#US Sen. Charles Grassley

[stuartbramhall]

FBI Memo: Ukrainian Firm Hired Hunter Biden to Block Corruption Probe

Sen. Charles Grassley releases long-sought FBI confidential informant report alleging bribery scheme A trusted FBI informant told agents in 2020 that Hunter Biden was hired by Burisma Holdings to use his father to help “protect” the Ukrainian gas firm from problems, including an effort to “take care of'” a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the company for corruption, according to an…

[malenipshadows]

*** Grassley warned in January that the release of a different politically volatile transcript — of the committee's interview with the co-founder of the firm that commissioned a now-famous dossier on President Donald T-rump's Russian connections — might imperil the panel's prospects of getting voluntary compliance from Kushner. Democrats, however, have long pressed for public hearings to compel testimony from Kushner and further testimony from T-rump Jr., both of whom they described as failing to comply with document requests. ***

[pregnantseinfeld]

My girlfriend was showing me this article and I think it's one of the most infuriating examples I've seen of democrats demanding civility!

A group of about 50 people gathered at his residence in the D.C. suburbs to protest the Supreme Court’s recent decision not to block a Texas law banning abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy and called for Kavanaugh’s resignation.

Speaking at the start of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) called the protests “another blatant attempt to intimidate the judiciary” and anyone who “disagrees with the radical agenda.”

He was joined in his denunciation by Democratic senators Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) and Patrick Leahy (Vt.), who said those unhappy with the court’s action should express themselves at the ballot box or outside the courthouse.

Durbin called it “absolutely unacceptable to involve any major public figure’s family or their home” in the “name of freedom of speech.” There are “proper venues to express yourself,” he said. Leahy condemned the effort to “try to intimidate” Kavanaugh’s family.

Take it to the ballot box, he says! Simply vote out Kavanaugh!

Except, as we all know, the judges are nobility, and can hold their titles as long as they like. They have no oversight and no need to care about the fickle demands of the peasantry.

Despite what American mythology or these judges themselves may tell you, these are politicians with aims and agendas.

So, how are they made to feel the dissatisfaction of the people if "reasonable" paths are totally cut off? Well if you are a democratic politician you can just mumble about the next appointment (who knows when). But realistically? in the moment? Terror is a logical response.

If judges want to be kings and queens, than why not treat them like tyrants? Why not pelt their spouses and children with eggs and insults daily? Maybe leave threatening notes in their mailbox. Why not? These are kind and gentle reminders of the power of us lesser beings, compared to the further end of the spectrum of what I would call acceptable understandable fury. Some chants coming from the sidewalk should be the least of their fears.

[phroyd]

Let’s get the rules out of the way first: The Senate can fill the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court as soon as President Trump nominates someone.

There’s nothing in the Constitution that prevents a Supreme Court vacancy from being filled, regardless of how close to an election it opens up.

Precedent in such a situation is different. Until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blocked President Obama’s 2016 pick eight months before the election, this hadn’t been done very often, says Russell Wheeler, an expert on Supreme Court history with the Brookings Institution.

McConnell was forging his own path, for obvious political reasons. It was a gamble that worked. President Trump won the election, Republicans kept control of the Senate, and they have since filled two Supreme Court vacancies.

McConnell has every intention of taking advantage of a vacant Supreme Court seat again, with his party in power. He issued a statement Friday night saying in part:

“Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary. Once again, we will keep our promise. President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”

McConnell can’t say he is flip-flopping on his 2016 position about election-year court vacancies because doing so benefits him politically now. So he has offered some logic that does little to disguise its political convenience: This time is different because the Senate and the presidency are held by the same party, which wasn’t the case when there was a vacancy in the last year of Obama’s presidency.

“Since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposite-party president’s Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year,” McConnell said in his Friday statement.

Opposite-party confirmations in an election year are rare, but not necessarily for the reasons McConnell suggests. As I’ve written before, there haven’t been many cross-party Supreme Court nominations in an election year because there haven’t been that many cross-party Supreme Court vacancies in an election year. It just doesn’t happen very often, in part because Supreme Court justices typically don’t leave the bench in an election year if they can help it. (One such election-year appointment in 1956 happened smoothly because Republican Dwight Eisenhower actually nominated a liberal justice.)

Even if his argument is somewhat tortured, McConnell has been signaling his intention for a while now to move on an election-year vacancy. “Oh, we’d fill it,” McConnell said in May 2019 of an election-year vacancy, offering up the same opposite-party logic.

Procedurally, it’s easier than ever for McConnell to do this. A few years back, the Republican-controlled Senate changed the rules so that it only takes a simple, 51-vote majority to approve a Supreme Court justice. (Both parties had a hand in creating the conditions for that to happen.) Now there’s no 60-vote filibuster Democrats can use to stop the majority.

Republicans have a slim majority with 53 members. It’s hard to see any Democrats voting for this vacancy, so defections could cause McConnell trouble. And there are already signs of some.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told Alaska Public Media earlier Friday that she would wait until after inauguration of the next president, be it Trump or Democrat Joe Biden, to uphold the argument she and Senate Republicans made so forcefully in 2016 that the people should get to decide who fills this spot.

Alaska's @lisamurkowski said today she won't confirm a new SCOTUS justice until after the inauguration day. Fair is fair, she says. My colleague @kcgrove will have a story shortly.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) played a key role in holding up Obama’s nominee yet has offered hesitations about what McConnell wants to do this time. And how does Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah), the only Republican to vote to convict Trump on an impeachment count, feel about this? Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is another swing vote, and she is in a tight reelection in a state that doesn’t approve of Trump.

At the same time he is preparing for a Supreme Court nomination battle, McConnell is also fighting to keep Republicans’ Senate majority.

He has vulnerable members at risk of losing their seats in Colorado, Arizona, Maine and North Carolina, and maybe even Iowa, Montana, Georgia and South Carolina. That’s a lot of states where Republicans have to play defense to keep their majority. And even before Ginsburg’s death, it was looking close.

How will those vulnerable members feel about casting such a controversial, blatantly political vote when their jobs are at stake? (Maybe not so conflicted. Some, like Sens. Martha McSally of Arizona and Joni Ernst of Iowa and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, have already said they are okay with an election-year vote.)

The politics get messier for McConnell if the process stretches on after election results are known, which it certainly could. If Biden wins and Trump loses, Trump would officially be a lame-duck president. Senate Republicans could lose their majority and be a lame-duck Senate as well.

And in 2016, McConnell actually argued against the Senate considering a lame-duck president’s nomination. “President Obama has every right to nominate someone on his way out the door,” McConnell said at the time. “The Senate has every right to hold its consent.”

It’s a lot to consider. But McConnell has the chance to thrust the Supreme Court in a more conservative direction for perhaps generations. It’s a remarkable legacy for McConnell that he doesn’t seem to want to pass up, no matter the risk for him or the Senate majority.

Phroyd

[jaygrey981]

AARP Health Insurance : Why AARP wants you?

AARP Health Insurance: Even though a ferocious debate climbs in Washington on the future of healthcare, you've got a more serious problem: the best way to cover your medical bills without going bankrupt -- better yet, without having to give your health membership. For anybody not insured under a company's policy, the answer usually lies in the hunt for a most inexpensive medical insurance program, and, as you become older, Medicare supplemental insurance or Medigap and long-term care insurance.

Anyone, who over the age of 50 (over 65 to get Medigap) is qualified to buy those 3 products through AARP, the advocacy business, that's also an important participant in the insurance marketplace. The company collects $400 million annually in fees for lending its name to several private policies, but since AARP's financial products have not always lived around the group's mission of looking out to their 40 million associates, MoneyWatch.com has explored how good these policies are.

