US Customs and Border Protection shuts down San Ysidro border crossing

The US Customs and Border Protection office in San Diego has closed road and pedestrian bridges in both directions at the San Ysidro port of entry.

San Ysidro is one of the largest land border crossings between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.
The agency said it has also deployed extra personnel to the border crossing.

"Due to the multiple planned demonstrations on both sides of the border, CBP deployed additional personnel to the San Ysidro port of entry on Sunday," the agency said.

"The additional personnel, which included CBP officers, US Border Patrol agents, and Air and Marine agents, were recently deployed to the San Diego area from various areas around the country in preparation for the potential arrival of the caravan in Tijuana."



https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/25/us/san-ysidro-port-of-entry-closed/index.html

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MS-SEN: MLB asks Cindy Hyde-Smith to return $5,000 donation

Major League Baseball is requesting the return of its $5,000 donation to Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s campaign, in the latest blow to the Mississippi Republican ahead of Tuesday’s runoff.

MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said in a statement that the donation “was made in connection with an event that MLB lobbyists were asked to attend” and that MLB has requested that it be returned.

Melissa Scallan, a spokeswoman for Hyde-Smith’s campaign, said she could not comment on the matter at this time. News of the donation was first reported Saturday by the political newsletter Popular Information.

Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to the Senate in the spring, faces Democrat Mike Espy in Tuesday’s runoff to fill the remaining two years of retired Republican Sen. Thad Cochran’s term.

Hyde-Smith’s victory in the runoff was once considered a foregone conclusion, but her campaign has been roiled in recent weeks by revelations that she made a controversial allusion to lynching and embraced Confederate history at several points throughout her career.


https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/25/mlb-asks-cindy-hyde-smith-to-return-5000-donation/?utm_content=tw-mercnews&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow

Bonus Tweet of the Day

How a Blue Wave Wiped Out Republicans in the Largest County in Texas

HOUSTON—An energized Democratic electorate wasn’t enough to defeat Texas Sen. Ted Cruz this month, but in the state’s most populous county, it created a blue landslide.

Nearly every Republican in Harris County, home to Houston, was unseated on Nov. 6, including 59 judges and the top executive, Ed Emmett, a moderate who won in 2014 with 83% of the vote.

Mr. Emmett, whose official title is county judge and who was widely lauded for steering the county through the devastation of Hurricane Harvey last year, lost to political novice Lina Hidalgo, a Democrat who said she has never previously attended a meeting of the Harris County Commissioners Court, which she will soon oversee. The 27-year-old won by less than 2 percentage points and will now help run a metro area that encompasses some 4.6 million people, the third-most-populous county in the U.S.

The Harris County election drew national attention in part because 17 African-American women, all Democrats, won judgeships, a symbolic shift for one of the nation’s most diverse cities. But it also demonstrates the growing political divide between more liberal cities and conservative rural areas that is evident even in red states like Texas, where every elected statewide official is a Republican.



https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-a-blue-wave-wiped-out-republicans-in-the-largest-county-in-texas-1542709801

Tweet of the Day

VA-SEN: Jerry Falwell's Liberty University voted overwhelmingly for white supremacist Corey Stewart.

Question: Are people around you satisfied with 2018, or are they ready for more?

We have a lot of work ahead of us and I hope nobody is ready to ret of our 2018 achievements.

There's energy in the MS-SEN runoff

Been texting on behalf of Black Votes Matter and there's definately energy behind Mike Espy? Whether it's enough to win is a question for Tuesday, but I'm optimistic that we can make a fight out of it.

PA-SD37: Special Election Looms In 37th District, Attracting Bipartisan Interest

The Democratic field may prove more crowded. One potential candidate is Olivia Benson. Benson is the community engagement director at the Women and Girls Foundation. (Arnet, the Democrats' 2015 hopeful, is the organization’s CEO.) Benson would not confirm a run, though she said of the special election, “It’s a great opportunity. Democrats have shown they can win and be competitive across the board.”

Other names will be more familiar to district voters. Mike Crossey, a retired teacher and former Allegheny County councilor, acknowledged he was considering a run.

“I think Democrats are energized,” he said.

Pam Iovino, a retired Navy fficer with federal experience in veterans issues, also confirmed her interest. Barring any kind of surprise, she said, “My name will be in the mix of candidates.”

Iovino and Crossey were both pursuing another special election campaign this time a year ago. Each sought to be the Democratic nominee to replace Congressman Tim Murphy, who retired amid scandal last fall. But they lost their bid to Conor Lamb, who went on to win the special election and become a rising star in the national Democratic Party.

Mark Scappe, who sits on the board of the Moon Area School District, also said he was interested.

“I’m reaching out to a lot of people, trying to get the lay of the land,” said Scappe, who in 2012 ran for the state House seat held by Mustio. In a race where Benson, Iovino and Crossey all hail from Mt. Lebanon, Scappe would stand out as an airport-area hopeful.



http://www.wesa.fm/post/special-election-looms-37th-district-attracting-bipartisan-interest#stream/0