"Candidates make final pitches in races across Mass." by Matt Stout Globe Correspondent September 04, 2018
In a political season awash in themes of generational change, the Seventh Congressional District’s Democratic primary is being held up as a party bellwether, and while turnout is expected to be low for Tuesday’s state primary, the political reverberations could extend far beyond the district’s serpentine borders.
The congressional race, where the Democrat-on-Democrat fight has muscled its way onto the front page of The New York Times and drawn coverage from national television networks, has centered on the challenge from Ayanna Pressley, the first African-American woman elected to the Boston City Council, one who touts herself as a new voice for an urban district [and] says a district where the majority of residents are people of color needs a change from US Representative Michael E. Capuano, the 10-term congressman who says he’s so ingrained in one of the communities he represents, it’s his middle name, [and] who has been a reliable liberal vote on Capitol Hill.
Capuano, first elected to Congress two decades ago, has the backing of Mayor Martin J. Walsh and other members of the party’s Democratic establishment, and he touts a history of support for civil rights, gun control, and other liberal issues. The competing arguments have weaved themselves into a narrative of racial differences (Pressley is black, Capuano is white) and generational ones (Pressley is 44, Capuano is 66).....
I'm told “it’s always a struggle for the hearts, minds, and soul.”
--more--"
Yes, fellow citizens of the state, it's our day -- and if you don't vote, forever hold your peace (talking' to me?)!
I'm told Massachusetts is less sexist than other states and long a liberal bastion, but you wouldn't know it based on the state’s political power structure.
Thus I went and voted for whatever women were on the Republican ballot I drew. The form was different, an SAT kind of thing, but I filled out the ovals the way it told me and sauntered on over to the checkout line. And what do you know, new voting machines. I didn't want to take mine, believe it or not, then got a fold in it when I tried to goose it. They had me put it in the other way, and I left wondering whether it even tallied and whether it even mattered. I'm of the mind that there are preprogrammed results inside of those things.
[flip to below fold]
Better Hustle for those votes:
"The digital campaign: In 2018, the rules have changed" by Hiawatha Bray Globe Staff September 03, 2018
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum didn’t seem to have a prayer of winning last week’s Democratic gubernatorial primary in Florida. Gillum’s opponents spent nearly 15 times as much as he did and late polls had him trailing badly, but Gillum spent much of his campaign war chest on the hottest outreach tool of the season: He reached out to voters with inexpensive text messages, instead of costly TV ads or annoying phone calls. And he relied on polling data gathered on the Internet instead of with landline telephones.
Well, Soros and Steyer tossed a lot of money in late.
In the end, Gillum scored the biggest upset of the primary season, winning with 34 percent of the vote. His polling company, Change Research, had predicted that Gillum would win with 33 percent of the vote, making it the only pollster to predict his victory.
Gillum’s stunning victory hints at the shape of the digital battlefield circa 2018, as citizens vote in Massachusetts’ own primary election on Tuesday and candidates here and across the country prepare for the sprint to November’s midterms.
Digital technologies such as group texting and online polling have been refined and sharpened to compensate for the shortcomings of such traditional methods as TV ads and phone polls. The new tools are often cheaper to use, leveling the playing field in an election year that features many younger and first-time candidates who are challenging establishment figures.
“For me, it’s about using digital technology and data in all parts of campaigning, and not just digital ads,” said Jessica Alter, cofounder of Tech for Campaigns, a volunteer network of workers at leading technology firms who apply their skills to the campaigns of liberal candidates.
You mean like what Cambridge Analytica did for Republicans, right?
Whadda ya' mean, who?
Gillum’s most potent weapon, peer-to-peer texting, proved its worth in the upstart Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. Through it, volunteers send text messages to thousands of potential voters, but unlike bulk e-mail messages, these texts are sent from one individual to another. This avoids breaking a federal law that restricts robotexting, but it also lets voters reply to a human being who can answer questions or invite the voter to an event.
“It’s using texting the way we use it with our family members and friends, which is to have real conversations,” said Roddy Lindsay chief executive of Hustle, a peer-to-peer service exclusively serving progressive candidates. The Gillum campaign didn’t spend much on TV ads, but it used Hustle to crank out 1.5 million text messages.
Hustle said it is working with the Massachusetts Democratic Party and directly with more than a dozen campaigns, including those of Elizabeth Warren and Ayanna Pressley.
In Massachusetts, voters reported receiving texts from a volunteer for Rachael Rollins, a candidate for Suffolk district attorney, and from a volunteer for Pressley, a candidate for Congress, among other candidates. The texts addressed the voters by their first name and urged them to vote for the candidate.
Republican candidates are also getting in on this game. Dismayed with the GOP’s relative lack of technical savvy, Thomas Peters launched the political startup uCampaign in 2015.
Peters believes his company’s peer-to-peer texting service, RumbleUp played a crucial role in the recent Minnesota Republican gubernatorial primary. In that state, Jeff Johnson, a little-known county commissioner, upset former governor Tim Pawlenty.
“People just don’t read their e-mails anymore,” said Peters. “Ninety-eight percent of text messages are read, and 90 percent of them are read within 30 minutes.”
Democratic candidates also are taking advantage of a new kind of polling — Internet-based, fast and cheap. Gillum’s polling firm, Change Research, uses the results of Internet questionnaires to assess public opinion, rather than relying on phone calls.
Just a few years ago those were derided as easy to manipulate and false (because the antiwar candidate Ron Paul kept winning them by landslides).
“We’re able to poll three or four or five hundred people in the range of $5,000,” said cofounder Mike Greenfield. “If you go to a big-name phone pollster, generally those polls are in the $20,000 to $50,000 range,” but Change Research isn’t infallible. Days before December’s special election for US senator from Alabama, it put the controversial GOP candidate Roy Moore six points ahead of Democrat Doug Jones. Jones edged out Moore to win the race.
Oh, so that WAS a STOLEN ELECTION!
So if a Democrat is within a handful of points that will be enough to trigger the software program to flip, 'eh?
Still, the Gillum results suggest that Greenfield, a former data scientist at PayPal and Linkedin, is on to something.
Of course, candidates from both major parties are exploiting social media, but the rules have changed since 2016. Facebook, Twitter, and Google now require political advertisers to provide proof of their identity and location. It’s a way to prevent election meddling by foreign governments, such as Russia’s.
PFFFT!
As if we are all automatons out here, just waiting for our heads to be filled up and the assumption that we will believe everything that is poured in there.
In the end, the value of these technologies and tactics will be determined at the ballot box, but Nicco Mele, director of Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, said it’s hard to attribute victory to any given gimmick.
“There’s a tendency in political campaigns to claim that some technology is a silver bullet, when in fact there are a lot of factors at work,” Mele said. “Candidates who really excite the base will probably outperform candidates who don’t, regardless of tactics.”
As for whether any of the latest electoral innovations will matter, Mele said, “You have to wait till the election to find out if it’s a meaningful variable.”
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Made me sick, and the cranberries don't help.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"Trump renews attacks on ‘the Jeff Sessions Justice Department’" by Josh Dawsey Washington Post September 04, 2018
WASHINGTON — President Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department on Monday in connection with the indictments of two GOP congressmen on corruption charges, saying they could hurt the Republican Party in the midterm elections.
‘‘Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department,’’ he said on Twitter. ‘‘Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time.’’
