October 31, 2018

Wait Until Trump Is Actually on the Ballot

October 31, 2018 at 7:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

Playbook: “In the last few days, President Trump has said the U.S. is going to build tent cities all over the place to stop migrants. He said he was going to unilaterally change the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship. He said he was going to release a tax bill to further cut income tax rates by 10 percent. Imagine what he’ll say when he, himself, is up for re-election in two years.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/10/31/wait-until-trump-is-actually-on-the-ballot/

October 31, 2018

An Epidemic Of Political Dishonesty

October 31, 2018 at 8:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 28 Comments

Jonathan Cohn: “Distortions in political advertising are part of politics, and neither political party has a monopoly on deception this election cycle. On the fact-checking websites, you’ll find examples of Democrats exaggerating GOP opposition to environmental regulation, for example, or pulling quotes about military service out of context.”

“But if you get the feeling the most frequent and audacious misrepresentations are coming from one side of the political spectrum, you are not crazy.”

“Around the country, it’s Republicans and conservatives making the most patently ridiculous claims ― whether it’s this spot suggesting a commission’s tiny budget could somehow affect state expenditures on roads and schools, or all of those Republicans portraying themselves as champions of protections for people with pre-existing conditions even though they spent last eight years trying to take those protections away.”

“The desperation could be a sign of panic over the polls, which give Democrats a strong chance of winning key statewide races and control of the U.S. House, as well as an outside chance of gaining a majority in the Senate.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/10/31/an-epidemic-of-political-dishonesty/

October 31, 2018

Something Is Happening In the Democrats' Direction

October 31, 2018 at 8:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

First Read: “In the past week or so of the 2018 campaign, something definitely happened — in favor of the Democrats and at the expense of Republicans.”

“We saw it in the weekly Gallup poll, which had President Trump’s approval rating down 4 points to 40 percent; we saw it in our NBC/Marist poll of Arizona, where Democrats are doing as well on the ballot test with likely voters as registered voters, suggesting enthusiasm is on their side; and we saw it in the New York Times Upshot/Siena and Monmouth polls of key House races, which have Democrats ahead or in strong position to upset GOP incumbents.”

“Is this due to movement after the pipe-bomb scare and Pittsburgh? Is this the political environment snapping back to where it was pre-Kavanaugh? Or is it just noise and a false sense of where things truly stand? (After all, it was six days before Election Day 2016 when the polls had Hillary Clinton up 6 points in Wisconsin.)”

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/10/31/something-is-happening-in-the-democrats-direction/

October 31, 2018

'As Far as We Know, it's Not a Thing': Investigation of 'Lost' Absentee Ballots in Georgia...

‘As Far as We Know, it’s Not a Thing’: Investigation of ‘Lost’ Absentee Ballots in Georgia Comes Up Very Empty

by Matt Naham | 7:05 pm, October 30th, 2018

The already contentious showdown for governor in the state of Georgia got even more tense last week when the Georgia Democratic Party claimed that 4,700 absentee ballot applications were “lost” by DeKalb County officials, stoking concerns that an effort to suppress the black vote was afoot (U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that Dekalb County is 55.1 percent black).

The office for Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who also happens to be the Republican gubernatorial nominee running against Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams, responded that they would open an investigation into the Georgia Democratic Party’s claims. Days later, WSB-TV, which broke the story in the first place, has followed up with DeKalb County officials.

WSB-TV was told that “no evidence” has been found that the ballots in question were lost just ahead of Election Day. At the very end of reporter Aaron Diamant‘s Tuesday night report were the details that the Democratic Party has not provided proof upon request to the local news outlet, and that “Every request Diamant has made over the last week to question Democratic party leaders about all this has either been turned down or ignored.”

