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aclearerviewfromlockdown-blog · 6 years

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Dear Readers, and all fair minded as well as legal minded people, my legal matter is about America's immigration fraud. FBI scandal and corruption to the fullest. My case is not just about America, "No" it is really about corruption finding its way into America's courts and continues until now. It is said "Until the Lion learns how to write, the hunter would always be the hero." I was used as a political scapegoat by both the American and Trinidadian governments in a very corrupt and shameful legal matter, the U.S. government keeps on the hush low for the past decade after lying to an American grand jury, the American people in order to bring me and this corrupt case into America. Court paper claims that an untold sum of money was spent in this case and continues to be spent. So let me first touch on a few issues before I give you the true and raw fact of an unjust, unlawful, corrupt case and you be the judge. Today a slave bible sits on display in a Washington D.C. museum for all to see and question. A copy of its very kind was sent in to the Caribbean West Indies many moons ago to help govern, keeping black slaves weak minded and well obedient. All the empowering stories of the bible was never mentioned in the slave bible including the story about the children of Israel was removed. Their hardship and their overcoming at the end. Nothing to give black slaves hope was mentioned in that evil book. Today I clearly understand why my government statesmen, judges, and other high office holders are such a sellout, weak, self-centered, "Cool Uncle Tom's" to foreign powers who keeps their foot on my people's necks and their hands in our wealthy pockets for decades in the most crafty ways. God bless my country in so many ways only Him and the heavens know about. Whatever this world has for sale my country could freely bought it all in cash, much less to now come and be handing over my country citizens, men and women, to foreign government based on their laws and corrupt policies now yet equally reviewed or lawfully justify nor pass in the upper House of the Trinidad and Tobago House of Representatives. Just rubber stamp down our throat in the disguise of a friendly treaty. Today when these very same law and policies now see the prosecution of a few of my country statesmen their wealthy friends in America. Somehow these laws no longer exist or apply to them. When you refuse to uphold and practice your very own laws and policies as they are written then turn around and twist the laws to help justify your corrupt opinions what messages do you send to the rules of law that you boldly use daily to oppress and keep in prison the less fortunate while both the Democratic and Republican parties play games, politick for their personal gain and the gains of the selective few. Who is financially responsible for putting and keeping them in office while the American people needs are never met only pacify at time. The red, white, black, and brown kids, America's future suffer at America's door steps daily in so many ways to get by. Senior citizens who have already paid their dues in full in wars, etc. to make America the great place she is are now forced back into a job at old age to make ends meat. It has now become a culture, how sad, overnight in America to go into public schools, places of business, etc. and kill innocent people, where has America gone and how rich self-centered and heartless the selective few, gun makers, etc. are seeking to become that they cannot put differences aside pulling together power, influence, good/common sense for the better good of all Americans and this world you badly seek to lead and police. The time for pointing fingers been long gone. America's heads of states, congressmen, and women, you all must come clean now before it's too late because you all hold the burden and responsibility for what is taking place throughout America. Firstly, start by revisiting and reviewing all thes oppressive, wicked laws which you enhance and sign in to bill knowing very well firsthand how unfair and evil these laws are before passing them. Stripping people of their rights to keep America's biggest business running prison modern day slavery. Who do you all think you are fooling while you all allow each other to run loose at times breaking the laws on all different levels known and unknown to each other, making a mockery of democracy in the face of all Americans. The order of the day and America's business affair before Congress, and the World, etc, has now turned into a live soap opera all because what many of you did in secret today Trump now does openly. Far too much time and money has been spent on these Trump issues while American lives still slowly deteriorate. The bar was set very low in the 2016 general election and poor hard working, frustrated Americans went to the polls and did what they all thought was best. Seeking at least a piece of the American dream through good governance rather than living a nightmare in constant poverty. America is without without any question a foreign land mainly because the very blood, sweat, and