#susan murtaugh

[mrmousetolliver]

iCoke (2009) Susan Murtaugh

[catblackard]

Small illustrations I did for a Consequence of Sound article series called Decades, reviewing the highlights from 2007, 1997, and now 1987.

Read it here: bit.ly/2tAttXc

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 18, 2020 (Sunday)

Heather Cox Richardson

Today reinforced some of the developing storylines of the 2020 election.

Last night, at a rally in Michigan, Trump once again attacked Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer for locking down her state in the early days of the pandemic. When the crowd started to chant “Lock her up!” Trump responded: “Lock them all up!” Just ten days ago, the FBI arrested eight men plotting to kidnap Whitmer and put her on trial for “treason.” Whitmer called Trump out for “inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism.” She told NBC, “It is wrong. It’s got to end. It is dangerous, not just for me and my family, but for public servants everywhere who are doing their jobs and trying to protect their fellow Americans. People of goodwill on both sides of the aisle need to step up and call this out and bring the heat down.”

Lara Trump, who is married to Eric Trump and is a senior advisor to the Trump campaign, disagreed. She told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “Well, look, he wasn’t doing anything, I don’t think, to provoke people to threaten this woman at all…. He was having fun at a Trump rally.” The Trump campaign then insisted that a small “8645” emblem on a table beside Whitmer during her television interview was “encouraging assassination attempts” against Trump. (To “86” something is slang for getting rid of it.) While observers have noted Trump’s use of gaslighting—making someone believe something that is not true—another abusive pattern is “DARVO,” which stands for “Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender.”

Today, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that political officials in the Trump administration have restricted his media appearances. He also explained that he now has federal protection because of threats to his life, and to his wife and children. “That’s sad,” he told Jonathan Lapook of CBS’s “60 Minutes,” “The very fact that a public health message to save lives triggers such venom and animosity to me that it results in real and credible threats to my life and my safety.”

The editorial board of the New York Times today ran a special section of the Sunday Review to explain to readers in thirteen essays why Trump “is unfit to lead the nation.” The essays cover his corruption, incompetent statesmanship, attacks on women and minorities, rejection of science, and so on. The editorial introducing the issue begins: “Donald Trump’s re-election campaign poses the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II.” What follows is a blistering litany of the actions of the man who is “without any real rivals as the worst American president in modern history,” the editors say. He is conducting “an intolerable assault on the very foundations of the American experiment in government by the people.” The editorial concludes: “Mr. Trump is a man of no integrity. He has repeatedly violated his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States…. Now, in this moment of peril, it falls to the American people — even those who would prefer a Republican president — to preserve, protect and defend the United States by voting.”

More Republicans who have appeared to move in lockstep with the president are distancing themselves from him. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) needs independents to swing his way in a tight race with Democrat MJ Hegar, a retired Air Force combat pilot. On Friday, Cornyn told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board that his relationship with Trump was “maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they’re going to change their spouse, and that doesn’t usually work out very well.” Cornyn claims to have stood up to Trump, but privately.

In all this there is nothing really new.

But there is a story that might have new information in it.

Last Wednesday morning, October 14, the tabloid New York Post ran a complicated and unbelievable story about Hunter Biden dropping off three laptops at a repair store and never going back for them, the FBI subpoenaing hard drives, and the repair shop owner making copies before turning them over and then giving the copies to Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who gave them to the New York Post. Allegedly, the material on the laptops was incriminating.

The story was pretty transparently bogus from the start, especially since Giuliani has been hanging around with Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian lawmaker who, according to the Treasury Department, is a longtime Russian agent. According to the Treasury, Derkach has been working to promote “false and unsubstantiated narratives concerning U.S. officials in the upcoming 2020 election.” Giuliani was an eager listener.

Today, Katie Robertson at the New York Times reported that the New York Post article was so suspect that its lead author refused to put his name on it. The two main sources for the story were Stephen Bannon, Trump’s former advisor who is under federal indictment for fraud, and Giuliani. Giuliani said he took the story to the Post because “either nobody else would take it, or if they took it, they would spend all the time they could to try to contradict it before they put it out.” One woman whose name finally appeared on the story is a former associate producer for Sean Hannity’s show and has been at the newspaper only since April. The other did not work on the story and only discovered her name was on it after it was published. The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have all said they could not verify the story.

The startling new “revelations” about Hunter Biden mirror classic disinformation campaigns in Russia, and look a great deal like the last-minute “revelations” about Hillary Clinton’s emails “discovered” on a laptop in Fall 2016, all of which later came to nothing. Former CIA officer Evan McMullin tweeted: “For weeks, there’s been awareness in intel circles of Russian plans to return (with Trump) to their bogus Biden-Burisma narrative and, as I’ve warned, their plan to expand that to include bonkers pedophilia and human trafficking allegations against the Bidens. Don’t fall for it!”

And yet, certain Republican lawmakers are running with the story. Republican Representative Lee Zeldin of New York tweeted that “Joe Needs to answer some questions ASAP about this dirty $ setup.” Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) went onto the Fox News Channel to suggest that the computer at the center of this story, allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden, had child pornography on it. This prompted intelligence specialist Malcolm Nance to tweet: “Whoa. The Republicans tried to tie Hunter Biden to child pornography. This is a 100% FSB [Russian Intelligence Agency] tactic. The FSB ALWAYS claims/plants Child porn on their opponents.”