‘‘Good job Jeff......’’ he added, in a sarcastic comment. Calling the agency the ‘‘Jeff Sessions Justice Department’’ is the president’s ultimate insult, Trump advisers say.
Trump did not address the charges themselves or name the congressmen, but the tweet was apparently referring to the indictments this summer of Representatives Chris Collins of New York and Duncan D. Hunter of California, the president’s two earliest congressional endorsers.
Collins was charged with insider trading, accused by federal prosecutors of tipping off his son about a biotechnology company’s failed drug trial to avoid significant investment losses. The alleged tip-off took place not during the Obama administration, as Trump’s tweet suggests, but in 2017, after Trump had become president.
Hunter was charged with using more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses, including family vacations, school tuition, and theater tickets. Collins has suspended his reelection campaign, while Hunter is running for reelection, alleging political bias by the Justice Department.
At that point, my print copy turned towards Labor.
Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, criticized the president’s tweet.
‘‘The United States is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice — one for the majority party and one for the minority party,” he said in a statement. “These two men have been charged with crimes because of evidence, not because of who the President was when the investigations began.”
Actually, it is, and Trump proves it. The Clinton gang are getting away with all of their crimes.
A few minutes after the tweet on Sessions, Trump added a second tweet attacking former FBI director James B. Comey, asserting that Democrats did not like Comey until Trump fired him in 2017.
‘‘The Democrats, none of whom voted for Jeff Sessions, must love him now. Same thing with Lyin’ James Comey. The Dems all hated him, wanted him out, thought he was disgusting - UNTIL I FIRED HIM! Immediately he became a wonderful man, a saint like figure in fact. Really sick!’’
You know, he is right. They were calling Sessions a racist during his confirmation hearings, and hated Comey because they viewed his forced outing of the Weiner laptop days before the election as the event that took the presidency from Hillary.
It's not true. As I've enumerated many times, Trump was due to win in a free and fair election because the Democrats, under Obama's leadership, had neither the Prosperity or Peace leg upon which an incumbent party wins election. Obama got us into three more wars (Libya, Syria, Yemen) and left with troops still in Afghanistan and Iraq, while his economy yawned with wealth inequality.
The tweet on Sessions was an unusually harsh salvo, even for a president who sometimes expresses his thoughts on Twitter to the chagrin of his staff. The tweet indicated that his attorney general should base law enforcement actions on how it could affect the president and the Republican Party’s electoral success. It also seemed to indicate that electoral popularity should influence charges.
You mean he thinks Sessions should run the department like Holder did.
There has typically been a separation between the White House and the Justice Department, but Trump has frequently disregarded those norms, giving orders to Sessions. Sessions recently pushed back, saying publicly that he will not allow political manipulation of the department.
Trump recently told Bloomberg News that he would keep Sessions as attorney general until after the midterm elections.
‘‘Repeatedly trying to pervert DOJ into a weapon to go after his adversaries, and now shamelessly complaining that DOJ should protect his political allies to maintain his majority in the midterms, is nothing short of an all-out assault on the rule of law,’’ former deputy attorney general Sally Yates said in a statement Monday.
Look who said that. One of those involved in the unmasking and the spying on the Trump campaign. If that doesn't carry hypocritical chutzpah to another level, I don't know what does.
Trump’s attacks on Sessions, and his efforts to force his attorney general to quit his post after Sessions recused himself from the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, are part of an obstruction investigation into the president by special counsel Robert Mueller and his team.
Also under investigation is Trump’s conduct in dismissing Comey, particularly why he fired him and whether he pressured him to be generous to Michael Flynn, the president’s former national security adviser. Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Trump stayed at the White House on Monday, watching television. He emerged earlier in the day, apparently about to join a waiting motorcade, before returning inside.
The White House had no comment on Trump’s tweets, but said he decided to not leave the White House and focus on trade calls.
He's starting to pull Hitler-like moves regarding his itinerary?
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That's where my printed National lead went:
"Trump attacks top union leader on Labor Day" by the Associated Press September 03, 2018
WASHINGTON — President Trump started his Labor Day with an attack on a top union leader, lashing out after criticism from AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka.
Trump tweeted Monday that Trumka ‘‘represented his union poorly on television this weekend.’’ He added: ‘‘it is easy to see why unions are doing so poorly. A Dem!’’
The president’s attack came after Trumka appeared on ‘‘Fox News Sunday’’ over the weekend where he said efforts to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement should include Canada. Trumka, whose organization is an umbrella group for most unions, said the economies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico are ‘‘integrated’’ and ‘‘it’s pretty hard to see how that would work without having Canada in the deal.’’
That's why unions are doing so poorly; they are promoting the very globalization that destroys them. It's like the "Left" has come full circle.
Trump administration negotiations to keep Canada in the reimagined trade bloc are to resume this week as Washington and Ottawa try to break a deadlock over issues such as Canada’s dairy market and US efforts to shield drug companies from generic competition.
Asked about the low unemployment rate and economic growth, Trumka said ‘‘those are good, but wages have been down since the first of the year. Gas prices have been up since the first of the year. So, overall, workers aren’t doing as well.’’
PFFFT!
Better than they were!
Related:
"President Donald Trump is taking a swipe at John Kerry, after the former secretary of state did not rule out a 2020 Democratic presidential bid. Trump tweeted Monday: ‘‘I see that John Kerry, the father of the now terminated Iran deal, is thinking of running for President. I should only be so lucky - although the field that is currently assembling looks really good - FOR ME!’’ Kerry was asked on CBS Sunday if he would run in 2020 and did not rule it out....."
Was also included in my page A2 lead.
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Related: Bo$ton Globe Peace Pipe
Yeah, it's high past time to get out of Afghanistan.
Tropical Storm Gordon brings hurricane warning to Gulf Coast
One body has already washed up.
"Man shouts ‘Shame on you’ as Cardinal Wuerl addresses sex abuse scandal" Washington Post September 03, 2018
A man stood and yelled “Shame on you” as Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl on Sunday addressed the sex abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church and asked parishioners to pray for Pope Francis as he deals with the problem.
A video of the incident inside Annunciation Catholic Church in Washington shows the man, identified by CNN as Brian Garfield, walking angrily toward the exit after he could be heard yelling at Wuerl during a short speech in which the cardinal also asked parishioners to forgive his “errors in judgment” in handling sexual abuse claims while he was a bishop in Pittsburgh.
Garfield, who could not be reached for comment Monday, told CNN that he is a lifelong Catholic angry about the findings of a grand jury report in Pennsylvania released last month that documented abuse by 300 priests over the course of 70 years. The report focused attention on Wuerl’s mixed record of dealing with abusive priests when he was bishop of Pittsburgh for 18 years before becoming cardinal of the Washington archdiocese in 2006.
Since those findings, Wuerl has faced escalating calls by Catholic survivor groups to resign, a push that grew more intense last week after a former Vatican ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, published a letter that accused the cardinal of knowing about alleged sexual misconduct committed by his predecessor in Washington, Theodore McCarrick. Wuerl has denied knowing of anything about misconduct until McCarrick — who is accused of abusing two minors, young priests and seminarians — was suspended this summer. McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals in July following the allegations.
During his speech Sunday, held after Mass, Wuerl sought to soothe anger among Catholics.
“We know there’s pain,” Wuerl told his church audience, many of whom sat listening in silence. “We know there’s confusion. I wish I could wipe it away but that’s not the way it works.”
