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yallerdawg

yallerdawg's Journal
yallerdawg's Journal
December 31, 2016

The Best Way To Weaken Trump's Presidency? Stop Him From Harming Minorities

From: ExtraNewsfeed, by Marcus H. Johnson, freelance writer and political scientist

Study after study has shown that support for Donald Trump correlates more strongly with racial resentment than economic anxiety. Despite the wrongheaded efforts of (mostly white) journalists, pundits, and talking heads who have tried to explain away racism as a reason for Trump’s victory, the statistics continually show us that Trump supporters are more racist and sexist than the general population.

*****

Trump Voters Will Turn On Him If He Can’t Harm Minorities

There is this idea out there on the left that facts don’t matter anymore and nothing can stop Trump’s white nationalism (or what journalists are still mislabeling “populism”). I think this is a misguided view. Trump voters have openly and honestly admitted what they want: the subjugation of minorities by the state and the upholding of the social caste system that keeps white people and their racial interests at the top.

*****

Protecting Minorities Will Take A United Democratic Front In Congress

If Trump fails to harm minorities, his political position will weaken immensely. He is already one of the most unpopular President-elects in modern history, and any sort of significant drop in support could see him become one of the most unpopular Presidents in American history. An unpopular President Trump will be associated with the Republican Party at large, which could push Democrats to win a host of Governorships in 2018 and then take back the White House in 2020.

*****

Democrats must stand together against Trump. A great example of the kind of leadership that can make Trump unpopular came from House Rep. Maxine Waters, who refuses to meet with or work with the President-elect. Waters has taken the exact opposite approach of Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard, who have indicated willingness to work with Trump and provide him with political capital. If Democrats are to weaken Trump and ultimately defeat him, they can’t provide him with “wins” or a bi-partisan cloak that he can use to hide from his extremist, xenophobic politics. They must remain united in opposition to keep him from delivering on his campaign promises to harm minorities.

Read it all at: https://extranewsfeed.com/the-best-way-to-weaken-trumps-presidency-stop-him-from-harming-minorities-6d9aa321766c#.9s9qcnd4l
December 29, 2016

Common law marriage in Alabama ending Jan. 1, 2017

One less thing to worry about!

Source: al.com, by Leada Gore

The clock is ticking on common-law marriages in Alabama.

Starting Jan. 1, 2017, the state of Alabama will no longer recognize any new common-law marriages. The unions entered into before Jan. 1, 2017 will still be valid.

The change comes after the Alabama Legislature passed a bill last summer abolishing common-law marriages - unions that are legally recognized despite the absence of an official license - in the state. The current Alabama law requires both parties in a common-law marriage to have the mental capacity to enter in to the union; show they intend to be married to each other; and present themselves as married to family, friends and the community.

Not so backwards now, are we, huh?

The Alabama change leaves only Colorado, Montana, Iowa, Kansas, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington, D.C. as recognizing new common-law marriages. New Hampshire recognizes common-law marriages for the purpose of inheritance only while Georgia, Idaho, Ohio, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania recognize any unions created before specific dates (1997, 1996, 1991, 1998 and 2005, respectively.)

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/12/common_law_marriage_in_alabama_1.html#incart_river_index
December 28, 2016

House GOP aiming to prevent another Democratic sit-in

Democratic protest in the People's House will not be tolerated!

Source: Associated Press, by Mary Clare Jalonick

House Republicans are aiming to ensure there's no repeat of a Democratic sit-in last summer over gun control.

GOP leaders are planning a vote on a set of rules changes when Congress convenes in January that includes fines for members who use electronic devices to take pictures or video from the House floor.

*****

"House Republicans continue to act as the handmaidens of the gun lobby refusing to pass sensible, bipartisan legislation to expand background checks and keep guns out of the hands of terrorists," said spokesman Drew Hammill.

The proposed rules would also clarify that members or employees of the House cannot engage in "disorderly or disruptive conduct" by intentionally blocking another member from moving in the chamber, or using an exhibit or other means to disturb legislative proceedings.

*****

Read it at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_HOUSE_RULES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-12-27-14-58-21



Still stronger together!


December 27, 2016

Picture of the Year?



December 27, 2016

A violent Christmas in a violent year for Chicago: 11 killed, 50 wounded

Source: Chicago Tribune, by Peter Nickeas, Megan Crepeau and Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas

*****

A total of 61 people were shot in the city during the holiday weekend and 11 of them died of their wounds, according to data kept by the Tribune. Seven people were killed on Christmas Day alone, more than on the holiday the past three years combined. Three people were killed in 2015, one in 2014, and two in 2013.

