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robertreich · 5 years ago

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6 Crucial Races That Will Flip the Senate

This November, we have an opportunity to harness your energy and momentum into political power and not just defeat Trump, but also flip the Senate. Here are six key races you should be paying attention to. 1. The first is North Carolina Republican senator Thom Tillis, notable for his “olympic gold” flip-flops. He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, then offered a loophole-filled replacement that excluded many with preexisting conditions. In 2014 Tillis took the position that climate change was “not a fact” and later urged Trump to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, before begrudgingly acknowledging the realities of climate change in 2018. And in 2019, although briefly opposing Trump’s emergency border wall declaration, he almost immediately caved to pressure. But Tillis’ real legacy is the restrictive 2013 voter suppression law he helped pass as Speaker of the North Carolina House. The federal judge who struck down the egregious law said its provisions “targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision.” Enter Democrat Cal Cunningham, who unlike his opponent, is taking no money from corporate PACs. Cunningham is a veteran who supports overturning the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision, restoring the Voting Rights Act, and advancing other policies that would expand access to the ballot box. 2. Maine Senator Susan Collins, a self-proclaimed moderate whose unpopularity has made her especially vulnerable, once said that Trump was unworthy of the presidency. Unfortunately, she spent the last four years enabling his worst behavior. Collins voted to confirm Trump’s judges, including Brett Kavanaugh, and voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial, saying he had “learned his lesson” through the process alone. Rubbish. Collins’ opponent is Sara Gideon, speaker of the House in Maine. As Speaker, Gideon pushed Maine to adopt ambitious climate legislation, anti-poverty initiatives, and ranked choice voting. And unlike Collins, Gideon supports comprehensive democracy reforms to ensure politicians are accountable to the people, not billionaire donors. Another Collins term would be six more years of cowardly appeasement, no matter the cost to our democracy. 3. Down in South Carolina, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is also vulnerable. Graham once said he’d “rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with him.” But after refusing to vote for him in 2016, Graham spent the last four years becoming one of Trump’s most reliable enablers. Graham also introduced legislation to end birthright citizenship, lobbied for heavy restrictions on reproductive rights, and vigorously defended Brett Kavanaugh. Earlier this year, he said that pandemic relief benefits would only be renewed over his dead body. His opponent, Democrat Jaime Harrison, has brought the race into a dead heat with his bold vision for a “New South.” Harrison’s platform centers on expanding access to healthcare, enacting paid family and sick leave, and investing in climate resistant infrastructure. Graham once said that if the Republicans nominated Trump the party would “get destroyed,” and “deserve it.” We should heed his words, and help Jaime Harrison replace him in the Senate. 4. Let’s turn to Montana’s Senate race. The incumbent, Republican Steve Daines, has defended Trump’s racist tweets, thanked him for tear-gassing peaceful protestors, and parroted his push to reopen the country during the pandemic as early as May. Daine’s challenger is former Democratic Governor Steve Bullock. Bullock is proof that Democratic policies can actually gain support in supposedly red states because they benefit people, not the wealthy and corporations. During his two terms, he oversaw the expansion of Medicaid, prevented the passage of union-busting laws, and vetoed two extreme bills that restricted access to abortions.The choice here, once again, is a no-brainer.

5. In Iowa, like Montana, is a state full of surprises. After the state voted for Obama twice, Republican Joni Ernst won her Senate seat in 2014. Her win was a boon for her corporate backers, but has been a disaster for everyone else.

Ernst, a staunch Trump ally, holds a slew of fringe opinions. She pushed anti-abortion laws that would have outlawed most contraception, shared her belief that states can nullify federal laws, and has hinted that she wants to privatize or fundamentally alter social security “behind closed doors.” Her opponent, Democrat Theresa Greenfield, is a firm supporter of a strong social safety net because she knows its importance firsthand. Union and Social Security survivor benefits helped her rebuild her life after the tragic death of her spouse. With the crippling impact of coronavirus at the forefront of Americans’ minds, Greenfield would be a much needed advocate in the Senate. 6. In Arizona, incumbent Senate Republican Martha McSally is facing Democrat Mark Kelly. Two months after being defeated by Democrat Kyrsten SINema for Arizona’s other Senate seat, McSally was appointed to fill John McCain’s seat following his death. Since then, she’s used that seat to praise Trump and confirm industry lobbyists to agencies like the EPA, and keep cities from receiving additional funds to fight COVID-19. As she voted to block coronavirus relief funds, McSally even had the audacity to ask supporters to “fast a meal” to help support her campaign. Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and husband of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, became a gun-control activist following the attempt on her life in 2011. His support of universal background checks and crucial policies on the climate crisis, reproductive health, and wealth inequality make him the clear choice. These are just a few of the important Senate races happening this year. In addition, the entire House of Representatives will be on the ballot, along with 86 state legislative chambers and thousands of local seats.

Winning the White House is absolutely crucial, but it’s just one piece of the fight to save our democracy and push a people’s agenda. Securing victories in state legislatures is essential to stopping the GOP’s plans to entrench minority rule through gerrymandered congressional districts and restrictive voting laws — and it’s often state-level policies that have the biggest impact on our everyday lives. Even small changes to the makeup of a body like the Texas Board of Education, which determines textbook content for much of the country, will make a huge difference. Plus, every school board member, state representative, and congressperson you elect can be pushed to enact policies that benefit the people, not just corporate donors. This is how you build a movement that lasts.

#video #videos #2020 election

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chucksrus84 · 5 years ago

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The consequences of the 2016 Presidential election, as well as the midterm elections of 2014 and 2010 is devastating...

Why didn’t you people VOTE for Hillary Clinton in 2016? We could have avoided this mess.

200,000 Americans would most likely be alive today, had voters made the right choice.

The consequences of NOT voting for Hillary Clinton and Democratic Senators in 2016, will be felt for 5 to 6 decades now that Mitch McConnell has stacked the lower courts with right-wing extremists; and with another right-wing extremist about to be nominated as SCOTUS, it is very likely that the following rights will be weakened or gutted.

DismantlingSocial Security (it’s beginning already)

The Voting Rights Act

Gay Civil Rights

Roe vs. Wade

Universal Health Care or ACA

Environmental Right Policies (the EPA will be further weakened)

DACA

And end to safety nets

Dismantling of Medicaid and Medicare

etc upon etc.

The people who told you to vote for Jill Stein, or wanted a revolution, or told you to stay home and not vote...will be fine. Many are millionaires who’d rather keep the tax-break they got from Trump than help YOU. Some are millionaires who claim to be against oppression and will use their platform to say they won’t vote but will hire white lawyers to defend a protest without any self examination; and then there are the grifters out to make a buck. Whatever the case may be, these people (who are news anchors, and news hosts, and self-proclaimed activist and rap legends looking out for number, and political commentary guests) will be fine. They will all be fine. Because your suffering means more money for them.

But YOU won’t. Neither will your children or grandchildren.

My only advice to you is register and vote. Vote out Republicans.

Vote for Democratic Senators like Mark Kelly, Sara Gideon, Jaime Harrison, Cal Cunningham, M.J. Hager, Mike Espy, Amy McGarth...

Vote for Democratic Senators.

Democrats haven’t had the upper hand in the Senate for over SIX years and during that time, Republicans have systematically weakened every civil rights amendment on the books.

So yeah, we lost the courts. We lost them in 2016 because of people’s stupidity.

But maybe we fix it by expanding it.

Note: I want to thank the 94% of Black American women who voted in 2016. I’m sorry the country refuse to follow your lead.

#The Supreme Court is LOST #America #Stupid people DON'T vote #Black women

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thecollegefootballguy · 5 years ago

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The Top 25 Teams of the Decade: #10 Stanford

Hello everybody, we’re celebrating the arrival of the 2020′s by looking at the 25 best programs of the previous decade.

We’re on to the top ten to celebrate the #10 team from the 2010′s:

Leland Stanford Junior University Cardinal

Record: 98-35 (.737) Division Titles: 5 Conference Titles: 3 Bowl Seasons: 9 Major Bowls: 5 Final Top 25 Finishes: 7 Final Top 10 Finishes: 4 Final Top 5 Finishes: 2 Best Season: 2010

Stanford had their best decade since Pop Warner nearly 100 years ago. The Cardinal have never been consistently good this long in program history. Part of the great story was just how bad Stanford was in the 2000′s, the Cardinal spent most of the decade as one of the worst BCS conference teams in the country before Jim Harbaugh came to town and turned everything around.

By 2010, Harbaugh had Stanford firing on all cylinders. In just his 4th year in Palo Alto, the Cardinal were one of the best teams in the nation even if nobody knew it at the time. Led by Heisman hopeful QB Andrew Luck, Stanford’s offense put up monstrous numbers. Despite starting the season unranked, the Cardinal quickly climbed up to 9th in the AP Poll by October with huge wins over UCLA and Notre Dame. Stanford had to topple heir-presumptive #4 Oregon in order to claim the PAC-10 title from the Ducks, but they lost in Eugene 31-52 as they were boat-raced by perhaps the best of the Kelly UO teams. The Cardinal were nearly upset by USC the next week, but regained their footing, and won out relatively unchallenged. 11-1 Stanford was pitted against ACC champion #12 Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. The Cardinal blew out the overmatched Hokies 40-12 to claim their first major bowl since the 1972 Rose Bowl and finished in the top 5 for the first time since 1940.