The outburst by Garfield was triggered when Wuerl asked the crowd to pray for the pope, who has also come under attack over how abuse claims have been handled.
“It’s clear that he is the object of considerable animosity,” Wuerl said about the pope.
These guys were all enablers and then they covered it all up.
In a statement, the Washington archdiocese said Wuerl received “applause and expressions of support from the parishioners” as he concluded.
Later, more people approached Wuerl to express their support, the statement said.
Maybe they are getting what they deserve then. Good God!!
Becky Ianni, a leader of the Northern Virginia chapter of the nonprofit Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said a push by survivor groups for Wuerl to resign has been gaining steam.
Several protests against Wuerl have been held in recent weeks, including one last week by a group of about 40 Catholic-school teachers outside the annual back-to-school Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Earlier this month, a high school in Pittsburgh removed the words “Cardinal Wuerl” from its name.
“We’re getting more phone calls,” said Ianni, who was abused as a child by a priest in Alexandria. “I think it angered a lot of people that he was initially not being contrite.”
Terms used by Wuerl and other Catholic officials like “errors in judgment” or “inappropriate contact” anger people who want abusive priests held accountable, she said.
“All that kind of stuff minimizes the pain of survivors,” Ianni said.
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Related:
"Britain’s home secretary says up to 80,000 people pose an online sexual threat to children and warned that Internet companies could face new laws and regulations forcing them to ramp up efforts to protect children. Sajid Javid said Monday that Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, and others should fight child abuse with the same intensity used to remove political extremists’ material from the Internet. He said the threat has evolved more quickly than the industry’s response, citing a ‘‘horrifying’’ rise in pedophile activity online. ‘‘I am not just asking for change. I am demanding it,’’ he said."
That is what they are talking about over there.
The reason the pedophiles are all on line is because the ruling cla$$ is rife with them. They only want to shut down the people pointing that out.
Here is a drink of water:
"Detroit is latest big school district to turn off tap water" by David Eggert and Corey Williams Associated Press September 03, 2018
DETROIT — Some 50,000 Detroit public school students will start the school year Tuesday by drinking water from coolers, not fountains, after the discovery of elevated levels of lead or copper — the latest setback in a state already dealing with the consequences of contaminated tap water in Flint and other communities.
You know, managing water is the government’s “most important policy challenge,” and I know he ate lead as child, but:
‘‘I'm sure when I was 2 years old I was somewhere eating a paint chip,’’ he said with a chuckle, and he encouraged parents to get medical checkups for their children. ‘‘They will be fine . . . as long as we’re looking after them’’
Ummm, no they won't be, jerk. The damage from lead poisoning is irreversible!
Kids at the schools that already had coolers drank more than they ever had from the fountains, according to their principals.
‘‘There has been an undertone of not trusting the water to begin with,’’ Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said Friday, days after announcing his decision. ‘‘With the water coming from the water coolers, they just trust it more and are drinking it more.’’
Wouldn't you?
That's where the print paper shut of the spigot -- while the Globe's web tap left it running:
Detroit is not the first major school district to switch to bottled water. The 49,000-student district in Portland, Ore., turned off its fixtures in 2016 after a scandal over high levels of lead in the water at almost every school — a problem that took two years to fix. Fountains at most schools in the 80,000-student Baltimore districts have been shut off for more than a decade.
Same in Boston, but they are doing better.
Last year, LeeAndria Hardison saw brown water coming from fountains at the Detroit school attended by her teenage son.
That's not good.
‘‘I’ve been sending water to school every day with his name on it — five bottles of water in a cooling pack,’’ said Hardison, 39. ‘‘He was only allowed to drink that water.’’
Does he get bullied like I did?
Mom wrote your name on your jacket and shirt, haw-haw-haw-haw-haw!
Pussy!
Water testing in Detroit schools should have started years ago due to aging pipes, said Ricky Rice, 61, who has a grandson in sixth grade and another grandchild beginning kindergarten.
‘‘In the poorer neighborhoods, in the black neighborhoods we always have a problem with issues of environment,’’ Rice said. ‘‘Look at the water up in Flint. Now, look at the water here. They should have known it was going to be a problem with this old infrastructure.’’
Oh, Obummer!!
Or was it allowed to happen so there would be more federal oversight?
Detroit’s move is being welcomed by experts and state lawmakers who say such voluntary testing should be mandated in school districts nationwide, only 43 percent of which tested for lead in 2016 or 2017, according to the US Government Accountability Office.
‘‘Somebody’s finally checking to see if the water’s OK and doing something about it,’’ said Thomas Lyon, a University of Michigan professor who studies water-quality issues.
While water utilities are required to check for lead, they focus on a sample of homes, which does not guarantee that all individual residences or buildings are lead-free. The entities that provide and distribute Detroit’s drinking water — the Great Lakes Water Authority and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department — said it meets and surpasses federal and state standards, and the district’s problems are due to aging plumbing.
Vitti, who took over in Detroit in 2017 after the district had been under state management for years, said it is ‘‘preposterous’’ that schools are not forced to test for lead and that Detroit’s problems are reflective of inequities in urban America and a lack of spending on infrastructure.
‘‘You can test the water coming into a building,’’ he said. ‘‘But if you’re not testing every water source — water fountains, sinks in bathrooms, kitchens — then you’re assuming that the plumbing linked to that particular water source is not producing elevated levels of copper or lead.’’
Vitti ordered the testing of every water outlet in each school building last spring. It was a more expansive sampling than was conducted in 2016 — testing that came in the wake of the crisis in Flint, where the water source was switched under state management and not treated to prevent corrosion, enabling lead to leach from aging service lines and household fixtures.
Water-quality issues have been identified at some water outlets in 34 Detroit schools. Test results are pending for other schools.
Vitti said he is in no rush to turn the tap back on and that a long-term solution must first be identified.
Only eight states require lead-in-water testing in schools and Michigan is not among them. Republican Governor Rick Snyder first proposed mandated testing in 2016 as part of broader changes outlined in the wake of the Flint crisis, for which his administration was primarily blamed. Democratic-backed bills have not advanced in the GOP-led Legislature, but a hearing held in June indicates they could come up again.
Representative Stephanie Chang, a Detroit Democrat, said the inaction is disappointing given the serious health consequences of being exposed to lead.
‘‘It only makes sense to test water on a regular basis in our schools and in child-care centers and in other places where there are vulnerable populations,’’ she said.....
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The water still smells bad.
"Police arrest protest organizer near Chicago’s O’Hare" Associated Press September 04, 2018
CHICAGO — Police arrested the organizer of an antiviolence protest that sought to shut down part of an expressway near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Labor Day.
Earlier in the day, as several dozen protesters gathered, the Rev. Gregory Livingston told reporters he wanted to highlight the inequities in the nation’s third latest city. Poverty and a lack of investment in minority neighborhoods underpinned much of the deadly violence, he said.
‘‘What we’re trying to do is end the tale of two cities in Chicago,’’ he said. ‘‘We think that so much of this violence is generated by Chicago’s legacy of segregation.’’
Troopers successfully blocked access to Interstate 90, also known as the Kennedy Expressway, and no protesters appeared to reach it. The demonstrators had planned to march westbound on the interstate for about a mile.
Some protesters carried signs that read, ‘‘End State-Sanctioned Violence.’’ Other called on Chicago’s mayor to resign, chanting, ‘‘Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Rahm Emanuel has got to go!’’ Troopers deployed megaphones to warn some protesters that they were too close to the expressway.....
