian casualties. "The governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are undertaking demonstrable actions to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure resulting from military operations of these governments," Pompeo<a href="https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1039856674658496513"> said.</a> The certification was met with anger by lawmakers and others who have demanded for months that the U.S. stop providing the Saudis and UAE with fuel, weapons, and tactical support in the war—with Sen. Bernie Sanders declaring Pompeo's statement "outrageous." "The Saudi-led war on Yemen is killing thousands of people, including a school bus full of children last month,"<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/09/12/%20https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1039968244025753600" title=""> tweeted </a>Sanders. "America's role should not simply be to help our Saudi clients manage the slaughter more responsibly; we need to stop supporting it altogether." <div>Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the certification a "rubber stamp" for a coalition whose attacks the U.S. has steadfastedly backed even as it targeted a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/13/heres-video-schoolchildren-just-moments-being-massacred-us-backed-saudi-bombing" title="">school bus</a> in a strike that killed 40 children last month.</div> <div> <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned width-xl"><img alt="Screen_Shot_2018-09-12_at_7.17.42_PM.png" class="width-xl" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/588069/large/Screen_Shot_2018-09-12_at_7.17.42_PM.png?1536805089" title="Screen_Shot_2018-09-12_at_7.17.42_PM.png"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> </div> </div> </blockquote> <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795354/-Top-comments-Carolina-in-My-Mind" target="_blank" title="">TOP COMMENTS</a> • <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795228/-High-Impact-Stories-September-11-2018" target="_blank" title="">HIGH IMPACT STORIES</a> QUOTATION “In war, the strong make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich makes slaves of the poor.” ~~Oscar Wilde <a href="https://twitter.com/PPFA/status/1039929146430894080" target="_blank">TWEET OF THE DAY</a> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Meet our new president, &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/DrLeanaWen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@DrLeanaWen&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href="https://t.co/kNTnYKzww7"&gt;pic.twitter.com/kNTnYKzww7&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/PPFA/status/1039929146430894080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 12, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Meet our new president, <a href="https://twitter.com/DrLeanaWen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DrLeanaWen</a>. <a href="https://t.co/kNTnYKzww7">pic.twitter.com/kNTnYKzww7</a>— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) <a href="https://twitter.com/PPFA/status/1039929146430894080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> <a href="https://%20http//www.dailykos.com/story/2008/09/12/595377/-Dem-Leaders-Yield-Still-More-on-Drilling" target="_blank" title="">BLAST FROM THE PAST</a> On this date at Daily Kos in 2008—Dem Leaders Yield Still More on Drilling: <blockquote> Hoping to keep moderate members of their party from defecting to Republicans, leaders of the House Democrats have surrendered all but the last slices of cake when it comes to off-shore drilling for oil and gas. Republicans are so gleeful they’re practically dancing in the aisle. Which seems odd since the GOP will probably shoot down the legislation that includes the relaxed moratorium anyway. Many Republicans still seek more Democratic cave-ins on the bill. They oppose the inclusion of "use or lose it" provisions that seek to put pressure on oil and gas companies to drill on the 68 million acres of federal land they already have released but not developed. They also have their own version of tax credits and subsidies. In the unlikely event the Democratic bill made it through the House, chances are it wouldn’t become law because of the Senate, which is looking at three major energy proposals of its own. </blockquote> <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned width-xl"><img alt="FlagGuyAD3_FB3.png" class="width-xl" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/531067/large/FlagGuyAD3_FB3.png?1523565712" title="FlagGuyAD3_FB3.png"> <figcaption><a href="http://dailykos.merchtable.com/">LINK TO DAILY KOS STORE</a></figcaption> </figure> </div> On <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795246/-Daily-Kos-Radio-s-KITM-podcast-AUDIO-Kagro-in-the-Morning-Wednesday-September-12-2018" target="_blank" title="">today’s Kagro in the Morning show</a>, Trump reminds us all what a 9/11 scumbag he’s capable of being. "Lumpy" Treasury flows play tricks with the deficit. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GunFAIL" target="_blank">#GunFAIL</a> returns to "The Bullet Hole." What’s up with the Flopadopoulos? Joan McCarter discusses the ongoing Kavanaugh debacle.On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Trump reminds us all what a 9/11 scumbag he’s capable of being. "Lumpy" Treasury flows play tricks with the deficit. #GunFAIL returns to "The Bullet Hole." What’s up with the Flopadopoulos? Joan McCarter discusses the ongoing Kavanaugh debacle. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder dk-x-embed" href="#" title="" data-frameborder="0" data-height="185" data-src="https://embed.radiopublic.com/e?if=DailyKosRadio&ge=s1!13a2321f10bd4633fbb8e07ec4dd06c93d00d9fd" data-width="100%">Embedded Content</a></div> <a href="https://play.radiopublic.com/daily-kos-radio-kagro-in-the-morning-8QNrQp" target="_blank" title="">RadioPublic</a>|<a href="http://kagrox.libsyn.com/" target="_blank">LibSyn</a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCknlsM6zUMIdxtz1qEAbhuA" target="_blank">YouTube</a>|<a href="https://www.patreon.com/kagrox?ty=h" target="_blank">Patreon</a>|<a href="https://cash.me/%24kagro" target="_blank">Square Cash</a> (<a href="https://cash.me/app/FLVKHBX" target="_blank">Share code</a>: Send $5, get $5!) rss@dailykos.com (Meteor Blades) OpenThreadforNightOwls _1795395 Thu, 13 Sep 2018 03:01:19 +0000 DC residents want Trump hotel's liquor license yanked due to Trump's poor character, criminal ties https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795274/-DC-residents-want-Trump-hotel-s-liquor-license-yanked-due-to-Trump-s-poor-character-criminal-ties It was a bit of a long shot, but if we're not going to debate Donald Trump's flagrant corruption in the press or in Congress then the people of Washington, D.C., wanted, at the least, to take it up with the local liquor board. There's no way, a collection of residents have complained, Trump can be considered to have the "good character" required to run a bar in their town. So they want local officials to <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/11/trump-international-washington-liquor-815560?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=0000014e-f0fa-dd93-ad7f-f8ffe0400000&nlid=630318" title="">rescind the Trump International Hotel's liquor license</a>. <blockquote>In their grievance to the city’s Alcohol Beverage Control Board, the group presented a litany of what they say are Trump’s moral failures, calling him a liar, a fraudster and a racist who associates with criminals.</blockquote> All of these are factually true. Trump has defrauded those he's worked with all his life; ask them and they’ll readily tell you so. He certainly would never be accused of telling the truth except by sheer coincidence or accident. He's made racist statements on national television approximately forever. But most to the point, Trump hangs out with crooks, and a fairly astounding number of them. The man's home address is a den of international criminals and suspected criminals, a money laundering haven. He has decades of ties to organized crime figures, both American and Russian. Forget going back decades, the man's current hangers-on are currently being indicted left and right, or are resigning their administration positions in scandal. His family's charitable "foundation" is being investigated as a tax avoidance and personal enrichment scam, he recently settled a case charging his self-named "university" was nothing but a money-squeezing racket, and son number one—the creature allegedly in charge of making sure the Trump hotel business stays afloat while daddy runs the government for a while, may or may not have done a little light treason in service of helping pa gain a few votes in the swing states. The Trump hotel caters to a seedy clientele, a clientele that shuffles through the place in large part to kiss the ring of the launderer in chief. You've got crooked public servants stopping in after their private jet flights on the taxpayer dime. You've got your oil companies and your foreign dignitaries paying their respects by kicking a few bucks to the commander in chief. The only respite from the crookedness is a steady stream of hat-wearing out-of-town tourists coming to take pictures of all the crookedness. I tell you, this sort of thing is going to bring down property values. In the end, the board dodged the question, saying a review of the hotel’s license cannot be conducted <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/12/trump-hotels-liquor-license-816455" target="_blank">until the hotel applies for a renewal next March</a>. So unless an appeal is successful, we’ll be back here then, when undoubtably even more of Trump’s immediate circle will be under indictment or in prison and the board will have even more evidence of Trump’s “character.” Say what you want about Donald Trump the politician or ex-television celebrity or devoted hat-seller, this is not the sort of person you want running the neighborhood bar, and it doesn't matter how much gold leaf or caviar you layer on top of it. Any idiot can be president, but local liquor licenses should be a bit harder to come by. Good God, man, there are standards involved. rss@dailykos.com (Hunter) Corruption DC DonaldTrump trumpinternationalhotel _1795274 Thu, 13 Sep 2018 02:30:04 +0000 Planned Parenthood is making waves, naming the first doctor in 50 years to lead https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795283/-Planned-Parenthood-announces-its-next-president-Dr-Leana-Wen-Baltimore-Health-Commissioner Planned Parenthood just announced their new president, who’ll be taking over once Cecile Richards officially steps down: Leana Wen, M.D. She’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DrLeanaWen/posts/2202337406503331" target="_blank" title="">spent four years</a> serving as a Baltimore Health Commissioner and will be the first physician to take the role of Planned Parenthood president in nearly 50 years, according to the organization. She’s an immigrant, a woman of color, someone who has used public assistance and personally relied on Planned Parenthood for health care. I’m excited to see what Planned Parenthood will do under her leadership. She will start on November 12. Watch the video from Planned Parenthood introducing Dr. Wen to the world below and read her bio <a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/our-leadership/dr-leana-wen" target="_blank" title="">here</a>. rss@dailykos.com (Wagatwe Wanjuki) immigrantsmakesamericagreat PlannedParenthood Recommended _1795283 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 18:26:23 +0000 Eric Trump: Woodward wrote 'sensational nonsense' about Trump 'to make 3 extra shekels' https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795251/-Eric-Trump-Woodward-wrote-sensational-nonsense-about-Trump-to-make-3-extra-shekels Donald Trump’s second dumbest son Eric Trump appeared on Donald’s favorite television program, Fox & Friends, to defend his father from the accusations of irrationality and stupidity that appear throughout veteran reporter Bob Woodward’s new book. That defense took a wee bit of a curious turn: <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1039852649896701953" target="_blank" title="">See if you can spot it</a>. <blockquote> ERIC TRUMP: But don’t you think people look through the fact that you can write a sensational nonsense book. CNN will definitely have you on there because they love to trash the president. It’ll mean you sell three extra books, you make three extra shekels. I mean, at the behest of the American people, at the behest of our country and a president that’s doing a phenomenal job by every quantifiable metric, I mean, is that really where we are? I think people read through this. </blockquote> Say what you want about Qusay here, but he is definitely Donald Trump’s son. The mannerisms, the rote repetition of the same limited collection of phrases, the same … hmm. rss@dailykos.com (Hunter) ConservativeMedia Conservatives EricTrump FoxandFriends Media Republicans _1795251 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:07:22 +0000 Senator shows proof the Trump admin took hurricane recovery funds to pay for ICE detentions https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795261/-Senator-shows-proof-the-Trump-admin-took-hurricane-recovery-funds-to-pay-for-ICE-detentions Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has been working to reunite immigrant children with their families after being indefinitely confined to “detention camps” that are quickly becoming longtime internment camps. Daily Kos staff writer Gabe Ortiz reminds us today, as he frustratingly does every single day, that <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795224/-Trump-admin-s-temporary-prison-camp-for-migrant-kids-is-continuing-and-getting-even-bigger" target="_blank" title="">400 children remain separated from their parents, imprisoned in these detention centers.</a> He also notes that these longterm detention centers are growing at a frightening pace. Already the “temporary” prison camp in Tornillo, Texas, has expanded from 400 beds at the start of the summer to 3,800 beds now. So, how are they paying for this cruelty? We can’t give teachers raises, properly fund our education system, healthcare system, or infrastructure projects, so where did the money come from to expand ICE operations? Sen. Jeff Merkley appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show to provide answers last night. Roughly $10 million in ICE’s new funding has been taken from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hurricane relief and recovery funds. And they did it just ahead of hurricane season, at a time when one of the effects of climate change is an increase in the number and intensity of hurricanes worldwide. This is a must-watch segment with Sen. Jeff Merkley. It’s cruelty on top of cruelty. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder dk-x-embed" href="#" data-height="500" data-src="//player.theplatform.com/p/7wvmTC/MSNBCEmbeddedOffSite?guid=n_maddow_a2merkley_180911" data-width="635">Embedded Content</a></div> rss@dailykos.com (Jen Hayden) JeffMerkley RachelMaddow _1795261 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:40:20 +0000 Trump EPA proposes rolling back rules for monitoring potent methane gas leaks https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1795073/-Trump-EPA-proposes-rolling-back-rules-on-monitoring-potent-methane-gas-leaks On Tuesday, the Trump administration proposed a roll back of the rules that regulated “uncontrolled release” of the greenhouse gas methane. And while this change would only save oil and gas companies a little bit of money, it would definitely hurt human beings. Inside Climate News explains that the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-09/documents/frnoilgasreconsideration2060-at54nprm20180910.pdf" target="_blank">documents</a> the government released in regard to the cost/benefits of this change conveniently obfuscate public health concerns. <blockquote> The estimated costs (forgone benefits) include the monetized climate effects of the projected increase in methane emissions under the proposal. The EPA also expects there will be increases in VOC and HAP emissions under the proposal. While the EPA expects that the forgone VOC emission reductions may also degrade air quality and adversely affect health and welfare effects associated with exposure to ozone, PM2.5, and HAP, data limitations prevent the EPA from quantifying forgone VOC-related health benefits. </blockquote> This is another move by Trump’s administration to undo some of the truly positive steps taken to slow our country’s <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11092018/methane-flaring-rules-oil-gas-industry-climate-change-obama-trump-epa-rollback" target="_blank">egregious industrial pollution</a>. rss@dailykos.com (Walter Einenkel) ClimateChange Environment EPA Gas gasoi Methane Oil PublicHealth Trump _1795073 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 21:22:47 +0000 Attorneys blast new policy making it easier to reject green card applications as 'invisible wall' https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795253/-Attorneys-blast-new-policy-making-it-easier-to-reject-green-card-applications-as-invisible-wall When incoming director L. Francis Cissna <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/15/1788447/-Trump-s-immigration-chief-strikes-nation-of-immigrants-from-immigration-agency-s-mission-statement" target="_blank" title="">struck</a> “nation of immigrants” from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) mission statement, he meant it. Under newly announced policy, officials now plan to use mistakes and missing information from visa and green card applications against immigrants and deny their applications, which could not only add massive legal fees to an already expensive process, but leave others vulnerable to deportation. “Previously, officers were required by an Obama-era policy to send notices, giving applicants a chance to correct such problems instead of closing the process,” <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/authorities-can-now-deny-visa-and-green-card-applications-without-giving-applicants-a-chance-to-fix-errors" target="_blank" title="">ProPublica reports.</a> “Officers can still choose to do so, but they can also opt to skip that step if the application is deemed frivolous.” This will be a problem, to say the least, when Cissna himself has earned the support of anti-immigrant groups, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/8/1786820/-Yet-another-top-Trump-official-to-speak-at-event-hosted-by-anti-immigrant-hate-group" target="_blank" title="">and last month sat down</a> with “a hate group that exists solely to vilify immigrants.” So exactly what kind of mistakes may be used against applicants? Lawyers who spoke to ProPublica “cited technicalities: One application was not accepted because the seventh page, usually left blank, was not attached. Another was rejected because it did not have a table of contents and exhibit numbers, even though it had other forms of organization.” Yes, applications have their rules that need to be followed, “but it seems like they are just making every single submission difficult,” said immigration attorney Pierre Bonnefil. Others have called it an “invisible wall.” For many, the worry could be that their visas will expire as they’re fighting to correct these errors, and a lapse in permission could mean they could be deported. They have good reason to worry—<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/15/1788429/-US-agencies-collaborated-to-trap-immigrants-who-showed-up-for-legal-status-interviews-ACLU-says" target="_blank" title="">a new lawsuit alleged</a> USCIS and ICE have collaborated to have immigrants who have shown up for green card appointments arrested, and there’s no way to guarantee that applicants who have had their forms rejected because of this new policy won’t also be on ICE’s radar in this same manner. “People who are here legally, doing everything through proper channels, now feel as unsettled and unwelcome and uncertain about the future as people who don’t have documents,” said Sandra Feist, another immigration attorney. It’s intentional. The administration hates legal immigration too—<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/11/1731957/-Trump-in-immigration-meeting-Why-are-we-having-all-these-people-from-s-thole-countries-come-here" target="_blank">unless, of course, you’re the “right” kind of immigrant.