Dems back same-sex couple in wedding cake case

Source: The Hill




BY LYDIA WHEELER - 11/01/17 11:22 AM EDT

Congressional Democrats are pushing the Supreme Court to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (New York) led a friend of the court brief signed by 36 Senators and 175 House members in support of the same-sex couple tied at the center of a legal battle with a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for their same-sex wedding.

In the case, scheduled for arguments before the Supreme Court on Dec. 3, the baker claims he should not be forced under the state’s antidiscrimination laws to make a cake for an event that contradicts his deeply held religious beliefs. Rep. Mark Takano (California), who co-chairs of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, said the case isn’t about merely affirming one couple’s right to buy a cake.

“What it seeks to affirm is every person’s right to be treated with dignity and respect in America,” he said Wednesday morning in front of the Capitol while speaking at a press conference to announce the brief.

Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/358198-dems-back-same-sex-couple-in-wedding-cake-case

Trump's top economist offers solution to unemployment: More government jobs

Source: Politico




In the latest edition of the ‘POLITICO Money’ podcast, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Kevin Hassett discusses tax policy, drawing Americans back into the workforce and his ‘Dow 36,000’ prediction.

By BEN WHITE 11/01/2017 05:13 AM EDT

President Donald Trump’s top economist has an unusual idea for dealing with the problem of long-term unemployment: Just have the government hire people.

That’s a New Deal-style idea more closely associated with highly progressive Democrats. But Kevin Hassett, the conservative chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, believes some Americans are so disconnected from the workforce that the best idea to get them working again could be a federal jobs program that would ultimately lead to private-sector employment.

“We’ve not done a good job as a society at thinking about how do we take people who have become discouraged and reconnect them,” Hassett said in the latest edition of the “POLITICO Money” podcast. “And it’s such an urgent problem that government programs that directly hire people might be part of the solution.” This and other unusual ideas could emerge next year when the White House hopes to pivot from its current tax cut push to an infrastructure bill aimed both at rebuilding crumbling roads, bridges, ports and other national assets and at addressing the shrunken size of the labor force.

To Hassett, long-term unemployment often leads to family breakdown and descent into addiction and other maladies. “People who have been unemployed for more than a year very often don’t ever reconnect to the labor force,” he said. “And very often they fall into sort of downward spirals of personal despair where they end up abusing substances and have a higher risk of divorce. Some of the literature in this area is just absolutely disturbing.”



Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/01/trump-economist-jobs-money-dow-jones-244397?lo=ap_a1

Grassley pushing for mandatory harassment training

Source: Politico




'Sexual harassment training is vitally important to maintaining a respectful and productive work environment in Congress.'

By ELANA SCHOR 11/01/2017 05:35 AM EDT

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chief author of the law that established a system for handling workplace misconduct on Capitol Hill, is urging that sexual harassment training be made mandatory, not voluntary, for all upper-chamber employees.

In a Tuesday letter to the Senate Rules Committee, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, Grassley, an Iowa Republican, proposed that the panel circulate a letter announcing a new policy that Senate employees be required to attend sexual harassment training — a step that's currently voluntary. Grassley's request comes after a POLITICO report outlined congressional staffers' sparse awareness of the Office of Compliance, the harassment-handling entity created in 1995 by the Grassley-backed Congressional Accountability Act.

"I am convinced that sexual harassment training is vitally important to maintaining a respectful and productive work environment in Congress," Grassley wrote.

The Iowan, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, noted that "my understanding is that many offices require their staff to participate in sexual harassment training" offered by the OOC. "But as this training is not mandatory, some may not be receiving it," Grassley added.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/01/grassley-congress-harassment-training-244395

Cardin: Russia's election meddling is 'an act of war'

Source: Politico




By LOUIS NELSON 11/01/2017 11:03 AM EDT

Russian efforts to interfere in last year’s presidential election amount to “an act of war,” Sen. Ben Cardin said Wednesday, and to question otherwise plays right into Russia’s hands.

“You’re falling into Russia’s trap. Russia is spending money in this country to convince us that this is nothing more than what’s been done since the beginning of time,” Cardin (D-Md.) said Wednesday at an event hosted by the National Democratic Institute. “It’s a conscientious effort to say ‘we all so this, so why is America getting upset?’ And we’re falling trap to it because we’re giving legitimacy to this.”

“Cyber is an attack against our country. When you use cyber in an affirmative way to compromise our democratic, free election system, that’s an attack against America,” he continued. “It’s an act of war. It is an act of war.”

That Russia sought to interfere in last year’s presidential election, an allegation it denies, has been the assessment of the U.S. intelligence community dating back to last year. The FBI, CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence all concluded that the Kremlin’s efforts were aimed at the candidacy of President Donald Trump, who held warmer positions towards Russia during the campaign, and harming that of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/01/russia-meddling-us-elections-ndi-event-244414

Russia trolls stoked anti-Muslim sentiment before election: GOP Senator

Source: The Hill




BY BRETT SAMUELS - 11/01/17 10:56 AM EDT


https://twitter.com/SenatorBurr/status/925728042550550528

Two Russian-linked Facebook accounts — one anti-immigrant and the other pro-Muslim — pitted Houston-area residents against each other prior to the 2016 election, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr said Wednesday.

Russian-linked trolls created and advertised the events for $200, Burr said during a hearing with representatives from Facebook, Google and Twitter about Russian interference in the election.