When speaking to almost a dozen pros and comparing estimates from 50+ firms, here is our closing: AARP health policies, although infrequently the cheapest, are aggressive, and perhaps the best way for you in the event you have health issues. Its long-term-care health insurance warrants checking out due to its low rates and the fiscal strength of its spouse, Genworth Financial.

Medicare Made Easy using MyAARPMedicare

Nonetheless, it isn't easy to state whether anybody's insurance policy is totally the best one for you for two reasons: Whether you're going to have the ability to purchase these kinds of policies, and at what cost, frequently is dependent on your own wellbeing. Additionally, each nation has its own regulations & rules on the kind of policy carriers could offer and the way they can choose which customers to take.

Affordable health insurance has been part of AARP's assignment since the group began over 50 years back. Ethel Percy Andrus, AARP's founder, was appalled that retired teachers had inadequate medical care policy. But, there were missteps on the way.

After Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, increased concerns in 2008 regarding if AARP Health Insurance policies dupe customers into believing they provided more security than they did, AARP suspended earnings. In a PPO, the insurer contracts with selected hospitals and doctors to provide services at a discount. It's likely to seek good care of outside the neighborhood, but you pay more.

The Premier Plans resemble routine workplace policies. They cover 80 percent of the purchase price of preventative care, prescription drugs, doctor visits and hospitalization within the machine, the moment you have insured your own allowance. These comprehensive plans are the most expensive and therefore are generally best for AARP members who need coverage for their dependent children.

High-Deductible Health Plans compatible with tax-sheltered Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) offer lower premiums but place more financial obligation concerning the insured. You cover the whole network cost of doctor visits, lab tests and hospital admissions round the deductible. Therefore you're essentially trading low premiums for higher regular costs. 

These programs will likely be ideal for your very own self indulgent, who may gain from the tax advantages of an HSA, and people in good health who generally cover a visit to the doctor only a couple of times each year.

Preventative and Hospital Programs are the most affordable because they provide coverage only for nausea and inpatient operation. You cover the whole network prices for doctor visits and prescriptions (besides generics) in the pocket; they don't count from the allowance. And additionally you also pay 20 percent of this bill after the allowable for hospital admissions and lab tests. These apps are greatest in the event you would love to keep premiums down, but nevertheless, have security for catastrophic care. They aren't a replacement for comprehensive medical insurance.

All these health insurance policy have four attributes worth noting:

Unhealthy Conditions: Though AARP/Aetna inquires you all of the healthcare questions other insurance firms do, you are more prone to find cheap coverage than with competitions when you've got elevated blood pressure, higher cholesterol or are obese. That's because AARP is much more pliable. As the comparison below shows, a healthy person won't always cover more with AARP compared to other insurance providers, however.

Medical History: AARP/Aetna seems to your health care history for preexisting conditions within only the last five decades, maybe not the industry-standard 10 decades. This might be advantageous if you, say, had a heart attack over five decades ago and therefore are completely recovered.

Dependents: AARP/Aetna allows AARP members guarantee their inheritance even if they don't purchase policy for themselves. This is sometimes helpful if your employer doesn't offer family coverage.

Preventive Care: Each of the apps, for instance, high-deductible and preventative hospital programs, cover an yearly physical, a prostate exam for guys along with a mammogram and gynecological evaluation for girls, along with flu shots to receive a low $20 to $40 co-pay, based on the plan. Normally, preventative and behavioral programs require policyholders to foot the entire bill. Aetna also waives the allowance for a colonoscopy once every 10 years at its own Premier plan, as well as the high-deductible plans cost only a 20 percent co-pay for its procedure.

For our price check below, working collectively with eHealthInsurance.com, we grapple the 3 types of AARP/Aetna policies against opponents to get a healthy married couple into their mid-50s, residing in Georgia with a kid in college. We chose Georgia because most insurance companies sell PPO policies. (Remember: These are only bottom rates; before a medical insurance policy problem a policy, it's likely to analyze your medical history and establish rates accordingly.)

MyAARPMedicare Login wasn't necessarily the least expensive but was normally among those lowest-priced choices. 1 significant note: Assessing the bottom rates of wellness programs is simply a beginning stage. Every strategy in these head-to-head comparisons put its own twist on co-pays, doctor visits, and prescriptions. "You can't do an apples-to-apples comparison in case you don't ascertain whether the benefits and coverage constraints will be precisely the same."

Here, AARP was one of the lowest priced in the 5,000 allowance and $3,000 allowable classes.

AARP had the lowest premiums and deductibles, a rare twofer, among those apps that provide the smallest amount of policy.

AARP/Aetna was among the lowest $5,000 and $1,500 allowance programs, but the center of the bundle to acquire the 2,500 program.

AARP Supplemental Insurance is designed to safeguard you in places where Medicare drops short. There are 13 federally standardized applications -- Approaches A through L. They supply more protection as you work your way throughout the bible, jointly with Strategy F being the very popular because of its own benefits and budget. Basically, Medigap is a merchandise: You get the very same benefits no matter your own condition or insurer. Even though the advantages are equal from carrier to carrier, you will find dramatic differences in price and client services.

Things you Want to know before buying the AARP Insurance

And AARP has staked its turf outside at a few other Significant ways:

Last year, AARP/UnitedHealthcare approved 99.94 percent of applicants. The only reason it denies coverage is chronic kidney disease. By comparison, lots of AARP's competitions base premiums on your age and your health, which means you might be denied or charged if you have obtained a preexisting disease.

Customer support AARP works a 24-hour toll-free (888-543-5630) staffed by agents who will inform you about hospitals and dentists locally, and counsel you about what to ask your doctor about potential procedures. AARP/UnitedHealthcare also says it pays 98 percent of claims within 10 days.

Unlike a lot of Medigap insurance firms, who place premiums in accordance with your current age (attained-age score ) or your age after you purchase the policy (issue-age), AARP/UnitedHealthcare uses community evaluation anyplace it's sold. Meaning it costs exactly the exact same premiums to each of policyholders, no matter age, gender or health. "A community-rated policy may cost you a little more when you're younger," says Burns,"but it often costs less after you get old".

The main thing, says Burns, is the AARP/UnitedHealthcare Medigap apps"can be a really fantastic deal, and they're more prone to be a wonderful bargain for older people who have health issues" In countries where many insurers use attained-age evaluation, AARP gets cost-competitive by supplying a devotion reduction: individuals that become policyholders between age 65 and 67 get a 30 percent decrease that ignites by 3 percent yearly for ten years.

With this price check, we contrasted AARP/UnitedHealthcare Plan F premiums with the highest and lowest rates for nonsmokers in Maine (a state which needs community analysis ) and New Hampshire (one allowing attained-age score ).

But, AARP/Aetna was much in the very costly; this was merged Insurance Co. of America ($231).

AARP health and long-term-care insurance could be bought online, through the email, or by phone 866-894-6032 (health and Medigap) or 866-660-4117 (long-term care ). Telephone the number to discover whether there's a local agent who will meet you.

These policies are meant to guarantee, or decrease, the potentially devastating financial cost of a nursing home stay or assisted-living care.

Apart from being financially robust and having sold these coverages as the mid-1970s, Genworth has a history of keeping costs stable for policyholders. The company asked state regulators for its first and just rate increase -- about 8 percent -- in 2008. Genworth says it doesn't have any programs to find a speed gain in the future.

