Primaries in several states.
Election Results Open Thread aka the End of the Richard Painter Vanity CampaignPost + Comments (72)
by John Cole| 72 Comments
This post is in: Election 2018
by Adam L Silverman| 91 Comments
This post is in: 2020 Elections, America, Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Election 2018, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Silverman on Security, All Too Normal
… he wanted to join a party which wouldn’t have him because he was a Jew.
— Hannah Arendt’s remarks on Leo Strauss
This morning Politico published an op-ed by Dr. David S. Glosser, Sc. D. Dr. Glosser is one of Stephen Miller’s uncles. While Dr. Glosser’s, and much of Stephen Miller’s other relations views about him are not exactly news, this is the first time that one of his relatives has directly addressed a national audience about him, his ideology, and his actions as opposed to having those views reported about. Dr. Glossar’s column explains in detail what almost every other American Jew knows very well, that if the immigration policies, laws, and regulations that Stephen Miller is such a clear advocate of were in force when their grandparents or great grandparents came to the US, they would never have been allowed in. And given that they were in force during the Holocaust, many seeking safety were unable to find it.
The Glossers’ journey is an American story. It is the story of the families being detained and separated at the southern border right now. No one takes their children, whatever possessions they can carry, and sets out either overland or at sea unless they are desperate. Desperate to escape state directed or tolerated political violence, drug cartel violence, the violence that arises from the sex trade, and the poverty and imisseration that contributes to it and results from it. Dr. Glossar tells the story of just one of his patients – a young man who was able to flee the mental torture of being turned into a child soldier and the physical torture that arose from suspected religious deviancy to eventually make his way to safety in the US. Dr. Glossar’s patient’s story is a testament to what America is supposed to be – the safe haven for those who seek it and wish to contribute to it. When men and women like Dr. Glossar’s patient, as well as his great grandfather – and many of our great grandparents regardless of our ethnicity or religion – undertook their long, dangerous journeys to the US they knew that at the end of that journey, if they were lucky enough to make it safely to their destination, was safety. This is the ideal that is America. This is its promise. Not the cramped, small minded, bigoted, hateful belief that the wealthiest and most powerful nation-state to ever exist is somehow on the verge of collapse because desperate men and women are carrying their children with them from danger through danger in the hope that they can reach safety.
Stephen Miller is the wickedest of sons. His prejudices and petty grievances betray not a world changing intellect, but the small minded fear of the petulant child who once slighted can never give up his grudge. Miller, and the President he so gleefully serves, like Gen. (ret) Kelly, and most every other American, is only an American because of lax immigration laws at the time their forebears came to the US and family based migration (what the President calls chain migration). It is not that they are hypocrites, they most certainly are, or would be if they had any sense of shame. Rather they are small, fearful, timid men play acting as fierce warriors on behalf of a socially constructed ideal: whiteness. And in the case of Stephen Miller, because he is Jewish, he is only white on sufferance and that privilege can be revoked by the very extremists and white supremacists that Miller has been playing footsie with since he was trying to survive the mean sidewalks and quadrangle of Santa Monica High School.
Open thread!
This post is in: Don't Mourn, Organize, Election 2018, gun safety, Open Threads, Voting Rights, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
WATCH: Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer, remembers her daughter — and what her daughter stood for in #Charlottesville — on the 1-year anniv. of her death. pic.twitter.com/W76fl51czf
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 12, 2018
There are some good people in the world.
The guy accused of starting the Holy Fire in Orange County, CA has two cats. His neighbor, whose cabin was destroyed in the fire, is looking for the cats to adopt them since he's in custody.
Cat ladies rule.
— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) August 13, 2018
Click on any of the tweets below to read the whole thread…
1. Here's a little public service announcement about your vote & the November elections. If you live in a state that is pruning its voter rolls or moving people to inactive status & you want to make sure you can vote on 11/6, what should you do? Read on, the time to act is now.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) August 11, 2018
5. How do you keep this from happening to you in November? The NVRA/Motor Voter Act prohibits states from engaging in voter roll maintenance closer than 90 days to an election. We are now within that 90 day timeframe. That means you should go & update your registration NOW.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) August 11, 2018
Same for this tweet-string:
As we wrap up #GSU18, I want to thank the 1,000+ volunteer leaders – including 300+ gun violence survivors – from 47 states and DC, who attended. Just 5 years ago, I skyped with 5 women trying to figure out how we could build @MomsDemand. As of last week, we are 5 million strong. pic.twitter.com/gHwfjFyd3M
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 12, 2018
The influx of tens of thousands of new volunteers in the wake of the shooting tragedy in Parkland strengthened us to pass more good gun bills than in any prior legislative session, and to stop 1,000+ bad @NRA bills, for a win rate of over 90% for the 4th straight year in a row. pic.twitter.com/O1m6Chv9AB
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 12, 2018
.@MomsDemand volunteers also doubled down this year on fighting gun violence in marginalized communities. If we want to end gun violence, we have to fight the systemic racism that can cause it, too. We must we listen to those most affected by gun violence and work together.
