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riversedge's JournalThe DNC Contenders Are Not Interested In Your Populist Moment
I am not angry anymore. Wastes too much energy. I am back #teamPerez
The DNC Contenders Are Not Interested In Your Populist Moment
Rank-and-file voters are angry, but nobody told the candidates.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dnc-debate-courage-opposition_us_58803552e4b02c1837e9bf7f?section=us_politics
01/19/2017 12:27 am ET | Updated 5 hours ago
WASHINGTON ― The seven leading candidates to serve as the next chair of the Democratic National Committee gathered at George Washington University on Wednesday night to dodge key questions about party reform and pander to the 447 insiders who will elect the next Democratic leader.
At a debate sponsored by The Huffington Post, contenders repeatedly called for “unity” and made vague calls for better “organizing” while sidestepping important issues about how the DNC should govern its future affairs.
Many committed Democrats are following the DNC race as a fight for the future of the party. After a devastating presidential defeat and nearly a decade of steady losses in Congress and at the state level, there aren’t many other political battles for party activists to focus on. But the candidates themselves are not catering to grass-roots organizers or rank-and-file voters. They’re seeking the support of a majority of DNC members ― mostly state party leaders and political appointees ― and doing their damnedest to avoid ruffling any feathers. If any of the candidates on stage Wednesday were auditioning to serve as the opposition leader against President-elect Donald Trump, s/he managed to fool everyone.
Damon Scheleur/The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post hosted a debate among seven Democratic National Committee chair candidates on Wednesday.
None were willing to call for an end to state caucuses ― complex presidential nominating processes that undermine a one-person-one-vote framework. When asked what the party should do about superdelegates ― party insiders the DNC has long granted special influence over its presidential nomination ― no candidate would support simply scuttling the undemocratic system. Former Fox News commentator Jehmu Greene spoke for the slate by arguing Democrats “need to be the party of innovation” on the superdelegate question.
Coincidentally, members of the Democratic National Committee who get to vote for the DNC chair also serve as superdelegates in the presidential nominating process.
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All seven candidates also agreed the DNC needs to be involved in “street-fighting,” “protests” and “direct action.”
Damon Scheleur/The Huffington Post
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Labor Secretary Tom Perez was the only DNC chair contender calling for across-the-board obstruction to Donald Trump’s agenda.
Labor Secretary Tom Perez, alone among the contenders, appeared to call for across-the-board obstruction to Trump’s agenda, registering the most rhetorically potent moment of the evening. “We can hit [Trump] between the eyes with a two-by-four and treat him like Mitch McConnell treated Barack Obama.”
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It would make the next DNC chair’s job easy if Democrats could agree about everything all the time. But there are genuine disputes within the party over how to move forward in a moment of historic political impotence. On Wednesday night, nobody was willing to light the way.
This is a good thread for understanding the likely irrelevance of fake news. People are really goo
Matthew Yglesias ?@mattyglesias 5m5 minutes ago
Matthew Yglesias Retweeted Daniel Dale
This is a good thread for understanding the likely irrelevance of “fake news.” People are really good at making things up for themselves!
Sheen #StillWithHer ?@sheenA_8886 11m11 minutes ago
Sheen #StillWithHer Retweeted Daniel Dale
#Trump' ppl are either delusional or live in a bubble and don't go 10miles in either direction of their rural communities
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 4h4 hours ago
Tyrus and Ashley Cobb, of Indiana, like that Trump is a man of faith who will bring Godliness back. They wish he'd stop tweeting.
822 replies 765 retweets 867 likes
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 4h4 hours ago
The triumph of the Deplorables.
34 replies 160 retweets 191 likes
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 3h3 hours ago
Dennis Poer, painter in Illinois, says tomorrow is the "greatest event in American history." He loves Trump's honesty.
168 replies 345 retweets 266 likes
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 3h3 hours ago
Rhonda Pearce, homemaker in North Carolina, most admires that Trump is always willing to admit he was wrong after he misspeaks.
537 replies 569 retweets 422 likes
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 3h3 hours ago
Michelle Arnett, of Tennessee, thinks Trump will bring back jobs. She was laid off in a clothing-plant closure she attributes to NAFTA.
113 replies 250 retweets 228 likes
Daniel Dale Verified account
?@ddale8
Rick Gardner, a Christian minister in Arizona, says he most likes Trump's honesty - "truly a man of his word" - and his selflessness.
12:28 PM - 19 Jan 2017
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 3h3 hours ago
Sandra Esmeier, Arizona homemaker, says she likes that "his ego is so large that he wants to be the best, so he'll work toward being best."