The four have powerful financial ratings together with a history of stable rates and reliable payouts to customers. AARP/Genworth was the second-least expensive and nearly $1,000 less expensive than the priciest, Northwestern Long Term Care. As a mutual insurance provider, Northwestern yields a number of their premiums to policyholders yearly, however.

Burns, however, is a fan of New York Life, although it may sometimes be more costly than several competitors. "They're the most powerful insurer on the current market, they haven't ever had a speed increase and they frequently cover a return to their clients in the finish of the calendar year," she states.

AARP/Genworth premiums and policies are nearly equal to Genworth's particular products, therefore deciding to get the AARP version depends upon whether you'd like to promote the company. (Otherwise, talk to a Genworth rep instead; 888-436-9678.) However, AARP has two additional advantages: It ensures premiums won't change for five decades, alongside the AARP customer support line is superb. When MoneyWatch predicted, the rep supplied sound guidance on the ideal amount of policy to purchase. She proposed deducting the amount of Social Security obligations we'll receive from the quantity of coverage we buy. she asked. Fantastic question.

Poor Health Conditions: Your coverage is more affordable for people who have raised blood pressure, higher cholesterol or are not obese. This may be useful in situations where there is no household coverage supplied by the company. High-Deductible Strategy AARP is one of the cheapest strategy, among those 5,000 allowable and $3,000 allowable courses. Preventive and Hospital Plans: AARP is demonstrated to have the lowest possible deductibles along with premiums, which is a rare offer among those programs that provide the least expensive policy. Conclusion

As being the Health Insurance Agent, I tried my very best to supply you each detailed information that might assist you in picking out the finest Health Insurance for yourself. But in the event that you still have some query don't hesitate to ask me with the below comment segment.

To supply you detailed and accurate details regarding AARP Medicare & Health Insurance I must spend the assistance of these resources. It is also possible to check these sources to get more info regarding this subject.

[jerseydeanne]

Getting better and better

The Department of Defense may have used taxpayer funds to pay longtime informant Stefan Halper, a Cambridge University professor, to recruit members of the Trump campaign as sources in the run-up to the 2016 election, Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in an explosive letter on Wednesday.

Grassley, writing to James Baker, the director of the Office of Net Assessment (ONA) at the Defense Department, or DOD, also flagged other suspicious payments to Halper – including some for DOD contracts that he may not have performed, and others from “unknown” foreign entities. (In response to a lawsuit last year alleging that he was part of a smear campaign to discredit the Trump campaign, Halper claimed a kind of immunity ordinarily afforded to government agents.)

The GOP senator asserted that it was “unacceptable” that the DOD spent most of 2019 dodging his requests for information about Halper’s contacts with U.S. officials, before saying that the information the DOD has provided raised more troubling questions. The ONA essentially functions as the Pentagon’s internal think tank.

In one DOD contract awarded in September 2015, Grassley noted, “Professor Halper lists former Deputy Foreign Minister for Russia, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, as a consultant and advisor to a paper delivered” to ONA.

That’s significant, Grassley went on, because Trubnikov is a “known Russian intelligence officer, who was listed by Christopher Steele as a source in the now-debunked Steele dossier, which was used as a predicate to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.”

Yep, proud to see Q Anon post about this today. The shit is hitting the fan now. 

Hey, what was up with Prince Charles snubbing Pence today!  What a joke, optics are everything. 

Thank you anon, 🥰

https://jerseydeanne.com I’ll answer your anons quicker! 

[dragoni]

Allies meaning the NRA donates to the RNC and Republicans, in turn, Republicans return the favor by voting pro-gun and voting against gun control. But there’s no conflict of interest because they’re one and the same!

Surprised by Chuck Grassley (quasi-recusal?) allowing Democrat Ron Wyden lead their investigation especially after his scorched earth tactics against Christine Blasey Ford during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. Grassley has final approval.

Two Senate committees investigating Russian efforts to influence US politics through the National Rifle Association are led by GOP senators who have long received campaign support and donations from the gun group and its leaders.

Both the Senate Finance Committee, led by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, led by Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, have been looking into the relationship between the NRA and confessed Russian agent Maria Butina. 

Butina spent years courting the gun group’s leadership in what prosecutors have described as an effort “to penetrate the U.S. national decision-making apparatus to advance the agenda of the Russian Federation.”

According to a recent NBC News report, investigators for Burr’s committee questioned former Trump aide Sam Nunberg about the Trump campaign’s relationship with the NRA. Nunberg confirmed in an interview that Senate intelligence committee staff asked him on January 11 about Butina’s efforts to coordinate a one-on-one photo with Trump at a libertarian political conference in July 2015—the same conference where Butina famously asked Trump a question about lifting sanctions on Russia—and about Trump’s attendance at the NRA annual convention in Nashville that same year.

Nunberg said he told investigators that Butina’s boyfriend Paul Erickson, a NRA and GOP operative, had “asked if I could coordinate a picture with Trump at the July 2015 event. I told Paul that I couldn’t. On NRA, they asked how Trump attended the [group’s 2015 convention in Nashville]. We simply accepted an invite.”

Richard Burr and the NRA sitting in a tree

Burr is particularly tight with the NRA, which has spent more than $7 million in support of his campaigns over the years, putting him among the top recipients in Congress of NRA largesse, according to the Charlotte Observer.

In 2016, as the Trace and Mother Jones have reported, the NRA’s support for Burr’s reelection campaign appears to have been coordinated in violation of campaign finance laws. Federal Election Commission records show that both the NRA’s ads supporting Burr and the Burr campaign’s own ads were handled by the same media consultant, which election law experts said was “obvious” evidence of an outside group illegally sharing information with the candidate they support. 

Under Grassley’s chairmanship, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon is leading the investigation on the finance committee, where he serves as the ranking Democrat. In July, he sent letters to several prominent NRA board members and donors requesting information about a 2015 NRA delegation that went to Moscow at the invitation of Right to Bear Arms, Butina’s gun rights group.

[feelingbluepolitics]

‘An angry mob’: Republicans work to recast Democratic protests as out-of-control anarchy

https://wapo.st/2IPd5sd

"'It’s aimed at firing up Fox viewers and the more strident elements of Trump’s base; it’s fearmongering,' said John Weaver, a longtime Republican strategist who is a frequent Trump critic.

"Weaver noted that many of the marches that have cropped up since Trump’s inauguration have been led by suburban women or young Americans focused on issues important to voters, such as gun safety or science.

“'They want to take the freedom to assemble and turn it into a negative,' Weaver said. “‘The mob’ is trying to dehumanize and belittle and dismiss the current activism that we’re seeing around the country.”

..."It was not until the days leading up to and following Kavanaugh’s controversial confirmation that Republicans, one after another, adopted the same terminology.

“They have encouraged mob rule,” Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said on the Senate floor Friday. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said there was “a paid mob trying to prevent senators from doing the will of their constituents,” while Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wondered on Twitter: “Imagine the coverage on cable news if an angry mob of conservatives stormed the steps of the Supreme Court building.”

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) touted: “We stood up to the mob.”

At his Saturday night rally in Topeka, Kan., Trump joined in, asserting that “the radical Democrats have turned into an angry mob.”

"Some veteran Republicans criticized the party’s approach as too vague.

"Karl Rove, a former top adviser to George W. Bush, said Republicans should focus on how Democrats handled the Kavanaugh nomination.

“'The mob is a useful thing to talk about, but it’s more important to say the Democrats fundamentally broke the process,' Rove said. 'Their unsubstantiated and embarrassing attacks made it a chaotic disaster, and Republicans should be critical of that.'

"Other Republicans expressed concern that the political terrain can swiftly change.

