Thursday, March 15, 2018 1:38:42 AM
CPAC: Woman panelist booed for blasting Trump, Moore
AM Joy
2/25/18
CPAC attendants booed conservative woman political analyst Mona Charen after she blasted the GOP’s apparent acceptance of Donald Trump and Roy Moore despite sexual abuse allegations against them. Joy Reid and her panel discuss.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/cpac-woman-panelist-booed-for-blasting-trump-moore-1170113091942 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr6oPfQ0iCQ [with comments]
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Schiff releases Democrats’ rebuttal to Nunes memo
AM Joy
2/25/18
Rep. Adam Schiff released the Democrats’ rebuttal memo to the Nunes memo, showing ‘ample probable cause to execute a search warrant on Carter Page,’ according to Rep. Ted Lieu. Joy Reid and her panel discuss.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/schiff-releases-democrats-rebuttal-to-nunes-memo-1170119235693 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEcwzrYeKJY [with comments]
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CPAC: Spokeswoman Dana Loesch defends NRA, derides FBI
AM Joy
2/25/18
At CPAC, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch attacked the FBI to explain the Parkland shooting and other gun-driven mass murders, diverting attention from semiautomatic weapons. Joy Reid and her panel discuss this conservative trend.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/cpac-spokeswoman-dana-loesch-defends-nra-derides-fbi-1170124867650
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Conspiracy theorists claim Parkland survivors are actors
AM Joy
2/25/18
As Internet conspiracy theorists claim that Parkland survivors are actors, fake news web sites and Twitter bots continue to spread false information. Joy Reid and her panel discuss how to combat these destructive entities.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/conspiracy-theorists-claim-parkland-survivors-are-actors-1170131011944
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NRATV: NRA TV streaming channel on YouTube, Amazon
AM Joy
2/25/18
NRA TV is streaming on YouTube, Amazon, Google and more, but Pulse shooting survivor Brandon Wolf believes it will fail miserably at reaching young people. Joy Reid and her panel discuss.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/nratv-nra-tv-streaming-channel-on-youtube-amazon-1170137155970
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Black Panther: Winston Duke shines as M'Baku
AM Joy
2/25/18
Meet ‘Black Panther’ breakout star Winston Duke who shines as M'Baku in the blockbuster movie breaking box office records. Joy Reid asks about Duke’s meteoric rise.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/black-panther-winston-duke-shines-as-m-baku-1170144835819 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPdyJvN_eQ0 [with comments]
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Statement by the Press Secretary on Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula
Issued on: February 25, 2018
President Donald J. Trump’s Administration is committed to achieving the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The United States, our Olympic Host the Republic of Korea, and the international community broadly agree that denuclearization must be the result of any dialogue with North Korea. The maximum pressure campaign must continue until North Korea denuclearizes. As President Trump has said, there is a brighter path available for North Korea if it chooses denuclearization. We will see if Pyongyang’s message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearization. In the meantime, the United States and the world must continue to make clear that North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are a dead end.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-denuclearization-korean-peninsula/
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Atheism in Canada vs. In the Southern US - Live w/ Godless Cranium & Shannon Q
Streamed live on Feb 25, 2018 by Holy Koolaid [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvoUDoDu-cKIb11rg4ODDQ , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvoUDoDu-cKIb11rg4ODDQ/videos ]
How are atheists treated differently in Canada vs. in the US? What drives secular activists there vs. in the Southern United States? Join me live in this discussion with two Canadian secular activists, Godless Cranium & Shannon Q.
Godless Cranium's video about the indoctrination of the North American 'Indian': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObHpOclxnuQ [included at/see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=137967448 and preceding and following (earlier this string)]
Stay skeptical. Science is greater than Dogma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6vswixTHV0 [with comments]
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Full Show - YouTube Has Told InfoWars This Maybe Our Last Show - 02/25/2018
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by Ron Gibson [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYv-5LsUyc_P8KMo7YGPFPA / https://www.youtube.com/user/RonGibsonCF , https://www.youtube.com/user/RonGibsonCF/videos ]
Sunday, Feb. 25th 2018[, with an appearance by Roger Stone]: Infowars, Free Speech Under Attack - In an unprecedented move, CNN has demanded YouTube remove our content for simply asking questions and reporting what witnesses have said about the Parkland shooting. Democrats are still determined to curtail the Second Amendment rather than arm responsible teachers and tighten FBI background checks. Investigator Doug Hagmann joins today’s show to talk about the newly released Dem rebuttal memo and what it means for the overall FBI investigation. We’ll also discuss what Google's censorship campaign means for free speech and how you can stop it.
https://www.infowars.com/watch-these-infowars-videos-were-banned-by-youtube/
** https://www.infowars.com/former-nypd-chief-broward-county-sheriff-should-resign/
** https://www.infowars.com/dana-loesch-blasts-msm-focus-on-coward-officers-not-5-million-gun-owners/
** https://www.infowars.com/free-speech-suit-aims-to-end-twitters-political-censorship/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOvQLB-UhtY [with comments] [the significantly edited official Alex Jones upload at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB24QhCk4Kw (title and text adapted from; with comments)] [a must-watch]
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A discussion with King Crocoduck on pseudo-science and why we should destroy it.
Streamed live on Feb 25, 2018 by Emperor Atheist [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCb4gMGQjON4h3ZmjvVwYbw , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCb4gMGQjON4h3ZmjvVwYbw/videos ]
Emperor Atheist sits down with King Crocoduck to discuss pseudo-science and how to defeat it. Also we discuss other things on how to normalize atheism.
https://www.youtube.com/user/KingCrocoduck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpibbzk6SiQ [with comments]
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President Trump and the First Lady Host the Governors Ball
Published on Feb 26, 2018 by The White House [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYxRlFDqcWM4y7FfpiAN3KQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse , https://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse/videos ]
The White House
Remarks by President Trump at the Governors’ Ball
State Dining Room
February 25, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-governors-ball/ [official transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrbaMf-ooLM [with comments]
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CP Time: Black Innovators: The Daily Show
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA/videos ]
Roy Wood Jr. looks back at the cultural contributions that African Americans have made to whiskey, video games and squirt guns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4EWRUh4cb4 [with comments]
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Next on Episode 4 | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 22, 2018 by SHOWTIME [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtwMWJr2BFPkuJTnSvCESSQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/SHOWTIME , https://www.youtube.com/user/SHOWTIME/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ8c54cxQG2Er3jT_VcduPQWzeNMvvrzl ]
The President tries to court Ivanka by backing her progressive initiative.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHvkNMDcYkY [with comments]
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America's Daughter: Ivanka Trump | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by SHOWTIME
Our Cartoon President and Cartoon Ivanka Trump address the crowd at a Women for Trump rally about the Paid Family Leave Act.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yloidwC6_JQ [with comments]
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'Paid Family Leave' Ep. 4 Official Clip | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 22, 2018 by SHOWTIME
The Family Leave Act passes in the House.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly5MmBpWbSs [with comments]
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'Just Two Friends Now' Ep. 4 Official Clip | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 28, 2018 by SHOWTIME
The Fox & Friends team is down to two, with Brian Kilmeade wandering the desert making friends with an armadillo and dating a cactus.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH6MvI2ma8I [with comments]
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Our Cartoon President Addresses CPAC | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 23, 2018 by SHOWTIME
Our Cartoon President Trump speaks today at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Cartoon Wolf Blitzer brings us live where Our Cartoon President talks Wayne LaPierre of the NRA, Devin Nunes, Mitt Romney, and Roy Moore.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npc3xY9WkWI [with comments]
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Key & Peele - Someone's Gotta Say It - Uncensored
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by Comedy Central [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsN5ZwHx2kILm84-jPDeXw / https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral , https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL83DDC2327BEB616D ]
Two outspoken bar patrons let loose with some controversial opinions about various ethnic and racial groups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccTy5Z4WaB4 [with comments]
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Italian Election: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by LastWeekTonight [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3XTzVzaHQEd30rQbuvCtTQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight , https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight/videos ]
Italy is in the throes of a turbulent race to elect a new prime minister. John Oliver discusses the colorful contenders and introduces an equally ridiculous candidate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdhQzXHYLZ4 [with (over 19,000) comments]
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stashed February 25, 2018:
Paul Manafort's Fate Is Sealed
For the past decade, Rick Gates was fiercely loyal to his risk-taking boss. Not anymore.
By Franklin Foer
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/paul-manafort-stares-into-the-abyss/554201/
next three and 'more' from 'stashed January 28, 2018' ( https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=138261969 ):
The Plot Against America
Decades before he ran the Trump campaign, Paul Manafort’s pursuit of foreign cash and shady deals laid the groundwork for the corruption of Washington.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/paul-manafort-american-hustler/550925/
The Atlantic’s March Cover Story: Franklin Foer on Paul Manafort and the Fall of Washington
Oligarchs, shady deals, foreign money—how Manafort helped contaminate Washington and corrupt U.S. politics
https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2018/01/the-atlantics-march-cover-story-franklin-foer-on-paul-manafort-and-the-fall-of-washington/551723/
America’s Mirror on the Wall
A year into his presidency, Trump has proven to be a reflection of the nation’s darkest political traditions.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/americas-mirror-on-the-wall/551165/
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+plot+against+america
Trump Will Only Testify Before Mueller if Questions are 'Limited in Scope'
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-will-only-testify-mueller-if-questions-are-limited-scope-report-819155
Robert Mueller’s Distinctly American Indictments
For all the talk of Kremlin puppetry, the heart of the offenses involves the startling sums of money in normal American politics.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/robert-muellers-distinctly-american-indictments
White House Legal Team Considers Ways Trump Could Testify Before Mueller
Possible options include written answers to special counsel’s questions or limited verbal testimony by president
https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-legal-team-considers-ways-trump-could-testify-before-mueller-1519560120
‘Everything is on the table’ for Trump’s testimony before Mueller: report
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/375521-everything-is-on-the-table-for-trumps-testimony-before-mueller-report
Mueller Is Gaining Steam. Should Trump Worry?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/us/politics/trump-russia-inquiry-mueller.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dfTv_sf316TKWTMUPFMmFythzDH9M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
A Democratic Memo Undercuts Key Republican Complaints About the FBI
The document, drafted by minority members of the House Intelligence Committee, sought to rebut claims that the bureau abused its power during the election.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/democratic-memo-undercuts-key-republican-complaints-about-fbi/554204/
Memo By House Intelligence Committee Democrats Released As Nunes Addresses CPAC - on 2-24-18
http://www.wbur.org/npr/588563076/memo-by-house-intelligence-committee-democrats-released-as-nunes-addresses-cpac
Democrats' new Russia memo is an anti-Trump political attack [. . .]