The Democratic Party of Georgia has claimed that “voters calling our voter protection hotline [said] that 4,700 voters in DeKalb County who requested mail-in ballot applications did not receive ballots from the county board of elections.”

more
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/as-far-as-we-know-its-not-a-thing-investigation-of-lost-absentee-ballots-in-georgia-comes-up-very-empty/

October 31, 2018

'No trick-or-treat': Sheriff marks sex offenders' homes with sign ahead of Halloween

USA TODAY NETWORKJoel Shannon, USA TODAY Published 10:41 p.m. ET Oct. 30, 2018 | Updated 10:43 p.m. ET Oct. 30, 2018



A Georgia sheriff's office says it has placed "no trick-or-treat" signs outside the homes of registered sex offenders ahead of Halloween for the safety of the community's children.

The move was announced in a Facebook post on Saturday by the Butts County Sheriff's Office. The announcement notes that Georgia law says sheriffs "shall inform the public of the presence of sexual offenders in each community."

There are more than 50 sex offenders in Butts County, according to Sheriff Gary Long.

"There are some sex offenders that are not happy," Long said. "But I’m not in the business of making them happy. I’m in the business of keeping safe communities and making sure that our children are protected."

Long said he is especially concerned for the safety of children this year as he expects an unusually high number of trick-or-treaters, due to the absence of a popular Halloween event which was held in previous years.

more
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/10/30/halloween-georgia-sheriff-marks-sex-offenders-homes-sign/1826066002/

October 31, 2018

Washington Post Editor: 'People Are Literally Dying' Over Political Climate Created by Trump, GOP

by Ken Meyer | Oct 31st, 2018, 8:39 am

Washington Post global opinions editor Karen Attiah said Congressman Steve King (R-IA) and President Trump are generating a “global western poison” that contributes to the spate of violence the United States has seen recently.

Attaih joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe to talk about King’s battle with the NRCC chair, after the lawmaker from his own party condemned him for his frequent winks to white nationalists. When asked for her thoughts, Attiah argued that the rhetoric from King and Trump has an impact that goes beyond America, and “people’s lives are on the line.”

Attiah cited three Kansas men convicted of trying to bomb Somali refugees, who “said in court Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric helped to influence their decision to take peoples’ lives.”

She continued:



video
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/washington-post-editor-people-are-literally-dying-over-political-climate-created-by-trump-gop/

October 31, 2018

Scarborough Likens Trump's Immigration Fear-Mongering to Nazi Treatment of 'Gypsies and Jews'

by Colby Hall | Oct 31st, 2018, 6:49 am

-snip-

With the midterm elections less than a week away, Joe Scarborough took a tough look at the troubling trend of fear-mongering and otherization of undocumented immigrants from the Republican side of the aisle.

Yesterday, President Donald Trump floated the idea of using an executive order to end the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which would ostensibly end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the United States by parents who are not legal citizens. This comes after weeks of fear-mongering rhetoric that has described a group of Central American migrants currently on the Mexico-Guatemala border who are described as “invaders” despite the fact that they are almost 1,000 miles away and are traveling by foot.

If you see Trump’s hard-line rhetoric – gleefully amplified by many pro-Trump programs on Fox News — as a craven and dangerous ploy to gin up support for the midterms, well then you’d be in accord with the assessment of Scarborough. But the Morning Joe host went one further, comparing (though not by name) the scary political tactics to how Nazi Germany treated “gypsies and jews.”

“He’s been playing the racist card” he opened, adding, “He said I’m a nationalist. David Duke comes out the next day saying thank you. Thank you so much for finally admitting that you’re a white nationalist.”

Scarborough then listed the rhetorical supporters, saying “Then you have some Republican benchers that are linking George Soros and these anti-semetic threads to the caravan. You’ve got Fox News talking about smallpox and leprosy coming up.”

Apologizing, he then made this approach to an unnamed “regime from the 20th century” saying “might as well be certain countries talking about gypsies. It lines up historically with what people were talking about when they talked about gypsies and Jews.”