“We shouldn’t be spiking the football and saying we are winning and the blue wave is over,” said Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin, who emphasized that much can still change before Election Day. “What we should be saying is, they are a bunch of radical leftists. They are the same people that want to raise your taxes and who want open borders.”

..."Neera Tanden, who runs the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, has changed her Twitter account’s name to “Women’s Mob” alongside an emoji of a blue wave as a way of countering the Republican argument.

“They clearly need a way to juice turnout, but the women who protested against Kavanaugh are women who have experienced sexual assault, who are mothers. The resistance to Trump is predominantly college-educated women,” Tanden said. “Donald Trump may want to wage a culture war, but attacking women writ large is attacking 50 percent of the population.”

"Jessica Campbell-Swanson, a 35-year-old from Denver, flew to Washington last week to lobby Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) with a nonprofit group, End Rape on Campus.

"'Brett Kavanaugh was allowed to be angry, and they were fine with that,' she said. 'We have a right to be angry. We’re not a mob. We weren’t violent. We were completely nonviolent.'”

In one sense, this Republicon tactic is nothing new. Look at their policies on climate change, pollution, healthcare, Social Security and other social safety nets, anti-POC, and anti-nonChristian. Republicans have always been completely fine with causing hate crimes and death to further their goals.

First, they tried this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/24/republican-lawmakers-introduce-bills-to-curb-protesting-in-at-least-17-states/?utm_term=.72e46be2f0b3

"Since the election of [ t]rump, Republican lawmakers in at least 18 states have introduced or voted on legislation to curb mass protests in what civil liberties experts are calling “an attack on protest rights throughout the states.”

"From Virginia to Washington state, legislators have introduced bills that would increase punishments for blocking highways, ban the use of masks during protests, indemnify drivers who strike protesters with their cars and, in at least once case, seize the assets of people involved in protests that later turn violent. The proposals come after a string of mass protest movements in the past few years, covering everything from police shootings of unarmed black men to the Dakota Access Pipeline to the inauguration of [t]rump."

But when attacks on protests don't work well enough, Republicons are moving to incite attacks on protesters as well. Of course the way they will defend rape culture and push back against Me Too involves fear mongering and an invitation to respond with street violence against women.

[yahoonewsphotos]

Activists protest Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to Supreme Court

More than 50 protesters opposing the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court were arrested on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

The protesters swarmed a range of Senate offices, including those of Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Susan Collins, a key Republican swing vote.

Kavanaugh is accused of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford decades ago when the two were in high school. Kavanaugh denies the allegation.

The protesters chanted, in part: "We believe Christine Ford!"

Twenty-three people were arrested Thursday morning for unlawful demonstrations. They were charged with violating the Washington, D.C., law that makes it illegal to obstruct the entrances and passageways of public buildings. (AP)

Photos from top: Alex Wong/Getty Images, J. Scott Applewhite/AP,  Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images, Yuri Gripas/Reuters, J. Scott Applewhite/AP

See more photos of activists protesting Brett Kavanugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court and our other slideshows on Yahoo News.

Follow us on Twitter.

[reveal-the-news]

Tech Job Openings Remain High, But Congress Is Not Taking Action

Tech Job Openings Remain High, But Congress Is Not Taking Action

The US Capitol on May 16, 2022, in Washington, DC (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Getty Images New U.S. job opening data shows there continues to be a shortage of workers to fill technology-related jobs, contributing to inflation and the economy producing fewer goods and services. The new information comes after Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) blocked efforts to grant more employment-based…

[opedguy]

Grassley Says Whistleblowers Claim FBI Bias

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Aug. 18, 2022.--Sen, Charles Grassley (R-Iowa, 88, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said whistleblowers at the FBI exposed extreme political bias at the Washington Bureau, primarily against former President Donald Trump and Republicans in general.  Grassley wrote FBI Director Christopher Wray, 54, asking him to research and explain the apparent extreme prejudice against Trump and the Republican Party.  “Starting on May 31, 2022, I’ve written three letters to you r regarding political bias that has infected the FBI’s Washington Field Office,” Grassley said.  “Two of those letters provided specific and credible allegations based on numerous whistleblowers that have approached my office with information that one can only conclude is indicative of a deeply rooted political infection that has spread to investigative activity into former President Trump and Hunter Biden,” Grassley wrote Wray.

Grassley raised former FBI Directory James Comey, 62, counterintelligence investigation into former President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and presidency.  Grassely expressed concern that the investigation into Trump was not properly predicated, meaning it lacked sufficient probable cause to conduct such an investigation.  Back in 2016, FBI top brass relied heavily on former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s paid opposition research AKA the Steele dossier, making wild allegations about Trump’s ties to Moscow.  Comey used the Steele dossier to seek warrants to wiretap former Trump campaign officials, all based on the completely discredited Steele dossier.  Comey said at the time, before he was fired May 8, 2017, that he relied on more than the Steele dossier.  Comey never revealed any other source to justify probable cause for his Trump investigation.

Grassley expressed concern that President Joe Biden’s 52-year-old son, Hunter, was excused by FBI’s top brass for any further investigation into his laptop computer that showsed he made several multimillion dollar deals with China.  “Shut down investigative activity and sources, which included verified and verifiable information, relating to Hunter Biden,” Grassley wrote to Wray.  Grassley told Wray that the whistleblowers said that Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault did not follow appropriate probable cause to seek a search warrant of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resident, looking for classified documents stored in Trump’s locked storage room. Grassley wants to know whether proper predication was used for the search warrant approved by Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland Aug. 8.  Grassley said the predication involved “selective assertions” and either removed or “watered down material,” connected to biased sourcing.

Grassely said that whistleblowers indicated that Thibault and Richard Pilger, serving in the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, participated in the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign.  Deputy Atty. Gen. Lisa Monaco, an Obama deep-stater, orchestrated the search warrant to go after Trump.  Monaco worked closely in 2016 with former FBI Director James Comey on Crossfire Hurricane, using the fake Steele dossier as probable cause to investigate Trump.  Grassley wants Wray to implement structural changes in the FBI’s Washington Field Office to eliminate the kind of political bias that led to Mar-a-Lago search warrant.  U.S. magistrate Bruce Reinhart, who approved the raid of Mar-a-Lago, wants part or all of the affidavit to be released to the public showing the probable cause used for the search warrant.  DOJ officials claim such a release would compromise their investigation.

Whistleblowers led Grassley to call out FBI Director Christopher Wray to fix whatever political bias operates at the Washington Field Office.  Wray never admitted that former FBI Director James Comey was not held accountable for the 2016 Crossfire Hurricane investigation, essentially built off the fake Steele dossier.  Grassley wants “much-needed structural change at upper echelons of the FBI.  Comey acted dumbfounded when former Atty. Gen. Bill Barr accused him April 11, 2019 of spying on the Trump campaign.  Comey said he had “no idea,” because, in his mind, he had every right to investigate Trump for whatever reason in 2016.  “As you are aware, Asst. Special Agent in Charge Tim Thibault is not the only politically biased FBI agent at the Washington Field Office,” Grassley wrote Wray.  “The FBI answers to Congress and the American people,” Grassley told Wray.

When former FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Atty. Lisa Page were exposed in 2016 with email exchanges and texts saying they would work to prevent Trump from becoming president, it exposed extreme bias at the FBI. No one knows the extent of the Democrat bias in 2016 by former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe who dropped the Hillary email investigation for whatever reason.  Grassley asks FBI Director Wray to explain why the Hunter Biden investigation was dropped, while the Trump investigation went full steam ahead.  Grassley gave Wray until Aug. 31 to explain whistleblower complaints of political bias at the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Grassley knows that Special Counsel John Durham (R-Conn.) still works on the origin of Crossfire Hurricane.  He wants Wray to explain any lingering political bias at the FBI when it comes to Trump and Hunter Biden.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

[phroyd]

The Trump administration is investigating the email records of dozens of current and former senior State Department officials who sent messages to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email, reviving a politically toxic matter that overshadowed the 2016 election, current and former officials said.

