June 30, 2016

Trump Finally Weighs In On SCOTUS Abortion Ruling With Some Bad Math

Source: Talking Points Memo

After several days of silence regarding the Supreme Court's ruling against a Texas anti-abortion law, Donald Trump on Thursday finally weighed in on the decision and claimed that such a ruling would not occur if he were to appoint the next Supreme Court justice.

"Now if we had — Scalia was living or if Scalia was replaced by me, you wouldn’t have had that. Okay? It would’ve been the opposite," Trump told conservative radio host Mike Gallagher.

To be clear, the Supreme Court voted 5-3 against the Texas law, and a ninth justice would not have been enough to change the court's opinion.

In the case, the Supreme Court struck down Texas provisions that required abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to nearby hospitals and mandated that the clinics meet the same standards as surgical centers.

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-scotus-abortion-texas

June 30, 2016

House to vote on gun bill next week

Source: The Hill

A week after Democrats staged a nearly 26-hour sit-in demanding a vote on gun control measures, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the House will vote next week on legislation to block suspected terrorists from buying guns.

In a conference call Thursday, Ryan told rank-and-file Republicans that the House will take up a terrorism package that will include measures to disrupt radicalization and recruitment, as well as a provision to prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing guns, according to a source on the call.
It’s unclear exactly which bill will be brought to the floor.

Democrats launched an historic, daylong protest on the House floor last week demanding a vote on such legislation in the wake of the Orlando shooting rampage that killed 49.

Ryan on the call reiterated that it’s important to ensure suspected terrorists can't obtain guns, calling it common sense. But the Speaker said he wanted to approach the issue deliberatively to protect due process and Second Amendment rights.

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Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/286122-house-to-vote-on-gun-bill-next-week

June 30, 2016

Ted Cruz, we hardly missed ya: McCarthy tactics and conspiracy theories at his terror panel

A Cruz-run panel on Islamic terrorism features a fringe character accusing two congressmen of dark dealings

AMANDA MARCOTTE

With the Donald Trump carnival barker show going on, it’s easy to get distracted and miss the fact that congressional Republicans are devolving ever further into their Joseph McCarthy spiral these days, using congressional panels to advance conspiracy theories and put together threatening blacklists, targeting Democrats and pro-choice activists.

Now the same strategy has been used, under the leadership of Sen. Ted Cruz, to imply that two sitting congressmen are somehow involved in terrorism.

[link:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congress-muslim-brotherhood_us_5772b615e4b0352fed3e0372?c040i2h8iu8ilik9|Sam Stein and Jessica Schulberg of the Huffington Post report:
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The charge was leveled by Chris Gaubatz, a “national security consultant” who has moonlighted as an undercover agitator of Muslim groups that he accuses of being terrorist outfits, and it was directed at Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and André Carson (D-Ind.). At the heart of his accusation is the attendance by those two members at a 2008 convention hosted by the Islamic Society of North America — a Muslim umbrella group, which Gaubatz claims is a front for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is not a Muslim Brotherhood group. It’s one of those bland religious umbrella groups, like the National Council of Churches, the YMCA or the Jewish Federations of North America — groups that might have some political missions, but mostly exist to nurture their religious communities.

more
http://www.salon.com/2016/06/29/ted_cruz_we_hardly_missed_ya_mccarthy_tactics_and_conspiracy_theories_at_his_terror_panel/

June 30, 2016

Obama and Sanders battle over TPP and the Democratic platform

By David Weigel

As he faced the press in Ottawa today, flanked by other leaders of NAFTA signatories, President Obama argued that both the right and left were misleading people about the challenges of global trade. It was true, he said that workers left out of economic growth were growing angrier. As they did so, "the social cohesion and political consensus needed for liberal market economies starts breaking down," as seen in the Brexit vote. But their anger was being misdirected.

"The prescription of withdrawing from trade deals and focusing solely on your local market, that's the wrong medicine," he said. "You are right to be concerned about the trends, but what you're prescribing will not work."

There was no mystery about who on the right and left Obama was talking to. At a rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump said that the president and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton were wrong to back the Trans Pacific Partnership. In an op-ed published in today's New York Times, Sen. Bernie Sanders told readers that Trump was wrong about the solution but right about the threat.

"We need to fundamentally reject our 'free trade' policies and move to fair trade," wrote Sanders. "Americans should not have to compete against workers in low-wage countries who earn pennies an hour. We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We must help poor countries develop sustainable economic models."

With that back-and-forth, Sanders and Obama elevated a debate that has gone on in public and private for years. It has intensified since Sanders began winding down his campaign for president and focusing on changes to the Democratic platform. According to people with knowledge of the platform negotiations, Sanders used his post-primary meeting with the president to say he would push for the party to officially oppose the TPP. The president said he would now allow it. And since then, the White House has leaned on key Democrats to make sure that the platform did not include a rebuke.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/29/obama-and-sanders-battle-over-tpp-and-the-democratic-platform/?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1

June 30, 2016

How Bernie Sanders missed his moment - By Stuart Rothenberg

Bernie Sanders effectively articulated a set of progressive values and issue positions that energized younger voters and the Democratic Party’s left. That earned him kudos for his passion and electoral success.

Even more important, Sander’s performance during the presidential nominating process gave him leverage with Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who has wanted Sander’s enthusiastic endorsement for weeks.

But instead of using that leverage when it was at its peak, Sanders bungled the greatest political opportunity he will ever have. Instead of getting on board with the Clinton campaign, the former mayor of Burlington, Vt., and member of Congress hesitated, resisted, dithered and shilly-shallied.

