Zorro
Zorro's JournalMcConnell aims to use Green New Deal to divide Dems. But the party is unifying against his show vote
Senate Republicans are trying to elevate the ideas and personalities of House Democrats in a bid to divide the opposition into the rising liberal stars, the party's presidential contenders and its more mainstream lawmakers.
The effort begins with a midweek vote on the Green New Deal, a loosely defined effort to combat climate change by dramatically reducing greenhouse-gas emissions coupled with job creation. Democrats have spent years proposing different versions of legislation to rein in the effects of climate change, but Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has taken the Green New Deal and raised it to a new level with her political star power.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., believes the proposal, written by Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., embraced by several top Democratic presidential contenders but criticized by the AFL-CIO as unrealistic, would be politically divisive for a party that has made winning back Midwest battleground states a top priority for 2020.
"The prevailing fashions in New York and San Francisco, that's what is defining today's Democrats," McConnell said during a floor speech two weeks ago.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/us-politics/ct-mcconnell-green-new-deal-democrats-20190323-story.html
How smart would a 'smart wall' be at the border?
Deep in the Otay Mountain Wilderness, there is no wall.
The only boundary between the U.S. and Mexico is a section of barbed wire fence in a pastoral valley. And miles and miles of treacherous terrain.
It’s a territory criss-crossed with steep trails that disappear into tunnels of thick brush, a place looped by violently rutted roads that Border Patrol agents negotiate daily.
Land such as this is not a likely candidate for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful wall.”
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/sd-me-virtual-wall-20190324-story.html
Mystery parent paid $6.5 million to get kids into top universities as part of admissions scandal
Of the many outrageous allegations revealed by federal prosecutors in the college cheating scandal, one stands out.
Someone paid $6.5 million to get his or her children into elite schools. But the identity of that parent — and details about which schools were involved — remains a mystery nearly two weeks after authorities in Boston filed the charges against dozens of wealthy individuals.
The lack of information about the money is more notable given that the charges go into intense detail about the alleged actions of other parents, who are accused of bribing and cheating to get their kids into schools such as Yale, USC and UCLA.
Prosecutors have mentioned the $6.5 million in payments at a news conference and in court. But they are not included in the hundreds of pages detailing the charges.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/california/la-me-college-admissions-bribe-fixer-20190324-story.html
That's a lot of scratch.
Leaks reveal San Diego operations of white nationalists active at area colleges
A recent leak of more than 200,000 online chat logs from a white supremacist group reveals how local members are targeting students on San Diego college campuses and trying to project a respectable image even as the group’s members privately espoused Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and racist views.
The group, called Identity Evropa, is nationally known for helping organize the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a protestor was killed and dozens were injured over two days of clashes.
More recently, the group made news because online whistleblowers began identifying Identity Evropa members, publishing their online chat messages and linking them with social media posts. In the past week their efforts have led to official investigations of a Virginia school police officer and seven service members from various branches of the US military.
A Union-Tribune review of the chat logs reveals a local branch of Identity Evropa has visited local colleges at least a dozen times since Fall 2017, though flyers first appeared at San Diego State University the year before. The chat logs also refer to publicity and recruitment activities at Southern California colleges as recently as last month.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/military/sd-me-white-nationalists-campuses-20190324-story.html
Suspect charged in stabbing of priest during livestreamed Mass in Montreal
A 26-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder and assault with a weapon after allegedly stabbing the elderly rector of a church in Canada during a livestreamed Mass as shocked parishioners watched, Montreal police said.
The attack happened as the priest of St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal led Mass on Friday morning at the church in Montreal, police said.
Father Claude Grou, 77, was taken to a hospital and is recovering, Constable Caroline Chevrefils said.
Grou has "no resentment" toward the suspect and "hopes he gets all the support he needs and find peace," said Céline Barbeau, a spokeswoman for St Joseph's Oratory.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/23/americas/montreal-priest-stabbing-suspect-court/index.html
A thief with a machete held up a gas station, police say--then the clerk pulled a machete of his own
There was probably no way for the gas station clerk to know that the customer would be carrying a machete. And there was probably no way for the alleged robber to know that the man he was about to demand money from also had a machete, squirreled away behind the counter.
But both of those things were true, according to Huntsville, Ala., police, who released surreal video of the alleged robbery this week.
Video from the security cameras at the Conoco gas station on Pulaski Pike in Huntsville shows a man knocking on the station clerk’s door on March 16 and pulling what appears to be a machete out of his pants. We’ll call him Machete Suspect.
