June 26, 2016

Sanders holds his applause on Dems’ platform draft

Democrats' platform draft includes some major victories for the Bernie Sanders camp but diverges from his policies enough to give him ammo going into the convention.

The platform draft committee took a first step toward giving Sanders a major concession, voting to adopt language in support of a $15 minimum wage. The 15-person committee, chaired by Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), finalized its draft of the guiding document Saturday in St. Louis after lengthy negotiations.

The panel also aligned itself with progressive ideas such as abolishing the death penalty and expanding Social Security, the Associated Press reported. The minimum wage language adopted echoes a common refrain by Sanders, calling the current federal minimum of $7.25 a "starvation wage."

An amendment from Sanders backer Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.) to strengthen the language supporting $15 as a universally mandated minimum and index it to grow with inflation was shot down, however.

more
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/284888-democratic-platform-draft-shows-sanderss-clout

June 25, 2016

Tom DeLay: I Would've Filed Ethics Charges Over Sit-in

-snip-

If the Sugar Land Republican were still running the show at the U.S. Capitol, he said, he would've had no mercy for the Democrats participating.

"I’m heartbroken. The destruction of dignity, decorum of the people’s House," he said. "That House doesn't belong to those members. It belongs to the people of the United States, and for them to desecrate it like they just did is beyond me."

"You cannot allow things like this to happen without some consequences," he said. "I think what I’d do is file ethics charges against every member that did this."

-snip-

DeLay said he remains on the fence when it comes to Donald Trump. “I’m not there yet. (I) may wait until voting day before I decide whether I am going to vote or not," he said. "There’s plenty of time between now and then for him to convince me he’s a conservative, a constitutional conservative."

-snip-

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/24/tom-delay-i-would-have-filed-ethics-charges-over-d/

June 25, 2016

Trump’s First Fundraising Email Ended Up as Spam

Ad Age: “The Donald Trump email that helped the campaign generate $3.3 million didn’t score well by accepted email measures… Nearly 60% of those first-ever fundraiser emails, however, never reached inboxes. Instead, they were automatically relegated to recipients’ spam folders, according to Return Path, which evaluates email campaigns using estimates based on its panel of 2.5 million active email users.”

“The email tracker also reported that just 12% of recipients opened the email and 6% deleted it without reading it.”

###

https://politicalwire.com/2016/06/25/trumps-first-fundraising-email-ended-up-as-spam/

June 24, 2016

Dow drops more than 600 points as Brexit raises risk of global recession

The risk of another global recession escalated Friday after Britain’s stunning decision to leave the European Union plunged financial markets into free fall and tested the strength of the safeguards put in place since the last downturn seven years ago.

Wall Street was slammed from the moment trading opened, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping more than 500 points within minutes. Though it pared those losses over the morning, it dropped again by afternoon and had lost 609 points at close, down 3.4 percent. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index closed down 3.6 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index suffered a 200-point loss, closing down more than 4 percent.

The gut-wrenching moves were the latest sign of panic that began when the results of Britain’s Thursday referendum began to trickle in overnight. Japan’s Nikkei index temporarily halted futures trading amid the sweeping global selloff and closed down 8 percent. The turmoil then hit European stock markets, with France’s major index also dropping 8 percent while Germany’s fell nearly 7 percent. The London-based FTSE 100 initially plummeted nearly 9 percent but ended the day with a 3 percent decline.

International policymakers have long warned that the sluggish recovery from the Great Recession has left the world economy more vulnerable to another downturn. Recurring crises over government debt in Europe, the bumpy slowdown China and the collapse in oil prices have already battered prospects for global growth. Britain’s exit from the E.U. — popularly known as Brexit — could prove to be the final straw, experts said. “We think the time has come to consider that a financial market crash today may push a world economy teetering on the verge of a contraction over the edge,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/24/brexit-raises-risk-of-global-recession-as-financial-markets-plunge-worldwide/

June 24, 2016

Biden Rails Against Xenophobia From US Politicians: 'It's Un-American'

Source: Los Angeles Times


During a speech on Irish-American heritage and immigration in Dublin on Friday, Vice President Joe Biden warned against nationalist and xenophobic rhetoric from politicians in Europe and the United States.