tears of all races built America in every aspect. Forget if you all want to but it was 400 hundred years of free labor pain and suffering willingly and unwillingly Africans endured a price no race has yet paid to build America and exist. Simple minded as well as strong sound minded Americans you all know very well that Trump brought nothing but chaos to the table for all Americans so spending billions on a border wall would not help Americans nor put food on their tables, protect them or bridge the gap widely open since Trump took office. This wall is a business venture for the rich to get richer, passing hardworking tax payers money around through contracts to help cover old favors due. Racist America, you all pretend to have compromise with the growth and contributions other race have given their very lives in wars to make America safe, but if you don't now fully let go of that old racist stigma deeply rooted within which hinders America's best potential entering such a critical century putting all Americans at risk at home and abroad. Today is a very sad day worldwide but mostly a very sad day in America. American life expectancy went down in 3 years, gun violence, suicide, drug overdoses are at highest in the world. The fact that prosecutor has now totally corrupt the very integrity of the court turning it into their personal play ground only to build themselves is a whole entire different story by itself. I now call into questioning the fact of America being the land of the free while America keeps hundreds of thousands of their citizens and other countries citizens in prison. The charges, evidence, prison time given, and the rate people are being sent to jail in America do not add up to nothing lawful nor justice being served. No regard for the rule of law as it is written. Corrupt enhancements, wrongful arrests, illegal prosecution, rubber stamp trials, ghost drugs, ghost guns, in other words no evidence, abusive-unjust sentencing has murdered the claim of America being the land of the free. It is said that conspiracy is America's most dangerous weapon, no facts, no proof, nothing physical nor scientific, you go to jail for the rest of your life. "Conspiracy was serve". It may well seem like the judge you are before, the prosecutor and your very own lawyer all got some kind of investment in prison, who knows? who do we trust, because prison now such a money making business for all. Rudy Giuliani, you are the most perfect example to show the lies, corrupt games, and unlawful acts committed by so many prosecutors inside as well as outside the court. Thank you Mr. Giuliani so much for showing the American people what so many prosecutors are truly about. There is no preferential treatment in the prison system in court it constitutes deliberate indifference. "Senator" Howard pronounced that it established equality before the law and it gives the humblest and the poorest, the most despair of race the same rights and the same protection before the law as it gives to the most powerful, the most wealthy or the most boastful, than if that's the case, why was Paul Mannefort awarded luxurious treatment at Northern Neck County jail, while facing criminal prosecution until now he was allowed street food daily, taken to court alone in luxurious Federal Suburban's, housed in jail housing unit alone built for at least 30 inmates while his staff workers, friends, family members were able to freely walk in and out of the county jail at any given time, personal computers, et. while immigrant kids are being housed like doges in cages, suffering the fear of being separated from their mothers, etc.? Homeland Secretary Kirst M. Nielsen, you show no compassion as a mother, as a woman for the death of the 7 year old immigrant child who dies trying to enter America. Ms. Nielsen, you poorly chose your words in such a moment only to say how dangerous the journey is to enter America, but that journey today is no less harder or less dangerous Ms. Nielsen than the one your forefather and other immigrants took to come to, and help build America. Much less the journey Africans were forced to endure, dragged into America. Mr. Trump, for everything that is holy, please give the dreamers a chance, these kids are brilliant minds who work so hard to be good, trying their utmost best to find their place in our world as Americans. My words, feelings, etc, are not directed to no one race because evil starts, gets adopted and ends or not as time goes on. We all had paid a price or been through some kind of pain or hardships in our lifetime, some situation far more greater than others but nevertheless we all been down that road called sadness. We need to seek and find peace within ourselves in order to help each other build a common ground for our kids and all children worldwide to be safe and free from pain and suffering. World leaders I know for a fact that greed, power, and pride has consumed your very hearts and souls. Many of you, while you all bomb and gas wickedly killing men, women, and children boldly before the worlds very face, forcing women and kids to refugee camps in the middle of nowhere while they and their kids, babies, starve and freeze to death. You live, promote, and preserve