Trump: Democratic memo verifies the Nunes FISA memo
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/24/democrats-new-russia-memo-is-anti-trump-political-attack.html
The Democrat memo response on government surveillance abuses is a total political and legal BUST. Just confirms all of the terrible things that were done. SO ILLEGAL!
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/967538684789739520
5 Takeaways From the Release of the Democratic Memo
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/us/politics/takeaways-democratic-memo.html
Heavily Redacted Democratic Memo Counters GOP Account of Russia Probe
Rebuttal is ‘a nothing,’ President Trump tells Fox TV
Schiff says no illegal action revealed by law enforcement
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-24/public-release-of-democratic-rebuttal-memo-could-be-imminent
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d38BTH9CNrtjyiMFmIdIaP2IySLkM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
America Washes Its Hands of Syrian Civilians
The death toll in Eastern Ghouta stands at nearly 500, and it remains unclear how the sustained bombing campaign in the region will stop—despite a UN vote.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/us-syria/554042/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dLfxFgcEQSR3gcMFuk8ZVMfqAPRkM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
North Korea has expressed willingness to talk to the United States, South Korean presidential office says
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/are-us-and-north-korean-officials-meeting-at-the-olympics-some-clues-suggest-so/2018/02/25/4240d43e-19fd-11e8-942d-16a950029788_story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dx0vUE6mbvewHLM38X8hluc_8yHEM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
U.K. Labour Party Set to Throw New Doubt on Government’s Brexit Proposals
Opposition to call for a plan to stay very close economically to the EU over the long term
https://www.wsj.com/articles/uk-labour-party-set-to-throw-new-doubt-on-governments-brexit-proposals-1519564402
U.K. Labour Seeks Customs Union With EU, Piling Pressure on May
Starmer says ‘crunch time’ is coming for May on customs vote
80 Labour figures also push to keep single market membership
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-25/u-k-labour-seeks-customs-union-with-eu-piling-pressure-on-may
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dbYKPyiLQQ_iDYMNDp5BVNNE5kN6M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
CNN Poll: Trump approval slides, matches lowest point of presidency - 35%
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/25/politics/cnn-poll-trump-approval-matches-low/index.html
[CNN] Poll: Trump approval rating drops down to match lowest of presidency
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/375502-poll-trump-approval-rating-drops-down-to-match-lowest-of-presidency
Trump Approval Rating Hits Lowest Point [CNN 35%, also CBS 33%] While Joe Biden’s Approval Skyrockets
Donald Trump's approval rating sank this week, while Joe Biden started talking 2020 behind closed doors.
[...]
CNN also conducted a random hypothetical poll running Joe Biden against Donald Trump, with numbers favoring Joe Biden at 57 percent to Donald Trump’s forty percent. In that same CNN poll assessing hypotheticals, Oprah Winfrey also received 51 percent approval, over Donald Trump’s 42 percent.
[...]
https://www.inquisitr.com/4802316/trump-approval-rating-hits-lowest-point-while-joe-bidens-approval-skyrockets/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dH-mvrcNt1Z2mtM1s9gWexh-OqiHM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Poll: Americans support tougher gun laws, don't expect Congress to act
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/02/25/poll-americans-support-tougher-gun-laws-dont-expect-congress-act/371104002/
CNN Poll: Seven in 10 favor tighter gun laws in wake of Parkland shooting - CNN
https://www.abc15.com/news/national/cnn-poll-seven-in-10-favor-tighter-gun-laws-in-wake-of-parkland-shooting
original https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/25/politics/cnn-poll-gun-control-support-climbs/index.html
Support For Stricter Gun Control Laws Reaches 25-Year High
http://www.newsweek.com/florida-school-shooting-las-vegas-shooting-gun-control-819195
Marist poll: 71% of Americans support stricter gun laws
http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2018/02/24/marist-poll--71--of-americans-support-stricter-gun-laws-
[CNN] Poll: Support for stricter gun laws rises to highest level in decades
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/375491-poll-support-for-stricter-gun-laws-rises-to-highest-level-in-decades
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dZEgnErKfdz2G-MH-mvrcNt1Z2mtM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
There are 3 important reasons Wall Street’s simmering inflation worries are premature
Wall Street is worried about inflation as the passage of new tax cuts and a sharply higher budget deficit have raised fears of more aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
There are three reasons to believe the market is getting ahead of itself: signals from the Fed, the underlying inflation data, and a lack of wage growth.
"The Fed is likely to err on the slow gradual approach," State Street's Michael Arone told Business Insider.
http://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-worries-in-the-market-are-premature-fed-to-stay-gradual-2018-2
Why 3% is the scariest number for stocks
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/25/investing/stocks-week-ahead-10-year-treasury/index.html
Unintended Consequences, Part 1: Bigger Deficits = Higher Interest Rates = ...Many Bad Things
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4150375-unintended-consequences-part-1-bigger-deficits-higher-interest-rates-many-bad-things
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dfyicMDXWNZ3jUMAs3ks9BiNucA-M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
China Moves to Let Xi Stay in Power by Abolishing Term Limit
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/world/asia/china-xi-jinping.html
China Focus: Proposed constitutional amendment package unveiled
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-02/25/c_136999410.htm
Proposal to Scrap China's Term Limits Could Allow President Xi Jinping to Stay in Office
http://time.com/5174615/china-term-limits-xi-jinping/
China proposes to scrap presidential term limit, clearing way for Xi Jinping to stay in power
http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-president-xi-20180225-story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dR6AJ6u95zrNvgMJ1LG9iLbTqKN3M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Sacred Jerusalem church shuttered in dispute with Israeli authorities
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/sacred-jerusalem-church-shuttered-in-dispute-with-israeli-authorities/2018/02/25/f6e05fd4-1a31-11e8-9de1-147dd2df3829_story.html
Jerusalem: Christianity's 'holiest site' closed in protest
Christian leaders in Jerusalem have taken the rare step of shutting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in protest against a new Israeli tax policy and a proposed property law.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43190381
Church leaders shut Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre in land, tax protest
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-churches/church-leaders-shut-jerusalems-church-of-the-holy-sepulchre-in-land-tax-protest-idUSKCN1G90C0
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dFCKxFvN26KC-4M2q23dkGGn2mzNM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Kurdish Leader Is Arrested in Prague at Turkey’s Request
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/world/europe/kurds-salih-muslim-turkey.html
Syrian Kurdish leader arrested in Prague at Turkey's request
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-pyd/syrian-kurdish-leader-arrested-in-prague-at-turkeys-request-idUSKCN1G90E2
Saleh Muslim: Syrian Kurdish leader arrested in Prague
A prominent Syrian-Kurdish leader has been arrested in the Czech capital Prague on a warrant issued by Turkey.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43189719
Turkey seeks extradition of PYD/PKK’s former co-leader
Ambassador to Prague conveys Ankara's extradition demand to Czech Republic's deputy foreign minister
http://aa.com.tr/en/europe/turkey-seeks-extradition-of-pyd-pkk-s-former-co-leader/1073423
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d9Ps6JUn-iBoPOMpf0sqacox1npJM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Doctor Accused of Giving Children Partial And Possibly Unsterile Vaccines
http://www.newsweek.com/doctor-accused-children-unsterile-vaccines-819198
Orlando pediatrician arrested for only using partial vaccine doses on hundreds of children
http://nbc4i.com/2018/02/25/orlando-pediatrician-arrested-for-only-using-partial-vaccine-doses-on-hundreds-of-children/
Orlando pediatrician arrested for using partial vaccine doses
http://wfla.com/2018/02/25/florida-arrests-pediatrician-for-using-partial-vaccine-doses/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d0k2hy-2T7x5xCMX7aZolBgtx0haM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Broward Sheriff defends response to Parkland shooting amid criticism, says he has given ‘amazing leadership’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/02/25/sheriff-facing-questions-about-school-shooting-response-says-he-has-given-amazing-leadership/?utm_term=.f93cf314b92f
Jake Tapper Skewers Florida Sheriff Over Failure To Act On Shooter Red Flags
“I don’t know how you can sit there and claim amazing leadership,” Tapper told Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jake-tapper-florida-sheriff_us_5a92c9fde4b03b55731d2535
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dow-15DbK83bTVMXLIMT00BVf1IAM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Samuel L. Jackson Shreds ‘Mothaf***a’ Donald Trump Over Armed Teachers Idea
The Hollywood actor did not hold back.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/samuel-l-jackson-donald-trump-armed-teachers_us_5a925784e4b03b55731cd8de
Parkland Shooting Survivor Rips Into NRA’s Dana Loesch
“The NRA is an organization that’s completely broken,” said young activist David Hogg.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/parkland-shooting-survivor-rips-into-nras-dana-loesch_us_5a92d42be4b03b55731d2ded
Donald Trump Fundraises Off Parkland Shooting Tragedy, Touts His ‘Safer Schools’
The newsletter was emailed Friday to supporters.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-fundraises-off-parkland-school-shooting_us_5a922484e4b03b55731ccea9
Even Our Best Hospitals Can’t Handle Mass Shootings Anymore
“No hospital in America has enough trauma surgeons and enough operating rooms to properly deal with what happened in Parkland."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-rhee-hospitals-mass-shootings_us_5a903f3fe4b01e9e56bb59b4
The Teens Are Coming For The NRA, And They Can’t Be Stopped
We are witnessing history.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-teens-are-coming-for-the-nra-and-they-cant-be-stopped_us_5a919197e4b03b55731ca1ba
NRA Blasts ‘Cowardice’ Of Corporate Partners Turning Away From Gun Group
The group blamed everyone but itself for this month’s Florida shooting.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nra-blasts-shameful-cowardice-of-corporate-partners-turning-away-from-gun-lobby_us_5a91e5c9e4b0ee6416a3d5b1
Trump On Fox Savages ‘Leaker’ Schiff Who Has ‘Probably’ Done Something ‘Illegal’’
Then president pleads that “we have to come together as a nation.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-savages-leaker-schiff-on-fox_us_5a925436e4b0ee6416a3edc7
Trump Egregiously Misquotes Fox News To Attack Rival - in re item just above
The president apparently wasn’t paying close enough attention.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-misquotes-fox-news_us_5a9283aae4b0ee6416a40440
CPAC Speaker Lambasts GOP ‘Hypocrites’ Over Trump Sexual Harassment Allegations
Mona Charen, a conservative political analyst, was booed for her comments and later had to be escorted by security from the event for her safety.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mona-charen_us_5a9287f3e4b03b55731cf139
Tweeters Barf Over Sweepstake Prize Of Dinner With Donald Trump
“This a punishment or a prize?”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-dinner-rnc_us_5a92615ce4b01e9e56bc7582
Trump Golf Club Agrees To Pay $5.45 Million To Settle Lawsuit By Angry Members
The Florida club breached contracts by dodging reimbursements, a judge ruled.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-golf-club-agrees-to-545-class-action-settlement_us_5a922051e4b01e9e56bc65a3
Oakland Mayor Warns City Of Upcoming Immigration Raids After Receiving Intel
Mayor Libby Schaaf said “credible sources” told her ICE agents were planning operations in the Bay Area.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oakland-mayor-libby-schaaf-warns-ice-raids_us_5a926079e4b03b55731cdca1
