RandySF
RandySF's JournalWill Star Wars opening weekend hurt debate viewership?
We plan to see the movie Sunday night.
Alan Grayson profited from firm doing Iran oil deals while hitting Iran oil profiters
Democratic Senate candidate Alan Grayson has bragged about cracking down on firms that profit from Iranian oil, but he quietly made as much as $1 million by investing in one of those very companies.
Grayson first bought between $350,001 and $700,000 of the Sinopec stock in 2013, according to his financial disclosures, which report investments in a range of figures. The disclosures show he reaped between $5,001 and $15,000 in dividends later that year.
The stock transactions came less than two months after the Orlando congressman boasted about how the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on May 22, 2013, adopted the language of eight of his amendments to strengthen the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013. Some of those amendments targeted financial firms; others zeroed in on oil companies.
“Iran’s primary good is oil, so Grayson’s final two amendments focused on raising the standard that countries must meet when seeking an exemption from U.S. sanctions for the importation of Iranian oil,” Grayson's congressional office said in a press release at the time, with the headline “Grayson Strengthens Iran Sanctions Effort.”
Grayson’s stock transactions, which he made personally, came to light during a POLITICO review of his investment portfolio, which has become the focus of recent ethics complaints over the one-time use of his last name in a hedge fund — a practice generally prohibited by congressional ethics rules.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/florida/2015/12/8585714/grayson-bashed-iran-oil-deals-profited-iran-oil-partners-stock
City lawsuits that Sanders voted to prevent had impact on gun makers
The primary city lawsuit claim was based on long-established law: The manufacturers’ marketing and distribution practices created or contributed to a public nuisance, defined for hundreds of years as an unreasonable interference with public health or safety. Since the claim is solely focused on the marketing and distribution conduct of handgun manufacturers, it did not limit individual rights to buy or possess handguns. It steered clear of the Second Amendment.
Whistleblowers confirmed the obvious: The manufacturers knew their marketing practices made handguns easily available yet did nothing to alleviate the danger and harm. Smith & Wesson, the largest domestic manufacturer, settled, agreeing to change its marketing and distribution practices.
The manufacturers and the National Rifle Association went to Congress and state legislatures seeking protection from the city lawsuits in the form of broadly framed, retroactive legislative immunities. About half of the lawsuits were terminated by state legislative immunities. Of the remaining cases, about half got past the initial stages — doing better than the state tobacco lawsuits at comparable stages — but were terminated by Congress’ immunity in 2005.
The result is that gun manufacturers, and only gun manufacturers, are not subject to otherwise available civil legal claims if they knowingly supply crime-prone distribution channels or engage in other conduct covered by the immunity that is usually civilly actionable. This was not tort reform legislation; no other industry, company, or individual is immune.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/thinktank/City-lawsuits-had-impact-on-gun-makers.html#cITc1AXlyZHfBqh2.99
Who is going to 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' this weekend?
We are all trying to synch our schedules here in the household, but everyone has been informed that this weekend will not pass without seeing the movie. I feel like I am seven-years old again when my dad and I stood outside on a frigid Detroit afternoon in December, 1977 to see 'A New Hope'. Now, I get to take my son, a young Sith Lord in training (he loves the Dark Side) and we get to be kids together. I hope this feeling never goes away.
Sanders Campaign Distances Itself From Its Own Campaign Ads
Bernie Sanders’s pledge not to run a negative campaign is running into the reality of his digital campaign, which produces ads with sharp contrasts between Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
In targeted digital ads, the Sanders campaign has regularly attacked Clinton for her Wall Street ties, claiming that Clinton is (in the case of one digital ad) “Bank Funded” and in another, asserting that Clinton “May Have Wall Street, But Bernie Sanders Has You.”
Both digital spots include lists of Clinton’s top financial-sector donors.
On Saturday, campaign spokesman Michael Briggs told the Washington Post that the “Bank Funded” spot — which was spotted by several regular readers of Politico and shared widely with reporters — was a mistake and that the ad had been taken down. Briggs said the ad ran because of “a miscommunication in our communications shop.”
“We haven’t been doing ads that mention Hillary Clinton,” Briggs told the paper.
But over the past few weeks, the Sanders campaign has run ads or ad-like posts with Clinton’s name with a similar message to the Politico ad.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/sanders-campaign-distances-itself-from-its-own-campaign-ads#.hbK7vP0AB
Democratic Race Stabilizes
In national polling, Clinton lost ground all summer, and hit a low of around 40 percent support among Democratic primary voters. Since October, however, she's been regaining ground and has now spent the last month in the range between 54 and 58 percent. Individual polls (rather than a poll-of-polls average) for the past month have fluctuated between 50 and 60 percent support. This is not an insurmountable lead -- she could very well fall back again if she stumbles badly on the campaign trail. But, at this point, it certainly is a daunting lead for the other candidates in the field.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders seems to have hit a ceiling, in the low-to-mid 30s. He also has bettered his poll numbers since the summer, but he didn't benefit as much as Clinton from Joe Biden declining to run. Both Clinton and Sanders got a big upward bounce as the Biden fans divided themselves up, but Clinton pulled in more of them than Bernie. And Clinton, even discounting the Biden spike, has been steadily gaining ground since the summer, while Bernie's only upward movement came as a result of the Biden announcement -- his poll numbers have been otherwise pretty flat. Bernie's been regularly polling in the range between 30 and 35 percent, but showing no real movement upwards of late....