old doctrine which has not yet worked for no one but yourselves. How do you all sleep at night, if any at all? The crimes you has so far committed, gotten away with and continue to do is nothing but the work of the devil, whoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whoever he misguides there is none that can guide him. "God" is the greatest. American officials, you keep removing mothers who have been living in America for decades without committing a single crime in America, tearing them apart from their American kids through deportation causing hardship and pain destroying well knitted families while you all play evil politics without regard to who lives, dies, or suffers. To now come and take me unlawfully out of my country keeping me on your legal cross with two life sentences, without physical or scientific evidence against me, based on an alleged American citizen, someone who raped a minor and was very abusive to women after he illegally entered America. Who fraudulently became an American citizen but is in no way at all lawfully an American by the rules, laws, and policies which govern America's immigration system. This person I am speaking about was statutorily disqualified by law for American status because he deserted America's military in a time of war. he was ordered deportation and never left America as ordered by an immigration judge the record would show. He then fraudulently won an American Green Card a few months after he was ordered to be deported back to Trinidad. The prosecutor brought before the trial court two American passports belonging to this person, with different names and an unsigned American Naturalization Certificate to probe he is an American citizen. His first fraudulently obtained American passport issued in 1995 was not put into evidence, "Why", his change of name American passport issued in "2000" was put into evidence. The 1995 American passport carries the name he illegally entered America with, was ordered deportation, deserted America's military, criminal record history, etc., while in America before fraudulently becoming a U.S. citizen. Without any question this person American citizenship status is unlawful based on American immigration rules, laws, and policies at it is written. He was not even eligible by law for U.S. status as a military deserter. If that is not corruption before both the court and law, let's say bold fact could it be double standards, while America's War Veterans, who serve their country faithfully, remain homeless in the thousands throughout America and government funding are being pulled, are no longer given to help soup kitchens throughout America which help feed American War Veterans daily. Yet you spend millions, court papers said an untold sum, on the behalf of someone who deserted your military in a time of war, who broke all your immigration rules, laws, and policies causing you to now corrupt the court with lies, corrupt evidence, etc. to win a conviction when the true facts and lawful evidence, etc. are before your very eyes. The head FBI case agent sent into my country on this very same case, started having a sexual relationship with the alleged victim's niece, a potential witness before I was wrongfully charged in my country or wrongfully charged by a U.S. grand jury. The alleged victim's niece became the head FBI case agents "wife-away-from-home" for months in an ongoing investigation to the point that the head agent was going into my country unknown to FBI officials to meet the niece of the alleged victim in an open investigation. The FBI case agent got demoted at some point because of that sexual issue long before the trial started but was still allowed to take charge of the case, the ongoing investigation, gave evidence at my trial while he still kept seeing the alleged victim's niece openly. My case prosecutor corrupted my case from the start to the very end, tampering with witnesses, etc. After I lost at trial, rub out of my freedom, while pending my direct appeal, my case prosecutor allowed one trial witness, who was also charged in the very same case and was to be deported back to Trinidad after doing his prison time, to live at the prosecutor's home for "18" months or better while pending my direct appeal. It was only when my "2255" motion came before the court the witness was quickly removed out of the prosecutor's home. The case prosecutor told an investigating team out of the justice department, by immediately stating that my trial judge is fully aware that the witness is living at his home. Today, my case prosecutor is being investigated in a few other cases and it is said that my legal fate would be determined on those outcomes. While my new prosecutor keeps getting "stays" and extensions for months in my legal matter. Fair minded as well as legal minded people, the misconduct by the FBI case agent, my prosecutor, the court throughout the case investigation and trial up until now is outrageous, damaging to be side stepped or pushed under a rug in a case with such high penalty. My legal fate should be judged base on mainly the wrong doing, unlawful and corrupt acts taken in my legal matter. I have so far felt the wrath of the corrupt, unjust, part of American Justice