Jose Garcia
Jose Garcia's JournalProgressive Group Calls Ralph Northam Racist, Sparking Intra-Party Feud Ahead Of Big Election
Source: Huffington Post
A major national progressive group on Thursday denounced Ralph Northam, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Virginia, as “gutless” and “racist” for his remarks on immigration ― plunging Democrats into a bitter internecine squabble ahead of statewide elections on Tuesday.
In a Wednesday interview with Norfolk, Virginia, TV news channel WAVY, Northam said he would sign a bill banning so-called “sanctuary cities,” or municipalities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities, should any Virginia locality pursue that status in the future.
Northam’s opponent, Republican Ed Gillespie, has run a series of misleading ads attacking Northam for a vote as lieutenant governor blocking a bill that would have preemptively banned municipalities from adopting these limits ― though Gillespie himself has acknowledged that no sanctuary cities exist in Virginia as of yet.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday night after an event with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, Northam claimed that he simply opposed preemptively banning sanctuary cities, and that his comments to WAVY were “what I’ve been saying all along.”
Read more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dfa-ralph-northam-virginia-governors-race_us_59fc9562e4b0415a420b7623
Rep. Lamar Smith Announces Retirement
Source: Roll Call
House Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith announced his retirement Thursday.
“For several reasons, this seems like a good time to pass on the privilege of representing the 21st District to someone else. At the end of this Congress, I will have completed my six-year term as Chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee. I have one new grandchild and a second arriving soon!! And I hope to find other ways to stay involved in politics,” the Texas Republican said in a statement.
Smith is the former chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee.
Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/rep-lamar-smith-announces-retirement?utm_content=buffer5cda8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Brazile: 'Proof' that Clinton rigged nomination process broke my heart
Source: The Hill
ormer Democratic National Committee (DNC) interim chairwoman Donna Brazile said it “broke her heart” when she discovered evidence that she said showed Hillary Clinton’s campaign fixed the Democratic nomination system in her favor.
In an excerpt from her forthcoming book “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House" that was provided to Politico, Brazile explains how she was tasked with investigating the DNC after hacked Wikileaks emails suggested the Clinton campaign fixed the nomination in her favor.
“By September 7, the day I called Bernie, I had found my proof and it broke my heart,” Brazile wrote.
The evidence described was an agreement between the Clinton campaign, the DNC, and Clinton’s joint fundraising committee with the committee, which said the campaign would “control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised,” according to Brazile. The arrangement was made to financially help the party, which was in significant debt following the 2012 re-election campaign of former President Barack Obama.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/358390-brazile-proof-that-clinton-rigged-nomination-process-broke-my-heart
Senate confirms Larsen to federal appeals court
Source: The Hill
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen, who made the short list for the vacant Supreme Court seat now held by Justice Neil Gorsuch, was confirmed to the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday.
The Senate confirmed Larsen by a vote of 60-38 with the support of eight Democrats: Sens. Tom Carper (Del.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) and Mark Warner (Va.).
Outside groups had raised concerns over whether Larsen would be an independent check on the executive branch.
Alliance for Justice pointed to a 2006 guest column in the Detroit News in which she argued that then-President George W. Bush had the authority to disregard a law Congress passed prohibiting the U.S. government from allowing torture.
Read more: http://thehill.com/regulation/358235-senate-confirms-larsen-to-federal-appeals-court
Pelosi moves to muzzle Trump impeachment talk
Source: Politico
Nancy Pelosi offered a forced smile recently when asked on MSNBC about a Tom Steyer-sponsored ad calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment.
“That’s a great ad,” Pelosi said twice, before rushing to plug the Democrats’ “Better Deal” economic agenda as the TV hit wrapped up.
Pelosi played it off, but privately she was peeved. She told lawmakers at a Democratic leadership meeting soon after that she had reached out to the Democratic megadonor to tell him that his $10 million ad campaign was a distraction. (A source close to Steyer says he hasn’t spoken with Pelosi since the ad launched.)
