Defense Secretary Turns Against Trump Over Russia The Wheels Are Falling Off

By Caleb R. Newton - February 16, 2017
United States Secretary of Defense and retired U.S. General James Mattis apparently broke with his boss, President Trump, while speaking Thursday to the question of how the nations that are members of NATO ought to view and deal with Russia.

Whereas Trump’s attitude towards Russia continues to be one of nonchalant dismissal of the nation’s aggression, Mattis, while speaking at NATO headquarters called out Russia for its history of interfering in democratic elections around the world.

“What does Russia need to stop doing for the United States to work with it… can you trust the Russians?” an individual in the crowd assembled Thursday at NATO headquarters asked Mattis.

Mattis replied:

Mike Ilitch, Little Caesars and Detroit Tigers owner, paid Rosa Parks' rent for years

Mike Ilitch, the late owner of the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings, paid the rent of civil rights icon Rosa Parks for more than a decade, a story that has reemerged after the businessman's death last week.

In 1994, Ilitch, a Detroit native who made millions as owner of pizza chain Little Caesars, heard that Parks needed safer housing after she was robbed and assaulted at her home in central Detroit. Parks, an Alabama native, had moved to the Michigan city shortly after the Montgomery bus boycott inspired by her decision not to give up her seat while using public transportation on Dec. 1, 1955.

Ilitch contacted Parks' friends, Judge Damon Keith and developer Alfred Taubman, and offered to pay her rent as long as necessary.

Parks, then 81, moved to Taubman's Riverfront Apartments, where she lived until her death in 2005 at age 92. It's not clear how long Ilitch paid the rent but Keith said it's just one of the contributions the businessman and sports team-owner made to the community.

"It's important that people know what Mr. Mike Ilitch did for Ms. Rosa Parks because it's symbolic of what he has always done for the people of our city," Keith said.

Ilitch died Feb. 10 at age 87. He was buried in Detroit in a private ceremony.

Womens March Organizers Just Announced A Date For The Next Huge Protest

The organizers behind the wildly successful Women’s March have just announced a date for their next big protest.

On March 8, Women’s March organizers will be spearheading what they’ve named a “Day Without A Woman.”

This protest is designed after the model of a general strike, something that has apparently never in American history picked up enough traction to make a dent on national politics. However, with the January 21st Women’s March under these organizers’ belts, they have a lot to go on in actually making their plans become something huge.

General strikes are, simply, strikes that transcend boundaries of company and industry. Participants in general strikes throughout recent history in Europe, where they are relatively common, have come from an array of companies and industries and have united to protest such broad issues as a horrendously low minimum wage or overall unsafe standards for working conditions. General strikes have also been employed as protest tools against leaders who are hated and/or distrusted by large segments of society. (Think, Donald Trump.)

The Women’s March organizers have not yet announced what the specific actions are that will define participating in the “day without a woman,” but they did post a mission statement of sorts to the official Women’s March Twitter page.

That statement reads, in part:

'Hot Felon' Jeremy Meeks Makes His Runway Debut At Fashion Week

The Secret Slack Group Plotting to Turn Your State Government Blue

Last fall, Rita Bosworth, a public defender in San Francisco, had an epiphany. "I was thinking about how we were choosing between two Democrats for this open Senate seat," she said. Because California's open primary system leaves the possibility that two members of the same party will advance to the general election, state attorney general Kamala Harris faced off against Rep. Loretta Sanchez, in the race to succeed retiring Democrat Barbara Boxer. They combined to spend nearly $20 million on the contest, which Harris won, and "all of it was being directed toward a race where it was liberal vs. more liberal," Bosworth says. "It just struck me that this was silly." There had to be a better use of progressive manpower.

So in late November, Bosworth launched Sister District, a website that helps activists in safe blue areas support candidates in red states and swing districts who could use the help. Sister District, which boasts about 5,000 members and has been recruiting at anti-Donald Trump protests and on social media, is in the process of filing for tax-exempt status as a 527, allowing it to raise money and donate directly to candidates for state office. It recently joined forces with another organization with a similar agenda, Flippable, on a race they hope will demonstrate the power of the suddenly energized grassroots left: a special election for a Delaware state senate seat that will determine the balance of power in the state capitol.

The two groups have already raised more than $87,000 for the Democratic candidate, Stephanie Hansen—a remarkable sum for a state senate special election in a small market. Sister District members have held five fundraisers, and they have another one planned later this month at a bar in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood.