Jim Harbaugh’s work was done in Palo Alto, and the architect of Stanford’s turnaround left for the NFL, leaving OC and alum David Shaw in charge. Andrew Luck stayed on despite significant NFL interest, citing unfinished business. The Cardinal raced out to a 7-0 start, hammering all comers and averaging well over 45 points per game. The first real threat was again USC, the Trojans gave Stanford all they could handle, taking the Cardinal to triple overtime before falling at home in a 56-48 barn burner. #3 Stanford climbed all the way to 9-0 before once again reckoning with #6 Oregon. For the second year in a row, College Gameday was present as the nation watched the Cardinal once again fail to outpace the Ducks. Stanford lost 30-53 and was once again knocked out of the BCS Championship Game and Rose Bowl in one blow. Once again 11-1, Stanford was matched up against #3 Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. Special teams errors kept the Cowboys in the game and OK State eventually sealed the game in overtime 41-38. It was still one of the most successful season in program history, even if everybody on the Cardinal felt they could have done better.

Andrew Luck was now gone, and 2012 began with big questions on the offense. Stanford upset national champion hopeful USC, but struggled to score in that game, as well as in tight losses to Washington and Notre Dame. David Shaw threw in redshirt freshman Kevin Hogan to stabilize the offense and the Cardinal regained their form. Stanford rattled off four wins to climb up to #14 in the nation before their fateful date with undefeated #1 Oregon. The formerly snake-bitten Cardinal completely shut down the Ducks’ high flying offense and Stanford won in overtime, 17-14. The Cardinal claimed the North division and then beat UCLA in the PAC-12 Championship to win the conference for the first time since 1999. #8 Stanford was pitted against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl and the Cardinal won 20-14 in a game that didn’t feature too many fireworks. It added a bit of closure to the 2010 and 2011 teams that failed to make it to Pasadena, though once again there were grumblings that the team could have reached even higher if the offense had been reworked earlier in the season.

2013 was another successful year on The Farm. Stanford had now reoriented itself fully into a hard-nosed, defense-oriented squad that dominated the lines. The Cardinal began the year 5th in the nation and remained there for the first month and a half before falling to Utah 27-21 in Salt Lake City. Solid wins over #9 UCLA and #2 Oregon saw Stanford’s defense put on a clinic against the mighty Ducks. The 8-1 Cardinal once again climbed to 5th in the polls before losing to rival USC 17-20 in the Coliseum. Thanks to an Oregon loss to Arizona, Stanford was able to remain in the North race. The Cardinal rebounded once more, winning the PAC-12 with an easy 38-14 win over Arizona State in the PAC-12 Championship Game. 11-2 Stanford was once again 5th in the AP poll and faced off against Big Ten Champ #4 Michigan State in the Rose Bowl. This time, the Cardinal were held off by the stout Spartans, who more or less beat Stanford at their own game in a 24-20 trench battle.

The Cardinal began 2014 with high hopes, but luck was not on Stanford’s side this year. The Cardinal lost to USC by 3, the Notre Dame by 3, before Arizona State really shut down Stanford 26-10. The lackluster Cardinal were then blown out by Playoff bound Oregon before falling to Utah in double overtime, again by 3 points. 5-5 Stanford was a far cry from the powerhouse it had been in the previous several years, but they finished strong to come end the year 8-5 and in the top 20 of many computer rankings in a very strong PAC-12 field.

2015 started off on the wrong foot to say the least. The Cardinal carried their troubles scoring into the new season, stalling out in a frustrating game against Northwestern 6-16. Then, they realized how to orient the offense around Christian McCaffrey and the rest is history. Stanford would never score fewer than 30 points for the rest of the season. The Cardinal obliterated #6 USC and then easily outpaced #18 UCLA among mostly easy victories over the rest of the PAC-12′s crop. Stanford was 8-1 and on the outside of the Playoff race when Oregon came calling. This was the last proper year of the Stanford-Oregon saga, and the Ducks finally got to repay the Cardinal for ruining their seasons in 2012 and 2014. Unranked Oregon upended Stanford 38-36 in Palo Alto to knock the Cardinal out of the Playoff race. The damage had already been done, and despite losing to the Ducks, Stanford already had the PAC-12 well in hand. A win over #4 Notre Dame knocked the Irish out of the Playoff before the Cardinal beat rival #24 USC in the PAC-12 Championship to confirm their trip to the Rose Bowl. Stanford was given #5 Iowa as a consolation prize for not making the Playoff, and the Cardinal demolished the Hawkeyes 45-16 in one of the most lopsided Rose Bowl victories of all time. Stanford finished 3rd in the final AP poll, their highest finish in the 2010′s.

The Cardinal returned all-world Christian McCaffrey in 2016, but struggled to replace Kevin Hogan behind center. Stanford started the season 8th in the polls but quickly dropped all the way out thanks to back to back blowout losses to Washington and Washington State. A 10-5 loss at home to Colorado was an extra twist of the knife that left the Cardinal well out of the North division race. Stanford did end up winning their final 6 games and finished the year 10-3 and 12th in the polls to recoup most of their hurt pride. 2017 was similarly disappointing. Back to back losses to USC and San Diego State dropped the Cardinal from the rankings again. A win over #20 Utah helped to bring the squad back to 6-2, but a tight 21-24 loss to Wazzu on the Palouse was another setback. Stanford rebounded the next week with a 30-22 win over #9 Washington and followed that up with an easy 38-20 win over #9 Notre Dame. Stanford was once again in the PAC-12 Championship Game, but this time not as an easy favorite. The #14 Cardinal faltered against #11 USC in their first loss in Santa Clara. A frustrating loss the TCU in the Alamo capped the season.

A slow leaking of talent began to take its toll in 2018. Stanford was no longer the team it had been in the first half of the decade, and sustained regular losses. After a 4-0 start, the Cardinal lost 4 of 5 to drop well out of the division race. They ended the year 9-4 but going 9-4 in the PAC-12 meant a lot less in 2018 than it did in 2013 or 2014. In 2019, Stanford really started to unravel, sustaining heavy injuries to finish a dreadful 4-8, their worst record since 2007.

It’s hard to say where the Cardinal go from here. They will likely regain their foothold as a regular bowl team, but it’s hard seeing Stanford get back to regular Rose Bowl competition. David Shaw is as committed as they come to sustaining success on The Farm. Time will tell.

The 2010′s will go down as a monumental success for the Cardinal. Stanford had a winning record against all its major rivals: outpacing Notre Dame 6-4 and USC 7-5. They absolutely dominated UCLA 10-1 and most importantly pounded Cal into the ground 9-1, easily their most dominant stretch against any of the other California teams since they began playing.

#college football #Stanford Cardinal

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stuckontheisland · 6 years ago

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Bootleg Masterpost

Hi party people! I’m a new trader and have a small collection of stuffs that I want you all to know about in case you’re interested in anything or would like to trade! Feel free to msg me! <3 <3

Anastasia | Sep 17, 2017

Christy Altomare (Anya), Derek Klena (Dimitry), Ramin Karimloo (Gleb), John Bolton (Vlad), Caroline O’Connor (Countess Lily), Mray Beth Peil(Empress Maria),

Bonnie and Clyde| Sep 28, 2013

Laura Osnes (Bonnie Parker), Jeremy Jordan(Clyde Barrow), Melissa Van Der Schyff (Blanche Barrow), Claybourne Elder (Buck Barrow), Louis Hobson (Ted Hilton)

Bridges of Madison County| March 9, 2014

Kelli O’Hara (Francesca), Steven Pasquale (Robert), Whitney Bashor (Marian/Chiara), Hunter Foster (Bud), Caitlin Kinnunen(Carolyn), Derek Klena (Michael), Michael X Martin(Charlie), Cass Morgan(Marge)

Carousel | April 26, 2013 | Lincoln Centre Production

Kelli O’Hara(Julie Jordan), Nathan Gunn (Billy Bigelow) Stephanie Blythe (Nettie Fowler), John Cullum (The Starkeeper/Dr. Selden), Jessie Mueller (Carrie)

Dear Evan Hansen| Oct 19, 2018 | LA Opening Night

Tracked Audio

Ben Levi Ross(Evan Hansen), Jessica Philips(Heidi Hansen), Maggie McKenna(Zoe Murphy), Marrick Smith(Connor Murphy), Christiane Noll(Cynthia Murphy), Aaron Lazar(Larry Murphy), Jared Goldsmith(Jared Kleinman), Phoebe Koyabe(Alana Beck)

Dear Evan Hansen| Unknown

Ben Platt (Evan Hansen), Rachel Bay Jones (Heidi Hansen), Mike Faist (Connor Murphy), Laura Dreyfuss (Zoe Murphy), Jennifer Laura Thompson (Cynthia Murphy), Michael Park (Larry Murphy), Will Roland (Jared Kleinman), Kristolyn Lloyd (Alana Beck)

Falsettos| Lincoln Centre/PBSProfessionally Recorded

Stephanie J. Block (Trina), Christian Borle (Marvin), Andrew Rannells(Whizzer), Anthony Rosenthal (Jason), Tracie Thoms(Dr. Charlotte), Brandon Uranowitz (Mendel), Betsy Wolfe (Cordelia)

Gypsy| Unknown 2008 | Broadway Revival

Laura Benanti (Louise), Patti LuPone(Rose), Leigh Ann Larkin(Rose), Boyd Gaines (Herbie), Tony Yazbek(Tulsa), Alison Fraser (Tessie Tura), Leonora Nemetz (Mazeppa), Marilyn Caskey (Electra)

Hamilton| Unknown

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo, Leslie Odom Jr, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs, Okieriete Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Jonathan Groff, Sydney James Harcourt, Daniel J Watts, Neil Haskell, Ephraim Sykes.

