January 28, 2019

Howard Schultz is getting his name on ballots in all 50 states as an Independent.

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1089193640843460609

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz tells @60Minutes Donald Trump is not qualified to be president and both parties aren't doing what's necessary for the American people.




He's getting absolutely trashed over on WaPo and on his new Twitter account. He says Trump isn't qualified, well, what in the hell makes him think HE is? Another egotistical narcissist.


https://twitter.com/andrewrsorkin/status/1089676242528452609

It's official: @HowardSchultz is preparing to run for president as an independent. "Republicans and Democrats alike — who no longer see themselves as part of the far extreme of the far right and the far left — are looking for a home


https://twitter.com/vermontgmg/status/1089563054801649664

Howard Schultz and John Delaney both represent the problem of self-funding campaigns. If you're wealthy enough, you can always find consultants willing to take your money and tell you're (a) smart and (b) have a chance. Political gravity is suspended as long as the checks clear.



At least Delaney is running as a Democrat. I'm fine with that.

January 27, 2019

Message from Washington state Democrats

https://twitter.com/washdems/status/1089287737692147712

January 25, 2019

A crisis of conservatism creates gridlock on both sides of the Atlantic

In the capital cities of the two great anglophone powers, public business has ground to a halt. On one side of the Atlantic, federal workers are lining up to receive free food while the president holds the government to ransom. On the other side, the House of Commons, a legislative body that likes to call itself the “mother of parliaments,” is completely frozen by its inability to legislate. The government cannot pass the Brexit deal it has negotiated. The opposition cannot unseat the government.

Their double failure is no coincidence. In the 1980s and 1990s, anglophone conservatives were motivated by ideas so powerful that they spread from the United States and Britain to the rest of the world: faith in democracy, faith in free markets, faith in free trade. Pummeled by events — the financial crisis, the wars in Iraq and Syria — both parties have lost that faith. But they have failed to find anything else to replace it. Instead, they have been captured by angry minorities. They are easily manipulated by big funders and special interests. They have stopped thinking about the good of the nation and can focus only on what’s good for the party — or for themselves.

Certainly this is true in Britain, where May’s main focus since 2016 has been party management, not British interests. She adopted the language of the Brexiteer extremists — she told her party that “if you believe you’re a citizen of the world, you’re a citizen of nowhere,” to great applause — while quietly trying to placate the pro-business center. She lost opportunities for cross-party compromise. Had she been willing to reach across the aisle and forge a compact with the Labour Party, she could have ended the stalemate already: There is a majority in the House of Commons for Britain to remain inside a customs union with Europe, a solution that would let trade continue and avoid the need for a hard border with the island of Ireland.

At least until now, Republican leaders in Congress have also refused to embrace a pragmatic solution — pass legislation to re-open the government, make a compromise on border security — for exactly the same kinds of reasons. Like May, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has refused to reach across the aisle in order to pay civil servants because he fears a split in his party. Like the British Conservatives, American Republicans answer only to their own voters, not to the population at large. As for the U.S. president, Trump’s personal narcissism leaves no room for concern for anyone ­— not government workers, not his party colleagues. His voters seem motivated by tribalism, not ideas, to support him.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/a-crisis-of-conservatism-creates-gridlock-on-both-sides-of-the-atlantic/2019/01/24/f7b4b776-1ff7-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html?utm_term=.a6a91943d862


The crisis started with Thatcher/Reagan but it's culminated in absolute shitshows on both sides of the pond.

January 24, 2019

Maduro expels US diplomats, they refuse to leave because Guaido has not asked them to

https://twitter.com/evagolinger/status/1088206537733099520


And so the confrontation begins, as I anticipated just hours ago. Maduro expels US diplomats, they refuse to leave. If he tries to force them out, US will respond, with 'all options on the table' (military intervention). This is a total reality show, invent a reason to invade.

Statement rom Pompeo:
:large




I wouldn't want to be in their position. Maduro controls the army.

