December 8, 2017

My dad was a Pearl Harbor survivor,

and my husband was an FDNY 9/11 survivor.

Today is a day I count my blessings.

December 8, 2017

Was Al Franken denied a right to due process

in the form of a Senate ethics investigation and hearing?

According to Politico,

The Democratic women of the Senate had been talking among themselves about the Franken allegations for weeks, one Democratic aide said. None, however, went further than to call for a Senate Ethics Committee probe of the Minnesota senator, whom many had considered a close friend.

That stance became increasingly untenable as the accusations against Franken piled up. In calls and texts, the female senators eventually came to an unstated agreement, according to another aide familiar with their discussions: The next credible story of misconduct in a credible news outlet would prompt them to call for Franken's resignation.

When POLITICO reported Wednesday that a former Democratic congressional aide said Franken tried to forcibly kiss her in 2006, the aide said, it “was the tipping point.”

The "next credible story of misconduct" concern an allegation of a 2006 attempt of an welcome kiss that the accuser found offensive, distasteful, and inappropriate. For his part, Franken denies the accuracy of this account.

Should Franken have been afforded a right to an investigation and hearing? Or was this truly "a red line in the sand"?

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/06/al-franken-democratic-senators-284915

November 23, 2017

Poll: Generic Democrat Leads Trump by 11 Points Among Registered Voters

in a hypothetical match up.

Morning Consult
Table POL21
Page 302

"If the 2020 presidential election was held today, would you vote to re-elect President Trump, or vote for the Democratic candidate?"

Demographic: Registered Voters
Trump: 35%
Democratic Candidate: 44%
Don't Know: 21%

https://morningconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/171109_crosstabs_Politico_v1_AP-2-1.pdf

November 23, 2017

Hearing Trump's Thanksgiving message to the troops inspired me to (re)write a song.

Tune: Tumbling Tumbleweeds
New Title: Babbling Idiot

Verse:
"Babbling, babbling, babbling, babbling idiot."

I still need lyrics.

November 11, 2017

Was the return of the paper ballot in VA a factor in Tuesday's election or its results?

Calling all experts! Did the paper ballots make a difference?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/paper-ballots-make-a-comeback-in-virginia-this-fall/2017/10/07/724106ec-a92b-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html?utm_term=.966ba85bbd48

https://wtop.com/virginia/2017/09/voting-like-1999-va-jurisdictions-back-ballots-paper/

http://wavy.com/2017/11/07/paper-ballots-make-a-return-across-virginia/

November 7, 2017

To everyone looking ahead to 2018 and 2020....

GO OUT AND VOTE TODAY!!!!

November 5, 2017

"Brazile Denies Democratic Primary Was Rigged"

"Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) interim chairwoman Donna Brazile said she found 'no evidence' that the 2016 Democratic presidential primary process was fixed, taking issue with the use of the word 'rigged' by others."

snip------------------------------------------------------------------

"In the excerpt published in Politico [November 2], Brazile said she was tasked with searching for proof that Clinton’s team had fixed the nomination process in her favor.

'By September 7, the day I called Bernie, I had found my proof and it broke my heart,”'Brazile wrote, referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who ran an ultimately unsuccessful bid against Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

But in the [November 5 "This Week with George Stephanopoulos"] interview, Brazile said she told Sanders she found "no evidence" that the primary was fixed against him."

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/358830-brazile-denies-democrati c-primary-was-rigged

November 5, 2017

"Donna Brazile: I considered replacing Clinton with Biden as 2016 Democratic nominee."

From the WaPo story:

"Whenever Brazile got frustrated with Clinton’s aides, she writes, she would remind them that the DNC charter empowered her to initiate the replacement of the nominee. If a nominee became disabled, she explains, the party chair would oversee a complicated process of filling the vacancy that would include a meeting of the full DNC.

After Clinton’s fainting spell, some Democratic insiders were abuzz with talk of replacing her — and Brazile says she was giving it considerable thought.

The morning of Sept. 12, Brazile got a call from Biden’s chief of staff saying the vice president wanted to speak with her. She recalls thinking, “Gee, I wonder what he wanted to talk to me about?” Jeff Weaver, campaign manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), called, too, to set up a call with his boss, and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley sent her an email."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/brazile-i-considered-replacing-clinton-with-biden-as-2016-democratic-nominee/2017/11/04/f0b75418-bf4c-11e7-97d9-bdab5a0ab381_story.html?utm_term=.a0efae948c8c

October 26, 2017

Hillary Tribute Thread: Happy Birthday Madame Secretary!

The Woman in the Arena

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong woman stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the woman who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends herself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if she fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that her place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Adapted from an excerpt of the speech "Citizenship in a Republic" given by Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, 23 April 1910

October 9, 2017

Matt Damon, Russell Crowe Reportedly Helped Kill a 2004 New York Times Harvey Weinstein Article

"Though the New York Times has been widely celebrated for its article exposing decades of sexual-harassment accusations against Harvey Weinstein, one journalist claims the paper sat on an earlier article detailing the producer’s misconduct. Sharon Waxman, founder of the Wrap, writes that her own investigate reporting, which took her on an international trip to uncover rumors of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct, was cut from the Times in 2004 under pressure from several Hollywood elites."

https://www.thecut.com/2017/10/damon-crowe-reportedly-helped-kill-nyt-weinstein-article.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Cut%2520-%2520October%25209%252C%25202017&utm_term=Subscription%2520List%2520-%2520The%2520Cut%2520%25281%2520Year%2529