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) Deportation DeportationForce Deportations Immigration LeeFrancisCissna LFrancisCissna MassDeportation U.S.CitizenshipandImmigrationServices USCIS _1795253 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:59:02 +0000 Trump tweets about Florence and Twitter smacks him back about Puerto Rico https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1794908/-Trump-tweets-about-Florence-and-twitter-smacks-him-back-about-Puerto-Rico As Hurricane Florence heads toward the U.S. mainland and evacuation orders are being issued by states on its path, the Orange Occupant of the White House decided to pretend to be presidential and exhibit concern for those folks being affected by tweeting: <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en"&gt;My people just informed me that this is one of the worst storms to hit the East Coast in many years. Also, looking like a direct hit on North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Please be prepared, be careful and be SAFE!&lt;/p&gt;— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1039291783031734273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 10, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;'><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My people just informed me that this is one of the worst storms to hit the East Coast in many years. Also, looking like a direct hit on North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Please be prepared, be careful and be SAFE!Ã¢Â€Â” Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1039291783031734273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2018</a></blockquote></div> Pushback across the twittersphere was immediate—and is ongoing. Just a quick sample: <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en"&gt;“YOUR people?!!!” Man, what a disgrace you are to humanity. They aren’t yours. Aretha didn’t “work” for you. And nearly 3000 Americans died in Puerto Rico. &lt;a href="https://t.co/TNxYNVY11j"&gt;https://t.co/TNxYNVY11j&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;— Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/mjfree/status/1039298182201700352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 10, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;'><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Ã¢Â€ÂœYOUR people?!!!Ã¢Â€Â Man, what a disgrace you are to humanity. They arenÃ¢Â€Â™t yours. Aretha didnÃ¢Â€Â™t Ã¢Â€ÂœworkÃ¢Â€Â for you. And nearly 3000 Americans died in Puerto Rico. <a href="https://t.co/TNxYNVY11j">https://t.co/TNxYNVY11j</a>Ã¢Â€Â” Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) <a href="https://twitter.com/mjfree/status/1039298182201700352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2018</a></blockquote></div> rss@dailykos.com (Denise Oliver Velez) HurricaneFlorence HurricaneMaria PuertoRico Recommended Trump _1794908 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 11:36:51 +0000 The Trump administration looks to chill free speech by making protesters pay for rallies https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795297/-The-Trump-administration-looks-to-chill-free-speech-by-making-protesters-pay-for-rallies There really is only one Constitutional Amendment that Republicans will vow to defend, even to the death, even if it means certain death for many in America. The rest are negotiable, based on their fluctuating values and morals (or lack thereof). Case in point, the latest attempt to erode the First Amendment. <blockquote> Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. </blockquote> Seems pretty clear, right? It is a critical foundation of our democracy. But, the Trump administration doesn’t see it that way and a president that has wasted $77 million on playing golf in less than two years has quietly unveiled a plan to make protesters pay for the full costs of any rallies, from small protests in front of the Trump Hotel in D.C. to large-scale rallies like the Women’s March and March for Our Lives on the National Mall. From the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-trump-administration-wants-to-tax-protests-what-happened-to-free-speech/2018/09/11/70f08bfa-b5e1-11e8-b79f-f6e31e555258_story.html?utm_term=.78dce6d70797" target="_blank">Washington Post:</a> <blockquote> For the first time, the U.S. government wants demonstrators to pay to use our parks, sidewalks and streets to engage in free speech in the nation’s capital. This should be called for what it is: a protest tax. This is a bold effort by the Trump administration to burden and restrict access to public spaces for First Amendment activities in Washington. If enacted, it would fundamentally alter participatory democracy in America. Last month, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nama/learn/news/upload/TPM-Proposed-Rule-Regs-Draft-08-06-18.pdf">announced</a> the administration’s radical, anti-democratic rewriting of regulations governing free speech and demonstrations on public lands under federal jurisdiction in Washington. Under the proposal, which is <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/08/15/2018-17386/special-regulations-areas-of-the-national-park-system-national-capital-region-special-events-and#open-comment">open to public comment</a>, the National Park Service (NPS) will charge protesters “event management” costs. This would include the cost of barricades and fencing erected at the discretion of police, the salaries of personnel deployed to monitor the protest, trash removal and sanitation charges, permit application charges and costs assessed on “harm to turf” — the effects of engaging in free speech on grass, as if our public green spaces are for ornamental viewing. </blockquote> Of course this would be widely challenged in court. And, of course, we already pay for these rallies via taxes. This would be a protest tax and it cannot stand. But, it is just one more way that Donald Trump and his Republican enablers are chipping away at the democratic foundations of this country. They have to be stopped this November. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018congress?refcode=20180912tntjh" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018congress?refcode=20180912tntjh" target="_blank" title="">Click here to contribute $3 today to boot out the GOP and restore democracy</a><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018congress?refcode=20180912tntjh" target="_blank">.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Jen Hayden) DonaldTrump FirstAmendment FreedomofSpeech Rallies Recommended RyanZinke _1795297 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 19:05:40 +0000 NPR poll: 'Midwest Abandons Trump' https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795257/-NPR-Poll-Midwest-Abandons-Trump It appears Donald Trump's unhinged, combative style of governance isn't going over well in the Midwest, where a new <a href="http://maristpoll.marist.edu/?page_id=42845" target="_blank">NPR/Marist poll</a> shows support for Congressional Republicans collapsing. In that poll, the generic ballot trended upward for Democrats to a 12-point advantage (50-38 percent), building on their 7-point advantage in July (47-40 percent). NPR and Marist <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/12/646816285/poll-midwest-abandons-trump-fueling-democratic-advantage-for-control-of-congress" target="_blank">attribute that shift</a> largely to Trump's change in standing in the Midwest, as earlier polling from NBC suggested this summer. <blockquote> "Every way we are looking at the data, the same general pattern is emerging," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the poll. "The Midwest is an area that is getting restless about what they hoped was going to occur and what they feel is not occurring." [...] In small towns, for example, there was an 11-point swing toward Democrats, and there was a 6-point drop-off among rural voters on the congressional ballot. </blockquote> This seems to be a product of Trump's trade/tariff war, which is disproportionately hitting the Midwest and farmers, in particular. The problem for the GOP is that because they've done absolutely nothing to curb Trump's erratic impulses, voters appear to view Republican lawmakers as accomplices to his disastrous trade policies. "Congressional Republicans are buying into Trump for November," Miringhoff noted, pointing to their all-out push to confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, in advance of the midterms. "In terms of brand, they look totally in lockstep with the president — and that has become extremely clear to voters." Trump's approval rating in the poll came in at 39 percent, the same as NPR's July poll, but also the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/11/politics/trump-approval-rating-dropped/index.html" target="_blank">seventh poll</a> in the past two weeks to put Trump's <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/11/1794926/-Trump-is-extremely-unpopular-And-it-s-dragging-down-his-Republican-enablers" target="_blank" title="">approval rating below 40 percent</a>. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018house?refcode=20180912KE1" target="_blank" title="">Wanna help put a nail in the coffin of Republican control of Congress? Please give $3 right now to the Daily Kos effort to flip control of the House.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Kerry Eleveld) 2018 Midterms Recommended Republicans Trump _1795257 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:13:07 +0000 Unions join fight against Kavanaugh nomination https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795322/-Unions-join-fight-against-Kavanaugh-nomination <a href="/campaigns/letter/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh" class="dk-action-link" data-action="letter" data-slug="sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/letter/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-letter-area-sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh-371708" data-href="/campaigns/letter/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh">Campaign Action</a> The Judiciary Democrats' tough questioning of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh exposed his <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/5/1793524/-Tough-questions-highlight-Kavanaugh-s-contempt-for-immigrants-workers-and-Supreme-Court-precedent" title="">absolute contempt</a> for workers' rights and immigrants' rights. Organized labor is <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/12/unions-kavanaugh-supreme-court-815486" title="">marshaling forces</a> to put the pressure on. They're using a successful playbook, says Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union. "We intend to make it the same thing as repealing [Obamacare]. … We are going to organize the three votes that are required to block this nomination." Liz Shuler, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, adds "We cannot let this court continue to swing to the extreme right. It's out of step with what America believes." The unions will target Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) this election, but promise this vote on Kavanaugh will have legs. They're "staffing phone banks, unions are mobilizing to target vulnerable Republican senators in their home states." Henry told Politco that "We've added organizers collectively … with our partners in Alaska, Nevada and Maine." That's you Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. "We think that we can put up a fight like you've never seen because that's what we do best in the labor movement," added Shuler. And boy, do folks in Nevada know that. Enjoy this SCOTUS vote, Sen. Heller. It's going to be your last. rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Abortion AffordableCareAct BrettKavanaugh DonaldTrump FederalJudiciary Obamacare OrganizedLabor ReproductiveRights Roev.Wade SCOTUS SupremeCourt Unions WomensHealth _1795322 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 20:15:51 +0000 Hypocrisy, thy name is Susan Collins, Super PAC sweetheart https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795294/-Hypocrisy-thy-name-is-Susan-Collins-Super-PAC-sweetheart <a href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-oppose-brett-kavanaugh" class="dk-action-link" data-action="petition" data-slug="sign-the-petition-oppose-brett-kavanaugh" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/petition/sign-the-petition-oppose-brett-kavanaugh?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-petition-area-sign-the-petition-oppose-brett-kavanaugh-934771" data-href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-oppose-brett-kavanaugh">Campaign Action</a> Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins is <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795260/-Collins-throws-her-own-pity-party-trying-to-change-the-subject-on-how-awful-Kavanaugh-would-be?_=2018-09-12T10:29:55.970-07:00" title="">rallying the right wing</a> to push back against people-powered democracy in her home state. Mainers for Accountable Leadership, the Maine People's Alliance, and Be A Hero, founded by national health care advocate and ALS patient Ady Barkan, have teamed together to <a href="https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/387413/either-sen-collins-votes-no-on-kavanaugh-or-we-fund-her-future-opponent/updates/2901" title="">crowd-source small-dollar donations</a> in pledges. If Collins goes against the wishes of her constituents and votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, those pledges—which now total over $1 million!—will be released to her opponent. Collins has gotten the right-wing wurlitzer engaged on her behalf, screaming that a bunch of small-dollar donors working together is—get this—bribery. Ady Barkan has the perfect response to that: <blockquote>"Senator Collins took over $5 million from PACs and large donors like the Koch brothers. In exchange, she voted to cut their taxes and take healthcare away from people like me. Senator Collins may not really know what small dollar donations are, because during her last election campaign less than 3% of her money came from small dollar donors, while 44% came from PACs, but that still doesn't excuse smearing a grassroots effort from regular people pleading with someone in a position of power to do the right thing."</blockquote> Meanwhile, the <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/susan-collins-complains-of-bribery-after-nonbillionaires-try-to-influence-her-kavanaugh-vote.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_ru" title="">pledges raised so far</a> for a future opponent to Collins come from "more than 39,000 individual pledges ranging from $1 to the maximum allowable donation to a candidate of $2,700." That information, by the way, is from totally not a dirty-fucking-hippy elections blogger Rick Hasen, who also says that Republican "cries of bribery, illegality, and lack of principle lay bare the bankrupt campaign finance system that […] McConnell helped create and that Collins has contributed to with previous Supreme Court votes and will supersize with her likely vote to confirm Kavanaugh." If money equals free speech, as McConnell and the Supreme Court and Collins insist that it does, then that's about 40,000 people exercising their First Amendment right to ask Susan Collins to do the right thing. This is Collins telling her constituents that plutocrats have a better chance of getting her ear than they do. The people of Maine need to call her on this. Directly. Every day. At her office numbers: (207) 622-8414, (207) 945-0417, (207) 283-1101, (207) 493-7873, (207) 784-6969, (207) 780-3575, (202) 224-2523. But be polite. And maybe record your messages to show how polite you are, and provide those to the local media. rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) BrettKavanaugh DonaldTrump Maine SCOTUS SupremeCourt SusanCollins _1795294 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 18:32:07 +0000 Sessions earns swift rebuke for telling new immigration judges to show less sympathy https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1795055/-Sessions-earns-swift-rebuke-for-telling-new-immigration-judges-to-show-less-sympathy Numerous immigration judges blasted Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III for his remarks to dozens of new judges <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/sessions-new-immigration-judges-sympathy" target="_blank">earlier this week,</a> where he not only complained about immigration courts that show too much “sympathy” in decisions, but also claimed that immigration attorneys are “like water seeping through an earthen dam—to get around the plain words of the [Immigration and Nationality Act] to advance their clients’ interests.” “We possess brains and hearts, not just one or the other,” said one former immigration judge and current immigration attorney, Jeffrey Chase. “Sessions is characterizing decisions he personally disagrees with as being based on sympathy alone, when in fact, those decisions were driven by sympathy but based on solid legal reasoning.” The frightening reality is that the attorney general has vast power over immigration courts, and as the latest occupant of that office, Sessions has made it his mission to have the courts and immigration policy match his nativist radicalism. As attorney general, Sessions has taken steps to <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/7/12/1779979/-By-decree-Sessions-and-Nielsen-could-send-thousands-of-asylum-seekers-back-to-their-deaths" target="_blank">stomp on asylum claims</a> from those fleeing domestic violence—which could send thousands back to their deaths—<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/6/1754983/-Former-immigration-judge-Sessions-s-quota-plan-a-bribe-affront-to-judicial-independence" target="_blank">established a quota system for immigration judges,</a> and helped implement the barbaric “zero tolerance” policy that kidnapped nearly 3,000 migrant children from the arms of parents, including asylum seekers. In April, one former immigration judge <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/6/1754983/-Former-immigration-judge-Sessions-s-quota-plan-a-bribe-affront-to-judicial-independence" target="_blank">called</a> Sessions’s quota plan “an affront to judicial independence and the due process of law,” which was again echoed by other immigration judges following the speech to the new judges this week. “The reality is that it is a political statement which does not articulate a legal concept that judges are required to be aware of and follow,” said immigration judge Dana Marks. “It did appear to be a one-sided argument made by a prosecutor.” This may be the one of the primary reasons, plenty of immigrant rights advocates have speculated, why Sessions continues to stay put in his job despite ongoing humiliation and other abuse from Donald Trump (not that anyone feels sorry for America’s most racist Keebler elf). His vast power gives him the chance to deport both undocumented immigrants with deep roots here and more recent asylum seekers who are fleeing danger in areas like Central America. In other words, he’ll have to be dragged out of the DOJ building by the ankles. “While other Attorneys General have been careful not to abuse their broad authority over the immigration courts,” <a href="https://americasvoice.org/press_releases/sessions-assault-on-the-rule-of-law-in-immigration-court/" target="_blank" title="">DHS Watch reported,</a> “Sessions is turning back the clock. He is using welcoming speeches to encourage a hard line approach. His selective cites to the Immigration and Nationality Act are aimed at scaring new judges into submission without recognizing a history, practice, and statutes and regulations that offer immigration judges a measure of independence.” rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) Deportation DeportationForce Deportations Immigration immigrationcourt ImmigrationCourts ImmigrationJudges JeffersonBeauregardSessionsIII JeffSessions MassDeportation Recommended _1795055 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 20:22:54 +0000 Senate GOP forced to pour resources into saving least-liked member of its caucus: Ted Cruz https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795291/-GOP-Senate-pouring-resources-into-saving-least-liked-member-of-its-caucus-Ted-Cruz <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/02/trump-blasted-lyin-ted-cruz-again-again-activists-want-remind-texans-with-billboard/?utm_term=.18e54f7ddaf0" target="_blank">“Lyin' Ted” Cruz</a> is actually in re-election trouble in a state that should be a gimme for Republicans: Texas. And now the Republican Senate, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795227/-Republicans-are-getting-nervous-about-a-Senate-elections-shipwreck?