For at least a year now, intelligence officers have warned us that Russia is interfering in this election, trying to swing it to Trump. Despite the fact that Trump’s polling numbers are abysmal, our Electoral College system means that the swing of relatively few voters in key states could enable him to eke out a victory, just as he did in 2016. It is worth remembering that Trump’s plan in 2020 has never been to win a majority; it has been to win by gaming the system. It seems to me also worth remembering that Trump has consistently refused either to criticize Russia or to acknowledge that Putin’s agents are working to help him get reelected.

While many Trump campaign officials are already trying to blame each other for their candidate’s apparent weakness, Trump and his loyalists remain adamant that he is going to win. They are allegedly taking names of those whom he considers insufficiently supportive. He is mad at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has rejected the president’s plans for a coronavirus relief bill and who publicly criticized the White House approach to the pandemic. He has gone after Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) for her coolness toward Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, and Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) for his condemnation of the president in a phone call with constituents. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), who has made his dislike for Trump clear in recent statements, is also on the outs.

Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, says, “President Trump won in 2016 without the vocal support of the political insider crowd, and he’s going to do it again. The President enjoys the support of over 90 percent of Republicans….”

It is certainly possible that the Trump campaign is putting a brave face on the terrible polls, but the ham-handed attempt to dump disinformation about the Bidens is an excellent reminder that foreign operatives have been trying to influence our elections since 2016, and they have not gone away.

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

Heather Cox Richardson

[brajeshupadhyay]

‘Historic’ — Biden chooses Kamala Harris, and all sides respond

With Joe Biden’s announcement Tuesday afternoon that California Sen. Kamala Harris would join him on the Democratic presidential ticket, people were quick to take to social media to recognize the decision as ground-breaking.

Harris, who is Black and Indian American, makes history as the first woman of color and the first Asian American to be chosen for a major party’s ticket. Along with the praise, Biden’s choice prompted predictable attacks from President Trump, his campaign and supporters.

“Overwhelmed by this historic moment,” actress Kerry Washington wrote in a tweet. “My heart is soaring for all the kids out there who see themselves in her and will dream bigger because of this.”

Overwhelmed by this historic moment. @KamalaHarris is the first Black woman & first Asian-American/Indian to be a VP nominee of major party. My heart is soaring for all the kids out there who see themselves in her and will dream bigger because of this. #KamalaHarrisForVP

— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) August 11, 2020

Harris’ sister, Maya, who was a political advisor on her presidential campaign, tweeted that she was proud of her sister.

“That day when a little girl from Oaktown became the first black woman to be a major-party vice-presidential nominee…” she wrote, with a crying emoji and photos of Kamala Harris as an infant and with Biden. “So incredibly proud of you, sis!”

That day when a little girl from Oaktown became the first black woman to be a major-party vice-presidential nominee…

So incredibly proud of you, sis!

pic.twitter.com/sm4ctGCNPU

— Maya Harris (@mayaharris_) August 11, 2020

Julián Castro, a former presidential candidate and housing secretary to President Obama, praised Harris in a tweet as “a talented, dynamic, and groundbreaking leader who will make a fantastic VP.”

A historic announcement! @KamalaHarris is a talented, dynamic, and groundbreaking leader who will make a fantastic VP.

She’s already generating excitement among voters and I know she’ll be a fantastic partner to @JoeBiden as we work to defeat Trump and bring our nation together. https://t.co/9Z7SpTX1Y3

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) August 11, 2020

Less than half an hour after the announcement, Trump posted a video on Twitter that labeled Harris as someone who ran for president by “rushing to the radical left.” Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, labeled her “Phony Kamala” in a statement.

“In her failed attempt at running for president, Kamala Harris gleefully embraced the left’s radical manifesto,” it read. “She is proof that Joe Biden is an empty shell being filled with the extreme agenda of the radicals on the left.”

Meanwhile, other women who’d been on Biden’s short list praised the decision.

Susan Rice, a former United Nations ambassador and Obama national security advisor, offered congratulations: “Senator Harris is a tenacious and trailblazing leader who will make a great partner on the campaign trail. I am confident that Biden-Harris will prove to be a winning ticket.”

Los Angeles Rep. Karen Bass said Harris was “a great choice” for vice president. “Her tenacious pursuit of justice and relentless advocacy for the people is what is needed right now,” Bass said on Twitter.

Mehdi Hasan, a columnist for the left-leaning news site the Intercept and a critic of Harris’ record as a prosecutor, tweeted that Harris has been “one of the most progressive voting members by a mile” in the U.S. Senate. While he was disappointed that Biden didn’t pick a progressive candidate such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, he said it would be entertaining to watch Harris debate Vice President Mike Pence.

He shared a video of Harris speaking passionately about marginalized communities, and told “fellow Muslims and lefties” who might be reluctant supporters that “the choice is between Mike Pence and this senator.”

To my (in many ways, understandably) reluctant fellow Muslims and lefties, the choice is between Mike Pence and this senator: https://t.co/rYfVc2KW5u

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 11, 2020

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the group Black Voters Matters, celebrated the announcement with tweets filled with dancing women emojis. “We asked for it, we prayed for it, we believed in it and we worked for it! Thank you Black women that led the way! Let’s GO!” she wrote.

Obama chimed in as well with his own statement, saying Biden “nailed this decision” in choosing Harris.