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 12, 2018
Finally, while I’ll probably put up a dedicated post later, you will no doubt be pleased to hear that the #UniteTheReich Reunion Rally… did not live up to its proponents’ hopes…
Embarrassing day for the alt-right. Meager turn-out to massive opposition. When police let reporters into their area, we easily outnumbered them. Permit was until 7:30 but they began leaving by 5.
— Matt Ford (@fordm) August 12, 2018
Monday Morning Open Thread: Reasons to BelievePost + Comments (92)
This post is in: Don't Agonize - Organize, Election 2018, Local Races 2018 and earlier, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Proud to Be A Democrat
This is just going to be some EPIC fanboi caterwauling if it happens
Also, he’d be great in the role. Bond is about presence and menace, both of which he has.
— QHatSecretMessages (@Popehat) August 10, 2018
Pretty sure the people who would be most angry about Idris Elba as James Bond haven't seen a James Bond movie since Roger Moore.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) August 10, 2018
In before the Friday News Dump, assuming we get another one here in mid-August…
A winner won't be declared in #OH12 until Aug 24th, but regardless of the outcome here is something to feel good about:
Dems regained all 11% that Trump won the district by in 2016
If Dems can recreate that shift statewide we'll win Ohio's Senate & Governor's race in November.
— Nate Lerner (@NathanLerner) August 9, 2018
**********
Since January, Sen. Mazie Hirono has been asking *every* Trump nominee in her committees, under oath, about any sexual harassment in their past. Top defense officials. Judges. It's awkward and pointed every time.
Brett Kavanaugh is next. https://t.co/2NjfpqsRoN
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) August 9, 2018
And for you, I went back and counted ALL the Trump nominees Hirono has asked under oath if they've ever sexually harassed anyone. This is between 5 Senate committees, top defense + energy officials, judges, even the VA Secretary.
It's nearly 100. https://t.co/2NjfpqsRoN
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) August 9, 2018
***********
In support of Marcia Blackburn’s opponent:
Jason Isbell, Ben Folds to headline Phil Bredesen fundraiser https://t.co/6d4IhkhIzY
— Tennessean (@Tennessean) August 9, 2018
***********
Dudes, C’mon. A “poll” by HarrisX, a firm that does market research in the telecom industry? Why even bother to pretend you care about reliable data? https://t.co/iuqO1VbZyj
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) August 10, 2018
Three quarters of Americans don’t want Nancy Pelosi replaced, bc three quarters of Americans don’t have opinions on Nancy Pelosi, bc less than three quarters of Americans could even tell you who Nancy Pelosi is.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) August 10, 2018
The disgruntled upstarts just want to elect a white guy, because no way the GOP would attack THEM.
— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) August 9, 2018
It's exactly why the right despises her. The party about nothing cant have government do things.
— Chris Crumb (@Chris_Crumb1) August 9, 2018
I think we need to stop pretending politics is so simple we can just reboot Congress with a younger, prettier cast like its some new show on The CW. https://t.co/mPWi6tbceG
— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) August 9, 2018
If younger & prettier were the only requirements for better politics, Paul Ryan would have stomach crunched us into a Utopia.
— CL Nicholson (@CalvinNicholson) August 9, 2018
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Now *final:* Dems overperformed @CookPolitical PVI by an average of 8% in this cycle's 9 House specials where both parties appeared on the final ballot. pic.twitter.com/xJTbCBsnaG
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 9, 2018
To give you an idea: if Dems were to overperform PVI by 8% in all 435 districts this November (won't happen b/c of R incumbency, etc.), they'd pick up 81 House seats – more than triple the 23 they need.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 9, 2018
Reinforces what I argued here. This isn't sustainable and Republicans are going to drop some of these districts in November. https://t.co/g0jjzjubiq https://t.co/2AjuW36gsy
— Jim Antle (@jimantle) August 9, 2018
Friday Morning Open Thread: Readership CapturePost + Comments (219)
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Election 2018, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!, Assholes, Schadenfreude
‘Nothing bodes well’...