Former RNC Chair Fires Back At Claim He Was Only Hired Because He Was Black
It was a “painfully stupid” remark, said Michael Steele.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-steele-rnc-painfully-stupid-hired-because-black_us_5a91a1ece4b01e9e56bc42a2
California Democrats Decline To Endorse Dianne Feinstein For Re-Election
Her rival, fellow Democrat Kevin de León, called it “an astounding rejection of politics as usual.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dianne-feinstein-reelection_us_5a92c7dee4b01e9e56bcbc8d
Governor Charged With Helping Democrats Win Says Primary Fights Are Good For The Party - Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association
The House and Senate campaign arms have drawn criticism for weighing in on primary candidates.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jay-inslee-dga-democratic-gubernatorial-primaries_us_5a908af2e4b03b55731c2dee
The Supreme Court Should Honor Dr. King’s Legacy On Labor Rights
By Sen. Cory Booker
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-booker-janus-v-afscme_us_5a908b86e4b0ee6416a34619
The Massive Student Loan Debt Burden Is A Huge Financial Challenge For Women - Yahoo! Finance
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-massive-student-loan-debt-burden-is-a-huge-financial-challenge-for-women_us_5a903477e4b01e9e56bb2d3f
original https://finance.yahoo.com/news/massive-student-loan-debt-burden-huge-financial-challenge-women-225827659.html
Russian Hockey Players Sing Banned Anthem At Olympic Medal Ceremony
The men’s team sang their country’s hymn over the sound of the Olympic anthem after winning gold against Germany.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/russia-anthem-olympics-germany_us_5a926c3ce4b01e9e56bc7dfe
Elementary School Homework Probably Isn’t Good For Kids
A powerful combination of superstition and questionable research ensures young kids hit the books instead of just, you know, reading them.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elementary-school-homework-probably-isnt-good-for_us_5a8ddfc4e4b03a166e940fc7
Couple Adopts Pet Pig From Animal Shelter Only To Kill And Eat Her - British Columbia
Because law enforcement said the pig was killed humanely, there’s no legal action the shelter can take.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pet-pig-adopted-shelter-killed-eaten_us_5a91c570e4b0ee6416a3d344
The Real Reason Brown Eggs Are More Expensive Than White Eggs
It has a lot to do with a super-specific chicken body part (earlobes). And no, they’re not healthier than white eggs.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brown-white-eggs-difference_us_5a8af33be4b00bc49f46fc45
Gun lobby pushes back on Trump's gun plans after Florida shooting
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns/gun-lobby-pushes-back-on-trumps-gun-plans-after-florida-shooting-idUSKCN1G90PB
NRA rejects Trump's call for raising the age limit to buy rifles
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-guns-20180225-story.html
'This Week' transcript 2-25-18: NRA National Spokesperson Dana Loesch and Florida school shooting survivors
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-25-18-nra-national-spokesperson-dana/story?id=53331204
Parkland Shooting Survivor Rips Into NRA’s Dana Loesch
“The NRA is an organization that’s completely broken,” said young activist David Hogg.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/parkland-shooting-survivor-rips-into-nras-dana-loesch_us_5a92d42be4b03b55731d2ded
The NRA's worst nightmare is here
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/25/opinions/nra-parkland-shooting-opinion-obeidallah/index.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dKTgB4dre-a0LqM_Jm2vIx60TgXZM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Is This the Moment for Gun Control? A Gridlocked Congress Is Under Pressure
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/us/politics/gun-control-congress-governors.html
After Parkland, a Flood of New Threats, Tips and False Alarms
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/us/threats-schools-shootings.html
Should Teachers Be Armed With Guns?
Student Opinion
By NATALIE PROULX
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/learning/should-teachers-be-armed-with-guns.html
A Nation Awash in Guns, and Outrage
Letters
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/opinion/guns-parkland-florida.html
I’m Glad I Got Booed at CPAC
By MONA CHAREN
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/opinion/im-glad-i-got-booed-at-cpac.html
In Donald Trump, Evangelicals Have Found Their President
By DAVID BRODY
David Brody, the host of “Faith Nation” on the Christian Broadcasting Network, is a co-author, with Scott Lamb, of “The Faith of Donald Trump: A Spiritual Biography [ https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062749598/the-faith-of-donald-j-trump ].”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/opinion/sunday/donald-trump-evangelicals-president.html
Do Trump’s ‘Approval’ Numbers Tell Us About Him, or About Us?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/magazine/do-trumps-approval-numbers-tell-us-about-him-or-about-us.html
The Case Against Google
Critics say the search giant is squelching competition before it begins. Should the government step in?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/magazine/the-case-against-google.html
Peter Navarro, a Top Trade Skeptic, Is Ascendant
WASHINGTON — President Trump could soon promote Peter Navarro, a trade policy adviser, to a more powerful position in the White House, elevating a longtime trade skeptic who has found himself sidelined by more pro-trade voices inside the White House.
Mr. Navarro’s ascendance may signal that the balance of power is shifting toward those who have backed Mr. Trump’s get-tough approach to trade policy and away from those who have sought to restrain it.
The president has agreed to promote Mr. Navarro to assistant to the president from his current role as deputy assistant, giving him more access to top strategy meetings, said two trade experts close to the White House, who requested anonymity to discuss plans that weren’t yet public.
Natalie Strom, a spokeswoman, said the White House had no personnel announcements to make at this time. Mr. Navarro’s promotion was first reported by Inside U.S. Trade.
In December 2016, before taking office, Mr. Trump created the new office of the White House National Trade Council and appointed Mr. Navarro as its director. The creation of the office suggested the new body would have a position on par with the powerful National Security Council and National Economic Council.
But in April, Mr. Navarro’s National Trade Council was eliminated, and he was renamed head of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. In September, that office was moved into the National Economic Council and placed under the purview of its director, Gary D. Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs investor whose more conventional views on trade have contrasted sharply with those of Mr. Navarro.
The White House said then that reorganization was part of an effort to streamline protocols in the West Wing, but it was widely viewed as sidelining the influence of Mr. Navarro, once a primary adviser to the president. With Mr. Navarro’s promotion, the White House is again considering making his Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy independent from the National Economic Council.
White House trade policy has been rocked in recent weeks by the departure of Rob Porter, a former aide accused of domestic violence, who had organized regular meetings for the trade staff. John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff who imposed order on the West Wing through a strict hierarchy that left Mr. Navarro out of high-level meetings, has also been beset by rumors that he has lost standing in the White House over a series of recent negative events.
Amid the tumult, Mr. Navarro has been able to leverage a close personal relationship with the president to gain more access, a third trade expert close to the White House said.
It is unclear what new responsibilities Mr. Navarro’s promotion could bring, or whether the president could change his mind. But the biggest change for Mr. Navarro is that he may once again gain more access to top meetings — and to the president himself.
Mr. Navarro presided over an early period on the campaign trail and in the White House, during which President Trump appeared poised to fulfill his most aggressive promises on trade, including ripping up trade deals that he had criticized as bad for American companies and workers and imposing tariffs on imports.
Mr. Navarro entered the White House with multiple trade actions written and ready for the president’s signature, including a directive to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as Nafta. As The New York Times has previously reported, on at least three occasions in the president’s first year in office, Mr. Navarro’s attempts to withdraw the United States from Nafta were blocked by more pro-trade advisers, headed by Mr. Cohn.
The president did sign another directive authored by Mr. Navarro, pulling the United States out of a multinational trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But other efforts by Mr. Navarro to impose tariffs on steel imports and withdraw from a free-trade agreement with South Korea were blocked, leading some to question whether the president had abandoned his promise to take a more aggressive approach to trade than his predecessors.
As Mr. Kelly imposed order on the White House by limiting the president’s access to some advisers, Mr. Navarro’s influence was reduced. Mr. Navarro was required to copy Mr. Cohn, his new superior, on all emails. He was absent from some high-level strategy meetings on trade, as well as the president’s trip to China, a focus of Mr. Navarro’s.
Supporters and opponents of Mr. Navarro describe this as a concerted effort by more pro-trade factions to keep the president from hearing Mr. Navarro’s views, which could have goaded Mr. Trump into more aggressive action.
Mr. Navarro is a Ph.D. economist and a former professor at the University of California, Irvine, but some of his ideas on trade have been criticized by mainstream economists. While most economists say Nafta has benefited the United States economy on the whole, Mr. Navarro has sharply criticized the deal. He has denounced some foreign investments as “conquest by purchase” and argued for retracting global supply chains back within the United States’ borders.
From a nearby post in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Mr. Navarro spent months focusing on trade measures that were less in the spotlight, including expanding provisions that require the government to buy American goods, and carrying out a government-wide review of the defense industry.
In the last few months, however, the Trump administration has ramped up its trade actions. The White House announced tariffs on washing machines and solar cells and modules in January. The administration is also on the cusp of announcing tariffs or other restrictions on imports of steel and aluminum, as well as measures to penalize China for unfair trade.
In an expanded post, Mr. Navarro may be particularly influential on combating China. Mr. Navarro has authored books including “Death by China” and “The Coming China Wars,” which advocated the type of aggressive trade stance toward China that is now widely echoed by officials in the Trump administration.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/us/politics/peter-navarro-trade.html
The Dark Arts of Foreign Influence-Peddling
The Mueller investigation is showing the extent of Russian operations. But its real import extends far beyond that.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/trump-manafort-mueller-indictment-putin-russia-ukraine-germany-lobbying/554210/
3 Signs the Korean Olympics Truce Won't Last
It’s been a relatively quiet February on the missile-testing front. March could be different.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/olympics-closing-ceremony-korea/554153/
Emma González Leads a Student Outcry on Guns: ‘This Is the Way I Have to Grieve’
Students used Twitter, the news media and a courthouse rally to pressure lawmakers for gun control after a deadly shooting at a Florida high school.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/us/emma-gonzalez-florida-shooting.html
'White Male Privilege' and Other Themes of Gun Culture
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2018/02/white-male-privilege-and-other-underlying-themes-in-gun-culture/554030/
Cashless tolls horror stories: 'I wept,' woman says as she takes from IRA to pay bill
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2018/02/16/cashless-tolls-horror-stories-wept-woman-says-she-takes-ira-pay-bill/324519002/
The Special Stew at the Heart of Sumo Wrestling
Why one dish defines an entire sport.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sumo-wrestlers-stew-diet-chanko-nabe
A pilot’s love for the mountains built a house on Denali. Now it’s at the center of a family dispute.