System, innocently while corrupt lawmakers and other American government officials get a slap on their wrist for crimes committed which would leave a lasting effect on America in every aspect. You all try your utmost best to paint me like if I were some kind of monster, but your lies, corrupt, inconsistent evidence given before the trial court did not add up to a conviction. You need to now look in a mirror and you will see the monster while you work on borrowed time to unlawfully keep me in your prison based on an alleged American citizen. America, what did your four trial witnesses say against me before the court, the "record would show", one witness said he did not know me at all, one said "Straker was not there", another witness said he was not there, while the other witness said he was, and one was forced to say I was there for whatever reason after he had already told a U.S. grand jury he never knew "Straker" before this crime took place. Today this same man while back in Trinidad in 2017 told my private investigator he never knew me. Before America took me out of my country "the record would show" I stayed arrested in Trinidad for "18 months". I never signed anything when asked by Trinidadian police or FBI, nor did I ever give a statement to no one, even while being assaulted by both Trinidadian Police and FBI, without my lawyer present. As soon as they took me out of my country the FBI case agent who was having sex with the alleged victim's niece, who I had already refused to give a statement to back in Trinidad, brought before the judge in America an unsigned statement and said that I gave it to them on the way up to America. It is said that you must be tried by a jury of your peers before the court, "Peer" means one who has equal standing with another. I am a Trinidadian citizen from Trinidad and Tobago who was tried in Washington D.C. before a jury of Washingtonians, white, black, Chinese, etc. who knows nothing at all about my country, our culture, how our legal system works or who I am as a person. All they heard was an American died and the only thing we had in common is the fact that we are all human beings, that is NOT a jury of my PEERS. These so called jurors of my peer Washingtonians sat in a two and a half months of trial like sheep lead by their nose, and heard evidence of fraud, two American passports with different names, deportation order, U.S. Armed Forces deserter in a time of war, FBI case agent having sex with alleged victim's niece throughout the investigations, an unsigned American Naturalization Certificate, witness tampering by the prosecutor, etc.. And no one, none of these "peers" said, "hold on", "this is too much", and it does not add up. This man, a born Trinidadian citizen, is an American citizen with these kind of conflicting American documents. I legally entered and lived here in America and Canada as I please for many years and never at no time did I ever have any run in with their laws or immigration laws and policies. Neither have I any criminal conviction or history of any kind in my country before being accused of this crime, in the blink of an eye, I am before American Courts getting two life sentences. Where is justice without corruption and who is going to respect American rules of law as its written? Americans you are truly brave souls, you all give your lives to protect America, and Americans, and the World as well. Young men and women who never even got the chance to fall in love end up on the frontline for love of country and die, kids are now left mother and fatherless because their parents put America first. Lawmakers, heads of state, congressmen and women, if you truly do not have respect and compassion for those lives lost, and sacrifices made, than may God be with you all. I do not see race or color when I see "God", creation, "Mankind". Today when the world cries or smiles I find my place in the moment and find peace because I am a citizen of our World and only wish the best for it and all those living in it! I am no judge, nor am I in a position to judge anyone, but I would speak truth when truth needs to be known. My first daughter, Talia, sent me this picture and she wrote on the back that her best memories are the ones spent with me. I won legal custody of Talia when she was eight months old. You would be surprised to know the strength a child could give you, making you so much stronger and responsible, and at peace, teaching you the meaning of true love. Children are a blessing and the greatest of our treasures. Talia helps mold me in to a man, a good father, and I won a lifetime-best friend in her! World Leaders, Please stop killing the children of our world the way you are! You all got kids of your very own and were once kids as well! Please do better! Please! I humbly ask that you please pass this on. -Anderson Straker Noteworthy: Food for thought....Did you all know that America's 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson, found it fit to own his personal Quran, and that Morocco was the first country to recognize America's independence? Or, that there is an unbroken treaty between Morocco and America for the past 230 years, which was signed by Thomas Jefferson? Just something to ponder on.....