Whoever wins in Ohio, there’ll be a rematch between Balderson and O’Connor on November 6.
That day, there’ll be 68 Republican-held House districts up for grabs that are more Democrat-friendly than #OH12 (per @CookPolitical).https://t.co/x8PhfG1SdN
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) August 8, 2018
Re the Washington Post, “Lackluster election results spark debate over Trump’s midterm role”:
A new round of lackluster showings by Republican candidates reignited a debate Wednesday within the GOP over whether President Trump will be a drag on the party’s chances in November and should stay out of some of the country’s most hotly contested races.
Inside the White House, Trump aides are mapping out plans for the fall that would offer a variety of options to Republican candidates, including visits by the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump to blue states and presidential tweets to bolster red-state allies.
But mounting apprehension about Trump’s political capital lingered in Washington and on the campaign trail.
In a flurry of elections on Tuesday — from the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, to the technology corridor in Washington state — Democrats turned out in droves and significantly overperformed expectations by posing serious challenges to Republicans in staunchly GOP districts.
Many Republican strategists viewed the results as a dark omen three months ahead of Election Day, saying they illustrate the limits of Trump’s ability to boost candidates, particularly in suburban areas where the president’s popularity has suffered.
Even in Republican primaries, securing Trump’s endorsement was not a guarantee of electoral success…
[Ohio’s] Balderson was far from the only Republican who underwhelmed on Tuesday.Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, failed to win 50 percent of the vote in a primary and will face Democrat Lisa Brown in November. Washington state has a nonpartisan primary process in which the top two finishers move on to the general election.
All year, McMorris Rodgers has been confronting pointed questions about her support for Trump’s policies…
In Michigan, where Democrats are aiming to take back the governor’s mansion, voter turnout set records, according to state officials, with more than 2 million votes cast — the most in the state since 1978…
New rating changes coming this PM to @CookPolitical:#KS02: OPEN (Jenkins) (R) – Lean R to Toss Up#KS03: Yoder (R) – Lean R to Toss Up#NY27: Collins (R) – Solid R to Likely R#OH15: Stivers (R) – Likely R to Solid R#WA03: Herrera Beutler (R) – Likely R to Lean R
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 8, 2018
AND FURTHERMORE…
In secretly recorded audio from a GOP fundraiser, House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes said that trying to impeach Rod Rosenstein now could delay the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's Supreme Court pick.
Read more: https://t.co/iH3sxZQeEv pic.twitter.com/FsS4fPPRMs
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 9, 2018
P.S. If you are (rightly) outraged by the Nunes tape and what it reveals about how he views his priorities as Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, but are not sure what to do about it, check out @JanzforCongress, who’s running against him in November: https://t.co/IUS7lASfgP
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) August 9, 2018
I like, "Vote D-for Democrat and R-for Russia"
— Trevor Ricci (@TrevorRicci1) August 8, 2018
Too, also:
Hi everyone here's Nate McMurray, the Democrat running against Chris Collins in New York's 27th District. Collins was the first congressman to endorse Trump and was today arrested for a bunch of crimes. Learn about Nate, and maybe retweet. https://t.co/kUVz3ynO0g
— zeddy (@Zeddary) August 8, 2018
You may also remember Chris Collins as the guy who said his donors told him Congress had to pass tax reform or contributions would dry up. https://t.co/fyuiXDLZor
— Adam Smith (@asmith83) August 8, 2018
A question i’ve gotten a lot in the last few hours: How was Chris Collins, a member of Congress, allowed to serve on a board of a publicly traded pharmaceutical company when serving.
To add to that, Collins was on Energy and Commerce, which oversees the industry.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) August 8, 2018
Here is the Chris Collins email to supporters saying he's still running and will be "on the ballot for reelection this November. " pic.twitter.com/iCcqtK47SD
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) August 8, 2018
Based on research using @baseballot's scandals dataset, I've found that a scandal costs a House candidate somewhere on the order of 10-12 percentage points of vote margin. It's a pretty significant effect. And this scandal is perhaps on the more severe side.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 8, 2018
Lots of sign that this Rep. Chris Collins scandal will spread fast and ensnare other members of Congress. (Sub req) https://t.co/7aihea99nx
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 9, 2018
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD… DEAR LEAKER LEADER!