I’ve known Senator @KamalaHarris for a long time. She is more than prepared for the job. She’s spent her career defending our Constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake. This is a good day for our country. Now let’s go win this thing. pic.twitter.com/duJhFhWp6g

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 11, 2020

“She’s spent her career defending our Constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake,” Obama wrote. “This is a good day for our country.”

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[hairterminator]

http://blog.hair-terminator.com/uncategorized/

How to Text Like a Dude

#Smartphone”, “#TextMessaging”, “#RealLife”, “#IRL #http://blog.hair-terminator.com Save those novel-length texts for IRL, K? K. As women, we tend to be verbose. I know I love to talk. Unfortunately,  with the advent of smartphones and text messaging, this

#Smartphone”, “#TextMessaging”, “#RealLife”, “#IRL #http://blog.hair-terminator.com

Save those novel-length texts for IRL, K? K.

As women, we tend to be verbose. I know I love to talk. Unfortunately,  with the advent of smartphones and text messaging, this gives men a  chance to communicate with brevity. This can be frustrating to women like myself who love communication and connection. Im going to teach  you a trick that I learned from my girl Allie.

I used to communicate in huge blocks of text. I wanted the guy on the  other end to hear my life anecdote. My daily adventures surely must be fascinating to everyone. No, they are not as fascinating in text as they are in person. I am an animated storyteller and love to  hear me speak. They do not (so much) like to read paragraphs about my life via a text message.

So heres so simple, yet brilliant.

Heres an example:

Guy friend texts: Whats up?Me: Chilling.

Now het have to do shit.

Its not necessary.

Heres another example:

Guy friend texts: hows your day going?Me: Fine.

Fucking brilliant. Het need to be verbose and provide details about unnecessary things. Now, he has to figure out how to capture my attention.

You may be wondering, what do I gain by texting with brevity? It allows the person (man) on the other end the opportunity to examine his inner monologue. I dont have to be the initiating conversation or digging deeply to try to find out information. By texting one to two word responses it puts the charge on the man in question to come up with witty banter to engage me.

As an alpha female personality, this is liberating to me.

Ladies, stop trying so hard and reserve your words for t need to give out your inner monologue over Verizon.

???

Photo: Susan Murtaugh/Flickr

And read Sarah every week on !

The post How to Text Like a Dude .

[thisdaynews]

Trump team convinced court overhaul will drive 2020 win

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/trump-team-convinced-court-overhaul-will-drive-2020-win/

Trump team convinced court overhaul will drive 2020 win

Justices Neil Gorsuch (left) and Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s two Supreme Court appointees, await Trump’s State of the Union address in February 2019. | Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP

White House

Aides think judicial appointments galvanize the base, demonstrate the president’s ability to deliver on a campaign promise and will help win over crucial 2020 states.

The White House is rushing to appoint as many judges as possible before 2020 to give President Donald Trump yet another talking point he can rally on as he stumps for re-election.

Trump’s team believes that stacking the judicial system with conservative judges galvanizes the base, demonstrates his ability to follow through on a 2016 campaign promise and will help win over crucial 2020 states like Colorado, Florida and North Carolina. And Trump himself is convinced that judicial appointments are central to both his legacy and policy agenda, as he has pushed for young judges who can serve for decades, according to former administration aides, close White House advisersand those familiar with the administration’s judicial plans.

Story Continued Below

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has done everything he can to help quicken the pace, changing procedural rules to limit debate time and lower the voting threshold Supreme Court justices must clear to get approved. In just the last six weeks, the Senate will have confirmed 15 judges, aided by a recent debate-limiting tweak.

“Obviously that’s going to be one of the most lasting legacies of the Trump administration and the next 25 to 30 years,” said Republican Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I think it’ll remain a priority especially when our Democratic colleagues don’t seem too interested in legislating, particularly in the House.”

“President Trump totally gets it from the standpoint that is a transactional item needed to win support from the base,” said one close White House adviser.

Already the Senate has confirmed more than 100 of the president’s nominees to the federal bench, including two Supreme Court Justices and 40 circuit court judges. Outside conservative groups and donors want the pace to move as quickly as possible.

It’s a troubling situation to left-leaning strategists who say the Trump administration and Senate leadership has broken tradition with both their selection of judges and the process of confirming them.

“I am not sure how they can speed it up anymore,” said Daniel Goldberg, legal director at the left-leaning Alliance for Justice. “Mitch McConnell has already eroded almost every rule and norm to expedite Trump’s far-right judges with as little transparency and vetting as possible.”

In addition to youth, Trump and his team look for potential judges who have Ivy League credentials or clerkships with high-profile judges or justices, according to a former administration official. The president also often talks about the importance of judges “not being weak,” said one individual familiar with the White House’s judicial selection process.

While Trump himself is not personally involved in the selection of judges for the lower courts, he was heavily invested in the administration’s Supreme Court picks, according to former administration officials and individuals familiar with the White House process. Trump personally interviewed and chose both Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

“The passing of Justice Scalia sharpened his mind and caused him to think more systematically about the role of the courts and the importance of those issues to conservatives,” said the individual familiar with the White House’s process. “He saw the way people reacted to the issue and saw it as an important way of building a strong political coalition.”

Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, while fraught because of the sexual assault allegation, showed the White House how the conservative base rallies around judicial picks. The fight brought together deep-pocketed groups including the Federalist Society, the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, Judicial Crisis Network, Concerned Women for America and Susan B. Anthony List, among others.

“Americans have grown tired of a federal government that doesn’t listen to their concerns, and a judiciary which has too frequently ignored the will of the people expressed through their elected representatives,” said Tim Murtaugh, director of communications for the Trump campaign. “By appointing judges who interpret — and not make — law, he is giving voice to citizens who were frustrated by judges who imposed their political opinions on the people.”

In 2016, 56 percent Trump voters listed the issue of Supreme Court appointments as the most important factor in their support for his candidacy while just 41 percent of voters for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton deemed it the most important issue. By contrast, 49 percent of Democratic voters characterized it as a significant factor but not the deciding one, according toexit polling.

The push to speed up nominees has dovetailed with McConnell prioritizing the confirmation of judicial and executive branch nominees. That’s sparked criticism from Senate Democrats who say he’s turned the Senate into a “legislative graveyard.” But with a divided Congress, the odds of getting any major legislation done this session are low.

The speed of judicial confirmations has increased since McConnell triggered the “nuclear option,” a move that limited debate time on most Trump nominees. The change in debate time applies to lower-level district court judges but does not apply to Supreme Court or circuit court judges, where appeals occur.

While senators are spending most of their days confirming judges, aides to McConnell say that that they’re not on any specific deadline and are merely trying to get as many judges confirmed as possible by the end of the 116th Congress.

Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative legal group, said that while the rule changes has helped confirmations, Democrats are still trying to slow-walk nominees.

“It’s a great idea to get it done by January because things do get busy during a presidential year,” Severino said. “But even if it were the first year of your presidency, there’s a need to move on these positions. We have 150 some vacancies on the federal courts. That’s a significant number.”

The only other recent presidents who confirmed more judges than Trump by this time in the third year of the presidency were Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, according to ajudicial trackermaintained by the Heritage Foundation which tracks judicial nominations and confirmations going back to President Ronald Reagan.

So far, the administration has focused much more on circuit court judges than district court ones, since the appeals courts cover larger geographical swathes of the country.

“Given how few cases the Supreme Court takes, the appeals court are making a ton of important decisions in which they are the last word,” says Rorie Solberg, a professor of political science at Oregon State University whose research focused on judicial politics.

Trump’s critics say the president’s team is tapping a slew of overly partisan nominees who are being crammed through the Senate too quickly. Progressives’ complain that the Senate held nomination hearings last October during a congressional recess before the midterm elections, when senators were not in Washington, D.C.

Republican leaders also pushed through judges over the objections of senators from the state in which the judge will serve, breaking with long-standing Senate tradition, according to Goldberg.

But while it’s true that McConnell has altered and tweaked the Senate rules, every action he’s taken is above-board, according to Solberg — and available to future leaders.

“McConnell is using the tools that haven’t been used that way before, but it has always been available. He is just willing to defect from the norms sufficiently because the short-term gain to them is worth the risk,” Solberg said.

“When the Democrats take over, they will use the same rules and use all of the norms the Republicans broke,” she added. “No one is going to be able to recover that.”

Read More

[welcometomy20s]

June 11, 2018

Article of The Day

Okay, I guess I need to do this, because the next slate of the candidates are coming. This is California, the longest of these posts. Some undetermined.

CA-01(Shasta - Yreka, Redding, Chico): Incumbent - Doug La Malfa (Rep). Challenger - Audrey Denney, agriculture teacher? PVI: R+11

CA-02(N. Coast - Eureka, Mendocino, San Rafael): Incumbent - Jared Huffman (Dem), who is non-religious. Challenger - Dale Mensing. PVI: D+22

CA-03(Sacra. Valley - Yuba City, Woodland, Davis): Incumbent - John Garamendi (Dem). Challenger -  Charlie Schaupp, ret. Marine. PVI: D+5

CA-04(Sierra Nevada - Auburn, Truckee, Yosemite Valley): Incumbent - Tom McClintock (Rep). Challenger - Jennifer Morse, security expert. PVI: R+10

CA-05(N. Coast - Santa Rosa, Napa, Vallejo): Incumbent - Mike Thompson (Dem). Challenger - Anthony Mills, probably, independent. PVI: D+21

CA-06(Sacra. Valley - Sacramento, Sabre Valley, Riverside): Incumbent - Doris Matsui (Dem). LOCKOUT Secondary - Jrmar Jefferson. PVI: D+21

CA-07(Sacra. Valley - Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove): Incumbent - Ami Bera (Dem), tight races... Challenger - Andrew Grant. PVI: D+3

CA-08(Desert - Bishop, Barstow, Needles): Incumbent - Paul Cook (Rep) LOCKOUT? Secondary - Tim Donnelly, Parkland remarks... ugh. PVI: R+9

CA-09(San Joaquin - Brentwood, Lodi, Stockton): Incumbent - Jerry McNerney (Dem). Challenger - Marla Livengood, but look at... PVI: D+8

CA-10(San Joaquin - Tracy, Modesto, Turlock): Incumbent - Jeff Denham (Rep), so vulnerable. Challenger - Josh Harder, interesting... PVI: EVEN

CA-11(Bay Area - Richmond, Concord, Danville): Incumbent - Mark DeSaulnier (Dem). Challenger - John Fitzgerald, you don’t even need to look. PVI: D+21