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democratsunited-blog · 6 years

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Nancy Pelosi: Inside the Democrats' Path to Victory in 2018

https://uniteddemocrats.net/?p=4529

Nancy Pelosi: Inside the Democrats' Path to Victory in 2018

Illustration by Victor Juhasz

Nancy Pelosi sits in a black-leather booth at Americana, a burger bistro in downtown Des Moines, radiating optimism. “We’re in a very good place,” she says of Democrats’ odds in November. Special-election results suggest more than 100 seats in the House of Representatives are in play, and Democrats need less than two dozen to regain a majority. At the prospect of a victory that could check Trump’s power – and, Pelosi expects, reinstall her as House speaker – she bangs a piece of cutlery, hard, on the table. “The gavel,” she says. “The gavel makes all the difference in the world.” She breaks from her reverie to note the absurdity of the scene – “I didn’t mean to pick up the knife,” she apologizes, laughing – then adds, “Awesome power. The speaker has awesome power.”

The San Francisco Democrat has been here before. She engineered the party’s rebound from the abyss of John Kerry’s 2004 loss to George W. Bush, leading Democrats to power two years later, when she broke the “marble ceiling,” becoming the highest-ranking elected woman in American history. As speaker, she stewarded passage of the Recovery Act, Wall Street reform and, her proudest achievement, the Affordable Care Act. Pelosi never inspired a cult of personality in the manner of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but those who’ve fought in the trenches with her, like Phil Schiliro, President Obama’s legislative-affairs director, tout Pelosi’s “incredible tenacity” and legislative prowess: “She would rather chew glass than lose a vote.”

In the face of both the Tea Party and Donald Trump, Pelosi has unified Democrats to protect the core of her legislative achievements, while capitalizing on Republican rifts to block the draconian cuts of the president’s proposed budgets. Despite these accomplishments, Pelosi also presents a political risk for her party. In a midterm where base turnout may prove decisive, she is “hate-nip” for the opposition: 84 percent of Trump voters view Pelosi “very unfavorably,” outpacing even North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un in an April poll. The GOP and its dark-money allies are spending millions to blast her as the embodiment of “San Francisco values” and hitting Democratic candidates who would “fall in line” behind her.

While Republicans skewer Pelosi as a creature of the far left, she is actually closer to the center of her party. Her once-radical views on LGBTQ rights are now mainstream. Frustrating the Bernie Sanders wing, she argues against making support for sweeping proposals like “Medicare for All” into litmus tests for Democrats. And she is tamping down talk of impeachment. “From what we know, it’s off the table,” Pelosi says, calling buzz about removing Trump a “gift for the Republicans.” Pelosi is also challenged by Blue Dog Dems to her right, who are demanding a “new generation of leadership” and seek to rebrand Democrats as patriotic pragmatists.

None of this controversy eclipses the reality of her power. Pelosi is charting the strategic course of the 2018 election, raising millions of dollars and boosting the recruits who would plug into a political machine she’s honed for nearly 15 years. The stakes could not be higher: “Civilization as we know it is at risk in this election,” Pelosi says. “We have to win.” But as she sits in an Iowa pub on a warm Sunday in May, enjoying a slice of dark-chocolate torte, Pelosi is unbothered by the dangers or her doubters. She can get that gavel back, she insists, and knows how to use it to put Trump in his place. “I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I am confident,” she says. “I’m really good at what I do.”

U.S. House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a weekly news conference June 7, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Pelosi held her weekly news conference to answer questions from members of the media Alex Wong/Getty

At a Democratic fundraiser earlier in the evening, Pelosi stood in an indigo suit before a wall-size American flag doting on Iowa congressmen and local grandees. A $75 ticket included a dinner of chicken and squash; for $1,500, high-rollers could attend a private afterparty with the minority leader. Pelosi doesn’t hate the players, or the game – she’s a master at raising money for Democrats. Her haul as the party leader is a staggering $660 million, including nearly $70 million this cycle.

Unlike Paul Ryan, the retiring speaker whose budget wonkery has not translated into leadership, Pelosi is a politician of many gifts; Schiliro likens her to a five-tool player in baseball: “She’s tireless, and she’s able to do policy, votes, fundraising and lead a caucus.” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a top Pelosi ally in the House, praises her ability “to forge consensus” in a party that’s hardly less factionalized than the GOP. “She listens, and listens, to people.”

Pelosi’s liabilities were also on display in Des Moines. Gary Leffler, a 57-year-old retired farmer, was the ringleader of a dozen protesters picketing outside. One sign read “Dinner with Nancy? 75 crumbs” – referencing Pelosi’s controversial description of the average American’s gains from the Trump tax cut. Wearing a Trump T-shirt, a blue MAGA hat and a bushy mustache, Leffler stood beside his tractor, airbrushed with a streaming American flag across the hood: “I wish I would have made one more sign,” he said of Pelosi. “ ’Please Don’t Retire!’ She’s almost like an undercover Republican, with all the things she’s saying.”