_=2018-09-12T08:29:17.966-07:00" target="_blank">desperate to save its majority</a> from “shipwreck,” is being forced to devote resources to prop up one of its most irredeemable members. The Washington Post's Sean Sullivan <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/shipwreck-gop-grows-fearful-about-losing-senate-as-candidates-struggle-trump-support-tumbles/2018/09/11/b2cf04ce-b600-11e8-a7b5-adaaa5b2a57f_story.html?utm_term=.b3c69eddbf2f" target="_blank">writes</a>: <blockquote> The sudden cooperation underscores how much the GOP fears losing Texas. The shock waves are being felt well beyond the state, as its several expensive media markets could force the party to spend money there that it will have to subtract from GOP hopefuls in other battlegrounds. “Other campaigns are going to be shorted due to the lackluster nature of the campaign,” said one White House official, speaking of the Cruz operation. </blockquote> Every dollar spent in Texas is a dollar not spent somewhere else, like Nevada, Arizona, Missouri, Florida, etc. And it’s all to save Cruz, who has called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/07/24/ted-cruz-calls-mitch-mcconnell-a-liar-on-the-senate-floor/?utm_term=.71a1bc940c67" target="_blank">a liar</a> from the Senate floor, and pretty much nailed it in 2016 when he accused then-candidate Donald Trump of being a "<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/election-us-2016-36198532/ted-cruz-donald-trump-is-a-pathological-liar" target="_blank">pathological liar</a>." Cruz also famously riled up the House crazies into a frothy lather in 2013, producing a government shutdown that almost no one in the Senate caucus but him wanted. Now Trump is signed up to stump for Cruz in Texas next month and McConnell is sending up fundraising flares, openly admitting Republicans are in a "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/shipwreck-gop-grows-fearful-about-losing-senate-as-candidates-struggle-trump-support-tumbles/2018/09/11/b2cf04ce-b600-11e8-a7b5-adaaa5b2a57f_story.html?utm_term=.b3c69eddbf2f" target="_blank">knife fight</a>" for control of the chamber. In the meantime, a top aide to Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/us/politics/republicans-midterms-ted-cruz.html" target="_blank">admitted</a> last weekend what everyone knows is true: Cruz is in trouble partly because he's just not that "likable." As Cruz's freshman roommate at Princeton routinely reminded people throughout the 2016 GOP primary, <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/02/ted-cruz-princeton-roomate-won-iowa-caucuses-victory/" target="_blank">Cruz makes enemies</a> everywhere he goes. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018senate?refcode=20180912KE1" target="_blank">Let's send Ted Cruz packing this fall! Please give $3 immediately to help Democrat Beto O’Rourke bring Texas home for Democrats.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Kerry Eleveld) 2018 BetoORourke Midterms Senate TedCruz Texas _1795291 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 18:45:36 +0000 'They would've lost them anyway': Trump comforts farmers losing farms due to tariffs https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795317/--They-would-ve-lost-them-anyway-Trump-comforts-farmers-losing-farms-due-to-tariffs <a href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-support-american-farmers-stand-up-to-trumps-reckless-trade-war" class="dk-action-link" data-action="petition" data-slug="sign-the-petition-support-american-farmers-stand-up-to-trumps-reckless-trade-war" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/petition/sign-the-petition-support-american-farmers-stand-up-to-trumps-reckless-trade-war?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-petition-area-sign-the-petition-support-american-farmers-stand-up-to-trumps-reckless-trade-war-651281" data-href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-support-american-farmers-stand-up-to-trumps-reckless-trade-war">Campaign Action</a> There's just no words for how incomprehensibly out of touch Donald Trump is with the havoc he and his trade policies are wreaking on farmers. Here's what Trump told <a href="https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/president-trump-talks-farmers-tariffs-in-one-on-one-with-keloland-news/1426386914" target="_blank">a local KELO reporter</a> in South Dakota last week when he was asked for comforting words for those farmers at risk of losing their livelihoods because of Trump's trade war. <blockquote> Brady Mallory: "So, for family farmers here who are worried about losing their generations-long farms -- at the end of the season --, (and) early retirement, any words of comfort for them now?" President Donald Trump: "Well, they would've lost them anyway because they were being hurt so badly by the trade barriers. We will tell you they are going to be in a very good position soon." </blockquote> That's the latest version of "don't blame me for that"—something <a href="https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1029131893252481024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1029131893252481024&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2018%2F8%2F16%2F1788843%2F--He-s-gonna-kill-us-says-a-Nebraska-soybean-farmer-as-Trump-offers-Don-t-blame-me" target="_blank">Trump said last month</a> at a rally where he was grousing about all the soybean talk of late. Surely, South Dakota farmers are soothed by Trump's concern, which came just hours after Trump announced that he might slap tariffs on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-china-trade-war-tariffs-267-billion-goods-2018-9" target="_blank">another $267 billion</a> worth of Chinese goods (on top of a previously promised $200 billion), significantly escalating an already fraught trade dispute with China. But don't worry, Trump says, they'll be in "a very good position soon" ... after they lose their farms. What's even more difficult to believe than Trump's callousness about the pain he actually elected to inflict on farm country, is the notion that all's well that ends well appears to be a talking point the White House has embraced on the tariffs. Trump’s sentiment in South Dakota is almost exactly the same as the one Press Secretary <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/4/1754447/-White-House-spokesperson-assures-farmers-their-little-bit-of-short-term-pain-will-all-be-worth-it" target="_blank">Sarah Huckabee Sanders advanced</a> in April when she said farmers' "little bit of short-term pain" would all be worth it based on the "long-term success" that would manifest due to Trump's tariffs. They very clearly have zero idea that "long-term" gains mean nothing to people who have already been forced out of business. Last month, a Nebraska soybean farmer remarked of Trump's tariff policies, "<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/16/1788843/--He-s-gonna-kill-us-says-a-Nebraska-soybean-farmer-as-Trump-offers-Don-t-blame-me" target="_blank" title="">He's gonna kill us</a>." Not only is Trump gonna kill their family business, he doesn't give a crap. rss@dailykos.com (Kerry Eleveld) Farmers Midwest Recommended soybeans Tariffs Trade Trump _1795317 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 20:17:47 +0000 Democrats are making a push to stop Republican attacks on democracy in North Carolina https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1794958/-Democrats-are-making-a-push-to-stop-Republican-attacks-on-democracy-in-North-Carolina North Carolina Republicans have so effectively gerrymandered their state that—even though the state has a Democratic governor—the hope for Democrats is not winning either chamber of the state legislature, but simply breaking the veto-proof Republican supermajorities. The importance of that task, though, can’t be underestimated, since Republicans have used their power to undermine democracy in the state time after time, and have even publicly joked about doing so. Democrats need to win four seats in the state House and six in the state Senate to thwart Republican veto power, and the good news is, prospects look good: <blockquote> “If you’re a Republican and you’re not nervous, you should be,” said Carter Wrenn, a longtime GOP operative in the state who made his name working for the late senator Jesse Helms. Even Art Pope, the wealthy GOP donor and former lawmaker who helped choreograph the Republican takeover in the state in 2010, conceded in a recent interview: “At this point in time, it looks favorable to the Democrats.” </blockquote> Democrats, from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee to Indivisible to the National Democratic Redistricting Committee to NextGen America, are focusing efforts and spending in the state. Former President Barack Obama, who narrowly won North Carolina in 2008 and narrowly lost it in 2012, has endorsed four state House candidates so far. And voters seem primed to respond both to Donald Trump’s unpopularity and to state Republican moves, like attacks on education funding and the notorious anti-transgender bathroom bill, with a backlash. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018states?refcode=20180911LC1" target="_blank" title="">Help elect Democrats in the states! Can you chip in $1 to each of these Daily Kos-endorsed state candidates, including for North Carolina Supreme Court?</a> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) 2018 Democrats Elections Gerrymandering NorthCarolina Republicans _1794958 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 15:37:44 +0000 Trump announces new sanctions against election interference ... good thing that's never happened https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795273/-Trump-announces-new-sanctions-against-election-interference-good-thing-that-s-never-happened Donald Trump scribbled out a new executive order on Wednesday putting in place potential sanctions against any country that interferes in a U.S. election. But, since the application of those sanctions would remain “at the president’s discretion” and Trump continues to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/trump-continues-deny-russia-interfered-2016-here-s-why-s-n888206" target="_blank" title="">deny Russian interference</a> in the 2016 election, the sanctions remain entirely hypothetical—and entirely subjective. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-issues-new-order-authorizing-additional-sanctions-for-interfering-in-upcoming-us-elections/2018/09/12/a90898a0-b6b0-11e8-a7b5-adaaa5b2a57f_story.html?utm_term=.4711df817709" target="_blank" title="">As the Washington Post reports</a>, both Democrats and Republicans were not impressed with Trump’s when-I-say, what-I-say sanctions regime. Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio issued a joint statement calling for strong, mandatory sanctions that wouldn’t be left in Trump’s far-from-impartial hands. The order recognizes that interference can include not just direct attacks on the systems that tabulate votes, but also attempts to influence voting and conduct propaganda campaigns. But since the order puts the power of enforcement directly, and only, under Trump’s control, it provides him a tool set not to fight foreign interference, but to steer that interference by blocking or sanctioning some efforts and ignoring others. Considering that Trump recently attacked the Justice Department for conducting investigations of “good Republicans” who just happened to be bad criminals, there’s every reason to believe that Trump will use this club not against foreign efforts, but to differentially protect his allies’ campaigns. rss@dailykos.com (Mark Sumner) DonaldTrump Sanctions TrumpRussia _1795273 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 18:11:39 +0000 Schumer needs to be willing to play as dirty as McConnell to win back the Senate, save the judiciary https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795254/-Schumer-needs-to-be-willing-to-play-as-dirty-as-McConnell-to-win-back-the-Senate-save-the-judiciary Mitch McConnell has a number of tools at hand to try to divert that <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795227/-Republicans-are-getting-nervous-about-a-Senate-elections-shipwreck" title="">"shipwreck"</a> Senate Republicans are fearing in November's election. Like <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/11/senate-democrats-mcconnell-midterms-2018-815705" title="">this sledgehammer</a>: keeping the Senate in session in October, and keeping the 10 Democrats running for re-election this fall off the campaign trail. The thing is, though, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has tools, too, tools that would allow those Democrats to keep campaigning. Schumer just needs to be willing to deploy them. Back to McConnell. To be even more dastardly, because that is clearly what he lives for, he's implying he'd make a deal with Democrats: negotiate with me on getting more Trump nominees into the judiciary, and maybe I'll give you more time off. As Politico reports, the "Senate GOP has already confirmed 26 circuit court nominees and 41 district court nominees to lifetime appointments, plus Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, in about 20 months time." That's in part because of the deal McConnell made with Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to get a chunk of time off in August—a whopping 15 nominations were cleared. McConnell's aim is clear, because he says it out loud: "We're going to clear the deck of all the circuit judges. … If we can hold onto the Senate for two more years, we're going to transform the federal judiciary with young men and women who believe in the fundamental notion that the job of a judge is to interpret the law as it's written." No matter what happens with the House or the Senate in 2018, or in decades to come, it will ultimately be far-right Republicans who win because they will have taken over the judiciary—and McConnell's use of "young" in describing those doing the taking over is clear. It will have a lasting impact for literal generations. Democrats don't have to cave to McConnell's demands and don't have to forego the campaign trail. It does require that Schumer and team be willing to play hardball as McConnell is. Who knew how to play that kind of hardball was former leader Harry Reid and Adam Jentleson, his former deputy chief of staff, providing <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/12/this-is-how-senate-democrats-should-try-to-stop-brett-kavanaugh/?utm_term=.afa8ba8e8b8b" title="">the playbook</a>. He focuses on beating Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but it works for the planned onslaught of nominees as well. The first part is probably the hardest—unity. "Conservatives win because they maintain unity, and progressives need to do the same. That means no hall passes get handed out on this vote." When it comes down to something as elemental as the judiciary, the argument for "bipartisanship," for Democrats showing their "independence" is moot. Especially when McConnell has laid out his plan in such diabolical terms. So they have to start with a <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795212/-New-polling-shows-there-s-no-reason-for-ANY-Democrat-to-vote-for-Kavanaugh" title="">solid block against Kavanaugh</a>, and as Jentleson says there are numerous avenues for justified opposition there. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018senate?refcode=20180912JM1" title="">It's time to take back the Senate. Please give $1 to our Senate candidates.</a> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) 2018 ChuckSchumer Judiciary MitchMcConnell Recommended Republicans SCOTUS Senate _1795254 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 16:57:26 +0000 Midday open thread: Tennis umpires sob, 'Serena is mean,' and Merry Christmas https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795263/-Midday-open-thread-Tennis-umpires-sob-Serena-is-mean-and-Merry-Christmas <ul> <li>Today’s <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/blogs/comics/" target="_blank">comic</a> by Matt Bors is <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795081/-Cartoon-Brett-Kavanaugh-supreme-umpire" target="_blank">Brett Kavanaugh, supreme umpire:</a></li> </ul> <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned"><img alt="Cartoon by Matt Bors " src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/587788/large/teaser_%285%29.png?1536752198" title="Cartoon by Matt Bors "> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> </div> <ul> <li>The stupid is strong in <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/09/11/rush-limbaugh-hurricane-florence-forecast-and-destruction-potential-doom-and-gloom-all-heighten/221278" target="_blank">this one:</a></li> </ul> <blockquote> RUSH LIMBAUGH (HOST): You know, this is one of the — and, by the way, this is made to order for the climate change/global warming crowd. This is, they tell us, one of the most powerful hurricanes this far north, ever. [...] Hurricanes and hurricane forecasting is like much else that the left has gotten its hands on, and they politicize these things. For those of you asking, “What’s the politics of a hurricane?” Climate change is the politics of a hurricane. The forecast and the destruction potential doom and gloom is all to heighten the belief in climate change. </blockquote> <ul> <li>Snowflake tennis umpires might boycott Serena Williams’ matches because she doesn’t know her place … and please note, they are a self-described <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/09/12/tennis-umpires-reportedly-considering-boycott-of-serena-williams-matches/?__twitter_impression=true&utm_term=.b2d7fb4240bb" target="_blank">"umpiring fraternity":</a></li> </ul> <blockquote> Stung by what they perceive as a lack of institutional support for the chair umpire who gave Serena Williams a game penalty late in the U.S. Open women’s final, which set off a firestorm of criticism, other umpires are reportedly discussing the possibility of boycotting her matches. </blockquote> <ul> <li>Today in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2018/09/12/afghanistan-war-has-gone-so-long-people-born-after-sept-can-now-enlist/?utm_term=.a9f78c2e3815" target="_blank">my-God-that's-depressing:</a></li> </ul> <blockquote> Wednesday marks a new era for the war in Afghanistan and the young people who make up the bulk of enlistees. It is the first day someone born after the terrorist attacks can enlist, at <a href="https://www.marines.com/becoming-a-marine/enlisted.html" title="">age 17</a>, and begin a path to serve in the seemingly endless war launched in response to those attacks. </blockquote> <ul> <li>Ho, ho … <a href="https://apnews.com/5f6506372f364a24b8894cf902eee601/What's-in-the-Amazon-box?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow" target="_blank">huh?</a></li> </ul> <blockquote> Watch out for the 7-foot box on the doorstep. Amazon plans to sell and ship fresh, full-size Christmas trees this year. </blockquote> On <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795246/-Daily-Kos-Radio-s-KITM-podcast-AUDIO-Kagro-in-the-Morning-Wednesday-September-12-2018" target="_blank">today’s Kagro in the Morning show</a>, Trump reminds us all what a 9/11 scumbag he’s capable of being. "Lumpy" Treasury flows play tricks with the deficit. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GunFAIL" target="_blank" title="">#GunFAIL</a> returns to "The Bullet Hole." What’s up with the Flopadopoulos? Joan McCarter discusses the ongoing Kavanaugh debacle. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder dk-x-embed" href="#" title="" data-src="https://embed.radiopublic.com/e?if=DailyKosRadio&ge=s1!13a2321f10bd4633fbb8e07ec4dd06c93d00d9fd" data-width="100%" data-height="185" data-frameborder="0">Embedded Content</a></div> <div> <a href="https://play.radiopublic.com/daily-kos-radio-kagro-in-the-morning-8QNrQp" target="_blank">RadioPublic</a>|<a href="http://kagrox.libsyn.com/" target="_blank">LibSyn</a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCknlsM6zUMIdxtz1qEAbhuA" target="_blank">YouTube</a>|<a href="https://www.patreon.com/kagrox?ty=h" target="_blank">Patreon</a>|<a href="https://cash.me/%24kagro" target="_blank">Square Cash</a> (<a href="https://cash.me/app/FLVKHBX" target="_blank">Share code</a>: Send $5, get $5!) </div> rss@dailykos.com (Barbara Morrill) OpenThread _1795263 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 19:15:03 +0000 'Suspicious activity reports' flag transactions that may be connected to Trump Tower Russia meeting https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795241/--Suspicious-activity-reports-flag-transactions-that-may-be-connected-to-Trump-Tower-meeting The Trump Tower meeting in which Donald Trump’s top campaign staff conspired with a group of Russian operatives to exchange information helpful to Trump in the 2016 election was followed by a series of mysterious financial transactions that may be connected to actions at that meeting. <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/anthonycormier/trump-tower-meeting-suspicious-transactions-agalarov" target="_blank" title="">BuzzFeed reports</a> that these financial transactions surfaced when financial institutions were instructed to search for “suspicious behavior by people connected to the broader Trump-Russia investigation.” The result was a series of “suspicious activity reports,” several of them timed within the days after the Trump Tower meeting, and connected with those involved. These transactions are centered around billionaire Aras Agalarov, Trump’s partner in both the 2013 Miss Universe pageant and in various schemes to bring a Trump Tower to Moscow. It was Rob Goldstone, a publicist for Agalarov’s son, who first contacted Donald Trump Jr. to arrange the Trump Tower meeting. And it was also Agalarov and his son who squired Trump around Moscow on the infamous post-pageant weekend when he may, or may not, have taken some actions that were later reported to Christopher Steele. The movement of funds from Agalarov’s account is confusing both in terms of purpose and recipients. However, it appears that in the days that followed the meeting, and on the very same day that Trump replaced Corey Lewandowski with Paul Manafort as the head of his campaign, Agalarov moved $19.5 million from a Swiss bank, using a shell company in the British Virgin Islands, to a U.S. account. Where the money went from there is not clear. In the days immediately following Trump’s election, Agalarov sent another $1 million to a previously dormant account in New Jersey. Examiners also found money moving back and forth between accounts belonging to publicist Goldstone and Irakly “Ike” Kaveladze, a representative of the Agalarovs who was at the Trump Tower meeting. Though these transactions were flagged as suspicious, it’s not clear that any of them have been tied directly to illegal activity, or that any of the money passed through into Trump’s campaign (or pocket). All that can be said at the moment is that many of the same characters who arranged for and took part in the Trump Tower meeting were also conducting multiple high-dollar transactions, some of which clearly involved bringing money into the U.S. through shell companies, in the time just after the meeting. rss@dailykos.com (Mark Sumner) ArasAgalarov DonaldTrump DonaldTrumpJr RobGoldstone TrumpRussia TrumpTowerMeeting _1795241 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:17:39 +0000 Democratic women have obliterated the all-time record for number of House nominees https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795197/-Democratic-women-have-obliterated-the-all-time-record-for-number-of-House-nominees Now that primary season has ended, the full extent of this year’s <a href="http://cawp.rutgers.edu/potential-candidate-summary-2018#house" target="_blank" title="">record-breaking number of women</a> running for the House couldn’t be clearer: As you can see above, the number of Democratic women winning a place on the November ballot has <a href="http://cawp.rutgers.edu/women-congressional-candidates-1976-2014" target="_blank">exploded</a>, according to numbers tabulated by the Rutgers <a href="http://cawp.rutgers.edu/" target="_blank">Center for American Women and Politics</a>, reaching 181 in total, excluding one candidate who has withdrawn. (They’re <a href="https://twitter.com/donnermaps/status/1030501240235388928" target="_blank">also kicking ass</a> in the fundraising department.) And historically, about half of women nominated for the House <a href="https://images.dailykos.com/images/587803/original/WomenHouse2.png?1536759915" target="_blank">have won</a>; indeed, half of the women who ran in special elections this cycle have won as well. In addition, we have reached parity in the races with new faces: <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1peOepPqFLcThlNGJpJeUC4BkztRDwyP179SU2wwD5-w/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Fully half</a> of Democrats running in open seats or against Republican incumbents are women. And it’s not just long-shot districts, either. Half of the Democrats running in races Daily Kos Elections <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/4/1769407/-Daily-Kos-Elections-2018-race-ratings" target="_blank">rates</a> as a “Tossup” are women. It’s about damn time. On the flip side, Republicans aren’t exactly doing too well when it comes to women running for the House. The number of candidates has been slowly increasing, although the increase has been very gradual in more recent years. Perhaps that reflects a recent Pew poll showing that <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/22/most-americans-say-more-women-running-for-congress-is-a-good-thing/?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=18-8-22%20GL%20blog%20release&org=982&lvl=100&ite=3010&lea=668143&ctr=0&par=1&trk=" target="_blank">half of Republicans are ambivalent</a> about more women running for Congress, and one in 10 even think it’s a bad thing. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018house?refcode=20180912fsdd" target="_blank">Please give $1 today to each of these Daily Kos-endorsed women running for the House! </a> rss@dailykos.com (Daniel Donner) 2018 House Women _1795197 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 16:44:43 +0000 Collins throws her own pity party, trying to change the subject on how awful Kavanaugh would be https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795260/-Collins-throws-her-own-pity-party-trying-to-change-the-subject-on-how-awful-Kavanaugh-would-be Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) can't get her story straight. Up until now, she's been insisting that she's not hearing from her constituents on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court like she did on Affordable Care Act repeal. So why should she feel any pressure to do what she's <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/8/31/1792428/-Report-Susan-Collins-greenlighted-Trump-s-SCOTUS-pick-before-he-was-officially-nominated" target="_blank">probably already agreed to with Trump and Mitch McConnell</a>—vote yes? Then a dam broke over the weekend and the local media, which has always been very kind to her, finally woke up and started putting on the pressure. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Four most read articles at &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/PressHerald?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@PressHerald&lt;/a&gt; are about &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorCollins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@SenatorCollins&lt;/a&gt; and Kavanaugh. Mainers are really paying attention to see if she keeps her decades of promises - or sides with Trump &amp;amp; McConnell to take away rights. It&amp;#39;s her legacy vote &lt;a href="https://t.co/jFP2mkFGaE"&gt;pic.twitter.com/jFP2mkFGaE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Joe Sudbay (@JoeSudbay) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/JoeSudbay/status/1039910896959545344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 12, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Four most read articles at <a href="https://twitter.com/PressHerald?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressHerald</a> are about <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorCollins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenatorCollins</a> and Kavanaugh. Mainers are really paying attention to see if she keeps her decades of promises - or sides with Trump & McConnell to take away rights. It's her legacy vote <a href="https://t.co/jFP2mkFGaE">pic.twitter.com/jFP2mkFGaE</a>— Joe Sudbay (@JoeSudbay) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeSudbay/status/1039910896959545344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> Now that that's happened, she's <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/11/1794975/-Will-Susan-Collins-sacrifice-what-s-left-of-her-dignity-for-Trump-s-Supreme-Court-nominee" title="">rushing off</a> to give the crazy right-wing outlet Newsmax exclusives about how she's being picked on and <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/406279-gop-senators-condemn-vulgar-messages-directed-at-collins-over-kavanaugh-vote" title="">whining about how mean constituents are being</a> to her on the nomination, running to her Republican colleagues to get them to back her up. rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Abortion BrettKavanaugh DonaldTrump Maine Roev.Wade SCOTUS SupremeCourt SusanCollins WarOnWomen WomensHealth WomensReproductiveRights _1795260 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:29:55 +0000 Democrats have a huge lead in the race for the House, poll finds https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795203/-Democrats-have-a-huge-lead-in-the-race-for-the-House-poll-finds Democrats have a 14-point lead for the U.S. House, 52 percent to 38 percent, according to a <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2568" target="_blank" title="">new Quinnipiac University poll</a>. That’s important news, since Republicans have gerrymandered enough of the country that Democrats are starting out in a hole. Fourteen points, though? That’s good. The Democratic lead includes a 50 percent to 35 percent lead among independent voters. Donald Trump is a clear factor, with 58 percent of voters saying Congress should act as more of a check on Trump and just 27 percent saying Congress is doing enough to get in his way. Democrats even lead among men, 48 percent to 42 percent. While white people continue to lean Republican, 48 percent to 45 percent for Democrats, the tight margin has to be scaring Republicans—if they can’t dominate among white people, they’re done. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018house?refcode=20180912LC1" target="_blank" title="">Let's take back the House and take it back in a big way. Can you give $1 to each of these nine amazing Democratic women?</a> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) 2018 Elections House Polls _1795203 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 14:25:27 +0000 Trump admin's 'temporary' prison camp for migrant kids is continuing—and getting even bigger https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795224/-Trump-admin-s-temporary-prison-camp-for-migrant-kids-is-continuing-and-getting-even-bigger <a href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers" class="dk-action-link" data-action="petition" data-slug="sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/petition/sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-petition-area-sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers-91632" data-href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers">Campaign Action</a> The Trump administration’s “temporary” prison camp for unaccompanied migrant kids and some migrant kids kidnapped from their parents at the border isn’t just going to continue through the end of the year, it’s going to get even bigger. Officials are seeking to increase the capacity of the Tornillo, Texas prison camp by the thousands, from a reported 400 beds earlier this summer, to 3,800 beds. “These temporary beds will be brought online incrementally as needed,” <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/09/11/federal-government-greatly-expand-tornillo-shelter-unaccompanied-minor/" target="_blank">claimed</a> a Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson. “We will continue to assess the need for this temporary shelter at Tornillo Land Port of Entry in Tornillo, Texas, based on the projected need for beds and current capacity of the program.” Except, the government has always called this prison camp “temporary” because they think it doesn’t make it sound as bad. In reality, the Trump administration’s wish has always been to detain migrant kids indefinitely—<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/6/1793759/-Trump-admin-seeking-to-eviscerate-standards-protecting-migrant-kids-under-U-S-custody" target="_blank">just look at the new proposal</a> seeking to eviscerate standards protecting migrant kids under U.S. custody, and as The Texas Tribune reports, “the decision marks the third time the facility's operations have been extended since it opened in June.” And as officials seek to detain more kids and for longer periods of time, they’re also making it harder for kids to get out of these jails. Migrants kids can be released to relatives already in the U.S. or other sponsors, but “immigrant rights groups have asserted all year,” The Texas Tribune continued, “that the administration has created unnecessary barriers for families or sponsors willing to take in the unaccompanied minors. After the family separation crisis, critics complained that some families were made to undergo more vetting than others.” The administration currently has nearly 13,000 migrant children under HHS custody, the vast majority kids who came to the U.S. on their own and seeking refuge. More than 400 are children who continue to remain separated from their parents in blatant violation of a judge’s order. All are at risk of ongoing emotional and physical trauma, and for many, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/11/1795012/-One-kidnapped-migrant-child-languished-in-a-Chicago-facility-for-over-a-year-documents-reveal" target="_blank" title="">the damage has already been life-altering</a>, with distraught children forcibly medicated under custody. Child detention is child abuse, and it’s on the hands of every complicit legislator and administration official doing nothing to protect these kids, especially those who are under court order to do so. “This administration has resorted to putting kids in tents rather than pushing for comprehensive immigration reform while Congress sits complicit with inaction," said state Rep. César Blanco. rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) Asylum AsylumSeekers Border Detention DonaldTrump familyseparation Immigration PrisonCamps StopSeparationFamilies tentcities Unaccompaniedminors usmexicoborder _1795224 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 15:57:03 +0000 New questions arise about Supreme Court nominee's knowledge of sexual harassment by a federal judge https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795222/-New-questions-arise-about-Supreme-Court-nominee-s-knowledge-of-sexual-harassment-by-a-federal-judge In December 2017, Judge Alex Kozinski retired as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals 9th Circuit after six extremely accomplished women who clerked for him came forward to detail allegations of sexual harassment. The number of women has now jumped to 15, and it appears sexual harassment is something he’d apparently been getting away with for a very long time. The women accused Kozinski of getting them into his private chambers under a work-related guise, and then showing them porn. Kozinski wanted to know if the porn aroused the female clerks. From <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/prominent-appeals-court-judge-alex-kozinski-accused-of-sexual-misconduct/2017/12/08/1763e2b8-d913-11e7-a841-2066faf731ef_story.html?utm_term=.eeb6a66f425f" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>: <blockquote> Heidi Bond, who clerked for Kozinski from 2006 to 2007, said the porn was not related to any case. One set of images she remembered was of college-age students at a party where "some people were inexplicably naked while everyone else was clothed." Another was a sort of digital flip book that allowed users to mix and match heads, torsos and legs to create an image of a naked woman. Bond is one of six women — all former clerks or more junior staffers known as externs in the 9th Circuit — who alleged to The Washington Post in recent weeks that Kozinski, now 67 and still serving as a judge on the court, subjected them to a range of inappropriate sexual conduct or comments. She is one of two former clerks who said Kozinski asked them to view porn in his chambers. </blockquote> Kozinski’s retirement effectively killed any real investigation into his behavior. In effect, it was case closed. In fact, Kozinski’s behavior was well-known. Nancy Rappaport, special counsel to the president of the University of Nevada Las Vegas said she had an unsettling and inappropriate dinner with Kozinski, and afterward <a href="https://nancyrapoports.blog/2017/12/09/there-are-likely-several-more-stories-to-come/amp/" target="_blank">refused to recommend women for a clerkship under the judge</a>. <blockquote> But I have told countless female law students that I would never write them a letter of recommendation for a clerkship with him, and I have told them why. I didn’t want them ever to be at risk of being sexually harassed by him. I have told some of my female colleagues not to be alone with him, and for the same reason. </blockquote> Rappaport and many others said it was an ‘open secret’ that Kozinski was a sexual harasser. That leads us to current Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who clerked for Kozinski from 1991-1992 and has maintained a relationship with him. In fact, <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/09/kavanaugh-confirmation-kozinski-sexual-assault.html" target="_blank">Kozinski’s son clerked for Kavanaugh,</a> and the two judges were featured on panels together at events organized by conservative organizations. During his confirmation hearing last week, Brett Kavanaugh was asked by Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono whether he was aware of Kozinski’s behavior. rss@dailykos.com (Jen Hayden) AlexKozinski BrettKavanaugh MeToo Recommended SexualHarassment SupremeCourt _1795222 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 16:01:35 +0000 Republicans are getting nervous about a Senate elections 'shipwreck' https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795227/-Republicans-are-getting-nervous-about-a-Senate-elections-shipwreck Could the terrible political environment and Donald Trump’s sinking approval rating put the Senate in reach for Democrats? While the entire House is up for grabs this year, the Senate has looked out of reach for Democrats because, with only a third of Senate seats on the ballot in 2018, multiple vulnerable Democratic incumbents and few vulnerable Republican incumbents are up for re-election this year. But it’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/shipwreck-gop-grows-fearful-about-losing-senate-as-candidates-struggle-trump-support-tumbles/2018/09/11/b2cf04ce-b600-11e8-a7b5-adaaa5b2a57f_story.html?utm_term=.45525529f8f0" target="_blank" title="">starting to look</a> like Democrats might have a path to the majority, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell telling reporters that “I hope when the smoke clears, we’ll still have a majority” and a Republican “leading strategist” describing the situation as a “shipwreck.” Rep. Beto O’Rourke is putting on a stronger-than-expected run against Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas. Former Gov. Phil Bredesen is putting on a stronger-than-expected run for the Tennessee seat being vacated by Sen. Bob Corker. Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia are looking stronger than expected. Democrats still have to run the table, but if Republicans are using the word shipwreck, that means Democrats are riding high on hope. And as we see every time Donald Trump nominates anyone to any position—but especially all those judges—the Senate is key to stopping Trump from destroying the country for a generation. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018senate?refcode=20180912LC1" target="_blank" title="">Let's do this. Can you help win Nevada and Texas by giving $3 each to Jacky Rosen and Beto O'Rourke?