Month: September 2020

Home / Month: September 2020

A climate group in California has endorsed a Democratic challenger to Sen. Dianne FeinsteinDianne Emiel FeinsteinHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Democrats demand Republican leaders examine election challenges after Georgia voting chaos GOP votes to give Graham broad subpoena power in Obama-era probe MORE (D-Calif.).

Climate Hawks Vote endorsed California state Senate Leader Kevin de León on Friday, touting his work in the statehouse on climate issues.

“Kevin de León is the climate hawk in this race, plain and simple,” Climate Hawks Vote president RL Miller said in a statement, noting strong support for de León over Feinstein in a poll the group commissioned.

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The group praised de León’s work on expanding the state’s renewable energy standard, a coal divestment campaign and encouraging the use of electric cars.

“And he’s doing more than simply authoring smart, ambitious legislation — he’s speaking out for climate justice,” Miller said.

“From smog to wildfires, he knows that fossil-fuel pollution is hurting his constituents here and now. Thus, he’s pledged to refuse contributions from the oil industry and instead prioritize Californians’ public health over industry profits,” Miller said.

Climate Hawks Vote is a super PAC that spent almost $150,000 on races in 2016, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Its endorsement comes after Democracy for America, a national progressive organization, endorsed de León last month. On Thursday, a progressive group called Justice Democrats endorsed another Feinstein challenger, Alison Hartson.

With some liberal groups lining up against her, Feinstein could face a competitive primary next year; she was first elected to the Senate in 1992.

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Speaker Paul RyanPaul Davis RyanBush, Romney won’t support Trump reelection: NYT Twitter joins Democrats to boost mail-in voting — here’s why Lobbying world MORE (R-Wis.) said Wednesday that the resounding Democratic victory in the race for Virginia governor shows that Republicans in Congress need to pass tax reform so they have something to run on in the 2018 midterm elections.

In an interview on Fox News host Brian Kilmeade’s radio show, Ryan tried to downplay what he described as “spin” from Democrats who are claiming the Tuesday night election wins as a sign of a backlash to President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE as they seek to retake the House next year.

“Obviously, you know, Democrats are going to do that, and we would be saying the same kind of thing. That’s the way the spin works on these things,” Ryan said.

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But he said that the results offer added urgency for Republicans to get tax reform done.

“The way I see it, honestly, is we’ve got to get our job done. That’s why I think tax reform is just so important, not just politically but just for the country,” Ryan said.

“I think what people want to know and see is that this Donald Trump presidency and this Republican Congress makes a positive difference,” he added.

Democrat Ralph Northam on Tuesday cruised to a 9 point victory over Republican Ed Gillespie, far outpacing recent polls that suggested he had only a narrow lead in a swing state that has been trending blue.

By comparison, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhite House accuses Biden of pushing ‘conspiracy theories’ with Trump election claim Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton qualifies to run for county commissioner in Florida MORE won Virginia by 5 points over Trump a year ago.

Kilmeade asked Ryan if Republicans are having second thoughts about embracing Trump, who much of the establishment GOP kept at a distance in 2016.

“Is it going to be a choice for Republicans, Bush or Trump?” Kilmeade asked, referring to former President George W. Bush’s policies, considered more moderate than Trump’s.

Ryan himself initially declined to endorse Trump after he won the GOP presidential primary and refused to campaign with him after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape a month before Election Day.

But on Wednesday, Ryan affirmed that Republicans will stand by Trump.

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“We already made that choice. We’re with Trump. We already made that choice. That’s a choice we made at the beginning of the year. That’s a choice we made during the campaign,” Ryan replied. “We ran on a joint agenda with Donald Trump.”

Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman, did not campaign with Trump this year. But Gillespie tried to replicate his culture war appeals with ads and mailers that attacked NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and defending Confederate statues.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) predicted Wednesday that Republicans who try to imitate Trump will meet a similar result as Gillespie.

“If they go into the next races and say, ‘Oh, he wasn’t enough like Trump,’ we’ll have even bigger victories,” Pelosi said at a press conference. 

Mulvaney: Accusations against Moore 'credible'

September 30, 2020 | News | No Comments

White House budget director Mick MulvaneyMick MulvaneyTrump names new acting director of legislative affairs 12 things to know today about coronavirus Mulvaney: ‘We’ve overreacted a little bit’ to coronavirus MORE said on Sunday that he believes the women accusing Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct are credible, but added that he is torn on who to believe. 

