June 17, 2016

Transcript: Bernie Sanders speech in Burlington, Vermont

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/transcript-bernie-sanders-speech-in-burlington-vermont-224465

June 17, 2016

George W. Bush Steps In to Aid Trump-Afflicted Republican Senators

Republican senators facing tough races this year may not get much help from their party’s presidential nominee Donald Trump — indeed, he may be one reason why they are so vulnerable — so former president George W. Bush has come out of the political shadows to help them out.

Bush, the New York Times reports, has held fundraisers in recent weeks for Arizona Senator John McCain and New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte, both of whom are tight in the polls with their Democratic challengers and neither of whom is exactly thrilled to be running on the same ticket as Trump.

Ayotte, who has been critical of Trump’s flagrant racism, has attempted to square the circle by expressing support for the nominee without “endorsing” him per se, but that was more than enough for her opponent, Governor Maggie Hassan, to insist that Ayotte “will need to be held accountable” for his positions as well as her own. McCain has frankly admitted that Trump’s presence on the ballot makes his re-election campaign in a state where 30 percent of voters are Hispanic “the race of [his] life.”

For his part, Bush revealed last month that he would not endorse Trump or attend next month’s Republican convention in Cleveland. In fact, no members of the Bush family are supporting the Republican nominee, who blamed Bush for the September 11 terrorist attacks, characterized him as a failed president, and spent much of the primary season gleefully belittling his younger brother Jeb, the former governor of Florida who some say also ran for president this year.

more
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/bush-stumps-for-vulnerable-republican-senators.html#jumpLink

June 17, 2016

Watchdog: Suspect in slaying of British lawmaker linked to U.S.-based neo-Nazis

LONDON — The man detained by police in connection with the killing of a rising star of British politics had longstanding ties to a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization and, in the past, had ordered a how-to guide for assembling a homemade gun, according to a watchdog group that tracks extremist behavior.

The revelation came as police on Friday continued to investigate the motive behind the killing of the British lawmaker, Jo Cox, who was stabbed and shot midday Thursday in an attack that stunned the nation and led to a suspension of the European Union referendum campaign just a week before the vote.

Cox had been a strong advocate of an inclusive and multicultural Britain amid a wave of hostility toward immigrants that is helping to fuel the anti-E.U. campaign.

Cox’s suspected killer was not named by police but was identified in the British media as 52-year-old Tommy Mair, a local resident whom neighbors described as quiet and devoted to his mother. Family members said that Mair had never expressed strong political views, but that he had an obsessive personality. He was arrested shortly after the attack.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/suspected-killer-of-british-lawmaker-jo-cox-ties-neo-nazi-ties-group-says/2016/06/17/2067ea0a-33ef-11e6-ab9d-1da2b0f24f93_story.html

June 16, 2016

Hillary Clinton’s VP shortlist has leaked. Here are the pros and cons of each.

by Dylan Matthews on June 16, 2016, 5:00 p.m. ET

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler and Colleen McCain Nelson broke the news that Hillary Clinton is vetting Elizabeth Warren for the vice presidency — but not vetting Bernie Sanders. In the process, they provided a shortlist of candidates that Clinton is considering:

Beyond the Massachusetts senator, other prospective candidates include Labor Secretary Tom Perez; Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro; Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Cory Booker of New Jersey; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Reps. Xavier Becerra of California and Tim Ryan of Ohio, several Democrats said.

Now, this isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list, and Meckler and Nelson note that the vetting is still in early stages, using publicly available information rather than asking candidates to submit tax returns and the like.

Nonetheless, this list is the best information we've gotten about who Clinton is considering, and it includes some names that haven’t popped up in prior media speculation. All of these candidates have obvious strengths that have put them on this list, but of course, they each have their weaknesses as well. Here’s a rundown:

http://www.vox.com/2016/6/16/11954878/hillary-clinton-vice-president-veepstakes

June 16, 2016

McCain backtracks after blaming Obama for shooting in Orlando

Source: The Hill

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday walked back comments that President Obama was "directly responsible" for the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub that left 49 people dead and 53 more wounded.

"I misspoke," McCain said in a statement.

"I did not mean to imply that the President was personally responsible. I was referring to President Obama's national security decisions, not the President himself."

The Arizona senator earlier Thursday said Obama was responsible for the shooting because he allowed for the growth of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) during his presidency, ABC News reported.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283807-mccain-on-obama-remarks-i-misspoke

June 16, 2016

Forget a third candidate: Instead dump Trump - By Jennifer Rubin

Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective.

The #NeverTrump forces have been vindicated. Donald Trump really is an atrocious candidate, and he really is heading for a terrible loss. However, they’ve misjudged the difficulty in fielding a third candidate as an alternative.

It is perhaps not surprising that no Republican of note wants to run against the Republican nominee. Despite the unique circumstances of this race, that kind of run would be a long-shot at best. Moreover, in the mind of many GOP operatives and potential candidates, it risks dividing the conservative vote (even though a third candidate or the Libertarian ticket seems to draw from both major parties). No one wants to get blamed for “electing Hillary Clinton.” With the party apparatus “falling in line” it would be a lonely run, to be sure. Most important for the ever-ambitious pols, it might doom the third candidate’s future, to the extent one thinks the GOP survives as a party.

-snip-

Three issues remain: 1.) Can the delegates unbind themselves? 2.) Why does it make sense to have one or more volunteers lined up? 3.) How can #NeverTrump voices make #1 and #2 more likely?

