Month: March 2018

Whiny Republicans respond to student protests at the Arizona Capitol

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Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley covered this story from her perspective the other day, Republicans Recess as Students & #AZHouse Dems Stand in Silence for Gun Violence Victims, and now Howard Fischer reports on the GOP perspective the following day, Republicans accuse Democrats of political theater over gun legislation:

A Prescott Republican lawmaker lashed out at Democrats Thursday, accusing them of being more interested in political “theater” than solving the question of gun violence in schools.

Rep. Noel Campbell said all lawmakers are upset about the shootings at Majory Stoneman High School in Florida, and he acknowledged the anger and frustration of students who walked out of their classrooms a day earlier on the one-month anniversary of that event.

“But I have a feeling some of you down here just want to be seen and not do anything,” Campbell said in his floor speech, citing not only the presence of students in the gallery on March 14 but also Democrats taking close to an hour to introduce the students by name and call attention to them and their demands for changes in state gun laws.

That, Campbell said, is not the way “to get things done.”

“It hardens positions,” he said, with the “theater” of Wednesday resulting in many Republicans choosing to leave the floor rather than sit through the introduction of individual students and the Democrat floor speeches.

“You drove us out of here,” Campbell said, saying Democrats are not interested in working with Republicans.

“You want to make an example of us. You want to embarrass us,” he said. “Well, see how effective that is.”

Campbell said if Democrats are interested in legislative solutions, they should forego these kinds of public spectacles and instead work with Republicans behind closed doors.

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Frank talk on Weaponized Narratives at Joel D. Valdez main library

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Weaponized Narrative: Information Warfare as the New Battlespace Saturday, March 17, 2018 (2:00PM – 3:30PM) Joel D Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave. Tucson Description Join us for a FRANK Talk about information warfare. “Weaponized narrative is the latest term for information warfare, focusing specifically on the role of new media in shaping opinion. … Read more

Stormy clouds over the Trump White House: 60 Minutes and a court date

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On March 6, 2018, adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, filed a lawsuit (and attached exhibits) (.pdf) to void a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) with Donald Trump, identified by the alias David Dennison in the NDA, drafted and entered into by Michael Cohen, the “top attorney” and “fixer” for the Trump organization, on October 28, 2016.

Stormy Daniels received $130,000 in payment (consideration) for the NDA through Essential Consultants, LLC, formed on October 17, 2016 by Cohen, to hide the true source of funds that Cohen claims that he paid from his own personal funds from his home-equity line of credit. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen says he paid Stormy Daniels with his home-equity line.

Note: This is a violation of the Rules for Professional Conduct for attorneys, which has resulted in complaints being filed against Michael Cohen (discussed below).

Earlier this week Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, made a settlement offer to Donald Trump and his attorney Michael Cohen: Stormy Daniels offered to return a $130,000 payment she received from President Trump’s lawyer in 2016, in a bid to speak freely about a months-long affair she alleges she and the president began having in 2006. The deadline to accept the settlement offer or to proceed to trial has since expired.

The trial court has now set the hearing date. Hearing set in Stormy Daniels’ lawsuit against Trump: The hearing date has been set for July 12 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The lawsuit said Trump never signed a hush agreement to keep Daniels quiet late in the 2016 campaign about an alleged sexual encounter between the two before Trump was president.

The lawsuit said Cohen had signed it on Trump’s behalf and therefore the agreement was void.

The lawsuit also accuses Cohen of continuing the efforts to “intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and ‘shut her up'” by initiating a “bogus” arbitration proceeding last month without notifying Daniels or allowing due process.

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A Pall is Cast over McSally Senate Bid by Election Result in Pennsylvania

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A blue wave is cresting in American politics.
A blue wave is cresting in American politics.

There is definitely a blue wave cresting in American politics. When it hits Arizona, it will spell doom for the Martha McSally campaign for US Senate.

As of last December, Democrats won a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, won the governorship in New Jersey, took full control of the Washington state government, and swept elective offices statewide in Virginia. Now voters in Pennsylvania elected a Democratic Congressmen in a deep-red district.

Even though the Democrats had less in campaign funds, were outspent by out-of-state PACs and ran in districts carried by the president, they are still finding a way to win.

Congresswoman Martha McSally snuggles up to President Donald Trump.
Congresswoman Martha McSally snuggles up to President Donald Trump.

Trump is poison. Even in conservative districts, Trump is unpopular. Democrat Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania won a stunning upset against a Republican who was chiefly a stand-in for Trump and who endorsed Trump’s tawdry agenda. Trump energizes Democrats, and his two appearances drove independents to vote for the Democrat.

McSally, a nondescript Republican, votes in line with Trump 97.1%. She defended Trump from criticism by Sen. Jeff Flake. McSally has sent out photos of herself with the president and with first daughter Ivanka Trump. McSally appeared on Fox News to sing the president’s praises. Her announcement video features Trump saying, “Martha McSally, she’s the real deal.”

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With friends like these … Senate Democrats pass the ‘bank lobbyist act’

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Only a decade after the banksters of Wall Street engaged in  casino capitalism and the largest fraud ever perpetrated in human history, nearly destroying the world’s financial system and causing the Great Recession, the banksters of Wall Street have reasserted their stranglehold over members of the U.S. Congress.

In a 67-31 vote, the U.S. Senate approved the most sweeping changes yet to Dodd-Frank that have earned bipartisan support. All present Republicans and 16 Democrats and Independent Angus King voted to approve the measure, sending it to the House.

Bennet (D-CO), Carper (D-DE), Coons (D-DE), Donnelly (D-IN), Hassan (D-NH), Heitkamp (D-ND), Jones (D-AL), Kaine (D-VA), Manchin (D-WV), McCaskill (D-MO), Nelson (D-FL), Peters (D-MI), Shaheen (D-NH), Stabenow (D-MI), Tester (D-MT), Warner (D-VA); King (I-ME).

The Washington Post reports, Senate passes rollback of banking rules enacted after financial crisis:

The Senate on Wednesday passed the biggest loosening of financial regulations since the economic crisis a decade ago, delivering wide bipartisan support for weakening banking rules despite bitter divisions among Democrats.

The bill, which passed 67 votes to 31, would free more than two dozen banks from the toughest regulatory scrutiny put in place after the 2008 global financial crisis. Despite President Trump’s promise to do a “big number” on the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the new measure leaves key aspects of the earlier law in place. Nonetheless, it amounts to a significant rollback of banking rules aimed at protecting taxpayers from another financial crisis and future bailouts.

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