He noted that there has been unrest over issues like immigration, the economy, and terrorism, but said that blaming immigrants is not the appropriate response.

“All this provides fertile terrain for reactionary politicians and demagogues peddling xenophobia, nationalism and isolationism,” Biden said, according to the Los Angeles Times, perhaps alluding to rhetoric from Donald Trump. “We see it in Europe, we see it in other parts of the world and we see it in my home country, where some politicians find it convenient to scapegoat immigrants instead of welcoming them; to play to our fears rather than, as Abraham Lincoln said, ‘to appeal to our better angels’; divide us based on religion or ethnicity rather than unite us in our common humanity; build walls instead of bridges."

"It is un-American what we have been seeing. I’m here to tell you it is not who we have become. It is not who we are," he continued. Biden's comments in Ireland came shortly after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, a movement fueled in part by anti-immigrant rhetoric.

-snip-

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/joe-biden-xenophobia-un-american

June 24, 2016

The Big Picture on Trumpism and Brexit Isn't What You Think - Josh Marshall

We are told we are entering a period of economic nationalism and right wing populism. We see it in the UK with Brexit, in the USA with Trumpism and in other nations and regions with their own unique inflections. From others we hear this is simply a tantrum or irrationality, perhaps a generalized breakdown of trust in elites. These are each true to a degree. But I think they are each also quite misleading. I see a very different or much more specific pattern in the country whose politics I know best, the USA, and the demographics and the voting parallels seem evident enough in Britain as well.

Put simply, Trumpism and the greater arc of rightist politics in the US in recent years seems to follow this pattern. A declining but still very large fraction of the population which feels that it is losing power, wealth and something between ethnic familiarity and dominance to rising segments of the society. To map this on to the specifics of US society this pits a one group that is both older and whiter against another that is generally younger and less white.

Two points are worth recognizing about this deep social and political cleavage. First, this rebellion on the right is based not on strength but on weakness, the loss of power, control, demographic dominance, privilege. Second, in key respects it is an accurate perception of the change overtaking America.

Often you'll hear febrile talk about the "our culture" being overrun, whites becoming the most 'oppressed' minority in the country and various other nonsense. But in relative terms whites are becoming less powerful. This is obvious. It is nothing more than a restatement, from another vantage point, of the erosion of white privilege. It is accentuated by and to a major degree driven by the relative decline of the white population vis a vis Hispanics, Blacks, East Asians, South Asians and various other groups. This is not a fantasy. It is a reality. And a lot of people don't like it.

-snip-

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-big-picture-on-trumpism-and-brexit-is-not-what-you-think

June 24, 2016

The Politics of Resentment Wash From the U.S. to the U.K.

Its long-term impact on the U.S. presidential race is unclear.

By David Catanese | Senior Politics Writer June 24, 2016, at 11:33 a.m.

Britain's exit from the European Union is a seismic global event that will reorder international relationships and roil financial markets. Its long-term impact on U.S. domestic politics are murky and disputed. But the immediate effect of the nationalistic vote that spurned an elite government institution is the striking parallel with the politics of resentment fueling the U.S. presidential race.

Just as the hierarchical political class here at home all along doubted Donald Trump's capability to win over the masses, international leaders expressed "explosive shock" at the United Kingdom's decision.

Just as Trump has stoked a populist sentiment with his calls for an "America first" approach, Britain's voters declared their thirst for autonomy from a Eurocentric bureaucracy that they felt didn't prioritize their interests.

And just as anti-immigration fervor among working class voters propelled Trump's advance in early primary states like New Hampshire and South Carolina, the lower-income areas most consumed by migrant tensions in the U.K. – like the West Midlands and the North West – pushed the "leave" vote over the top.

more
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-24/the-politics-of-resentment-wash-from-the-us-to-the-uk?src=usn_run2016

June 24, 2016

This comment perfectly explains why Brexit has left the UK's young feeling so devastated

by Libby Nelson on June 24, 2016, 9:22 a.m. ET

-snip-

Until the final days before the referendum, much of the coverage outside of the UK discussed the "Brexit" in economic terms. But particularly for young people in the UK, deciding whether to leave the European Union was a bigger question of national identity, with the "Leave" campaign representing a rejection of immigrants and foreigners and the "Remain" campaign representing a hopeful cosmopolitanism.