“I believe they’re credible. I don’t know who to believe. Again, I’m with the Office of Management and Budget,” Mulvaney told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell on “Meet the Press.” 

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The director went on to say that he thinks that voters in Alabama should ultimately decide whether Moore is elected to the Senate. 

Mulvaney’s comments come as President Trump faces scrutiny for largely avoiding talking about the allegations facing Moore. 

“I do think the president has talked about Roy Moore. I think he said that he thinks the voters of Alabama should decide. I think that’s probably the most common sense way to look at it. He doesn’t know who to believe,” Mulvaney told Mitchell. 

The president also faced backlash last week after he launched an attack on Democratic Sen. Al FrankenAlan (Al) Stuart FrankenPolitical world mourns loss of comedian Jerry Stiller Maher to Tara Reade on timing of sexual assault allegation: ‘Why wait until Biden is our only hope?’ Democrats begin to confront Biden allegations MORE (Minn.) hours after the senators was accused of sexual misconduct last week. 

 

 

 

Mulvaney said Franken and Moore must be put into two different categories because Franken has admitted to sexual misconduct. 

“I think one of the significant differences there, Andrea, is that Franken admits it and Roy Moore denies it. So I do think that puts them in two different categories,” he said. 

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In another demonstration of President-elect Donald Trump’s blatant conflicts of interest, a Trump family vineyard filed a request this month for six temporary foreign worker visas—visas which Trump’s administration will soon have the power to approve.

The U.S. Labor Department posted the request (pdf) that was submitted earlier this month online on Wednesday.

“This is a powerful example of why Donald Trump needs to make a definitive break, not just with his operational interests but his ownership interests, by appointing an independent trustee to liquidate all that,” Norm Eisen, former chief White House ethics lawyer for President Obama, told the Washington Post.

It’s “a classic conflict of interest,” Eisen said.

And the conflict of interest isn’t the only noteworthy aspect of the situation: Like many U.S. businesses in the Trump empire, the vineyard often employs temporary foreign workers under H2 visas. Specifically, H2-A visas apply to temporary agricultural workers, many of whom travel to the U.S. to work from South America—including Mexico.

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Trump ran an aggressively anti-immigrant campaign, leading chants of “build a wall!”—referring to a promise to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border—at his massive campaign rallies. Since launching his campaign by calling Mexicans “rapists,” the president-elect has continued to characterize immigrants as criminals and says he plans to enact mass deportations once he takes office.

Yet “Trump’s various businesses have been granted approval to hire at least 1,256 foreign guest workers over the last 15 years, according to a CNN analysis of Labor Department filings,” reports CNN Money. Of those requests, the Post notes that 269 were filed after Trump started his presidential run.

Trump serves as president of Trump Winery in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the vineyard is run by Trump’s son, Eric, according to the Post

Trump continues to refuse to divest himself of his businesses, as Common Dreams has reported.

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Monday took swift legal against an anti-women bill fast-tracked by Kentucky lawmakers, decrying it as “an example of political interference operating in its most perverse form.”

The bill in question is HB2, one of two anti-abortion measures passed during a special session on Saturday, which (pdf) forces a doctor to perform an ultrasound (which may have to be done trans-vaginally) before a woman has the procedure, make the woman hear the fetus’ heartbeat if one is present, and display and describe the image to her—though the woman may “avert her eyes” and request the volume be turned down or off.

Because it included an emergency clause, the bill has already gone into effect.

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The ACLU states that

“A woman deserves to expect high quality compassionate care from her doctor,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. “Instead, this law puts politicians in the exam room—squarely between a woman and her doctor.”

A press statement announcing the legal action also notes that the “new Kentucky laws are just the latest in a torrent of restrictions passed by state legislatures over the last few years. In fact, states have passed 338 restrictions since 2010, excluding the new Kentucky laws, according to the Guttmacher Institute.”

The case is EMW Women’s Surgical Center v. Beshear.

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Soon after Donald Trump took his oath as the 45the President of the United States, the new White House web page for his administration went up. Among the key differences from the previous administration’s—the lack of any reference to the threat of climate change.

While climate change was listed as a top issue on the Obama White House official site, the new page now lists ‘America First Energy Plan’ as among the top six issues.

The new page states: “For too long, we’ve been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry. President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule” That is the only use of “climate” on the page.

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The Climate Action Plan refers to Obama-era climate regulations, and the Waters of the U.S. rule, as the Washington Post explains, “is an EPA action to protect not only the nation’s largest waterways but smaller tributaries that critics think should fall under the jurisdiction of states rather than the federal government,” a rollback of which could “end up benefiting some Trump-related businesses.”

