#in grouping groping incumbent

[artcallednonsensed]

I’ll add something to top intended for this added extension but meant for underneath so i do this way

[epacer]

Too Depressed to Continue

Teacher who accused Kevin Beiser of sexual harassment withdraws from school board race

One of the four men who publicly accused San Diego Unified School Board Trustee Kevin Beiser of sexual harassment has dropped out of the school board race, citing personal struggles with depression.

“I must focus on my own health before I can truly be of service,” said the candidate, Patrick MacFarland, in a press release Friday.

In March, MacFarland accused Beiser of groping him and inviting him to his hotel after a political event. Another man, a political consultant, sued Beiser for alleged sexual assault and has since settled the lawsuit with Beiser under secret terms.

Beiser remains on the school board despite calls from all his fellow board members that he resign. Beiser has said there is “no truth” to the allegations against him.

MacFarland was hoping to unseat Richard Barrera, the board member who represents district D, which includes the regions served by San Diego High and Hoover High.

MacFarland said he had intended to run on a platform of increasing teacher pay, increasing resources for students, increasing equity for all student groups and improving schools’ infrastructure, according to his campaign website.

His press statement discussed stigma surrounding depression and other mental health challenges.

“Depression is real, and it’s crippling,” he said. “When I declared for this office ... I thought I could muscle through the depression and that the sense of purpose I felt to fight for our kids would get me to the finish line. But no sense of purpose can alter brain chemistry.”

MacFarland said in his statement that he thinks all the incumbent school board members should be unseated in next year’s election, saying the current board members have failed to properly address sexual abuse of students, lead in school drinking water and issues harming communities of color, among other things.

“The community deserves a champion with the energy and focus to fight as hard as possible to fix the systemic problems with San Diego Unified,” MacFarland said.

He declined to answer questions about his statement.

The school district has been using bond dollars to bring all school drinking water sources down to a lead standard of five parts per billion, which is lower than what the state requires for schools. San Diego Unified was also recently highlighted in a report that found that its students, including black and Hispanic students, have outperformed similar students in other California districts.

Barrera on Friday would not respond to MacFarland’s statements about him and defended his fellow board members.

“I’m running for school board because I think we have made a real difference,” Barrera said. “I think we’ve made our schools better.”

Board President Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, the other incumbent who is up for re-election next year, has confirmed she is running to keep her seat. *Reposted article from the UT by Kristen Taketa of September 20, 2019

[bountyofbeads]

Texas Rep. Hurd, lone black Republican in House, won’t seek reelection

By Robert Moore | Published August 1, 2019 at 8:00 PM EDT | Washington Post | Posted August 1, 2019 |

Rep. Will Hurd, the lone black Republican in the House and the rare GOP lawmaker to criticize President Trump at times, will not seek reelection, he told The Washington Post.

Hurd’s retirement is the third by a Texas Republican in the past week and the ninth by a party incumbent, dealing a blow to GOP efforts to regain control of the House in next year’s election.

Hurd barely held the seat last year and Trump lost the congressional district, which covers more than 58,000 square miles between San Antonio and El Paso along the Mexican border, by four percentage points in 2016.

In an interview Thursday with The Post, Hurd criticized Trump’s racist tweets last month in which the president said four Democratic minority congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Three of the women are from the United States; a fourth, Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), is a Somali refu­gee who became a U.S. citizen as a teenager.

“When you imply that because someone doesn’t look like you, in telling them to go back to Africa or wherever, you’re implying that they’re not an American and you’re implying that they have less worth than you,” Hurd said.

But Hurd also repeated his earlier pledge to vote for Trump if he’s the Republican nominee in 2020. He said Hispanics, African Americans and other groups would be receptive to conservative themes if they weren’t drowned in racially charged rhetoric.

More recently, Trump targeted House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) and his city of Baltimore, tweeting that “no human being would want to live” in the “disgusting, rat and rodent infested” city. The remarks prompted widespread accusations of racism, which Trump has denied.