Pelosi is unique among congressional leaders in being weaponized against her party. Through April, she was featured in more than a third of House GOP TV spots, many of them appealing to the prejudices of Republican voters. In Georgia, an ad featuring an eclectic mix of San Franciscans singing the praises of special-election House candidate Jon Ossoff ended with a black man in dreadlocks saying, “San Francisco loves them some Jon Ossoff!” The Conservative Leadership Fund, Ryan’s Super PAC, has aggressively yoked swing-district candidates to Pelosi. Director Corry Bliss told USA Today, “We’re going to spend millions and millions of dollars reminding voters across the country why Nancy Pelosi is bad for the country,” calling her the “most toxic, unpopular politician in American politics, period.”

Pelosi believes the GOP is simply afraid of her. “I’ve made some very powerful, rich enemies,” she says. “I don’t think we should allow our opponents to choose the leaders of the Democratic Party. But that’s what they’re trying to do.” Her strategy in the face of the Republican onslaught is to grin and bear it. “I don’t spend money to take my numbers back up,” she says. “I’d rather spend the money on the candidates who win than getting into a tickle contest with a skunk over this stuff.” DNC Chair Tom Perez also shrugs off the Pelosi attacks as a sign of “desperation” from a GOP that can’t defend cutting taxes for the wealthiest or raising health care premiums for the middle class.

Candidates who have been on the business end of the Pelosi attacks believe they’re effective – at least in Trump country. James Thompson, an Army vet who narrowly lost a special House election in Kansas in 2017, had nearly pulled even, before the GOP unleashed an ad blitz. “I was constantly compared to Nancy Pelosi, who I’d never spoken with,” says Thompson. The Democratic Party stayed on the sidelines, and victory slipped out of reach.

In a recent special election in Pennsylvania, however, Democratic candidate Conor Lamb hit on a strategy to neutralize the Pelosi attacks, which featured in nearly 60 percent of GOP ads. Lamb declared he wouldn’t back Pelosi as the Democratic leader – and won. “Some candidates are seeing it as an opportunity,” says Rep. Tim Ryan, a centrist Ohio Democrat who tried to topple Pelosi as minority leader in 2017. “They’re showing an independent streak at a moment when voters are looking for an independent member of Congress.”

Pelosi insists she has no objection. “It doesn’t bother me,” she says of candidates in red districts who distance themselves from her. “I just want them to win.”

Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks about health care as she points to a picture of President Trump with House GOP members, during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill, June 14, 2018 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty

In a parallel universe, Pelosi is already retired. “If Hillary had won and the Affordable Care Act was protected, I could have happily gone home,” she says. “Nobody in California gets Potomac Fever, believe me.” Pelosi is 78, but presents at least 15 years younger, with a drive that exhausts her millennial aides. The week she spoke to Rolling Stone, she’d been in 10 cities, including Boston, Miami and San Francisco. Pelosi credits her stamina to an unchecked intake of chocolate – “Usually, I like very dark. But a good Hershey’s with almonds never offended anyone” – and to “being Italian-American. You’re a different sort of a creature.”

Pelosi’s midterm playbook is simple: Trump is his own worst enemy – his drag on the GOP has sent more than 40 House incumbents charging for the exits. He’s also fixed the recruitment issues that dogged Democrats in 2016. “Trump recruited them for us,” Pelosi says. “So we get the A team, and they get the retirements.”

The “A team” Pelosi praises is establishment in its makeup. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is backing many candidates with similar profiles – military veterans, prosecutors or military veterans who became prosecutors. The party has intervened in select races to help centrists advance over progressive heartthrobs who, Pelosi says, don’t have “the faintest chance of winning the general election.” Progressives see the backlash against Trump as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shake up the status quo. They point to a stunning primary win in Georgia that could make Stacey Abrams the nation’s first African-American female governor. “I don’t think the DCCC should be anointing candidates,” says James Zogby, a board member of Sanders’ grassroots group Our Revolution and a member of the DNC. “Nobody put them in the position to decide what voters need to decide.”

Pelosi is unapologetic. “That’s how you win,” she says. “It’s about one district at a time.”