January 23, 2019

#BREAKING Venezuela military rejects opposition leader's claim to be acting president, says minister

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1088208044431953920


No article yet.

January 23, 2019

Ari has an interesting show tonight: Carter Page, Sam Nunberg, Jerome Corsi, Mike Caputo

https://twitter.com/AriMelber/status/1088209632814862342

Tonight I have a live interview with Russia probe witnesses Carter Page, Sam Nunberg, Jerome Corsi and Michael Caputo — all appearing *together* to detail their experiences with the probe.

January 23, 2019

Trump's approval at 34% in new AP/NORC poll

Overall, 34 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance in a survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s down from 42 percent a month earlier and nears the lowest mark of his two-year presidency. The president’s approval among Republicans remains close to 80 percent, but his standing with independents is among its lowest points of his time in office.

Sixty percent of Americans say Trump bears a great deal of responsibility for the shutdown. About a third place the same amount of blame on congressional Democrats (31 percent) or Republicans (36 percent).

Sixty-five percent of Americans, including 86 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents and 33 percent of Republicans, call the shutdown a major problem.

Trump may be popular overall with Republicans, but a sizable share holds him responsible for the current situation. Almost 3 in 10 Republicans think Trump bears a great deal of responsibility, while 73 percent of his party says he’s at least partly responsible.


https://apnews.com/dad8086738a64b4ba78c0404d5d04e79

January 23, 2019

Around the globe, Trump's style is inspiring imitators and unleashing dark impulses

“While the global decline in freedom didn’t begin with Donald Trump’s presidency, I do think he has been an accelerant,” said Uzra Zeya, a State Department veteran who resigned last spring following a 25-year career that culminated as the nation’s top Foreign Service officer in Paris.


Viktor Orban, Hungary’s increasingly autocratic leader, said Trump represents “permission” from “the highest position in the world.”

When the Nigerian army opened fire on rock-throwing demonstrators last fall, killing as many as 40 people, it defended itself by citing Trump’s threats to do the same at the Mexican border.

When the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia criticized ruler Hun Sen for cracking down on the opposition and the media, the authoritarian leader pointed out that Trump had his back — not the diplomats’. “Your policy has been changed, but the embassy in Phnom Penh has not changed it yet,” he said, appealing to Trump to rein his embassy in.

And when members of the U.N. Security Council visited Myanmar’s commander in chief in late April to demand explanations for the expulsion of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims, he used the phrase “fake news” — the only words he spoke in English — no less than a dozen times, according to people present.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/around-the-globe-trumps-style-is-inspiring-imitators-and-unleashing-dark-impulses/2019/01/22/ebd15952-1366-11e9-ab79-30cd4f7926f2_story.html?utm_term=.2a9e860e1066

January 23, 2019

"Do you feel from this experience that you owe anybody an apology? "

https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1087841570479632384


"Do you feel from this experience that you owe anybody an apology? Do you see your own fault in any way?”




If Sandmann's PR team told him never to apologize , it was bad advice. He comes off creepy.

January 22, 2019

School officials: CovCath closed until police say to reopen, investigation to begin this week

COVINGTON, Ky. —
The Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School officials provided an updated statement Tuesday regarding the recent controversy surrounding videos showing Covington Catholic students in an encounter with Native Americans at a rally near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Officials said Covington Police alerted them Monday, telling them they had been made aware of a planned protest at Covington Catholic High School and a vigil at the Diocesan Curia.

Officials said due to threats of violence and the possibility of large crowds Tuesday, the Diocese was advised to close Covington Catholic High School, the Diocesan Curia and neighboring Covington Latin School.


Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School officials said a third-party investigation is planned to start this week into the incident and videos involving Covington Catholic students, Nathan Phillips and Hebrew Israelites.

https://www.wlwt.com/article/school-officials-covcath-closed-until-police-say-to-reopen-investigation-to-begin-this-week/25994392?utm_campaign=WLWT&utm_content=5c475d0c944d240001ac30c8&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=trueAnthem:+New+Content+(Feed)