Into the Woods| Unknown 2002 | Broadway revival

Vanessa Williams, Stephen DeRosa, Kerry O’Malley, John McMartin, Gregg Edelman, Laura Benanti, Molly Ephriam, Adam Wylie, Marylouise Burke

Leap of Faith| April 4, 2012 | Broadway

Raul Esparza, Jessica Phillips, Kendra Kassebaum, Kecia Lewis-Evans, Leslie Odom Jr., Krystal Joy Brown, Talon Ackerman

Legally Blonde| Unknown |Professionally Recorded MTV

Laura Bell Bundy(Elle Woods), Christian Borle(Emmett Forrest), Orfeh(Paulette), Richard H Blake(Warner Huntington III), Kate Shindle(Vivienne Kensington), Nikki Snelson(Brooke Wyndham), Michael Rupert(Professor Callahan), Annaleigh Ashford(Margot), Asmeret Ghebremichael(Pilar), Tracy Jai Edwards(Serena)

Next to Normal| March 18, 2010 Cast: Jessica Phillips (Diana s/b), J. Robert Spencer (Dan), Kyle Dean Massey (Gabe), Jenn Damiano (Natalie), Adam Chanler-Berat (Henry), Louis Hobson (Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine)

Next to Normal| June 6, 2009 | First post-Tony performance

Tracked Audio Cast: Jessica Phillips (Diana s/b), J. Robert Spencer (Dan), Kyle Dean Massey (Gabe), Jenn Damiano (Natalie), Adam Chanler-Berat (Henry), Louis Hobson (Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine)

Next to Normal| Nov 29, 2009

Tracked Audio Cast: Jessica Phillips (Diana s/b), J. Robert Spencer (Dan), Kyle Dean Massey (Gabe), Jenn Damiano (Natalie), Adam Chanler-Berat (Henry), Louis Hobson (Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine)

Next to Normal| March 18, 2010

Tracked Audio Cast: Jessica Phillips (Diana s/b), J. Robert Spencer (Dan), Kyle Dean Massey (Gabe), Jenn Damiano (Natalie), Adam Chanler-Berat (Henry), Louis Hobson (Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine)

Next to Normal| March 20, 2010

Tracked Audio

Cast: Jessica Phillips (Diana s/b), J. Robert Spencer (Dan), Kyle Dean Massey (Gabe), Jenn Damiano (Natalie), Adam Chanler-Berat (Henry), Louis Hobson (Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine)

Priscilla Queen of the Desert| March 6, 2011

Will Swenson (Tick/Mitzi), Tony Sheldon (Bernadette), Nick Adams (Adam/Felicia), C. David Johnson (Bob), Jacqueline B. Arnold (Diva #3), Anastacia McCleskey (Diva #2), Ashley Spencer (Diva #1), Jessica Phillips (Marion), J. Elaine Marcos (Cynthia)

Songs for a New World | June 2018 | NYCC Shoshana Bean, Colin Donnell, Mykal Kilgore, Solea Pfeiffer

Spring Awakening| August 15, 2008 | First performance, San Diego

Kyle Riabko (Melchior), Christy Altomare (Wendla), Blake Bashoff (Moritz), Steffi D (Ilse), Sarah Hunt (Martha), Kimiko Glenn (Thea), Gabrielle Garza (Anna), Anthony Lee Medina (Otto), Matt Shingledecker (Georg), Andy Mientus (Hanschen), Ben Moss (Ernst), Angela Reed (Adult Women), Henry Stram (Adult Men)

Waitress | March 30, 2016

Jessie Mueller (Jenna), Keala Settle (Becky), Kimiko Glenn (Dawn), Drew Gehling (Dr. Pomatter), Nick Cordero (Earl), Dakin Matthews (Joe), Eric Anderson (Cal), Christopher Fitzgerald (Ogie)

Wicked| August 17, 2005

Shoshana Bean(Elphaba), Meghan Hilty(Glinda)

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patriotsnet · 4 years ago

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How Many Seats Do The Republicans Have In The Senate

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/how-many-seats-do-the-republicans-have-in-the-senate/

How Many Seats Do The Republicans Have In The Senate

Dems Keep House Gop Holds Key Senate Seats Nbc News Projects

WASHINGTON Democrats will maintain of the House of Representatives, NBC News projects, but their path to taking control of the Senate has narrowed significantly as numerous Republican incumbents fended off strong opposition.

Democrats failed to pick up some of the Senate seats they were banking on to capture a majority. Their hopes for a big night were dashed up and down the ballot, as President Donald Trump outperformed his polls against Joe Biden in a race still to be decided.

In Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins was by NBC News as the apparent winner.

Other GOP senators who were Democratic targets hung on: Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, Montana Sen. Steve Daines and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham were all re-elected, NBC News projected.

Adding some uncertainty, the Georgia special election is headed to a runoff on Jan. 5 between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, NBC News projects.

Democrats will pick up a Senate seat in Colorado as John Hickenlooper is projected by NBC News to unseat Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, marking the partyâs first gain.

Offsetting that, Republicans will pick up a seat in Alabama, where Republican Tommy Tuberville is projected to defeat Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, NBC News projects.

In Arizona, the Democratic challenger Mark Kelly leads but NBC News rates it âtoo early to call.â

In North Carolina, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis leads Democrat Cal Cunningham narrowly but the race is rated âtoo close to call.â

Will 2022 Be A Good Year For Republicans

A FiveThirtyEight Chat

Welcome to FiveThirtyEights politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarah : Were still more than a year away from the 2022 midterm elections, which means it will be a while before we should take those general election polls too seriously. But with a number of elections underway in 2021, not to mention a number of special elections, its worth kicking off the conversation around what we do and dont know about Republicans and Democrats odds headed into the midterms.

Lets start big picture. The longstanding conventional wisdom is that midterm elections generally go well for the party thats not in the White House. Case in point: Since 1946, the presidents party has lost, on average, 27 House seats.

What are our initial thoughts? Is the starting assumption that Republicans should have a good year in 2022?

alex : Yes, and heres why: 2022 will be the first federal election after the House map are redrawn. And because Democrats fell short of their 2020 expectations in state legislative races, Republicans have the opportunity to redraw congressional maps that are much more clearly in their favor. On top of that, Republicans are already campaigning on the cost and magnitude of President Bidens policy plans to inspire a backlash from voters.

geoffrey.skelley :Simply put, as that chart above shows, the expectation is that Democrats, as the party in the White House, will lose seats in the House.

nrakich : What they said!

United States Senate Elections 2020

November 3, 2020 U.S. Senate Elections by State U.S. House Elections

Elections to the U.S. Senate were held on November 3, 2020. A total of 33 of the 100 seats were up for regular election.

Those elected to the U.S. Senate in the 33 regular elections on November 3, 2020, began their six-year terms on January 3, 2021.

Special elections were also held to fill vacancies that occurred in the 116th Congress, including 2020 special U.S. Senate elections in Arizona for the seat that John McCain won in 2016 and in Georgia for the seat that Johnny Isakson won in 2016.

Twelve seats held by Democrats and 23 seats held by Republicans were up for election in 2020. Heading into the election, Republicans had a majority with 53 seats. Democrats needed a net gain of four seats, or three in addition to winning the presidential election, to take control of the chamber. The vice president casts tie-breaking votes in the Senate.

On this page, you will find:

Information on historical wave elections

Republicans On Course To Hold Senate Majority

WASHINGTON D.C, November 4, 2020 The Republican party looks set to hold its majority in the U.S. Senate, as election night draws to a close across the nation.

The latest figures show the Republicans with 47 confirmed seats and the Democrats with 45. At the time of writing only six seats remain unconfirmed: Alaska, Georgia, Georgia Special, Maine, Michigan, and North Carolina.

Republicans are on target to hold both North Carolina and Maine, and also have a healthy lead in Michigan which currently has 68% of the vote counted.

Georgia also looks secure for the Republicans, with Sen. Perdue on target to hold his seat.

Of the six unconfirmed seats, only Georgia Special is without a clear winner and deemed a runoff.

Alaska currently has only 39% of the vote counted, with Rep. Dan Sullivan leading his Democrat challenger by 61.7% to 33.7%. Polls predict that Republicans will hold the seat.

The Democrats took a victory in Colorado, winning the seat from the Republicans, and also took the win in the Arizona Special election, after the death of Republican John McCain left the seat open.

However, the Democrats also lost their Alabama seat, as pro-life Republican Tommy Tuberville won the seat from Sen. Doug Jones.

Republicans have held a majority in the Senate since 2014, and prior to November 3 election night, held 53 seats.

Twitter just deplatformed President Trump premanently! And, other conservatives, including General Flynn and Sidney Powell, were also deplatformed.

Incoming Biden Administration And Democratic House Wont Have To Deal With A Republican

Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff wave to supporters during a joint rally on Nov. 15 in Marietta, Ga.

1.285%

Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have defeated Georgias two incumbent Republican U.S. senators in the states runoff elections, the Associated Press said Wednesday, in a development that gives their party effective control of the Senate.

Ossoff and Warnock were projected the winners over Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler by the AP following campaigns that drew massive spending and worldwide attention because the runoffs were set to determine the balance of power in Washington. The AP , at about 2 a.m. Eastern, then followed with the call for Ossoff over Perdue on Wednesday afternoon.

President-elect Joe Bidens incoming administration and the Democratic-run House of Representatives now wont face the same checks on their policy priorities that they would have faced with a Republican-controlled Senate, though analysts have said the slim Democratic majority in the chamber could mean more power for moderate senators from either party.

It is looking like the Democratic campaign machine was more effective at driving turnout than the Republican one, said Eurasia Group analyst Jon Lieber in a note late Tuesday.

Warnock then made just before 8 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.

Iowa: Joni Ernst Vs Bruce Braley

Republican Joni Ernst defeated Rep. Bruce Braley in the Iowa Senate race to fill the open seat vacated by the retirement of Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democratic stalwart in the state. Ernst, 44, will be the first female senator to ever represent Iowa, a state that catapulted Barack Obamas career just six years ago.

Ernst, an Iraq war veteran, shocked the political establishment when she won a crowded GOP primary in June. Ernst, a little known state senator, burst onto the national scene after releasing an attention grabbing ad called Squeal, which featured her talking about castrating hogs.

Braley stumbled throughout his campaign from making remarks that insulted some Iowa farmers to threatening a lawsuit against his neighbor over roaming chickens. Republican and Democratic surrogates with potential 2016 ambitions flooded Iowa in the final weeks of the campaign to help their candidates.