This is another great aspect of the evening. https://t.co/7wg93jaF16
— Armando (@armandodkos) August 8, 2018
Good question: “Are Republican leaders so unwilling to condemn Trump because their voters support him so vigorously, or do these voters support Trump so vigorously because so few Republican leaders have dared condemn his actions?” https://t.co/6hBvk0Hhxb
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) August 7, 2018
No one is forgetting this. Question is what's harder to scale up: The Dem energy that seems to be humming in every suburb, or the $5m Rs have to drop into every House race. https://t.co/jVBq3CoPVg
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 8, 2018
If cornflakes are an acceptable breakfast, why not popcorn?
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Bad Week for the RepubsPost + Comments (145)
This post is in: Election 2018, I'm With Her, Local Races 2018 and earlier, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
Saw my political idol Sen. Elizabeth Warren in person for the first time this evening, since she was holding a town hall (her thirty-second, she said) at a time and place which made it impossible for me not to succumb to vulgar curiosity. And I’m very glad we went — even the Spousal Unit, who is far less of a political animal than I am, was impressed and heartened by her performance. She must be a wonderful teacher; she kept her audience of 500-600 continually engaged, responded to every question asked with relevant information, and never lost sight of the larger arc. Pretty good turnout for a Wednesday evening in August, too!
First Sen. Warren spoke for about 40 minutes; then there were half a dozen questioners, chosen by lottery ticket. The questions covered a fair sample of the current Big Topics; student debt (she’s *very* invested in taking the profit sector out of student loans, of course), the rapidly increasing cost of prescription drugs (she explicitly used the word corruption several times in that response).
Another older lady asked how she could ‘not despair about Roe v. Wade’; Sen. Warren led us through the fight to save the ACA right after Trump’s inauguration (‘I have that image seared on the back of my eyeballs — whenever I think about giving up, I remember seeing him there, and that re-energizes me’), pointing out how collective action by individuals made *just* enough of a difference to peal away three Repubs and save “our” healthcare, and stressing that the only way to keep Brent Kavanaugh off the Supreme Court is to commit the same level of sustained effort before the GOP can gavel him through.
Then came the inevitable True Progressive (I was kinda surprised we only got the one TP, but this is not a chic hipster town, yet). He spent rather more time than any of the previous questioners took in total to explain his impeccable credentials (‘Early supporter — wrote you so many checks!’) before sharing his laundry list of complaints. She congratulated Scott Brown when he was appointed ambassador to New Zealand! She called Mitch McConnell ‘my colleague’! Worst of all, she wasn’t On The Front Lines, calling for IMPEACHMENT NOW!…. How could “we” ever trust her again, after such behavior!?!
And Warren handled him impeccably. She said she was happier to have Scotty in New Zealand than in New England, and then she led us through the steps necessary for impeachment: It’s the House that has to take a vote in favor; only then can the Senate proceed. But, she stressed, the first step is to allow Robert Mueller to complete a full, thorough, and fair investigation; calling for impeachment before investigation is not a wise path for either Democrats *or* Republicans just yet!
(That got the second-biggest round of applause for the evening.)
The final question was from a middle-school teacher, who said that ‘even her students’ wanted to know what they could do, right now. Senator Warren handled this wisely, too — she reiterated that we all need to be registering voters, holding signs, knocking on doors, sharing information & listening ‘even with people who might not agree with us on everything.’ That mini-speech drew a standing ovation.
Afterwards, it had been arranged for anyone who wanted to take a selfie with the Senator… but I’d estimate there were almost a hundred people lining up for their chance by the time we left the auditorium, and I’m actually quite shy in person, so you’ll have to take my word.
Late Night Open Thread: Personal PoliticsPost + Comments (88)
by Adam L Silverman| 241 Comments
This post is in: America, Domestic Politics, Election 2018, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Silverman on Security, All Too Normal
JUST IN: Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY), Trump’s earliest congressional backer, arrested by the FBI on securities fraud-related charges, via @jonathan4ny
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) August 8, 2018
Congressman Chris Collins (R – NY) was arrested this morning by the FBI shortly after he was indicted for securities related fraud related to insider trading allegations. From NBC:
Chris Collins, a Republican congressman from upstate New York, surrendered to the FBI on Wednesday morning on securities fraud-related charges, prosecutors said.
Collins, 68, faces insider trading charges along with his son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins’ fiancée, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
The case is related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company, on which the elder Collins served on the board.
The Daily Beast did the in depth reporting on the allegations, now charges, in April 2017 (emphasis mine).
When an Australian pharmaceutical company sought to raise money with the goal of entering the U.S. drug market, Rep. Chris Collins pitched in.
