July 21, 2019

Democrats' Path To National Power In The 2020s Runs Through Small Races In Texas

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-2020-texas-races-sharon-hirsch_n_5d2774d7e4b0bd7d1e1937a6

It’s all about redistricting, the process by which governors and state legislators draw each state’s legislative and congressional districts, and which occurs every ten years, after each census. In recent decades, the Democratic party has overlooked the importance of state legislature races, giving Republicans tremendous power to draw district boundaries that give them a substantial partisan advantage.

If Democrats can win races like Hirsch’s and take back the Texas House in 2020, they’ll have a voice in Texas’ redistricting process. That could ensure that, in future elections, Dems have a much more level playing field in the huge, blue-trending state.

“We flipped 12 [seats] in 2018, we have to defend all 12 of those. … But we have to flip nine more and my race has to be one of them,” Hirsch told HuffPost. “There’s limited opportunity for Democrats to have a voice.”

Texas Republicans know exactly what’s at stake, too.

“There is nothing more important — not only to Texas, but literally the nation — than to make sure that we maintain the Texas House” going into redistricting, Republican state Sen. Kelly Hancock said at a Tea Party event in June. If “we lose Texas, we lose the nation. And there’s no other place to go.”

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This is damn good. Glad Sharon Hirsch is running again given she lost last year by such a small margin. Plano TX is an affluent city full of BLUE voters. Dems need to also focus on winning control of state legislatures. Redistricting (more correctly, GERRYMANDERING) is the product of GOP having control of the levers of power at the state level.

June 28, 2019

SPOILER ALERT: Women's world cup soccer update

USWNT defeats France 2-1
https://www.nj.com/sports/2019/06/when-who-will-us-womens-soccer-play-in-womens-world-cup-semifinals-after-beating-france.html

They face British team next Tuesday

VIDEO of the game-winning goal:
https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/world-cup/news/uswnt-vs-france-score-usa-soccer-advances-to-womens-world-cup-semifinals-thanks-to-two-rapinoe-goals/

March 19, 2019

Preet's got a new book out: Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment and the Rule

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/15/preet-bharara-interview-doing-justice

“Imagine what it would look like now if I were still US attorney and it became known that I had quiet little chats with the president at the same time we were investigating the Trump organisation and Michael Cohen. So I didn’t call back, and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made.”

I will be getting a copy. He's on Morning Joe now.

February 16, 2019

Neal Katyal: Presidents do not have latitude to define emergency as a contravention to Congress

https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word

For everyone worried about this contrived national emergency, Constitutional scholar Neal Katyal explains it well on this segment. Some points from his comments below referring to the Idiot's ill-conceived national emergency:

- This is a Constitutional disgrace, antithetical to the Constitution...
- Article 1 of constitution: "No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law."

- The Founders' message is clear. Trump's legal advisors are giving him bad advice when they try to reprogram funds on grounds of a national emergency. The president not getting what he wants from Congress is not a national emergency.
This will be challenged in court immediately, and is easy to throw out.

- Re: the $2.5B from DoD drug interdiction program, this is not in the jurisdiction of DoD...Constitution lets Congress decide after appropriations.

- Presidents do not have latitude to define emergency as a contravention to congress.
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Love Neal Katyal

January 28, 2019

NBC's Brokaw apologizes for saying Hispanics should 'work harder at assimilation'

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/427197-nbcs-brokaw-apologizes-for-saying-hispanics-should-work-harder-at-assimilation

After a long and accomplished career, Tom Brokaw either seems to be struggling for a new self-identity, or has morphed into an enfeebled, cantankerous uncle who can't keep himself from blurting out his absurd opinions.

January 25, 2019

Dems 2020 messaging must feature front & center the cost of Shutdown to remind all of America

not to mention the
- economic cost of 7.1 BILLION: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/01/25/shutdown-carries-price/2678304002/

- the chaos to the entire nation:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-shutdown-is-causing-real-suffering--and-not-just-to-federal-workers/2019/01/12/bab0e836-15cf-11e9-803c-4ef28312c8b9_story.html?utm_term=.f026917ddb9f

- and the PAIN & SUFFERING to ~1 MILLION federal workers and their families, especially the low income:
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/government-shutdown-wreaks-havoc-in-lives-of-federal-workers-1405502531672

http://time.com/5488566/government-shutdown-federal-workers-furlough-salary/

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/19/16907138/government-shutdown-2018


Nancy P & Chuck Schumer are doing a good job expressing the message. All the candidates and the party as a whole need to be unified in the messaging going forward: this is the horror we endure when we vote for such an incompetent candidate.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/01/25/chuck_schumer_longest_shutdown_in_history_accomplished_nothing_but_pain_and_suffering.html

January 23, 2019

4 progressive Democrats named to House Oversight Committee - AOC, RTlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ro Khanna

Source: Axios

4 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ro Khanna (Calif.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) — were named Tuesday night to the House Oversight Committee.

Why it matters: The influential Oversight Committee, led by Rep. Elijah Cummings, will serve as a powerful check on the Trump administration, which has accrued a laundry list of potential subpoena targets over the past two years. The four new members — all of which, besides Khanna, are freshmen — have been exceptionally outspoken in their criticism of the administration, with Tlaib in particular making headlines recently for her expletive-laced call to impeach President Trump.



Read more: https://www.axios.com/progressive-democrats-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-house-oversight-committee-a9baf

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Take note: All 4 are MINORITY Reps

November 23, 2018

HELP! Need ammo for a trump-supporting sibling

Does anyone have a link to a site where a watchdog group is keeping track of all of trump's offenses/violations against the Constitution, ways he's devastating the government, the environment, our democracy, etc.? I need ammo to argue with my Fox-watching, trump-supporting sibling. She thinks trump is doing a damn good job with the economy and helping small business owners. She uses that to excuse his misogyny, his racism, and his ineptitude elsewhere.
My older sister (only by a couple of years) is a kindhearted and loving person, and a successful small business owner whose just a bit shallow in her thinking and have watched a bit too much of Fox news. I believe she is salvageable and can be led to "see the light" if i have enough ammo to make a reasoned argument with her.

Thanks, and happy Thanksgiving everyone!

November 10, 2018

Lawrence Tribe: "Trump running scared"

https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-trump-afraid-after-election-loss-1366792259542?v=raila&

"every legal action Whittaker attempts to take now subject to a legal challenge in court...
Trump expects Whittaker to protect him. Whittaker knows he's publicly suspected as having been installed in order to commit crimes for Trump.
He is expected to commit multiple count of obstruction of justice if necessary like John Mitchell did for Nixon, and went to prison."


Quite a good episode of Lawrence Tribe. CHILLING.

November 7, 2018

NYT says a Blue Wave did happen

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/07/us/politics/how-democrats-took-the-house.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage


See the graphic; picture says a thousand words. I've seen alot of people post here and at other sites there wasn't a blue wave. As Joe Biden says, Malarkey! There was a wave, and it got us what we wanted - we won back the House, and we flipped governorships.