One group, titled “The Heart of Texas,” promoted pro-Texas and anti-immigration messages with a tagline “Texas: Homeland of Guns, BBQ and ur heart!" The other, titled “United Muslims of America,” claimed to be pro-Islam, and had a tagline “I’m a Muslim and I’m proud.”

The two groups placed advertisements on Facebook promoting events at the same time on May 21, 2016, near an Islamic Community Center. The ads were viewed by nearly 15,000 people combined, Burr said.


Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/technology/358191-russia-trolls-stoked-anti-muslim-sentiment-before-election-gop-senator

NY GOP sends out anti-Semitic campaign flyer showing Jewish Democrat as sinister 'puppet master'

Source: RawStory



BRAD REED
01 NOV 2017 AT 10:14 ET



Democrats in Westchester County, New York are furious after the New York Republican State Committee sent out a flyer depicting a Jewish Democrat as a sinister “puppet master” who pulls the strings of local Democratic candidates — two of whom are minorities.

ABC 7 NY reports that the flyer “depicts former Town Supervisor Susan Siegel, a Jewish woman, as a puppeteer controlling three Democratic candidates that include an African-American woman and a man of Indian descent.”

The flyer says that Siegel will be using her alleged control over these candidates to make them transform Yorktown, New York into “a safehaven for illegal immigrants” that will result in massive tax increases for local residents. “How can we trust them to protect us, when all they want is to protect them?” the flyer asks.

The flyer also makes reference to black NFL players’ protests against police brutality by saying Republican candidates will “never take a knee” if elected.



Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/ny-gop-sends-out-anti-semitic-campaign-flyer-showing-jewish-democrat-as-sinister-puppet-master/

New York truck attacker who killed 8 was a lone wolf who 'radicalized domestically,' governor says

Source: The Washington Post




By Renae Merle, Devlin Barrett and Mark Berman November 1 at 9:16 AM

NEW YORK — Investigators probing the background of the 29-year-old man they say mowed down pedestrians and cyclists on a Manhattan bike path believe he was a lone wolf who became “radicalized domestically” after coming to the United States, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said Wednesday.

Cuomo said the attacker was influenced by the Islamic State and its violent tactics after arriving in this country from Uzbekistan. Officials say the suspected attacker, Sayfullo Saipov, left a note declaring his allegiance to the group, but authorities have not found any connections between him and the Islamic State or any other organization.

“The evidence shows .?.?. that after he came to the United States, is when he started to become informed about ISIS and radical Islamic tactics,” Cuomo said during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day”, using one of the acronyms for the group. “We have no evidence yet of associations or continuing plot or associated plots, and our only evidence to date is that this was an isolated incident that he himself performed.”

Saipov arrived in the United States at least six years ago and moved from New Jersey to Ohio and Florida, according to authorities. Officials say Saipov climbed into a rental truck and careened down a path along Hudson River on Tuesday afternoon, slamming into numerous people before he was wounded by police and taken into custody.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/11/01/new-york-attack-probe-expands-to-uzbekistan-as-possible-militant-links-explored

Democrats add to 'Better Deal' platform with a slew of pro-labor-union ideas

By David Weigel November 1 at 9:09 AM

Senate Democrats are rolling out another plank in their “Better Deal” platform today, a series of pro-labor reforms aimed at “strengthening the collective voice and negotiating rights of workers.”

-snip-

“Democrats are redoubling our commitment to working men and women with these proposals,” Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) said in a statement. “We’re offering the middle class and those struggling to get there a better deal by taking on companies that undermine unions and underpay their workers, and beginning to unwind a rigged system that undermines every worker’s freedom to negotiate with their employer.”

The labor plank of the Better Deal is ambitious, anticipating court and National Labor Relations Board decisions that could go against unions in the next four years. Among them:

A “federal law that provides public workers with the same rights and freedom to engage in collective bargaining as their private sector counterparts,” designed to prevent the piecemeal right-to-work efforts that have taken off in Republican-run states since 2011.

A ban on state “right-to-work” laws altogether, as “they have been found to reduce union membership by up to 10 percent and have resulted in lower wages and decreased access to employer-provided health care and pensions.”

Making it easier to strike with a “ban [on] the permanent replacement of striking workers.”

NYC terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov brags about attack from hospital bed

Source: CBS News




By STEFAN BECKET CBS NEWS November 1, 2017, 9:24 AM

NEW YORK -- The suspect in Tuesday's terrorist attack in lower Manhattan bragged to police about the deadly attack from his hospital bed, saying he would have continued the attack had he not crashed into a school bus.

Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, 29, told police he is pleased with his actions and is unapologetic for the attack, which killed 8 people and injured at least 11. Sources tell CBS News he made "no bones" about what he did.

Investigators also discovered 10 to 15 pieces of paper with writing in Arabic praising the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. One note said "ISIS will endure," sources say.

Police also recovered knives at the scene.


Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-city-terror-suspect-sayfullo-saipov-bragging-about-attack-from-hospital-bed/

Obama releases video urging people to sign up for ObamaCare

Source: The Hill




Former President Obama released a video urging people to sign up for ObamaCare as a new enrollment period — the first under a new president — begins on Wednesday. In the video, Obama said today is the first day to "get covered for 2018."

"You can shop for a health insurance plan that's right for you and your family," Obama said. "It only takes a few minutes and the vast majority of people qualify for financial assistance."

https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/925710762894680064

Obama said eight in 10 people this year can find plans for $75 a month or less.

"That's cheaper than a lot of cell phone plans. And thanks to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer charge you more just for being a woman, or for having a pre-existing condition," he said.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/358173-obama-releases-video-urging-people-to-sign-up-for-obamacare