“Number one, show up to communities that haven’t seen Republicans show up. And listen,” Hurd said. “And then the message that you take is how we have solved some problems in our communities. When you look at African American unemployment, Latino unemployment, it’s an all-time low.”

Trump says Baltimore is ‘worse than Honduras’ in terms of violent crime

Hurd, 41, said he plans to run again for elected office, though he didn’t specify which one. He has made or scheduled trips in recent months to New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, with an eye toward the 2024 Republican presidential calendar.

“I think I can help the country in a different way. I’m interested in pursuing my lifelong passions at that intersection of technology and national security,” said the former CIA officer. “And I think I have an opportunity to help make sure the Republican Party looks like America.”

Hurd, who represents a district that includes 820 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, more than any other House member, has been a frequent critic of Trump’s border wall proposal, calling it a “third-century solution to a 21st-century problem.” He instead favored increased use of technology and additional Border Patrol staffing.

He opposed Trump’s national emergency declaration to divert funds to border wall construction and was one of only 14 Republicans to vote to override the president’s veto of a bill that sought to block the national emergency.

Hurd called on Trump to abandon his presidential bid in October 2016 after The Post reported on an audio tape in which the GOP nominee boasted of groping women, one of only a handful of Republican elected officials to do so.

Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005

As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Hurd frequently warned about Russian election interference and was less strident than other Republicans in criticism of investigations of Trump.

But Hurd joined fellow Republicans on the committee in 2017 in saying there was no evidence of conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. In March, he and the other Republicans called on Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) to step down as chairman of the Intelligence Committee, accusing the lawmaker of lying about Trump’s actions after former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report.

The Mueller report did not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. The probe did not make a determination as to whether Trump obstructed justice.

Schiff rejected the criticism and the GOP calls.

Hurd was first elected in 2014, defeating incumbent Democrat Pete Gallego by 2,400 votes. He beat Gallego by 3,000 votes in a 2016 rematch, then defeated Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones by just over 900 votes last year.

He said he believes he would have won in 2020 if he decided to seek reelection. Ortiz Jones has announced she is again seeking the seat. Hurd’s retirement likely will draw other Democrats and Republicans to the race.

Fellow Texas Republican Reps. Pete Olson and K. Michael Conaway announced that they would retire in recent days. Olson’s Houston-area seat is expected to be a top Democratic target next year, but Conaway’s Midland seat is likely safe for Republicans.

[investmart007]

WASHINGTON | What to Watch: Minn.,Wis. primaries test allegiance to Trump

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/OfwwZw

WASHINGTON | What to Watch: Minn.,Wis. primaries test allegiance to Trump

WASHINGTON— Republicans who once criticized President Donald Trump are now fighting each other for his support. Minnesota faces a #metoo moment. And Democrats weigh whether to send the “Iron Stache” to Congress.

What to watch as voters in four states — Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont and Connecticut — head to the polls Tuesday:

WHO LOVES TRUMP THE MOST? In both Minnesota and Wisconsin, GOP candidates are battling to cast themselves as the strongest Trump supporter.

GOP primaries in those states will test — yet again — the president’s pull within his own party. Both states are upper-Midwestern battlegrounds that Republicans believe will be key to Trump’s re-election chances.

In the Minnesota governor’s race, the two Republican candidates — former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson — have spent much of their time on the campaign trail fighting over who previously insulted the president the least.

Both men criticized Trump during the 2016 campaign, with Johnson calling the president a “jackass” and Pawlenty pulling his support after the “Access Hollywood tape” of Trump bragging he could grope women because he was famous. He said then that Trump was “unhinged and unfit for office.” Now, they both say they voted for Trump in the end and would welcome the president’s support.

Trump has not endorsed either candidate, which is notable in a primary season in which the president hasn’t been shy about making his preferred candidate known.