The Republican congressman purchased $2.2 million worth of stock in Innate Immunotherapeutics as part of its initial public offering in late 2013, according to a previously unreported document Collins filed with Australia’s securities authority. The IPO prospectus said Innate would seek FDA approval of its drug to treat multiple sclerosis. More than a year later, Collins wrote into a bill language to expedite the FDA’s approval process for such drugs. Four months before the bill was signed into law, Collins again purchased stock in Innate, this time as much as $1 million, according to congressional financial disclosure records.
Ethics experts say all of this amounts to a conflict of interest that warrants investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics and the House Ethics Committee.
Collins said he did not participate in any IPO on a financial disclosure form filed in 2014 (PDF), but that’s not a crime, thanks to a gaping loophole in the STOCK Act discovered by The Daily Beast.
The law, passed to stop insider trading among members of Congress, only requires them to disclose involvement in U.S. IPOs, but not foreign ones, a House Ethics Committee official told The Daily Beast.
“This is simply outrageous,” Larry Noble, a former Federal Elections Commission lawyer, told The Daily Beast of the loophole. “One could argue that not only should foreign IPOs not be exempt, but that they present an even greater possibility of a conflict of interest because they’re involved with foreign persons.”
Collins owns approximately $22 million worth of Innate stock, or 16.5 percent of the company, and sits on its board of directors, according to the company. Since the IPO, Collins’s children, his chief of staff, and a score of campaign donors have bought into Innate, whose stock price has tripled since its initial offering in 2013.
“Do you know how many millionaires I’ve made in Buffalo the past few months?” Collins was overheard on Capitol Hill telling someone on the phone in January, though it is not known what exactly he was talking about.
Five other Republican congressman have also invested in Innate, including the new secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price.
All told, Collins and people with close personal and political ties to him own approximately 30 percent of Innate.
Innate’s prospectus also shows why Collins’s work on the 21st Century Cures Act presents such a potentially serious conflict of interest, ethics experts said. Collins’s provision in the bill makes it easier for companies to be granted investigative drug approval, something Innate’s prospectus repeatedly defines as its main strategy for reaching the U.S. market.
Money raised by the initial public offering that exceeded the amount needed for the second phase of clinical trials for MIS416 would go toward “initiating the Investigational New Drug process with the FDA,” according to Innate’s prospectus.
In a statement touting the Cures Act provision, Collins said that “the method used to evaluate investigational drugs have remained the same for decades,” and called for the approval process for those drugs to be streamlined. That is now law thanks to the passage of the Cures Act.
Noble, the former government lawyer and an ethics expert, said that because Collins’s provision will have a broad impact on companies across the pharmaceutical industry, it might not be seen as a direct conflict of interest. But it is the provision’s specific effect on Innate—and Collins’s lead role in pushing the provision—that should prompt an investigation, Noble said.
“It’s one thing for a member of Congress to simply vote on something like this, and it’s entirely another for that person to have been the one leading the charge on it,” Noble said. “This is a very serious conflict of interest matter. There’s a lot financially at stake for him, and there’s a serious question of whether or not he put a provision in a statute that will benefit that financial upside.”
Noble added that, at the very least, Collins should have informed ethics officials of his relationship with Innate before crafting legislation that would help the company. It is not known whether Collins consulted the House Ethics Committee, or disclosed the extent of his involvement with Innate prior to pushing for the provision included in the Cures Act.
Collins’s potential conflict of interest got deeper last year. In August 2016, he bought as much as $1 million in company stock, according to financial disclosure records (PDF). Two months later, Collins’s language was present in the Cures Act. Two weeks later President Obama signed the bill into law.
Not only is it in Collins’s interest to see Innate succeed, but getting MIS416 to the lucrative U.S. market would enrich a sprawling network of family, friends, and political donors of Collins.
Collins’s circle began investing heavily in 2013, when Innate offered its IPO.
Much, much more at the link!
While Congressman Collins was the first member of the House of Representatives to endorse the President’s campaign and was a member of the transition. There is no indication in the reporting that Congressman Collins’ very overt and very suspect financial dealings and their interaction with his legislative work is in any way connected to the Special Counsel’s investigation. Seeming congressional financial and investment shenanigans, however, has been a long standing problem that is occasionally reported on, but needs some serious sunlight and attention directed at it. Far too many members of Congress in both chambers enter Congress well off and, after a career making between $140 to $175K a year (rank and file versus leadership), leave Congress very, very wealthy. The reasonable suspicion is that much of this wealth is the result of trading on what they learn in the course of their congressional duties. This is clearly unacceptable and must be stopped. Unfortunately the people who would have to take action to stop it are also the people who are engaged in it.
Stay financially solvent!
Open thread.