As many as 130 officials have been contacted in recent weeks by State Department investigators — a list that includes senior officials who reported directly to Clinton as well as others in lower-level jobs whose emails were at some point relayed to her inbox, said current and former State Department officials. Those targeted were notified that emails they sent years ago have been retroactively classified and now constitute potential security violations, according to letters reviewed by The Washington Post.

In virtually all of the cases, potentially sensitive information, now recategorized as “classified,” was sent to Clinton’s unsecure inbox.

State Department investigators began contacting the former officials about 18 months ago, after President Trump’s election, and then seemed to drop the effort before picking it up in August, officials said.

Senior State Department officials said that they are following standard protocol in an investigation that began during the latter days of the Obama administration and is nearing completion.

“This has nothing to do with who is in the White House,” said a senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing probe. “This is about the time it took to go through millions of emails, which is about 3½ years.”

To many of those under scrutiny, including some of the Democratic Party’s top foreign policy experts, the recent flurry of activity surrounding the Clinton email case represents a new front on which the Trump administration could be accused of employing the powers of the executive branch against perceived political adversaries.

The existence of the probe follows revelations that the president used multiple levers of his office to pressure the leader of Ukraine to pursue investigations that Trump hoped would produce damaging information about Democrats, including potential presidential rival Joe Biden.

State Department officials vigorously denied there was any political motivation behind their actions, and said that the reviews of retroactively classified emails were conducted by career bureaucrats who did not know the names of the subjects being investigated.

“The process is set up in a manner to completely avoid any appearance of political bias,” said a second senior State Department official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the mechanics of an internal probe.

Clinton’s use of a private email server during her term as secretary triggered multiple investigations by the State Department, the FBI and Congress. The bureau did not accuse her of breaking the law, but she blamed the FBI’s unusual public handling of the matter as a major factor in her loss in the 2016 election.

“I’d like to think that this is just routine, but something strange is going on,” said Jeffrey Feltman, a former assistant secretary for Near East Affairs. In early 2018 Feltman received a letter informing him that a half dozen of his messages included classified information. Then a few weeks ago he was found culpable for more than 50 emails that contained classified information.

“A couple of the emails cited by State as problems were sent after my May 2012 retirement, when I was already working for the United Nations,” he said.

A former senior U.S. official familiar with the email investigation described it as a way for Republicans “to keep the Clinton email issue alive.” The former official said the probe was “a way to tarnish a whole bunch of Democratic foreign policy people” and discourage if not prevent them from returning to government service.

The probe is being carried out by investigators from the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Republican lawmakers, led by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), have been pressing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to complete the review of classified information sent to Clinton’s private emails and report back to Congress.

State Department officials said they were bound by law to adjudicate any violations.

Former Obama administration officials, however, described the probe as a remarkably aggressive crackdown by an administration with its own troubled record of handling classified material. Trump has improperly disclosed classified information to foreign officials and used phones that national security officials warned were vulnerable to foreign surveillance, according to current and former officials.

At the same time, Trump overrode the concerns of his former White House chief of staff and U.S. intelligence officials to give his son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner access to highly classified materials, officials said.

The list of State officials being questioned includes prominent ambassadors and assistant secretaries of state responsible for U.S. policy in the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia. But it also includes dozens of current and former career bureaucrats who served as conduits for outside officials trying to get important messages to Clinton.

In most cases the bureaucrats and political appointees didn’t send the emails directly to Clinton, but passed them to William Burns, who served as deputy secretary of state, or Jake Sullivan, the former director of policy planning at the State Department. Burns and Sullivan then forwarded the messages to Clinton’s private email.

Burns and Sullivan declined to comment. Other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the matter and concern for retaliation.

Those targeted began receiving letters in August, saying, “You have been identified as possibly bearing some culpability” in supposedly newly uncovered “security incidents,” according to a copy of one letter obtained by The Washington Post.

In many cases, the incidents appear to center on the sending of information attributed to foreign officials, including summaries of phone conversations with foreign diplomats — a routine occurrence among State Department employees.

There is no indication in any of the materials reviewed by The Post that the emails under scrutiny contained sensitive information about classified U.S. initiatives or programs. In one case, a former official was asked to explain dozens of messages dating back to 2009 that contained messages that foreign officials wanted relayed rapidly to Washington at a time when U.S. Foreign Service officers were equipped with BlackBerrys and other devices that were not capable of sending classified transmissions. The messages came in through “regular email” and then were forwarded through official — though unclassified — State Department channels.

In other instances officials were relaying email summaries of time-sensitive conversations with foreign leaders conducted over unclassified cellphones.

Those communications are now being “upclassified” or “reclassified,” according to several officials involved in the investigation, meaning that they have been retroactively assessed to contain material so sensitive that they should have been sent only on State Department classified systems.

Many of those who have been targeted by the probe and found “not culpable,” described it as an effort to harass diplomats for the routine conduct of their job.

“It is such an obscene abuse of power and time involving so many people for so many years,” one former U.S. official said of the inquiry. “This has just sucked up people’s lives for years and years.

Several of those who have been questioned said that the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security investigators made it clear that they were pursuing the matter reluctantly, and under external pressure.

One official said the investigators were apologetic: “They realize how absurd it is.”

Those targeted do not appear to be in jeopardy of criminal prosecution — the FBI investigation of the Clinton email case has been closed since before the 2016 election. But many fear the results of the probe will damage their reputations and complicate their ability to maintain security clearances.

Several said they have received follow-on letters saying that investigators “determined that the [security] incident is valid,” but that they did not “bear any individual culpability” — an ambiguous designation that could pose complications in future background checks and confirmation hearings.

“It gives them a way to hassle pretty much anyone,” a former senior U.S. official said.

In many instances, the officials said that it had been so long since they had been questioned that they assumed the email case had been resolved, even though Trump routinely rails about the Clinton email issue.

Trump raised the issue as recently as Wednesday, calling it “one of the great crimes committed” by his 2016 opponent.

Trump faces impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives in the wake of a whistleblower report by a CIA officer exposing Trump’s efforts on a July 25 call to pressure the leader of Ukraine to pursue investigations that Trump hoped would generate embarrassing material about Biden.

Trump’s request for that “favor” came as his administration was withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from Kiev and dangling a potential White House visit for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The FBI began examining Clinton’s use of a private email server in July 2015, based on a referral from the intelligence community inspector general. Their investigation sought to determine whether anyone — especially the former secretary of state — had broken federal law in discussing classified information on unclassified systems.

Investigators reviewed 30,000 emails that Clinton turned back over to the State Department after leaving others, and took other steps, including tracking down computers and other devices Clinton had used, to find thousands more. Their investigation included examinations of the archived government accounts of people who had been in government at the same time as Clinton and who might have naturally exchanged messages with her.

Although Clinton was considered the biggest player in the investigation, she was never formally labeled a subject or target, and investigators also considered the conduct of her top aides and colleagues.

About a year later, in July 2016, then-FBI Director James B. Comey announced he was recommending the case be closed with no charges. He said Clinton’s and her aides’ handling of classified information was “extremely careless,” but not such that it warranted criminal charges. He suggested those who did wrong could face job-related consequences, and took a broad swipe at the State Department, saying its employees’ use of unclassified email systems was “generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information found elsewhere in the government,” according to his prepared remarks.