Cori Bush Becomes Missouri’s First Black Congresswoman Cbs News Projects

Cori Bush, a progressive Democrat and activist, has become Missouri’s first Black congresswoman, according to CBS News projections. With 88% of votes reported, Bush is leading Republican Anthony Rogers 78.9% to 19% to represent the state’s first congressional district, which includes St. Louis and Ferguson.

Bush, 44, claimed victory on Tuesday, promising to bring change to the district. “As the first Black woman and also the first nurse and single mother to have the honor to represent Missouri in the United States Congress, let me say this: To the Black women, the Black girls, the nurses, the essential workers, the single mothers, this is our moment,” she told supporters in St. Louis.

Read more here.

The Winding Road To Democratic Control

Republicans claimed 50 Senate seats after the November election, two more than the 48 seats claimed by the Democratic Caucus at that time.

Georgias runoff election featured these match-ups:

Maine Senate Race A Toss

The Alabama Senate race is leaning toward Republican Tommy Tuberville, who is taking on incumbent Senator Doug Jones, the most vulnerable Democrat in the Senate.

Trump’s Former Physician Wins House Seat

Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw also won reelection. Crenshaw is a conservative firebrand and a rising GOP star in the House.

Why Is There An Election In Georgia

The election is being rerun because of Georgia’s rule that a candidate must take 50% of the vote in order to win.

None of the candidates in November’s general election met that threshold.

With 98% of votes counted, US TV networks and the Associated Press news agency called the first of the two races for Mr Warnock.

Control of the Senate in the first two years of Mr Biden’s term will be determined by the outcome of the second run-off.

Mr Warnock is set to become the first black senator for the state of Georgia – a slavery state in the US Civil War – and only the 11th black senator in US history.

He serves as the reverend of the Atlanta church where assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr grew up and preached.

Claiming victory, he paid tribute to his mother, Verlene, who as a teenager worked as a farm labourer.

Mr Ossoff has also claimed victory in his race against Republican Senator David Perdue, but that race is even tighter. At 33, he would be the Senate’s youngest member for 40 years.

Mr Biden won at least seven million more votes than the president.

Us Election 2020: Democrats’ Hopes Of Gaining Control Of Senate Fade

Democrats are rapidly losing hope of gaining control of the US Senate after underperforming in key states.

Controlling the Senate would have allowed them to either obstruct or push through the next president’s agenda.

The party had high hopes of gaining the four necessary seats in Congress’s upper chamber, but many Republican incumbents held their seats.

The Democrats are projected to retain their majority in the lower chamber, the House, but with some key losses.

With many votes still to be counted, the final outcome for both houses may not be known for some time.

Why don’t we have a winner yet?

Among the disappointments for the Democrats was the fight for the seat in Maine, where Republican incumbent Susan Collins staved off a fierce challenge from Democrat Sara Gideon.

However, the night did see a number of firsts – including the first black openly LGBTQ people ever elected to Congress and the first openly transgender state senator.

This year’s congressional election is running alongside the battle for the White House between Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Of the 35 Senate seats up for grabs, 23 were Republican-held and 12 were Democrat.

Senators serve six-year terms, and every two years a third of the seats are up for re-election.

Cal Cunningham Concedes North Carolina Senate Race

Democrat Cal Cunningham conceded in the North Carolina Senate race on Tuesday, saying in a statement that he had called Republican incumbent Senator Thom Tillis to congratulate him on his victory.

What Are The Magic Numbers

With numerous races still uncalled in the Senate election, so far the Democrats have flipped seats in Arizona and Colorado, but Republicans flipped an Alabama seat.

However, Republicans were leading in several Senate races that had yet to be called.

In North Carolina, Republican Thom Tillis declared victory, but, according to WSOC-TV, not all votes had yet been counted and the race was too close to call on November 4.

In one of the two Georgia Senate races, Republican David Perdue was also leading with most returns in.

Where It Stands: Election Hinges On Key States Final Results May Take A While

McConnell said the outcome of the presidential race is still unsettled and it may be another day or more before key Senate races are decided.

Could Flip Under The Right Conditions: Michigan Iowa Montana Kansas And Georgia Special Election

Democrats Probably Need To Win All Four Toss

Opinion:the House Looks Like A Gop Lock In 2022 But The Senate Will Be Much Harder

Lindsey Graham Wins Reelection In South Carolina Senate Race Cbs News Projects

Meanwhile, Republican Roger Marshall has also won the Senate race in Kansas, defeating Democrat Barbara Bollier.

Potentially Competitive Us Senate Races In 2022

Held by Republicans

Maggie Hassan Biden +7.4

Democrats control of the House is arguably more imperiled than their hold on the Senate. Thats a function of the Senate seats that are up for reelection as well as the lay of the land in the House.

About this story

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getfastestnews · 5 years ago

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US Republican party tries to save its Senate majority, with or without Trump

United States Senate Republicans are fighting to save their majority, a final election push against the onslaught of challengers in states once off-limits to Democrats but now hotbeds of a potential backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill.

Fueling the campaigns are the Trump administration's handling of the Covid-19 crisis, shifting regional demographics and, in some areas, simply the chance to turn the page on the divisive political climate.

Control of the US Senate can make or break a presidency. With it, a reelected Trump could confirm his nominees and ensure a backstop against legislation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (Democrat California). Without it, Joe Biden would face a potential wall of opposition to his agenda if the Democratic nominee won the White House.

In North Carolina, for example, the match-up between GOP Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, among the most expensive in the nation, is close.

“At some point, you put it in the hands of voters,” said Dallas Woodhouse, a former executive director of the state’s Republican Party.

Republican incumbents are straining for survival from New England to the Deep South, in the heartland and the West and even Alaska. Overpowered in fundraising and stuck in Washington until just last week to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, they are fanning out some alongside Trump for last-ditch, home-state tours to shore up votes.

With the chamber now split, 53-47, three or four seats will determine Senate control, depending on which party wins the White House. The vice president breaks a tie in Senate votes.

What started as a lopsided election cycle with Republicans defending 23 seats, compared with 12 for Democrats, quickly became a more stark referendum on the president as Democrats reached deeper into Trump country and put the GOP on defense.

Suddenly some of the nation’s better-known senators — Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, Susan Collins in Maine — faced strong reelection threats. Only two Democratic seats are being seriously contested, while at least 10 GOP-held seats are at risk.

“I don’t see how we hold it,” said Chip Felkel, a Republican strategist in South Carolina who opposes the president.

Felkel added: “You’d be hard pressed to admit we don’t have a Trump problem.”

The political landscape is quickly changing from six years ago when most of these senators last faced voters. It’s a reminder of how sharp the national mood has shifted in the Trump era.

Younger voters and more minorities are pushing some states toward Democrats, including in Colorado, where the parties have essentially stopped spending money for or against GOP Senator Cory Gardner because it seems he is heading toward defeat by Democrat John Hickenlooper, a former governor.

In more Republican-friendly terrain, the GOP senators must balance an appeal to Trump’s most ardent supporters with outreach to voters largely in suburbs who are drifting away from the president and his tone.

Tillis is struggling to gain ground in North Carolina, a presidential battleground, even after Cunningham’s sex-texting scandal with an aide.

Arizona could see two Democratic senators for the first time since last century if former astronaut Mark Kelly maintains his advantage over GOP Senator Martha McSally for the seat held by the late Republican John McCain.

A vivid dynamic is in Iowa, a state Trump won in 2016 but is now a toss-up as Senator Joni Ernst struggles to fend off Democrat newcomer Theresa Greenfield. Ernst wowed Republicans with a 2014 debut ad about castrating hogs but she faced criticism after last month’s debate when she stumbled over the break-even price for soybeans.

In Georgia, Trump calls David Perdue his favorite senator among the many who have jockeyed to join his golf outings and receive his private phone calls. But the first-term senator faces a surge of new voters in the state and Democrat Jon Ossoff is playing hardball.

Ossoff called Perdue a “crook” over the senator’s stock trades during the pandemic. Perdue shot back that the Ossoff would do anything to mislead Georgians about Democrats’ “radical and socialist” agenda.

Democrats have tapped into what some are calling a “green wave” — a new era of fundraising — as small-dollar donations pour in from across the country from Americans expressing their political activism with their pocketbooks.

Graham’s challenger in South Carolina, Jamie Harrison, has raised so much money — some $100 million — that it sent the top Trump ally scrambling to take the race seriously. Graham swiftly raked in his own record haul as he led the Senate confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Competitive races are underway in Republican strongholds of Texas, Kansas and Alaska where little known Al Gross broke state records, Democrats said, in part with viral ads introducing voters to the military-veteran-turned-doctor who once fought off a grizzly bear.

Swooping in to fill the gap for Republicans is the Senate Leadership Fund, tapping deep-pocketed donors. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has funneled more than $60 million to help Republicans hold the Senate.

Over the weekend, the fund was pouring $4.6m to one of the rare Republican bright spots — in Michigan, where John James, a Black Republican businessman is gaining on Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

“We see a potential opportunity,” said Senate Leadership Fund President Steven Law.

The only other state where Republicans are playing offense is Alabama, where Democratic Senator Doug Jones pulled off a rare special election win the Trump stronghold but now wages a longshot campaign against Republican Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn football coach.

“We are confident heading into the home stretch because we remain on offence is so many seats across the country,” said Stewart Boss, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The Covid crisis has shadowed the Senate races as Democrats linked Trump’s handling of the pandemic to the GOP’s repeated attempts to undo the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, particularly its insurance protections for those with preexisting medical conditions. Republicans fired back that Democrats want to keep the economy closed, hurting jobs.

David Flaherty, a Colorado-based Republican pollster, said his surveys are showing that Covid will be “the most likely issue many voters will make their decisions on".