CA-12(Bay Area - San Francisco, Chinatown, Haight-Ashbury): Incumbent - Nancy Pelosi (Dem), you know her!. Challenger - Lisa Remmer. PVI: D+37

CA-13(Bay Area - Berkeley, Oakland, Almeida): Incumbent - Barbara Lee (Dem), one of key foreign doves in the House. NO CHALLENGERS. PVI: D+40

CA-14(Bay Area - Daly City, San Mateo, Half Moon Bay): Incumbent - Jackie Speier (Dem), Trains and Jonestown... she had a quite varied career, if I say so myself... Challenger - Christina Osmond, no need because... PVI: D+27

CA-15(Bay Area - Hayward, Dublin, Livermore): Incumbent - Eric Swalwell (Dem), he’s quite vocal. Challenger - Rudy Peters. PVI: D+20

CA-16(San Joaquin - Merced, Madera, Fresno): Incumbent - Jim Costa (Dem), chair of the Blue Dogs... Challenger - Elizabeth Heng. PVI: D+9

CA-17(Bay Area - Fremont, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara): Incumbent - Ro Khanna (Dem), rising progressive star. Challenger - Ron Cohen. PVI: D+25

CA-18(Bay Area - Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Gatos): Incumbent - Anna Eshoo (Dem). Challenger - Christine Russell, another female. PVI: D+23

CA-19(Bay Area - San Jose, Morgan Hill, San Martin): Incumbent - Zoe Lofgren (Dem), important oversight member... NO CHALLENGERS. PVI: D+24

CA-20(Central Coast - Santa Cruz, Salinas, King City): Incumbent - Jimmy Panetta (Dem). Challenger - Ronald Kabat, independent! PVI: D+23

CA-21(San Joaquin - Coalinga, Hanford, Delano): Incumbent - David Valadao (Rep). Challenger - TJ Cox, who jumped ship from 10th? PVI: D+5

CA-22(San Joaquin - Clovis, Visalia, Tulare): Incumbent - Devin Nunes (Rep), just... ugh. He’s so bad... Challenger - Andrew Janz, he’s cool. PVI: R+8

CA-23(San Joaquin - Porterville, Bakersfield, Ridgecrest): Incumbent - Kevin McCarthy (Rep), future leader? Challenger - Tatiana Matta. PVI: R+13

CA-24(Central Coast - San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura): Incumbent - Salud Carbajal (Dem), had close races... Challenger - Justin Fareed. PVI: D+7

CA-25(SoCal - Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, Palmdale): Incumbent - Steve Knight (Rep). Challenger - Katie Hill, she climbed a hill in an ad! PVI: EVEN

CA-26(SoCal - Oxnard, Fillmore, Thousand Oaks): Incumbent - Julia Brownley (Dem). Challenger - Antonio Sabato... yep. He’s done it... PVI: D+7

CA-27(SoCal - Pasadena, Arcadia, Monterey Park): Incumbent - Judy Chu (Dem). LOCKOUT Secondary - Bryan Witt, interesting margins... PVI: D+16

CA-28(SoCal - Burbank, Glendale, Flintridge): Incumbent - Adam Schiff (Dem), close in Russian scandal. Challenger - Johnny Nalbandian. PVI: D+23

CA-29(SoCal - San Fernando, Panorama City, Van Nuys): Incumbent - Tony Cardenas (Dem). Challenger - Benny Bernal, who cares? PVI: D+29

CA-30(SoCal - Northridge, Encino, Universal City): Incumbent - Brad Sherman (Dem), good records... Challenger - Mark Reed. PVI: D+18

CA-31(SoCal - Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Redlands): Incumbent - Pete Aguilar, he’s been close. Challenger - Sean Flynn PVI: D+8

CA-32(SoCal - El Monte, Covina, San Dimas): Incumbent - Grace Napolitano, she’s been working in many different areas. NO CHALLENGERS. PVI: D+17

CA-33(SoCal - Malibu, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills): Incumbent - Ted Lieu (Dem), he’s on twitter an awful lot. Challenger - Kenneth Wright. PVI: D+16

CA-34(SoCal - Highland Park, Los Angeles, Koreatown): Incumbent - Jimmy Gomez (Dem), from a special! Challenger - Kenneth Mejia, Green! PVI: D+35

CA-35(SoCal - Pomona, Ontario, Fontana): Incumbent - Norma Torres (Dem). Challenger - Christian Valentine, nothing to see here. PVI: D+19

CA-36(Desert - Palm Springs, La Quinta, Blythe): Incumbent - Raul Ruiz (Dem), this is not that close... Challenger - Kimberlin Pelzer. PVI: D+2

CA-37(SoCal - Culver City, Ladera Heights, Van Ness): Incumbent - Karen Bass (Dem), longstanding black female rep. Challenger - Ron Bassilian. PVI: D+37

CA-38(SoCal - Whittier, Norwalk, Cerritos): Incumbent - Linda Sanchez (Dem), from the senate race? Challenger - Ryan Downing. PVI: D+17

CA-39(SoCal - Fullerton, Yorba Linda, Chino Hills): Incumbent - Ed Royce (Rep) NOT RUNNING Replacement - Young Kim, he’s okay... Challenger - Gil Cisneros, he has some bad spots but he’s right for the job. PVI: EVEN