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They did get on to the highway in Bo$ton:
"Marriott hotel workers block Boston traffic in protest for better wages" by Abigail Feldman Globe Correspondent September 04, 2018
Hundreds of workers from area Marriott hotels and their supporters rallied in front of the Westin Copley on Monday, banging homemade drums and carrying signs, to demand a fair contract.
The union representing the employees said that it had set a Sept. 12 vote on whether to authorize a strike.
During the protest, police shut down Huntington Avenue for about 10 minutes when about 20 people sat down on the street around 6:15 p.m.
The majority of the protesters were members of the Unite Here Local 26, which represents hotel and food service employees around the city. The union is seeking to protect its workers as the industry undergoes major changes, including new technology that will automate many hotel tasks.
Around 5 p.m., amid a heavy police presence, protesters marched and carried signs saying “One job should be enough” and chanted slogans like “No contract, no peace!”
Is that last one a threat of violence?
Police said there were no arrests during the rally.
Brian Lang, president of Local 26, said the union has been in contract negotiations since March. He said its members plan to stay in the streets until a contract is reached. The protest, he said in an interview, is only the beginning.
Unlike the school bus drivers, who engaged in a slow down.
“In spite of the fact that Marriott and the rest of the hotel industry has made record profits,’’ he said in an interview, “they are making economic proposals that would send people backwards.”
How do you think they made records profits?
Marriott is the largest hotel operator in Boston.
“On a Wednesday night, a room at the Westin Copley goes for $738,” said Lang. “They’re throwing pennies at the people who make it a great hotel to stay in.”
Toula Savvidis, who has worked as a bartender at the Sheraton Boston for 18 years, said she struggles to keep up even as an established employee. She plans to retire in the next 10 years, but she’s concerned about the future.
“I feel uncertain about retiring,” Savvidis said. “People should feel certain about that as an employee.”
A spokesman from Marriott International said in a statement Monday night that the company respects employees’ right to voice their opinions.
On Monday evening, Local 26 protesters were joined by another coalition of marchers led by SEIU 32BJ, which planned its march in a show of solidarity.The union represents property maintenance workers, doormen, security officers, window cleaners, and school and food service workers. Several representatives of nurses and higher education workers joined the march as well.
By 6:30 p.m., most of the protesters began flooding Huntington and started to march toward the Prudential Center. Police followed the crowd and blocked off traffic.
The group then marched past several hotels, some of them Marriott-owned, as it made its way down to the Christian Science Plaza.
One officer attempted to divert the crowd down Belvidere Street, but marchers continued down Huntington shouting “¡Si se puede!” (Yes We Can!) And “what kind of power? Union power!”
They finally stopped in front of the Sheraton Boston, where organizers announced the strike-authorization vote.....
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Liz, where were you?
Where were you?!
Related:
"The future of US Senator Bernie Sanders politically is one of the biggest questions in the state. Despite the fact that Sanders won the 2016 New Hampshire primary by 23 percentage points, recent polls show him only among the front-runners, including US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Vice President Joe Biden. A University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll two weeks ago showed Sanders leading a 13-person field with 30 percent support, with Biden at 19 percent and Warren with 17 percent. Some local Sanders aides argue that should he run again, he has huge advantages like a ready-to-go network of former supporters to build on. The reality, however, might be more complicated. As Levi Sanders runs in an 11-way Democratic primary, former Bernie supporters are split among a number of candidates....."
He better be careful where he stays up there.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"Recriminations fly after fire roars through Brazilian museum" by Peter Prengaman and Sarah DiLorenzo Associated Press September 03, 2018
RIO DE JANEIRO — Firefighters dug through the burned-out hulk of Brazil’s National Museum on Monday, a day after fire roared through the building, as the country mourned the irreplaceable treasures lost and pointed fingers over who was to blame.
The museum held Latin America’s largest collection of historical artifacts, and officials suggested that the damage could be catastrophic, with most objects in the main building probably lost.
For many in Brazil, the state of the 200-year-old natural history museum quickly became a metaphor for what they see as the gutting of Brazilian culture and life during years of corruption, economic collapse, and poor governance.
‘‘It’s a crime that the museum was allowed to get to this shape,’’ said Laura Albuquerque, a 29-year-old dance teacher who was in a crowd protesting outside the gates. ‘‘What happened isn’t just regrettable, it’s devastating, and politicians are responsible for it.’’
The cause of the fire that broke out Sunday night was not known. Federal police will investigate since the museum was part of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, but protesters, commentators, and museum directors themselves said years of government neglect had left the museum so underfunded that its staff had turn to crowdfunding sites to open exhibitions.
Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte, the museum’s deputy director, criticized authorities for starving the museum of vital funding while spending lavishly on stadiums to host the World Cup in 2014.
‘‘The money spent on each one of those stadiums — a quarter of that would have been enough to make this museum safe and resplendent,’’ he said in an interview in front of the still-smoldering building aired on Brazilian television.
Roberto Leher, rector of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said it was well known that the building was vulnerable to fire and in need of extensive repairs. Duarte said he was in the habit of unplugging everything in his office at night because of the risk.
Civil defense authorities were concerned that internal walls and the roof could collapse further, so officials had to wait to conduct a full accounting of losses.
Duarte said that anything held in the main building was likely destroyed. The collection of 20 million cultural and historical items included pieces that belonged to the royal family and a painting by the Brazilian artist Candido Portinari.
This is awful.
This is the way you strip of people of their collective heritage and identity.
The museum, which was once home to the royal family, also housed extensive paleontological, anthropological, and biological specimens. It was home to a skull called Luzia that was among the oldest fossils ever found in the Americas. It also held a Torah and an Egyptian mummy and the largest meteorite ever discovered in Brazil — one of the few objects that officials could confirm had survived.
Brazil has struggled to emerge from a two-year recession and seen its political and corporate elite jailed in Latin America’s largest corruption investigation. The country has been riven with deep political divisions following the impeachment and removal of former President Dilma Rousseff.
Seems to be where we are headed up here.
The protesters gathered outside the museum gates tried several times to push into the site, demanding to see the damage and calling on the government to rebuild. Police held the crowd back with pepper spray, tear gas, and batons.
‘‘This fire is what Brazilian politicians are doing to the people,’’ said Rosana Hollanda, a 35-year-old high school history teacher, who was crying. ‘‘They’re burning our history, and they’re burning our dreams.’’
I can understand why.
What my printed Globe wiped from the pages of history:
Signs of disrepair were evident: The fencing was dilapidated, stonework was cracked and lawns appeared untended.
As the museum was preparing to celebrate its bicentennial in June, its budget had fallen from around $130,000 in 2013 to around $84,000 last year, the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported in May.
In a sign of how strapped the museum was, when a termite infestation last year forced the closure of room that house a 13-yard-long dinosaur skeleton, officials turned to crowdfunding to raise the money to reopen the room.
Brazilian beggars! That is what it has come to!
The institution had recently secured approval for nearly $5 million for a planned renovation, including an upgrade of the fire-prevention system, officials said.
Well, I $uppo$e that will be $5m saved!
‘‘Look at the irony. The money is now there, but we ran out of time,’’ museum Director Alexander Kellner told reporters at the scene.
I find nothing comic about it.
Education Minister Rossieli Soares said $2.4 million would be given to the university immediately to deal with the damage to the building.