“In more places in the country than not, the president is not getting good marks” on that, Flaherty said, and it’s damaging Senate GOP candidates, “especially those in lockstep with the president.”

Several races may drag well past election night including if no candidate secures a majority, including in Georgia or Maine, where Collins was once considered among the most independent senators, is now confronting critics from the right and left.

Jesse Hunt, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee said the races are tightening in the final days.

“We always knew this was going to be a competitive election cycle,” he said.

#International News

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truck-fump · 5 years ago

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6 Crucial Races That Will Flip the SenateThis November, we have...

New Post has been published on https://robertreich.org/post/629984091895480320

6 Crucial Races That Will Flip the SenateThis November, we have...

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6 Crucial Races That Will Flip the Senate

1. The first is North Carolina Republican senator Thom Tillis, notable for his “olympic gold” flip-flops. He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, then offered a loophole-filled replacement that excluded many with preexisting conditions. In 2014 Tillis took the position that climate change was “not a fact” and later urged Trump to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, before begrudgingly acknowledging the realities of climate change in 2018. And in 2019, although briefly opposing Trump’s emergency border wall declaration, he almost immediately caved to pressure.

But Tillis’ real legacy is the restrictive 2013 voter suppression law he helped pass as Speaker of the North Carolina House. The federal judge who struck down the egregious law said its provisions “targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision.”

Enter Democrat Cal Cunningham, who unlike his opponent, is taking no money from corporate PACs. Cunningham is a veteran who supports overturning the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision, restoring the Voting Rights Act, and advancing other policies that would expand access to the ballot box.

2. Maine Senator Susan Collins, a self-proclaimed moderate whose unpopularity has made her especially vulnerable, once said that Trump was unworthy of the presidency. Unfortunately, she spent the last four years enabling his worst behavior. Collins voted to confirm Trump’s judges, including Brett Kavanaugh, and voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial, saying he had “learned his lesson” through the process alone. Rubbish.

Collins’ opponent is Sara Gideon, speaker of the House in Maine. As Speaker, Gideon pushed Maine to adopt ambitious climate legislation, anti-poverty initiatives, and ranked choice voting. And unlike Collins, Gideon supports comprehensive democracy reforms to ensure politicians are accountable to the people, not billionaire donors.

Another Collins term would be six more years of cowardly appeasement, no matter the cost to our democracy.

3. Down in South Carolina, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is also vulnerable. Graham once said he’d “rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with him.” But after refusing to vote for him in 2016, Graham spent the last four years becoming one of Trump’s most reliable enablers. Graham also introduced legislation to end birthright citizenship, lobbied for heavy restrictions on reproductive rights, and vigorously defended Brett Kavanaugh. Earlier this year, he said that pandemic relief benefits would only be renewed over his dead body.

His opponent, Democrat Jaime Harrison, has brought the race into a dead heat with his bold vision for a “New South.” Harrison’s platform centers on expanding access to healthcare, enacting paid family and sick leave, and investing in climate resistant infrastructure.

Graham once said that if the Republicans nominated Trump the party would “get destroyed,” and “deserve it.” We should heed his words, and help Jaime Harrison replace him in the Senate.

4. Let’s turn to Montana’s Senate race. The incumbent, Republican Steve Daines, has defended Trump’s racist tweets, thanked him for tear-gassing peaceful protestors, and parroted his push to reopen the country during the pandemic as early as May.

Daine’s challenger is former Democratic Governor Steve Bullock. Bullock is proof that Democratic policies can actually gain support in supposedly red states because they benefit people, not the wealthy and corporations. During his two terms, he oversaw the expansion of Medicaid, prevented the passage of union-busting laws, and vetoed two extreme bills that restricted access to abortions.The choice here, once again, is a no-brainer.

Her opponent, Democrat Theresa Greenfield, is a firm supporter of a strong social safety net because she knows its importance firsthand. Union and Social Security survivor benefits helped her rebuild her life after the tragic death of her spouse. With the crippling impact of coronavirus at the forefront of Americans’ minds, Greenfield would be a much needed advocate in the Senate.

6. In Arizona, incumbent Senate Republican Martha McSally is facing Democrat Mark Kelly. Two months after being defeated by Democrat Kyrsten SINema for Arizona’s other Senate seat, McSally was appointed to fill John McCain’s seat following his death. Since then, she’s used that seat to praise Trump and confirm industry lobbyists to agencies like the EPA, and keep cities from receiving additional funds to fight COVID-19. As she voted to block coronavirus relief funds, McSally even had the audacity to ask supporters to “fast a meal” to help support her campaign.

Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and husband of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, became a gun-control activist following the attempt on her life in 2011. His support of universal background checks and crucial policies on the climate crisis, reproductive health, and wealth inequality make him the clear choice.

These are just a few of the important Senate races happening this year.

In addition, the entire House of Representatives will be on the ballot, along with 86 state legislative chambers and thousands of local seats.

Plus, every school board member, state representative, and congressperson you elect can be pushed to enact policies that benefit the people, not just corporate donors.

This is how you build a movement that lasts.

#Uncategorized

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epacer · 5 years ago

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Cal Ed

Widespread distance learning means more student information is going online

As California students are forced to learn at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public schools are handing over more of kids’ learning to educational online programs and apps.

They may be handing over student information too.

Public schools are encouraging students to use a variety of apps and websites for learning — including videoconferencing apps like Zoom, learning platform websites like Google Classroom, activity websites like BrainPop, educational game websites like ABCya, and even websites that aren’t strictly educational, like YouTube.

Parents should be aware that such websites and apps collect significant amounts of personal information about students, experts and advocates say.

“Students are in a difficult position .… Schools are required to use these ed tech platforms and there really is no option, unless you want to withdraw from the school,” said Cheri Kiesecker, co-chair of the national Parent Coalition for Student Privacy.

“It’s unfortunate that schools had to do this massive shift so suddenly, without a lot of time to ensure that privacy was one of the paramount things they were looking at.”

The kinds of data that could be collected on students include biometric data, such as images of their faces; behavioral data, such as how much time they spend on a website or on a test question; demographic data; geolocation data, and academic performance data, such as test scores.

State law prohibits online education companies from selling student data to third parties.

But privacy advocates say these companies’ data collection has shifted from direct advertising to automatic tracking of students’ online activity. Some companies could use that tracking to accumulate data profiles that students don’t see.

Yet data privacy is often not the first thing on parents’ minds as they’re quickly transitioning to using online tools, said Girard Kelly, privacy counsel for Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that reviews children’s technology and entertainment.

“Parents are just downloading whatever they can get to supplement their child’s learning at home,” Kelly said.

“There are more students probably using apps with less privacy-protecting measures than ever before — which is why it’s so important, before parents and educators download an app, to think about privacy.”

Most ed tech products have substandard privacy policies, according to a 2019 report by Common Sense Media, which grades hundreds of educational apps for the transparency and quality of their privacy policies.

About 80 percent of the 150 educational technology products included in the 2019 report did not meet the nonprofit’s minimum safeguards for privacy, either because they did not clearly outline adequate safeguards or because they lacked a detailed privacy policy.

Deep Sran, vice president of learning for Achieve3000 — a digital program used by many school districts to help students with reading — said ed tech companies have a major interest in ensuring student data privacy. He said his company takes data privacy “very seriously” as more states, including California, have adopted student data privacy laws in recent years.

“In this industry, you have to be very careful about student data,” Sran said.

Sran said hundreds of thousands of students nationwide have started using Achieve3000 since the pandemic began.

“We’re definitely seeing an increased need,” Sran said. “Technology was still seen, in some cases, as supplemental to the classroom work. Now, I think it’s ... absolutely essential.”

California’s student privacy law is considered one of the strongest. The state’s Student Online Personal Information Protection Act, dated 2014, makes it illegal for K-12 online companies to sell students’ information.

Nor can they use personal information to target advertising to students or create profiles of students for commercial use.

Still, California’s law doesn’t limit the kinds of data companies can collect, nor does it require companies to list all the kinds of data they collect and what exactly they’re using it for, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

“Unless the school district has already negotiated a privacy contract with the vendor, it’s difficult for them to know what the vendor is actually doing with that data,” said Andrea Bennett, executive director of California IT in Education, an association of IT professionals working in schools.

And while companies cannot sell personal data to third parties, they can still share it.

For example, Canvas, a learning platform used by school districts in San Diego County, says in its privacy policy that users’ information may be shared with third parties in order to provide services through the site.

Achieve3000 says in its privacy policy that it collects several kinds of student data from school districts, including students’ race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, grades, test scores and disabilities.

Sran said Achieve3000 uses the data to customize learning for students and to show schools how students are performing.

It also may use that data for marketing, but it first removes information that identifies students, its privacy policy says.

The policy also says Achieve3000 may collect data about students from connected third-party websites, such as Facebook and Google.

Sran said Achieve3000 is certified as compliant with federal student privacy law by iKeepSafe, an organization that certifies online products for privacy law compliance.

Sran noted that Achieve3000 does not sell data to third parties and does not target advertising to students. Sran said he could not explain why Achieve3000 collects information from social media sites.

Resources for parents

Common Sense Media has published its own website, Wide Open School, that families can use to educate kids at home, Kelly said.

It offers daily schedules for kids, live virtual events like storytimes and drawing lessons, learning resources for various subjects and parent guides for using apps like Zoom and Google Classroom.

Wide Open School includes educational apps that Common Sense Media believes are “the best of the best” in terms of quality and privacy, Kelly said.

Parents can also read Common Sense Media’s hundreds of privacy evaluations, which detail which protections are and are not included in educational apps’ privacy policies.

Parents can see which ed tech apps their school districts are using in a database published by the Student Data Privacy Consortium, a nationwide group that works to strengthen data privacy practices.

In the database, parents can see the contracts their school districts have signed with ed tech companies. The consortium also offers a contract template with privacy protections districts can use when buying ed tech products.

Bennett noted that individual teachers may be using apps on their own that their school district doesn’t have a contract for.

Of San Diego County’s 42 school districts, 17, plus the San Diego County Office of Education, are part of the consortium, but some don’t have their ed tech contracts on the consortium’s website. *Reposted article from the UT by Kristen Taketa of May 16, 2020

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uzone-uploads · 5 years ago

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sciencespies · 6 years ago

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Communities search for ways to live with growing fire threat

https://sciencespies.com/environment/communities-search-for-ways-to-live-with-growing-fire-threat/

Communities search for ways to live with growing fire threat

by Anton L. Delgado and Dustin Patar

In this photo taken June 11, 2019, is a sign outside Shingletown, Calif. The town got its name from its heyday making wooden roofing materials. The wildfire-vulnerable town has two nicknames, Little Paradise and Gateway to Mount Lassen. Despite federal fire suppression costs quadrupling and an increase in employed firefighters, the damages caused by wildfires has increased fivefold. (Anton L. Delgado/News21 via AP)

Unless it’s Sunday, Kelly Loew is steering her rusty red Jeep down the same mail route in Shingletown, as she has six days a week for the last seven years. But she delivers less mail these days as California’s persistent wildfires drive residents away.

Last year, California experienced its deadliest and most destructive wildfire season. Shingletown, nicknamed Little Paradise, is one of the state’s most wildfire-vulnerable communities.

Despite the National Interagency Fire Center recording federal fire suppression costs quadrupling since 1989, the damage caused by wildfires has increased fivefold.

“The fear is palpable,” Loew said. “When I drive home through my neighborhood, I see tinderboxes everywhere.”

According to data from the National Catastrophe Service, wildfires over the past decade have resulted in more than $52 billion in insured losses across the country. Flames have burned nearly 49,000 structures across the U.S. since 2014, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. That’s more structures lost than in the previous 14 years combined.

“We shouldn’t be surprised that we’re seeing not only our cities growing, but lots of people taking over what had been rural landscapes and making them an urban environment,” said Stephen Pyne, a wildfire historian. “People like to live in lots of areas that are full of natural hazards and it’s very hard in the American system to tell people they can’t do what they want on their property.”

This summer, the Woodbury Fire northwest of Superior, Arizona, burned close to 124,000 acres and prompted a mandatory evacuation of Roosevelt and nearby communities. It’s the fifth largest wildfire in state history.

“My mind was on overload. I have to pack this, I have to pack that. … Plus you have to pack your personal stuff,” said Pat Spencer, a business owner in Roosevelt, Arizona. “Everybody was like, ‘Why are you packing it up?’ I said, ‘Just to be safe, rather than sorry.'”

In this photo taken June 13, 2019, is Kelly Loew creating a defensible space around her home in Shingletown, Calif., by trimming pine branches and burning them in a pile. It’s a common but dangerous practice in the forested community. Despite federal fire suppression costs quadrupling and an increase in employed firefighters, the damages caused by wildfires has increased fivefold. (Anton L. Delgado/News21 via AP)

Among her most important possessions: three figurines of angels embracing firefighters. Spencer has six firefighters in her family. Three of them—her son, husband and nephew—spent more than a week battling the Woodbury Fire, which broke out June 8.

Last year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, Arizona had 838 wildfires more than the U.S. state average, placing it among the top 10 in the nation. The data show that in the first six months of 2019, wildfires in Arizona have burned more land than was burned in all of 2018. Seven other states, including Alaska and Rhode Island, have shown the same trend.

Over the past three decades, the number of wildfires declared major disasters by the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been steadily growing, with 19 since 2009. Nearly 68% occurred in California, Colorado and Oklahoma; the others were in Texas, Washington, Tennessee and Montana.

The cost of wildfire recovery often falls to individual states. To get federal dollars flowing, the governor has to request a disaster declaration and FEMA must recommend it to the president, who can deny or approve it.

But while the number of wildfire disaster declarations has grown in the past two decades, only 16.2% of wildfires larger than 100,000 acres have been declared major disasters, which is about 0.002% of all wildfires in the past 20 years.

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TINDERBOXES EVERYWHERE

“Being human means there’s risk of some sort in your life,” Loew said. “If you’re looking for a quiet mountain town with a good community, a good school and great people, this is the place to be. … I don’t know why people wouldn’t want to live here.”

In this photo taken June 7, 2019, most homes in Shingletown, Calif., are barely visible through the thick trees of Shasta County, California. The town got its name from its heyday making wooden roofing materials. The wildfire-vulnerable town has two nicknames, Little Paradise and Gateway to Mount Lassen. Despite federal fire suppression costs quadrupling and an increase in employed firefighters, the damages caused by wildfires has increased fivefold. (Anton L. Delgado/News21 via AP)

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2010 Wildland Urban Interface report, Shingletown is an intermixed community, meaning housing and wildland vegetation intermingle, which increases wildfire risk.

The report shows over 39 million people across the country live in forested communities like Shingletown. More than half live in 10 states: Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Florida, Virginia, South Carolina and Alabama.

In California, more than 1.74 million residents live in such communities. Since the report came out in 2010, more structures have been burned in the Golden State than anywhere else in the United States.

The more than 41,000 burned structures in California is nearly 13 times more than the next state, Texas, which had 3,222 structures burned in the same time span.

“Fueled by drought, an unprecedented buildup of dry vegetation and extreme winds, the size and intensity of these wildfires caused the loss of more than 100 lives, destroyed thousands of homes and exposed millions of urban and rural Californians to unhealthy air,” according to a February report by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.

More than 25 million acres of California wildlands are classified as under very high or extreme fire threat. The report blames “climate change, an epidemic of dead and dying trees, and the proliferation of new homes in the wildland urban interface.”

Research by the University of Idaho in 2016 found that wildfires in the West have been made worse by higher temperatures associated with climate change. Warmer air has made forests drier, making vegetation more flammable and better wildfire fuel.

Shingletown, named after its historic production of wooden shingles, is considered vulnerable because of its average age of 61, its median household income of $42,000—more than $18,000 less than the national median—and its location in the foothills of the Cascade Range.

In this photo taken June 6, 2019, in the footprint of the 2018 Carr Fire, members of Cal Fire and the California National Guard grind dead vegetation to mitigate the wildfire risk in Shasta County, California. Despite federal fire suppression costs quadrupling and an increase in employed firefighters, the damages caused by wildfires has increased fivefold. (Anton L. Delgado/News21 via AP)

To prevent larger wildfires, Cal Fire plans to grind down vegetation. Its top priority project is to create defensible space, along Shingletown’s main road, State Route 44.

In a low-income community like Shingletown, not everyone can afford to create defensible space. Some simply burn the flammable brush, known as slash, in their yards.

“Every slash pile being burned has the potential of getting away,” said Tom Twist, deputy chief of the Shingletown Fire Safe Council, which offers a program that gives residents access to a site to dump flammable vegetation. “We want to reduce the chances of what we call doorstep burn piles.”

California Assemblyman Jim Wood said he’s been working to find funding for wildfire prevention since wildfires in 2017 killed 44 people in Northern California, which until last year, were the most destructive in state history.

In November 2018, the Camp Fire in Butte County killed 86 people and destroyed close to 12,000 structures. That made it the deadliest wildfire since the 1918 Cloquet Fire, which killed more than 450 people in Minnesota.

Wood, a dentist by trade, volunteered with local authorities to use dental records to identify victims in Paradise. Less than a month later, he proposed Bill AB38, which would establish a $1 billion fund meant to financially aid low-income residents to fireproof their homes. The bill passed but was stripped of funding.

“The legislative process is not perfect,” Wood said. “But the commitment I have to trying to find a funding source … to help people protect their homes isn’t going away.”

California’s building code requires homes in fire-prone regions built after 2008 to have fire resistant roofs and siding, and other safeguards. This year, a similar amendment was passed in Oregon, which had the sixth most wildfires in 2018. Both codes require homeowners to pay for it.

In this photo taken June 8, 2019, is Tom Twist, deputy chief of the Fire Safe Council in Shingletown, Calif. Twist says the dump site eliminates the chance of wildfire. “We want to reduce the chances of what we call doorstep burn piles.” Despite federal fire suppression costs quadrupling and an increase in employed firefighters, the damages caused by wildfires has increased fivefold. (Anton L. Delgado/News21 via AP)

In 2010, 40 million people in the country lived in forested communities, approximately 1-in-10 Americans. But despite the risk of wildfires, building projects continue to be approved in areas still recovering from previous blazes.

___

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

Twist, of the Shingletown Fire Safe Council, said he sees this as his second war. He served two tours in Vietnam—first in the infantry, then in the air cavalry.

“There is a lot of correlation between warfare between humans and warfare between humans and the environment,” he said. “When the fire comes … it’s chaotic for the first several hours until people settle in. It’s the same in a firefight.”

To control the chaos, Twist has been pushing to install SR-7 wildfire early-detection systems, which use infrared and optical cameras to detect growing wildfires.

“The Camp Fire is a prime example of what happens when you’re dealing with inadequate information in a rapidly developing wildfire,” he said. “If the SR-7 system had been deployed … it would have detected the fire and it would have given the people of Paradise about an hour and a half more time to evacuate.”

In June, residents of Roosevelt, Arizona, had a day’s warning before they had to flee the Woodbury Fire.

In this photo taken June 21, 2019, hotshot crews return to their camps as smoke from the Woodbury Fire rises over the Superstition Wilderness in central Arizona. Despite federal fire suppression costs quadrupling and an increase in employed firefighters, the damages caused by wildfires has increased fivefold. (Anton L. Delgado/News21 via AP)

“We want people to be ready to go. If it’s moving towards them, when we say go, we want them to grab their bags and get out of there,” Dick Fleishman, a National Forest Service fire information officer, said the day before the June 20 evacuation.