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2018/02/16/a-pilots-love-for-the-mountains-built-a-house-on-denali-now-its-at-the-center-of-a-family-dispute/
Democratic memo: Here are 6 key points in Schiff's rebuttal
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/24/democratic-memo-here-key-points-schiffs-document/370388002/
Democratic memo
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/ig/ig00/20180205/106838/hmtg-115-ig00-20180205-sd002.pdf
Confused About the Trump-Russia Probe? Read This Memo
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-25/schiff-memo-offers-welcome-clarity-on-trump-russia-probe
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dCSDeJhxtt_h8kMi2vW61wCWuZbZM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Public-Sector Unions
Illinois state worker challenges unions’ ability to collect fees from unwilling employees
https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-to-decide-fate-of-public-sector-unions-1519607316
Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31
http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/janus-v-american-federation-state-county-municipal-employees-council-31/
Supreme Court to rule on power of public employee unions
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rule-power-public-employee-unions-n850851
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dlOoBGuqH4Y2e-Mfewxyu1J3k1_IM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Ranchers set to fight back against vegetarian 'fake meat'
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/02/25/ranchers-set-fight-back-against-vegetarian-fake-meat/371378002/
Cattlemen’s beef with fake meat
In the battle for the planet’s future and the stomachs of its inhabitants the word “meat” has suddenly become fiercely contested territory.
Heavily funded technology companies such as Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are racing to develop vegetarian burgers, sausages and steaks that are indistinguishable from the real thing. Their ambition is to produce “meat” from plants in their Californian laboratories and their success so far has rattled the meat industry enough for it to fire its opening shots in response.
[...]
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cattlemens-beef-with-fake-meat-mlh0b3bgw
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dYx0LDAGZwIKpCMbDp7xzPv1WzxfM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Behind a Key Anti-Labor Case, a Web of Conservative Donors - Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 [ http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/janus-v-american-federation-state-county-municipal-employees-council-31/ ]
In the summer of 2016, government workers in Illinois received a mailing that offered them tips on how to leave their union. By paying a so-called fair-share fee instead of standard union dues, the mailing said, they would no longer be bound by union rules and could not be punished for refusing to strike.
“To put it simply,” the document concluded, “becoming a fair-share payer means you will have more freedom.”
The mailing, sent by a group called the Illinois Policy Institute, may have seemed like disinterested advice. In fact, it was one prong of a broader campaign against public-sector unions, backed by some of the biggest donors on the right. It is an effort that will reach its apex on Monday, when the Supreme Court hears a case that could cripple public-sector unions by allowing the workers they represent to avoid paying fees.
One of the institute’s largest donors is a foundation bankrolled by Richard Uihlein, an Illinois industrialist who has spent millions backing Republican candidates in recent years, including Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois.
Tax filings show that Mr. Uihlein has also been the chief financial backer in recent years of the Liberty Justice Center, which represents Mark Janus, the Illinois child support specialist who is the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case.
And Mr. Uihlein has donated well over $1 million over the years to groups like the Federalist Society that work to orient the judiciary in a more conservative direction. They have helped produce a Supreme Court that most experts expect to rule in Mr. Janus’s favor.
The case illustrates the cohesiveness with which conservative philanthropists have taken on unions in recent decades. “It’s a mistake to look at the Janus case and earlier litigation as isolated episodes,” said Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, a Columbia University political scientist who studies conservative groups. “It’s part of a multipronged, multitiered strategy.”
In doing so, these donors have not just brought labor to the brink of crisis but threatened the Democratic Party as well.
Amid changes in the campaign finance landscape and the decline of private-sector unions, the party and its candidates have increasingly relied on major public unions for funding, including hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect spending during the 2016 presidential cycle. Those unions include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, whose Council 31 is the defendant in the Janus case.
A recent paper by Mr. Hertel-Fernandez and two colleagues may foretell what Democrats can expect if Mr. Uihlein and his fellow philanthropists succeed. It found that the Democratic share of the presidential vote dropped by an average of 3.5 percentage points after the passage of so-called right-to-work laws allowing employees to avoid paying union fees. That is larger than Democrats’ margin of defeat in several states that could have reversed their last three presidential losses.
And that is clearly on the mind of Republicans. In a recent interview, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, acknowledged the potential of the Janus case to hurt Democratic fund-raising for the coming midterm elections. “In states where they got rid of the automatic deduction and employees figured they could keep their own money, they did,” he said. “So it could have an impact.”
Conservative groups aren’t alone in locking arms to advance an ideological agenda. For decades, liberal donors and foundations, sometimes working together through coalitions like the Democracy Alliance, have promoted liberal goals in a variety of ways. Some backed groups, like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, that used litigation to move American society leftward.
But the extent of the coordination on the right often dwarfs liberal efforts. Especially on the state level, conservative groups are “doing different things, mobilizing different constituencies,” Mr. Hertel-Fernandez said. “But they’re all working with one another. You don’t see the same thing on the left.”
As the percentage of unionized private-sector workers has collapsed in recent decades, public-sector unions, which have held steady in the mid-30s since the early 1980s, have increasingly become a target.
Conservatives chafe at the unions’ political influence, which they believe not only props up the Democratic Party but also drives up government spending and skews public policy on issues like education.
In 2011, Wisconsin rolled back the right of most public unions to bargain over anything other than wages and eliminated the requirement that nonmembers pay fees. The portion of unionized public-sector workers in the state plummeted from half to just over one-quarter within five years.
In seeking to produce similar results nationally, conservative donors have created a symbiosis between groups aiming to overturn Supreme Court precedent favorable to unions and groups that take advantage of those rulings to drain unions of members.
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation of Wisconsin, which had over $800 million in assets in 2016, has funded both kinds of organizations.
In a 2014 case brought by a group that had received more than $1 million in contributions from the Bradley Foundation, the Supreme Court ruled that home-care aides and other “partial-public employees” paid through Medicaid could not be forced to pay fair-share fees if they left their unions. Unions say these fees, typically about 80 percent of standard dues, are necessary to compensate them for representing nonmembers in bargaining and grievance proceedings.
Then in 2016, the court heard a case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, that could have struck down fair-share fee requirements for all public employees represented by unions in more than 20 states, including California, Illinois and New York. The case was brought by a group that has received millions of dollars from the Bradley Foundation.
During 2015 and 2016, the foundation also substantially increased its contributions, totaling well over $1 million, to groups like the Independence Institute of Colorado and the Freedom Foundation of Washington State. Those groups have used such tools as direct mail, phone calls and door knocking to persuade public-sector workers to give up union membership.
Richard Graber, the chief executive of the Bradley Foundation, said the foundation avoided short-term tactical considerations in its giving. But he acknowledged that the increase was driven partly by the recent Supreme Court developments, which promised to make such opt-out campaigns more compelling for union members. (Some conservative groups are currently raising money for even more ambitious opt-out campaigns to take advantage of a favorable ruling this year.)
In February 2016, the month after the Supreme Court heard the Friedrichs case, Justice Antonin Scalia died, depriving conservatives of a decisive fifth vote to strike down mandatory union fees. That gave the Liberty Justice Center, backed by Mr. Uihlein, a chance to try again.
Few philanthropists have funded a more sweeping assault on labor than Mr. Uihlein, who with his wife, Elizabeth, founded a Wisconsin-based shipping supply company called Uline.
Mr. Uihlein is an ardent conservative who considers many Republican office holders too moderate on fiscal and social issues, according to those who know him.
“It’s not just politics for him,” said his friend Leonard A. Leo, the Federalist Society executive vice president, who declined to offer specifics on Mr. Uihlein’s views. “I think he is philosophically attuned to conservative ideas,” added Mr. Leo, whom the Trump White House enlisted to shepherd the Supreme Court nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch, Justice Scalia’s successor.
The Uihleins have spent tens of millions of dollars over the past decade supporting Republican candidates and committees. That includes contributions to super PACs backing the 2016 presidential campaigns of Mr. Walker and Mr. Cruz, and at least $250,000 to help Mr. Walker survive a 2012 recall election. (Mr. Uihlein did not respond to a request for comment.)
The Uihleins appear to be preoccupied with state employee pensions and the unions that negotiate them.
“Bruce is the only one in the race who isn’t beholden to public-sector unions,” Mr. Uihlein said of Mr. Rauner, the year before his 2014 election as Illinois governor, in an interview with Crain’s Business Chicago. The Uihleins gave more than $2.5 million to his campaign.
Mr. Rauner has been a major ally in the fight against public-sector unions. Shortly after taking office in 2015, he challenged the constitutionality of mandatory union fees in federal court.
By the time a judge ruled that Mr. Rauner lacked standing for his lawsuit, the Illinois Policy Institute, which drew more than one-third of its $5.8 million in revenue that year from Mr. Uihlein’s foundation, had found a viable plaintiff to replace him: Mark Janus. The Liberty Justice Center and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which Mr. Uihlein also contributes to, represented Mr. Janus in court.
Since then, the policy institute has sought to persuade state employees to leave their union through its mailing campaign. It said it had obtained employees’ names through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Mr. Rauner’s administration has amplified the institute’s message, and vice versa. In an August 2016 email to state workers, the administration highlighted a benefit of giving up union membership and urged workers to visit a website that would help them do so. The policy institute soon promoted the same website and provided similar guidance in its mailings to state workers.
Mr. Uihlein’s foundation has supplemented these efforts by supporting a nonprofit called Think Freely Media, which uses storytelling techniques to champion free-market ideas, including right-to-work laws. The Uihlein foundation contributed more than $1.5 million to Think Freely from 2014 to 2016, the last year for which tax records are available.
At the center of this network is a longtime conservative activist named John Tillman, who serves as the chief executive of the Illinois Policy Institute as well as the chairman of the Liberty Justice Center and Think Freely Media.
In an interview, Mr. Tillman, who managed a call center earlier in his career and talked up his “marketing-centric approach” to promoting free enterprise, said the institute is fighting the enormous power of union leaders but is not anti-union per se.
“In the late 1800s, early 20th century, business owners had all the power, and workers had very little power,” he said. “Unions and collective bargaining emerged as a way to level the playing field. I think it was an amazing story of success.”
But in other contexts, Mr. Tillman has been less conciliatory.
In a fund-raising solicitation by the policy institute in December, Mr. Tillman claimed credit for helping more than 2,600 workers leave their union, resulting in a loss of $1.2 million in union revenue.
“It’s time for Illinois to throw off the shackles of big labor and big government,” he wrote.