A few months later, the bureau resumed the inquiry after discovering more of Clinton’s correspondence with a top aide on a device investigators were examining in a separate investigation of the aide’s husband. But they found nothing to change their conclusion and closed the case again just before the 2016 election.

Phroyd

[patriotsnet]

Who Are Richer Democrats Or Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-are-richer-democrats-or-republicans/

Who Are Richer Democrats Or Republicans

In The Most General Terms The Biggest Difference Between The Parties Comes Down To The View Of The Proper Role Of Government

The Republican party generally believes that it is the responsibility of individuals and communities to take care of people in need.  The Democratic party generally believes that the government should take care of people.  In general, the Republican party believes that if government needs to do a job then it is best for the local governments like cities and counties to make those decisions.  The Democratic party believes that the federal government has more resources and is therefore in a better position to do those jobs.  

Practical example for a child: There are a lot of people who dont have enough food to eat. Republicans believe that people like you and me should help them, and our churches should help them. The Democrats believe that the government needs to spend its money to help them get food.

These Are The Us States Most And Least Dependent On The Federal Government

States that voted Democrat in 2016 generally rely less on federal funding than Republican states, according to a study by WalletHub.

The analysis looked at the return on taxes paid to the federal government, the share of federal jobs, and federal funding as a share of state revenue.

Thirteen out of the top 15 states found to be most dependent on the federal government voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Ten out of the 15 least dependent states voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Health Care And Drug Addiction Seen As More Pressing Problems Than Inequality

When asked about 11 major issues facing the country today, concern about economic inequality ranks around the middle of the pack, with 44% saying this is a very big problem. By comparison, about two-thirds say the affordability of health care and drug addiction are very big problems.

The affordability of college, the federal budget deficit and climate change are also viewed as big problems by higher shares of adults. Inequality is roughly on par with concerns about illegal immigration and racism. And more view it as a very big problem than say the same about terrorism, sexism and job opportunities for all Americans.

Adults with lower incomes are more likely than those with middle or upper incomes to say that economic inequality is a very big problem in the country today. About half of lower-income adults say this, compared with 41% of middle-income Americans and 42% of those with higher incomes.

Lower-income Americans are more likely than other income groups to say reducing economic inequality should be a top priority for the federal government

The degree to which Americans see reducing income inequality as a priority differs by income and by party. Adults with lower incomes are more likely than those with middle and upper incomes to say this should be a top priority. And, by a margin of roughly three-to-one, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the same .

The Philosophy Behind Republican Economic Policy

Republicans advocate supply-side economics that primarily benefits businesses and investors. This theory states that tax cuts on businesses allow them to hire more workers, in turn increasing demand and growth. In theory, the increased revenue from a stronger economy offsets the initial revenue loss over time.

Republicans advocate the right to pursue prosperity without government interference. They argue this is achieved by self-discipline, enterprise, saving, and investing.

Republicans business-friendly approach leads most people to believe that they are better for the economy. A closer look reveals that Democrats are, in many respects, actually better.

How Is The Democratic Party Different From The Republican Party

Democrats are generally considered liberal, while Republicans are seen as conservative. The Democratic Party typically supports a larger government role in economic issues, backing regulations and social welfare programs. The Republicans, however, typically want a smaller government that is less involved in the economy. This contrary view on the size of government is reflected in their positions on taxesDemocrats favour a progressive tax to finance governments expanded role, while Republicans support lower taxes for all. However, Republicans do support a large budget for the military, and they often aggressively pursue U.S. national security interests, even if that means acting unilaterally. Democrats, however, prefer multilateralism. On social issues, Democrats seek greater freedoms, while Republicans follow more traditional values, supporting government intervention in such matters. For example, Democrats generally back abortion rights, while Republicans dont. In terms of geography, Democrats typically dominate in large cities, while Republicans are especially popular in rural areas.

Democrats Tend To Have A Lot More Anger And Negativity In Their Rhetoric According To Them If You Support President Trump Well Then You Are A Racist And A Nazi

They generally seem to be out to get someone making things more personal.  Why are they so afraid to use the facts to reinforce what they want to do? Its agenda first then find or make up facts to support the rhetoric.

If they cant beat you at the polling booth, they try and beat you in court and thats just a great example of something thats not a pleasant experience. And not quite working in the long run. They keep getting overturned.

Americas Top 10 Richest Families

Walton Republican  The family owns the Walmart corporation. The Walton family fortune is estimated to be about $130 billion.

Koch Republican  Businessmen, owners of Koch Industries, a manufacturing company. Koch brothers have a net worth of about $41 billion each .

Mars Republican  Own the Mars candy company. The three children of founder Forrest Mars are worth about $78 billion together.

Cargill-MacMillan Republican  The Cargill-MacMillan family owns 90 percent of the largest privately-owned corporation in the U.S. The family, as a whole, is worth about $49 billion.

Cox Democrat  The Cox family owns a number of auto consumer sites and services . They have an estimated net worth of $41 billion.

Johnson  Republican  The Johnson family is known for their cleaning products and hygiene products. They are valued at $30 billion.

Pritzker Both  Founders of Hyatt. The family has a combined value of $29 billion in 2017.

Johnson  Republican  Overseers at Fidelity, ensuring the cash of millions of Americans. The family has a combined net worth of $28.5 billion.

Hearst Republican  The Hearst family owns one of Americas largest media companies. The family is valued at $28 billion.

Duncan Republican  The Duncan family works mostly with oil and pipelines. The family is valued at about $21.5 billion.

Republican Critics Of The Progressive Squad Are Quick To Ignore Their Own Lunatic Right

OPINION It was late June 1980 when I arrived in Washington after teaching political science for three years at Bucknell University. My job was to write for The Political Report, a little-circulated weekly newsletter that reported on House and Senate races.

The nations politics were in the process of changing more than I realized.

In November, Ronald Reagan would be elected president, Republicans would make significant gains in the House and win control of the Senate for the first time since 1954, and a new crop of conservative candidates were showing their political muscle sometimes by challenging relatively moderate GOP incumbents in both the House and Senate.

In Alabama, liberal Republican Rep. John Buchanan Jr. lost his bid for renomination to ultra-conservative Albert Lee Smith Jr. Even more noteworthy for me, growing up in New York, Al DAmato scored an 11-point victory over veteran liberal Sen. Jacob Javits in the states GOP Senate primary.

Also in the Senate, conservative Republican Steve Symms ousted Idaho Democratic incumbent Frank Church; conservative Republican Bob Kasten upset Wisconsin Democratic incumbent Gaylord Nelson; conservative Republican John East ousted North Carolina Democratic incumbent Robert Morgan; and Iowa Rep. Charles E. Grassley beat Democratic Sen. John Culver .

But while both the country and the GOP were moving right, the Republican Party still had room for a substantial contingent of moderates.

