Confirmation Hearings To Begin Before Trump Nominees Finish Ethics Clearances

Democracy Now
January 9, 2017

A barrage of Senate confirmation hearings is set to begin Tuesday for what would be the wealthiest Cabinet in modern American history.
This comes despite concerns that ethics clearances and background checks are incomplete for several of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks.

Senator Jeff Sessions faces questions Tuesday for his nomination as Attorney General, along with Trump's pick to head the Department of Homeland Security, retired Marine General John Kelly.

On Wednesday, hearings are set for former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as the potential Secretary of State, along with Secretary of Education pick, Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Transportation nominee Elaine Chao, and CIA Director nominee Mike Pompeo.

More:
http://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/9/headlines/confirmation_hearings_to_begin_before_trump_nominees_finish_ethics_clearances


"Republican Senator Explains Ethics And Conflicts Of Interests In The Age of Trump"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017418332


Democracy Now Interview (Monday) with Rob Weissman, President of Public Citizen, and
Richard Painter, Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota:
"Senate Hearings Begin For Wealthiest Cabinet In U.S. History Despite Lack Of Vetting"
http://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/9/senate_to_begin_confirmation_hearings_for

Your favorite line from Blazing Saddles?

"Are there more beans, Mr Taggart?"

Critical Special Election on Tuesday in Virginia

Democracy For America
January 7, 2017


Ryant Washington is a progressive champion running for the Virginia State Senate.
If he wins on Tuesday, Democrats will take control of the Virginia State Senate.
It would be a huge blow to Trump and the Republicans.

At a time when Republicans are attacking health care, voting rights, and civil rights, we need to immediately take back control of state legislatures so we can resist Trump and his bigoted agenda.
That's why Ryant Washington's campaign is so important.

Ryant Washington is running a great, people-powered campaign.
He has deep roots in the community and a lifetime of public service.
He'll fight to protect health care and fully fund public schools, both of which are under attack by Trump and the Republican Congress.

In 2009 Republicans began winning these crucial state elections, and used those victories to begin moving the country far to the right.
But we can turn the tables on them.
If progressive Democrats like Ryant Washington win these elections, we'll show that America is ready to rebuild at the state and local level and win against Trump and his party's extremist, hateful agenda.

Tuesday's special election will be a tough race - but with two Republicans and one Democrat on the ballot, it's going to be won by the campaign with the best grassroots turnout operation.
Ryant Washington is doing everything he can to build a strong people-powered campaign.
Now he urgently needs our help in this final weekend before the election.

http://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dfa-ryant-washington

Putin Ordered "Influence Campaign" To Help Trump, U.S. Intelligence Report Says

NPR
January 6,2017
5:15 PM (ET)


The public version of the intelligence report on the investigation into Russia's interference in the U.S. elections concludes that Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin personally ordered the "influence campaign."

"Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency," the report states.
"We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump."

Here are some of the report's key findings:

- Putin and the Russian Government "conspired to help President-elect Trump's election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him"

- The report states that Putin's motivation to discredit Clinton was at least partially personal.
It says he "publicly blamed her since 2011 for inciting mass protests against his regime in late 2011 and early 2012, and because he holds a grudge for comments he almost certainly saw as disparaging him."

- Russian intelligence "conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major US political parties."
This included primary campaigns, think tanks and lobbying groups.

- The report asserts with "high confidence" that Russia'a General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate "relayed material it acquired from the Democratic National Committee and senior Democratic officials to Wikileaks."

More:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-wat/2017/01/06/508568241/putin-ordered-influence-campaign-to-help-trump-u-s-intelligence-report-says

What's the worst movie you ever saw?

Hotel New Hampshire was pretty bad, imo

Best nickname for Trump?

Any Harlan Ellison fans out there?

Harlan Jay Ellison, born May 27, 1934, is an American writer.
His principal genre is "speculative fiction."and "fantasy."

Ellison has been called "one of the great living American short story writers" by the Washington Post.
The Los Angeles Times said: "It's long past time for Harlan Ellison to be awarded the title,
20th Century Lewis Carroll."
In a career spanning more than 40 years, he has won more awards for the 75 books he has written or edited, the more than 1700 stories, essays, articles, and newspaper columns, the two dozen teleplays, and the dozen motion pictures he has created, than any other living fantasist.
He has won the Hugo Award 8 times, the Nebula Award 3 times, the Bram Stoker Award, presented by the Horror Writers Association 6 times, the Edgar Allen Poe Award of the Mystery Writers of America twice, the Georges Melies Fantasy Award twice, 2 Audie Awards (for the best in audio recordings), and was awarded the Silver Pen for Journalism by P.E.N., the International Writers Union (this prestigious accolade was presented for his columns in the L.A. Weekly, titled "An Edge in My Voice," in defense of the First Amendment)
He was presented with the first Living Legend Award by the International Horror Critics at the 1995 World Horror Convention.
He is also the only author in Hollywood ever to win the Writers Guild of America Award for Most Outstanding Teleplay (solo work) 4 times.
His two books of TV essays, "The Glass Teat" and "The Other Glass Teat" have sold millions of copies and are currently being taught in media classes in more than 200 American universities.
Ellison has traveled with rock groups such as The Rolling Stones, and his novel of the rock scene "Spider Kiss" is called by music critic Grel Marcus "the finest novel about the world of rock in the past quarter century."

He wrote the screenplay for "The Oscar" starring Steven Boyd and Elke Sommer.
Ellison also sold scripts to many television shows, including "Burke's Law," "Route 66," "The Outer Limits," "Star Trek," "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." "Cimarron Strip," and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour."

