brooklynite
brooklynite's JournalKyle Kondik (UVA Center for Politics) shifts 11 House races towards Republicans
https://twitter.com/kkondik/status/1516770030540800008Tennessee GOP kicks Trump-backed Morgan Ortagus, Baxter Lee and Robby Starbuck out of primary
TenneseanMorgan Ortagus, Baxter Lee and Robby Starbuck were voted off the primary ballot by the party's executive committee, Tennessee Republican Chairman Scott Golden confirmed Tuesday
Republican officials last week confirmed official challenges had been filed against the three, which triggered a technical removal from the ballot per party bylaws.
Ortagus, a former State Department spokesperson who nabbed an early endorsement from former President Donald Trump, called the removal "deeply disappointing."
Kremlin Insiders Alarmed Over Growing Toll of Putin's War in Ukraine
Source: Bloomberg
The ranks of the critics at the pinnacle of power remain limited, spread across high-level posts in government and state-run business. They believe the invasion was a catastrophic mistake that will set the country back for years, according to ten people with direct knowledge of the situation. All spoke on condition of anonymity, too fearful of retribution to comment publicly.
So far, these people see no chance the Russian president will change course and no prospect of any challenge to him at home. More and more reliant on a narrowing circle of hardline advisers, Putin has dismissed attempts by other officials to warn him of the crippling economic and political cost, they said.
Some said they increasingly share the fear voiced by U.S. intelligence officials that Putin could turn to a limited use of nuclear weapons if faced with failure in a campaign he views as his historic mission.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-20/putin-s-war-in-ukraine-has-russian-elites-fearing-global-isolation?srnd=premium&sref=nXmOg68r
Opinion: How Orwell Diagnosed Democrats' Culture War Problem Decades Ago
Politico“I am,” Orwell wrote, “making out a case for the sort of person who is in sympathy with the fundamental aims of Socialism … but who in practice always takes flight when Socialism is mentioned.
“Question a person of this type and you will often get the semi-frivolous answer: ‘I don’t object to Socialism, but I do object to Socialists.’ Logically it is a poor argument, but it carries weight with many people. As with the Christian religion, the worst argument for Socialism is its adherents.”
Orwell, himself a socialist, argues first that “Socialism in its developed form is a theory confined entirely to the [relatively well-off] middle class.” In its language, it is formal, stilted, wholly distant from the language of ordinary citizens, spoken by people who are several rungs above their audience, and with no intention of giving up that status.
“It is doubtful whether anything describable as proletarian literature now exists … but a good music hall comedian comes nearer to producing it than any Socialist writer I can think of.”
In the most provocative segment of the entire book, Orwell also cites “the horrible, the early disputing prevalence of cranks wherever Socialists are gathered together. One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words ‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ draw toward them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist, and feminist in England.” And he notes the prospectus for a summer Socialist school in which attendees are asked if they prefer a vegetarian diet.
Democratic super PAC launches new ads in major swing states
Source: Politico
The TV, digital and radio ads will air in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada — a quartet of states Biden won in 2020 that also feature top Senate, House and gubernatorial races in 2022. The super PAC has been airing ads in these states over the last six weeks, part of American Bridge’s midterm spending plan, which will reach into eight figures.
The new ads, shared first with POLITICO, show the group zeroing in on an economic message as inflation spikes. In Arizona, the ad features a retiree who says she “hasn’t always voted Democrat,” but “Joe Biden deserves a lot of credit for the turnaround here in Tucson,” flashing an image of a headline: “Arizona has recovered all jobs lost during pandemic.”
“Costs are still high, but Joe Biden knows that and he’s doing what he can to bring those costs down,” she continues. “Biden thinks we should be making more here in America — more American manufacturing means more jobs and less expensive goods to buy.”
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/20/democratic-super-pac-midterm-elections-00026412
House Rating Changes: Eight Races Move in Republicans' Direction
Cook Political ReportThis week, we're moving eight Democratic-held seats into more competitive categories. With these changes, there are 27 Democratic seats in Toss Up or worse, and that list is certain to grow longer when Florida and New Hampshire finalize their lines. By contrast, there are only 12 GOP-held seats in Toss Up or worse - all of which are due to redistricting, not atmospheric factors. Republicans need to net just five seats to regain the House.