“When you and I look around Illinois and see the devastation the union-dominated status quo has inflicted,” he continued, “we simply have no choice.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/business/economy/labor-court-conservatives.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d0er3sR2rrn2VjMfewxyu1J3k1_IM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
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AM Joy
2/25/18
CPAC attendants booed conservative woman political analyst Mona Charen after she blasted the GOP’s apparent acceptance of Donald Trump and Roy Moore despite sexual abuse allegations against them. Joy Reid and her panel discuss.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/cpac-woman-panelist-booed-for-blasting-trump-moore-1170113091942 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr6oPfQ0iCQ [with comments]
*
Schiff releases Democrats’ rebuttal to Nunes memo
AM Joy
2/25/18
Rep. Adam Schiff released the Democrats’ rebuttal memo to the Nunes memo, showing ‘ample probable cause to execute a search warrant on Carter Page,’ according to Rep. Ted Lieu. Joy Reid and her panel discuss.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/schiff-releases-democrats-rebuttal-to-nunes-memo-1170119235693 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEcwzrYeKJY [with comments]
*
CPAC: Spokeswoman Dana Loesch defends NRA, derides FBI
AM Joy
2/25/18
At CPAC, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch attacked the FBI to explain the Parkland shooting and other gun-driven mass murders, diverting attention from semiautomatic weapons. Joy Reid and her panel discuss this conservative trend.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/cpac-spokeswoman-dana-loesch-defends-nra-derides-fbi-1170124867650
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Conspiracy theorists claim Parkland survivors are actors
AM Joy
2/25/18
As Internet conspiracy theorists claim that Parkland survivors are actors, fake news web sites and Twitter bots continue to spread false information. Joy Reid and her panel discuss how to combat these destructive entities.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/conspiracy-theorists-claim-parkland-survivors-are-actors-1170131011944
*
NRATV: NRA TV streaming channel on YouTube, Amazon
AM Joy
2/25/18
NRA TV is streaming on YouTube, Amazon, Google and more, but Pulse shooting survivor Brandon Wolf believes it will fail miserably at reaching young people. Joy Reid and her panel discuss.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/nratv-nra-tv-streaming-channel-on-youtube-amazon-1170137155970
*
Black Panther: Winston Duke shines as M'Baku
AM Joy
2/25/18
Meet ‘Black Panther’ breakout star Winston Duke who shines as M'Baku in the blockbuster movie breaking box office records. Joy Reid asks about Duke’s meteoric rise.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/black-panther-winston-duke-shines-as-m-baku-1170144835819 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPdyJvN_eQ0 [with comments]
--
Statement by the Press Secretary on Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula
Issued on: February 25, 2018
President Donald J. Trump’s Administration is committed to achieving the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The United States, our Olympic Host the Republic of Korea, and the international community broadly agree that denuclearization must be the result of any dialogue with North Korea. The maximum pressure campaign must continue until North Korea denuclearizes. As President Trump has said, there is a brighter path available for North Korea if it chooses denuclearization. We will see if Pyongyang’s message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearization. In the meantime, the United States and the world must continue to make clear that North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are a dead end.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-denuclearization-korean-peninsula/
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Atheism in Canada vs. In the Southern US - Live w/ Godless Cranium & Shannon Q
Streamed live on Feb 25, 2018 by Holy Koolaid [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvoUDoDu-cKIb11rg4ODDQ , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvoUDoDu-cKIb11rg4ODDQ/videos ]
How are atheists treated differently in Canada vs. in the US? What drives secular activists there vs. in the Southern United States? Join me live in this discussion with two Canadian secular activists, Godless Cranium & Shannon Q.
Godless Cranium's video about the indoctrination of the North American 'Indian': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObHpOclxnuQ [included at/see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=137967448 and preceding and following (earlier this string)]
Stay skeptical. Science is greater than Dogma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6vswixTHV0 [with comments]
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Full Show - YouTube Has Told InfoWars This Maybe Our Last Show - 02/25/2018
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by Ron Gibson [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYv-5LsUyc_P8KMo7YGPFPA / https://www.youtube.com/user/RonGibsonCF , https://www.youtube.com/user/RonGibsonCF/videos ]
Sunday, Feb. 25th 2018[, with an appearance by Roger Stone]: Infowars, Free Speech Under Attack - In an unprecedented move, CNN has demanded YouTube remove our content for simply asking questions and reporting what witnesses have said about the Parkland shooting. Democrats are still determined to curtail the Second Amendment rather than arm responsible teachers and tighten FBI background checks. Investigator Doug Hagmann joins today’s show to talk about the newly released Dem rebuttal memo and what it means for the overall FBI investigation. We’ll also discuss what Google's censorship campaign means for free speech and how you can stop it.
https://www.infowars.com/watch-these-infowars-videos-were-banned-by-youtube/
** https://www.infowars.com/former-nypd-chief-broward-county-sheriff-should-resign/
** https://www.infowars.com/dana-loesch-blasts-msm-focus-on-coward-officers-not-5-million-gun-owners/
** https://www.infowars.com/free-speech-suit-aims-to-end-twitters-political-censorship/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOvQLB-UhtY [with comments] [the significantly edited official Alex Jones upload at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB24QhCk4Kw (title and text adapted from; with comments)] [a must-watch]
--
A discussion with King Crocoduck on pseudo-science and why we should destroy it.
Streamed live on Feb 25, 2018 by Emperor Atheist [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCb4gMGQjON4h3ZmjvVwYbw , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCb4gMGQjON4h3ZmjvVwYbw/videos ]
Emperor Atheist sits down with King Crocoduck to discuss pseudo-science and how to defeat it. Also we discuss other things on how to normalize atheism.
https://www.youtube.com/user/KingCrocoduck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpibbzk6SiQ [with comments]
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President Trump and the First Lady Host the Governors Ball
Published on Feb 26, 2018 by The White House [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYxRlFDqcWM4y7FfpiAN3KQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse , https://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse/videos ]
The White House
Remarks by President Trump at the Governors’ Ball
State Dining Room
February 25, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-governors-ball/ [official transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrbaMf-ooLM [with comments]
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CP Time: Black Innovators: The Daily Show
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA/videos ]
Roy Wood Jr. looks back at the cultural contributions that African Americans have made to whiskey, video games and squirt guns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4EWRUh4cb4 [with comments]
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Next on Episode 4 | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 22, 2018 by SHOWTIME [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtwMWJr2BFPkuJTnSvCESSQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/SHOWTIME , https://www.youtube.com/user/SHOWTIME/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ8c54cxQG2Er3jT_VcduPQWzeNMvvrzl ]
The President tries to court Ivanka by backing her progressive initiative.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHvkNMDcYkY [with comments]
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America's Daughter: Ivanka Trump | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by SHOWTIME
Our Cartoon President and Cartoon Ivanka Trump address the crowd at a Women for Trump rally about the Paid Family Leave Act.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yloidwC6_JQ [with comments]
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'Paid Family Leave' Ep. 4 Official Clip | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 22, 2018 by SHOWTIME
The Family Leave Act passes in the House.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly5MmBpWbSs [with comments]
*
'Just Two Friends Now' Ep. 4 Official Clip | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 28, 2018 by SHOWTIME
The Fox & Friends team is down to two, with Brian Kilmeade wandering the desert making friends with an armadillo and dating a cactus.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH6MvI2ma8I [with comments]
*
Our Cartoon President Addresses CPAC | Our Cartoon President | SHOWTIME
Published on Feb 23, 2018 by SHOWTIME
Our Cartoon President Trump speaks today at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Cartoon Wolf Blitzer brings us live where Our Cartoon President talks Wayne LaPierre of the NRA, Devin Nunes, Mitt Romney, and Roy Moore.
[Episode 4 originally aired February 25, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npc3xY9WkWI [with comments]
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Key & Peele - Someone's Gotta Say It - Uncensored
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by Comedy Central [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsN5ZwHx2kILm84-jPDeXw / https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral , https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL83DDC2327BEB616D ]
Two outspoken bar patrons let loose with some controversial opinions about various ethnic and racial groups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccTy5Z4WaB4 [with comments]
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Italian Election: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Published on Feb 25, 2018 by LastWeekTonight [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3XTzVzaHQEd30rQbuvCtTQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight , https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight/videos ]
Italy is in the throes of a turbulent race to elect a new prime minister. John Oliver discusses the colorful contenders and introduces an equally ridiculous candidate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdhQzXHYLZ4 [with (over 19,000) comments]
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stashed February 25, 2018:
Paul Manafort's Fate Is Sealed
For the past decade, Rick Gates was fiercely loyal to his risk-taking boss. Not anymore.
By Franklin Foer
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/paul-manafort-stares-into-the-abyss/554201/
next three and 'more' from 'stashed January 28, 2018' ( https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=138261969 ):
The Plot Against America
Decades before he ran the Trump campaign, Paul Manafort’s pursuit of foreign cash and shady deals laid the groundwork for the corruption of Washington.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/paul-manafort-american-hustler/550925/
The Atlantic’s March Cover Story: Franklin Foer on Paul Manafort and the Fall of Washington
Oligarchs, shady deals, foreign money—how Manafort helped contaminate Washington and corrupt U.S. politics
https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2018/01/the-atlantics-march-cover-story-franklin-foer-on-paul-manafort-and-the-fall-of-washington/551723/
America’s Mirror on the Wall
A year into his presidency, Trump has proven to be a reflection of the nation’s darkest political traditions.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/americas-mirror-on-the-wall/551165/
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+plot+against+america
Trump Will Only Testify Before Mueller if Questions are 'Limited in Scope'
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-will-only-testify-mueller-if-questions-are-limited-scope-report-819155
Robert Mueller’s Distinctly American Indictments
For all the talk of Kremlin puppetry, the heart of the offenses involves the startling sums of money in normal American politics.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/robert-muellers-distinctly-american-indictments
White House Legal Team Considers Ways Trump Could Testify Before Mueller
Possible options include written answers to special counsel’s questions or limited verbal testimony by president
https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-legal-team-considers-ways-trump-could-testify-before-mueller-1519560120
‘Everything is on the table’ for Trump’s testimony before Mueller: report
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/375521-everything-is-on-the-table-for-trumps-testimony-before-mueller-report
Mueller Is Gaining Steam. Should Trump Worry?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/us/politics/trump-russia-inquiry-mueller.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dfTv_sf316TKWTMUPFMmFythzDH9M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
A Democratic Memo Undercuts Key Republican Complaints About the FBI
The document, drafted by minority members of the House Intelligence Committee, sought to rebut claims that the bureau abused its power during the election.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/democratic-memo-undercuts-key-republican-complaints-about-fbi/554204/
Memo By House Intelligence Committee Democrats Released As Nunes Addresses CPAC - on 2-24-18
http://www.wbur.org/npr/588563076/memo-by-house-intelligence-committee-democrats-released-as-nunes-addresses-cpac
Democrats' new Russia memo is an anti-Trump political attack [. . .]