CA-40(SoCal - Huntington Park, Commerce, Downey): Incumbent - Lucille Roybal-Allard (Dem). Challenger - Rodolfo Barragan, Green! PVI: D+33

CA-41(SoCal - Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris): Incumbent - Mark Takano (Dem), Gay and Asian. Challenger - Aja Smith. PVI: D+12

CA-42(SoCal - Corona, Menifee, Murrieta): Incumbent - Ken Calvert (Rep), he’s probably safe? Challenger - Julie Peacock, high school teacher. PVI: R+9

CA-43(SoCal - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Torrance): Incumbent - Maxine Waters (Dem), taking her time. Challenger - Omar Navarro. PVI: D+29

CA-44(SoCal - Lynwood, Compton, Carson): Incumbent - Nanette Barragan (Dem) LOCKOUT Secondary - Aja Brown... she’s not running? PVI: D+35

CA-45(SoCal - Irvine, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo): Incumbent - Mimi Walters, faltering... Challenger - Katie Porter, protege of Liz Warren? PVI: R+9

CA-46(SoCal - Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana): Incumbent - Lou Correa (Dem), broker banker instructor. Challenger - Russell Lambert. PVI: D+15

CA-47(SoCal - Long Beach, Westminster, Avalon): Incumbent - Alan Lowenthal (Dem), calm backbencher. Challenger - John Briscoe. PVI: D+13

CA-48(SoCal - Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach): Incumbent - Dana Rohrabacher (Rep), Russian stooge. Challenger - Hans Keirstead? Or Harley Rouda? Seriously, this was reason this post took so long. PVI: R+4

CA-49(SoCal - San Clemente, Oceanside, Encinitas): Incumbent - Darrell Issa (Rep) NOT RUNNING Replacement - Diane Harkey, she’s well funded. Challenger - Mike Levin, he seems like a good fit here, honestly. PVI: R+1

CA-50(SoCal - Escondido, Ramona, Lakeside): Incumbent - Duncan Hunter (Rep), he’s indicted. Challenger - Ammar Campa-Najjar, he’s fine! PVI: R+11

CA-51(Desert - Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, El Centro): Incumbent - Juan Vargas, representing the border... Challenger - Juan Hidalgo. PVI: D+22

CA-52(SoCal - Poway, La Jolla, San Diego): Incumbent - Scott Peters (Dem), filmed the sit-in back in 2016... Challenger - Omar Qudrat. PVI: D+6

CA-53(SoCal - Normal Heights, El Cajon, Paradise Hills): Incumbent - Susan Davis (Dem). Challenger - Morgan Murtaugh, she’s freaking 25? PVI: D+14

Well, I tried to keep it short. More of this coming tomorrow, hopefully.

[tomperanteau]

New article has been published on The Daily Digest

New article has been published on http://www.thedailydigest.org/2018/06/11/exclusive-gop-congressional-candidate-morgan-murtaugh-talks-california-primary-gas-tax-and-the-democrats-losing-platform/

EXCLUSIVE: GOP Congressional Candidate Morgan Murtaugh Talks California Primary, Gas Tax, And The Democrats' 'Losing Platform'

Republican primary candidate Morgan Murtaugh came in second in California’s 53rd congressional district’s jungle primary, advancing her to the general election. She will be challenging Democrat incumbent Congresswoman Susan Davis, who has held office since 2001. [READ MORE HERE]

[brajeshupadhyay]