-snip-

full article + video
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/scarborough-likens-trumps-immigration-fear-mongering-to-nazi-treatment-of-gypsies-and-jews/

October 31, 2018

Mike Pence scrambles to distance himself from defrocked "Jew for Jesus" rabbi

Days after the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, Pence invited a “Messianic rabbi” to “offer a prayer”

MATTHEW ROZSA
OCTOBER 31, 2018 9:52AM (UTC)

Vice President Mike Pence is facing harsh criticism over his decision to appear at a campaign rally in Michigan with a so-called "Messianic rabbi" who cited Jesus Christ while mourning the deaths of 11 Jews from a synagogue shooting near Pittsburgh.

Rabbi Loren Jacobs is the founder and senior rabbi of Congregation Shema Yisrael in the community of Bloomfield Hills and prayed for the 11 Jews who died by invoking "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God and father of my lord and savior Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, and my God and father, too," according to NBC News. The most conspicuous group associated with Messianic Judaism is "Jews for Jesus," and the group, in general, believes that the New Testament represents the word of God and that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

In other words, they are Christians who only claim to be Jews.

Thus Pence has been widely criticized for having Jacobs come onstage to “offer a word of prayer” at a campaign rally on Monday following the massacre at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue just days before. Lena Epstein, the Republican candidate for the open congressional seat in Michigan's 11th District, defended Jacobs' appearance, arguing that she was the one who invited him and blasting those who criticized her choice as practicing religious intolerance.

"I invited the prayer because we must unite as a nation — while embracing our religious differences — in the aftermath of Pennsylvania," Epstein explained in a statement on Twitter. "Any media or political competitor who is attacking me or the Vice President is guilty of nothing short of religious intolerance and you should be ashamed. This was an effort of unity, yet some are trying to create needless division to suit their political goals."

more
https://www.salon.com/2018/10/31/mike-pence-scrambles-to-distance-himself-from-defrocked-jew-for-jesus-rabbi/

October 31, 2018

Nancy Pelosi: 'You Will See Evidence' of the Political Climate Calming When Dems Take Back The House

Source: Mediate



by Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Oct 31st, 2018, 12:56 am

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appeared on The Late Show and discussed the toxic political climate our country is facing.

Stephen Colbert began by pointing out that Pelosi was wearing purple, asking her if that was a “message” she was trying to send out.

“It could be,” Pelosi responded. “It’s about unifying the country. I think it is time to heal.” Pelosi was then asked if she has seen “evidence” that the “temperature” in the country has lowered.

“Well, I think when we win, you will see evidence of that. Because when we do win, we will have, as we open the new Congress- we will honor the vows of our founders: ‘E pluribus unum’, ‘From many one,'” Pelosi told the audience. “Well you couldn’t imagine how many we would be or how different we would be from each other, but they did know that we had to strive for oneness. It’s okay to disagree, a marketplace of ideas, that’s exciting. But it is also important to find solutions that unify and not divide. And that’s what makes a big difference between Democrats and what’s in the White House now.”

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/nancy-pelosi-you-will-see-evidence-of-the-political-climate-calming-when-dems-take-back-the-house/

October 31, 2018

Synagogue Suspect's Guns Were All Purchased Legally, Inquiry Finds

By Richard A. Oppel Jr.
Oct. 30, 2018

The man accused of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, Robert Bowers, legally purchased the guns he used to kill 11 people in what is believed to be the deadliest attack against the Jewish community in the United States, according to the federal authorities.

Officials have said Mr. Bowers used four guns — an AR-15 assault rifle and three Glock .357 handguns — in his shooting spree at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning.

An investigation has concluded that the guns were “acquired and possessed legally by Bowers,” the Philadelphia office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said on Tuesday.

Mr. Bowers did not fall into any category barred from gun ownership under federal law, including felons, convicted domestic abusers, dishonorably discharged veterans, or people adjudicated to be mentally ill or subject to certain restraining orders.

He also had a handgun license, an A.T.F. spokeswoman, Charlene Hennessy, said.

more
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/us/ar15-gun-pittsburgh-shooting.html