In Wisconsin’s Republican Senate race, the state party is backing state Sen. Leah Vukmir, an ally of Gov. Scott Walker. But her critique of Trump as “offensive to everyone” during the 2016 primaries has provided an opening for Marine veteran Kevin Nicholson, a former Democrat who spoke on behalf of Vice President Al Gore at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

Their GOP primary race is rated a toss-up. The candidates are running for the chance to challenge Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. ___

#METOO MINNESOTA Rep. Keith Ellison is fending off allegations of domestic violence, with former girlfriend Karen Monahan accusing the Democratic congressman and candidate for Minnesota attorney general of emotional and physical abuse.

Monahan’s son claimed to have seen a video of Ellison dragging his mother off a bed by her feet as he screamed profanities at her. Ellison has denied the allegation. Monahan has so far declined to provide any video or copies of text messages to The Associated Press.

Still, the development complicates the crowded race for Minnesota attorney general. Ellison, one of the most liberal members of the House and the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, faces four opponents in the race. The allegations come in a state that’s already been roiled by the #metoo movement: In January, Sen. Al Franken, a Democrat, resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. On Tuesday, Minnesotans will choose who will compete in a special election to finish out Franken’s term, which ends in 2020. The race could end up being between two women, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tina Smith and Republican state Sen. Karin Housley. ___

RACE TO REPLACE RYAN Tuesday’s Wisconsin contests will determine who gets to compete for House Speaker Paul Ryan’s open seat. Ryan announced his retirement in April.

On the Democratic side, the primary race between iron worker Randy Bryce — known as the “Iron Stache” for his bushy mustache — and Janesville School Board Member Cathy Myers has grown increasingly nasty. National Democrats rallied to Bryce after his campaign ad went viral. He’s been endorsed by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Myers, who says she’s tired of being asked to “take a back seat to less-qualified men,” is backed by a number of local groups.

Bryce’s history of nine arrests, including for drunken driving, and being delinquent on child support to his ex-wife, could complicate his path to the seat. Myers also filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against him, claiming he used campaign dollars for personal expenses.

In the Republican primary, Ryan has backed his former staffer Bryan Steil, a corporate lawyer and University of Wisconsin regent who’s seen as the front-runner against four lesser-known challengers. The general election race is considered a toss-up. ___ RAINBOW WAVE

In Vermont, Democratic candidate Christine Hallquist is vying to move one step closer to becoming the country’s first transgender governor.

The former chief executive of Vermont Electric Cooperative is part of a “rainbow wave” that’s swept the midterm elections, as a record number of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender candidates run for office this year.

Hallquist has a shot at winning the primary; polling shows her with the highest name recognition in the field of four Democrats. The candidates include 14-year-old Ethan Sonneborn, who is taking advantage of an apparent oversight by the state founders more than 225 years ago of not having an age requirement for gubernatorial office.

But she’ll face a tough fight in November: Republican incumbent Phil Scott remains more popular with Democrats than members of his own party in the solidly liberal state. ___

CONNECTICUT SEES RED? In a year when the political momentum seems to favor Democrats, Republicans find themselves with a rare shot to pick up a seat in deep-blue Connecticut.

Gov. Daniel Malloy’s deep unpopularity, due in part to his economic policies, has opened up an opportunity for Republicans to retake the governor’s mansion for the first time in eight years. Malloy isn’t seeking a third term.

Democrats seem likely to nominate Ned Lamont, a liberal Greenwich businessman known for beating then-Sen. Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary for Senate. He faces Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, who was convicted of extortion in 2003 and served seven years in prison.

The Republican field features three businessmen vying against former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst and longtime Danbury mayor Mark Boughton, who’s been endorsed by the Republican Party.

The big question for Republicans this fall is whether unhappiness with Malloy will overpower deep dislike for Trump among voters in the liberal state.

By LISA LERER ,  Associated Press

[kansascityhappenings]

Trump wades deeper into abortion politics as midterms loom

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has long been an unlikely sweetheart for conservative and evangelical voters. Now, in the lead-up to the midterm elections, the thrice-married former Democrat who used to describe himself as “very pro-choice” is offering catnip to conservative voters with a new administration push to strip funding from Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics.