Trump: Democratic memo verifies the Nunes FISA memo
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/24/democrats-new-russia-memo-is-anti-trump-political-attack.html
The Democrat memo response on government surveillance abuses is a total political and legal BUST. Just confirms all of the terrible things that were done. SO ILLEGAL!
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/967538684789739520
5 Takeaways From the Release of the Democratic Memo
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/us/politics/takeaways-democratic-memo.html
Heavily Redacted Democratic Memo Counters GOP Account of Russia Probe
Rebuttal is ‘a nothing,’ President Trump tells Fox TV
Schiff says no illegal action revealed by law enforcement
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-24/public-release-of-democratic-rebuttal-memo-could-be-imminent
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d38BTH9CNrtjyiMFmIdIaP2IySLkM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
America Washes Its Hands of Syrian Civilians
The death toll in Eastern Ghouta stands at nearly 500, and it remains unclear how the sustained bombing campaign in the region will stop—despite a UN vote.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/us-syria/554042/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dLfxFgcEQSR3gcMFuk8ZVMfqAPRkM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
North Korea has expressed willingness to talk to the United States, South Korean presidential office says
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/are-us-and-north-korean-officials-meeting-at-the-olympics-some-clues-suggest-so/2018/02/25/4240d43e-19fd-11e8-942d-16a950029788_story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dx0vUE6mbvewHLM38X8hluc_8yHEM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
U.K. Labour Party Set to Throw New Doubt on Government’s Brexit Proposals
Opposition to call for a plan to stay very close economically to the EU over the long term
https://www.wsj.com/articles/uk-labour-party-set-to-throw-new-doubt-on-governments-brexit-proposals-1519564402
U.K. Labour Seeks Customs Union With EU, Piling Pressure on May
Starmer says ‘crunch time’ is coming for May on customs vote
80 Labour figures also push to keep single market membership
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-25/u-k-labour-seeks-customs-union-with-eu-piling-pressure-on-may
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dbYKPyiLQQ_iDYMNDp5BVNNE5kN6M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
CNN Poll: Trump approval slides, matches lowest point of presidency - 35%
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/25/politics/cnn-poll-trump-approval-matches-low/index.html
[CNN] Poll: Trump approval rating drops down to match lowest of presidency
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/375502-poll-trump-approval-rating-drops-down-to-match-lowest-of-presidency
Trump Approval Rating Hits Lowest Point [CNN 35%, also CBS 33%] While Joe Biden’s Approval Skyrockets
Donald Trump's approval rating sank this week, while Joe Biden started talking 2020 behind closed doors.
[...]
CNN also conducted a random hypothetical poll running Joe Biden against Donald Trump, with numbers favoring Joe Biden at 57 percent to Donald Trump’s forty percent. In that same CNN poll assessing hypotheticals, Oprah Winfrey also received 51 percent approval, over Donald Trump’s 42 percent.
[...]
https://www.inquisitr.com/4802316/trump-approval-rating-hits-lowest-point-while-joe-bidens-approval-skyrockets/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dH-mvrcNt1Z2mtM1s9gWexh-OqiHM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Poll: Americans support tougher gun laws, don't expect Congress to act
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/02/25/poll-americans-support-tougher-gun-laws-dont-expect-congress-act/371104002/
CNN Poll: Seven in 10 favor tighter gun laws in wake of Parkland shooting - CNN
https://www.abc15.com/news/national/cnn-poll-seven-in-10-favor-tighter-gun-laws-in-wake-of-parkland-shooting
original https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/25/politics/cnn-poll-gun-control-support-climbs/index.html
Support For Stricter Gun Control Laws Reaches 25-Year High
http://www.newsweek.com/florida-school-shooting-las-vegas-shooting-gun-control-819195
Marist poll: 71% of Americans support stricter gun laws
http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2018/02/24/marist-poll--71--of-americans-support-stricter-gun-laws-
[CNN] Poll: Support for stricter gun laws rises to highest level in decades
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/375491-poll-support-for-stricter-gun-laws-rises-to-highest-level-in-decades
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dZEgnErKfdz2G-MH-mvrcNt1Z2mtM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
There are 3 important reasons Wall Street’s simmering inflation worries are premature
Wall Street is worried about inflation as the passage of new tax cuts and a sharply higher budget deficit have raised fears of more aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
There are three reasons to believe the market is getting ahead of itself: signals from the Fed, the underlying inflation data, and a lack of wage growth.
"The Fed is likely to err on the slow gradual approach," State Street's Michael Arone told Business Insider.
http://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-worries-in-the-market-are-premature-fed-to-stay-gradual-2018-2
Why 3% is the scariest number for stocks
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/25/investing/stocks-week-ahead-10-year-treasury/index.html
Unintended Consequences, Part 1: Bigger Deficits = Higher Interest Rates = ...Many Bad Things
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4150375-unintended-consequences-part-1-bigger-deficits-higher-interest-rates-many-bad-things
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dfyicMDXWNZ3jUMAs3ks9BiNucA-M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
China Moves to Let Xi Stay in Power by Abolishing Term Limit
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/world/asia/china-xi-jinping.html
China Focus: Proposed constitutional amendment package unveiled
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-02/25/c_136999410.htm
Proposal to Scrap China's Term Limits Could Allow President Xi Jinping to Stay in Office
http://time.com/5174615/china-term-limits-xi-jinping/
China proposes to scrap presidential term limit, clearing way for Xi Jinping to stay in power
http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-president-xi-20180225-story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dR6AJ6u95zrNvgMJ1LG9iLbTqKN3M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Sacred Jerusalem church shuttered in dispute with Israeli authorities
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/sacred-jerusalem-church-shuttered-in-dispute-with-israeli-authorities/2018/02/25/f6e05fd4-1a31-11e8-9de1-147dd2df3829_story.html
Jerusalem: Christianity's 'holiest site' closed in protest
Christian leaders in Jerusalem have taken the rare step of shutting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in protest against a new Israeli tax policy and a proposed property law.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43190381
Church leaders shut Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre in land, tax protest
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-churches/church-leaders-shut-jerusalems-church-of-the-holy-sepulchre-in-land-tax-protest-idUSKCN1G90C0
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dFCKxFvN26KC-4M2q23dkGGn2mzNM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Kurdish Leader Is Arrested in Prague at Turkey’s Request
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/world/europe/kurds-salih-muslim-turkey.html
Syrian Kurdish leader arrested in Prague at Turkey's request
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-pyd/syrian-kurdish-leader-arrested-in-prague-at-turkeys-request-idUSKCN1G90E2
Saleh Muslim: Syrian Kurdish leader arrested in Prague
A prominent Syrian-Kurdish leader has been arrested in the Czech capital Prague on a warrant issued by Turkey.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43189719
Turkey seeks extradition of PYD/PKK’s former co-leader
Ambassador to Prague conveys Ankara's extradition demand to Czech Republic's deputy foreign minister
http://aa.com.tr/en/europe/turkey-seeks-extradition-of-pyd-pkk-s-former-co-leader/1073423
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d9Ps6JUn-iBoPOMpf0sqacox1npJM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Doctor Accused of Giving Children Partial And Possibly Unsterile Vaccines
http://www.newsweek.com/doctor-accused-children-unsterile-vaccines-819198
Orlando pediatrician arrested for only using partial vaccine doses on hundreds of children
http://nbc4i.com/2018/02/25/orlando-pediatrician-arrested-for-only-using-partial-vaccine-doses-on-hundreds-of-children/
Orlando pediatrician arrested for using partial vaccine doses
http://wfla.com/2018/02/25/florida-arrests-pediatrician-for-using-partial-vaccine-doses/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d0k2hy-2T7x5xCMX7aZolBgtx0haM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Broward Sheriff defends response to Parkland shooting amid criticism, says he has given ‘amazing leadership’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/02/25/sheriff-facing-questions-about-school-shooting-response-says-he-has-given-amazing-leadership/?utm_term=.f93cf314b92f
Jake Tapper Skewers Florida Sheriff Over Failure To Act On Shooter Red Flags
“I don’t know how you can sit there and claim amazing leadership,” Tapper told Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jake-tapper-florida-sheriff_us_5a92c9fde4b03b55731d2535
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dow-15DbK83bTVMXLIMT00BVf1IAM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Samuel L. Jackson Shreds ‘Mothaf***a’ Donald Trump Over Armed Teachers Idea
The Hollywood actor did not hold back.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/samuel-l-jackson-donald-trump-armed-teachers_us_5a925784e4b03b55731cd8de
Parkland Shooting Survivor Rips Into NRA’s Dana Loesch
“The NRA is an organization that’s completely broken,” said young activist David Hogg.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/parkland-shooting-survivor-rips-into-nras-dana-loesch_us_5a92d42be4b03b55731d2ded
Donald Trump Fundraises Off Parkland Shooting Tragedy, Touts His ‘Safer Schools’
The newsletter was emailed Friday to supporters.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-fundraises-off-parkland-school-shooting_us_5a922484e4b03b55731ccea9
Even Our Best Hospitals Can’t Handle Mass Shootings Anymore
“No hospital in America has enough trauma surgeons and enough operating rooms to properly deal with what happened in Parkland."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-rhee-hospitals-mass-shootings_us_5a903f3fe4b01e9e56bb59b4
The Teens Are Coming For The NRA, And They Can’t Be Stopped
We are witnessing history.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-teens-are-coming-for-the-nra-and-they-cant-be-stopped_us_5a919197e4b03b55731ca1ba
NRA Blasts ‘Cowardice’ Of Corporate Partners Turning Away From Gun Group
The group blamed everyone but itself for this month’s Florida shooting.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nra-blasts-shameful-cowardice-of-corporate-partners-turning-away-from-gun-lobby_us_5a91e5c9e4b0ee6416a3d5b1
Trump On Fox Savages ‘Leaker’ Schiff Who Has ‘Probably’ Done Something ‘Illegal’’
Then president pleads that “we have to come together as a nation.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-savages-leaker-schiff-on-fox_us_5a925436e4b0ee6416a3edc7
Trump Egregiously Misquotes Fox News To Attack Rival - in re item just above
The president apparently wasn’t paying close enough attention.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-misquotes-fox-news_us_5a9283aae4b0ee6416a40440
CPAC Speaker Lambasts GOP ‘Hypocrites’ Over Trump Sexual Harassment Allegations
Mona Charen, a conservative political analyst, was booed for her comments and later had to be escorted by security from the event for her safety.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mona-charen_us_5a9287f3e4b03b55731cf139
Tweeters Barf Over Sweepstake Prize Of Dinner With Donald Trump
“This a punishment or a prize?”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-dinner-rnc_us_5a92615ce4b01e9e56bc7582
Trump Golf Club Agrees To Pay $5.45 Million To Settle Lawsuit By Angry Members
The Florida club breached contracts by dodging reimbursements, a judge ruled.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-golf-club-agrees-to-545-class-action-settlement_us_5a922051e4b01e9e56bc65a3
Oakland Mayor Warns City Of Upcoming Immigration Raids After Receiving Intel
Mayor Libby Schaaf said “credible sources” told her ICE agents were planning operations in the Bay Area.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oakland-mayor-libby-schaaf-warns-ice-raids_us_5a926079e4b03b55731cdca1
Former RNC Chair Fires Back At Claim He Was Only Hired Because He Was Black