Any “blue wave” will be made up of lots of little drops – tough races, won by tight margins, that, Pelosi hopes, add up to a tsunami. Otherwise, the party faces a nightmare scenario: “You could have a wave that earns you 20 seats big, and you miss 30 seats small,” she says. As many as 100 seats could be in play, but Pelosi says the party can only afford to contest about 70. Candidates who want to keep the full backing of the DCCC will have to stick to the playbook. “Everybody in the 70 has to really perform, or else they know we’ll go someplace else,” Pelosi says. It’s a hard line, but she owns it: “I say to candidates, ‘It’s not about you – it’s about the one in five children in America who live in poverty. That’s what it’s about.’ ”

Over the course of our interview, Pelosi returns to this statistic like a touchstone. “That’s my purpose,” she says. But as an old-school politico, she believes you lead not with your heart on your sleeve, but with the issues that move independent votes. “It’s not a winning issue in the campaigns,” she says. “People don’t want to care about poor people. They want to care about themselves. So it’s a middle-income message” that candidates will be carrying forward in November. Addressing issues like child poverty, she says, is “in our DNA, but not in our talking points.”

Pelosi touts the party’s Better Deal, debuted in 2017: “Better jobs, better pay, better future,” she says. The platform seeks to deliver on two of Trump’s broken promises: a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and price negotiation on Medicare drugs – and includes initiatives for rural broadband, job training and pension protections. It’s been panned by progressives for ignoring people of color and its tepid economic ambition. Zogby calls it “eminently forgettable.”

Ironically, the once-stodgy Senate is teasing a bolder, more youth-oriented package of decriminalized marijuana, gun control and net neutrality. The disconnect rises from the different imperatives of Senate and House races. Senate candidates, running statewide, have to draw out younger voters in big cities. House races in suburban swing districts, party strategists argue, are better served by a broad economic message that draws contrasts to Republicans. Pelosi praises the Better Deal as a consensus platform. “The members shaped this,” she says. “It wasn’t something where I said, ‘This is what I think it should be. Now sell it.’ ”

Looking ahead, Pelosi frets about what she can’t control. The trouble with Trump, she admits, is the spectacle: “I don’t like that everything is concentrated on porn stars. It’s hard to break in and say, ‘Wait a minute: He’s terrible, but his policies are worse.’ ” She’s less concerned about chatter on the Hill that her time is up. “I think some of it is a little bit on the sexist side,” she says. “Has anyone asked what’s-his-name, the one who’s the head of Senate” – referring to Mitch McConnell, whose favorability rating is, in fact, lower than hers – “ ’How much longer do you think you’ll stay in this job?’ Nobody ever says that to anybody except a woman.” Her eyes flash. “But you know what? You get the upside and the downside of it.” Are Democrats really going to turn away from a history-making leader if she can guide them to victory in the “Year of the Woman”? “It’s a question,” Pelosi insists, “of who can fight this man in the White House.”

What does Pelosi think she can get done? “A big infrastructure bill is something that we think we can achieve with the president,” she says. “Because it has so much popular appeal.” Assuming political deadlock continues through the election, Pelosi also vows to press forward with bills to protect the Dreamers and promote gun safety, daring Trump to oppose legislation with “overwhelming public support.” And what of high crimes and misdemeanors? “You get the power of subpoena, you don’t know where it takes you,” she says. “I wouldn’t not impeach the president for political reasons.”

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elizabethleslie7654 · 7 years

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Donald Trump’s Christmas Present to the Alt Right

all kinds of cool jewelry and no shipping or getting mobbed t the mall

by Jay Lorenz

*Editor’s note: this article was originally published on Christmas Eve 2016.

Europe and America may be under invasion by third world savages who grow bolder every day (if anyone forgot, the series of Muslim attacks this week reminded them), but Christmas is right around the corner. Christmas is not a time to despair, but a time to gather with our families and loved ones to celebrate our religion, culture, and traditions. In the spirit of Christmas, I’m going to spread some optimism and holiday cheer with today’s article.

If you feel a warmth in your heart this Christmas that was missing last year, I think I know why: the next President of the United States plans on barring Muslims from entering the country.