President Donald Trump (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The initiative, announced last week, is aimed at resurrecting parts of a Reagan-era mandate banning federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions, or sharing space with abortion providers. And it has arrived just in time for Trump to highlight it Tuesday night when he speaks at the Susan B. Anthony List’s annual “Campaign for Life Gala.” The speech, said one administration official, is aimed at a core constituency of conservative activists who will be key to energizing the party entering the fall midterm elections.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List, says the move “will help tremendously” in the midterms.

It’s also the latest evidence that as he frets over the Russia investigation and prepares for a planned summit with North Korea, Trump has also been focused on fulfilling campaign promises and tending to issues that galvanize his base: holding a series of events to rail against the dangers of illegal immigration, pulling out of the Iran-nuclear deal and wading anew into the fight over abortion rights.

Trump is far from a natural fit for conservative voters. He recently admitted to reimbursing his lawyer for paying pay hush money to a porn star who claimed she had sex with Trump (a charge that he denies). And Trump has bragged about groping women without their permission. During the campaign, he sometimes had trouble articulating his views on abortion, at one point suggesting women should be punished for having abortions. His campaign later walked back the statement, saying that if abortion were ever outlawed, he believed that doctors who perform them should be punished.

Nonetheless, white evangelical voters overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2016, and that support has only grown. A PRRI survey released last month found white evangelical support for Trump at an all-time high, with 75 percent of those polled holding a favorable view of the president and just 22 percent holding an unfavorable view. Support for Trump within the general population in the poll stood at just 42 percent.

Religious groups like the Catholic Medical Association approve of a series of actions Trump has taken, beginning with his appointment of judges who oppose abortion rights, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Trump’s reinstatement of the global “gag rule” that bars federal funding for nongovernmental organizations that provide abortion referrals.

The White House also points to the administration’s support for religious objectors in court and Trump’s efforts to bring religious groups “back into the fold by ensuring religious groups and their partners are critical participants in the policy making process.”

Trump has also surrounded himself with staffers with deep ties to conservative groups, including counselor Kellyanne Conway and Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp.

Ralph Reed, chairman of the private Faith & Freedom Coalition, also pointed to the president’s dismantling of the Iran nuclear deal and his decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as steps that have played especially well with evangelical voters. But he said the president’s actions on abortion hold special sway, in part because of Trump’s early struggle with the issue.

“On a policy level, I see it as a series of promises made and promises kept. And in this case, a pro-life promise made and pro-life promise kept. And I would argue those are the most important promises to keep because he was someone who was believed, accurately or otherwise, as a recent arrival to conservatism and someone who had an ideologically mixed past,” Reed said.

Reed added that as president, “Trump has done everything that he can to keep faith with the faith-based voters that provided him with his margin of victory in 2016.”

When it comes to the midterms, Reed said, “I expect Donald Trump to be rewarded for these efforts by a similarly historic turnout among evangelical and other pro-life voters.”

Dannenfelser, whose group works to elect candidates who want to reduce and ultimately end abortion, is planning to raise and spend $25 million this cycle, up from the $18 million the group spent in the lead-up to the 2016 elections.

She said the president’s latest move would play especially well with voters in states like Missouri, where Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley is challenging Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbents, as well as in Indiana and North Dakota, where Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer is challenging Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.

Abortion rights activists, meanwhile, argue that Trump’s moves on the issue will only embolden women to turn out at the polls, just as they took to the streets in marches after Trump’s election.

“It’s going to cost this administration at the ballot box in November,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Kevin Griffis.

“We have to fight back in the best way we know how,” the group Emily’s List wrote in a fundraising email, “electing pro-choice Democratic women who will always protect reproductive freedom.”