It was a “painfully stupid” remark, said Michael Steele.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-steele-rnc-painfully-stupid-hired-because-black_us_5a91a1ece4b01e9e56bc42a2
California Democrats Decline To Endorse Dianne Feinstein For Re-Election
Her rival, fellow Democrat Kevin de León, called it “an astounding rejection of politics as usual.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dianne-feinstein-reelection_us_5a92c7dee4b01e9e56bcbc8d
Governor Charged With Helping Democrats Win Says Primary Fights Are Good For The Party - Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association
The House and Senate campaign arms have drawn criticism for weighing in on primary candidates.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jay-inslee-dga-democratic-gubernatorial-primaries_us_5a908af2e4b03b55731c2dee
The Supreme Court Should Honor Dr. King’s Legacy On Labor Rights
By Sen. Cory Booker
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-booker-janus-v-afscme_us_5a908b86e4b0ee6416a34619
The Massive Student Loan Debt Burden Is A Huge Financial Challenge For Women - Yahoo! Finance
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-massive-student-loan-debt-burden-is-a-huge-financial-challenge-for-women_us_5a903477e4b01e9e56bb2d3f
original https://finance.yahoo.com/news/massive-student-loan-debt-burden-huge-financial-challenge-women-225827659.html
Russian Hockey Players Sing Banned Anthem At Olympic Medal Ceremony
The men’s team sang their country’s hymn over the sound of the Olympic anthem after winning gold against Germany.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/russia-anthem-olympics-germany_us_5a926c3ce4b01e9e56bc7dfe
Elementary School Homework Probably Isn’t Good For Kids
A powerful combination of superstition and questionable research ensures young kids hit the books instead of just, you know, reading them.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elementary-school-homework-probably-isnt-good-for_us_5a8ddfc4e4b03a166e940fc7
Couple Adopts Pet Pig From Animal Shelter Only To Kill And Eat Her - British Columbia
Because law enforcement said the pig was killed humanely, there’s no legal action the shelter can take.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pet-pig-adopted-shelter-killed-eaten_us_5a91c570e4b0ee6416a3d344
The Real Reason Brown Eggs Are More Expensive Than White Eggs
It has a lot to do with a super-specific chicken body part (earlobes). And no, they’re not healthier than white eggs.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brown-white-eggs-difference_us_5a8af33be4b00bc49f46fc45
Gun lobby pushes back on Trump's gun plans after Florida shooting
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns/gun-lobby-pushes-back-on-trumps-gun-plans-after-florida-shooting-idUSKCN1G90PB
NRA rejects Trump's call for raising the age limit to buy rifles
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-guns-20180225-story.html
'This Week' transcript 2-25-18: NRA National Spokesperson Dana Loesch and Florida school shooting survivors
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-25-18-nra-national-spokesperson-dana/story?id=53331204
Parkland Shooting Survivor Rips Into NRA’s Dana Loesch
“The NRA is an organization that’s completely broken,” said young activist David Hogg.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/parkland-shooting-survivor-rips-into-nras-dana-loesch_us_5a92d42be4b03b55731d2ded
The NRA's worst nightmare is here
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/25/opinions/nra-parkland-shooting-opinion-obeidallah/index.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dKTgB4dre-a0LqM_Jm2vIx60TgXZM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Is This the Moment for Gun Control? A Gridlocked Congress Is Under Pressure
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/us/politics/gun-control-congress-governors.html
After Parkland, a Flood of New Threats, Tips and False Alarms
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/us/threats-schools-shootings.html
Should Teachers Be Armed With Guns?
Student Opinion
By NATALIE PROULX
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/learning/should-teachers-be-armed-with-guns.html
A Nation Awash in Guns, and Outrage
Letters
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/opinion/guns-parkland-florida.html
I’m Glad I Got Booed at CPAC
By MONA CHAREN
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/opinion/im-glad-i-got-booed-at-cpac.html
In Donald Trump, Evangelicals Have Found Their President
By DAVID BRODY
David Brody, the host of “Faith Nation” on the Christian Broadcasting Network, is a co-author, with Scott Lamb, of “The Faith of Donald Trump: A Spiritual Biography [ https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062749598/the-faith-of-donald-j-trump ].”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/opinion/sunday/donald-trump-evangelicals-president.html
Do Trump’s ‘Approval’ Numbers Tell Us About Him, or About Us?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/magazine/do-trumps-approval-numbers-tell-us-about-him-or-about-us.html
The Case Against Google
Critics say the search giant is squelching competition before it begins. Should the government step in?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/magazine/the-case-against-google.html
Peter Navarro, a Top Trade Skeptic, Is Ascendant
WASHINGTON — President Trump could soon promote Peter Navarro, a trade policy adviser, to a more powerful position in the White House, elevating a longtime trade skeptic who has found himself sidelined by more pro-trade voices inside the White House.
Mr. Navarro’s ascendance may signal that the balance of power is shifting toward those who have backed Mr. Trump’s get-tough approach to trade policy and away from those who have sought to restrain it.
The president has agreed to promote Mr. Navarro to assistant to the president from his current role as deputy assistant, giving him more access to top strategy meetings, said two trade experts close to the White House, who requested anonymity to discuss plans that weren’t yet public.
Natalie Strom, a spokeswoman, said the White House had no personnel announcements to make at this time. Mr. Navarro’s promotion was first reported by Inside U.S. Trade.
In December 2016, before taking office, Mr. Trump created the new office of the White House National Trade Council and appointed Mr. Navarro as its director. The creation of the office suggested the new body would have a position on par with the powerful National Security Council and National Economic Council.
But in April, Mr. Navarro’s National Trade Council was eliminated, and he was renamed head of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. In September, that office was moved into the National Economic Council and placed under the purview of its director, Gary D. Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs investor whose more conventional views on trade have contrasted sharply with those of Mr. Navarro.
The White House said then that reorganization was part of an effort to streamline protocols in the West Wing, but it was widely viewed as sidelining the influence of Mr. Navarro, once a primary adviser to the president. With Mr. Navarro’s promotion, the White House is again considering making his Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy independent from the National Economic Council.
White House trade policy has been rocked in recent weeks by the departure of Rob Porter, a former aide accused of domestic violence, who had organized regular meetings for the trade staff. John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff who imposed order on the West Wing through a strict hierarchy that left Mr. Navarro out of high-level meetings, has also been beset by rumors that he has lost standing in the White House over a series of recent negative events.
Amid the tumult, Mr. Navarro has been able to leverage a close personal relationship with the president to gain more access, a third trade expert close to the White House said.
It is unclear what new responsibilities Mr. Navarro’s promotion could bring, or whether the president could change his mind. But the biggest change for Mr. Navarro is that he may once again gain more access to top meetings — and to the president himself.
Mr. Navarro presided over an early period on the campaign trail and in the White House, during which President Trump appeared poised to fulfill his most aggressive promises on trade, including ripping up trade deals that he had criticized as bad for American companies and workers and imposing tariffs on imports.
Mr. Navarro entered the White House with multiple trade actions written and ready for the president’s signature, including a directive to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as Nafta. As The New York Times has previously reported, on at least three occasions in the president’s first year in office, Mr. Navarro’s attempts to withdraw the United States from Nafta were blocked by more pro-trade advisers, headed by Mr. Cohn.
The president did sign another directive authored by Mr. Navarro, pulling the United States out of a multinational trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But other efforts by Mr. Navarro to impose tariffs on steel imports and withdraw from a free-trade agreement with South Korea were blocked, leading some to question whether the president had abandoned his promise to take a more aggressive approach to trade than his predecessors.
As Mr. Kelly imposed order on the White House by limiting the president’s access to some advisers, Mr. Navarro’s influence was reduced. Mr. Navarro was required to copy Mr. Cohn, his new superior, on all emails. He was absent from some high-level strategy meetings on trade, as well as the president’s trip to China, a focus of Mr. Navarro’s.
Supporters and opponents of Mr. Navarro describe this as a concerted effort by more pro-trade factions to keep the president from hearing Mr. Navarro’s views, which could have goaded Mr. Trump into more aggressive action.
Mr. Navarro is a Ph.D. economist and a former professor at the University of California, Irvine, but some of his ideas on trade have been criticized by mainstream economists. While most economists say Nafta has benefited the United States economy on the whole, Mr. Navarro has sharply criticized the deal. He has denounced some foreign investments as “conquest by purchase” and argued for retracting global supply chains back within the United States’ borders.
From a nearby post in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Mr. Navarro spent months focusing on trade measures that were less in the spotlight, including expanding provisions that require the government to buy American goods, and carrying out a government-wide review of the defense industry.
In the last few months, however, the Trump administration has ramped up its trade actions. The White House announced tariffs on washing machines and solar cells and modules in January. The administration is also on the cusp of announcing tariffs or other restrictions on imports of steel and aluminum, as well as measures to penalize China for unfair trade.
In an expanded post, Mr. Navarro may be particularly influential on combating China. Mr. Navarro has authored books including “Death by China” and “The Coming China Wars,” which advocated the type of aggressive trade stance toward China that is now widely echoed by officials in the Trump administration.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/us/politics/peter-navarro-trade.html
The Dark Arts of Foreign Influence-Peddling
The Mueller investigation is showing the extent of Russian operations. But its real import extends far beyond that.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/trump-manafort-mueller-indictment-putin-russia-ukraine-germany-lobbying/554210/
3 Signs the Korean Olympics Truce Won't Last
It’s been a relatively quiet February on the missile-testing front. March could be different.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/olympics-closing-ceremony-korea/554153/
Emma González Leads a Student Outcry on Guns: ‘This Is the Way I Have to Grieve’
( https://youtu.be/ZxD3o-9H1lY ,
https://youtu.be/PxBdvzUDw-Y )
Students used Twitter, the news media and a courthouse rally to pressure lawmakers for gun control after a deadly shooting at a Florida high school.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/us/emma-gonzalez-florida-shooting.html
'White Male Privilege' and Other Themes of Gun Culture
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2018/02/white-male-privilege-and-other-underlying-themes-in-gun-culture/554030/
Cashless tolls horror stories: 'I wept,' woman says as she takes from IRA to pay bill
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2018/02/16/cashless-tolls-horror-stories-wept-woman-says-she-takes-ira-pay-bill/324519002/
The Special Stew at the Heart of Sumo Wrestling
Why one dish defines an entire sport.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sumo-wrestlers-stew-diet-chanko-nabe
A pilot’s love for the mountains built a house on Denali. Now it’s at the center of a family dispute.
