July 14, 2016

Clinton Calms Silicon Valley’s Worries, Promises To Preserve High-Skill Visas

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton vowed on Thursday to uphold the high-skill visas prized by the tech industry as part of comprehensive immigration reform, clarifying media reports that suggested her position on immigration policy would make it harder for Silicon Valley companies to hire talented workers.

“Part of what we have to be strong in standing for is a credible path forward for reform that is truly comprehensive, addressing all aspects of the system. Including immigrants living here today, those who wish to come in the days ahead. From highly skilled workers to family members. To those seeking refuge from violence wherever that might occur,” Clinton said, speaking to a room full of Latino activists during a speech at the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) conference luncheon.

http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2016/07/14/3798330/clinton-h1b-visa-plan/

H1B visas are part of solving the immigration problem?

June 30, 2016

5 Big Meat Companies Produce A Combined 162 Million Tons Of Manure Each Year

5 Big Meat Companies Produce A Combined 162 Million Tons Of Manure Each Year

According to a new report released by Environment America, five major animal agribusinesses — Tyson, JBS, Cargill, Smithfield, and Perdue — produce a combined 162,936,695 tons of manure every year. But it’s not just the manure that is threatening America’s waterways. The report also points to the huge volumes of grain that need to be grown to feed animals in factory farms, noting that the chemical-intensive farming often associated with the production of feed like corn and soy can also create runoff that threatens rivers, lakes, streams, and bays. Moreover, factory farms are some of the largest contributors to water pollution, dumping more toxic pollutants into waterways annually from their processing plants, by volume, than companies like ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/06/30/3794632/factory-farms-manure-pollution-footprint/

June 29, 2016

Thank you Justice Scalia!

The Right­Wing Supreme Court That Wasn’t

By ADAM LIPTAK JUNE 28, 2016
WASHINGTON — Conservatives thought this Supreme Court term would be
different.
Still reeling from losses last year in major cases on health care and same­sex
marriage, they welcomed a new docket in October studded with cases that seemed
poised to move the law to the right.
But then came two unexpected turns of events. Justice Antonin Scalia, the
longest­serving member of the court’s five­justice conservative wing, died. And
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy veered left in two of the term’s biggest cases, joining
the court’s liberals in significant decisions favoring affirmative action and abortion
rights.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/supreme-court-term.html?emc=edit_th_20160629&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=70251688&_r=0

June 28, 2016

Was Trey Gowdy the first Zika victim in the United States?

?ve=1&tl=1

June 27, 2016

Rocky stretch hurts Trump in poll, but race with Clinton still close

Trump, Clinton are near-tied when third party candidates are included, poll finds

Republican Donald Trump emerged relatively unscathed from one of the rockiest phases of his campaign, lagging rival Hillary Clinton by 5 percentage points but essentially tied when third-party candidates are included, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rocky-stretch-hurts-trump-in-poll-but-race-with-clinton-still-close-2016-06-26

June 24, 2016

Elizabeth Warren Should Stay in the Senate

Warren’s agenda is not Clinton’s agenda. Does anyone think that Hillary Clinton expects Wall Street to look fundamentally different at the end of a Clinton administration? Does she think that JPMorgan Chase should be downsized and broken up so that its current structure will not be recognizable in 2025? Does Clinton expect Wall Street to be doing half the trading volume in 2025 that it does today, so that the high-rollers will have to look to the productive economy to make big bucks? Does she think that some of her campaign’s biggest contributors will be in the jail cell next to Bernie Madoff?

That seems implausible. More likely, in Clinton’s vision Wall Street in 2015 looks pretty much the same as it does today. There may be better consumer and prudential regulation, but no one will have any problem finding JPMorgan.

In the Senate, Warren could force Clinton to alter her vision. Warren’s agenda has enormous power and popular appeal, as demonstrated by the success of the Sanders campaign and by Warren’s own success in pushing for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other reforms. In fact, the popularity of a FTT even led Clinton to endorse a sham FTT that would apply only to high-frequency trading and would likely be avoided by almost everyone.

more at-- https://www.thenation.com/article/elizabeth-warren-should-stay-in-the-senate/

May 17, 2016

Hillary's campaign repeating dirty tricks of 2008...

With allegations of voter suppression in Arizona, as well as questions about the Clinton campaign’s tactics in Iowa, Nevada, and other states, some historical context is needed. In 2008, The Atlantic published an article explaining “dirty politics” and voting “irregularities” titled “Obama Manager Accuses Clintons of Widespread Dirty Politics”:“

David Plouffe, in a succinct statement appended to a released quotation from his boss, Barack Obama, said the Obama campaign was investigating more than 200 reporters of irregularities in Nevada.

‘We currently have reports of over 200 separate incidents of trouble at caucus sites, including doors being closed up to thirty minutes early, registration forms running out so people were turned away, and ID being requested and checked in a non-uniform fashion. This is in addition to the Clinton campaign’s efforts to confuse voters and call into question the at-large caucus sites which clearly had an affect on turnout at these locations. These kinds of Clinton campaign tactics were part of an entire week’s worth of false, divisive, attacks designed to mislead caucus-goers and discredit the caucus itself.’

Plouffe asks Nevadans to call a toll-free number… and report any other problems.”

Sound familiar? Every single one of the voting irregularities Plouffe complained about in 2008 have been experienced by the Bernie Sanders campaign.

History is repeating itself in 2016.

http://www.salon.com/2016/03/25/hillary_clintons_dirty_politics_bernie_sanders_is_experiencing_the_same_nasty_tricks_that_clintons_campaign_dealt_obama_in_2008/

May 16, 2016

Bernie Sanders raising money off of false hopes - why aren't we SCREAMING about this?

Saw this in the Hillary Group and it reminded me to
to send a few more bucks to Bernie.

Thanks all!

May 16, 2016

Hillary is uniting the Republican Party...

Social Conservatives, However Reluctant, Are Warming to the Idea of Trump

“He’s not my first choice. He’s not my second choice,” she added. “But any
concerns I have about him pale in contrast to Hillary Clinton.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/us/politics/donald-trump-conservatives.html?emc=edit_th_20160516&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=70251688&_r=0