With Joe Biden’s announcement Tuesday afternoon that California Sen. Kamala Harris would join him on the Democratic presidential ticket, people were quick to take to social media to recognize the decision as ground-breaking. Harris, who is Black and Indian American, makes history as the first woman of color and the first Asian American to be chosen for a major party’s ticket. Along with the praise, Biden’s choice prompted predictable attacks from President Trump, his campaign and supporters. “Overwhelmed by this historic moment,” actress Kerry Washington wrote in a tweet. “My heart is soaring for all the kids out there who see themselves in her and will dream bigger because of this.” Overwhelmed by this historic moment. @KamalaHarris is the first Black woman & first Asian-American/Indian to be a VP nominee of major party. My heart is soaring for all the kids out there who see themselves in her and will dream bigger because of this. #KamalaHarrisForVP — kerry washington (@kerrywashington) August 11, 2020 Harris’ sister, Maya, who was a political advisor on her presidential campaign, tweeted that she was proud of her sister. “That day when a little girl from Oaktown became the first black woman to be a major-party vice-presidential nominee…” she wrote, with a crying emoji and photos of Kamala Harris as an infant and with Biden. “So incredibly proud of you, sis!” That day when a little girl from Oaktown became the first black woman to be a major-party vice-presidential nominee… So incredibly proud of you, sis! pic.twitter.com/sm4ctGCNPU — Maya Harris (@mayaharris_) August 11, 2020 Julián Castro, a former presidential candidate and housing secretary to President Obama, praised Harris in a tweet as “a talented, dynamic, and groundbreaking leader who will make a fantastic VP.” A historic announcement! @KamalaHarris is a talented, dynamic, and groundbreaking leader who will make a fantastic VP. She’s already generating excitement among voters and I know she’ll be a fantastic partner to @JoeBiden as we work to defeat Trump and bring our nation together. https://t.co/9Z7SpTX1Y3 — Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) August 11, 2020 Less than half an hour after the announcement, Trump posted a video on Twitter that labeled Harris as someone who ran for president by “rushing to the radical left.” Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, labeled her “Phony Kamala” in a statement. “In her failed attempt at running for president, Kamala Harris gleefully embraced the left’s radical manifesto,” it read. “She is proof that Joe Biden is an empty shell being filled with the extreme agenda of the radicals on the left.” Meanwhile, other women who’d been on Biden’s short list praised the decision. Susan Rice, a former United Nations ambassador and Obama national security advisor, offered congratulations: “Senator Harris is a tenacious and trailblazing leader who will make a great partner on the campaign trail. I am confident that Biden-Harris will prove to be a winning ticket.” Los Angeles Rep. Karen Bass said Harris was “a great choice” for vice president. “Her tenacious pursuit of justice and relentless advocacy for the people is what is needed right now,” Bass said on Twitter. Mehdi Hasan, a columnist for the left-leaning news site the Intercept and a critic of Harris’ record as a prosecutor, tweeted that Harris has been “one of the most progressive voting members by a mile” in the U.S. Senate. While he was disappointed that Biden didn’t pick a progressive candidate such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, he said it would be entertaining to watch Harris debate Vice President Mike Pence. He shared a video of Harris speaking passionately about marginalized communities, and told “fellow Muslims and lefties” who might be reluctant supporters that “the choice is between Mike Pence and this senator.” To my (in many ways, understandably) reluctant fellow Muslims and lefties, the choice is between Mike Pence and this senator: https://t.co/rYfVc2KW5u — Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 11, 2020 LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the group Black Voters Matters, celebrated the announcement with tweets filled with dancing women emojis. “We asked for it, we prayed for it, we believed in it and we worked for it! Thank you Black women that led the way! Let’s GO!” she wrote. Obama chimed in as well with his own statement, saying Biden “nailed this decision” in choosing Harris. I’ve known Senator @KamalaHarris for a long time. She is more than prepared for the job. She’s spent her career defending our Constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake. This is a good day for our country. Now let’s go win this thing. pic.twitter.com/duJhFhWp6g — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 11, 2020 “She’s spent her career defending our Constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake,” Obama wrote. “This is a good day for our country.” window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '119932621434123', xfbml : true, version : 'v2.9' }); }; (function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://ift.tt/1sGOfhN"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); The post ‘Historic’ — Biden chooses Kamala Harris, and all sides respond appeared first on Shri Times News. from WordPress https://ift.tt/3kA39VK

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/08/historic-biden-chooses-kamala-harris.html

[ethanalter]

Your TV To-Do List: Meet 'Young Sheldon' and re-meet 'Will & Grace'

With so much to watch on TV it can be difficult to plan ahead. But we’re here to help! Here are the five shows you won’t want to miss this week.

Young Sheldon: Monday, Sept. 25 at 8:30 p.m. on CBS The new fall TV season enters in earnest on the shoulders of young Sheldon Cooper. The Big Bang Theory prequel has a new star in Iain Armitage and a tone that’s reminiscent of The Wonder Years in a good way.

Lethal Weapon: Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. on Fox Lethal Weapon‘s successful freshman season ended with Riggs headed south of the border, and Murtaugh making the difficult choice to follow his partner. See how the duo gets back to Los Angeles… and back on the same page.

Will & Grace: Thursday, Sept. 28 at 9 p.m. on NBC They may have been off the air for 11 years, but Will & Grace‘s core four of Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Haye, and Megan Mullally return without missing a comic beat. So when are we getting that Suddenly Susan revival?

Tin Star: Friday, Sept. 29 on Amazon Tim Roth and Christina Hendricks headline Amazon’s topical drama about a tiny mountain town that struggles under the thumb of a major corporation.

Saturday Night Live: Saturday, Sept. 30 at 11:30 p.m. on NBC Fresh off its many Emmy victories, SNL kicks off its 43rd year with a musical assist by Jay-Z and Ryan Gosling in the host’s chair. Here’s hoping he keeps a straight face this time. (On second thought, he’s funnier when we breaks.)

[artofoverwhelm]

Susan Murtaugh

[brajeshupadhyay]

Trump campaign ads ignore coronavirus as Florida cases spike

The death toll keeps rising as COVID-19 rages across Florida, Arizona and other campaign battlegrounds, but the television ads President Trump is airing in those states say nothing about the coronavirus pandemic that has upended life for all Americans.

It’s a conspicuous omission.

Nearly every day, states that could decide the Nov. 3 election break new records of sickness and death. Nationwide, the virus has killed 140,000 people. Yet the $30 million in TV ads that Trump has run so far this month in his bid for a second term dodge the subject of how he is steering the country through one of the worst calamities any modern president has faced.

Instead, Trump’s ads falsely accuse his Democratic rival Joe Biden of trying to defund police. They claim the former vice president would endanger children by letting violent crime explode in cities overrun by protesters who vandalize stores and set buildings on fire. They suggest Biden — a moderate U.S. senator for 36 years — would bow to “the radical left-wing mob.”

It’s not unusual for an incumbent in trouble to try to divert attention from tough times or define an opponent in negative terms, said Erika Franklin Fowler, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political ads. But the epic scale of the pandemic’s damage to the nation makes it all but impossible to avoid, she said.