79 replies 282 retweets 230 likes
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 3h3 hours ago
I am not mocking anyone. I am asking people what they like about Trump and sharing what they say.
275 replies 369 retweets 1,768 likes
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 3h3 hours ago
Steve Terrill, who employs 150 people in Vermont: "He's a man who gets things done. He doesn't talk. He acts."
70 replies 173 retweets 181 likes
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 2h2 hours ago
David Drexler, LA lawyer, says he'd never seen a politician who so "precisely" understands the issues of jobs and immigration.
59 replies 180 retweets 154 likes
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 2h2 hours ago
KC Hailstone, Idaho truck driver, says he most likes that Trump isn't "wishy-washy" on issues.
89 replies 226 retweets 199 likes
Cheryl Rofer ?@CherylRofer 2h2 hours ago
@ddale8 Did you find any supporters who aren't white?
44 replies 328 retweets 950 likes
Daniel Dale ?@ddale8 2h2 hours ago
.@CherylRofer The early inauguration crowd is easily 97% white.
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/822155551694094336
#BREAKING: Trump team is planning to ELIMINATE the DOJ's 25 Violence Against Women grant programs (
Just in time for the Womens March.
Caroline O.
?@RVAwonk
#BREAKING: Trump team is planning to ELIMINATE the DOJ's 25 Violence Against Women grant programs (listed below). http://thehill.com/policy/finance/314991-trump-team-prepares-dramatic-cuts …
Trump preparing budget with most extreme cut in government spending yet
Source: Think Progress
5 hrs ago
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The blueprint Trump’s team is working with as it crafts the plan would cut federal government spending by $10.5 trillion over a decade, according to The Hill’s sources.
By contrast, the budget proposal put forward by House Republicans last year promised to cut spending by $5.5 trillion over 10 years. Even that number at the time was significant: the budget document itself noted that it was “higher than any previous House Budget Committee proposal.” The Republican Study Committee put forward a different proposal that would cut $8.6 trillion over a decade, although it failed a 2015 vote 132 to 294 despite Republican control.
To get such deep cuts, the Trump budget contemplates completely eliminating a number of programs, particularly at the Departments of Energy, Justice, State, Commerce, and Transportation.
On the chopping block, according to The Hill, would be the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the Department of Justice’s Legal Services Corporation and Violence Against Women Grants; funding for the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Electricity, and Office of Fossil Energy, among others.
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Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/trump-budget-cuts-842cfa3037#.ofgj9ij87
We will be fighting over crumbs.
UNC president: Were having problems filling jobs because of new anti-LGBT law
Source: http://www.lgbtqnation.com
By EMERY P. DALESIO, Associated Press ·
Thursday, January 19, 2017
help-wanted-sign-jobs-800x430
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina law limiting the legal protections of LGBT people has hampered the public universities that drive the state’s economic growth, University of North Carolina President Margaret Spellings said Wednesday.
Spellings said recruited candidates have ruled out moving to North Carolina because of the law, and that she’s unaware of any academic talent embracing a North Carolina move because of the law called House Bill 2.
“I know people have withdrawn their candidacy,” Spellings told The Associated Press during an interview Wednesday. “But how many? To what effect? Were they not coming anyway? We’ll never know.”
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Companies, concerts and conferences have reacted by shunning North Carolina.
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“Obviously the legislature knows what we know. That’s why they had a special session. That’s why they are trying to come to some solution. That’s why the governor and the legislative leaders are apparently talking,” she said...........................................
Read more: http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/01/unc-president-problems-filling-jobs-new-anti-lgbt-law/
Reading #RenameMillionWomenMarch makes it obvious that our march is still necessary.
I had a bit of discussion yesterday about possible name changes but did not know till now, that the issue had. picked up!
Deep Blue Soul ?@VileEpiphany 1h1 hour ago
The fact that #RenameMillionWomenMarch is trending and causing controversy, is proof that it is successful, important, and
40 new results
Deep Blue Soul and 2 others Retweeted
Nick Jack Pappas Verified account ?@Pappiness 4h4 hours ago
Thank you to all those writing on the #RenameMillionWomenMarch.
It only proves how important and necessary the Women's March is.
70 replies 692 retweets 1,953
Danielle Campoamor Verified account ?@DCampoamor 5h5 hours ago
The number of men who are literally terrified of women organizing is just adorable. #RenameMillionWomenMarch #MasculinitySoFragile
197 replies 782 retweets 2,242 likes
WakeUp2Injustice and 1 other Retweeted
Gord Macey ?@GordMacey 4h4 hours ago
All the disgusting misogynistic tweets in #RenameMillionWomenMarch prove just why the march is needed. Power on!