</a> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) 2018 Elections MitchMcConnell Recommended Republicans Senate _1795227 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 15:29:17 +0000 New research offers a blueprint for recruiting and electing more black women to public office https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1794769/-New-research-offers-a-blueprint-for-recruiting-and-electing-more-black-women-to-public-office 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the election of Shirley Chisholm—the first black woman ever to serve in Congress. Since that time, the number of black women serving in elected office at the local, state and national level has increased but is not progressing nearly fast enough. Black women vote more than any other gender or racial group. Yet, we are woefully underrepresented in government and account for less than 4 percent of elected officials serving in Congress and state legislatures. In the last two years, black women have run in and won historic elections around the country. This, despite the fact that their electability and viability as candidates is routinely questioned, especially outside of majority black districts. Still, there is tremendous potential for black women candidates. And in order to invest in them properly, we need to understand the power of black women’s electoral strength—particularly at this very distinct moment in American history. To this end, the Brookings Institute recently collaborated with the <a href="http://www.higherheightsleadershipfund.org/" target="_blank" title="">Higher Heights Leadership Fund</a> to create a database of black women serving in government at the federal, state and municipal levels. By analyzing various demographic information about their elections, we are offered insight into the factors that impact black women’s electoral success. These findings were released in a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018.09.10_metro_black-women-office_Perry_Final-version-sep10.pdf" target="_blank">report </a>on Monday in an event at Brookings in Washington, DC entitled “Claiming seats at the table: Black women’s electoral strength in an era of fractured politics.” As Dr. Andre Perry, a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/analysis-of-black-womens-electoral-strength-in-an-era-of-fractured-politics/" target="_blank">notes</a>, “these insights can be used to create a framework—a blueprint—that can help boost black women, and their supporters, to succeed in attaining more reflective representation in elected office at various levels of government.” <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Where do black women hold elected office and what is their share of the voting-age population? &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/andreperry?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@andreperry&lt;/a&gt; researched this question +more in a new research brief w/ &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/HigherHeights?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@HigherHeights&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href="https://t.co/mEvv0ZlAML"&gt;https://t.co/mEvv0ZlAML&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://t.co/Luf3KGcgKP"&gt;pic.twitter.com/Luf3KGcgKP&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Brookings Metro (@BrookingsMetro) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/BrookingsMetro/status/1039536042964123653?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 11, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Where do black women hold elected office and what is their share of the voting-age population? <a href="https://twitter.com/andreperry?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@andreperry</a> researched this question +more in a new research brief w/ <a href="https://twitter.com/HigherHeights?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HigherHeights</a>. <a href="https://t.co/mEvv0ZlAML">https://t.co/mEvv0ZlAML</a> <a href="https://t.co/Luf3KGcgKP">pic.twitter.com/Luf3KGcgKP</a>— Brookings Metro (@BrookingsMetro) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrookingsMetro/status/1039536042964123653?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> I attended the 90-minute panel, during which Dr. Perry introduced the initial findings of the analysis which will be the subject of future research. They represent both challenges and opportunities in terms of increasing the amount of black women elected to public office. Among them are: *Most black women (roughly 77 percent) are elected in majority-minority districts. Thus, there is a correlation between the concentration of residents of color in a given district and black women’s electoral success. However, this is for data from 2016. Recent elections during this midterm cycle demonstrate that black women can be and have been successful among majority-white constituencies. *States that have large black populations offer opportunities for electing black women. But that requires black women to seek elected office. In 2016, over 500 majority-black constituencies selected a representative. But out of those races, only one-third included black women who contested those seats. After Dr. Perry’s synopsis came a moderated panel of black women elected leaders and political professionals who discussed how to create more opportunities for and support black women interested in running for office. The panelists included: Errin Haines Whack (who served as the moderator), National Race and Ethnicity Writer for the Associated Press; Mayor Catherine Pugh (D) (City of Baltimore); Del. Marcia S. Price (D) (Virginia); and Tasha Cole, from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Co-Chair of <a href="https://runningstartonline.org/" target="_blank" title="">Running Start</a>. The session’s audience was made up of predominately black women and this was reflected in the conversation as the panel spoke in-depth about how black women are uniquely positioned to help other black women to succeed in politics. But there was something for everybody and much to takeaway from the session in terms of recruiting, supporting and fundraising for black women candidates. You can watch the entire session below: <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content"><a class="new_iframe_placeholder" href="#">x</a></div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=Xs95MFZynO8" title="" data-frameborder="0" data-height="281" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xs95MFZynO8" data-width="500">YouTube Video</a></div> </div> As we move toward the general election in November and head into 2020, this work is incredibly timely. <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/7/1794007/-After-helping-Doug-Jones-win-black-women-in-Alabama-are-seeking-elected-office-in-record-numbers" target="_blank" title="">Record numbers of black women</a> are running for office at all levels across the country and they are well-positioned to lead. It simply requires a belief that they can win and the appropriate investment into training, resources and funding. This research is a necessary step in understanding the electoral strength of black women. It’s time to finally see the tremendous potential for change and transformation that comes with electing black women to office. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;“African American women can serve in all communities. We have to be strategic about where the opportunity is and invest in the right places. Where women run, they win. We just need the resources to do it.” -- &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/runningstart?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@RunningStart&lt;/a&gt;’s Tasha Cole &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackWomenLead?src=hash&amp;amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#BlackWomenLead&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Brookings Metro (@BrookingsMetro) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/BrookingsMetro/status/1039188234100715520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 10, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Ã¢Â€ÂœAfrican American women can serve in all communities. We have to be strategic about where the opportunity is and invest in the right places. Where women run, they win. We just need the resources to do it.Ã¢Â€Â -- <a href="https://twitter.com/runningstart?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RunningStart</a>Ã¢Â€Â™s Tasha Cole <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackWomenLead?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackWomenLead</a>— Brookings Metro (@BrookingsMetro) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrookingsMetro/status/1039188234100715520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> To learn more about what Higher Heights is doing to elect black women, click <a href="http://www.higherheightsleadershipfund.org/" target="_blank">here</a>. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag, #BlackWomenLead. rss@dailykos.com (Kelly Macias) BlackWomenLead Brookings Democrats Elections HigherHeights Politics _1794769 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 18:09:23 +0000 48 days after a court deadline, Trump admin continues slow-walking migrant family reunification https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795219/-48-days-after-a-court-deadline-Trump-admin-continues-slow-walking-migrant-family-reunification <a href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-homeland-security-chief-kirstjen-nielsen-must-resign" class="dk-action-link" data-action="petition" data-slug="sign-the-petition-homeland-security-chief-kirstjen-nielsen-must-resign" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/petition/sign-the-petition-homeland-security-chief-kirstjen-nielsen-must-resign?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-petition-area-sign-the-petition-homeland-security-chief-kirstjen-nielsen-must-resign-285491" data-href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-homeland-security-chief-kirstjen-nielsen-must-resign">Campaign Action</a> Wednesday, Sept. 12, marks 48 days since Judge Dana Sabraw’s July 26 deadline, yet the Trump administration has continued to slow-walk migrant family reunification, leaving hundreds of kidnapped migrant children still separated from their parents. <a href="https://twitter.com/jacobsoboroff/status/1035301531824709633">According to updated numbers,</a> the Trump administration still has 416 children under U.S. custody, including 14 kids age 5 and under. The parents of 304 of those children have already been deported, including six kids age 5 and under. Under the previous update, the officials had 497 children under custody, including 22 kids age 5 and under. Weeks past a court order, the numbers are barely moving, and when every day in custody is another day of trauma, this is unacceptable. Additionally, under the updated numbers, <a href="https://twitter.com/jacobsoboroff/status/1037871725139185665" target="_blank">199 children</a> are still under U.S. custody because their parents <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/tracking-migrant-family-separation/?utm_term=.fa3458df6be9" target="_blank">“indicated desire against reunification or waived reunification rights.</a>” But according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “many parents” did so under duress and did not understand what they were signing. With families still separated in blatant violation of a court order, family separation remains a crisis. “Judge Sabraw, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you,” <a href="https://americasvoice.org/press_releases/the-family-separation-crisis-continues-the-suffering-of-children-continues-and-the-nation-turns-its-lonely-eyes-to-judge-sabraw/" target="_blank">said</a> immigrant rights leader Frank Sharry. “Please continue to stand up for what is right and decent. Please call the top officials responsible for this dark chapter on the carpet. Please consider holding DHS Secretary Nielsen and HHS Secretary Azar in contempt. It’s time, once again, for dramatic action to end this horrible chapter and this ongoing suffering.” rss@dailykos.com (Gabe Ortiz) Asylum AsylumSeekers Border CentralAmericanWomenAndChildren CentralAmericanWomenandKids Detention EndFamilyDetention familydetention familyseparation Immigration StopSeparatingFamilies usmexicoborder _1795219 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 14:48:49 +0000 New polling shows there's no reason for ANY Democrat to vote for Kavanaugh https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795212/-New-polling-shows-there-s-no-reason-for-ANY-Democrat-to-vote-for-Kavanaugh <a href="/campaigns/letter/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh" class="dk-action-link" data-action="letter" data-slug="sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/letter/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-letter-area-sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh-819261" data-href="/campaigns/letter/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh">Campaign Action</a> National <a href="http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/09/11/rel8b.-.kavanaugh.pdf" title="">polling by CNN</a> conducted at the end of hearings for Brett Kavanaugh show that he's hardly more popular than the unindicted co-conspirator who nominated him. Just 38 percent of Americans say he should be confirmed, while 39 percent say he should not. For a bit of perspective, that makes him more unpopular than any nominee in the last three decades. Even Harriet Miers (who was also -1) reached approval levels in the 40s. Even Robert Bork was more popular, at a +3 approval. No Democrat in a purple state need worry about voting against Kavanaugh, and <a href="https://www.axios.com/poll-brett-kavanaugh-2018-midterm-elections-red-states-a33b7a8c-f101-4b14-919f-bfe3d1618250.html" title="">new polling in red states</a> suggests that voting against him would actually help red state Democrats. A YouGov poll conducted in battleground states Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, and West Virginia before the hearings and just released show that the overwhelming majority of undecided voters didn't really care about this vote. In Florida, 80 percent of undecided voters say it won't make a difference; Missouri: 76 percent; Indiana: 68 percent; West Virginia: 80 percent; and North Dakota: 80 percent. However, and this is a big however, in all of those states the Democratic base is tuned into the nomination and cares. Democrats are looking to their Democratic senators to oppose Kavanaugh: <blockquote> <ul> <li>Missouri: 35% said they would be less likely to vote for Sen. Claire McCaskill if she votes for Kavanaugh.</li> <li>Indiana: 35% said they would be less likely to vote for Sen. Joe Donnelly if he votes for Kavanaugh.</li> <li>Florida: 31% said they would be less likely to vote for Sen. Bill Nelson if he votes for Kavanaugh.</li> <li>West Virginia: 30% said they would be likely less to vote for Sen. Joe Manchin if he votes for Kavanaugh.</li> <li>North Dakota: 26% said they would be likely less to vote for Sen. Heidi Heitkamp if she votes for Kavanaugh.</li> </ul> </blockquote> Voting for Kavanaugh would be more of a problem for all of these senators in angering Democratic voters. The people who care about this vote are both bases. The Republican voter who cares enough about all the issues wrapped up in this nomination is not in going to vote for a Democrat on the strength of this one vote. They will vote for the Republican every time. The Democratic voter, however, is going to feel betrayed and may or may not in the end be less likely not just to vote for their Democratic incumbent, but they sure as hell will be less motivated to spend the weeks before the election doing anything to help that Democrat win. rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) BrettKavanaugh Democrats DonaldTrump FederalJudiciary Recommended SCOTUS SupremeCourt _1795212 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 14:18:48 +0000 Florence update: Pamlico Sound threatened by massive surge as potential turn to south spreads danger https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795200/-Florence-update-Pamlico-Sound-threatened-by-massive-surge-as-potential-turn-to-south-spreads-danger With Hurricane Florence still driving slowly toward the Carolinas, the forecast is decidedly not looking better. The latest forecasts show the storm reaching the coast of North Carolina on Friday, diverting to the south, and lingering the area for days to produce huge amounts of rain. The potential for wind damage along the Outer Banks and the immediate coast is high, but even more threatening will be a combination of both massive storm surge and torrential rains that could result in flooding that last for a prolonged period. The latest forecast carries a new twist: A left-hand turn that could have Florence moving down the coast to the south. So residents in cities like Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, who were beginning to feel relief that the heart of the storm would miss them, have reason to feel alarm again. Florence might yet come their way. Multiple models of the effects of a warming climate on hurricanes have predicted storms that are not just larger, but slower moving. As with <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/25/1693095/-Hurricane-Harvey-closes-on-Texas-coast-slow-moving-storm-set-to-trigger-massive-floods" target="_blank" title="">Hurricane Harvey</a> in 2017, Florence seems to be bearing out that prediction. As a consequence, these storms remain active in a small region for a long period, resulting in torrential rains, increased flooding, and potential mudslides. At the moment, the storm looks as if it could push directly into the Pamlico Sound area, generating disastrous surge levels for cities and towns located well away from the coast. However, this mapping of surge does not seem to fully incorporate the latest predictions for a southward shift to the storm track. <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned"><img alt="FlorenceWedAM.png" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/587802/large/FlorenceWedAM.png?1536759893" title="FlorenceWedAM.png"> <figcaption>Storm surge inundation predictions as of Wednesday AM</figcaption> </figure> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Mark Sumner) Climate HurricaneFlorence Science Weather _1795200 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 14:21:46 +0000 Republicans cut taxes for the rich, now the deficit will reach $1 trillion ONE YEAR from now https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1795100/-Republicans-cut-taxes-for-the-rich-now-the-deficit-will-reach-1-trillion-BY-YEAR-S-END The Congressional Budget Office <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/54442?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=812526&utm_campaign=Express_2018-09-10_18%3a00" target="_blank" title="">assessed the damage</a> the Republican tax giveaway to the rich is doing to our national debt and found the GOP is on course to deliver, <a href="https://www.axios.com/deficit-grows-222-billion-tax-laws-debt-us-trump-de9f61f5-5d8e-437b-ad36-bd7640349059.html" target="_blank" title="">according to Axios</a>. Instead of hitting that $1 trillion deficit by 2020, the nation will be approaching it by <s>year's end</s>! the end of Fiscal Year 2019, about a year from now. The U.S. deficit grew $222 billion in just one year alone—reaching a total of $895 billion, thanks mostly to the Republican tax gift to America's wealthiest one percent. Republicans, led by GOP Speaker Paul Ryan, are now responsible for one quarter of the overall U.S. deficit, IN JUST ONE YEAR’s time. That's what happens when you only increase government revenues by 1 percent while increasing spending by 7 percent. Hey, here’s a thought ... <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;When Democrats gain power I would like them to rename the national debt the national &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerRyan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@SpeakerRyan&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://t.co/2qgKlzUu2b"&gt;https://t.co/2qgKlzUu2b&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Francis Wilkinson (@fdwilkinson) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/fdwilkinson/status/1039660120555311105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 11, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">When Democrats gain power I would like them to rename the national debt the national <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerRyan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerRyan</a> <a href="https://t.co/2qgKlzUu2b">https://t.co/2qgKlzUu2b</a>— Francis Wilkinson (@fdwilkinson) <a href="https://twitter.com/fdwilkinson/status/1039660120555311105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018house?refcode=20180912KE1" target="_blank" title="">Let’s give the GOP what they deserve—the boot! Can you give $3 right now to ensure sanity is restored to the House through Democratic control?