So what?
You can't get back the treasures that were lost!
President Michel Temer announced Monday that private and public banks, as well as mining giant Vale and state-run oil company Petrobras, have agreed to help rebuild the museum and reconstitute its collections. French President Emmanuel Macron offered in a tweet to send experts to help rebuild the museum.
Yeah, there will just be nothing to put in it.
Why is Temper still in office, anyway?
Brazil is in the midst of a national election campaign and some candidates on the left seized on the fire as an example of the disastrous effects of budget cuts implemented by Temer’s government. The Folha data showed that cuts to the museum’s budget began under the previous left-wing government.
Brazil's Reichstag fire, and I guess you can't blame Lula (that's an ironclad alibi).
Fire department spokesman Roberto Robadey said firefighters got off to a slow start because the two fire hydrants closest to the museum did not work. Instead, trucks had to gather water from a nearby lake.
(Blog editor just shaking his head)
There were fire extinguishers in the museum, but it was not clear if there were sprinklers, which are problematic for museums because water can damage objects, Kellner said.
Yeah, but as a farmer once told me, fire is the worst. Fire leaves you with ash. At least some items can be salvaged in flood.
Marcus Guidoti, a doctoral candidate in zoology who had visited the museum to study insect specimens, said the neglect dates back years.
‘‘Let this free us from the ignorance that fails to appreciate culture, science, and our national identity,’’ he wrote on Twitter.
All in favor of the buck.
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Related: 250 displaced in Westborough apartment complex fire
No offense, but WhereTF is the fire?
Or smoke, for that matter?
"Argentina announces new taxes, ministry cuts amid turmoil" Associated Press September 03, 2018
BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri announced new taxes on exports and the elimination of several ministries on Monday in a bid to halt economic turmoil that has sent the peso to record lows.
I have news for him: that is just going to make things worse.
Macri said in a televised statement that he will also allocate more economic aid and strengthen food plans for Argentines who suffer from poverty and have been affected by skyrocketing inflation running at about 30 percent this year.
How are higher taxes going to help?
‘‘To start building the country we want, we have to balance our accounts with a state that spends less than what it receives,’’ he said.
Too bad they couldn't print a reserve currency backed by oil like the U.S. does, huh?
In recent weeks, the currency crisis in Argentina has intensified, forcing the government to ask for an early release of a credit line from the International Monetary Fund under a $50 billion backup financing arrangement approved earlier.
That is what is the plan. Enslave all nations -- and individuals, for that matter -- to debt.
Macri, a probusiness conservative who came into office in 2015, promised to trim Argentina’s fiscal deficit, reduce poverty, and curb inflation, but has struggled under the weight of the country’s economic problems.
First they came for the $ociali$ts, and I spoke up because I was a socialist. Then they came for the moderates, and I spoke up because I was a moderate. Now they are coming for the probu$ine$$ conservatives, and there is no one to speak for them.
The latest moves come as he seeks to calm markets and restore confidence to Argentines who continue to lose purchasing power.
Meaning he is getting heat from "investors."
The peso closed at 37.4 pesos per greenback on Friday, before falling an additional 4 percent to around 39 pesos per dollar about two hours after the president spoke.
Macri said he will now ask more of exporters because they ‘‘have more capacity to contribute’’ and have benefited from the peso’s devaluation.
He acknowledged that the tax is ‘‘very bad,’’ but said that it is necessary because there is an ‘‘emergency’’ situation, but such withholding taxes could come as a particularly harsh blow for farmers who already had the poorest harvest in at least a decade due to a drought.
Yeah, the debt interest that suckered the country into must be paid first. Payments to bankers and other financial institutions $uper$ede any other concerns when it comes to government.
Argentina is the world’s largest exporter of soy meal, and farming is the economy’s main engine. High or low prices for soy and other commodities can either help sustain or bust government investment plans.
Maybe they should talk to China about the soy.
Macri said the number of ministries would also be reduced by nearly half, but did not immediately clarify.....
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Wasn't the G-20 just there?
"Duterte calls Hitler ‘insane’ at Israeli Holocaust memorial" Associated Press September 03, 2018
JERUSALEM — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who once compared himself favorably to Adolf Hitler, paid a solemn visit to Israel’s national Holocaust memorial on Monday, branding the Nazi leader ‘‘insane’’ as he lamented the genocide of 6 million Jews.
He did a deep prostration, 'eh?
The comments marked a dramatic turnaround for Duterte, who just two years ago had compared his antidrug campaign to the Holocaust and said he would be ‘‘happy to slaughter’’ 3 million addicts. He later apologized.
Duterte, known for his profane outbursts and accused of committing widespread human rights abuses, spoke quietly and respectfully during his stop at the Yad Vashem memorial. He said the Holocaust should never be repeated and that ‘‘despots’’ have no place in the modern world.
Putting aside the fact that he shouldn't have even went, especially given what nation he rules (if you don't think the Filipinos haven't had experience with brutal colonial occupiers, read your history). Now he IS an embarrassment.
‘‘I could not imagine a country obeying an insane leader, and I could not ever fathom the spectacle of the human being going into a killing spree, murdering old men, women, and children. I hope this will not happen again,’’ he said.
It IS happening now, be it the concentration camp known as Gaza or the wider EUSraeli Empire actions around the globe these last 17 years.
‘‘There is always a lesson to learn: that despots and leaders who show insanity, they should be disposed of at the first instance,’’ he said.
Isn't this the same guy who said the CIA was trying to assassinate him?!?
Duterte, the first Philippine president to visit Israel, has received a warm welcome from the government, despite criticism that it is embracing a leader accused of rights abuses in his deadly crackdown on drug dealers.
When it comes to Israel, all that stuff goes out the window.
The agenda reportedly is expected to include an arms sale to the Philippines. Israel agreed in the past to sell assault rifles to the Philippines national police force.
Undercutting the U.S. again!
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked Monday on the countries’ long friendship. He said the Philippines took in Jewish refugees after World War II and was the only Asian nation to vote for Israel’s establishment. He noted that Filipino health aides now assist the elderly in Israel, including Netanyahu’s father.
Duterte thanked Israel for hosting some 28,000 Filipino workers and for assisting his country in times of need.
That was where the print mercifully ended it.
‘‘We remember our friends, and that friendship has blossomed over the years and especially over the last few years,’’ Netanyahu told Duterte. ‘‘There has been a remarkable phenomenon in Israel where thousands and thousands of families have taken heart from the support given by Filipino caretakers for the elderly.’’
‘‘We share the same passion for peace. We share the same passion for human beings. But also we share the same passion of not allowing our country to be destroyed by those who have the corrupt ideology, who know nothing but to kill and destroy,’’ he said at a joint appearance with Netanyahu. ‘‘And in this sense, Israel can expect any help that the Philippines can extend to your country.’’
Did you see the tweet?
The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1957. Netanyahu has worked to cultivate new allies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where many countries have historically sided with the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel, to help chip away at the number of anti-Israel votes at the United Nations, but Netanyahu has come under fire for embracing Duterte, a 73-year-old former government prosecutor whose forces are accused of killing thousands in antidrug raids since he took office in 2016.
More like an ember.
Duterte drew outrage that year when he compared his antidrug campaign to the Holocaust and himself to Hitler. More recently, he forcibly kissed a woman on stage and said there would be many rape cases in a Philippine city ‘‘if there were many beautiful women.’’
