June 30, 2016

Zephyr Teachout’s Campaign Against Economic and Political Corruption Just Scored a Big Win

Teachout swept the Democratic primary, setting up a race against a Republican backed by billionaire hedge-fund managers.

Zephyr Teachout is running to shake up the Democratic Party, American politics, the US Congress, and economic arrangements that favor billionaires over working Americans.

It turns out that this is a popular agenda.

Teachout, the former director of the Sunlight Foundation who authored the groundbreaking book Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United (Harvard University Press), won 71 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s New York Democratic primary for an open US House seat representing a sprawling district that includes parts of 11 upstate and Hudson Valley counties.

“I am running for Congress to break down those doors in Washington, DC” — @ZephyrTeachout
Declaring victory on primary night, the Fordham University law professor boldly announced, “I am running for Congress to break down those doors in Washington, DC; the doors that are keeping the people of America—the real people, the citizens of America—locked out. I’ve been fighting well-paid lobbyists on behalf of working families my entire life. I will fight until we win—for the people of NY 19. For the American people.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/zephyr-teachouts-campaign-against-economic-and-political-corruption-just-scored-a-big-win/

June 30, 2016

Snow wins Utah's Democratic US Senate primary

(KUTV) A transgender woman making her first foray into politics will face off against incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Lee in November after winning the Democratic nomination.

Misty Snow would become Utah's first openly transgender elected official if she wins the general election. She defeated marriage therapist Jonathan Swinton in Tuesday's primary.

Snow is a grocery store cashier. She ran on a platform of raising the minimum wage and being an advocate for women's rights and the LGBT community.

Lee ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Snow lost to Swinton in the state's party convention in April, but the race went to the primary because Swinton didn't get 60 percent of the vote at the convention.

Swinton told voters his professional experience would help him solve problems and that he was the only candidate who could dethrone Lee in the general election.

http://kutv.com/news/local/snow-wins-utahs-democratic-us-senate-primary

June 29, 2016

Hackers down House Democrats' websites

More than a dozen House Democrats’ official websites have been down for days, and the contractor operating the sites told POLITICO that hackers are to blame.

The outage is affecting the congressional sites of Reps. Earl Blumenauer, John Carney, Rosa DeLauro, Lloyd Doggett, Tammy Duckworth, Donna Edwards, Sam Farr, Tulsi Gabbard, Alan Grayson, Marcy Kaptur, William Keating, John Larson, Jim McDermott, Richard Neal, Ed Perlmutter, Jackie Speier and Filemon Vela.

The websites were hit shortly after Democrats ended an overnight sit-in to press for a vote on gun control legislation.

With the exception of Perlmutter, all of the affected lawmakers have contracts with a company called DCS to manage their websites. DCS builds websites using Joomla, a content management system that has suffered from serious security flaws.

“The sites were hacked,” Scott Ferson, the president of the public affairs group representing DCS, told POLITICO. Ferson said that DCS expected to restore site functionality “by the end of the week.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/hackers-house-democrats-websites-224904

June 27, 2016

I appealed a post removal, how much time does it take and will I be notified about the outcome?

I have had 2 post removed and one thread, the thread miraculously re-appeared after I filed an appeal.
One of my posts got removed on Friday the 24th and I appealed. I have yet to hear if the appeal is granted or denied.
Is there a way we can get notified within a set amount of time? or if like with my post the appeal got approved that we get a notification about that?

June 26, 2016

Former top McCain aide: I’ll vote for Clinton over Trump

A former top aide to Sen. John McCain says he will support Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in November as both candidates appear close to locking down their parties’ nominations.

Mark Salter was for years McCain’s closest aide, serving as strategist, speechwriter, Senate chief of staff and biographer to the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. But now, Salter says he’ll break with the Republican Party if it nominates Trump and vote for Clinton instead.

