Tag: politics

Ali H. Soufan on Twitter

A year after the Women’s March, a record number of women are running for office. Will they win? By Danny Hayes January 19 The Washington Post

A record number of women are running

This year’s congressional elections are likely to feature a record number of female candidates. As of this week, the Center for American Women and Politics had identified 390 women who have filed or are likely to file as U.S. House candidates and 49 women likely to run for the U.S. Senate. Among House candidates, the vast majority — 82 percent — are not incumbents. If those numbers hold up, it would constitute the largest pool of female congressional candidates in history.

Many women say they’re running because they were furious about Trump’s election, especially after the “Access Hollywood” tape, and energized by the Women’s March in Washington the day after his inauguration.

Ali H. Soufan on Twitter

dendroica:

Ex-Hill Staffers Put A Spin On The Tea Party Playbook In Anti-Trump Guide

In an online guide made public Wednesday night, a number of those onetime Hill staffers say that the best way for individuals to derail the policy agenda of Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) is to organize locally and badger their own congressional representatives to vote against individual pieces of legislation.

The guide argues that, like the “Tea Party patriots” who found common cause in their unified loathing of President Barack Obama, progressives who oppose Trump should stand against him before all else rather than try to articulate a policy agenda that has no hope of advancing while the GOP controls all three branches of government.

“We believe that the next four years depend on citizens across the country standing indivisible against the Trump agenda,” the authors write in the guide, which is formatted as a live Google document. “We believe that buying into false promises or accepting partial concessions will only further empower Trump to victimize our fellow citizens. We hope that this guide will provide those who share that belief useful tools to make Congress listen.”

One of the authors, Ezra Levin, wrote in a Wednesday Facebook post that the guide was compiled to correct the “misinformation” about how to influence Congress that he said has circulated since Election Day.

The guide contains tips on getting members of Congress to listen to their constituents’ voices, such as showing up in groups to town hall meetings and looking “friendly or neutral” to ensure staffers will call on them and allow them to ask pointed questions. The authors also recommend flooding lawmakers’ offices with calls on specific issues and targeting weak Republican candidates ahead of local elections.

The emphasis is on consistent, coordinated, grassroots action that focuses on nitty-gritty policy specifics and individual elected officials.

Here is the guide.

Source: dendroica

Eric Garland’s Game Theory Thread

akumakawa:

On twitter yesterday Eric Garland, a former intelligence analyst, went on a wild and inspiring rant about the Russian involvement in our election, how we got here, what we can do, and how no one is just sitting on their asses allowing this to happen and things are going on under the surface.

As well, this isn’t going to be the end of us. America is built of stronger things than this and we have survived worse and will survive this.

Yesterday, I had this idea that we are Ukraine right now. Manafort got a Putin puppet elected and now we need to rise up and protest this new ‘closer relationship’ to Putin. It’s not just Trump but half of his Cabinet and Advisors with the other half being Goldman Sachs or Generals.

So the question became, what would be our Crimea? What would be sacrificed as payment for getting rid of the Putin puppet? Alaska? Something else?

For now, read these tweets and be inspired.

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Fired up and ready to go?

Here is Linda Tirado’s tweets on Eric Garland’s tweet storm.

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Now for Linda Tirado’s tweets on patriotism.

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Resist.

JUST IN: GOP Congressmen Announce REFUSAL To Repeal Obamacare On Day One (DETAILS)

tpfnews:

Republicans in Congress have vowed to repeal Obamacare, and tried to do it more than 60 times.  Now that they’ll soon control the White House as well as both houses of Congress, they’re all set to take away our health insurance in January.

There’s just one problem… They won’t have any way to blame the horrific consequences of their actions on the Democrats.  And Aits existing state-level marketplaces will balk — imperiling the same marketplaces that Republicans would be counting on continuing until they figure out what to do next.’

Republicans in Congress will also wind up cursing the governors who accepted the Medicaid expansion. Voters who benefit from the joys of having access to their doctors and prescription drugs are unlikely to give up their Obamacare without a fight.

Plus, the GOP still hasn’t come up with a replacement plan. Why? Because you can’t cut costs without cutting out the health insurance companies and letting Medicare bargain down drug prices and/or by insuring fewer people. There’s no way Republicans will do the former, yet they don’t want to admit they want to do the latter.

‘The cold, hard realities of repeal are especially hitting home for Republicans from states that opted to expand Medicaid, a provision of the health law that extends coverage to additional low-income Americans. Medicaid expansion has been particularly successful in Trump strongholds like Kentucky and West Virginia, where residents are more likely to be poor and sick.’

So now, the Republican Party is in between a rock and a hard place and Barack Obama gets the last laugh.

GOP may delay Obamacare replacement for years

Republicans are setting up a high-stakes deadline to replace the health care law.

By RACHAEL BADE and BURGESS EVERETT 12/01/16 05:10 AM EST on politico.com

Prepare for the Obamacare cliff.

Congressional Republicans are setting up their own, self-imposed deadline to make good on their vow to replace the Affordable Care Act. With buy-in from Donald Trump’s transition team, GOP leaders on both sides of the Capitol are coalescing around a plan to vote to repeal the law in early 2017 — but delay the effective date for that repeal for as long as three years.