You can't do that first one no matter what it is. That event is super-sacrosanct and the most impactful event in all history.
As for the second part, that is one thing you never see regarding Hitler, even with the myriad of shows on the cable 24/7. There is no sexual harassment charge, and he was a vegetarian that loved animals.
In its lead editorial Monday, the liberal Haaretz daily accused Netanyahu of selling out Israeli values for dubious allies.
‘‘Under the shadow of Duterte’s visit, Israel once again proves it’s willing to overlook leaders’ human rights violations for the sake of opportunities for arms deals and defense contracts,’’ the newspaper said.
Never mind their own.
That the kind of values they mean?
Duterte, who calls US President Trump a friend and in 2016 cursed President Barack Obama for alleged meddling, offered the former occupant of the White House an apology of sorts.
I'm sorry, did he say meddling?
‘‘I said, ‘Son of a bitch, Obama you can go to hell. You son of a bitch.’ I said that because he was not a civilized person,’’ Duterte said in Israel. ‘‘It would be appropriate also to say at this time to Mr. Obama that, ‘You are now a civilian and I am sorry for uttering those words.’ ’’
Look at who he is talking to!
There is nothing more uncivilized on this planet than that Zionist mob over there!
Duterte has been criticized for a brutal crackdown on the Philippine drug trade. Reports of extrajudicial slayings of alleged dealers surfaced during Obama’s presidency.
He has disrupted the pipeline from the Golden Triangle to U.S. shores, and it is costing a lot of people some loot.
Official Philippine police tallies put the number of suspects killed in police-led drug raids at more than 4,500 since Duterte took office.
International human rights watchdogs have cited far higher death tolls. Duterte denies condoning extrajudicial killings, but has openly threatened drug dealers with death.
His visit to Israel was to include a stop at a monument commemorating the Philippines’ rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.
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Speaking of apartheid:
"South African authorities say 8 killed in explosion at munitions plant near Cape Town" Associated Press September 03, 2018
SOMERSET WEST, South Africa — South African authorities said at least eight people were killed in an explosion at a munitions plant near Cape Town.
Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the blast at the Rheinmetall Denel Munition depot, which shook homes and rattled windows in the area on Monday.
According to the African News Agency, Cape Town fire official Theo Layne said eight people died.
The agency, which is based in South Africa, said several people are missing and that firefighters went to the scene to extinguish the flames.
Denel, South Africa’s state-owned arms manufacturer, has a large stake in Rheinmetall Denel Munition.
I gue$$ every country has a military-indu$trial complex.
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Yeah, that's all, class -- unless you want to stay around for extra credit in economics.
Was at the very bottom of the page as we start moving up again:
"Muslim court canes Malaysian women for same-sex relationship" New York Times September 03, 2018
HONG KONG — Two Malaysian women accused of pursuing a sexual relationship were caned in an Islamic court Monday, setting off an outcry from rights groups who said the country’s political transformation this year had done little to ensure equal treatment of all citizens.
The women, who were convicted of “sexual relations between women,” were each struck six times with a rattan cane in front of witnesses in the Sharia High Court in the state of Terengganu, officials said.
Maybe they are into that S&M sh**.
The sentence, delivered four months after an election that saw Malaysia’s governing party ousted for the first time since the country was founded in 1957, reflects the country’s deeply conservative culture despite a liberalization in its politics.
Rights groups assailed the new government for discrimination against gay men and lesbians and for continuing to allow a form of corporal punishment outlawed in most of the world.
“Caning is a form of torture, and to inflict this brutal punishment publicly on two people for engaging in consensual, same-sex relations sends Malaysia back to the Dark Ages,” Gwen Lee, interim executive director for Amnesty International Malaysia, said in a statement.
“Caning is a dreadful reminder of the depth of discrimination LGBTI people face in the country and a sign that the new government condones the use of inhuman and degrading punishments, much like its predecessor,” Lee added.
Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation, has a justice system that includes both civil courts with jurisdiction over everyone and Sharia courts that apply only to Muslims.
The women, ages 22 and 32, were caned by a female prison officer, Malaysian news outlets reported. The older woman did not wince at the blows, but the younger woman began to sob when she was struck, the Star newspaper reported. The women were not identified in local news reports.
Well, there you go. Caned by a female. Their rights advance even as they are punished.
Can they serve in combat?
Representatives of the Terengganu government and Sharia law advocates said that the women were fully clothed while caned, and that the punishment was not meant to injure them but to provide a lesson for the public on Islamic law.
“The Sharia way of caning is not brutal and oppressive as claimed by certain quarters,” said Musa Awang, president of the Sharia Lawyers Association of Malaysia.
Other legal groups disagreed. The Malaysian Bar said the country should not tolerate caning in any form and should repeal all forms of corporal punishment.
“It is a harsh and barbaric form of punishment that causes harmful and long-lasting psychological effects, and has no place in a modern and compassionate society such as ours,” George Varughese, president of the Malaysian Bar, said in a statement.
The religion really has nothing to do with it.
Charles Santiago, a lawmaker who is part of the governing coalition, said the punishment was “outrageous” and “a form of torture.” He said Malaysia had seen a worrying rise in anti-LGBT sentiment in recent months, including a violent assault by several men against a transgender woman last month.
“We need to stop targeting the LGBT community,” he said in a statement. “We need to stop invading their privacy. We need to stop abusing them. We need to grow up as a society and learn to embrace diversity.”
He called on the new government to repeal all laws that criminalize homosexuality.
One of Malaysia’s most prominent politicians, former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, was twice imprisoned on sodomy charges that were seen as orchestrated by his political rivals, including the current prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad.
Anwar was released from prison and pardoned by Malaysia’s king in May, which allows him to hold political office again and potentially succeed Mahathir, who is now his ally, as prime minister.
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It's the same drill when it comes to Sweden, so I'm going to skip over them and Germany right now. Those are WIPs anyway.
"Myanmar court sentences Reuters reporters to 7 years in jail" by Victoria Milko and Aung Naing Soe Associated Press September 03, 2018
YANGON, Myanmar — A Myanmar court sentenced two Reuters journalists to seven years in prison Monday on charges of illegal possession of official documents, a ruling met with international condemnation that will add to outrage over the military’s human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been reporting on the brutal crackdown on the Rohingya when they were arrested and charged with violating the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. They had pleaded not guilty, contending that they were framed by police.
I suppose that is not beyond the realm of possibility, no matter where you live on this planet.
‘‘Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the press everywhere,’’ Stephen J. Adler, Reuters editor-in-chief, said in a statement. He said the charges were ‘‘designed to silence their reporting and intimidate the press.’’
Like those against Alex Jones.
The case has drawn worldwide attention as an example of how democratic reforms in long-isolated Myanmar have stalled under the civilian government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which took power in 2016. Though the military, which ruled the country for a half-century, maintains control of several key ministries, Suu Kyi’s rise to government had raised hopes for an accelerated transition to full democracy and her stance on the Rohingya crisis has disappointed many former admirers.
What is really behind this is Myanmar's cozying up to China.
As the verdict was announced in the hot Yangon courtroom, Kyaw Soe Oo’s wife started crying, leaning into the lap of the person next to her. Outside the court, police and journalists shouted as the two Reuters reporters were led to a truck to be taken away.
‘‘This is unfair,’’ Wa Lone told the crowd. ‘‘I want to say they are obviously threatening our democracy and destroying freedom of the press in our country.’’