In the age of Trump, coastal progressives such as Bosworth have increasingly come to believe that Democrats are fighting not just nativism, but also geography. In an op-ed for the New York Times three weeks before the election, reporter Alec MacGillis neatly summed up the Democrats' struggles. "Democrats," he wrote, "just don't want to live where they'd need to live to turn more of the map blue." The headline for the story offered a prescription: "If you really want Democrats to win in Iowa, move there." The geographic clustering of liberals in major metropolitan areas and isolated college towns poses a logistical hurdle. How do you convert excess activist energy in one place into organizing power someplace else?

In addition to Sister District and Flippable—a group focused on state-level races that promises to tell Democrats "which races are most important, who's running, and how you can support them"—other groups have taken similar approaches to the ever-reddening political map. Resurgent Left, a political action committee led by San Francisco lawyer Kipp Mueller, promises to "use advanced analytics to find Democratic candidates with the best chances to flip their state legislatures blue anywhere in the U.S." Code Blue, created by a Los Angeles-based executive producer of the Food Network series Cake Masters, has already raised money and made phone calls for state delegate candidates in Virginia, Minnesota, and Connecticut. Adopt-a-State, founded by a Maryland IT professional, invites members to host "adoption parties" to raise money for red-state Democratic parties. (In Brooklyn, supporters are donating to the North Carolina Democrats with proceeds from a monthly Park Slope happy hour.)

These fledgling outfits are more collaborative than competitive. They link to each other's websites on their homepages, share resources, and talk regularly to coordinate their activities. "There are kind of these subtle variations between the groups," Bosworth says. "For now, we're all happy and moving along." Flippable co-founder Catherine Vaughan, who worked for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in Ohio, calls her like-minded colleagues "the Rebuilds" and keeps in contact with fellow organizers through a Slack group. "I'm in conversations with everyone—it takes up most of my day," she says. "Among the Rebuilds there's a really strong sense of 'we're all in this together.' There's a lot of collaboration."

Sister District and co. are focused on down-ballot races, both because modest resources in these contests can make a big difference and because state legislatures control decennial redistricting—one of the factors that makes the Democrats' regionalism more pronounced. In Virginia, for instance, Republicans control 66 of 100 seats in the House of Delegates even though they have not won a statewide race since 2009. But there's also a project for adopting congressional districts: SwingLeft, a site launched by Ethan Todras-Whitehill, a freelance writer and GMAT tutor in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Prior to this year, Todras-Whitehill's political experience consisted of a few phone calls on behalf of John Kerry in 2004 and a brief stint running get-out-the-vote operations for Barack Obama in 2008 in Warren County, Ohio—one of the white Midwestern communities that swung hardest to Trump in November. A political junkie by habit, he had expected after the election to spend more time working on his fiction. Instead, he found himself at a coffee shop on November 9, playing around with a CNN.com map of every House district in the country.

Hundreds of thousands rally in Iran against Trump, chant 'Death to America': TV

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rallied on Friday to swear allegiance to their clerical leaders and reject U.S. President Donald Trump's warning that he had put the Islamic Republic "on notice", state TV reported.

On the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, marchers including hundreds of military personnel and policemen streamed towards Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square for the main event.

They carried "Death to America" banners and effigies of Trump while a military police band played traditional Iranian revolutionary songs.

State TV showed footage of people stepping on Trump's picture in a central Tehran street. Marchers carried the Iranian flag and banners saying: "Thanks Mr Trump for showing the real face of America."

"America and Trump cannot do a damn thing. We are ready to sacrifice our lives for our leader", a young man told state TV, in a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Last week, Trump put Iran "on notice" after a Jan. 29 Iranian missile test and imposed fresh sanctions on individuals and entities. Iran said it will not halt its missile program.

Leading religious and political figures, including President Hassan Rouhani, had urged Iranians to join the rally on Friday to "show their unbreakable ties with the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic".

Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic ties shortly after the revolution, when hardline students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

*snip*

VIGILANT

"Some inexperienced figures in the region and America are threatening Iran ... They should know the language of threats has never worked with Iran," Rouhani told the crowd at Azadi Square. "We are not seeking tension but we are united before bullying and any threat."

The rallies bristled with anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli sentiment. Some protesters carried pictures of Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Theresa May with the caption "Death to the Devil Triangle".

