#DIRTY DEMOCRATS

[msclaritea]

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2019/01/gavin-newsoms-keeping-it-all-in-the-family/?s=09

Gavin Newsom’s keeping it all in the family

BY DAN WALTERS

JANUARY 6, 2019

This story is part of California Voices, a commentary forum aiming to broaden our understanding of the state and spotlight Californians directly impacted by policy or its absence. Learn more here.

Gavin Newsom will be the first Democrat in more than a century to succeed another Democrat as governor and the succession also marks a big generational transition in California politics.

A long-dominant geriatric quartet from the San Francisco Bay Area – Gov. Jerry Brown, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – has been slowly ceding power to younger political strivers.

Moreover, Newsom is succeeding someone who could be considered his quasi-uncle, since his inauguration continues the decades-long saga of four San Francisco families intertwined by blood, by marriage, by money, by culture and, of course, by politics – the Browns, the Newsoms, the Pelosis and the Gettys.

The connections date back at least 80 years, to when Jerry Brown’s father, Pat Brown, ran for San Francisco district attorney, losing in 1939 but winning in 1943, with the help of his close friend and Gavin Newsom’s grandfather, businessman William Newsom.

Ties among the Brown, Newsom, Pelosi and Getty families date back three generations. Click on image for a larger view. Graphic for CALmatters by Nazneen Rydhan-Foster.

Fast forward two decades. Gov. Pat Brown’s administration developed Squaw Valley for the 1960s winter Olympics and afterward awarded a concession to operate it to William Newsom and his partner, John Pelosi.

One of the Pelosis’ sons, Paul, married Nancy D’Alesandro, who went into politics and has now reclaimed speakership of the House of Representatives. Another Pelosi son married William Newsom’s daughter, Barbara. Until they divorced, that made Nancy Pelosi something like an aunt by marriage to Gavin Newson (Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law was Gavin Newsom’s uncle).

The Squaw Valley concession was controversial at the time and created something of a rupture between the two old friends.

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William Newsom wanted to make significant improvements to the ski complex, including a convention center, but Brown’s Department of Parks and Recreation balked. Newsom and his son, an attorney also named William, held a series of contentious meetings with officials over the issue.

An eight-page memo about those 1966 meetings from the department’s director, Fred Jones, buried in the Pat Brown archives, describes the Newsoms as being embittered and the senior Newsom threatening to “hurt the governor politically” as Brown ran for a third term that year against Ronald Reagan.

Pat Brown’s bid for a third term failed, and the Reagan administration later bought out the Newsom concession. But the Brown-Newsom connection continued as Brown’s son, Jerry, reclaimed the governorship in 1974. He appointed the younger William Newsom, a personal friend and Gavin’s father, to a Placer County judgeship in 1975 and three years later to the state Court of Appeal.

Justice Newsom, who died a few weeks ago, had been an attorney for oil magnate J. Paul Getty, most famously delivering $3 million to Italian kidnapers of Getty’s grandson in 1973. While serving on the appellate bench in the 1980s, he helped Getty’s son, Gordon, secure a change in state trust law that allowed him to claim his share of a multi-heir trust.

After Newsom retired from the bench in 1995, he became administrator of Gordon Getty’s own trust, telling one interviewer, “I make my living working for Gordon Getty.” The trust provided seed money for the PlumpJack chain of restaurants and wine shops that Newson’s son, Gavin, and Gordon Getty’s son, Billy, developed, the first being in a Squaw Valley hotel.

Gavin Newsom had been informally adopted by the Gettys after his parents divorced, returning a similar favor that the Newsom family had done for a young Gordon Getty many years earlier. Newsom’s PlumpJack business (named for an opera that Gordon Getty wrote) led to a career in San Francisco politics, a stint as mayor, the lieutenant governorship and now to the governorship, succeeding his father’s old friend.

He’s keeping it all in the extended family.

[blueberry-ry]

"Omg guys.... Can you imagine....wouldn't it be crazy.... if the Church...... had power.... over our politics 0-0....."

I'm gonna fucking implode

[rawrrpurruwurawr]

[trexalicious]

Is it normal for a political party to erase the existence of women? Every single Democrat voted against keeping biological men out of women's sports...🤬

[screambirdscreaming]

Ok so I'm out of the habit of rolling with these punches. But I'm quickly remembering that trump's number one game is playing insane mode "good cop, bad cop" with every other political power in the US but especially the democratic party.