Spencer spent five days working on her brother’s yard waiting for the threat to be extinguished and the evacuation lifted. She was among the first to re-enter Roosevelt Estates.

“In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, Amen. Thank you, Lord, for protecting us, for protecting our homes. Thank you, Lord, for protecting our firefighters; without them our homes would not be safe,” Spencer said. “There are just no words, but thank God we are home. There’s no place like home. Amen.”

As she prayed, Spencer’s eldest son and nephew were still on the fire line.

___

PRESCRIBED POTENTIAL

David Rubalcaba, 56, has been working fires for nearly half his life. As a hotshot, his job was to rappel from helicopters into wildfires across the country. He did that until 2003, when a burning sequoia crushed his left hand in California.

Now, as the assistant fire management officer—or “burn boss”—for the Karuk Tribe in Northern California, Rubalcaba’s job is to ignite and control prescribed burns. The forest management technique guides the destruction of vegetation that could fuel future wildfires.

In this photo taken June 26, 2019, a reflective mural of The Last Supper and three firefighter figurines were among the first things Pat Spencer unpacked after the mandatory evacuation over Roosevelt, Ariz., was lifted during the Woodbury Fire. Her husband, John, watches as she hangs up the mural. Despite federal fire suppression costs quadrupling and an increase in employed firefighters, the damages caused by wildfires has increased fivefold. (Anton L. Delgado/News21 via AP)

“I came to the realization one day that firefighting is the problem. I wanted to become part of the solution, and so I got into prescribed fire,” Rubalcaba said. “Prescribed fire is the big thing now because it’s the only solution to this catastrophic event we’re having annually with fire.”

For the first time since the 1920s, data from the National Interagency Fire Center has recorded the amount of acreage being burned by wildfires increasing. Federal fire suppression costs quadrupled to nearly $18.5 billion from $4.5 billion 20 years ago.

In the same time span, wildfire damages have increased fivefold with more than $52 billion in damages this last decade, according to the National Catastrophe Service, which analyzes disasters to assess risk management.

Last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order pushing for federal land management and wildfire risk reduction, which said “post-fire assessments show that reducing vegetation through hazardous fuel management … is effective in reducing wildfire severity and loss.”

To better respond to wildfires, firefighting agencies divided the U.S. into 10 geographic regions. The Southern region leads the country with more than 25 million acres of prescribed fires in the past decade—twice the amount of the nine other regions combined.

According to the annual wildland fire summary and statistics report, for the past two decades the Southern region is one of only two regions that has had more land burned by prescribed fires than by wildfires. In 2018, four of the five states with the most wildfires were in the Southern region: Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. But none was in the top five for most land burned.

Research published this year by Crystal Kolden, a wildfire expert and professor in the department of forest, rangeland and fire sciences at the University of Idaho, shows that the region’s use of prescribed burns “may be one of the reasons why the Southeastern states have experienced far fewer wildfire disasters relative to the Western U.S.”

In 2018, California had the most amount of land burned and the second most wildfires. The two regions that represent the state have burned roughly 2.4% of the Southern regions’ total in the past decade.

In this photo taken June 12, 2019, David Rubalcaba, known as the “Burn Boss” of the Karuk Nation in Northern California, supervises all prescribed burns on tribal land. The former smoke jumper took the job after a burning tree crushed his left hand in 2003. “I came to the realization one day that firefighting is the problem. I wanted to become part of the solution, and so I got into prescribed fire,” Rubalcaba said. Despite federal fire suppression costs quadrupling and an increase in employed firefighters, the damages caused by wildfires has increased fivefold. (Anton L. Delgado/News21 via AP)

“Fire is a driverless car,” Pyne said. “It’s barreling down the road integrating everything around it and at some point, it may be a really sharp curve called climate change. Another point it may be a really tricky intersection called wildland urban interface. It may just be filled with road hazards leftover from logging or past fires.

“There is no fix to the fire problem. … We have to live with it.”

Explore further

Prescribed burning to combat wildfires has not increased in the U.S. West

Citation: Communities search for ways to live with growing fire threat (2019, September 22) retrieved 22 September 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-09-ways-threat.html

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creativesage · 6 years ago

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(via The #Angels All-Female Investing Fund Is Shaping the Future of Silicon Valley)

Borrowing from the bro playbook, six former colleagues launch an angel investing plan to get in on Silicon Valley’s billions.

By Jo Piazza

It all started at the Twitter salad bar. A handful of women who made up a good portion of the company’s top executives began talking about angel investing—when an individual swaps a chunk of his or her personal wealth for a slice of ownership in a company at its earliest stages—as they sprinkled their quinoa and cherry tomatoes with flaxseeds. Specifically, they asked, why were all the guys they knew getting asked to invest in early-stage companies, but not them?

The venture world tends to involve a lot of tribal knowledge traded among tight fraternal networks. It’s a group whose members make money by spending money, using their or others’ personal wealth to bet big. When their gambles pay off, they have even more money to shape the future of Silicon Valley—which, in many cases, means the future of the country. “When you think about how power structures are formed in the Valley, it’s the founders and investors who create multibillion-dollar companies who can go on to found more companies and form philanthropies and fund political campaigns and determine what products get made,” says Jana Messerschmidt, who left her role as Twitter’s vice president of global business development and platform in 2016 and recently joined Lightspeed Venture Partners as a partner. “When you have such a concentration of that wealth going to white men, of course the world is shaped through their eyes.”

“When you have such a concentration of that wealth going to white men, of course the world is shaped through their eyes.”

After all, the six women have seen that power structure firsthand. They were raised in the church of Jack Dorsey, the prolific and sometimes controversial cofounder whose companies, Twitter and Square, have made him a billionaire. All of the women respect—and, in some ways, revere—Dorsey as a leader, but they also know that men like Dorsey, especially those who invested early, have a wealth and subsequent influence that make their voices heard by powerful leaders. (Dorsey has spent time with Barack Obama; Chile’s president, Sebastián Piñera; and Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to name a few.)

The women joked about their missing invitations to the investing party until, suddenly, the joking turned serious. They knew they would be better, stronger, and more efficient investors if they worked together. In January 2015, the group met at April Underwood’s tiny apartment, across the street from Twitter in San Francisco. “I could practically see my desk from my bedroom,” remembers Underwood, the former director of product at Twitter who recently left her role as chief product officer at Slack to pursue investing. In addition to Underwood and Messerschmidt, there were four other Twitter execs: Chloe Sladden, then an advisor, investor, and formerly Twitter's vice president of media; Jessica Verrilli, then vice president of corporate development and strategy; Katie Jacobs Stanton, then vice president of global media; and Vijaya Gadde, chief legal officer. “There was wine, a spreadsheet to organize potential investments, and a lot of laughter,” says Stanton, who left Twitter in 2016 to join genetic-testing company Color Genomics as its chief marketing officer and recently became a full-time investor. They decided to create a platform to share information about deals, not a fund that pooled all their money together. They also learned that to be an angel investor, all you have to do is say you’re an angel investor. In March, they wrote a blog post about their new venture, calling themselves #Angels, and, of course, posted it to Twitter. Founders behind companies like Buoyant, Threads, and Lovevery started reaching out shortly after.

Here’s how #Angels works: When one woman is approached about or seeks a potential investment, that person does the due diligence, fields the initial phone calls and meetings, and takes copious notes. Whether she’s convinced or not, she presents the opportunity to the group. That’s when each #Angel can make the decision to invest her own money in a company. (This structure is known as deal syndication, a model Stanton says is common among male investors.)

“I didn’t really have a huge wad to start,” Stanton says. “Most angel investments take a minimum of $25,000, which is a lot of money—and you have to assume you’re going to lose it all. Most of the women I know don’t want to lose any money. It’s so hard to make $25,000, let alone invest it.” Stanton negotiated her first investment—a $10,000 stake in Lowercase Capital, Chris Sacca’s venture firm. “It was all I had,” she says. “Fortunately, it did well.” (Lowercase invested in Twitter, Uber, and Instagram.) That savvy proved helpful as she dug deeper into the investing world via #Angels.

Every other Tuesday the #Angels have a conference call. It isn’t unusual for someone to be sitting in an airport getting ready for a flight, speeding home on US 101, breastfeeding, or shushing an overactive toddler. “There’s no judgment,” Stanton says. “We get it if there’s a baby screaming or a breast pump pumping. We’re all trying to do the best we can.”

The women’s investment interests span dozens of categories. Stanton looks for consumer products that make life better for women, like Brandless and Modern Fertility. Gadde, the sole #Angel who’s still at Twitter—she remains the company’s chief legal officer (the other women have left for executive roles elsewhere or to spend more time on investing)—is attracted to investments that will have a positive impact on the world; in 2017, she bought a stake in One Concern, a company using machine learning and artificial intelligence to gather information during natural disasters. She also invested in Vector Space, a company launching microsatellites into space to democratize access to satellites. “I mostly did it because I wanted to say I invested in a rocket-ship company,” she says, laughing. Underwood says she uses her angel role to push her out of her comfort zone, to look into areas she doesn’t know a ton about, like Rival, a ticketing platform that keeps fans safer by allowing them to upload a photo to complete a purchase. “The ones that sound crazy just might be the next breakout company,” she says.

In the past four years the #Angels have collectively invested in over 100 companies, among them Gusto, Bird, Lygos, Airtable, Carrot Fertility, and Literati. Their money comes from profits the women have made after various IPOs of companies they’ve worked at, their salaries, and cash from their angel investments. They’re still early in their lives as investors—it often takes more than 10 years to see a return on cash supplied to startups—but they’ve already had four exits: Breast-pump tech company Moxxly sold to Olle Larsson Holding and cinemagraph app Polaroid Swing to Microsoft in 2017, then patron-membership site Kit sold to Patreon and credit-score service Pinch to Chime in 2018.