This week’s dose of Muslim violence prompted Trump to make several statements on the Muslim Question. In a press release on the Berlin attacks, Trump stated, “ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad.” This is a very interesting statement. By pointing out that this was an attack by Muslims on Christians, Trump invokes the Christian identity of America and the West. This is important, because in order to decide who should be kept out of our country, we first must define who we are. This is a distinction which has been missing in our recent administrations. If America has no identity—no racial, ethnic, or religious pillars—then there is no basis for barring anyone from becoming a citizen. Obama and Clinton made it very clear that, to them, America is not a White, or even a Christian, nation. In fact, we are a “nation of immigrants,” which means we’re not a nation at all. If there is no “us,” then there cannot be a “them.” To the Left, a Muslim murdering Christians is not an attack on us. It is a member of one of “our communities” attacking members of another one of “our communities.” Since they are already valued, diverse members of the rich multicultural tapestry of America, Muslims cannot be singled out as problematic.

This thinking will not take place in the Trump administration. Trump has an instinct to distinguish between us and them. I call it an instinct because I do not think his strategy comes from a careful reading of Carl Schmitt’s political theory. Rather it comes from a natural tribal impulse and from an understanding that the American public has this impulse. He’s the only major player in American politics currently willing to say that Americans are a people with an identity. This is one of the key reasons for his election victory, and one of the clear mandates he has received—Americans want a nation again. Despite Liberal kvetching over Trump’s rhetoric on identity, Trump’s idea of American identity is not White nationalism. It is something closer to civic nationalism. Even if Trump were a White nationalist, it wouldn’t be politically possible for him to discuss racial identity in the current climate. For now, we should be very happy with this characterization. We are a nation; they are foreigners. We are Christians; they are Muslims. Do we really want to let them into our country?

This is the question Trump is asking. Should Muslims be in our country? In other remarks this week, Trump appears to have given us his answer. Wednesday, when asked if the Berlin terrorist attack would alter his policy toward Muslims, Trump said, “You know my plans.” This is the second key quote from this week. Trump clearly delineated an “us” and “them” in his previous statement. This second statement is an affirmation of his plan to ban “them.” He has already laid out a plan to bar Muslims from entering America. He did it explicitly last December. Then, he changed the wording to bar immigration “from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism.” The second statement was a euphemism for the original policy. The media has been in hysteria over this proposal ever since. Without a doubt, he’s correct in saying they know his plan—they’ve been obsessing over it for a year. He could have walked back the stance this week. He could have said something ambiguous about protecting “all Americans” after such a tragedy. He didn’t. He said “I’ve been proven to be right. One hundred percent correct.” He said he was sticking to the plan.

When the ban was originally suggested, everyone, including the Alt-Right, scrambled to find out if it was possible. Because of this, many of you have seen the following information before, but it bears repeating: it is one hundred percent legal and constitutional for the President of the United States to bar Muslims from entering the country.

Title 8, Section 1182 of the U.S. Code gives the President the authority to enact an immigration ban on any group of people. The President “may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens.” This is precisely what Trump has suggested he will do. Congress would need a veto-proof majority (two-thirds in the House and Senate) to override any policy Trump institutes in this area. With a Republican majority in congress, he should be able to pass the Muslim ban. There are sure to be plenty of cucks on the Muslim Question, but Republican voters largely favor a Muslim ban. A Morning Consult poll done in March showed that 50 percent of Americans, 71 percent of Republicans, and 84 percent of Trump supporters favored the Muslim ban.1 Various other polls have showed similar results. The Muslim ban is more popular than Trump. With Trump in the Presidency and pushing for the ban, it will be very difficult for the required number of congressmen to ignore their constituents on this issue.

We need to continue to hold Trump’s feet to the fire on the Muslim ban, but his recent comments are promising. Trump has said repeatedly, “We’re going to be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again.” And we should. We should say it to everyone every chance we get this week. But, with his recent comments, Trump has put a different phrase in our minds as well this Christmas: “Remove Kebab.”

That extra holiday cheer we feel this year. That feeling that things are finally going our way. That feeling that 2016 was truly special. That feeling that we’re actually going to physically bar Muslims from entering our country. That is President Trump’s Christmas present to the Alt-Right.

1Easley, Cameron. “Half of Voters Back Muslim Travel Ban, Patrols of Muslim Neighborhoods.” Morning Consult. March 29, 2016. morningconsult.com (accessed December 22, 2016).

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