He will completely change course in a moment as soon as looks like it might benefit him to do so. He will get everyone to go along on something he swears up and down he will do, and then at the last minute flip to playing his own devil's advocate. He will do all of this at the exact same level of uncompromising forward momentum.

It makes it really hard to tell which things he yells about will actually happen. Which is frustrating and stressful and makes it hard to organize and keep up resistance. This is part of the point, presumably.

It also makes it so sometimes he seems to pull off bizarre tactical maneuvers, or apparently outwit his political opponents. In retrospect once you get past the immediate confusion, it usually looks less like a grand plan, and more like turning on a dime to catch any short-term advantage.

It does mean he doesn't make much forward progress on any coherent political goals, as measured or understood by anyone else. Including, and this is the small silver lining, any of his hangers-on and coattail-riders, many of whom have much more coherent and terrifying political platforms.

Trump himself seems to be motivated by power, attention, and outrage. He is good at doing damage, which counts as power. Many people try to take advantage of this damage blast to their more specific nasty ends, which he is generally on board with. The silver lining, again, is that he turns on most of them at some point, when he sees any benefit in doing so. This isn't much of a comfort to anyone caught up in the damage that does get caused.

Last time, I had to learn not to follow his moves too closely, because that just led to getting caught up in the whirlwind and being stressed and confused. Pick some issues that are your battles and focus on what needs to be done there. When the damage blast is aimed at you, push back on it. When he turns on a dime in some bizarre and flashy way, don't overthink it. Just keep your eyes on what you're trying to get done.

Again, many of his hangers-on have agendas that are terrifying and bear watching closely. But don't get caught up in the shitshow hurricane.

[odinsblog]

A super PAC funded by conservative megadonor Jeff Yass has spent more than half a million dollars in recent weeks urging Pennsylvania Democrats to support a primary challenger running against progressive House Democrat Summer Lee.

The Moderate PAC, which was formed in 2021, is airing ads in Pennsylvania’s 12th District that attack Lee for what it calls her “extreme socialist agenda,” and calling on Democratic primary voters to choose Lee’s challenger Bhavini Patel. The ads go after Lee for criticizing President Biden and the Democratic Party, and for voting against the debt ceiling bill negotiated between Biden and former House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Lee is a member of the so-called “Squad” of progressive House Democrats that has stood apart from Democratic Party leaders on numerous policy issues, including most recently on U.S. support for Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

The super PAC has spent at least $586,000 on running the ads since the middle of March, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The only donation that The Moderate PAC has ever reported receiving is $1 million from Yass that was given to the group in July 2022.

Yass is a billionaire investor who former President Trump recently said was “fantastic” after the pair connected at a donor retreat in Florida.

Yass has donated more than $62 million to conservative super PAC Club for Growth Action, and $18 million to School Freedom Fund, a Club for Growth PAC that supports candidates who believe parents should receive taxpayer dollars to spend with private education companies of their choosing. Yass lives in Pennsylvania and has a net worth of about $27 billion, according to Forbes.

Yass has also donated heavily to congressional Republicans. Last year he gave $10 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with House GOP leadership, and in 2018 he gave $200,000 to its upper chamber equivalent the Senate Leadership Fund.

(continue reading)

[bitter-post-millennial]

Hello, I hope my message finds you well Can you help me amplify my desperate plea to survive? I wish everyone who can support my family with $5, $10 or any amount they can donate or at least reblog My pinned blog 🙏🏻

My family needs you and depends on you to survive 🍉🍉

My pinned blog link

Thanks a lot 🌹🌹

New one. No idea if this one is better or not so be aware of that before donating if you can.

[sciralta]

I think we can just crown Charles as the man with the biggest dick in Choices now.

[bijoumikhawal]

Saying "one of the major parties in a country trying to genocide trans people is the "most pro trans" major party in the world" as a statement of fact should inspire fear and terror, not be a call the be thankful to that fucking party. Anyway Biden is partially responsible for the current T drug class

[jangillman]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Darren James Sauer (@djs3113)

[engineering-myself]

Anybody else want to fling themselves off a cliff because of the Trump v. United States decision? Or is that just me?

[awesomecooperlove]

💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻OLD AND STILL A GOOD REMINDER OF THE DEMON- C - RATS DESPERATE BATTLE FOR DEAR LIVES💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

🗣️🗣️🗣️

[steelbluehome]

I'd just like to clarify some things about Senator Cory Booker's marathon Senate speech in protest of the present administration and everything they are doing to the American people.