Then the angle of the video changes — we get three different views of this alleged robbery — to the camera behind the cash register. There, we see the clerk has already pulled a machete of his own. Plot twist; we now have a Machete Clerk.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/03/22/thieves-with-machetes-held-up-gas-station-then-clerk-pulled-machete-his-own-police-say/
Dueling machetes!
'A punch in the gut': Farmers hit by tariffs see crops swept away by flood
His farm is still cut off by floodwaters, so Iowa soybean farmer Pat Sheldon had to view the damage from the air. On a helicopter ride over what seemed like an endless stretch of water, he came to a place he recognized as his own land — and saw that one of the grain silos had burst open, spilling yellow soybeans into the dingy, toxic water.
“It was like a punch in the gut,” Sheldon said.
“You work hard planting, taking care of these beans and harvesting them. Then, to have that happen makes you almost physically ill,” he said. “But I haven’t had time to get mad — too many responsibilities and people that need still need help.”
Although the water has yet to recede enough for a true examination, Sheldon says more than $350,000 of his corn and soybeans is in jeopardy, and he worries he may lose the farm that’s been in his family for generations.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-punch-in-the-gut-farmers-hit-by-tariffs-see-crops-swept-away-by-flood/2019/03/23/e31fbf4a-7405-4ad3-8445-1c654c82e14a_story.html
The article includes the requisite quote by a farmer about how they still support Trump's trade policies.
Treasury yield curve inverts for first time since 2007, underlining recession worries
A closely watched measure of the Treasury yield curve inverted Friday for the first time since 2007, highlighting fears that a global slowdown will take a toll on the U.S. economy.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, -3.17% fell nearly 11 basis points to 2.428%, pushing it below the yield on the three-month T-bill at 2.453%. An inversion of that portion of the yield curve is seen as a reliable warning of a potential recession within a year or two. Inversions have preceded every U.S. recession going back to 1955 with only one false positive, researchers at the San Francisco Federal Reserve found. While inversions of other portions of the curve have also served as recession indicators, the researchers said the 3-month/10-year measure is the most reliable.
Bond yields around the world tumbled after a raft of disappointing purchasing-managers-index readings for the eurozone affirmed fears of lackluster growth in the 19-member group already contending with a trade slowdown and Brexit uncertainty. This comes after the Federal Reserve cut back on its interest-rate projections from two to none this week, with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell citing global economic headwinds for the cautious stance. Yields tend to retreat when growth prospects sour, and inflation fears have waned.
U.S. stocks, meanwhile, accelerated losses as the yield curve inverted.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-year-german-bond-yield-flirts-with-zero-after-lackluster-eurozone-pmis-2019-03-22
This is not a good sign.
Trump's 'socialist' rhetoric is lazy name-calling from a lazy thinker
President Trump has made fearmongering about “socialism” a key plank of his reelection campaign. It’s more lazy name-calling from a lazy thinker, but this time the lazy name-calling may backfire.
For years, Trump has premised his political pitch on the idea that he alone can protect Americans from the many invaders who wish us harm — chiefly immigrants, terrorists and globalists. Lately, he’s added another boogeyman to the bunch, one that’s supposedly homegrown: socialists.
In this year’s State of the Union, he declared, “Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” as if that were ever truly a risk. He has ramped up similar comments in recent months and has now enlisted his economic advisers in his fight against the great socialist straw man.
Ever since 1947, the White House Council of Economic Advisers has released its annual Economic Report of the President. This enormous tome is supposed to summarize the trends in the economy and lay out the president’s vision for solving ongoing and future challenges. Though the document usually has some political spin — the president’s economic advisers want their boss to look good, after all — it usually sticks to legitimate economic concerns facing the country. Not so this time.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-socialist-rhetoric-is-lazy-name-calling-from-a-lazy-thinker/2019/03/21/8a981252-4c14-11e9-9663-00ac73f49662_story.html
VA is gearing up for a massive shift of health care to the private sector
President Trump’s signature policy for veterans — allowing more of them to shift their health care from the government-run system to private doctors and hospitals — is under attack from newly empowered Democrats and their allies on Capitol Hill.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie is moving quickly to roll out new rules by June that would expand access to private care, especially for veterans in rural and congested areas, if they have a 30-minute drive to receive primary care.
Within two years, as many as half the 7 million veterans now seen at VA could receive their care elsewhere, advocates of the change say.
Trump’s proposed budget, released last week, includes up to $3.2 billion in new spending next year for private-sector visits, including to walk-in clinics.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/va-is-gearing-up-for-a-massive-reroute-of-health-care-to-the-private-sector-but-democrats-are-fighting-back/2019/03/21/637f732a-467b-11e9-90f0-0ccfeec87a61_story.html
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