How Trumpian!
Kevin Krolicki, Reuters regional editor for Asia, said outside the court that it was ‘‘heartbreaking for friends and colleagues and family of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who in addition to the outrage many will feel, are deprived of their friends and colleagues, husband and father.’’
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a statement on Monday that it’s clear the Burmese military has committed vast atrocities. She said it’s the duty of a responsible press in a free country to keep people informed and hold leaders accountable. She said the US will continue to call for the reporters’ immediate and unconditional release.
OMG!
At least Trump is on your side, 'eh?
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, both testified they suffered from harsh treatment during their initial interrogations after their arrests last December. Their several appeals for release on bail were rejected. Wa Lone’s wife, Pan Ei Mon, gave birth to the couple’s first child in Yangon on Aug. 10, but Wa Lone has not yet seen his daughter.
That gets you back to the Bush years.
The two journalists had been reporting last year on the brutal crackdown by security forces on the Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape the violence targeting them after attacks by Rohingya militants killed a dozen members of the security forces.
Investigators working for the U.N.’s top human rights body said last week that genocide charges should be brought against senior Myanmar military officers over the crackdown.
The accusation of genocide was rejected by Myanmar’s government, but is the most serious official recommendation for prosecution so far. Also last week, Facebook banned Myanmar’s powerful military chief and 19 other individuals and organizations from its site to prevent the spread of hate and misinformation in connection with the Rohingya crisis.
‘‘Today’s verdict cannot conceal the truth of what happened in Rakhine state,’’ Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s director of crisis response, said in a statement Monday. ‘‘It’s thanks to the bravery of journalists like Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, that the military’s atrocities have been exposed. Instead of targeting these two journalists, the Myanmar authorities should have been going after those responsible for killings, rape, torture and the torching of hundreds of Rohingya villages.’’
The new U.N. human rights chief, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, called the trial a ‘‘travesty of justice’’ and said she would urge the Myanmar government to release the journalists immediately.
Dozens of journalists and pro-democracy activists marched Saturday in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, in support of the reporters, but in the country at large, with an overwhelming Buddhist majority, there is widespread prejudice against the Rohingya, and in the government and military, there is near-xenophobic sensitivity to foreign criticism.
Myanmar’s courts are one of the country’s most conservative and nationalistic institutions, and the darkened political atmosphere had seemed unlikely to help the reporters’ cause.
At least Trump hasn't spied on or thrown any journalists in jail like Obama did.
The court earlier this year declined to stop the trial after an initial phase of presentation of evidence, even though a policeman called as a prosecution witness testified that his commander had ordered that documents be planted on the journalists. After his testimony, the officer was jailed for a year for violating police regulations and his family was kicked out of police housing.
Other testimony by prosecution witnesses was contradictory, and the documents presented as evidence against the reporters appeared to be neither secret nor sensitive. The journalists testified they did not solicit or knowingly possess any secret documents.
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{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Get 'em in an American court:
"An advocate for women or a threat? As hearings begin, differing views of Brett Kavanaugh emerge" by Sheryl Gay Stolberg New York Times September 04, 2018
WASHINGTON — Two wildly different portraits of Judge Brett Kavanaugh are set to emerge Tuesday when he appears on Capitol Hill for the opening of his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. One is a champion for women; the other a threat to women’s rights.
Republicans will present Kavanaugh to the nation as an experienced, independent-minded jurist with a sparkling résumé, and as an advocate and mentor for women in the judiciary. Among the cases they will cite: his 2009 ruling in favor of Emily’s List, the group that backs Democratic women who support abortion rights.
Democrats will tell an entirely different story, painting Kavanaugh as a far-right extremist who would roll back abortion rights, deny health coverage to people with preexisting conditions, protect President Trump from the threat of subpoena — and as someone who may have misled Congress when he testified during his Appeals Court confirmation hearing in 2006.
He is probably the most moderate pick you are going to get.
Those two competing narratives will define the contours of a deeply partisan and immensely consequential battle over Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, but while Democrats vowed early on to scuttle the Kavanaugh nomination — Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York, the minority leader, promised to “oppose him with everything I’ve got” — they are unlikely to find success.
Democrats have been unable to muster much public outrage over his nomination or Republicans’ refusal to grant them full access to documents from Kavanaugh’s time working for former President George W. Bush. Even the Trump White House’s decision over the weekend to keep 100,000 pages secret produced little blowback.
Kavanaugh, 53, has spent the past 12 years on the federal Appeals Court here — a traditional steppingstone to the Supreme Court. If he is confirmed, he will shape the course of American jurisprudence for generations to come, filling the seat long occupied by retired Justice Anthony Kennedy — a critical swing vote on divisive matters like same-sex marriage and abortion — with a committed conservative who would push a rightward-leaning court even further in that direction.
Kavanaugh’s views on reproductive rights and Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case legalizing abortion, will take center stage. In addition to demanding to know whether he believes the case was correctly decided — a question he is all but certain to refuse to answer — Democrats will question him about his dissent in the case of Garza v. Hargan, in which he argued that a 17-year-old unauthorized immigrant should not be permitted to have an immediate abortion. They have called Rochelle Garza, the girl’s lawyer, as a witness.
Republicans intend to push back by highlighting Kavanaugh’s record of hiring female clerks — 25 of his 48 clerks have been women — and by making the case that he has taken pains to mentor women, but perhaps the most blistering accusation Democrats will levy is that Kavanaugh was untruthful during his 2006 testimony, when he told the judiciary panel that he was “not involved in the questions about the rules governing” the treatment of terror suspects.
An e-mail, recently made public as part of a trove of Bush records, shows that while working in the Bush White House Counsel’s Office, the future judge volunteered to prepare a senior Bush administration official to testify about the government’s monitoring of conversations between certain terrorism suspects and their lawyers. Democrats, led by Senators Richard Durbin of Illinois and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, had questioned Kavanaugh’s veracity even before that e-mail’s release.
They don't want to go there, and the Globe thinks we wouldn't understand it.
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Print paper still kept these under wraps:
"Hours before Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, Bush lawyer releases 42,000 pages of documents to Judiciary Committee" by Fred Barbash and Seung Min Kim Washington Post September 04, 2018
WASHINGTON — Hours before the start of hearings on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, the lawyer for former president George W. Bush turned over 42,000 pages of documents from the nominee’s service in the Bush White House, angering Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who issued what is certain to be a futile call to delay proceedings.
‘‘Not a single senator will be able to review these records before tomorrow,’’ Schumer, Democrat of New York, tweeted Monday evening.
Taylor Foy, a spokesman for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, responded that ‘‘our review team will be able to complete its examination of this latest batch in short order, before tomorrow’s hearing begins.’’
The hearings are scheduled for 9:30 Tuesday morning, with opening statements by committee members. No information was released on the subject matter of the documents and Bush’s lawyer asked that they be kept from the public, made available only to committee members and staff.
Like at a black site?
Kavanaugh, appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by Bush, served the former president in the White House Counsel’s Office from 2001 to 2003 and as staff secretary from 2003 to 2006.
William Burck, a lawyer representing Bush, said in a letter to Grassley that the 5,148 documents totaling 42,390 pages retrieved from the National Archives were to be treated as ‘‘Committee Confidential,’’ with access limited to Judiciary Committee members and staff.
In the letter to Grassley, Burck said lawyers working on behalf of the former president would determine at a later date which of the documents are ‘‘appropriate for public release.’’