The number of people shot over the holiday weekend also sharply outpaced recent years. During the Christmas weekend in 2015, 29 people were shot and seven of them died. In 2014, when Christmas fell on a Thursday, the four-day weekend included 35 people shot and seven people killed, according to Tribune data.

This past weekend's toll pushed the total number of people shot in Chicago this year to more than 4,300 and the number of homicides to around 770. Last year, there were 2,989 shooting victims and 492 homicides.

*****

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said 90 percent of those killed during the weekend "had gang affiliations, criminal histories and were pre-identified by the department's strategic subject algorithm as being a potential suspect or victim of gun violence."

*****

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-christmas-shootings-violence-47-shot-holiday-weekend-20161226-story.html

America has a solution.

"Buy more guns!"

December 27, 2016

Report: Powerful labor union plans massive budget cuts in wake of Donald Trump victory

CBS News

According to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek, SEIU president Mary Kay Henry said the union must “plan for a 30% reduction” in its budget by the start of 2018. That number includes a 10 percent budget cut by the start of 2017.

According to Henry, the cuts are a direct result of Mr. Trump’s victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in November’s election, along with the GOP’s continued control of Congress. With Mr. Trump and his Senate Republican allies poised to nominate dozens of judges, including a new Supreme Court justice, the SEIU fears its ability to collect dues from members will soon be significantly curtailed.

Among the biggest worries for the SEIU and other labor unions is the possibility that Republican judicial appointees will expand “Right to Work” laws nationwide, which would prohibit unions in both the public and private sector from demanding their members pay dues.

“Right to Work” laws have already proven to be a serious blow to labor union’s ability to flex political muscle in states like Wisconsin and Michigan, two longtime Democratic bastions that voted for Mr. Trump last month.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/seiu-labor-union-massive-budget-cuts-in-wake-of-donald-trump-victory/

December 25, 2016

The "Elf" I wanted to see.

HuffPo!

December 21, 2016

Heres the real reason Rust Belt cities and towns voted for Trump

"Until this election, this group of voters had not followed other regions’ rural, uneducated whites in moving Republican."

By Josh Pacewicz, WaPo

Josh Pacewicz is an assistant professor at Brown University and the author of “Partisans and Partners: the Politics of the Post-Keynesian Society.”

My research suggests that Rust Belt populism is rooted in the region’s loss of locally owned industry — not simply because of economics but because of how that loss hollowed out the community structure that once connected people to politics, leaving residents alienated and resentful.

By the 2000s, the Rust Belt’s community leaders were entirely focused on economic development partnerships. They saw statecraft as a technical affair and focused on building coalitions to secure grants, woo corporate subsidiaries (frequently with public subsidies) and create cultural amenities — art walks, music festivals and farmers markets — that would attract young professionals and therefore corporate interest in their cities’ workforces.

This grass-roots shift toward post-partisan place marketing was important. For starters, it paradoxically fueled political extremism in national politics. As community leaders shifted from fighting one another to collaborating on economic development, they left grass-roots parties in the hands of ideological activists. The local GOP, for example, that had once been a Chamber of Commerce surrogate — and therefore a moderately pro-business party — became instead a vehicle for those championing issues such as abortion, guns and anti-immigrant views.

Instead of seeing politics as a contest between working people and the business class, many voters seethed with undirected populist resentment at a technocratic, corporate-friendly elite. Anticipating Trump, many felt culturally and politically invisible and hoped for a shake-up. As one man told me in 2008:

I think it’s crap. We got a lot more retail (and cultural amenities), but these things don’t appeal to your average person. .?.?. We used to have factory jobs, but people had to settle for Walmart. We got businesses coming in with their money and saying, “Your city wants it!” That’s not democracy — that’s communism. (But our leaders) don’t give a s— about what happens. We need to tear things down and take them back to where they used to be.

Read it at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/20/heres-the-real-reason-rust-belt-cities-and-towns-voted-for-trump/?utm_term=.5d96b2f89b3e&wpisrc=nl_most-draw14&wpmm=1

December 21, 2016

A Historic Number of Electors Defected, and Most Were Supposed to Vote for Clinton

Washington Post, Kiersten Schmidt and Wilson Andrews

The Electoral College on Monday voted for Donald J. Trump to win the presidency. Seven electors, the most ever, voted for someone other than their party’s nominee.


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In Washington, a state where Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont had strong support in the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton, three of the state’s 12 electoral votes went to Colin L. Powell, the Republican former secretary of state. One more elector voted for Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American leader. Another Democratic elector in Hawaii voted for Mr. Sanders.


Over 2% of Hillary's electors were 'faithless' to the bitter end.

Kind of explains Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, doesn't it?

Or did the Russians screw it up?


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/19/us/elections/electoral-college-results.html?ref=politics&_r=0

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