Will More Republicans Die From Covid Than Democrats

razelove  |  509 opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.Influencer3 mo People lie, right and left. You’re looking not at a number comparing those immunized or not immunized against voter rolls, but asking two questions at random, what party do you affiliate with, and do you plan to get vaccinated.Either way, it’s a brain dead question. More people would die regardless. Let’s say that 45% between both parties is only 30% of Americans , that’s enough to fall short of the unknown number that we would need to reach for herd immunity, which to the best of my knowledge no country has reached yet to find that sweet spot.It will simply mutate more and more and recircle the globe again and again. Which honestly is fine by me. The panic and blow to the economy were worse than the virus. Maybe sars-cov-3 will be more exciting though. I was in panic mode until there were more concrete numbers a few months in with cov-2.You also have to figure that if a virus becomes too deadly it wipes itself out as the hosts for that virus die faster than they can transmit it, like ebola, some strains of flu or dysentery. I’m not too concerned as me and my family caught it already, and kind of figured on this sticking around like the flu. 0|0

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Investor George Marcus And His Wife Judith Gave $9610125 Mostly To Democrats

Total donations: $9,610,125

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Net worth: $1.5 billion

George Marcus is the founder of real-estate brokerage Marcus & Millichap Company, according to the company’s website. Marcus is also the chairman of Essex Property Trust, a multi-family real-estate investment trust, and he serves on the board of California-based commercial bank Greater Bay Bancorp.

The Marcuses gave $10,400 to Republicans in 2018, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The rest went to Democrats.

Republicans Vs Democrats: Where Do The Two Main Us Political Parties Stand On Key Issues

After an impeachment, a positive coronavirus test and an unforgettable first presidential debate rounded out the final months of Donald Trumps first term, it seems fair to say the past few years have been a roller-coaster ride for US politics.

On November 3, Americans will decide which candidate will win the 2020 presidential election, sparking either the beginning, or end, for each nominee.

But how does it all work?

Well, the US political system is dominated by two main parties the Democrats and the Republicans and the next president will belong to one of those two.

Just how different are their policies?

Heres what you need to know, starting with the candidates.

Heiress Deborah Simon Donated $97 Million To Democrats

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Net worth: Unknown

Deborah Simon is the daughter of Indiana shopping mall developer Melvin Simon. Simon inherited a portion of her father’s fortune after a bitter legal battle over his estate with her stepmother Bren Simon, according to Forbes. 

Simon’s family had a net worth of $6.8 billion in 2014, according to Forbes.

Political Coalitions Are About More Than Just Income Redistribution

Posted December 8, 2014

In his 2004 book, journalist Thomas Frank asked: Whats the matter with Kansas? Ever since, many liberals have taken it as an article of faith that if working-class whites only knew what was good for them then theyd vote for Democrats.

The usual rebuttal from political science is to point out that many poorer whites in fact do vote for Democrats. Or, at least, poorer whites are much more likely to vote Democratic than are richer whites. Its just not the case — even in Kansas — that working-class whites are ignoring their redistributive interests in their voting choices. Still, it makes sense to wonder why Democrats win the poorest whites by a nose rather than a mile.

Many conservatives similarly ask: Whats the matter with Harvard? Ive studied the Harvard/Radcliffe Class of 1977 . On the whole, its a fantastically wealth group, with family incomes typically in the top 1% or 2% of the country. Yet for every Republican there are around six Democrats.

With Harvard as well, though, its still not the case that people are ignoring their redistributive interests. In the Class of 77, the richest members are less likely to favor Democrats than are the merely well-off or poorer. Still, it makes sense to wonder why Republicans are in such short supply among Ivy League alumni.

Income and Education

Parties are Coalitions

Kansas and Harvard

Jason Weeden is author of .

Related articles:

Who Gets The Most Government Benefits: Urban Democrats Or Rural Republicans

Todays Republican Party, fueled by the Tea Party movements right-wing populism, rails against government benefits and those who receive them. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, for example, warns that Social Security and Medicare will turn us into a bunch of people sitting on a couch, waiting for their next government check. But who really receives the bulk of government benefits: urban districts represented by Democrats or rural districts represented by Republicans?

Using the New York Times map of the county-level distribution of government benefits, Ive compared Republican and Democratic districts in two states. Here is Californias 9th District compared with the 19th District :

We find a similar story in Minnesotas 5th District and the 6th District : 

This is, of course, a small and unrepresentative sample but more comprehensive studies have shown that the pattern holds: the regions of the United States most inflamed by right-wing, anti-government populism benefit disproportionately from government programs and income transfers. To put it another way, Cadillac driving welfare queens are easily outnumbered by pickup truck driving welfare cowboys.

Stephen Richer Revels In Blue Spotlight Duped Republicans

GOP political newcomer clearly displays his leftist stripes

When the GOP-hating, Hillary-endorsing local newspaper is enraptured with an elected Republican, its a clear sign something is amiss. That is exactly whats happening with Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer. The Recorders Office is regarded as a down ballot post, which few people can accurately identify either by the duties or the office holder.

In November 2020, Richer, the previously unknown Republican lawyer ousted the single term democrat and the victory tasted sweet, masking the toxicity aimed at conservatives that we were soon to see. Richer has appeared in a full-color, above-the-fold photo in a newspaper report standing beside democrat Sheriff Paul Penzone and using the prominently displayed word unhinged to describe President Donald Trump. Penzone, it should be remembered defeated six-term Sheriff Joe Arpaio with at least $2 million added to his campaign coffers by none other than Socialist billionaire George Soros who has resolutely donated to overhaul the criminal justice system in his leftist image.

This revealing account was published in Law Enforcement Today.

Displaying its newfound GOP defector poster boy, Sundays edition of the seriously declining local newspaper devotes two pages to a Your Turn column by Stephen Richer, titled, Playing by an awfully different set of rules.  This bold type face, foolish sentiment is directly below the headline:

Perceptions Of The Parties

Judgments about Romney and Obama mirror the views of middle-class Americans toward the Republican and Democratic parties.

According to the survey, only about a quarter to a third of the middle class says that the Republicans or Democrats primarily favor middle-class interests over those of the rich or poor. Republicans are perceived as the party of the rich, while the middle class is divided over whether the Democratic Party is more concerned about their needs or those of the poor.

To examine the intersection of social class and politics, the Pew Research survey asked respondents if each of the two major political parties favors the rich, favors the middle class or favors the poor.

Overall, the middle class was somewhat more likely to say that the Democratic Party rather than the GOP favored its interests . But about as many say the Democrats favor the poor , and 16% believe the party favors the rich.

At the same time about six-in-ten middle-class adults say the GOP favors the rich

roughly double the 26% who say the Republican Party primarily favors middle-class Americans.

The survey also found that the middle class is politically diverse: Roughly equal shares of middle-class adults identify with the Democratic Party or say they are independents , while somewhat fewer align with the Republican Party . As a group, middle-class adults are more likely to identify themselves as political conservatives than liberals . About a third say they are moderates.

One Of The Worst Offenders Is Mitch Mcconnells Home State Of Kentucky According To This Wallethub Study

Jake Krupa colors in an electoral map at an election watching party as states are called in the 2016 election.

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BOSTON Hey, isnt it time all these so-called conservatives down in the red states actually started standing on their own two feet?

Were not trying to be mean. But, you know: Tough love.

A new report from WalletHub confirms what we already suspected: The states that depend the most on big gubmint are also the states that are are always whining the most about big gubmint.

And, wouldnt you know it, one of the worst offenders is Kentucky the state represented in the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican.

How about that? Do you think hes going to mention it any time soon?

Kentucky ranks fifth in terms of overall dependence on government, WalletHub determined using data on federal spending in each state, the share of households on welfare, the number of government workers and the total tax burden as a share of income.. No. 1 was Mississippi no surprises there followed by Alaska.

Conservative red states of the south and west make up eight of the 10 states with the highest dependency on government, and 19 of the top 25.

Oops.

Yes, isnt it time to roll back government spending? You show us the way, West Virginia . And you, Arizona and South Carolina .

Lets crack down on all those Cadillac queens. Except it turns out the real offenders are the Pickup princes in the South and West.