</a> <div> <a name="update-1536767742000"></a> </div> <div class="live-update-wrapper" data-epoch-time="1536767742000"> <a class="live-update-link" href="#update-1536767742000"> Wednesday, Sep 12, 2018 · 3:55:42 PM +00:00 · Kerry Eleveld </a> <div class="live-update-content">Editor’s Note: This post has been edited to correct the assertion that the deficit would reach $1 trillion by the end of 2018. That’s what Axios originally reported, but the outlet has updated its post to reflect the CBO estimate of a $1 trillion deficit by the end of FY2019. </div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Kerry Eleveld) PaulRyan TaxCuts Trump _1795100 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 00:30:28 +0000 Trump administration funnels $9.75 million from FEMA to pay for ICE detention centers https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795193/-Trump-administration-funnels-9-75-million-from-FEMA-to-pay-for-ICE-detention-centers <a href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers" class="dk-action-link" data-action="petition" data-slug="sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/petition/sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-petition-area-sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers-634002" data-href="/campaigns/petition/sign-the-petition-denounce-trump-for-robbing-emergency-preparedness-money-to-pay-for-ice-detention-centers">Campaign Action</a> The Trump administration is making its priorities clear, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/11/politics/fema-ice-hurricane-funding/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twCNN&utm_content=2018-09-12T09%3A56%3A48" target="_blank">funneling money</a> into ICE detention centers from other agencies’ budgets—including, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) highlighted Tuesday, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A Trump administration spokesman strongly denied that the money being shifted from FEMA would hamper the agency’s ability to respond to hurricanes; according to a document Merkley made public, “FEMA will curtail training, travel, public engagement sessions, IT security support and infrastructure maintenance, and IT investments in the legacy grants systems for transition to the Grants Management Modernization Program.” Even if we take the Trump administration at its word that the $9.75 million transfer from FEMA to ICE won’t affect hurricane response, there are still questions to be asked. Questions like “but will the non-effect be because Trump hurricane response is so bad that nothing much could make it worse?” and “are you lying to us?” (Never fully take the Trump administration at its word.) Also, and this is not a question: “Yeah, but we’re still seeing your priorities in action when you shift money from emergency management training to detention centers for your vicious immigration policies.” This is the policy: direct money from other departments to have more and more money to detain and imprison people whose only crime, in many cases, is misdemeanor border crossing that they were essentially forced into by the Trump administration having blocked legal crossing points to make it difficult for asylum-seekers to enter the country. And $9.75 million is a drop in a federal agency’s budget, but as a statement that persecuting immigrants is a top function of this government, it’s huge. rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) Border FEMA ICE Immigration JeffMerkley TrumpAdministration _1795193 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 12:51:40 +0000 Telling yet another lie, Trump says he did a 'fantastic job' responding to Hurricane Maria https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795190/-Telling-yet-another-lie-Trump-says-he-did-a-fantastic-job-responding-to-Hurricane-Maria Millions of people are preparing for Hurricane Florence to make landfall later this week. As they brace themselves for a storm with<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/09/12/hurricane-florence-charges-toward-carolinas-with-potential-for-unbelievable-damage/?utm_term=.d0bb1a07bb0d" target="_blank" title=""> “potential for unbelievable damage,”</a> Donald Trump is busy congratulating himself for the great job he thinks he did in response to Hurricane Maria. Apparently, Trump wants us to completely ignore that the death toll was just revised from 64 to <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/28/1791665/-New-report-finds-that-nearly-3-000-people-died-in-Puerto-Rico-as-a-result-of-Hurricane-Maria" target="_blank">almost 3,000</a>—a figure which is likely way lower than the actual number of people who died. He also wants us to forget that there are still people in Puerto Rico without roofs, electricity and access to clean water an entire year after Maria. Instead, because he’s a raging narcissist, racist, and a bully, Donald Trump is saying we should ignore the facts because he’s responsible for an incredibly successful disaster response. As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/absolutely-totally-prepared-trump-says-the-government-is-ready-as-florence-approaches/2018/09/11/be70c620-b5e5-11e8-a2c5-3187f427e253_story.html?utm_term=.356865fbafa4" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reports, during a briefing about Hurricane Florence in the Oval Office, Trump said that his administration did a “fantastic job.” He then went on to say: <blockquote> It was “one of the best jobs that’s ever been done with respect to what this is all about.” </blockquote> Even FEMA has acknowledged that it screwed up its response to Hurricane Maria. In its official <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/7/13/1780212/-FEMA-admits-the-obvious-in-new-report-that-it-completely-failed-in-its-response-to-Hurricane-Maria" target="_blank">after-action report issued in July</a>, the agency says that it failed to “properly respond”—citing a lack of experienced personnel and too few aid supplies on the ground. But Donald Trump doesn’t know that and he doesn’t care. Instead, he decided to go back to blaming Puerto Rico for all its woes and telling outright lies about the condition of the island before the storm. <blockquote> Trump also said that Puerto Rico “had no electricity, essentially, before the storm. And when the storm hit, that took it out entirely.” </blockquote> In case it wasn’t obvious before (and it should have been, because we’ve had decades worth of examples now), Donald Trump is a hateful, cruel, insensitive man who thinks that 3,000 people dying in Puerto Rico is perfectly fine as long as he can find a way to lie, pat himself on the back and tell the American people that he’s doing a great job. Mind you, he said all of these things on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks—a day in which thousands of people also died. A day that should be about reflection and remembering the victims of terrorism. He also said these things a week before the one year anniversary of Hurricane Maria on September 20. As far as words of comfort and wisdom to the people currently in Hurricane Florence’s path, Trump made this incredibly astute observation about the storm, “[it will be] tremendously big and tremendously wet — tremendous amount of water.” And there you have it. Delusions of grandeur, a complete lack of compassion, and bold-faced lies from the leader of the United States. There aren’t enough harsh words to properly describe this disgrace to democracy and humanity. rss@dailykos.com (Kelly Macias) DisasterReponse DonaldTrump FEMA HurricaneFlorence HurricaneMaria PuertoRico _1795190 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 12:44:08 +0000 Tremendously big and tremendously wet—Donald Trump loves disasters https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795192/-Tremendously-big-and-tremendously-wet-Donald-Trump-loves-disasters Donald Trump fist-pumped his way to the 9/11 memorial service on Tuesday, then followed up with an interview in which he bragged about the “incredible, unsung success” of the hurricane assistance to Puerto Rico. He returned to his disaster montage on Wednesday morning, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1039828966595616768" target="_blank">bragging </a>that he got “A Pluses” for hurricane relief in Florida and Texas and complaining about the “unappreciated great job” for the 3,000 deaths on Puerto Rico, which he called “an inaccessible island.” While Trump claimed victory in Puerto Rico, he did insist that he had some terrible obstacles to overcome, including “very poor electricity and a totally incompetent Mayor of San Juan.” That mayor—whose “incompetence” consisted of criticizing Trump’s one-day paper towel-throwing visit to the island—had a brief response. <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Pres Trump thinks loosing 3,000 lives is a success. Can you imagine what he thinks failure looks like?&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/CarmenYulinCruz/status/1039711661144371208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 12, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Pres Trump thinks loosing 3,000 lives is a success. Can you imagine what he thinks failure looks like?— Carmen YulÃƒÂn Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/CarmenYulinCruz/status/1039711661144371208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> Actually Trump knows exactly what he considers a disaster. It’s what most people call “peace.” Trump likes noise, confusion, and emotion. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tremendously-big-trump-reaches-for-superlatives-in-the-face-of-calamity/2018/09/11/31c0f964-b5dd-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html?utm_term=.95b8ee8e53f4" target="_blank">The Washington Post </a>reports that Trump constantly struggles to display any sense of “empathy” or to play the role of “consoler in chief.” But the truth is that Trump doesn’t struggle. Because he doesn’t try. Because he isn’t interested. Trump, inside and outside of the White House, is a Michael Bay movie: He’s more interested in the explosions than the characters. He’s all Shock Doctrine, every day. For Trump, the disasters are the highlights. That’s where all the sound and fury and excitement is. It’s where buildings tumble, and waves crash, and some crazy-but-brave pilot sacrifices himself by flying up the butt of an alien spacecraft. Not Trump, of course. He’s only there for the popcorn. But still, these are the good parts. Which is why, with a massive hurricane bearing down on the East Coast, Trump is talking like he can’t decide whether to watch it on the big screen, or the Really Big Screen. <blockquote> Trump: Tremendously big and tremendously wet — tremendous amounts of water. </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Mark Sumner) BrockLong Disaster DonaldTrump FEMA HurricaneFlorence HurricaneMaria PuertoRico _1795192 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 12:46:50 +0000 Morning Digest: Polls show Democrats in the driver's seat to reclaim Michigan governor's office https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795060/-Morning-Digest-Polls-show-Democrats-in-the-driver-s-seat-to-reclaim-Michigan-governor-s-office The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar. <h4>Leading Off</h4> <a href="#1" name="1">●</a> MI-Gov, MI-Sen: The Glengariff Group is out with their first general election survey of Michigan's big statewide races for the Detroit News and WDIV-TV, and they give Team Blue some very good news. Democrat Gretchen Whitmer <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/09/11/michigan-whitmer-schuette-governor-poll-september/1256313002/">posts a 50-36 lead</a> over Republican Bill Schuette in the race for governor, while Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/09/11/poll-michigan-senate-stabenow-james-september/1259498002/" title="">leads Republican John James 56-33</a>. A recent poll from the GOP firm Strategic National, which worked for the candidates Schuette and James beat in the primary, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/11/1794768/-Morning-Digest-Florida-GOP-nominee-for-governor-a-regular-speaker-at-racist-conference#8" title="">had Whitmer ahead 49-39</a> and Stabenow up 50-35, respectively. These polls aren't the only sign that Republicans are having trouble in this competitive state. The Republican Governors Association <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/6/1793552/-Morning-Digest-Democratic-poll-finds-Team-Blue-within-striking-distance-in-Arizona-governor-s-race#14" title="">notably cut $1.5 million in planned TV advertising</a> last week; while they still have $5.6 million reserved, it makes sense that they'd redirect some money to more competitive races if they're not feeling good about Michigan. One small bit of good news for Team Red is that termed-out Republican Gov. Rick Snyder posts a 46-47 approval rating in the Glengariff survey, which is considerably better than what he's posted in other polls. However, Snyder has loudly and <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/7/1793850/-Morning-Digest-National-GOP-uses-ill-gotten-security-application-to-smear-Virginia-Democrat#9">repeatedly refused to endorse Schuette</a>, so the governor may still be a big headache for him. rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos Elections) AbigailSpanberger AFSCME AllanFung AR-02 AZ-Gov AZ-Sen BillSchuette BryanSteil CA-21 CarolMiller CarolynLong ChrisCollins CindyAxne ClarkeTucker CongressionalLeadershipFund CynthiaNixon DanFeehan DaveBrat DavidGarcia DCCC DeanHeller DeanPhillips DebbieStabenow DKEMorningDigest Elections EndCitizensUnited ErikPaulsen FL-25 FL-Sen FrenchHill GinaOrtizJones GinaRaimondo GlengariffGroup GretchenWhitmer HendrixCollege HenryCuellar IA-03 IL-06 IL-Gov IN-Sen J.B.Pritzker JasonLewis JohnCarter JohnJames JoshHawley KarlDean KyrstenSinema MacSchneider majorityforward marybarzeeflores MattBrown MI-Gov MI-Sen MichelleLujanGrisham MjHegar MN-01 MN-02 MN-03 MN-Sen-B MO-Sen ND-AL ND-Sen NM-Gov NV-04 NV-Gov NV-Sen NY-27 NY-Gov PatriciaMorgan PeterRoskam PhilBredesen RI-Gov RichardOjeda RickScott RickSnyder ScottWalker ScottWalkerAStrongerWisconsin Senate senateleadershipfund Siena StevenHorsford StevePearce TinaSmith TJCox TN-Gov TN-Sen TX-23 TX-28 TX-31 VA-07 WA-03 WI-01 WI-Gov WV-03 WV-Sen _1795060 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 12:00:33 +0000 Cartoon: Brett Kavanaugh, supreme umpire https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795081/-Cartoon-Brett-Kavanaugh-supreme-umpire Follow me on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/MattBors" target="_blank" title="">@MattBors</a> and check out the comics magazine I’ve <a href="http://thenib.com/inkwell" target="_blank">launched at The Nib</a>. rss@dailykos.com (Matt Bors) Abortion BrettKavanuagh RoevWade SCOTUS _1795081 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 11:50:03 +0000 Cheers and Jeers: Wednesday https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1794927/-Cheers-and-Jeers-Wednesday From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE… Drunk Donald Trump The latest edition, with bonus Democratic socialist plaid shirt guy: <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content"><a class="new_iframe_placeholder" href="#">x</a></div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=YfmeWLUGkbc" data-frameborder="0" data-height="281" data-src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YfmeWLUGkbc" data-width="500">YouTube Video</a></div> </div> - He’s in charge of our emergency hurricane operations. God help us. Again. Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!] rss@dailykos.com (Bill in Portland Maine) CheersandJeers _1794927 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 11:49:25 +0000 Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Brett Kavanaugh, partisan hack; the coming Blue wave; shhh impeach https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1794934/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Round-up-Brett-Kavanaugh-partisan-hack-the-coming-Blue-wave-shhh-impeach As we continue through Woodward week, the portrait of a president who knows he's going to be impeached (and parallel to that, political demands that no one say that except Rs) is a bizarre spectacle <a href="https://crooked.com/article/brett-kavanaughs-bad-faith/" target="_blank">Brian Beutler/</a>Crooked: <blockquote> Brett Kavanaugh’s Disqualifying Bad Faith Whether Kavanaugh perjured himself in a prosecutable sense or just in a spirit-of-the-law sense is, in a way, less important than the indisputable fact that he was not candid—at all—with senators trying to fulfill their advice and consent obligations. It would be karmically just for his nomination to fail as a result, but it would also be a much needed blow against the scourge of bad faith that dominates conservative politics. Judicial nominees famously conceal their views about legal controversies and precedent when they testify before the Senate, but what Kavanaugh has done all along is try to conceal the kind of person he is. To me, the most intelligence-insulting thing Kavanaugh has testified to had nothing to do with judicial nominations or the law. It was in 2004, when he told Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) “my background has not been in partisan politics.” It’s hard to imagine more disingenuous horse shit, and all of his current troubles stem from his unwillingness to let go of that absurd conceit. </blockquote> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-kavanaugh-hustle/2018/09/09/4d537010-b2c4-11e8-aed9-001309990777_story.html?utm_term=.f73ce667311c" target="_blank">EJ Dionne</a>/WaPo: <blockquote> Two Republican senators could derail their party’s court-packing: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Moderates and progressives appreciated their willingness to break with their party in previous instances, particularly in saving the Affordable Care Act. But by voting to confirm Kavanaugh, they would be ratifying everything in politics they claim to be against. This is not just about their pledges to protect the right to choose on abortion. It’s also a test of whether they mean what they say about wanting politics to be less partisan and more consensual. Caving in to the power brokers and ideologues on this will follow them for the rest of their careers. </blockquote> Won’t happen. They will fold. rss@dailykos.com (Greg Dworkin) AbbreviatedPunditRound-up APR _1794934 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 11:30:05 +0000 Daily Kos Radio is LIVE at 9 AM ET! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/12/1795133/-Daily-Kos-Radio-is-LIVE-at-9-AM-ET Here we are: Wednesday. Wednesday! The Kavanaugh hearings are over, with still more drama to come. But with the spectacle behind us, we might get a chance to check in with Joan McCarter on the hot topics of the day. Like what a lying jerk that guy was at the hearings, and how when they vote on the nomination, how he’ll still be such a lying jerk. Probably some other things, too. <a href="http://netroots-main-1.stream.creek.fm:8000/stream" target="_blank">Listen</a> right here at 9:00 AM ET! PODCAST LISTENERS: There’s a new podcast platform in town, and the big news is: <a href="https://about.radiopublic.com/" target="_blank">this one pays</a>! RadioPublic pays podcast producers on a CPM basis, for listens on their native app (available for <a href="http://www.radiopublic.com/" target="_blank">iPhones & Androids</a>), financed by pre- and post-roll ads they insert. Not a bad way to support the show, with somebody else’s money! So if you’re a podcast listener, please consider <a href="http://www.radiopublic.com/" target="_blank" title="">downloading the RadioPublic app</a> on your Android or iOS phone. Yes, you can still download directly from their site, or listen to the player embedded here at Daily Kos. But it’s listens in their app that count toward payment. Nothing changes on our end. It’s still Greg Dworkin, Joan McCarter, and even Armando. Plus also, me. And you! As always, we still want your voice on the air with us. Sit down with your smart phone or other electronic recording device and send us your stories and commentary to share with the audience. There’s no easier way to try your hand at podcasting, without all the hassle! Of course there’s no substitute for having your support via <a href="https://www.patreon.com/kagrox?ty=h" target="_blank">Patreon</a>, or one-time contributions via <a href="https://cash.me/%24kagro" target="_blank">Square Cash</a>. (And hey, if you want a cool trick for donating sorta-kinda cost free, get their <a href="https://cash.me/app/FLVKHBX" target="_blank" title="">cash.me app and use this share code</a> to get $5 in your account (plus $5 in mine) when you send your first $5 (to anyone)! For now, how about one on the house? Here’s what we did last time out, on our LIVE show: <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder dk-x-embed" href="#" title="" data-src="https://embed.radiopublic.com/e?if=DailyKosRadio&ge=s1!b7751b0b5c1acc03370d1cfed8c142bfef92aa34" data-width="100%" data-height="185" data-frameborder="0">Embedded Content</a></div> <a href="https://play.radiopublic.com/daily-kos-radio-kagro-in-the-morning-8QNrQp" target="_blank">RadioPublic</a>|<a href="http://kagrox.libsyn.com/" target="_blank" title="">LibSyn</a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCknlsM6zUMIdxtz1qEAbhuA" target="_blank">YouTube</a>|<a href="https://www.patreon.com/kagrox?ty=h" target="_blank" title="">Patreon</a>|<a href="https://cash.me/%24kagro" target="_blank">Square Cash</a> (<a href="https://cash.me/app/FLVKHBX" target="_blank">Share code</a>: Send $5, get $5!) David Waldman returns from a day of<a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/rosh-hashanah-2018-shanah-tovah-15129064" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/rosh-hashanah-2018-shanah-tovah-15129064" target="_blank" title="">Rosh Hashanah</a> merriment and <a href="https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/3084/jewish/Rosh-Hashanah-Torah-Readings-in-a-Nutshell.htm" target="_blank" title="">Torah readings</a>, aware that celebration and<a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-9-11-tributes-monuments-20180911-story.html" target="_blank"> somber reflection</a> must go hand in hand... unless you are some sort of <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-9-11-story-722430/" target="_blank">sociopathic dotard</a>, of course. Ben Shapiro quickly scans Barack Obama’s latest speech to find hooks for his usual talking points, so that Republicans can <a href="https://arcdigital.media/ben-shapiro-vs-imaginary-obama-8d3cd903ea41?sk=451d47b469334abe986b1b8b6618ba5a" target="_blank" title="">quickly scan his articles for lib pwning tips</a>. Remember Omarosa Manigault Newman? She was kind of wondering if you did, so she thought she should release <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/craig-melvin/watch/trump-speaks-about-deadly-niger-ambush-in-new-omarosa-tape-1316906563943?v=raila&" target="_blank" title="">another recording she made of Donald Trump</a>. White House staffers recorded Donald <a href="https://politicalwire.com/2018/09/10/omarosa-says-other-staffers-have-tapes-too/" target="_blank">like parents at a school play</a>. Sen. Susan Collins <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/11/1794975/-Will-Susan-Collins-sacrifice-what-s-left-of-her-dignity-for-Trump-s-Supreme-Court-nominee" target="_blank" title="">will be voting for Brett Kavanaugh</a>, although <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2018/09/10/progressive-groups-ratcheting-up-pressure-on-collins-ahead-of-kavanaugh-vote/" target="_blank" title="">singing la la la with fingers in her ears</a> does help her feel a bit less troubled by that. The International Criminal Court <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-icc-france/after-trump-threats-france-stands-by-international-criminal-court-idUSKCN1LR1QW" target="_blank">suspects the US</a> of war crimes. John Bolton is going to come over there and <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1039111520632942592" target="_blank" title="">show them what illegitimate really means</a>. A court filing just revealed Maria Butina is ready to<a href="https://thesternfacts.com/court-filing-just-revealed-butina-is-ready-to-flip-on-co-conspirator-516b5d4e83a4" target="_blank"> flip on her co-conspirator</a>. And maybe <a href="https://twitter.com/WendySiegelman/status/1038474391909277696" target="_blank" title="">a candidate or two</a>, although <a href="https://video-images.vice.com/articles/5b4df300b097c1000c563a97/lede/1531835600109-Screen-Shot-2018-07-16-at-40212-PM-720x0-c-default.jpeg?crop=1xw:0.9484777517564403xh;center,center&resize=1200:*" target="_blank">there</a> just <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/07162018-Butina-and-Keene-on-FB-post.png?w=990" target="_blank">doesn’t</a> seem <a href="https://images.dailykos.com/images/566960/large/4339D4F5-E752-47B1-9BCE-5A5BB0955E4C.jpeg?1531830379" target="_blank">to be</a> a <a href="https://onewisconsinnow.org/wp-content/uploads/scott-walker-maria-butina-960x320.jpg" target="_blank" title="">shortage</a> of <a href="https://www.thetrace.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/collage-720x505.jpg" target="_blank">candidates</a> for <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiQ6S-yU8AAi0N6.jpg" target="_blank">Maria Butina</a>. Where there is an opportunity for<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna908141" target="_blank" title=""> a mystery attack</a> anywhere in the world, there will be <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/u-s-cuba-relations/u-s-investigating-diplomats-hearing-loss-cuba-n791451" target="_blank" title="">Russians up for the task</a>, including <a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/rnc-e-mail-was-hacked-901763" target="_blank" title="">hacking into the RNC email system</a>, because you<a href="https://twitter.com/PeteB2/status/1038402733835988992" target="_blank"> never know where</a> you might <a href="https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/1038214397397622784" target="_blank" title="">find something useful</a>, like <a href="https://www.wired.com/2007/04/did-ohio-electi/" target="_blank" title="">missing John Kerry votes</a>, or<a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-baseball-debt-democrats-hearing-missing.html" target="_blank"> Supreme Court kompromat</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/nbcwashington/status/1039268357650952192" target="_blank" title="">Russians are cleared</a> of an attack at a Washington DC condo. (Thanks to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/user/Scott%20Anderson" target="_blank">Scott Anderson</a> for the show summary! Please help me <a href="https://www.patreon.com/kagrox?ty=h" target="_blank">pay him</a> more!) Need more info on how to listen? Find it below the fold. rss@dailykos.com (David Waldman) DailyKosRadio _1795133 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 11:00:06 +0000 Open thread for night owls: Seven California Democrats could be a big part of flipping the House https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1795098/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Seven-California-Democrats-could-be-a-big-part-of-flipping-the-House John Nichols at The Nation writes—Can California Democrats Flip the House in November? Seven first-time candidates in swing districts could spell the difference: <blockquote> By almost any measure, the Democrats’ chances of taking control of the House of Representatives in the November midterm elections depend in large part on California. Nationwide, the Democrats need to flip 23 Republican seats to take control of the House. Among the Democrats’ biggest targets are seven seats in California now held by Republicans but which Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election (in one case by the overwhelming margin of 55 to 40 percent). These seven represent nearly one-third of the 23 seats Democrats need to flip on November 6. Former president Barack Obama came to Southern California last Saturday to help them do it. Flanked by six of the seven Democratic challengers, Obama told a campaign rally, “The good news is, in two months we have a chance to restore some sanity in our politics. We have a chance to flip the House of Representatives and make sure that we have checks and balances in Washington.” [...] <figure class="image-captioned width-md align-right"><img alt="owls" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/125323/large/HolyGrailOwl_Badge_TEXT.jpg?1453439006" title="owls"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> In each of the seven districts Democrats are targeting, Republican registration is down by an average of three points from four years ago. For the first time in the history of this bluest of blue states, more voters now identify themselves as “decline to state” than as Republicans. Statewide, Latinos and Asians represent a rapidly growing percentage of California’s population and of its citizenry; for nearly 20 years, non-Hispanic whites have been a minority. And just 31 percent of Californians approve of Donald Trump’s performance as president, lower even than Trump’s abysmal national approval rate. [...] The Democratic challengers in these seven districts have a lot in common. Among other things, they reflect the great surge of energy and citizen engagement that Trump has fueled. In Southern California it was a group of activists not connected to any party or candidate and calling themselves “Flip the 49th” that drove Issa out. In California, as Andrew Godinich, the regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told The Nation, “Trump hovers over everything.” But there’s another side to that coin. None of the seven California challengers has ever held an elected public office—none has been a city council member, county supervisor, or school-board member, and few have run for office before—and several have had trouble persuading voters that they’re intrinsic enough in their district to represent it. Which is to say that most of the seven are new to this business—and, in many cases, new to the voters. [...] </blockquote> <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/11/1795062/-Top-Comments-9-11-and-Coming-Together-Edition" target="_blank">TOP COMMENTS</a> • <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/11/1795033/-High-Impact-Stories-September-10-2018" target="_blank">HIGH IMPACT STORIES</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Massacre-Tragedy-at-White-River/dp/080329106X" target="_blank">QUOTATION</a> “The agreement an Indian makes in a United States treaty is like the agreement the buffalo makes with his hunters when pierced with arrows. All he can do is lie down and give in.” ~~Ouray the Arrow (Ute/Apache) 1879 <a href="https://twitter.com/Impolitics/status/1039635059702210560" target="_blank">TWEET OF THE DAY</a> <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content='&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;DR. DONALD TRUMP, WORLD-RENOWNED METEOROLOGIST, ON HURRICANE FLORENCE:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&amp;quot;This is going to be a very large one. It&amp;#39;s tremendously big and tremendously wet. Tremendous amounts of water.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;mdash; Victor Laszlo (@Impolitics) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/Impolitics/status/1039635059702210560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;September 11, 2018&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; '><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">DR. DONALD TRUMP, WORLD-RENOWNED METEOROLOGIST, ON HURRICANE FLORENCE: "This is going to be a very large one. It's tremendously big and tremendously wet. Tremendous amounts of water."— Victor Laszlo (@Impolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/Impolitics/status/1039635059702210560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2018</a></blockquote> </div> (No problem. Paper towels will soak it all up.) <hr> <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/09/12/148274/-Brown-has-resigned-It-means-little" target="_blank" title="">BLAST FROM THE PAST</a> On this date at Daily Kos in 2005—Brown has resigned. It means little: <blockquote> So Brown has quit as FEMA chief. Yeay. I'd rather see him criminally indicted. But this is a start. It's important to root out the incompetents who aggravated this disaster -- the people running the show and those who nominated and approved of them (like Bush and Lieberman). There must be accountability for the disaster, and that accountability must transcend political lines. D or R, we shouldn't care. What's important is to ensure that those at fault suffer the consequences. But we can't allow this disaster to be framed in the context of a few incompetents and political hacks. Because ultimately, the federal (non) response to New Orleans went exactly according to the conservative playbook. And that's the biggest point in this whole mess. Conservatives believe government shouldn't exist to help people. That everyone should be left to the wolves. New Orleans demonstrated to us in vivid color what Republicanism is made of. New Orleans was, in reality, a crowning acheivement of conservatism. That is, until political pressure forced the federal government to lend a hand and those lucky duckies in the gulf coast began receiving "handouts". While fingering the responsible is important, Democrats need to use New Orleans to draw clear distinctions between the governing philosophies of the Republicans and that of the Democrats. Democrats would've taken care of Katrina victims from the get go. That would've been our first impulse, our first instinct. Republicans had to be shamed into helping people. </blockquote> <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned"><img alt="Daily Kos T-Shirt Ad" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/497035/large/UnityAD_FB_FINAL.png?1516316343" title="Daily Kos T-Shirt Ad"> <figcaption><a href="http://dailykos.merchtable.com">LINK TO DAILY KOS STORE</a></figcaption> </figure> </div> On <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/11/1794984/-Daily-Kos-Radio-s-KITM-podcast-AUDIO-Kagro-in-the-Morning-Tuesday-September-11-2018" target="_blank">today’s Kagro in the Morning show</a>: Ben Shapiro vs. Imaginary Obama. Trump's a 9/11 schlub, as expected. Is Russia behind attacks in Cuba? Collins claims constituents aren't calling about Kavanaugh. Did Kav have emails on that Bush-era RNC server that “lost” 22 million messages? <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <a class="iframe_placeholder dk-x-embed" href="#" data-frameborder="0" data-height="185" data-src="//embed.radiopublic.com/e?if=DailyKosRadio&ge=s1!b7751b0b5c1acc03370d1cfed8c142bfef92aa34" data-width="100%">Embedded Content</a></div> <a href="https://play.radiopublic.com/daily-kos-radio-kagro-in-the-morning-8QNrQp" target="_blank">RadioPublic</a>|<a href="http://kagrox.libsyn.com/" target="_blank">LibSyn</a>|<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCknlsM6zUMIdxtz1qEAbhuA" target="_blank">YouTube</a>|<a href="https://www.patreon.com/kagrox?ty=h" target="_blank">Patreon</a>|<a href="https://cash.me/%24kagro" target="_blank">Square Cash</a> (<a href="https://cash.me/app/FLVKHBX" target="_blank">Share code</a>: Send $5, get $5!) rss@dailykos.com (Meteor Blades) OpenThreadforNightOwls _1795098 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 03:00:08 +0000 Betsy DeVos is intentionally trying reduce the chances of a student rapist getting punished https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1795013/-Betsy-DeVos-is-intentionally-trying-reduce-the-chances-of-a-student-rapist-of-getting-punished There’s a new report out by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/us/politics/campus-sexual-misconduct-rules.html" target="_blank" title="">The New York Times </a>about the Education Department’s own analysis about the impact of the new guidelines the agency will likely implement around sexual violence in education under Title IX. They found that rolling back regulations would save schools millions of dollars by investigating sexual violence less often. <blockquote> The department projected that colleges and universities currently conduct an average of 1.18 sexual harassment investigations each per year, and that under the new rule, the figure would fall to 0.72 investigations per year, a decline of 39 percent. There are about 6,000 colleges and universities nationwide. While the average number of Title IX investigations is not tracked at the elementary and secondary school level, the department drew data on sexual harassment episodes from its most recent civil rights data collection to conclude that the school districts currently investigate an average of 3.23 episodes per year. That rate, they estimated, would decrease to 1.61 under the new rules, a decline of 50 percent. There are about 17,000 elementary and secondary school districts. </blockquote> The new guidelines unequivocally aim to reduce schools’ liabilities in reprimanding a student who assaults another—and trying to make it seem less horrendous because it saves schools money. The Education Department is trying to act like punishing assailants is mutually exclusive to supporting survivors. While it costs money to provide services, how valuable are they to a survivor who has to deal with the intimidation and fear of sharing a school with their assailant? <blockquote> The analysis also accounts for new costs that colleges and districts could incur. Although schools are not required to investigate every complaint, a Title IX coordinator is still required to respond to reports and provide support to victims, which the department anticipates will cost about $5 million. The rules require schools to offer victims a range of “supportive measures,” even if they choose not to file a formal complaint, such as counseling, changes in housing and other efforts that are devised to help them continue their education. </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Wagatwe Wanjuki) BetsyDeVos DepartmentofEducation Education EducationDepartment Gender MeToo mycampustoo SexualAssault TitleIX _1795013 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 17:54:49 +0000 Trump's biggest Democratic ally in Congress raises money for vulnerable Texas Republican https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1795045/-Trump-s-biggest-Democratic-ally-in-Congress-raises-money-for-vulnerable-Texas-Republican If there's one thing we can always count on, it's Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar making life difficult for his fellow Democrats. Politico reports that Cuellar attended and invited his supporters <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2018/09/11/when-a-democratic-lawmaker-raises-money-for-a-republican-incumbent-303684" target="_blank" title="">to a fundraiser for Republican Rep. John Carter</a>, who faces a vigorous challenge from Democrat MJ Hegar in Texas's 31st District. Hegar even has the support of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition, where Cuellar is a co-chair. <figure class="image-captioned width-sm"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018house?refcode=20180911JSthermometer" title=""><img alt="Goal Thermometer" src="https://secure.actblue.com/x/object/actblue-badges/page/dkendorses2018house/thermometer/dark.png"></a> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> Sadly, this is far from out of character for Cuellar, who <a href="https://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=389682">infamously backed George W. Bush in 2000</a> and is the extremely rare Democrat who has been endorsed by the radical anti-tax Club for Growth. This year alone, <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/immigration-discharge-petition-deadline-arrives-signature-completion-likely">Cuellar was the one Democrat</a> who held off on signing a discharge petition to force a vote on a bill to protect Dreamers <a href="https://twitter.com/hispaniccaucus/status/1006707491445596161?lang=en">until the very last day to do so</a>. According to Fivethirtyeight, Cuellar also votes with Donald Trump <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/house/">more than any Democrat</a> in either chamber of Congress. Cuellar represents a Laredo-area seat that <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/11/19/1163009/-Daily-Kos-Elections-presidential-results-by-congressional-district-for-the-2012-2008-elections">went from 60-39 Obama to 58-38 Clinton</a>, so he hardly needs to act like this in order to get re-elected. Unfortunately, Cuellar has not faced a serious primary challenge in a very, very long time. In fact, 2016 was the <a href="https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=3131">only time over the last decade</a> that he faced any primary challenge whatsoever, and he won 90-10. Hopefully, 2020 will be very different. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkendorses2018house?refcode=20180911JS" target="_blank">Let's get more and better Democrats in the House. Please chip in $1 to each member of our House slate today!