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports http://fox4kc.com/2018/05/22/trump-wades-deeper-into-abortion-politics-as-midterms-loom/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/trump-wades-deeper-into-abortion-politics-as-midterms-loom/

[oselatra]

The walkout

As I understand it, many of the kids who walked out during the day of protest here in Arkansas will be facing suspension. This will not just be a few days off; they will receive zeros for any tests or assignments they miss. Unfortunately, standing on the right side of history has put them on the wrong side of their school's administration. In some cases these failing grades could hurt those students' chances of getting into college. Yeah, well, this might be true if they want to go to a Bible College or some other school where evolution has yet to evolve. However, if they want to go to any of the more enlightened schools in the world — which is, by the way, round — it shouldn't hurt their chances of getting accepted at all. In fact, if their college choice is in California I recommend they put this act of peaceful civil disobedience at the top of their resume.

David Rose

Hot Springs

Arkansas at the bottom

Living in rural Carroll County now for over 30 years, my wife and I would like our state government officials to explain the following facts about the state that our family has made home.

Out of 50 states and the the District of Columbia, Arkansas is rated:

• 51st worst in the number of workers in low-income jobs.

• 46th worst in poverty.

• 49th worst in student loan defaults.

• 48th worst in health of its citizens.

• 47th worst in incarceration rate.

• 41st worst in education.

• 50th worst in hunger.

Twenty percent of our state lives in poverty and 25 percent of our children live in poverty. Why?

My own observations are that racism is systemic in our government and our economy. Poverty is accepted as the price we pay for living in an unforgiving landscape, but is actually a result of the callousness of government. Some of the world's biggest companies call Arkansas home and yet they are infamous for keeping wages low and keeping hours of employees just low enough to not qualify for full benefits, and they are adamant about not allowing workers to organize. It is not natural beauty that makes a state great; it came to us that way. All we can do is preserve it or deface it. By representing the industries that spend great sums of money to influence you instead of the common good, you are dishonoring your position.

The awakening that has come from the election of Donald Trump and those who support him for their own selfish ends is going to change things, even in this third-world state, whose leaders seem to wear their ignorance like a badge of courage. I hope that you step aside gracefully when your turn is over, but it will be over, soon.

Mark and Suzanne Eastburn

Eureka Springs

Trump's America

The United States has a new religion called Americanism. The main guy is Donald Trump, ably assisted by Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. Members are Republicans, but other faiths can join provided they pass the test on the holy document known as the Constitution. The 10 amendments to the Constitution have been reduced to just two: Make America Great and Keep America Great.

Fervor for the Second Amendment resides in the hearts of those who practice Americanism. Back in the late 1700s, the framers thought it necessary to make sure groups of men could protect the community, so they wrote, "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Those who practice Americanism maintain that, even though we have paid militiamen, we still must be ready for mythical invaders. Being ready requires weapons capable of killing many people with bullets that are lethal when striking any part of the body. Shotguns and rifles are unacceptable because they do not always kill with one shot. Failing to understand the Second Amendment eliminates any chance of joining Americanism.

Another part of the test makes sure the taker understands that women have no control of their uteri and can be groped at appropriate times. The main guy often demonstrates the proper use of women. The basic tenet of Americanism is to restrict women's right to things like health care and protection from discrimination, lest they become too powerful.

Americanism wants to build a wall along the Southern border to protect us from brown people. Americanism desires that only educated white people enter the country. Practitioners of Americanism work hard to make sure that the top 1/10th of 1 percent owns as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent.

Americanism proudly waves the flag, but with the third stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner in mind. That stanza reads:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion

A home and a Country should leave us no more?

Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The bitterness expressed by Key in the third stanza is still expressed by those who practice Americanism except when it creates a political disadvantage.

Richard Emmel

Little Rock

From the web

In response to an Arkansas Blog post about Governor Hutchinson's moves to the far right spurred by his primary opponent, including boasts of cutting government and lying about Planned Parenthood:

I first met Asa about 30 years ago. Thought he was a weak stick then and have thought he's a weak stick ever since, although I will confess to having given him a couple of thumbs-up since he's been governor. But as of March 15, 2018, he's still a weak stick. And, Jan Morgan is bringing out that weak stick for many to see.