Quiz: Let Us Predict Whether Youre A Democrat Or A Republican

Tell us a few details about you and well guess which political party you belong to. It shouldnt be that simple, right? Were all complex people with a multiplicity of identities and values. But the reality is that in America today, how you answer a handful of questions is very likely to determine how you vote.

This quiz, based on recent surveys with more than 140,000 responses, presents a series of yes-or-no questions to predict whether someone is more likely to identify as a Democrat or a Republican. It captures divisions that should make you worried about the future of American democracy.

We wont collect your answers.

The first question is the most important: Its about race. Asking whether someone is black, Hispanic or Asian cleaves the electorate into two groups. Those who answer yes lean Democratic; the others are split roughly evenly between the parties. Among those who are not black, Hispanic or Asian , the second most important question is whether the person considers religion important. If they answer yes, they are probably Republican.

Its not just race and religion, though. Party allegiances are now also tied to education, gender and age. Americans have sorted themselves more completely and rigidly than any time in recent history.

How demographics predict party affiliation

The group most likely to be Democrats are black women older than about 30.

Meeting in the Middle

Reliable Republicans

Taking The Perspective Of Others Proved To Be Really Hard

The divide in the United States is wide, and one indication of that is how difficult our question proved for many thoughtful citizens. A 77-year-old Republican woman from Pennsylvania was typical of the voters who struggled with this question, telling us, This is really hard for me to even try to think like a devilcrat!, I am sorry but I in all honesty cannot answer this question. I cannot even wrap my mind around any reason they would be good for this country.

Similarly, a 53-year-old Republican from Virginia said, I honestly cannot even pretend to be a Democrat and try to come up with anything positive at all, but, I guess they would vote Democrat because they are illegal immigrants and they are promised many benefits to voting for that party. Also, just to follow what others are doing. And third would be just because they hate Trump so much. The picture she paints of the typical Democratic voter being an immigrant, who goes along with their party or simply hates Trump will seem like a strange caricature to most Democratic voters. But her answer seems to lack the animus of many.  

Democrats struggled just as much as Republicans. A 33-year-old woman from California told said, i really am going to have a hard time doing this but then offered that Republicans are morally right as in values, going to protect us from terrorest and immigrants, going to create jobs.

How To Explain The Difference Between Republicans And Democrats

Politics are confusing, even for adults. This years political cycle is even more confusing than most.  Anything that confuses and parents is sure to raise questions in children.

As the primaries roll on, many children are asking questions about the two major political parties and what all the arguing means.  This years political cycle is more emotionally charged than most.  Those emotions can make it difficult for parents to fairly explain political differences to children.  Goodness knows, as an avid sports fan, I could not objectively describe the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

The Philosophy Behind Democratic Economic Policy

Democrats gear their economic policies to benefit low-income and middle-income families. They argue that reducing income inequality is the best way to foster economic growth. Low-income families are more likely to spend any extra money on necessities instead of saving or investing it. That directly increases demand and spurs economic growth. Democrats also support a Keynesian economic theory, which says that the government should spend its way out of a recession.

One dollar spent on increased food stamp benefits generates $1.73 in economic output.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt first outlined the Economic Bill of Rights in his 1944 State of the Union address. It included taxes on war profiteering and price controls on food costs. President Harry Trumans 1949 Fair Deal proposed an increase in the minimum wage, civil rights legislation, and national health care. President Barack Obama expanded Medicaid with the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Congress Net Worth Demographic

One way to look at the question of who is richer between republicans and democrats is to examine the people representing us in Congress.

The net worth of a democratic senator in 2011 was $13.5 million, compared to a net worth of just under $7 million for Republicans. Interestingly, Democratic senators have on average twice the net worth of a Republican senator!

The story is a little different in the House Of Representatives, where the average net worth of Democrats is $5.7 million opposed to $7.6 million for Republican representatives.

Think Republicans Are Disconnected From Reality Its Even Worse Among Liberals

A new survey found Democrats live with less political diversity despite being more tolerant of it with startling results

In a surprising new national survey, members of each major American political party were asked what they imagined to be the beliefs held by members of the other. The survey asked Democrats: How many Republicans believe that racism is still a problem in America today? Democrats guessed 50%. Its actually 79%. The survey asked Republicans how many Democrats believe most police are bad people. Republicans estimated half; its really 15%.

The survey, published by the thinktank More in Common as part of its Hidden Tribes of America project, was based on a sample of more than 2,000 people. One of the studys findings: the wilder a persons guess as to what the other party is thinking, the more likely they are to also personally disparage members of the opposite party as mean, selfish or bad. Not only do the two parties diverge on a great many issues, they also disagree on what they disagree on.

This effect, the report says, is so strong that Democrats without a high school diploma are three times more accurate than those with a postgraduate degree. And the more politically engaged a person is, the greater the distortion.

A coalition of college Republican clubs recently endorsed a tax on carbon pollution.

[armeniaitn]

Senators urge Biden Administration to press Turkey on human rights record, cite support to Azerbaijan

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/politics/senators-urge-biden-administration-to-press-turkey-on-human-rights-record-cite-support-to-azerbaijan-69115-09-02-2021/

Senators urge Biden Administration to press Turkey on human rights record, cite support to Azerbaijan

U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) today urged the new Biden administration to press the Turkish government to improve its human rights record, which includes an increasingly authoritarian crackdown on dissent both domestically and abroad.

The bipartisan letter signed by more than 50 other senators cited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for marginalizing domestic opposition, silencing or coopting critical media outlets, purging independent judges and replacing them with party loyalists, and jailing scores of journalists. 

“President Erdogan’s foreign policy has also grown more belligerent and combative over time.  In recent years, he brazenly attacked U.S.-backed Kurds fighting ISIS in Syria, he purchased Russian air defense systems despite warnings that they were incompatible with U.S. technology, and he encouraged Azerbaijan to use violence to settle a territorial dispute with Armenia,” the senators wrote.

 “President Erdogan has also attempted to pressure the U.S. and other countries into extraditing Turkish nationals, whom he blames for the failed coup in 2016.  The Erdogan government has sought to silence critics in the United States like Enes Kanter, an NBA player and human rights advocate, by going after his family in Turkey and placing an INTERPOL red notice on him.”

The senators note that the United States has a significant opportunity to influence Turkey’s troubling human rights record because it’s an important ally in a key region of the world.

“We believe that the United States must hold allies and partners to a higher standard and speak frankly with them about issues of human rights and democratic backsliding,” the senators wrote. “We urge you to emphasize to President Erdogan and his administration that they should immediately end their crackdown on dissent at home and abroad, release political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, and reverse their authoritarian course.”

The letter led by Wyden and Rubio was also signed by U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY), John Thune (R-SD), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), John Boozman (R-AR), Tom Carper (D-DE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Patty Murray (D-WA), James Lankford (R-OK), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Susan Collins (R-ME), Ed Markey (D-MA), Mike Braun (R-IN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Todd Young (R-IN), Mark Warner (D-VA), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), John Kennedy (R-LA), Robert Casey (D-PA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Jon Tester (D-MT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tina Smith (D-MN) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).

Read original article here.

[archiweekend]

Congress Will Betray Americans, Then Patriots Will Need To RESCUE the President

Congress Will Betray Americans, Then Patriots Will Need To RESCUE the President

(Natural News) Barring some miracle, it looks like tomorrow, the US Congress and VP Mike Pence will betray America and shut down any objections to the Biden slate of electors from swing states where massive election fraud took place. In breaking news today, it emerged that VP Mike Pence may not be present tomorrow, and would be replaced by Sen. Charles Grassley, who would oversee the opening and…