O'Rourke calls on other 2020 Democrats to sign on to gun plan

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is calling on his fellow 2020 primary opponents to sign onto the March for Our Lives plan that outlines a progressive gun reform policy agenda.

“So we’re left with a choice. We can stick by what we’ve been doing — playing it safe, while we beg Mitch McConnell to take action on the floor of Congress. Or we can follow the lead of the students marching for their lives and for all of ours, who are demanding we do more to protect them,” the former Texas congressman wrote in an op-ed published in Teen Vogue on Monday.

“I choose the kids. And the question I have for my fellow Democrats in this race and in Congress is: Do you?”

The “Peace Plan for a Safer America” calls for a mandatory buyback program of assault-style weapons. O’Rourke has been an outspoken advocate for such a proposal since a mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, killed 22 people at a Walmart.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/463599-orourke-calls-on-other-2020-democrats-to-sign-on-to-gun-plan

O'Rourke calls on other 2020 Democrats to sign on to gun plan

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is calling on his fellow 2020 primary opponents to sign onto the March for Our Lives plan that outlines a progressive gun reform policy agenda.

“So we’re left with a choice. We can stick by what we’ve been doing — playing it safe, while we beg Mitch McConnell to take action on the floor of Congress. Or we can follow the lead of the students marching for their lives and for all of ours, who are demanding we do more to protect them,” the former Texas congressman wrote in an op-ed published in Teen Vogue on Monday.

“I choose the kids. And the question I have for my fellow Democrats in this race and in Congress is: Do you?”

The “Peace Plan for a Safer America” calls for a mandatory buyback program of assault-style weapons. O’Rourke has been an outspoken advocate for such a proposal since a mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, killed 22 people at a Walmart.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/463599-orourke-calls-on-other-2020-democrats-to-sign-on-to-gun-plan

Ben & Jerry's New Flavor

Date of 2020 Massachusetts primaries up in the air

Massachusetts politics are all aflutter because Congressman Joe Kennedy III is primarying Sen. Ed Markey. And voters will decide that race, and all the other state primaries ... when?

No one knows for sure.

While voters in other states already know when their primary elections will be held, Beacon Hill is slowly coming around to face another round of one of its biennial games. Just call it Let's Set the Primary Date.

Under current state law, the primary date next year falls on Sept. 15 but lawmakers have become accustomed to altering that date every two years to ensure that general election ballots make it to overseas voters on time and in compliance with a federal law, and to avoid conflicts with Jewish holidays.

This year, those holidays fall after Sept. 15 and are not a factor in the date-setting machinations. But the law requiring absentee ballots in federal elections to be available to overseas voters 45 days before the general election is coming into play again.

Read more: https://www.masslive.com/politics/2019/09/date-of-2020-massachusetts-primaries-up-in-the-air.html

Proponents say 'canna cuisine' making inroads into mainstream cooking

LEICESTER - Lianne Whalen spread the avocado on the toasted olive bread. Then she layered on prosciutto; dressed fresh watercress, greens and pickled red onions with a freshly squeezed Meyer lemon, asiago cheese, and olive oil; and topped it all with crumbled hard-boiled egg.

“That’s our infused avocado toast,” said Ms. Whalen, executive chef at Cultivate marijuana dispensary in Leicester as she presented the dish.

And because the olive oil is normally infused with marijuana, that is cooking with cannabis in 2019, a far different experience than adding a bit of your stash to a batch of Betty Crocker brownie mix.

While infused avocado toast at cannabis cafes may be a ways off in Massachusetts, a bit of a culinary revolution is happening in kitchens across the commonwealth with the availability of legal marijuana and an embrace of what has been referred to as “canna-cuisine.”

Read more: https://www.telegram.com/news/20190930/proponents-say-canna-cuisine-making-inroads-into-mainstream-cooking
(Worcester Telegram & Gazette)

Supercars taken from African leader's son auctioned for $27M

GENEVA — Car lovers from around the world splashed out more than $27 million at an auction Sunday for dozens of luxury cars seized from the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president in a Swiss money-laundering probe.

The 25 lots sold by auction house Bonhams included a white-and-cream 2014 Lamborghini Veneno roadster that cost the buyer 8.28 million Swiss francs ($8.4 million), comprising a 15% premium for the auction house but with potential taxes still to be added.

The supercar — one of only nine such versions produced — had been driven only 325 kilometers (201 miles) and has an official top speed of 359 kilometers per hour (223 mph), Bonhams said.