Unlike many of the female-led investment funds out there, the #Angels aren’t focused on backing only women. “Great investors wouldn’t just look at one gender to make great investments,” says Gadde. Underwood seems equally surprised when I ask why they don’t fund solely female founders. “I get it, but why wouldn’t we also want to just be investing in the very best deals we can, regardless of the gender of the founder?”

Still, they teamed up with Carta, a software company that helps startups manage their equity allotments, in February to investigate women’s roles in the venture industry. Carta analyzed 6,000 startups with a combined $45 billion in value to find out who actually sits on the capitalization table—or cap table, to use techie lingo—which is the ownership record of who has shares in a company. Having equity, a term used to describe partial ownership in a company, is how investors, founders, executives, and early employees make their money when a startup is successful—i.e., when a company is bought or taken public. The findings of that #Angels/Carta survey? Women hold just 9 percent of the $45 billion equity value of the 6,000 companies. The other 91 percent belongs to men. “The numbers were actually worse than I thought they’d be,” says Sladden, who left Twitter in August of 2014 and is now running a startup (which, at press time, was still in stealth mode).

Their theory is that the more female angel investors exist, the more control women will have over the future of tech. And sometimes that means more female founders: About 40 percent of the companies in the #Angels portfolio have a female founder or cofounder, including DIRT Protocol, Brandless, Modern Fertility, and Visla Labs. Hitting that number happened organically, they say.

And their work over the past four years has inspired plenty of other women to jump into the game. I joined them at a private dinner hosted by the #Angels in December. A group of 20 women, all angel investors or angels in training, dined around a square table in the downstairs lobby of the San Francisco venture firm First Round Capital. Over baked goat cheese and petite roasted chickens, each woman at the table introduced herself and talked about her investment interests. They lamented over the deals they were shut out of. They asked how they could push for a founder to let them invest more money, how much the others were investing, and in what. One woman, Kelly Graziadei, who left her role as director of media partnerships at Facebook in 2017, revealed that the #Angels inspired her and some former colleagues at Facebook to start their own women’s angel investing fund. They call themselves F7, and they just wrote their first check, she told the room. Everyone applauded, with a few shouts of “Get it, girl!”

Their theory is that the more female angel investors exist, the more control women will have over the future of tech.

Some of the execs attending were eager to invest and wanted better access to potential deals. Stanton’s advice: Check out the site AngelList, which allows investments as low as $1,000. Underwood said investing your time before your money is another solve. “Build relationships with people you think will go on to do great things, and find ways to be helpful to them,” she explained. “If possible, take on an advisory role in exchange for equity.”

There was a lone man at the dinner: Phin Barnes, a partner at First Round. (He was there as the cohost.) At the end of the night, I asked him what it was like to be the token man in the room. I found myself unapologetically sizing him up, making note of what he was wearing: a lightweight black Patagonia fleece and pristine throwback sneakers. The women were better appointed—so chic, in fact, that if they slow-motion walked across a room, they wouldn’t be out of place in an ad for the next female-centric iteration of an Ocean’s movie. “I thought about all the stereotypes I must represent,” he said. “I was thinking about how much I was talking. I see how hard it can be when you’re worrying that someone is looking at you through a certain lens.”

“It gives you a little glimpse into the alternative reality of what the world could look like,” Verrilli, an #Angel and a general partner at GV, said to me when I mention the power dynamic of having all women and one dude at a table. She was both wistful and full of conviction, like she knows, or hopes, that the near future will look different. “What this room looks like right now is not a room a lot of us get to be in,” she added, “but we will.”

A version of this article originally appeared in the March 2019 issue of Marie Claire.

[Entire post, click on the title link to read it at Marie Claire.]

***

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we-got-the-a-team · 8 years ago

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uneducated guesses at candidates to be the New Randy

Omar Morales: Been on the team for all of 2 months and is now the interim Dash manager. Head coach at Eastern New Mexico for 3 years. Blank slate. If picked, the timing of his hiring is awfully interesting--if the Dash hired Randy’s successor in March, Randy was effectively a dead man walking from the start of the season.

Marcelo de Siqueira Campos L. Galvao: The Dash’s other assistant coach, since 2015. Brazilian. Has some NAIA head coaching experience, but otherwise keeps a low profile. Seems even less likely than Morales.

Butch Lauffer: Longtime coach and literal textbook writer on soccer tactics, coached with Randy Waldrum, mentored Morales at Eastern NM. Coaches at Western Texas A&M, lifelong Texan. Seems unlikely if the Dash want to break from the Waldrum style, but who knows.

Angela Kelly: Head coach at University of Texas since 2011; previously a player and assistant under Anson Dorrance at UNC. Former CanWNT and USL W-League midfielder. Oversaw Abby Smith’s development into a collegiate star (hi Jane Campbell hi, hello, hi~). Longhorns made their first national rankings appearance under Kelly in 2012 and turned them into a recruiting power. Not a dude!

Matt Ross: 1. Frankfurt FFC manager in Frauen Bundesliga, elevated from interim after Colin Bell went to Avaldsnes. Australian, and has some US connections via Sophie Schmidt (ex-Sky Blue) and Yuki Nagasato (now on CRS). Could be on the hot seat after a 5th-place finish (though with a small roster and a long string of prominent exits). Frankfurt also lost a sponsor, and Ross has dealt with some recent player drama over communication--something that, for better or (likely) worse, might make him a good fit for Houston.

Nick Cushing: If Carli Lloyd wants to bring back a souvenir from Man City, she could do worse than the manager who led MCWFC to the FA Cup and Champions’ League. Man City would probably pitch a fit, and it’s unlikely the Dash would compete on salary. Has 2 years’ experience leading Man City, and at 32 would be only a couple years older than NWSL baby coach Mark Parsons.

Any coach who previously had a US pro soccer head coaching job (Tom Durkin, Lisa Cole, James Galanis, Albertin Montoya, Charlie Naimo, Aaran Lines, Abner Rogers): Don’t underestimate the smallness of the women’s soccer coaching world. Any of these coaches are likely on most teams’ standing coaching lists. Of special note is Galanis, who coached the WPS Atlanta Beat, but more relevantly has been Carli Lloyd’s personal coach and trainer for years.

Daniel Clitnovici: Has head coaching experience with the Colorado Rapids Women and Colorado Pride. Last seen in the pros as an assistant coach and academy director for the NWSL Flash. Villanova picked him up as an assistant earlier this year after the Flash evacuated Rochester. Known for a high-press attacking style that would be a good fit for the Dash, and also for the Colorado Pride’s 10-match shutout streak in 2014, when he won USL W-League coach of the year.

Ben Dragavon: GK coach for the Seattle Reign since 2013, promoted to assistant coach in 2017. US Soccer has a vested interest in developing Jane Campbell, and Dragavon’s coached Hope Solo and Haley Kopmeyer. No head coaching experience, but has worked closely with Laura Harvey since the Reign’s inception and seems to be climbing the ladder.

Ben Waldrum: Don’t laugh. He’s been running FC Dallas Women extremely well (14-0-0 in 2016, lost in the conference finals to the CRS reserves), and has a USSF A license and a ton of academy and youth development experience. There’s a possible--maybe even likely--scenario where Ben succeeds his dad as Dash head coach, and Randy ends up working for Ben as a technical adviser for the Dash academy.

Leonardo Cuéllar: Former and longtime Mexico WNT coach, now managing Club América in Liga MX Femenil. Not terribly popular with the NT at the end of his tenure, but has decades of experience and could recruit well across the border. FeMex might step in if they’ve gone completely cold on the NWSL and want him to stay with the fledgling Liga MX Femenil.

Andrea Rodebaugh Huitrón: Ex-Mexico WNT captain for a span that included the ‘99 WWC. Went to college at Cal and has managed the Mexico U20s. Currently managing the Xolas in Liga MX Femenil, where they recently lost in the inaugural cup tournament finals. Still early in her coaching career, but experienced at 50. Not a dude!

Jorge Barcellos: One of the few former Brazilian national team coaches with prior experience coaching a US pro team (St. Louis Athletica). Currently coaching Kindermann SC (featuring WNT defender Barbara) to decent form in Brazil’s league and is unlikely to jump ship mid-season.

Keidane McAlpine: USC’s head coach since the 2014 season, where he’s rebuilt the Trojans into a Pac-12 and national powerhouse. His last roster won the national championship and included Sammy Jo Prudhomme, Morgan Andrews, Mandy Freeman, Savannah Levin, Kayla Mills, and Katie Johnson, all of whom are pros (and all but Levin went in the 2017 NWSL college draft). Also led Washington State to two years of Pac-12 success. Would be the only black NWSL coach.

Amanda Cromwell: UCLA’s head coach since 2013. Does a better job at UCLA bringing in and developing international talent than most NWSL coaches. Her rosters have included Sam Mewis, Abby Dahlkemper, and Jessie Fleming--and Mal Pugh, however briefly. Darian Jenkins did so well under Cromwell that she got drafted and signed by the Courage despite a devastating injury in October that’s kept her on the Courage’s DL. One of the winningest coaches in NCAA history (289 wins, .698%), not just active but all-time, thanks to 14 years and a 203-83-26 record at UCF. Has 55 USWNT caps and was on the US Soccer Board of Directors and NCAA rules committee. Not a dude!

Anson Dorrance, Cindy Parlow Cone, Tony DiCicco: Longshots despite high profiles and prior pro-league involvement. Cone’s the only one of this group I see even being remotely likely due to her continued involvement with US Soccer.

Patrice Lair (PSG) or Gerard Precheur (OL): Lol. Both on their way out, but there’s no way they consider the Dash as an opportunity, even if the Dynamo group uncharacteristically start throwing tons of money into the Dash.

Abby Wambach: Her name comes up for almost every US pro women’s soccer coaching job for no good reason other than it’s Abby Wambach.

#houston dash

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