By happenstance, I met and briefly chatted it up with the woman in Hot Springs the other day. So I can understand why Hutchinson is scared, almost-to-death, of her. She's energized, friendly, easy on the eyes, very articulate, and not, in the least, shy about approaching people and telling them what she believes.

If Morgan can find enough money to get on TV early and stay on, Asa has every reason to fear her. The hard right and the gunslingers (among others) will love her.

No way in the world the likes of Jan Morgan can beat an incumbent governor? Why, sure. Get Asa to tell you about that.

And while you have his attention, get him to tell you why a stable genius like Donald John Trump couldn't win the Republican primary and then get himself elected president.

Durango

This is a great big steaming pile of a dog and pony show. The last cut brought a hundred newly created state positions of over 100K a year to all of his cronies who barely have a degree.

You have highly educated people who have spent their entire lives earning advanced degrees so that for a short eight- to 10-year span, have the chance to lead their chosen field. Instead those people are getting the shaft and their opportunity has been stolen by anyone who has donated to the campaign.

I'm sure that [Gov. Mike] Beebe was guilty of more than just placing Shane Broadway over ADHE, but I sure can't think of them now. Asa has placed cronies all over the state government that all of them promised to downsize and make more efficient.

This ploy will dissolve as soon as the primary is over and the big money in Arkansas will prove they aren't serious about making government better. This is unfuckingbelievable and disgusting.

Clem Hooten

In response to the Arkansas Blog post on the National Park Service grant to improve the historic Dreamland Ballroom:

I don't even know this place, but I'm delighted when historic buildings get a new lease on life. The children of tomorrow will not be very impressed by the buildings built today. Without very old buildings around, your town's got no WOW to it.

It would already be a big treat to go stand where Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Earl "Fatha" Hines, B.B. King and Ray Charles once appeared. Fifty years from now the experience will be out of this world ... assuming America is still around 50 years from now.

Deathbyinches

In response to an Arkansas Blog post, "Democratic Party weighs in on Wilkins' bribery allegation. Poorly.":

Max, I am sure that Michael Gray realizes that the Wilkins family can still turn out the black vote in Jefferson County, and that is why he was more than circumspect in his description of the wrongdoing. What we have is the reverse of the plantation economy, where black sharecroppers used to tell poll workers which plantation they worked on, and then ask them how they were supposed to vote. Now, the prominent black dynasties in politics tell them how to vote, and the Wilkins dynasty is real. This is not illegal, but the result is still the same. It's not illegal because poll workers are not involved. Bloc voting is nothing new unless people are being bribed. That is the key. Was Hank Wilkins bribed not only for his vote in the legislature, but also because he could deliver black votes for politicians? I think this is behind his constant battle with the black power structure in Jefferson County.

plainjim

Uh, plainjim, the turning-out-the-vote phenomenon isn't limited to blacks and black churches. I had a white voter ask me if she needed to vote on "all this other stuff" some years ago after she followed the suggestion (?) her preacher made on an issue. I don't have any idea how many others showed up to follow that preacher's dictates, but the situation does exist. And the turnout for that election was much higher than any I'd seen before. I still shake my head when I think about it. Bottom line, I guess, is that there are people who are willing to let others tell them how to vote. Why? Who knows? Ignorance, I suppose.

Doigotta

I think the Democratic Party needs a chairman who actually supports democratic causes. Voting present on important issues like the tax deduction for private school tuition doesn't cut it. I don't think anyone can do a good job serving simultaneously in the legislature and as state party chairman. Mr. Gray needs to choose one and let the other go.

Eutychus

The walkout

[investmart007]

WASHINGTON | Trump rallies abortion opponents to vote for Republicans

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/EziK6E

WASHINGTON | Trump rallies abortion opponents to vote for Republicans

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a rallying call to opponents of abortion, encouraging them to head to the polls to elect conservative lawmakers.