The “energy plan” page adds that the new administration “will embrace the shale oil and gas revolution” and is “committed to clean coal technology,” referring to carbon capture and storage—a costly technological process that has so far proven a failure. 

The page adds: “President Trump will refocus the EPA on its essential mission of protecting our air and water”—though it stands to be “every polluter’s ally” if Trump’s pick to head the agency, Scott Pruitt, is confirmed.

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The Obama White House site, in contrast, listed climate change as a top issue, stating: “President Obama believes that no challenge poses a greater threat to our children, our planet, and future generations than climate change.”

Addressing that magnitude, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said, “Minutes after he was sworn in, any illusion that Trump would act in the best interests of families in this country as President were wiped away by a statement of priorities that constitute an historic mistake on one of the key crises facing our planet and an assault on public health.”

Rather than a plan, Brune said it’s a “polluter wishlist that will make our air and water dirtier, our climate and international relations more unstable, and our kids sicker.”

At the same time, the pledges for more fossil fuel extraction are not at all surprising, said 350.org executive director May Boeve. “Trump’s energy plan is par for the course of the President’s climate denial, but it’s nonetheless alarming for the movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”

“Fulfilling this plan would not only set back years of progress we’ve made towards protecting the climate, but would undoubtedly worsen the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, from rising sea levels to extreme weather. This is not a plan for a brighter future—it’s a direct obstacle to a livable future, and we will do everything we can to resist it,” she said.

As New York magazine notes, also missing from the new White House site are sections on LGBTQ equality, civil rights, and healthcare.

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Harold Meij resigns as NJPW president/CEO

September 30, 2020 | News | No Comments

NJPW announced today that President and CEO Harold Meij will be departing the company next month.

In their statement announcing the news, it was revealed that Takami Ohbari, who is the current CEO of NJPW of America, will become new president/CEO of NJPW on October 23.

NJPW’s full statement is available below:

At a meeting of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s parent company Bushiroad’s board of directors today September 29, 2020, a change was announced in NJPW’s directorship. This change will take effect at the beginning of NJPW’s 50th year of trading on October 23rd. 

Outgoing President/CEO 

Harold Meij

New NJPW President/CEO (as of October 23)

Takami Ohbari (current NJPW of America CEO)

Meij wrote a blog on NJPW’s Japanese website about his experiences with the company both prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also apologized for announcing his resignation during the ongoing G1 Climax 30 event.

Meij was appointed president of NJPW in May of 2018. Prior to his appointment, he served as senior vice president of Coca-Cola Japan and had also been COO of toy company Tomy.

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President Donald Trump wrecked relations with yet another foreign leader on Wednesday, leaving Australia scrambling to save its refugee resettlement agreement with the U.S. after he lashed out at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in a phone call.

Trump tweeted that the resettlement program, which would send 1,250 asylum seekers from detention sites in Australia to the U.S., was a “dumb deal” and told Turnbull in their private conversation that it was “the worst deal ever.”

He also told Turnbull that their conversation—one of several Trump had with foreign leaders—was his worst of the day, before abruptly ending the 25-minute call.

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On Thursday Trump dismissed outraged reactions to the conversation, telling the audience at the National Prayer Breakfast not to “worry” about his antagonistic conversations with foreign leaders.

“The world is in trouble, but we’re gonna straighten it out, OK? That’s what I do, I fix things,” Trump said. “We’re gonna straighten it out. Believe me. When you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having, don’t worry about it. Just don’t worry about it.”

In his tweet Wednesday, Trump also said he would “study” the deal, and referred to the asylum seekers as “illegal immigrants.”

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Turnbull objected publicly, telling the Melbourne radio show 3AW that the president had given him a “clear commitment” that the program would continue.

But an Australian official close to the deal said, “It’s over. It can’t survive…It was never going to survive Trump’s immigration ban,” referring to the president’s executive order signed last week that blocks entry to the U.S. for immigrants and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries.

Details of the call with Turnbull emerged just after the Associated Press published an excerpt of a conversation between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in which Trump spoke of sending troops across the border to take care of “bad hombres.”

“You have a bunch of bad hombres down there,” Trump told Peña Nieto, according to the transcript of the hour-long call that took place last Friday. “You aren’t doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn’t, so I just might send them down to take care of it.”

The context did not make clear whom Trump considers “bad hombres,” the AP reported. That phone call came after Peña Nieto canceled a visit to meet with Trump, apparently in response to his hostile comments about making Mexico pay for a proposed border wall.