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2018/02/16/a-pilots-love-for-the-mountains-built-a-house-on-denali-now-its-at-the-center-of-a-family-dispute/
Democratic memo: Here are 6 key points in Schiff's rebuttal
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/24/democratic-memo-here-key-points-schiffs-document/370388002/
Democratic memo
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/ig/ig00/20180205/106838/hmtg-115-ig00-20180205-sd002.pdf
Confused About the Trump-Russia Probe? Read This Memo
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-25/schiff-memo-offers-welcome-clarity-on-trump-russia-probe
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dCSDeJhxtt_h8kMi2vW61wCWuZbZM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Public-Sector Unions
Illinois state worker challenges unions’ ability to collect fees from unwilling employees
https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-to-decide-fate-of-public-sector-unions-1519607316
Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31
http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/janus-v-american-federation-state-county-municipal-employees-council-31/
Supreme Court to rule on power of public employee unions
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rule-power-public-employee-unions-n850851
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dlOoBGuqH4Y2e-Mfewxyu1J3k1_IM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Ranchers set to fight back against vegetarian 'fake meat'
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/02/25/ranchers-set-fight-back-against-vegetarian-fake-meat/371378002/
Cattlemen’s beef with fake meat
In the battle for the planet’s future and the stomachs of its inhabitants the word “meat” has suddenly become fiercely contested territory.
Heavily funded technology companies such as Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are racing to develop vegetarian burgers, sausages and steaks that are indistinguishable from the real thing. Their ambition is to produce “meat” from plants in their Californian laboratories and their success so far has rattled the meat industry enough for it to fire its opening shots in response.
[...]
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cattlemens-beef-with-fake-meat-mlh0b3bgw
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dYx0LDAGZwIKpCMbDp7xzPv1WzxfM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Behind a Key Anti-Labor Case, a Web of Conservative Donors - Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 [ http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/janus-v-american-federation-state-county-municipal-employees-council-31/ ]
In the summer of 2016, government workers in Illinois received a mailing that offered them tips on how to leave their union. By paying a so-called fair-share fee instead of standard union dues, the mailing said, they would no longer be bound by union rules and could not be punished for refusing to strike.
“To put it simply,” the document concluded, “becoming a fair-share payer means you will have more freedom.”
The mailing, sent by a group called the Illinois Policy Institute, may have seemed like disinterested advice. In fact, it was one prong of a broader campaign against public-sector unions, backed by some of the biggest donors on the right. It is an effort that will reach its apex on Monday, when the Supreme Court hears a case that could cripple public-sector unions by allowing the workers they represent to avoid paying fees.
One of the institute’s largest donors is a foundation bankrolled by Richard Uihlein, an Illinois industrialist who has spent millions backing Republican candidates in recent years, including Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois.
Tax filings show that Mr. Uihlein has also been the chief financial backer in recent years of the Liberty Justice Center, which represents Mark Janus, the Illinois child support specialist who is the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case.
And Mr. Uihlein has donated well over $1 million over the years to groups like the Federalist Society that work to orient the judiciary in a more conservative direction. They have helped produce a Supreme Court that most experts expect to rule in Mr. Janus’s favor.
The case illustrates the cohesiveness with which conservative philanthropists have taken on unions in recent decades. “It’s a mistake to look at the Janus case and earlier litigation as isolated episodes,” said Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, a Columbia University political scientist who studies conservative groups. “It’s part of a multipronged, multitiered strategy.”
In doing so, these donors have not just brought labor to the brink of crisis but threatened the Democratic Party as well.
Amid changes in the campaign finance landscape and the decline of private-sector unions, the party and its candidates have increasingly relied on major public unions for funding, including hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect spending during the 2016 presidential cycle. Those unions include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, whose Council 31 is the defendant in the Janus case.
A recent paper by Mr. Hertel-Fernandez and two colleagues may foretell what Democrats can expect if Mr. Uihlein and his fellow philanthropists succeed. It found that the Democratic share of the presidential vote dropped by an average of 3.5 percentage points after the passage of so-called right-to-work laws allowing employees to avoid paying union fees. That is larger than Democrats’ margin of defeat in several states that could have reversed their last three presidential losses.
And that is clearly on the mind of Republicans. In a recent interview, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, acknowledged the potential of the Janus case to hurt Democratic fund-raising for the coming midterm elections. “In states where they got rid of the automatic deduction and employees figured they could keep their own money, they did,” he said. “So it could have an impact.”
Conservative groups aren’t alone in locking arms to advance an ideological agenda. For decades, liberal donors and foundations, sometimes working together through coalitions like the Democracy Alliance, have promoted liberal goals in a variety of ways. Some backed groups, like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, that used litigation to move American society leftward.
But the extent of the coordination on the right often dwarfs liberal efforts. Especially on the state level, conservative groups are “doing different things, mobilizing different constituencies,” Mr. Hertel-Fernandez said. “But they’re all working with one another. You don’t see the same thing on the left.”
As the percentage of unionized private-sector workers has collapsed in recent decades, public-sector unions, which have held steady in the mid-30s since the early 1980s, have increasingly become a target.
Conservatives chafe at the unions’ political influence, which they believe not only props up the Democratic Party but also drives up government spending and skews public policy on issues like education.
In 2011, Wisconsin rolled back the right of most public unions to bargain over anything other than wages and eliminated the requirement that nonmembers pay fees. The portion of unionized public-sector workers in the state plummeted from half to just over one-quarter within five years.
In seeking to produce similar results nationally, conservative donors have created a symbiosis between groups aiming to overturn Supreme Court precedent favorable to unions and groups that take advantage of those rulings to drain unions of members.
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation of Wisconsin, which had over $800 million in assets in 2016, has funded both kinds of organizations.
In a 2014 case brought by a group that had received more than $1 million in contributions from the Bradley Foundation, the Supreme Court ruled that home-care aides and other “partial-public employees” paid through Medicaid could not be forced to pay fair-share fees if they left their unions. Unions say these fees, typically about 80 percent of standard dues, are necessary to compensate them for representing nonmembers in bargaining and grievance proceedings.
Then in 2016, the court heard a case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, that could have struck down fair-share fee requirements for all public employees represented by unions in more than 20 states, including California, Illinois and New York. The case was brought by a group that has received millions of dollars from the Bradley Foundation.
During 2015 and 2016, the foundation also substantially increased its contributions, totaling well over $1 million, to groups like the Independence Institute of Colorado and the Freedom Foundation of Washington State. Those groups have used such tools as direct mail, phone calls and door knocking to persuade public-sector workers to give up union membership.
Richard Graber, the chief executive of the Bradley Foundation, said the foundation avoided short-term tactical considerations in its giving. But he acknowledged that the increase was driven partly by the recent Supreme Court developments, which promised to make such opt-out campaigns more compelling for union members. (Some conservative groups are currently raising money for even more ambitious opt-out campaigns to take advantage of a favorable ruling this year.)
In February 2016, the month after the Supreme Court heard the Friedrichs case, Justice Antonin Scalia died, depriving conservatives of a decisive fifth vote to strike down mandatory union fees. That gave the Liberty Justice Center, backed by Mr. Uihlein, a chance to try again.
Few philanthropists have funded a more sweeping assault on labor than Mr. Uihlein, who with his wife, Elizabeth, founded a Wisconsin-based shipping supply company called Uline.
Mr. Uihlein is an ardent conservative who considers many Republican office holders too moderate on fiscal and social issues, according to those who know him.
“It’s not just politics for him,” said his friend Leonard A. Leo, the Federalist Society executive vice president, who declined to offer specifics on Mr. Uihlein’s views. “I think he is philosophically attuned to conservative ideas,” added Mr. Leo, whom the Trump White House enlisted to shepherd the Supreme Court nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch, Justice Scalia’s successor.
The Uihleins have spent tens of millions of dollars over the past decade supporting Republican candidates and committees. That includes contributions to super PACs backing the 2016 presidential campaigns of Mr. Walker and Mr. Cruz, and at least $250,000 to help Mr. Walker survive a 2012 recall election. (Mr. Uihlein did not respond to a request for comment.)
The Uihleins appear to be preoccupied with state employee pensions and the unions that negotiate them.
“Bruce is the only one in the race who isn’t beholden to public-sector unions,” Mr. Uihlein said of Mr. Rauner, the year before his 2014 election as Illinois governor, in an interview with Crain’s Business Chicago. The Uihleins gave more than $2.5 million to his campaign.
Mr. Rauner has been a major ally in the fight against public-sector unions. Shortly after taking office in 2015, he challenged the constitutionality of mandatory union fees in federal court.
By the time a judge ruled that Mr. Rauner lacked standing for his lawsuit, the Illinois Policy Institute, which drew more than one-third of its $5.8 million in revenue that year from Mr. Uihlein’s foundation, had found a viable plaintiff to replace him: Mark Janus. The Liberty Justice Center and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which Mr. Uihlein also contributes to, represented Mr. Janus in court.
Since then, the policy institute has sought to persuade state employees to leave their union through its mailing campaign. It said it had obtained employees’ names through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Mr. Rauner’s administration has amplified the institute’s message, and vice versa. In an August 2016 email to state workers, the administration highlighted a benefit of giving up union membership and urged workers to visit a website that would help them do so. The policy institute soon promoted the same website and provided similar guidance in its mailings to state workers.
Mr. Uihlein’s foundation has supplemented these efforts by supporting a nonprofit called Think Freely Media, which uses storytelling techniques to champion free-market ideas, including right-to-work laws. The Uihlein foundation contributed more than $1.5 million to Think Freely from 2014 to 2016, the last year for which tax records are available.
At the center of this network is a longtime conservative activist named John Tillman, who serves as the chief executive of the Illinois Policy Institute as well as the chairman of the Liberty Justice Center and Think Freely Media.
In an interview, Mr. Tillman, who managed a call center earlier in his career and talked up his “marketing-centric approach” to promoting free enterprise, said the institute is fighting the enormous power of union leaders but is not anti-union per se.
“In the late 1800s, early 20th century, business owners had all the power, and workers had very little power,” he said. “Unions and collective bargaining emerged as a way to level the playing field. I think it was an amazing story of success.”
But in other contexts, Mr. Tillman has been less conciliatory.
In a fund-raising solicitation by the policy institute in December, Mr. Tillman claimed credit for helping more than 2,600 workers leave their union, resulting in a loss of $1.2 million in union revenue.
“It’s time for Illinois to throw off the shackles of big labor and big government,” he wrote.
“When you and I look around Illinois and see the devastation the union-dominated status quo has inflicted,” he continued, “we simply have no choice.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/business/economy/labor-court-conservatives.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d0er3sR2rrn2VjMfewxyu1J3k1_IM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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