“It just becomes stranger and stranger that he doesn’t find a way to talk about what he’s doing about it,” she said.

Trump’s exclusion of the coronavirus from his advertising comes as polls show most Americans disapprove of his response to the pandemic. For months, Trump has played down the health threat while stoking racism with incendiary remarks over Confederate monuments and Black Lives Matter protests.

Historian David M. Kennedy sees parallels to President Herbert Hoover’s struggles when he ran for reelection in 1932 after the Great Depression erupted on his watch, opening the way for Franklin D. Roosevelt to unseat him.

“You don’t want to call attention to all of the egg that’s all over your face,” said Kennedy, the author of “Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War.”

“The examples of other countries that have more successfully dealt with this matter tell us that a different kind of leadership could have done better, and historians will try to figure out why Trump has proven so inept in the face of this particular crisis.”

In May and early June, Trump ran TV ads saying he’d taken fast action on vaccines, treatments and tests and “saved countless lives” by banning travelers from China and Europe. In the six weeks since he stopped running them, the U.S. has reported 32,000 more deaths from COVID-19 and 1.9 million new coronavirus cases, even as many other hard-hit countries have tamed the spread of the virus and reopened safely.

The importance of TV commercials in presidential races has diminished as social media have emerged as a main source of voter information. But campaigns still spend heavily on TV spots, and advertising patterns remain one of the best public gauges of their strategy.

For the first three weeks of July, Trump spent $19 million to advertise in states he won narrowly in 2016: Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, according to Advertising Analytics, an ad tracking firm.

Nearly all of the $13 million Biden spent on TV ads for the same period went to those same six states.

The president’s campaign has also poured $5 million into Georgia, Ohio and Iowa, states that Trump carried by a wider margin but now appear within Biden’s reach.

The recent surge of COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations in Florida, Arizona, Georgia and Texas is jeopardizing Trump’s standing in those states, said Alan Abramowitz, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta.

“It’s helping to put those states in play, I think, because of the lack of confidence in his leadership on that issue,” he said, “and he isn’t saying or doing anything right now that would change that perception.”

In Florida, nearly 5,100 people have died, more than 350,000 have been infected, and hospitals — like those in several other states — are packed with critically ill patients.

In Arizona, where Phoenix morgues are nearly full, coroners are deploying refrigerated trucks to store bodies. The state’s positive test rate for the coronavirus — nearly one in four — is the highest in the nation.

Florida, Arizona, Georgia and Texas are run by Republican governors who — at Trump’s behest — delayed shutting down businesses, were quick to reopen, then were forced to retreat as the contagion exploded.

Trump, who had planned to run for reelection on a strong economy, has pressured states to reopen in defiance of public health guidelines. A Fox News poll released Sunday found voters no longer saw Trump as stronger than Biden on the economy.

Supporters of President Trump at his rally June 20 in Tulsa, Okla.

(Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press)

Declining voter confidence in Trump has driven the president’s poll ratings downward. A staggering 69% of Americans say the country is on the wrong track, and 56% disapprove of Trump’s job performance, according to RealClear Politics aggregates of public polls.

A Washington Post/ABC News survey last week found 60% of voters disapproved of Trump’s leadership on the pandemic. Multiple polls have shown a drop in his support among a key constituency that favored him in 2016: people older than 65, a group highly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Beyond his ads showing mayhem in the streets under Biden, Trump has also run spots blaming his opponent for the loss of U.S. factory jobs to China.

Another Trump ad suggests Biden, 77, is going senile. It describes him as “clearly diminished” and shows him stumbling to find his words. “Joe Biden does not have the strength, the stamina and mental fortitude required to lead this country,” a narrator says.

That line of attack risks backfiring on the 74-year-old president, said Susan MacManus, a veteran political scientist at the University of South Florida.

“Trump’s got to be careful,” she said. “Trump is thinking that everybody thinks he’s energetic and vivacious and doesn’t have these cognitive problems. But is that true?”

A recent Monmouth University poll found that voters, 52% to 45%, were more confident that Biden had the mental and physical stamina to be president. Trump at times has difficulty pronouncing words and recently used two hands to raise a glass of water to his lips. His slow gait walking down a ramp at a West Point graduation last month led critics to question his health. Trump blamed slippery shoes.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said Americans already understood how hard the president had worked to keep the country safe during the pandemic but needed to know more about Biden, so it made sense to stick with the scorching ads.

For his part, Biden has run spots that depict him as a force for stability after the turmoil of Trump’s racially divisive presidency. The country is crying out for “leadership that brings us together,” he says in one spot featuring images of himself and American workers wearing masks. Trump, who has mocked Biden for campaigning in a mask, has worn one publicly only once.

Priorities USA Action, a super PAC running ads on Biden’s behalf, has been airing spots hammering Trump for letting the pandemic spiral out of control. Guy Cecil, the group’s chairman, said it was no surprise that Trump was avoiding the topic in his ads.

“I think it’s going to be very hard to make this election about anything other than the Trump administration’s failure to deal with the coronavirus,” he said.

Abramowitz, the political scientist, believes many voters are disturbed by Trump’s dismissiveness toward public-health experts, his rush to reopen schools and businesses, and his rallies of crowds sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with no masks.

“Everything I see him saying or doing is just reinforcing this perception that he’s not capable of dealing with this,” he said. “And it’s obviously the most significant challenge facing the country right now.”

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