Speaking at the Susan B. Anthony List’s annual “Campaign for Life Gala,” Trump took a victory lap for his anti-abortion policies and nominations of conservative justices to federal courts. But he warned the group that they must show up at the polls to preserve their gains under his administration.

“Every day between now and November we must work together to elect more lawmakers who share our values, cherish our heritage, and proudly stand for life,” Trump said. He summed it up for the roomful of enthusiastic supporters: “The story is, ’18 midterms, we need Republicans.”

Trump has long been an unlikely sweetheart for conservative and evangelical voters. But now, in the lead-up to the midterm elections, the thrice-married former Democrat who used to describe himself as “very pro-choice” has been offering catnip to conservatives.

Last week, the administration unveiled a new push to strip funding from Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics. The initiative, which was formally unveiled Tuesday, is aimed at resurrecting parts of a Reagan-era mandate banning federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions, or sharing space with abortion providers.

And it arrived just in time for Trump to highlight it Tuesday at the gala. The speech, said one administration official, had been aimed at a core constituency of conservative activists who are seen as key to energizing the party entering the fall midterm elections.

Trump, for his part, promised a “massive campaign” to assist Republicans this fall, and highlighted his role contributing toward the Republican National Committee’s fundraising haul.

“Your vote in 2018 is every bit as important as your vote in 2016,” Trump said, reading off a teleprompter. He paused before telling the crowd, “I’m not sure I really believe that.

“I don’t know who the hell wrote that line,” he said, prompting laughs.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List, branded Trump “the most pro-life President in history” at the Gala, and told the AP the move “will help tremendously” in the midterms.

It’s also the latest evidence that as he frets over the Russia investigation and prepares for a planned summit with North Korea, Trump has also been focused on fulfilling campaign promises and tending to issues that galvanize his base: holding a series of events to rail against the dangers of illegal immigration, pulling out of the Iran-nuclear deal and wading anew into the fight over abortion rights.

Trump is far from a natural fit for conservative voters. He recently admitted to reimbursing his lawyer for paying pay hush money to a porn star who claimed she had sex with Trump (a charge that he denies). And Trump has bragged about groping women without their permission. During the campaign, he sometimes had trouble articulating his views on abortion, at one point suggesting women should be punished for having abortions. His campaign later walked back the statement, saying that if abortion were ever outlawed, he believed that doctors who perform them should be punished.

Nonetheless, white evangelical voters overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2016, and that support has only grown. A PRRI survey released last month found white evangelical support for Trump at an all-time high, with 75 percent of those polled holding a favorable view of the president and just 22 percent holding an unfavorable view. Support for Trump within the general population in the poll stood at just 42 percent.

Religious groups like the Catholic Medical Association approve of a series of actions Trump has taken, beginning with his appointment of judges who oppose abortion rights, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Trump’s reinstatement of the global “gag rule” that bars federal funding for nongovernmental organizations that provide abortion referrals.

The White House also points to the administration’s support for religious objectors in court and Trump’s efforts to bring religious groups “back into the fold by ensuring religious groups and their partners are critical participants in the policy making process.”

Dannenfelser, whose group works to elect candidates who want to reduce and ultimately end abortion, is planning to raise and spend $25 million this cycle, up from the $18 million the group spent in the lead-up to the 2016 elections.

She said the president’s latest move would play especially well with voters in states like Missouri, where Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley is challenging Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbents, as well as in Indiana and North Dakota, where Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer is challenging Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.

Abortion rights activists, meanwhile, argue that Trump’s moves on the issue will only embolden women to turn out at the polls, just as they took to the streets in marches after Trump’s election.

“It’s going to cost this administration at the ballot box in November,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Kevin Griffis.

“We have to fight back in the best way we know how,” the group Emily’s List wrote in a fundraising email, “electing pro-choice Democratic women who will always protect reproductive freedom.”

___

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Ken Thomas and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.

By JILL COLVIN, By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (A.S)

___