Young people told pollsters that they were heavily in favor of remaining, while their elders wanted to leave. And losing is both economically and emotionally devastating. This comment from "Nicholas," a reader of the Financial Times, explains why:

A quick note on the first three tragedies. Firstly, it was the working classes who voted for us to leave because they were economically disregarded, and it is they who will suffer the most in the short term. They have merely swapped one distant and unreachable elite for another.

Secondly, the younger generation has lost the right to live and work in 27 other countries. We will never know the full extent of the lost opportunities, friendships, marriages and experiences we will be denied. Freedom of movement was taken away by our parents, uncles, and grandparents in a parting blow to a generation that was already drowning in the debts of our predecessors.

Thirdly and perhaps most significantly, we now live in a post-factual democracy. When the facts met the myths they were as useless as bullets bouncing off the bodies of aliens in a HG Wells novel. When Michael Gove said, ‘The British people are sick of experts,’ he was right. But can anybody tell me the last time a prevailing culture of anti-intellectualism has led to anything other than bigotry?

more
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/24/12023544/brexit-uk-young-voters

June 24, 2016

Democrats begin working on draft of party platform

Source: Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Allies of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are reviewing a 15,000-word draft of the Democratic Party’s platform that will be presented at the party’s convention next month.

Members of a Democratic National Convention drafting committee began discussing the document Friday in St. Louis. The draft platform includes a dozen themes, including sections dealing with the economy, climate change, education, health care, national security and other issues.

Clinton has secured enough delegates to receive the Democratic nomination, but Sanders, her primary rival, has said he hopes to influence the platform to reflect the views of his supporters, who are generally more liberal than Clinton’s. The platform is a statement of the party’s values and positions on a wide range of issues. While it does not bind the Democratic nominee to stances, it serves as a guidepost for the party moving forward.

Sanders said Friday in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he would vote for Clinton. But he has not yet endorsed her candidacy or encouraged his supporters to back her campaign. The Vermont senator has said he wants the platform to include many of his positions on income inequality, education and health care.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2016/06/24/democrats_begin_working_on_draft_of_party_platform/

June 24, 2016

As a British citizen, I am oscillating between sadness and rage: Brexit is the worst of times

A band of Britains succeeded in selling the myth that leaving the EU means "taking back control"

TOM HAMILTON

Brexit was the most significant vote in UK politics in my generation and the long-term effects on stability and security across Europe appear immense and deeply, deeply troubling.

Make no mistake, a band of thugs have won the day. Using a shameless, self-interested tabloid press, a feckless group of hypocritical elites (Boris, Farrage, Gove…) harked back to an imaginary British past of crumpets and glory, and succeeded in selling the myth that leaving the EU means “taking back control.”

Today is a victory for the far-right across Europe, for tribalism, divisive politics, irredentism, and an incredible rejection of evidence-based policy. This was not a courageous day. Common-sense did not prevail. This will be remembered as a foolish, over-zealous, icarus moment.

I am no political scientist, but looking at the demographic data of how people voted, it was the lower socio-economic groups in England, outside of major cities, who carried Brexit across the line; those with the lowest expectations for prosperity, the fewest qualifications, low-paying jobs and less opportunity for education. While Farrage celebrates this morning a new dawn for ‘real people’, he does not represent the true interests of the average British family. He found a convenient and susceptible constituency, then deployed the right mix of fear and wahey-I-can-balance-pints-on-my-head.

In reality, many Brexiters voted because they were told the EU was the source of all their ills. Many felt disenfranchised from politics, and that their concerns over immigration had been ignored. The UK has major socio-economic inequality and disparity between London and the rest of the country. The Leave campaign announced that all of these issues, including problems with the NHS and other strained public services, a housing crisis, and income inequality, were attributable to the EU. In fact, leaving the EU is likely to make some of these problems worse. Where will public discontent turn when it becomes clear that leaving hasn’t solved everything?

more
http://www.salon.com/2016/06/24/as_a_british_citizen_i_am_oscillating_between_sadness_and_rage_brexit_is_the_worst_of_times/