Senator Booker was NOT allowed to sit down, eat, or use the bathroom during his speech. Sitting or leaving the room to use the bathroom would be considered yielding the floor. Eating would have interfered with his speaking and the person who has the floor must continue to speak, except when listening to questions that they will then answer.

He only took occasional sips of water.

The person who previously held the record for longest speech on the Senate floor did have bathroom breaks and also did things like read from the encyclopedia.

Senator Booker did not do that. His speech was to point out the damage that this administration is doing and he stayed on that subject.

Senator Booker's speech did reach many people. It wasn't a silly stunt that was done so that he could take the record for longest speech. He wanted to show the country that democrats will do something to bring attention to the problems we are facing. That democrats are listening to them.

Senator Cory Booker spoke for 25 hours and 4 minutes to "make good trouble."

ETA Thanks for all of the reblogs and notes! I hadn't wanted to dirty this post with the name of the former holder of the record for longest time holding the Senate floor, but there are a lot of questions.

Senator Strom Thurmond, a segregationist and white supremacist, held the previous record of 24 hours and 18 minutes when he filibustered the vote on the Civil Rights Act.

Sen. Thurmond had someone put a bucket just outside of the doorway to the cloakroom so that he could keep one foot on the floor while pissing into this bucket, to hold the floor.

Senator Booker would never disrespect the Senate, nor "bend the rules" in such a way.

Because of this Sen. Thurmond could drink coffee or anything else he wanted, as much as he wanted, to keep himself awake, soothe his throat, and keep his mouth from becoming dry.

Senator Booker limited himself to a few sips at a time from two glasses of water at the podium.

Also, Sen. Thurmond began his speech immediately before a vote was to be taken and his speech was specifically to delay that vote. That is the definition of a "filibuster".

Senator Booker's speech was not designed to delay or prevent any vote. He did not know how long he would be physically able to speak. Therefore, his was a speech, not a filibuster.

ETA2: Strom Thurmond did also temporarily yield the floor to a colleague and took a bathroom break at that time. He also had some rye bread and hamburger to eat.

Source

ETA3: So sorry about all of these but I need to include just one more thing.

This is the transcript of Strom Thurmond's filibuster

He read the voting laws of all 48 states (this was 1957). He read from a book called "The History of the Jury Trial" speaking for quite some time about things like the justice system of the Anglo-Saxons. He read from other books, he read from the Declaration of Independence, he read from the Constitution. He yielded the floor for someone to be sworn in. All kinds of things about his filibuster made Senator Booker's speech a far superior feat, not just because it lasted longer.

[msclaritea]

Tariq Nasheed is not a Russian asset. He never has been. He's BLM, which is Scientology, which is the CIA. He probably pretended to be a Russian plant to help paint Russia in a bad light.

[trexalicious]

We're all supposed to go electric because the world is ending from global warming but apparently selling your Tesla and buying a gas guzzler in order to stick it to Elon Musk is FAR more important...#DemocraticHypocrisy #It'sAboutControl 🙄

[whitesinhistory]

On August 9, 2014, a white police officer named Darren Wilson shot an unarmed Black teenager named Michael Brown to death in Ferguson, Missouri. According to reports, Officer Wilson stopped Michael on the street in the afternoon to ask him about a robbery at a nearby convenience store. Although the precise details of what happened next remain unclear, many eyewitness accounts suggest that Michael ran from the officer with his hands raised in the air. Officer Wilson then shot Michael six times and claimed that he had feared for his life. Michael’s body was found approximately 150 feet from the officer’s police vehicle. He had graduated from high school just eight days before and was scheduled to begin a vocational training program two days later.

There is a presumption of guilt and dangerousness that has unfairly made people of color, particularly young Black men, targets of police aggression and violence. The shooting and its aftermath sparked weeks of protests in Ferguson and beyond. Demonstrators chanting “hands up, don’t shoot” as a rallying cry against police brutality gathered in the streets, facing officers armed with military-grade equipment. Law enforcement’s heavy-handed response to the protests prompted national discussions about the militarization of inner-city police forces and the ways in which police officers used violence to repress dissent and maintain racially biased social conditions.

Despite nationwide pleas for accountability, no one was punished for Michael Brown’s death. A grand jury ultimately declined to bring criminal charges against Officer Wilson, and the Department of Justice also refused to file federal civil rights charges.