So, in the rosiest of scenarios for Sanders, he closely loses Iowa, wins New Hampshire, pulls a surprise victory in Nevada, but then loses badly in South Carolina. That's an even split, two states each. This is exactly what Sanders would need to be considered a valid contender by voters nationally. The prospect of a real alternative to Clinton would be safer for many voters to consider, if Sanders already has some solid victories under his belt....
In conclusion, there is absolutely no path to the nomination for Martin O'Malley. There is a path to victory for Bernie Sanders, but it is a narrow one which must be perfectly trod. But the wide, wide road to the nomination really does belong to Hillary Clinton at this point. She has pulled out of her summer slump, she's campaigning a lot better and she's a lot more accommodating to the media these days. She is hitting her stride, in other words. Being a Clinton, though, means there will always be scandalmongers out there trying to take her down, and it's always possible that one of these will stick in a way all the ginned-up "scandals" this year have not. Hillary Clinton could, in other words, somehow beat Hillary Clinton. But barring some self-immolation of one sort or another, the safe bet right now is that Hillary Clinton will be the 2016 Democratic nominee.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-weigant/democratic-race-stabilize_b_8764976.html
More Than 190 Countries Adopt First Global Climate Pact
LE BOURGET, France -- Governments have adopted a global agreement that for the first time asks all countries to reduce or rein in their greenhouse gas emissions.
Loud applause erupted in the conference hall outside of Paris after French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius gaveled the agreement Saturday. Some delegates started crying. Others embraced.
More than 190 countries had been negotiating the pact for four years after earlier attempts to reach such a deal failed.
The White House is calling the Paris accord "the most ambitious climate change agreement in history" and says it establishes "a long-term, durable global framework" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
President Barack Obama is to make a statement on the climate agreement later Saturday at the White House.
http://abc7news.com/news/nations-give-early-ok-to-1st-global-climate-pact/1120156/
The ‘Defend Christmas Freedom Hotline’ is now open. Operators are standing by.
There’s a new line of defense in the war on Christmas.
South Carolinians who find their religious freedom threatened this holiday season now have somewhere to turn: The “Defend Christmas Freedom Hotline” is up and running.
“If things go as we would like, we would like not to receive any calls,” says Dr. Oran Smith, president of the conservative Palmetto Family Council, which launched the hotline just after Thanksgiving.
The group plans to evaluate each call to determine whether there is a legitimate case to be made that religious freedom is being infringed. If there is, the council will refer the case to lawyers, either locally or with the Alliance Defending Freedom or Becket Fund.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/09/the-defend-christmas-freedom-hotline-is-open-operators-are-standing-by/?tid=sm_tw
Hillary: The NRA want people to feel like the black helicopter are coming to take your guns.
Things got more interesting when Meyers turned the conversation to gun control, asking Clinton if at this point real regulation is nothing but a fantasy. Clinton said she doesn't think so, noting that 92 percent of Americans and 85 percent of gun owners support "commonsense measures" like universal background checks and closing the gun-show loophole. Yes, the gun lobby is powerful, but that doesn't mean there aren't ways to enact change. "I know we can do this in a way that is consistent with the rights of those who, under our Constitution, can buy and own guns, without opening the door so wide that we have people who should never have a gun—people that are felons and fugitives and stalkers and people with serious mental illness and, now, potential terrorists—getting guns."
What has made Meyers so great at interviewing politicians is that he doesn't just mention gun control, say "Go," nod along for a few minutes and move on. He is always looking to work with his guest to unpack the issue as much as possible in the scant few minutes they have together. After Clinton noted that the majority of Americans do want some reform, Meyers wondered why it's then so hard for these responsible gun owners to connect to those in charge. Clinton didn't have a great answer for this, of course, because that's kind of the million-dollar question, but Meyers pushed her in the right direction by bringing up the irrational fear among gun owners that the government is coming to take their guns.
"If you are trying to keep people paying dues and supporting your organization, you want to keep them upset," Clinton said. "The NRA 30 to 40 years ago was not the NRA of today. There were people working together to try to figure out how we can have some commonsense gun-safety measures. Today, they want people to feel like the black helicopter is going to land in the backyard and your guns are going to be taken away. Totally, unbelievably untrue, but it does create doubt, and they just drive right through that. So we have to do a better job, and we have to do it from the bottom up, where more people in their communities and local gun owners stand up for it. And we have to try to do more from Washington."
http://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-talks-trump-gun-control-late-night-seth-meyers-404097
Sanders calls for gun study funding after 1996 vote against similar research
The email came a day after 14 people were killed in a shooting in San Bernardino, California.
Congress, at the urging of gun rights supporters, put restrictions on CDC funding of gun research into the federal budget in 1996.
Sanders, then a Vermont U.S. representative, voted against an amendment, which ultimately failed, that would have authorized funding for such research, according to the website for the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. ( 1.usa.gov/1HJAOXR)
Sanders, now a senator, is vying with front-runner Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley for the Democratic nomination for the November 2016 presidential election. Gun control has emerged as an issue following a recent series of mass shootings.
Sanders has been dogged by criticism from gun-control groups since entering the presidential race.
While in the House of Representatives, he supported a 2005 federal law that shielded gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers from civil liability for mass shootings, and voted against the 1993 Brady Bill that imposed mandatory background checks and waiting periods for gun purchases.
www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-sanders-guns-idUSKBN0TN06O20151204#xqV3jM9TZVfhHyXd.99
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