Rating Changes:
IN-01: Mrvan (D) - Likely D to Lean D
NV-03: Lee (D) - Lean D to Toss Up
NV-04: Horsford (D) - Lean D to Toss Up
NJ-03: Kim (D) - Solid D to Likely D
NY-04: (open) (D) - Solid D to Likely D
NY-19: Delgado (D) - Likely D to Lean D
NC-01: (open) (D) - Likely D to Lean D
NV-07: Spanberger (D) - Lean D to Toss Up
Julian Assange extradition order issued by London court, moving WikiLeaks founder closer to US
Source: CNN
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has moved one step closer to being extradited to the United States, where he is set to be tried under the Espionage Act, after a London court sent his handover order to the British government for approval.
The court issued a formal extradition order in a hearing Wednesday, leaving UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to rubber-stamp his transfer to the US after a years-long legal wrangle. Assange is able to appeal the decision.
He is wanted in the US on 18 criminal charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified files and diplomatic cables in 2010. If convicted, Assange faces up to 175 years in prison.
Assange joined the hearing virtually from the high security Belmarsh Prison in London, where he has been held since being dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London three years ago. He stated his full name and date of birth.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/20/uk/julian-assange-extradition-order-intl/
Observation: When Assange and Wikileaks released material about Iraq obtained by Chelsea Manning, a number of people decided he was on "our" side and were suggesting that the Swedish legal efforts to extradite him were part of a dark conspiracy with the US (never mind that was the Obama Administration) to deliver him here for trial. Sometimes a criminal is just a criminal.
What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party by Michael Kazin
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A leading historian tells the story of the United States’ most enduring political party and its long, imperfect and newly invigorated quest for “moral capitalism,” from Andrew Jackson to Joseph Biden.
One of Kirkus Reviews' 40 most anticipated books of 2022
One of Vulture's "49 books we can't wait to read in 2022"
The Democratic Party is the world’s oldest mass political organization. Since its inception in the early nineteenth century, it has played a central role in defining American society, whether it was exercising power or contesting it. But what has the party stood for through the centuries, and how has it managed to succeed in elections and govern?
In What It Took to Win, the eminent historian Michael Kazin identifies and assesses the party’s long-running commitment to creating “moral capitalism”―a system that mixed entrepreneurial freedom with the welfare of workers and consumers. And yet the same party that championed the rights of the white working man also vigorously protected or advanced the causes of slavery, segregation, and Indian removal. As the party evolved towards a more inclusive egalitarian vision, it won durable victories for Americans of all backgrounds. But it also struggled to hold together a majority coalition and advance a persuasive agenda for the use of government.
Kazin traces the party’s fortunes through vivid character sketches of its key thinkers and doers, from Martin Van Buren and William Jennings Bryan to the financier August Belmont and reformers such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Sidney Hillman, and Jesse Jackson. He also explores the records of presidents from Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Throughout, Kazin reveals the rich interplay of personality, belief, strategy, and policy that define the life of the party―and outlines the core components of a political endeavor that may allow President Biden and his co-partisans to renew the American experiment.
Coronavirus cases have risen in major cities. Hospitalizations have not.
New York TimesSome of these infected celebrities were not exactly young. Collins and Garland are both 69. Pelosi is 82.
So far, however, none of their cases appears to be severe. As David Weigel, a Washington Post reporter, noted yesterday:
https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1516058912960647169
These anecdotes are part of a trend. In several places where the number of cases has risen in recent weeks, hospitalizations have stayed flat. (In past Covid waves, by contrast, hospitalizations began rising about a week after cases did.)
This is why nobody is willing to fight to keep mask regulations.
Biden admin to rescind Trump 'conscience' rule for health workers
Source: Politico
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that the policy change is underway, saying: “HHS has made clear through the unified regulatory agenda that we are in the rulemaking process.”
The move, which HHS could propose as soon as the end of this month, comes as many GOP-led states are moving to limit access to abortions and transgender care, and as progressive advocacy groups are calling on the federal government to do more to protect the rights of patients.
“As state politicians continue to strip people of their sexual and reproductive rights and freedoms, it’s imperative that the Biden-Harris administration revoke this discriminatory policy and help ensure people can access the health care and information they need when they need it,” said Jacqueline Ayers, the senior vice president of policy, organizing and campaigns for Planned Parenthood, which was part of a lawsuit against the Trump administration rule in 2019. “We look forward to seeing the details of the new rule and are excited about this step forward.”
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/19/biden-trump-conscience-rule-00026082
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Name: Chris BastianGender: Male
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Home country: USA
Member since: 2002
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