The bound delegates issue turns out to be less serious than many thought. Jay Cost explains, “The delegates are not technically bound to vote for the winner of the primaries and caucuses. Under the rules of the Republican party, they first have to vote to bind themselves to those results — meaning that they are, in truth, free to do whatever they like.” In other words, they can through the rules committee or through an open vote on the convention floor decide to allow conscience to be their guide. And, as we have argued, the delegates have every right to make Trump’s original promise — to release his tax returns — a condition of placing a name in nomination. If he doesn’t want to keep his promise to the voters and delegates, then they need not feel obligated to stick with him.

There’s a substantial benefit in having in advance one or more volunteers to replace Trump: Delegates don’t want to jump ship without a place to land. Certainly, the other 2016 contenders could say they’d be willing to do it if the delegates decided to dump Trump — or if Trump decided to withdraw over a standoff on his tax returns. If no one from that group raises his or her hand,78 other Republicans who have already refused to endorse Trump (e.g. Sen. Ben Sasse(Neb.)) can certainly say they’ll do it if the delegates decide Trump is an avoidable disaster. Mind you, none of these candidates have to do anything other than announce their availability, unless and until the delegates act.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/06/16/forget-a-third-candidate-instead-dump-trump/?wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1

June 16, 2016

Hillary Clinton vows to end “carried interest” loophole — even if Congress won’t

by Matthew Yglesias on June 16, 2016, 2:40 p.m. ET

Hillary Clinton rather casually mentioned in an interview with USA Today, published yesterday, something that's a really big deal — if elected president, she will direct the Treasury Department to close the so-called “carried interest” loophole that allows some financial managers to pay a lower tax rate than normal workers.

The Congressional Budget Office says this move would raise about $18 billion over 10 years, though some independent analysts like Victor Fleischer have come up with much higher numbers.

But it would also address what looks to most people like a question of basic fairness — one so elementary that politicians like Donald Trump and Jeb Bush have frequently made a big deal about on the campaign trail. They usually talk about closing the loophole in the context of overall plans to drastically lower taxes on high-income households. Meanwhile, Clinton’s proposal comes in the opposite context of an overall plan to modestly increase the taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans.

The notion that the Treasury Department can make this change unilaterally is a longtime contention of Alan Wilensky, who was a deputy assistant secretary at Treasury in the 1990s when fund managers began to exploit the opportunity to pay lower rates. President Obama’s Treasury Department has generally seemed to deny that it has such authority, but obviously a new administration could at least try to leave the courts to sort it out.

more
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/16/11955222/hillary-clinton-carried-interest

June 16, 2016

As a gay woman, I don’t feel safe in America right now. So I bought a gun.

by Bree Schmidt on June 16, 2016

I’ve been staring at the gun lying on my desk for more than an hour now. It’s not loaded. In fact, I own no bullets for it. But I've decided I need it — just in case.

As a gay woman living in the American South, "just in case" for me means that I expect one day to be followed into a women’s restroom by some "concerned citizen" because I’m not feminine-presenting, hardly at all, and don’t adhere to traditional gender standards.

"Just in case" means the next time an old man decides to spit at me again while I’m simply walking down the sidewalk.

"Just in case" means the next time a random frat boy leans out of his buddy’s lifted truck window and yells, "DYKE!" as they hastily pull away from the stoplight next to me.

"Just in case" means I expect things to escalate, because, for me, they always have.

more
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/16/11949302/gun-purchase-orlando

June 16, 2016

Federal judge dismisses Texas' lawsuit over Syrian refugees

Source: Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas' efforts to halt the arrival of Syrian refugees have been blocked by a federal judge, who rejected Republican leaders' claims that refugees pose an imminent risk or that states deserve a say in resettlements.

The ruling comes days after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called to block non-citizen Muslims from entering the U.S. following the Orlando nightclub massacre.

U.S. District Judge David Godbey, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, had previously knocked Texas for offering "largely speculative hearsay" about extremists possibly infiltrating Syrian refugees. His ruling, which was signed Wednesday, rejected arguments that the Obama administration is wrongly leaving states on the sidelines when resettling refugees, which is handled by the federal government.

"Today's decision upholds and affirms America's proud history in providing refuge for the world's most vulnerable," said Jennifer Sime, senior vice president of U.S. programs with the International Rescue Committee, which helps resettle refugees and was named in the lawsuit.

-snip-

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5133b39012d442c0b8999c2da76ae1f3/federal-judge-dismisses-texas-lawsuit-over-syrian-refugees

June 16, 2016

O'Reilly: I want to 'slap' Rep. Clyburn

Bill O’Reilly flashed anger at Rep. Jim Clyburn for focusing on gun control over terrorism in the wake of the Orlando massacre, saying on Thursday that he wanted to “slap” the South Carolina Democrat for his comments.

Speaking on “Fox & Friends,” O’Reilly got heated when discussing terrorism and the background of American-born shooter Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at an LGBT nightclub before being killed in a shootout with police.

“It just angers me. There’s two separate issues: There’s the terrorism, and there’s the gun control. But what was it, Congressman Clyburn, is that his name?” O’Reilly said.

Then O’Reilly launched into an impression of Clyburn’s voice and speech patterns: “It’s not about terrorism; it’s about gun control,” referring to comments Clyburn made on MSNBC on Tuesday, a day after he followed a moment of silence for the Orlando victims by asking House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) when gun-control legislation would be considered.

“You know, and I just want to slap him,” O'Reilly said, adding, “with all due respect.”


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/bill-oreilly-jim-clyburn-224417#ixzz4BliIP56N
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook