June 28, 2016

Trump's Lawyer Tweets Clinton 'Murdered An Ambassador' In Benghazi

An executive at the Trump Organization and special counsel to Donald Trump posted a meme accusing Hillary Clinton of "murdering an ambassador" on Tuesday, shortly before the House Benghazi Committee released its report.

Michael Cohen tweeted news of a new NBC/WSJ poll with a meme depicting the former Secretary of State, saying, "This picture says it all!"

"I presided over $6 billion lost at the State Department, sold uranium to the Russians through my faux charity, illegally deleted public records, and murdered an ambassador," the all-caps meme of Clinton reads. "ELECT ME!"

[image][/image]

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-lawyer-hillary-murdered-ambassador-meme

June 28, 2016

On right, some Benghazi panel members wanted to get tougher with Clinton

Two Republican members of the House Benghazi panel appear to have wanted to go further in criticizing the Obama administration over the attack.

Reps. Mike Pompeo (Kan.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio) released their own 48-page addendum to the GOP majority’s 800-page report released by the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Tuesday.

While the main report is critical of the Obama administration’s response to the terror attack, the addendum is more scathing of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in particular.

“Officials at the State Department, including Secretary Clinton, learned almost in real time that the attack in Benghazi was a terrorist attack,” the two wrote. “With the presidential election just 56 days away, rather than tell the American people the truth and increase the risk of losing an election, the administration told one story privately and a different story publicly.

more
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/285137-some-wanted-benghazi-panel-to-go-further

June 28, 2016

A two-year House inquiry into the 2012 attacks on a U.S. compound in Libya found no new evidence...

A two-year House inquiry into the 2012 attacks on a U.S. compound in Libya found no new evidence of wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton

Ending one of the longest, costliest and most bitterly partisan congressional investigations in history, the House Select Committee on Benghazi issued its final report on Tuesday, finding no new evidence of culpability or wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton in the 2012 attacks in Libya that left four Americans dead.

The 800-page report, however, included some new details about the night of the attacks, and the context in which it occurred, and it delivered a broad rebuke of government agencies like the Defense Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department — and the officials who led them — for failing to grasp the acute security risks in the Libyan city, and especially for maintaining outposts in Benghazi that they could not protect.

Read more » http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-benghazi.html?emc=edit_na_20160628&nlid=57435284&ref=cta

June 28, 2016

Clinton Increases Lead Over Trump In Tracking Poll

Hillary Clinton widened her lead over Donald Trump to eight points in the NBC News/Survey Monkey weekly tracking poll released on Tuesday

Clinton now leads Trump 49-41, a two-point bump from her 48-42 lead over Trump in last week's tracking poll.

When Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are added to the question, Clinton leads Trump by six points, according to the tracking poll.

NBC News/Survey Monkey surveyed 6,556 adults online June 20-26 with a margin of error plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/clinton-leads-trump-nbc-tracking-poll-june-28

June 28, 2016

White Nationalists Involved In Bloody Calif. Rally Will Be At GOP Convention

Members of a prominent white nationalist group have pledged to provide some unsolicited protection to supporters of Donald Trump at next month’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.

Traditionalist Worker Party spokesman Matt Parrott told McClatchy on Monday that about 30 members of his group, which held a rally at the California state capitol over the weekend where at least five people were stabbed, will head to the convention to “make sure that the Donald Trump supporters are defended from the leftist thugs.”

That was the thinking behind Sunday's rally in Sacramento, which was organized along with the Golden State Skinheads: to publicize what they see as acts of aggression against Trump supporters. The rally dissolved into chaos, with anti-fascist and anarchist protesters physically clashing with the approximately 30 skinheads who showed up at the event. At least 10 people were injured.

No one has yet been arrested for the brawl, but police told the Sacramento Bee that there were injuries on both sides.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/white-nationalists-cleveland-convention-defend-trump-supporters

June 26, 2016

Sanders not ready to endorse Clinton: 'Stand up, be bolder'

Bernie Sanders is telling Hillary Clinton to "stand up" and "be bolder" on policies involving education and healthcare if she wants to win over his supporters.

"We are trying to say to Secretary Clinton and the Clinton campaign, 'Make it clear which side you are on,' " Sanders said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

Sanders, who said Friday he would likely vote for Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in the general election, hasn't suspended his presidential campaign or formally endorsed her. He is waiting for Clinton to make major concessions on policy issues, including on the minimum wage, healthcare and education.