The White House on Thursday claimed that the comments were meant to be “lighthearted,” while the Mexican Foreign Relations Department told the AP that they “did not occur during said telephone call.”

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Each of the 53 “yeas” cast in the U.S. Senate on Monday night to confirm former Goldman Sachs partner Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary will “haunt those who cast it in the months and years ahead,” one progressive advocacy group warned in the wake of the vote.

“Voting to put Steve Mnuchin in charge of the Treasury Department isn’t just a slap in the face to the millions of Americans who lost everything in the great recession, it’s a disgustingly cynical bet that no one will notice that U.S. senators are acting like Wall Street puppets while pretending to stand up for working people,” declared Democracy for America (DFA) executive director Charles Chamberlain following the 53-47 vote (roll call here).

“Republicans in the Senate cannot excuse putting a lying foreclosure profiteer at the head of our economy by pointing to party loyalty or a fear of Donald Trump,” added Demand Progress campaign director Kurt Walters of the man some have dubbed the “foreclosure king.”

But it wasn’t just Republicans. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) was the only Democrat to join the GOP and vote in Mnuchin’s favor—and as with his vote to confirm Jeff Sessions as Attorney General last week, Manchin drew significant flak for that decision.

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“The 53 senators, including Democrat Joe Manchin, who voted to put millions of jobs at risk by putting another Wall Street banker in charge of the Treasury Department shouldn’t expect to keep theirs,” said Chamberlain.

“Starting tonight, we will ensure that Joe Manchin hears from his West Virginia constituents who disapprove of his voting with Wall Street against working families,” said Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Manchin’s vote will not just hurt millions of people—it will hurt Democrats in 2018. Democrats in red states will lose badly in the 2018 general election if they don’t excite voters by standing up to Wall Street and big-money interests with backbone.”

Ahead of Monday’s vote, it was reported that Mnuchin is looking to fill cabinet positions with Wall Street executives and Republican establishment figures—news that led Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to accuse President Donald Trump of “backtracking on every economic promise that he made to the American people.”

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Muslim activists rallied again to help repair another Jewish cemetery vandalized over the weekend, this time in Pennsylvania, where at least 100 gravestones were toppled.

The president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA visited the Mount Carmel Cemetery in the northeast part of the city on Sunday and expressed solidarity and condolences to local Jewish leaders.

“We are deeply troubled by these rising and ongoing attacks on our Jewish sisters and brothers, and members from our Philadelphia chapter are in route to assist in clean up,” said Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah, the group’s national vice president. “We call upon all Americans to stand united against this hatred and extremism.”

The incident was reported on Sunday after a man visiting the cemetery found that three of his relatives’ headstones had been knocked over. While police estimated 100 markers were vandalized, cleanup crews reported at least 500.

It drew immediate comparison to the desecration of the historic Chesed Shel Emeth Society Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri just days prior.

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Tarek El-Messidi, who helped raise funds for that site, along with well-known activist and organizer Linda Sarsour, pledged to donate leftover proceeds from the effort to help with repairs and restoration at Mount Carmel, the Washington Post reported Monday.

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El-Messidi also visited the gravesite, where he saw a diverse group of people working to erect the masses of toppled gravestones.

“Seeing this in person was very devastating,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Many people there were embracing one another in tears due to what they saw. I want to ask all Muslims to reach out to your Jewish brothers and sisters and stand together against this bigotry.”

Yosef Goldman, a local rabbi who was also at the cemetery, wrote in a separate post, “A caretaker for a nearby Quaker cemetery has been here for hours, and Muslim and Christian friends and colleagues are reaching out. Acts of violence against Muslim and Jews will only make us stronger and bring us together.”

“Members of the local Ahmadiyya Muslim Community have showed up to help us right the headstones. They are calling their youth to come join us,” he wrote, adding the hashtags #SacredResistance and #StrongerTogether.

Muslims and Jews—as well as other racial and religious minorities—have reported an increase in hate crimes since the election of President Donald Trump. Nancy Baron-Baer, the Philadelphia director of the Anti-Defamation League, told the Post that a community cleanup day at the cemetery would take place later this week, and that a joint press conference was scheduled for later Monday for religious leaders across denominations to condemn the attack.

El-Messidi said the recent events, and the declarations of solidarity in response, have helped unite the communities.

“It took a tragedy like this to bring mosques and synagogues together to have dialogues,” he told the Post. “These two communities that do have so much in common can get to know one another more and collaborate more against this kind of bigotry.”

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