They’re crossing their fingers that the delay will help them get their own house in order, as well as pressure a handful of Senate Democrats — who would likely be needed to pass replacement legislation — to come onboard before the clock runs out and 20 million Americans lose their health insurance. …


“The blame will fall on the people who didn’t want to do anything,” McCarthy said, foreshadowing a likely GOP talking point should Democrats block a replacement plan.

But Democrats said the GOP plan to put the onus on the minority party won’t work.

“They break it, they buy it,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a Democratic leader.

The time frame leaders choose will undoubtedly affect their leverage with Senate Democrats. Ten Senate Democrats in red or purple states that went for Donald Trump are up for reelection in 2018. The pressure on those Democrats to negotiate could increase if chaos from the expiring Obamacare system occurs just as they’re trying to keep their seats.

“You might have one line of thinking to at least go along with the Republicans to see where you can work together with some fixes,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

If Republicans choose to wait until 2019 or 2020, however, they could find themselves with a larger majority, picking up seats in the 2018 election — though it’s not likely they’d win the nine needed to get to 60 votes and avoid having to work with Democrats.

This all hinges on insurance companies staying in the ACA market.  Given what we’ve been seeing in terms of “healthy” people opting out of the pool of the insured  (Many See I.R.S. Penalties as More  Affordable Than Insurance By ABBY GOODNOUGH JAN. 3, 2016,  NYT) and how it affects insurance companys’ bottom line, I have  strong feeling that insurance companies are going to bail as soon as possible if Congress repeals the ACA.  

JUST IN: GOP Congressmen Announce REFUSAL To Repeal Obamacare On Day One (DETAILS)

The Trainwreck Files: Melania Trump » MobyLives

sadydoyle:

Here’s me! On Melania Trump, and why the natural urge to laugh at her or hate her is disguising a very clear and present danger. 

As a woman who was once married to a narcissist, I can tell you that it is very compelling to believe in your partner’s aspirations.  They want to be wise, admirable, generous, and good, and sometimes they are.  They will reward you with love and affection when you reflect that image of themselves back to them.  But that’s not all that they are, and woe to the partner who is not constantly working at justifying, overlooking, and explaining away any of their imperfections.  

I don’t know anything about Melania Trump, and I think that there are very few people who do.  Sometimes I wonder if there’s a reason for that.  

When you’re in a relationship with a narcissist, eventually they will demand that you whittle away every part of yourself that threatens them or doesn’t reflect back that glorious mirror image that they crave.  It’s a death by inches.  Each thing it costs you is so small that it is barely noticeable.  You’re caught up in constant vigilance and defense against the emotional blows you are taking and can’t see more than a few feet around you.  It seems reasonable to accede that step on the battlefield, and then that one, and then another, until months and years go by.  By the time you look up and clear your head, you’ve lost the war and there is very little of yourself left.   

So, when we look at the public face of a partner of a narcissistic, I don’t really think we’re seeing who they are as a person.  The narcissist has shaped them into a blank screen onto which they can project both all those things they love about themselves and all of their failings to be what they aspire to be.  I don’t know Melania Trump.  I don’t know what role she has in her relationship with her husband and his family.  But if her experience of partnering a narcissist is in any way similar to mine, then her husband is doing everything he can to subvert her will to his, until she is a blank screen onto which he project at will.  When we call her names and dismiss her, we are projecting our own baggage onto onto someone who has been shaped by her relationship to take it, and we become just as guilty of emotional abuse as he is.  

The Trainwreck Files: Melania Trump » MobyLives

I disliked Hillary Clinton, until I uncovered the disturbing history of horrible sexism she’s endured

runningupthathillary:

As someone who makes his living wading through political bullshit, I harbored suspicions and dislike for Clinton based on rumor, innuendo, and the framing of the conversation. I’m not sure exactly when I realized I got it wrong, but the more research I do into her background and record, the clearer it becomes that sexism clouded my perception.

I evaluated Clinton by standards I did not hold her male colleagues to.

This is an INCREDIBLY thorough and well-sourced chronicle of the sexism Hillary Clinton has faced through her entire public life, with a personal narrative of working to overcome culturally-ingrained sexism I think we can all relate to.

I was in my early adulthood during the Clinton presidency in the 90s.  I remember very clearly the hate that Hillary Clinton got, and how it was tied to how she defied expectations of what it meant to be a political wife.  I clearly remember people protesting that the US had voted in Bill, not Hillary, when she dared take on political task forces.  I adore my father, but I remember how it revealed my own father’s misogyny when he spoke of her as being “the most hated person in the country,” and it made me wonder if he would ever really understand me.  

There are things she’s done I like and there are positions and actions that she’s taken I pretty strongly disagree with.   If she’s stilted and protects every word, I don’t blame her, though.  She’s been breaking ground and taking hate for a very long time.

I disliked Hillary Clinton, until I uncovered the disturbing history of horrible sexism she’s endured

dailydot:

This Democratic intern selfie puts Paul Ryan’s photo to shame

After House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) drew attention for his #InternsSoWhite selfie, a group of Democratic interns working at Capitol Hill decided to show the world how representation really looks.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) tweeted a photo of a group of Democratic congressional interns. And it’s not hard to spot the difference between Johnson’s and Ryan’s pics.

But Johnson is not the first to call out Ryan for his seemingly all-white photo, however. Here’s how other politicians have called out the lack of diversity in Ryan’s selfie.

Source: dailydot.com