"This turnout of people is a strong response to false remarks by the new leaders of America," Rouhani told state TV, which said millions had turned out at rallies across Iran.

Many Iranians on social media such as Twitter and Facebook used the hashtag #LoveBeyondFlags to urge an end to burning of U.S. flags, a regular feature of these anniversary events.

They also thanked Americans for opposing Trump's executive order banning travelers from seven mainly Muslim countries - including Iran - from entry to the United States. The travel ban is being challenged in U.S. courts.

Some marchers in the crowds carried banners that read: "Thanks to American people for supporting Muslims".

Both U.S.-based social media sites are blocked by the government in Iran but many Iranians get around the restrictions to use them. Iranian officials, including Khamenei, have Twitter and Facebook accounts despite the ban.

*snip*

Protesters Read Coretta Scott Kings Letter Outside Mitch McConnells Kentucky Home

Protesters arrived at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday evening to read Coretta Scott King’s 1986 takedown of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).

The protest was a response to McConnell’s silencing of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Tuesday night as she tried to quote from King’s letter in her opposition to Sessions’ nomination as attorney general. Sessions was confirmed Wednesday.

“Sen. Warren was giving a lengthy speech,” McConnell explained. “She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”

Many across the nation have turned McConnell’s own words against him, transforming his “Nevertheless, she persisted” statement into a battle cry for feminists.

Nearly 400 protesters arrived to read the letter written by the widow of Martin Luther King Jr. in which she outlined her objections to Sessions’ nomination for a federal judgeship.

Many of those who gathered outside the McConnell home posted messages about the event using the hashtags #LetterToMitch and #LetLizSpeak.

The First Step To Impeach President Trump Has Just Been Taken (DETAILS)

Donald Trump has been president for less than a month, and a top Democrat is already taking steps that could lead to his impeachment.

On Thursday, The Washington Post reported, that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) filed a “resolution of inquiry” into President Trump. A resolution of inquiry is used to force presidents and other members of the executive branch to share records with Congress.

In Nadler’s resolution, he asks Attorney General Jeff Sessions to, within 14 days, provide Congress with “copies of any document, record, memo, correspondence, or other communication of the Department of Justice” that provides information on investigations of Trump and his associates, his foreign business interests, and potential conflicts of interest, including those that would violate the emoluments clause of the Constitution.

There are a few different ways that the Judiciary Committee can respond to Nadler’s resolution. They have 14 legislative days (Congressional workdays) to debate and vote on whether to report the resolution favorably, reject it, or revise it; if the committee does not take actions within the 14 allotted days, Nadler can request that the resolution be discharged so that the entire House can vote on it.

If compromising information about President Trump is revealed as a result of Nadler’s resolution, it could potentially serve as the first step in impeaching Trump, who has already been accused by numerous individuals of violating the Constitution.

In a statement explaining his decision to file the resolution, Nadler, who is the second-ranking Democrat in the House Judiciary Committee, said:

President Barack Obama Exits With Long List Of Accomplishments Rachel Maddow MSNBC

MLKs Daughter Just Took Out Trump On Facebook Donalds Going To Flip Out

Daughter of Civil Rights activists Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bernice King wiped out Donald Trump with one Facebook post. On her official Facebook page Be A King, Ms. King gives wise advice on how to deal with the man in the Oval Office. The president will be enraged.

The Kings carry serious weight in Civil Rights, every bit as applicable today as it was half a century ago. Monday evening, something happened on the Senate floor that drew enormous attention to her mother Coretta Scott King. Bernice King offered people a path forward, in spite of the continuing frothing prejudice.

Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell arbitrarily gaveled down Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren for reading Coretta Scott King’s letter. That meant Warren could no longer participate in the discussion about Attorney General nominee Senator Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard Sessions, III. Whatever McConnell’s intent, he drew millions of people to read the letter describing Sessions’ terrible record on Civil Rights.

Bernice King posted on her Be A King’s Facebook page 10 steps to deal with Trump and take back our democratic government. She passed on this wise advice:

Don’t use his name; EVER (45 will do)
Remember this is a regime and he’s not acting alone;
Do not argue with those who support him–it doesn’t work;
Focus on his policies, not his orange-ness and mental state;
Keep your message positive; they want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow;
No more helpless/hopeless talk;
Support artists and the arts;
Be careful not to spread fake news. Check it;
Take care of yourselves; and
Resist!