70 replies 776 retweets 2,171 likes
#TheResistance ?@AynRandPaulRyan 4h4 hours ago
Reading #RenameMillionWomenMarch makes it obvious that our march is still necessary. #TheResistance #DemForce
29 replies 357 retweets 709 likes
Girls Really Rule. ?@girlsreallyrule 3h3 hours ago
I don't look to men's ideas of what would make me hot to them to define me, like the sad women on this thread. #RenameMillionWomenMarch
20 replies 71 retweets 275 likes
BrooklynDad_Defiant! Retweeted
BrooklynDad_Defiant! ?@mmpadellan 37m37 minutes ago
#RenameMillionWomenMarch is yet ANOTHER example of failed hashtaggery backfiring on the Right.
8 replies 41 retweets 93 likes
leoluminary Retweeted
DSA Verified account ?@DemSocialists 1h1 hour ago
Misogyny in the #RenameMillionWomenMarch discussion proves just how much we need a @womensmarch. Join us, sisters! http://www.dsausa.org/join
Texas constituents to Republican representative: 'Where are the [health care] plans?'
My bet is that he does not hold another Town Hall in his district!!!
Texas constituents to Republican representative: 'Where are the plans?' http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/1/18/1621808/-Texas-constituents-to-Republican-representative-Where-are-the-plans
Wednesday Jan 18, 2017 · 8:49 AM CST
?1484750907
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Rep. Kevin Brady. He's a liar. Or stupid. Or both.
Republican Rep. Kevin Brady held a healthcare meeting with constituents Tuesday in his Texas district, billed by his staff as a chance for folks to "share their experiences with rising costs and loss of coverage and choice." That's not what he got.
"Don't lie!" shouted Emily Hoppel, a 39-year-old with her 2-year-old son perched on her hip, when Brady moved from one goal of dismantling ACA to another of defunding Planned Parenthood, which he said used taxpayer money for abortion.
"The Hyde Amendment," she sputtered, incredulously, as Brady continued to talk over her. Hoppel referred to the legislative provision that already prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion.
"Well, we disagree on that," Brady said, his smile tightening but composure intact. […]
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He doesn't agree that the Hyde Amendment is a thing. He's the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee—which handles all the money stuff in the House—and doesn't believe that the amendment attached to every spending bill related to health care since 1976 specifically to prevent federal funds from going to abortion services does that. So that's the baseline that we're dealing with here.
Which explains why Brady can say with a straight face that Republicans can keep the stuff in Obamacare everyone likes and not make the whole thing collapse disastrously with 32 million more uninsured, and doubled premiums for those still insured in the next decade. He might actually believe that. Which means he's unqualified for his job.......................................
FBI, 5 other agencies probe possible covert Kremlin aid to Trump
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article127232114.
January 18, 2017 1:53 PM
FBI, 5 other agencies probe possible covert Kremlin aid to Trump
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article127232114.html#storylink=cpy
1 of 2
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during the presidential inaugural Chairman's Global Dinner, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, in Washington. Evan Vucci AP
By Peter Stone and Greg Gordon
McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON
The FBI and five other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have collaborated for months in an investigation into Russian attempts to influence the November election, including whether money from the Kremlin covertly aided President-elect Donald Trump, two people familiar with the matter said.
The agencies involved in the inquiry are the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and representatives of the director of national intelligence, the sources said.
Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Trump win, the two sources said. One of the allegations involves whether a system for routinely paying thousands of Russian-American pensioners may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers, the two sources said.
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered his first press conference since the November presidential election. Trump addressed his relationship with Russia and how he will handle his business once taking office.
The informal, inter-agency working group began to explore possible Russian interference last spring, long before the FBI received information from a former British spy hired to develop politically damaging and unverified research about Trump, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry..............................................................................................
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article127232114.html#storylink=cpy
Conservative Con Artist James O'Keefe Busted for Dirty Tricks Against Trump Protesters
http://www.alternet.org/media/conservative-con-artist-james-okeefe-busted-dirty-tricks-against-trump-protesters#.WHtkmbcs8Qs.twitter
Conservative Con Artist James O'Keefe Busted for Dirty Tricks Against Trump Protesters
A progressive group's counter-sting caught O'Keefe attempting some 1960s-style
COINTELPRO.