</a> rss@dailykos.com (Jeff Singer) HenryCuellar _1795045 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 18:50:52 +0000 Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who promoted notorious anti-abortion hoax, falls silent about that https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1794765/-Rep-Marsha-Blackburn-who-promoted-notorious-anti-abortion-hoax-falls-silent-about-that The New York Times points out that virulent abortion foe and far-right conspiracy theorist Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn is lying low, when it comes to abortion rhetoric, in her new Senate bid—and that that's rather unusual for someone who, ahem, has built a reputation on being one of the loudest people in the House. Just how quiet is she being? <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/us/politics/blackburn-abortion-tennessee-senate.html">Pretty darn quiet</a>. <blockquote>Ms. Blackburn declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article.</blockquote> Blackburn may well ramp up her anti-abortion rhetoric in the campaign's closing weeks, but her team’s apparent desire to dodge the issue is quite the change from how Blackburn started out her campaign. <blockquote>[T]he only real memorable moment involving abortion in Ms. Blackburn’s campaign was on its very first day. Last year, Twitter blocked paid promotion of a video announcing Ms. Blackburn’s campaign because it included her talking about how she “stopped the sale of baby body parts.”</blockquote> That ad was a reference to one of the more notorious incidents in Blackburn's career: her eager embrace of far-right conspiracy theories peddled with the help of a far-far-right hoax video targeting Planned Parenthood. Blackburn helped elevate the conspiracy to the House itself, and issued not a stitch of apology for the damage her promoted hoax unleashed on the medical community, the scientific community, and her other targets. She didn't care. At all. rss@dailykos.com (Hunter) Abortion Conservatives MarshaBlackburn Republicans RoevWade Tennessee _1794765 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 01:55:06 +0000 Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse again muses on eventually standing up to his party—maybe. Someday. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1794784/-Nebraska-Sen-Ben-Sasse-again-muses-on-eventually-standing-up-to-his-party-maybe-Someday Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse continues his campaign to be considered a Trump resister despite not actually resisting very much. Appearing on the Sunday morning show State of the Union, Sasse groused to Jake Tapper that he thinks about leaving the Republican Party and becoming an independent <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/09/politics/ben-sasse-thinks-of-leaving-republican-party-cnntv/index.html">"every morning."</a> <blockquote>"I probably think about it every morning when I wake up and I figure out, why -- why am I flying away from Nebraska to go to D.C. this week? Are we going to get real stuff done?" Sasse said he is "committed to the party of (Abraham) Lincoln and (Ronald) Reagan as long as there's a chance to reform it. But this party used to be for some pretty definable stuff. And, frankly, neither of these parties are for very much more than being anti." </blockquote> It seems the last Democratic president was "for" quite a bit—you know, all those things Sasse's party has been attempting to repeal, for example—but aside from that? Sure, whatever. Add Sasse to the pile of Republicans who are thinking very, very strongly about maybe standing up for their own principles at some point, in the future, just you wait. Probably after the elections or something. But no matter what Trump does or how much corruption his administration gets caught in, Sasse is devoted to the idea that the other party is, assuredly, just as bad. rss@dailykos.com (Hunter) BenSasse Conservatives Nebraska Republicans Senate _1794784 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 01:30:05 +0000 Trump brags about his tariffs, but Ford politely shoots him down https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1794951/-Trump-brags-about-his-tariffs-but-Ford-politely-shoots-him-down Donald Trump is having problems with cause, effect, and how corporations operate. Again. This time, the issue is Ford’s decision not to market the Chinese-manufactured Focus Active in the United States because of tariffs. <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1038786434306650113" target="_blank" title="">Says Trump:</a> “This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!” Ford: Uh, no, that’s not going to happen. Or,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/business/trump-china-tariffs-ford-focus-active.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytpolitics&login=smartlock&auth=login-smartlock" target="_blank" title=""> to be specific</a>, “It would not be profitable to build the Focus Active in the U.S. given an expected annual sales volume of fewer than 50,000 units and its competitive segment.” The funny thing is, the car could have been built in the U.S. all along and Ford would have paid no tariffs. They elected not to do so and they’re still not doing it—they just won’t sell it here at all. Car companies should come under pressure to build more of their product in the U.S., mind you, and to market smaller cars in the U.S. as opposed to the SUVs and trucks they push so hard here. But once again, Mr. Big Businessman Trump does not get how these companies actually work, which is one of the many reasons his trade war isn’t going to work out how he thinks. rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) DonaldTrump Ford Manufacturing Tariffs Trade _1794951 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 14:16:32 +0000 NASA looks into selling naming rights on rockets, spacecraft, and missions https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1795021/-NASA-looks-into-selling-naming-rights-on-rockets-spacecraft-and-missions The latest artificial furor on the right concerns how an apparently excellent new film about the Apollo program shows the American flag on the Moon multiple times, but doesn’t actually include a scene of that flag being awkwardly driven into the lunar soil. Apparently the fact that everyone in the film is wearing an American flag, and the most iconic shots of the film feature an American flag, and that the main character is an American military officer is completely invalidated by the lack of stick-in-dirt action. But there is a way that the scene could be made much more American than just showing a flag being driven into gray soil. Beer cans. That’s what this scene needs. A few well-placed, highly photogenic beer cans. While Apollo 11 sadly missed out on this signature of American culture, NASA’s new administrator is out to see that this tragedy is not repeated. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/09/10/why-nasas-next-rockers-might-say-budweiser-side/?utm_term=.390ac83e907c" target="_blank">As the Washington Post reports</a>, Jim Bridenstine has directed the space agency to look into selling naming rights to both rockets and spacecraft. He’s also instructed NASA to check into the potential for using astronauts to advertise commercial products. Rather than Apollo 11 carrying the Eagle to the Moon, it could have been the American Express Express lofting the Moon mission for that critical announcement: Tranquility base here, this Bud’s for you. There’s deep concern from everyone at NASA other than Bridenstine that the idea of slapping corporate logos on what are public resources both violates the tradition of the agency and blurs the line between corporate and private resources at a time when that line is already becoming extraordinarily blurry. With multiple private companies creating their own boosters and their own spacecraft, it’s not even clear that there’s a tremendous amount of marketing money to be made on anything but a genuinely historic mission. After all, if Coors hasn’t felt compelled to slap its name on any of the 1,459 satellites already in orbit, what would make a NASA mission all that attractive? Is a logo on the side of the next ISS cargo launch or weather satellite actually worth anything? Apparently, NASA is going to find out. And it won’t be the first agency to start down this path. rss@dailykos.com (Mark Sumner) JimBridenstine NASA Space _1795021 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 18:48:26 +0000 Seventeen years after Sept. 11, the number of victims continues to grow https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1795008/-Seventeen-years-after-Sept-11-the-number-of-victims-continues-to-grow Although the Sept. 11 attacks are now 17 years distant, the victim count continues to rise. Most are rescue workers and others who labored in <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/911-toll-growsl-16000-ground-responders-sick-found/story?id=57669657" title="">the toxic smoke of Ground Zero</a>. <blockquote>Twenty-three NYPD officers were killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. In the 17 years since, the department says another 156 have died of illnesses contracted from their time on what was then known as “the pile,” the mountain of toxic debris from the fallen towers. Among city firefighters, 182 have died of 9/11-related illnesses, including 18 in the past 12 months, according to the FDNY. The names of the 18 were added to a memorial wall at the department's headquarters during a ceremony Thursday. </blockquote> Cancer, respiratory problems, and post-traumatic stress disorder are among the issues faced by first responders and by investigators, utility workers, bus drivers, and others who supported those efforts. World Trade Center Health Program director Dr. Michael Crane says that 8,000 of the program's patients have been diagnosed with cancer, but warns that those numbers are expected to rise significantly <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/9-11-anniversary/9-11-first-responders-begin-feel-attack-s-long-term-n908306">in the next few years</a>. <blockquote>Asbestos-related cancers, notably lung cancer, can take 20 years for symptoms to show. “It’s time for them to start appearing,” Crane told NBC News.</blockquote> Although the 9/11 Victims Fund is set to expire at the end of 2020, public advocates are urging Congress to speedily pass an <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-victims-fund-ground-zero-cuomo-20180910-story.html" title="">expansion and extension</a> of the program so that support for victims may continue without interruption. There are also concerns that the program's funding may run out even sooner than that as victims continue to come forward. rss@dailykos.com (Hunter) 911 HealthCare NewYork Terrorism _1795008 Wed, 12 Sep 2018 00:15:03 +0000 NRA TV puts KKK hoods on Thomas and Friends as a 'joke' in protest of new Kenyan female character https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1794999/-NRA-TV-puts-hoods-on-Thomas-the-Train-as-joke-protesting-new-Kenyan-female-character What do you do when you are an organization known for <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/2/27/1745252/-NRATV-explains-how-Parkland-shooting-is-the-same-as-Benghazi-because-of-course-they-do" target="_blank">supporting mass murder of children</a> and a white supremacist politician, and maybe having involved yourself with<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/10/1794695/-ABC-News-got-their-hands-on-emails-between-alleged-Russian-agent-and-top-NRA-officials" target="_blank"> possibly treasonous money laundering?</a> You attack children’s television! The National Rifle Association, best known for hate-filled jingoistic rhetoric—<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/3/1785647/-The-NRA-says-it-s-out-of-money-and-there-is-only-one-possible-reply" target="_blank">and probably misrepresenting their membership and finances</a>—is still trying to chug along with their television network, NRA TV. Dana Loesch decided to use the last moments of her show—let’s call it “Hating things not white, with Dana Loesch”—to attack one of the bigger problems in society today: Thomas the Tank Engine! Loesch begins by saying how her daughter loved Thomas but Loesch always found Thomas and Friends “creepy.” Thanks for that info, Loesch. <blockquote> Loesch: Anyway they’ve decided that the next stop is “virtue town,” as the tank is now bringing gender balance to the show—by adding girl trains. </blockquote> Here’s a quick note for those of you who didn’t have children in your life, that overlapped with Thomas and Friends: They’ve had “girl trains" for a very long time. They’ve had “international,” non-United Kingdom train personalities for at least 10 years now. <blockquote> Loesch: Seriously. One of those trains, Nia, will be from Kenya to add ethnic diversity to the show. And -- which that by the way, that’s where it gets really strange to me because I’ve looked at Thomas and Friends, at their pictures, and I see gray and blue. Am I to understand this entire time that Thomas and his trains were white? Because they all have gray faces. How do you bring ethnic diversity, I mean they all have gray faces. I guess they like paint what I guess they thought was some kind of African pattern along the side of Nia’s engine? </blockquote> Yes. That, and the voice and an accent, and stories about Kenya that Nia will tell Thomas, and by extension the children watching Thomas. That’s how you go about trying to make your show a) more diverse, and b) fucking interesting after hundreds of episodes about basically the same thing. rss@dailykos.com (Walter Einenkel) DanaLoesch Loesch NIA NRA NRATV Racism thomastrain Trump Video WhiteSupremacist _1794999 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 17:24:57 +0000 Four things people who support the troops should be upset about (that aren't Nike) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1794802/-Four-things-people-who-support-the-troops-should-be-upset-about-that-aren-t-Nike This post was written and reported by freelance contributor A. Rochaun Meadows-Fernandez through our new <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/freelance" target="_blank">Daily Kos freelance program</a>. The United States has faced a lot of polarizing issues in its history, but few have been as significant as the current conversation around the realities of unjust treatment in the form of police violence against black Americans. While far from new, this conversation became a permanent aspect of mainstream culture dialogue in<a href="http://theundefeated.com/features/colin-kaepernick-protests-anthem-over-treatment-of-minorities/"> August 2016</a>, when then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first sat on the bench and then began kneeling during the national anthem as a protest against police brutality. The public (and some politicians) responded with warped perspectives, calling his actions a direct insult to our nation's military. It’s been two years, and Kaepernick still hasn’t<a href="https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/04/17/colin-kaepernick-free-agency-dez-bryant-released-cowboys-contract"> returned to the football field</a>. And when Nike released an ad last week that featured Kaepernick, the responses were mixed. Some took to the streets and social media, burning their Nike gear and claiming the brand's support of Kaepernick was a slap in the face to the United States military, especially veterans. As the military spouse of a black man who currently serves our nation, I’m rolling my eyes. It’s disgusting how the<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/07/20/president-trump-players-shouldnt-paid-if-kneeling-anthem/810484002/"> opinions of a few</a> have co-opted the discussion on social issues. They have derailed a conversation about the mistreatment of marginalized citizens and instead centered it around national symbols and patriotism. In hopes of adding necessary details to the conversation, here is a list of four issues that people should redirect their outrage toward if they are truly concerned for service members. These issues directly impact various critical aspects of the health of the American military and their families. (Spoiler alert: None of them relate to kneeling, Nike, or the United States flag.) rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos Correspondent) ColinKaepernick HealthCare MentalHealth Military NFL Nike servicemembers waterquality _1794802 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 16:03:40 +0000 Democrat asks Kavanaugh how he got $200,000 in debt buying baseball tickets—and how he paid it off https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/9/11/1795075/-Democrat-asks-Kavanaugh-how-he-got-200-000-in-debt-buying-baseball-tickets-and-how-he-paid-it-off <a href="/campaigns/letter/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh" class="dk-action-link" data-action="letter" data-slug="sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh" data-src="https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v3/letter/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh?format=js&source=widget&can_widget_id=can-letter-area-sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh-329759" data-href="/campaigns/letter/sign-and-send-the-petition-to-your-senators-reject-brett-kavanaugh">Campaign Action</a> There were so many issues involving stolen emails and perjury and torture and war crimes going on in Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings last week that senators didn't have an opportunity to get around to a major question about what might point to some personal financial issues: how in the world did he rack up as much as <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/11/17562736/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-nationals-tickets-debt" title="">$200,000 in credit card debt</a> in one year by buying tickets to Washington Nationals baseball games and paying for "home improvements"? Also, how was he able to suddenly pay it all off in 2017? In his financial disclosure forms for 2016, Kavanaugh reported having between $60,000 and $200,000 in debt on three credit cards which each had balances between $15,000 and $50,000, and on a personal loan between $15,000 to $50,000. The disclosure forms don't require specific amounts—just ranges. Season seats can go for as much as $6,000 apiece behind the dugouts, so it's entirely possible that he bought a minimum of four seats in four sets on different cards—three times on his credit cards, and once with the loan. Weird. But even weirder is how in 2017 all the debt was miraculously gone or "fell below the reporting requirements." The White House contends that all the friends he was buying season tickets for paid him back, eventually, and he stopped buying the tickets. Friends who can afford season tickets to professional baseball don't let friends carry as much as $200,000 in interest-accruing credit card debt. All this sounds fishy to at least one senator, and Democrat <a href="https://twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1039595628710514688" title="">Sheldon Whitehouse </a>of Rhode Island has questions. They include: How did he accrue as much as $180,000 in debt between 2015 and 2016, how much exactly did he owe, and how much specifically to each creditor? Did the White House know about this debt when he was nominated, and are officials being truthful now in explaining it? How many seasons has he bought tickets for? How many and for how much did he buy them each year, and how much did they cost? Who were these friends and what financial arrangement did he have with each of them for repayment? Were the tickets meant to pay back debts to any of these friends (and if so, give the specifics)? How much of his debt was home improvement and what projects did he do, and when? How much of the debt was due to baseball tickets? What other sources of personal and household debt did he have from 2015-18, specifically? And, are there any other creditors he owes, "private or otherwise," that haven't been reported? This does come in service to one of Whitehouse's ends: finding out what was going on in one of those <a href="https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1039604349847199745" title="">email chains</a> that Democrats forced to be released that show Kavanaugh joking with friends and/or associates. But more to the point, Whitehouse wonders: Does Kavanaugh perhaps have a bit of a gambling problem? rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) BrettKavanaugh DonaldTrump FederalJudiciary Recommended SCOTUS SheldonWhitehouse SupremeCourt _1795075 Tue, 11 Sep 2018 21:11:46 +0000