Star Wars: The Last Jedi Official Teaser (VIDEO)

Multiple Sanitation Violations Found At Mar-A-Lago Kitchen

resident Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Club, known in his administration as the “Winter White House” or “Southern White House,” was cited for a number of sanitation violations in a January inspection.

First reported by the Miami Herald Wednesday afternoon, the club’s most recent inspection report listed “high priority” violations including keeping meat and fish at temperatures that were too high and not following protocols to destroy parasites in fish served raw or undercooked.

The Herald noted that, compared to past publicly available reports, Mar-a-Lago’s most recent inspection, during Trump’s first week in office, had yielded a record number of violations.

Trump has hosted high-profile visits at the club, including with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Luckily for Trump and Xi, nothing in the report indicates any liabilities in Mar-a-Lago’s chocolate cake, which Trump recently bragged was at the dinner table when he told Xi he had ordered a military strike against a Syrian airfield.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/health-violations-trump-mar-a-lago-kitchen

This is how it's done.

BUILD THE BENCH: http://www.emergeamerica.org/buildthebench


In the case of Illinois, a number of Democrats who just won got a boost from a program launched by Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) called Build The Bench. It’s an all-day boot camp that offers nuts-and-bolts details for running a successful campaign. Bustos came up with the idea last year when she noticed a dearth of new Democratic candidates for Congress, and decided the best way to help build up her party’s ranks was at the local level.

She’s held two boot camps in her district so far ― The Huffington Post attended one of them in March ― and she’s already seeing tremendous payoff. Twelve Build The Bench alumni ran for local seats in this election cycle, and eight of them won. A ninth alum, Rita Ali, is currently down by one vote in her race for Peoria City Council.

“I am incredibly proud that the majority of our graduates who were on the ballot in April municipal elections won their races,” said Bustos. “If we want to be successful in the heartland, we need to connect Democratic candidates for office at all levels with the best practices, skills and expertise needed to run winning campaigns.”

Chemberly Cummings and Arlene Hosea are among the Build The Bench alumni who recently won races. They both made history by becoming the first black members of Normal Town Council and Normal Township Trustee, respectively. That is no small feat in a predominately white, Republican region of the state.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-grassroots-trump-elections_us_58efd21de4b0bb9638e270c1?sec3kkytkfz4lhaor&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

The Carrie Fisher Tribute Video From Star Wars Celebration (VIDEO)

Lawmakers Want to Make Californias Presidential Primary Earlier

One of the factors that no doubt exacerbated the helplessness Californians felt in 2016 was how tiny a role we played during the presidential election (let us never speak of it again). On the one hand, hey, this whole mess isn’t really our fault. Our long national barge fire is on you, Wisconsin! On the other hand, you know, maybe we could have done some good, perhaps altered the outcome for the better. We voted in June. Way too late.

California lawmakers would like our primary votes–and the issues Californians care about–to matter more, so they’re proposing we move the state’s primary to Super Tuesday, which fell on March 1 in 2016. Lawmakers would like to give the governor an option to move the primary up even earlier if too many other states try to move their primaries before California’s. From the Los Angeles Times:

“A state as populous and diverse as California should not be an afterthought,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement supporting Senate Bill 568.

“By holding our primary earlier, we will ensure that issues important to Californians are prioritized by presidential candidates from all political parties,” Padilla said.

Assuming there is an election in 2020, this would be a welcome development.


http://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/california-presidential-primary-2020/

Susan Sarandon: Hillary Clinton Supporters Harassed Me On The Phone

Susan Sarandon says Hillary Clinton supporters harassed her on the phone to the point where she had to change her number. Watch below.

Sarandon appeared on Wednesday’s “The View” to discuss her FX series, “Feud.” But before the chat wrapped up, the outspoken celebrity activist was asked to weigh in on the current state of politics. When Joy Behar pointed out the actress “took a lot of heat” for supporting Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein over Clinton, she revealed, “I had to change my phone number.”

“The Hillary people [would angrily call], ‘Are you happy now?!'” Sarandon confessed. “I would’ve ridden [it] out, but my sons explained to me that once they have your number, they can hack into everything so I had to change my phone number.” She didn’t say how her number was obtained in the first place, but admitted she’s “still trying to remember” the new one.

Asked how Donald Trump is doing, Sarandon exclaimed, “Oh, he’s terrible.” Although it’s a “heyday for comedians” now, she complained, “He doesn’t have a follow-through, this guy. He likes signing [bills]. It’s like he’s playing president, but he doesn’t know the ramifications a lot of times. He hasn’t thought it through.”


http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/celebrity/susan-sarandon-hillary-clinton-supporters-harassed-me-on-the-phone-video/ar-BBzLXWd?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

Now that you've had a taste, can you get excited over your local elections?

Does your local school board push Intelligent Design and Abstinence only? Do you have a mayor who values churches and liquor stores above grocery stores and libraries? Did your county commission push away a potential development because the company offered benefits to same-sex couples? It's 2017 and chances are you have local elections coming up and your $25 contributions can go a lot farther progressive (or at least sane) leadership that has the most direct impact on your life. What's more, you help create a bench for state and federal offices down the road. So if you had fun tonight giving heartburn to the right, imagine how much fun it will be cleaning out your communities in November.

Moody Blues - Tuesday Afternoon/Evening (Time to Get Away) (VIDEO)

Thor: Ragnarok - First Trailer

Chinese firm creates jobs in Rust Belt county that voted for Trump

Tree-lined roads in Moraine used to be filled with cars driven by people heading to work at the region's ubiquitous factories. Those factories are now shuttered and rusted. And most of the workers have packed up and left.

"When all those jobs leave, it destroys a town," said Shane Reffett, a local resident who grew up nearby.

President Trump blames trade with China for destroying millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs in recent decades. At a meeting in Florida on Friday, Trump told President Xi Jinping he wanted to see a more balanced relationship on trade.

But Chinese money is already providing work for Reffett, and many others in Moraine. He works in a $600 million plant opened in October by Chinese company Fuyao Glass.

Fuyao is one of the world's largest auto glass makers. It says its products are found in a quarter of the cars on the planet. The new Ohio plant is set to supply a resurgent auto industry in Detroit and elsewhere.


http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/09/news/economy/china-us-jobs-ohio-glass-factory/index.html?sr=twCNN041017china-us-jobs-ohio-glass-factory0450AMVODtopLink&linkId=36351041