Now, after Clinton has opened up a significant advantage in general election ballot tests over Republican Donald Trump, a Sanders endorsement will be anticlimactic, welcomed by Clinton but certainly not the blockbuster it would have been even a few of weeks ago.

Why the change? Because Clinton doesn’t need Sanders anymore. At least not the way she once needed his embrace. The former secretary of state has an enthusiastic endorser that is even better than Bernie: Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator whose populism and charisma excites the same people who supported Sanders during the primaries and caucuses.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/06/30/how-bernie-sanders-missed-his-moment/?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1

June 30, 2016

Sanders is making his long goodbye count - By E.J. Dionne Jr.

Nick Salvatore, the biographer of Eugene V. Debs, wrote that the popularity of the great American Socialist leader in the early decades of the 20th century “rested upon his ability to articulate and symbolize something of the severe dislocation experienced by all Americans in the transformation to industrial capitalism.”

Bernie Sanders’s appeal bears a striking similarity to his political hero’s. Debs gave voice to the unease and unhappiness bred by the disruptions of the industrial period. Sanders speaks forcefully for those dismayed by the inequalities and injustices in this era of deindustrialization.

Like Debs, Sanders failed to achieve victory in a presidential contest. Nonetheless, both democratic socialists spoke for many who neither shared their ideology nor voted for them. Just as Debsian socialism had a powerful impact in preparing the way for the New Deal, so will Sanders have an influence on where American politics moves next.

The free-spirited Brooklyn native from Vermont, however, confronts very different political choices than those faced by Debs, who consciously and proudly worked outside the framework of the two-party system. By contrast, Sanders has a long and complicated relationship with the Democratic Party.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/making-sanderss-goodbye-count/2016/06/29/27af0008-3e28-11e6-a66f-aa6c1883b6b1_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

June 29, 2016

Gay Republicans plan ‘Shoot Back’ convention party for Trump

While prominent Republicans continue to come out in favor of anyone but Donald Trump for president, GOProud founder Chris Barron appears to believe the candidate when he says he’s good for “the gays” and is throwing his support behind the presumptive Republican nominee.

Barron’s fledgling group, LGBTrump, is even hosting a party in conjunction with the Republican National Convention called “Shoot Back.” The event popped up on Monday, according to Joe.My.God, and hasn’t gained much traction yet, with just two people invited and four “interested” in attending on Facebook.

The event is free to attend and promises “unity through defiance (and cocktails!):

#ShootBack is a party taking place during the GOP Convention. Organized by a coalition of gay Republicans who — like all Americans — were shaken by the tragic massacre in Orlando, our vision is to bring together the GOP community in a show of unity through defiance (and cocktails!) in support of Donald Trump.

more
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/06/gay-republicans-plan-shoot-back-convention-party-trump/

June 29, 2016

Harry Reid roasts Republicans for using rule created by child molester to block Zika funding

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) lashed out a Republican “crazies” in the House of Representatives for using the so-called “Hastert rule” to block a bill responding to the Zika outbreak even though former House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL), an admitted serial child molester, was serving time in prison.

Reid noted that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had recently blasted Democrats for blocking a bill to fight the Zika outbreak because it restricted Planned Parenthood from providing contraception and other Zika-fighting services to at-risk women.

The Nevada Democrat noted that House Republicans could have passed an acceptable bill if it were not for the Hastert Rule, a policy enacted by former Speaker Hastert that prevents GOP leadership from holding a vote on bills that are not supported by a majority of Republican lawmakers. The rule blocks Democrats from joining with a small number of Republicans to push through bipartisan bills in the House.

“They have what is called the Hastert rule, named after a congressman from Illinois who was the Speaker of the House for a number of years,” Reid explained. “They didn’t want Democrats to be involved and they’re still that way. Even though Hastert’s in prison, they still follow the Hastert rule.” Referring to a late night vote last week, Reid said that Republicans had passed a compromised bill to pacify “all the crazies — I’m sorry to use that term but that’s a term that Speaker Boehner used and I think the more I see of this, I think he had it down pretty pat.”

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/harry-reid-roasts-republicans-for-using-rule-created-by-child-molester-to-block-zika-funding/

June 29, 2016

Trump Fundraises On Chance To Finally 'Indict Hillary Clinton'

Donald Trump was fundraising Tuesday off the House Benghazi Committee's final report, offering donors the chance to "indict" former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by donating the campaign $5, $10 or more.

"Every Election Day, politicians stand trial before the people," team Trump wrote in a fundraising email. "The voters are the jury. Their ballots are the verdict."

Calling the presumptive Democratic nominee "a world-class liar," the email said voters will have the chance in November to "INDICT HILLARY CLINTON AND FIND HER GUILTY OF ALL CHARGES."

The email didn't specify what charges those might be.

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[image][/image]

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-fundraising-indict-clinton

June 29, 2016

Paul Ryan Issues Warning Shot: He 'Will Not Tolerate' Another Dem Sit-In

Source: Talking Points Memo

House Speaker Paul Ryan said he "will not tolerate" another sit in on the floor of the House of Representatives like the one Democrats staged on gun control last week.

"We are not going to handle it the same way,” Ryan warned in the interview, which was highlighted by the Hill newspaper. "We will not take this. We will not tolerate this." Ryan drew the line in an interview with local news program WISN’s “UpFront with Mike Gousha.

Ryan did not explicitly detail how a Democratic sit-in would be different next time around.

In another interview also flagged by the Hill, Ryan told WGTD radio this week that the reason he did not arrest Democrats last week was that he had heard it was what Democrats were hoping for, "They said they were hoping to get arrested and hauled off the floor. They told a number of my staff that and so I did get a brief heads up about it," Ryan said.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/paul-ryan-won-t-tolerate-another-sit-in