The Bush legal team had already turned over about 415,000 pages to the committee, with about 147,000 of them withheld from public view. President Trump has claimed executive privilege to prevent release of more than 101,921 pages of records from Kavanaugh’s tenure in the White House.
He's committed to keeping the secrets. Clinton stuff is a straw woman to him.
Kavanaugh, as ‘‘an associate and senior associate White House counsel, dealt with some of the most sensitive communications of any White House official,’’ including deliberations on judicial candidates, Burck said in a letter to the committee Friday.
The level of production of documents from Kavanaugh’s White House days, both in the counsel’s office and as Bush’s staff secretary, has been a central point of attack for Democrats jousting with the White House and Republicans over the Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee. Demands for documents from his staff secretary service have been rejected by Republicans.
Now-Justice Elena Kagan was the last Supreme Court nominee to have served in a White House. Christopher Kang, deputy counsel under Obama, said that Obama did not invoke privilege on any documents involving her work.
‘‘Republicans know this has been the least transparent SCOTUS process in history,’’ Schumer tweeted, ‘‘and the hearings should be delayed until we can fully review Judge Kavanaugh’s records.’’
Foy countered that the volume of documents turned over dwarfs ‘‘the total Executive Branch material for the last five confirmed nominees combined.’’
The hearings are expected to last four days, so staffers and members will have more than a few hours to review the documents before any vote is taken on sending the nomination to the full Senate.
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{@@##$$%%^^&&}
About when I got moving. Had business of my own to do today.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"A fiery, old-school pastor who is under fire for saying black America is losing “its soul” at Aretha Franklin’s funeral. Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. told The Associated Press in a phone interview Sunday he felt his sermon was appropriate at Franklin’s funeral Friday in Detroit. He felt his timing was right, especially after other speakers spoke on the civil rights movement and President Donald Trump. Williams was blasted on social media for misogyny, bigotry and the perpetuation of false science on race....."
Hey, at least he didn't grab Ariana Grande's tit.
"In an interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on the celebrity rabbi’s podcast, the usually sharp-tongued comedian Roseanne Barr, whose firing from the show ‘‘Roseanne’’ was a drama-filled saga that played out on social media, said she’ll be in Israel when the spinoff ‘‘The Conners’’ debuts in October. ‘‘I have an opportunity to go to Israel for a few months and study with my favorite teachers over there,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s my great joy and privilege to be a Jewish woman.’’ Barr updated Boteach, on whose podcast she has appeared previously, on what she's been up to since the controversy (other than planning her overseas move). She's cut a record in Nashville, and she's working on an unspecified new sitcom project, she said. And she also offered another reason for her planned move: "I'm leaving California, because I'm sure it's going to fall into the sea soon."
She's a Jewish supremacist crackpot now, probably always was, that's how she got the agenda-pushing show in the first place, but she very well may be right. I mean, the signs are all around us.
Related:
Reminder – Trump is a Blackmailed Israeli Agent
Ex-Chabad Member Exposes Trump Family Cult
That's why he was late for school.
Steve Bannon dropped from New Yorker Festival lineup
It's okay; he has himself a lawyer.
This guy is going to need one, too:
"Monica Lewinsky storms off stage after she’s asked about Bill Clinton" by Aron Heller Associated Press September 04, 2018
JERUSALEM — Monica Lewinsky said Tuesday that she stormed offstage at a Jerusalem speaking event because of an interviewer’s ‘‘off limits’’ question about former president Bill Clinton.
The former White House intern turned anti-bullying activist tweeted that there were agreed-upon parameters regarding the topics of her televised conversation Monday night with a well-known Israeli news anchor, following a conference speech she gave about the perils of the Internet.
Lewinsky called Yonit Levi’s first question about her relationship with Clinton a ‘‘blatant disregard for our agreement.’’
I'm sure it was nothing personal. It an idiosyncrasy that is part of their character. Just ask anyone who has ever sat across a negotiating table with them.
Levi, the main anchor of Israel’s top-rated evening newscast, asked Lewinsky if she still expected a personal apology from Clinton over the fallout of the scandal of their affair 20 years ago. Lewinsky responded: ‘‘I’m so sorry. I’m not going to be able to do this.’’ She then put down her microphone and walked offstage.
Thought he was getting a scoop, huh?
Levi reached out her hand and then anxiously followed Lewinsky offstage as some of the stunned audience awkwardly clapped. The confused hosts then rushed opposition lawmaker Yair Lapid onstage to keep the event moving along. A smiling Lapid, who plans to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the next Israeli elections, quipped: ‘‘Everything has happened to me but stepping in for Monica Lewinsky is a first. There is no way I’ll be interesting enough in the next few minutes but we’ll do our best.’’
In a tweet several hours later, Lewinsky said she had been misled.
By way of deception, thou shalt do war.
‘‘In fact, the exact question the interviewer asked first, she had put to me when we met the day prior. I said that was off limits,’’ she explained. ‘‘I left because it is more important than ever for women to stand up for themselves and not allow others to control their narrative. To the audience: I’m very sorry that this talk had to end this way.’’
Levi’s employer, the Israeli News Company, said it did its utmost to abide by all agreements made with Lewinsky.
‘‘The question asked was legitimate, worthy, and respectful and in no way deviated from Ms. Lewinsky’s requests,’’ said company spokesman Alon Shani. ‘‘We thank Ms. Lewinsky for her fascinating speech to the conference, respect her sensitivity, and wish her all the best.’’
So this was all a staged and scripted controversy to gain her publicity?
Clinton recently came under fire for responding defensively to questions in an NBC interview about his sexual relationship with the White House intern in the late 1990s. He insisted he did not think it necessary to offer her a personal apology since he had already repeatedly apologized publicly. Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky helped lead to his impeachment.
Lewinsky, who for years kept quiet about the relationship before reemerging as a public speaker, wrote in March that their relationship ‘‘was not sexual assault’’ but ‘‘constituted a gross abuse of power.’’
You go, girl!
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Also see:
Rachel Cowan, 77, innovative rabbi
She literally lost her Voice.
"Moose crowded by people on shore drowns in Vermont lake" Associated Press September 03, 2018
SOUTH HERO, Vt. — A moose drowned in Lake Champlain after people crowded around the animal to take its picture, Vermont wildlife officials said.
Fish and Wildlife Officer Robert Currier told WCAX that the moose swam across the lake from New York to South Hero, Vt., on Saturday. He said it made it onto land but was forced back into the water, likely feeling threatened by onlookers. The moose succumbed to exhaustion and drowned.
(Cue sounds of grief)
Bernadette Toth was in the area Saturday morning with her 17-year-old daughter, who was having her senior photos taken. She saw the moose swim to shore, but left before it reentered the water. She said there were about half a dozen people nearby and noted that the incident happened near a bike path popular with tourists.
‘‘They made it sound like it was this big mob of people. No, this is a heavy trafficked area for South Hero,’’ Toth said. ‘‘That is always a very busy, busy area.’’
Currier said people should keep their distance from moose, adding that the animals respond to threats by leaving an area or getting aggressive.
In any event, his death was unnecessary.
Leave him alone!
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After swimming across Lake Champlain from New York to South Hero, Vt., Sept. 1, this moose, perhaps feeling threatened by onlookers, returned to the water and drowned (Bernadette Toth via AP).
Are the people taking pictures accessories to murder?
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