Total proceeds from the sale beat the 18.5 million francs ($18.7 million) that authorities had hoped to fetch for a charity to benefit the people of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.

Read more: https://www.patriotledger.com/zz/news/20190929/supercars-taken-from-african-leaders-son-auctioned-for-27m
(Quincy Patriot Ledger)

Ayanna Pressley: Democrats can 'walk and chew gum' while pursuing impeachment

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley says Democrats can “walk and chew gum” when it comes to pursuing an impeachment inquiry against President Trump while continuing to legislate on issues affecting everyday citizens.

Pressley joined MSNBC’s Joy Reid to discuss Democrats’ moves toward impeachment against the president, as well as Trump’s latest attacks on her and the other three freshmen minority congresswoman who make up the “squad.”

Trump tweeted Saturday morning, “Can you imagine if these Do Nothing Democrat Savages, people like Nadler, Schiff, AOC Plus 3, and many more, had a Republican Party who would have done to Obama what the Do Nothings are doing to me.”

The missive, targeting Pressley and U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), came after The Washington Post reported Trump’s re-election campaign was flooding Facebook with up to $1.4 million in advertisements that included “misleading messages about the ‘socialist squad.’”

Read more: https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/09/28/ayanna-pressley-democrats-can-walk-and-chew-gum-while-pursuing-impeachment/

It would be the biggest tower in Providence. And it's prompting a big debate.

PROVIDENCE — The clash over a proposed 46-story tower is spurring a larger debate over what Rhode Island is doing with its once-in-a-lifetime chance to redevelop a swath of former highway land in the heart of Providence.

The I-195 Redevelopment District Commission voted last week to grant key approvals for Hope Point Tower, a luxury residential tower that would become the state’s tallest building and house up to 900 people.

Sharon Steele, president of the Jewelry District Association, objected to the tower’s design, saying it does not comport with the commission’s own mission statement. “This land was supposed to create jobs — not housing and, in particular, not luxury housing,” she said in an interview.

But Rhode Island Secretary of Commerce Stefan Pryor said the era of having distinct business districts that essentially shut down at 5 p.m. is over.

Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/rhode-island/2019/09/30/would-biggest-tower-providence-and-prompting-big-debate/gGXCDmJli2gLYhF9Gs3ypI/story.html

Warren plan aims for more tech-savvy Congress

(Bloomberg) -- When Mark Zuckerberg testified on Capitol Hill last year, lawmakers questioning him were roundly criticized for their ignorance of basic social media and technology.

Elizabeth Warren says she has a plan for that.

The Democratic presidential candidate rolled out a proposal Friday to re-establish the Office of Technology Assessment, which, from 1972 to 1995, provided members of Congress and their staffs with analysis of complex scientific and technology issues.

Warren said the move would allow Congress to make decisions without relying on lobbyists, who are at the core of her anti-corruption efforts. Lawmakers, she said are increasingly being asked “to climb steep learning curves on these technical subjects without much help other than from corporate lobbyists whose goal isn’t to find the right policy answer but rather to secure the most profitable outcome for their companies.”

A Warren administration also would increase funding for agencies that provide support and information to lawmakers by creating the Lobbying Defense Trust Fund, financed by taxing those who engage in “excessive lobbying.” She also vowed to increase pay for congressional staffers to competitive salaries as a motive to attract and retain talent in those positions.

Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2019/09/27/warren-plan-aims-for-more-tech-savvy-congress/keoPc0XZtqgU84bb12UcJO/story.html

Democratic presidential candidate O'Rourke calls for reparations, doubling Alzheimer's spending

MANCHESTER, N.H. — In September, former Congressman Beto O'Rourke discussed his presidential platform before voters in New Hampshire, a key primary state.

People inquired for details about the Democratic primary contender's views on drug prices, federal minimum wage law, Alzheimer's and other issues. He spoke with them during WMUR-TV's "Conversation with the Candidate" series.

O'Rourke said that doubling the amount the U.S. spends on Alzheimer's disease, from $300 billion to $600 billion a year, is "morally the right thing to do" and is a "fraction of the cost that we would pay for long-term continued care for those who have no cure to look forward to right now."

Regarding immigration, O'Rourke said that the childhood trauma of separating children from parents requires long-term care to fully recover. He said that, as president, he'd reunite families and would make sure that they are "made whole again."

Read more: https://www.kcci.com/article/democratic-presidential-candidate-orourke-calls-for-reparations-doubling-alzheimers-spending/29291585#