Ellison's screenplay for the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" has been considered the best of the 79 episodes in the series.

His most well-known works include "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" and
"A Boy and His Dog" which was made into the 1975 film of the same name starring Don Johnson.

There are also many anthologies of Ellison's work, including my personal favorite,
"The Essential Ellison"
Another great anthology of his is "Stalking The Nightmare" which contains an outstanding trio of short stories called: "The 3 Most Important Things in Life"

I especially love the short stories, "Driving In the Spikes" and an autobiographical story called "Gopher in the Gilly"

A life-long Democrat and progressive activist, Ellison participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches, from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1966, in an article Esquire magazine would later name as the best magazine piece ever written, the journalist Gay Talese wrote about the goings-on around the enigmatic Frank Sinatra.
The article, entitled "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," briefly describes a clash between the young Harlan Ellison and Frank Sinatra. when the crooner took exception to Ellison's boots during a billiards game.
Talese wrote of the incident, "Sinatra probably forgot about it at once, but Ellison will remember it all his life."

(From the Gay Talese article: "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold&quot

"The room cracked with the clack of billiard balls..There were about a dozen spectators in the room, most of them were young men who were watching Leo Durocher shoot against two other aspiring hustlers who were not very good.
This private drinking club has among it's membership many actors, directors, writers, models, nearly all of them a good deal younger than Sinatra or Durocher and much more casual in the way they dress for the evening.
Many of the young women, their long hair flowing loosely below their shoulders, wore tight, fanny-fitting Jax pants and very expensive sweaters, and a few of the young men wore blue or green velour shirts with high collars, narrow tight pants, and Italian loafers.
It was obvious from the way Sinatra looked at these people in the poolroom that they were not his style, but he leaned back against a high stool that was against the wall, holding his drink in his right hand, and said nothing, just watched Durocher slam the billiard balls back and forth.
The younger men in the room, accustomed to seeing Sinatra at this club, treated him without deference, although they said nothing offensive.
They were a cool young group, very California-cool and casual, and one of the coolest seemed to be a little guy, very quick of movement, who had a sharp profile, pale blue eyes, blondish hair, and squared eyeglasses.
He wore a pair of brown corduroy slacks, a green shaggy-dog Shetland sweater, a tan suede jacket, and Game Warden boots, for which he had recently paid $60.

Frank Sinatra, leaning against the stool, sniffling a bit from his cold, could not take his eyes of the Game Warden boots.
Once, after gazing at them for a few moments, he turned away; but now he was focused on them again.
The owner of the boots, who was just standing in them watching the pool game, was named Harlan Ellison, a writer who had just completed work on a screenplay, "The Oscar."

Frank Sinatra could not contain himself.

"Hey," he yelled in his slightly harsh voice that still had a soft, sharp edge, "Those Italian boots?"

"No," Ellison said.

"Spanish?"

"No."

"Are they English boots?"

"Look, I donno, man." Ellison shot back, frowning at Sinatra, then turning away again.

Now the poolroom was suddenly silent...Leo Durocher who had been poised behind his cue stick and was bent low just froze in that position...Nobody moved...Then Sinatra moved away from the stool and walked with that slow, arrogant swagger of his, toward Ellison, the hard tap of Sinatra's shoes the only sound in the room....Then, looking down at Ellison with a slightly raised eyebrow and a tricky little smile, Sinatra said: "You expecting a storm?"

Harlan Ellison moved a step to the side.
"Look, is there any reason why you're talking to me?"

"I don't like the way you're dressed." Sinatra said.

"Hate to shake you up," Ellison said, "but I dress to suit myself."

Now there was some rumbling in the room, and somebody said,
"Com'on, Harlan, lets get out of here," and Leo Durocher made his pool shot and said,
"Yeah, com'on."

But Ellison stood his ground.

Sinatra said, "What do you do?"

"I'm a plumber," Ellison said.

"No, no, he's not," another young man quickly yelled from across the table.
"He wrote 'The Oscar'"

"Oh, yeah," Sinatra said, "well I've seen it and it's a piece of crap."

"That's strange," Ellison said, "because they haven't even released it yet."

"Well. I've seen it," Sinatra repeated, "and it's a piece of crap."

Now, Brad Dexter, (a big, broad-shouldered, two-hundred pound actor friend of Sinatra's), very anxious, very big opposite the small figure of Harlan Ellison, said, "Com'on kid, I don't want you in this room."

"Hey," Sinatra interrupted Dexter, "can't you see I'm talking to this guy?"

Dexter was confused..Then his whole attitude changed, and his voice went soft, and he said to Ellison, almost with a plea, "Why do you persist in tormenting me?"

The whole scene was becoming ridiculous, and it seemed that Sinatra was only half-serious, perhaps reacting out of sheer boredom, or inner despair; at any rate, after a few more exchanges, Ellison left the room.
By this time the word had gotten out to those on the dance floor about the Sinatra-Ellison exchange, and somebody went to look for the manager of the club.
But somebody else said that the manager had already heard about it - and had quickly gone out the door, hopped in his car and drove home.

So the assistant manager went into the poolroom.

"I don't want anybody in here without coats and ties," Sinatra snapped.

The assistant manager nodded, and walked back to his office."

More:
http://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/annotation-tuesday-gay-talese-and-frank-sinatra-has-a-cold/


Harlan Ellison's website: "Webderland"
http://harlanellison.com/home.htm

(At Ellison's website, click on "online works" to read selected short stories, essays and other writings)