World’s ‘greatest negotiator’ gets rolled by Democrats, throws GOP leadership under the bus

During the campaign, Donald Trump sold himself as a great deal maker and great negotiator, and enough of the low information rubes voters who don’t know any better bought that con job and made him president.

The self-proclaimed “greatest negotiator” met with GOP and Democratic leadership on Wednesday to negotiate a budget deal, raising the federal debt ceiling to avoid a default at the end of September, nd hurricane relief aid for Texas.

The GOP’s alleged boy genius and Ayn Rand fanboy, Paul Ryan, “the zombie-eyed granny starver from the state of Wisconsin,” made the GOP position clear at a press conference earlier in the morning. Ryan and the septuagenarian Ninja Turtle, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, just assumed that Trump would tow the GOP line since he, you know, is the leader of the GOP.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made the Democrats’ opening low-ball offer, and the world’s “greatest negotiator” said “fine, we’ve got a deal,” throwing his own GOP leadership under the bus without even making a counter-offer or attempting to negotiate. I’m sure Chuck and Nancy must have given each other a confused look that said “Wait, did we just win? This is way too easy.”

I love this photo from Roll Call — the look on the faces of the Senate GOP leadership says it all. So this is what a constipated turtle looks like.

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Trump Ends DACA: Will Congress Save Dreamers?

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Undocumented workers and students protested at the DNC in 2012. (That’s me in the turquoise dress before the cops told me to move.)

Our country’s most ill-prepared president just lobbed one of our country’s stickiest problems into the court of the country’s least effective Congress, ever. What could go wrong? The dreams of nearly one million young people.

On Sept. 5, 2017, Attorney General and long-time anti-immigration advocate Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration’s decision to rescind President Obama’s executive order that created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Implemented five years ago, DACA was supposed to be a stop-gap measure to shield children and young adults, who were brought to the US illegally as minors by their parents. The plan was that Congress would move on immigration reform while DACA protected these young people from immediate deportation.

Roughly 800,000 young adults under DACA could face deportation if Congress fails to act within the next six months. The crux of the problem is that DACA was created because Congress shirked its duty on meaningful immigration reform. For 16 years, Congress has failed to pass any immigration reform– let alone comprehensive reform, which is sorely needed. Even the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) — which outlined a path to citizenship for Dreamers– has died a bipartisan death in Congress multiple times, since it was originally proposed in 2001.

Will Congress have the guts to save the Dreamers now?

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ACLU/Feds smack down Brewer’s drivers license stance for Dreamers

by Pamela Powers Hannley The ACLU is claiming that, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), young people eligible for deferred deportation are  "authorized to stay and lawfully present in the country" — not "illegal people." Within the last year, Governor Jan Brewer had issued an executive order stating that Dreamers were not eligible to … Read more

Let DREAMERS drive: Protesters arrested at AZ State Capitol (video)

Huelgaby Pamela Powers Hannley

Citizens for a Better Arizona (CBA) leader Randy Parraz and others protested Governor Jan Brewer's denial of Arizona drivers' licenses to undocumented people who are eligibile for deferred deportation under President Barack Obama's executive order regarding the DREAM Act.

"These people [DREAMERS] already have clearance to work in this state. What does she [Brewer] gain by denying them a drivers' license?" Parraz asked on Monday, January 14, the first day of the new legislative session.

"We want a new level of respect and civility in this state… I'm tired of second class citizenship [for DREAMERS]," he added. "They're good enough to graduate from ASU but not good enough to apply for a drivers' license? That type of mentality has to stop in Arizona."

For more comments and footage of DREAM Act protesters being arrested at the Arizona State Capitol, check out the video by Dennis Gilman after the jump.

President Clinton campaigns for Carmona in Arizona, as polls show race tightening (video)

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by Pamela Powers Hannley

Despite Arizona’s reputation as a stalwartly red state, with
a capital R, Democrats are hoping to take back one of the state’s US Senate in November.

Although Democrats have held a percentage of the state’s
Congressional seats for years, the Republican Party has controlled both Arizona
US Senate seats since 1994, when embattled Senator Dennis
Deconcini
retired, and Arizona Congressman Jon Kyl won it.

Since
early 2012
, former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona has been
crisscrossing the state, campaigning
tirelessly
to move that Senate seat to the D column. Over the summer,
Carmona climbed steadily in the polls against Kyl’s heir apparent and
six-term, conservative Congressman Jeff Flake. A recently released poll shows
Independent-turned-Democrat Carmona
leading Flake
by four percentage points—a statistical dead heat.

This close—and important—Senate race has attracted the
attention of heavy hitters from both parties. While the Koch Brothers’ Freedom
Works PAC has been pumping money into Flake’s campaign
, this week Democrats
sent their secret weapon—President Bill Clinton—to Arizona to help Carmona.

Wednesday night, Carmona and Clinton addressed an estimated
5500 Arizonans at an outdoor rally on the Arizona State University (ASU)
campus.

More details and a videos after the jump.