"I think, right now, what we are doing is trying to say to the Clinton campaign: 'Stand up, be bolder than you have been,' and then many of those voters in fact may come on board," he said.

more
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/284931-sanders-to-clinton-stand-up-be-bolder-to-win-over

June 26, 2016

National Organization for Marriage's 'March for Marriage' in DC Is a Total Dud

by DAVID BADASH
June 25, 2016 2:08 PM


'Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?'

The National Organization For Marriage's annual March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. is just about wrapping up now, and by all accounts it is a total disaster. Right now the procession is heading toward the U.S. Supreme Court, which is amusing since the justices already gave NOM their answer 364 days ago.

Zack Ford
?@ZackFord

Is half a block long? #March4Marriage

[image][/image]

-snip-

Zack Ford

?@ZackFord

By @sydneyp1234's count, there are 237 people at #March4Marriage, including speakers, infants, journalists (like us), and curious onlookers.

-snip-

Zack Ford

?@ZackFord

When everyone was asked to gather closer, it made the #March4Marriage look smaller.

[image][/image]

NOM cannot blame rain, since it's a beautiful day in DC today. They can look at their poor social media skills, perhaps. They have not even posted about their own march on Facebook or Twitter since Wednesday, or on their own blog since Tuesday. And they actually have a company that handles that for them, Opus Fidelis.

In years past NOM was at least able to secure a few big names in politics, like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum. That does not seem to have happened today. Not a single speaker was listed on their March for Marriage website.

If NOM represented an actual cause that people believed in, they would be growing in numbers, not shrinking. Founded in 2007, they've had nine years to perfect their strategies, fundraising, and events. And yet, they have accomplished little to nothing certainly nothing permanent, and their fundraising is embarrassing, as was this failed March for Marriage. Will NOM even exist one year from now?

Full article:
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/national_organization_for_marriage_s_march_for_marriage_in_dc_is_a_total_dud

June 26, 2016

Democrats see danger signs in states where Clinton has not fully engaged

By Philip Rucker and John Wagner June 25 at 8:36 PM

ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. — Hillary Clinton’s campaign strategists look at the general-election map and see a bounty of electoral college votes that are hers for the taking: in Florida and Virginia, Colorado and Nevada — all places where Donald Trump has badly damaged his standing with nonwhites and women.

Yet as Clinton plots her march to the White House, there are warning signs elsewhere — in states where her campaign is not yet making a full investment. And that has sparked concern from allies who say Trump must not be underestimated.

In Michigan, Pennsylvania and, to a lesser extent, Wisconsin, an affinity for Trump’s message of economic populism and nationalism has surprised many Democrats. These are big, industrial states they have carried for the past three decades — and where Clinton, so far, has not fully focused.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-see-danger-signs-in-states-where-clinton-has-not-fully-engaged/2016/06/25/f39785b2-3a3d-11e6-9ccd-d6005beac8b3_story.html

June 26, 2016

Democrats demand action on voting rights bill

Deborah Barfield Berry and Mary Troyan, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Democrats and civil rights groups are calling on Congress to act on legislation to restore a key provision of the Voting Rights Act the Supreme Court eliminated three years ago.

“We cannot allow our voices to be silenced and we must do whatever it takes to exercise our right to vote,’’ Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Saturday.

Saturday marked the third anniversary of a Supreme Court decision — Shelby County v. Holder — that threw out a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that determined which states and other jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination had to obtain "pre-clearance" from federal officials before making any election changes.

Most of the states were in the South, including Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

This will be the first presidential election without the provision.

more
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/25/democrats-demand-action-voting-rights-bill/86387790/

June 26, 2016

Is Moscow trying to influence Trump-Clinton race?

The unknown identity of a mysterious hacker claiming to be the sole architect behind the infiltration of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has raised fears that Russia may be trying to influence the U.S. election.

The idea sounds like the work of conspiracy theorists — but both security and foreign policy experts say it fits with a historical pattern of Russian intelligence operations. “I think it would be naive of us to rule that out,” said Jason Healey, a director at the Atlantic Council who has worked on cyber defenses at the White House.

The hack comes as the Senate is weighing its annual intelligence policy bill, which would establish a committee specifically to counter “active measures by Russia to exert covert influence.”

The firm that investigated the breach for the DNC attributed the attack to the Russian government and most onlookers originally interpreted it as traditional espionage — a straightforward way of gathering intelligence about the American political landscape, something the U.S. itself does.

more
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/284848-is-moscow-trying-to-influence-trump-clinton-race