By Kali Holloway / AlterNet
January 10, 2017
Photo Credit: screen shot
James O’Keefe, the conservative operative whose discredited video “stings” have resulted in him paying massive fines and apologizing to his targets, is up to his usual stunts. This time, O’Keefe’s Project Veritas—a hilarious name for an organization that has nothing but contempt for the truth—is taking aim at anti-Trump activists and critics. The group’s latest con, which takes a page right out of the FBI’s 1960s COINTELPRO book, involves attempts at bribing progressive activists to disrupt inauguration activities, creating violence, sowing discord and generating lots of bad press for conservative media to gloat over. Unfortunately for O'Keefe, two left-leaning groups conducted a video counter-sting that caught him and his would-be accomplices in the act.
Huffington Post reports that after getting wind of O’Keefe’s effort, members of the Undercurrent and Americans Take Action set up hidden cameras to document the kinds of underhanded dealings the group had planned. In footage released by the Undercurrent, O’Keefe-aligned conspirator Alison Maass—who gained fame last August for trying, and failing, to infiltrate Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold’s campaign—is captured trying to enlist recruits in the right-wing scheme. She tells an activist her group has “unlimited resources” to pay a rabblerouser willing to create enough chaos to “put a stop to the inauguration...interrupt the parties.” In a video that suggests the pricetag for said acts rises as high as $500,000, Maass explains what would satisfy O’Keefe.
“He’d like to turn on some TV, and maybe not even see Trump,” Maas says in one of the clips from the video below. In another she states that a shutdown of the inauguration would make O’Keefe “ultimately the happiest, and wanting to open up his wallet.”...............................
Trump Brags About Not Sleeping Much: Here Are 6 Catastrophes Caused by Sleep Deprivation
Trump Brags About Not Sleeping Much: Here Are 6 Catastrophes Caused by Sleep Deprivation
Bill Clinton once said America would be a lot better off if our leaders slept more.
http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/trump-brags-about-not-sleeping-much-here-are-6-catastrophes-caused-sleep-deprivation
By Larry Schwartz / AlterNet
January 18, 2017
President-elect Donald J. Trump regularly boasts he’s the biggest winner, makes the biggest deals, and appoints the best people, and recently he claimed he’ll be the biggest job creator god ever created. He also brags that he does all these amazing things on next to no sleep. This 70-year-old pre-adolescent made numerous boasts on the campaign trail last year about his sleeping habits, saying he sometimes gets as little as an hour’s sleep a night. Most nights, Trump says he gets by on just three or four hours of sleep, which is half of the amount sleep experts recommend. “I have a great temperament for success,” he told the Chicago Tribune at an event in Illinois last November. “You know, I’m not a big sleeper, I like three hours, four hours, I toss, I turn, I beep-de-beep, I want to find out what’s going on.”
Some evidence of the rare truth of this particular brag is evident in the tweets he churns out, many with time signatures in the wee hours. In one case, after a GOP election debate moderated by Megyn Kelly, he tweeted out 30 messages between 2:30 and 4:30am, according to the Washington Post. Daniel Barron, a Yale University neurologist, even gives Trump’s nocturnal habit a name: Trump syndrome. The symptoms are, “a ravenous late-night craving for stimulation that results in a sometimes sporadic, often slender sleep schedule.”
Of course, Trump is not alone in being sleep-deprived. A report prepared by the Centers for Disease Control, based on the responses of nearly 75,000 people, found that 35 percent of them got less than the optimal seven hours of sleep a night, almost 30 percent got less than six hours and an astounding 38 percent reported that they unintentionally fell asleep during the day at least once in the past month. Only a tiny percentage, about 1 to 3 percent of all people, known as “short sleepers,” get by just fine on very few hours of sleep, with little health or cognitive consequence while awake.
The evidence might suggest, however, that Trump is no short sleeper, and the consequences of his sleeplessness are grave. Sleep deprivation has many symptoms, and the president-elect displays most of them. Sleep-deprived individuals, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, are impulsive, have difficulty adapting to new situations, are snappish, exhibit poor judgment, have trouble listening to and processing information, experience a lack of concentration and focus, are prone to imagining things, and get distracted easily. The sleep-deprived’s ability to learn new information can drop by up to 40 percent. Moreover, the lack of sufficient REM sleep can lead to the inability to recognize happiness or sadness in others—in other words, a lack of empathy. Sound familiar? That’s not all. A study in 2013 found that a lack of sleep results in increased activity in the part of the brain that prefers junk food over healthy foods, a description that fits the Big Mac-loving Trump. “The Quarter Pounder. It’s great stuff,” he once told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.....................................
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