Pelosi is eager to show her party can govern — in contrast to the chaos surrounding Trump — and believes that a reputation as the “No Drama Democrats” is key to taking back the House in 2018 and whisking her backing into the speaker’s chair.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/01/trump-impeachment-talk-pelosi-244336?cid=apn
Thousands attended protest organized by Russians on Facebook
Source: The Hill
Thousands of Americans attended a march last November organized by a Russian group that used social media to interfere in the 2016 election.
The demonstration in New York City, which took place a few days after the election, appears to be the largest and most successful known effort to date pulled off by Russian-linked groups intent on using social media platforms to influence American politics.
Sixteen thousand Facebook users said that they planned to attend a Trump protest on Nov. 12, 2016, organized by the Facebook page for BlackMattersUS, a Russian-linked group that sought to capitalize on racial tensions between black and white Americans. The event was shared with 61,000 users.
As many as 5,000 to 10,000 protesters actually convened at Manhattan's Union Square, where they then marched to Trump Tower, according to media reports at the time.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/technology/358025-thousands-attended-protest-organized-by-russians-on-facebook
Notre Dame ending no-cost contraceptive coverage
Source: Notre Dame ending no-cost contraceptive coverage
The University of Notre Dame is reportedly ending its free contraceptive coverage after the Trump administration rolled back an ObamaCare requirement that employers include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans.
The Catholic university will stop the coverage starting on Jan. 1, 2018, according to The South Bend Tribune.
Coverage will end for students on the university's health-care plan on Aug. 14, 2018.
Employees in the past had been able to get contraceptives and contraceptive services at no cost through a third party. This allowed Notre Dame to continue its religious opposition to contraceptives while still meeting the ObamaCare requirement, according to the South Bend Tribune.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/358029-notre-dame-ending-no-cost-contraceptive-coverage
GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling to retire after end of current term
Source: The Hill
House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of his term, according to the Dallas Morning News.
"Today I am announcing that I will not seek reelection to the U.S. Congress in 2018. Although service in Congress remains the greatest privilege of my life, I never intended to make it a lifetime commitment, and I have already stayed far longer than I had originally planned," Hensarling said.
Hensarling, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, will be forced to step down after three terms leading the panel due to GOP rules.
Talk of Hensarling's possible retirement has started to pick up.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/358040-gop-rep-jeb-hensarling-to-retire-after-end-of-current-term-report
House of Cards Suspends Production on Season 6
Source: Variety
“House of Cards” has suspended production on Season 6, in light of recent sexual assault allegations leveled against star Kevin Spacey, Variety has confirmed.
“MRC and Netflix have decided to suspend production on ‘House of Cards’ season six, until further notice, to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew,” said the companies in a statement.
Yesterday the companies announced that the sixth season would be the last for the series, which was currently in production in Baltimore. “Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey,” they said in a statement. Netflix and MRC also said that they had sent executives to Baltimore Monday to meet with cast and crew after actor Anthony Rapp (“Star Trek: Discovery”) told Buzzfeed in an interview that Spacey had sexually assaulted him when Rapp was 14 years old.
Spacey is not currently on set for “House of Cards.” He issued an apology for his “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior,” that was widely criticized given that he also used it to come out as a gay man.
Read more: http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/house-of-cards-season-six-production-suspended-1202603446/
Scofflaw Political Groups Are Ignoring FEC Fines
In July 2016, the Federal Election Commission slapped the 60 Plus Association with a $50,000 fine, charging that it hadn’t revealed its donors as legally obliged.
The penalty — along with fines assessed to two other politically active nonprofit groups likewise connected to billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch — represented one of the most decisive decisions this decade at an FEC best known for intramural bickering and ideological gridlock. Government reformers rejoiced.
But 15 months later, the Virginia-based 60 Plus Association has only paid one-tenth of its fine. Chairman Jim Martin says the senior advocacy group, which backs “free enterprise, less government” while supporting conservative politicians, has no plans to pay more. The FEC, meanwhile, isn’t forcing the 60 Plus Association’s compliance — or anything close.
The 60 Plus Association has plenty of debt-dodging company: More than 160 political committees and similar groups together owe the government more than $1.3 million worth of unpaid fines, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of Federal Election Commission and U.S. Treasury records since 2000.
more: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/30/scofflaw-political-groups-are-ignoring-fec-fines-215760
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