“Basically, I think she’s the more conservative choice and the least reckless one,” Salter told MSNBC in an email. “[Trump’s] policy views are like some drunk’s rant. If he tried to do anything like he says he will, we’d have no allies, a lot more enemies, and more of them with nukes. Finally, he’s unfit for the office, too, temperamentally and morally, a narcissistic bigot.”

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/former-top-mccain-aide-ill-vote-clinton-over-trump

June 26, 2016

Armitage to back Clinton over Trump

Former Reagan and Bush appointee is highest-ranking Republican to break ranks for Hillary.

Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state under George W. Bush, says he will vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, in one of the most dramatic signs yet that Republican national security elites are rejecting their party’s presumptive nominee.

Armitage, a retired Navy officer who also served as an assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan, is thought by Clinton aides to be the highest-ranking former GOP national security official to openly support Clinton over Trump.

“If Donald Trump is the nominee, I would vote for Hillary Clinton,” Armitage told POLITICO in a brief interview. “He doesn't appear to be a Republican, he doesn't appear to want to learn about issues. So, I’m going to vote for Mrs. Clinton.”

Dozens of Republican foreign policy elites have already declared their unwillingness to support or work for Trump, though far fewer say they would cast a ballot for Clinton. The latter group includes Max Boot, a prominent neoconservative military analyst and historian; Mark Salter, former longtime chief of staff to Republican Sen. John McCain; and retired Army Col. Peter Mansour, a former top aide to retired Gen. David Petraeus.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/richard-armitage-endorses-clinton-224431

June 26, 2016

Republican Brent Scowcroft backs Clinton

CNN)Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, received an endorsement Wednesday from a heavyweight foreign policy adviser to Republican presidents.

Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security Adviser to Presidents George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford, and who worked in the White House of Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush, said Clinton "brings truly unique experience and perspective to the White House."
His endorsement was released hours after the Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump launched a broad attack on Clinton's experience, honesty and foreign policy experience in a 40-minute speech. Scowcroft directly rebutted Trump's claim that Clinton does not have the temperament to lead, citing her experience working on high-pressure issues such as Iran and Israel.
"She brings deep expertise in international affairs and a sophisticated understanding of the world, which I believe are essential for the commander-in-chief," Scowcroft said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/politics/hillary-clinton-brent-scowcroft-endorsement/

June 26, 2016

Hard-line right-wing war hawk Max Boot applauds Hillary Clinton in op-ed

Lifelong Republican Max Boot, the most hawkish of hawks, insists Hillary "Clinton would be far preferable to Trump"

A slew of prominent right-wing figures have joined Wall Street in supporting Hillary Clinton for president.

Max Boot, a hard-line war hawk and self-declared “American imperialist,” lauded the Democratic presidential front-runner in an op-ed in The Los Angeles Times on Sunday, citing her as a much better alternative to presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

“If I’m not for Trump, who am I for?” wrote Boot, a lifelong Reagan Republican, in the article.

“Hillary Clinton is a centrist Democrat who is more hawkish than President Obama and far more principled and knowledgeable about foreign affairs than Trump, who is too unstable and erratic,” he answered.

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/09/hard_line_right_wing_war_hawk_max_boot_applauds_hillary_clinton_in_op_ed/

June 25, 2016

Bush Treasury Secretary Paulson endorses Clinton

(CNN)Hank Paulson, the Republican Treasury secretary during the 2008 financial crisis, has endorsed Hillary Clinton, adding his name to prominent GOP heavyweights who are backing the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Paulson's support comes amid mounting concerns about Donald Trump's candidacy. Paulson, a controversial figure given President George W. Bush's handling of the downturn, said "a Trump presidency is unthinkable" and predicted that other conservatives would rally behind her.
"I'll be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world," Paulson wrote in The Washington Post. "To my Republican friends: I know I'm not alone."
Paulson, once the CEO of Goldman Sachs, criticized Trump's business record, divisiveness and brand of populist rhetoric.
Clinton has been criticized for close ties to Wall Street, but not many Republicans of Paulson's stature have formally endorsed her.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/24/politics/hank-paulson-hillary-clinton-endorsement/index.html