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Representative Jasmine Crockett was sitting in a House Oversight Committee hearing last fall, growing increasingly frustrated as she listened to Republicans accuse President Biden of impeachable offenses without producing any evidence, when she had an idea.

Ms. Crockett, a freshman Democrat from Texas and former defense attorney, summoned an aide and asked them to quickly print out a stack of photos showing the boxes of sensitive government documents stashed by a toilet at Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald J. Trumps club in Palm Beach, Fla.

Moments later, Ms. Crockett was brandishing the photos above her head, accusing Republicans of ignoring clear evidence that Mr. Trump had violated the law while pushing allegations against Mr. Biden for which they had shown no proof.

When we start talking about things that look like evidence, they want to act like they blind, Ms. Crockett said of Republicans, spitting her words with a mix of outrage and bemusement. These are our national secrets, apparently in a toilet, she added, using an expletive to describe the plumbing.

The moment circulated widely on social media. The White House took notice. So did senior House Democrats. Suddenly, it was Ms. Crockett, not the Republicans pursuing Mr. Biden, who was capturing the publics attention.

The performance has become something of a hallmark of the sputtering Republican effort to impeach Mr. Biden, which has faltered in recent weeks as the G.O.P. has come up empty in its efforts to back up its claims of wrongdoing by the president.

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Freshmen Democrats Work to Turn Biden Impeachment Effort on Its Head - The New York Times

The prospect of hosting a fancy dinner party at my house filled my heart with panic, and my redecorating engine with jet fuel. I had been wanting to update my dining room. Suddenly, I had an incentive and a deadline.

"You start seeing everything they don't even notice," said my neighbor, trying to calm my nerves.

"I'm more worried they'll see everything I don't notice," I said.

Aren't we all a little house blind?

The dinner party wasn't my idea. A few months ago, my friend, who is also a friend of the arts, hatched the plan to auction off a dinner for eight, including DC and me, at my house, for an Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra fundraiser.

"You know how your column is 'At Home With Marni?'" was how she framed it. "Well, this would let people actually be at home with Marni. Get it?"

Oh, I got it. If I'd known when I started writing a home design column what all I'd be getting myself into, I would have become a pet therapist. People assume I live up to my words! Before I agreed -- and because no one should pay to eat my cooking -- I called a chef I knew to see if he'd help. Chef Angelo Bersani generously agreed to donate his time to prepare and serve dinner if I paid for the groceries. Done! Chef and I became a package deal on the auction block.

With the food taken care of (Phew!), my focus turned to the dining room, which sits immediately to the right of my home's front entry. You can't miss it. The room has only two walls. The non-wall sides open onto the entry and living room.

Now, because I live in the real world, redecorating for me does not mean tossing all my furniture and starting over. It means working with what I have and making small refinements to get, ideally, big results. The trick, however, is knowing what those small moves are, which is when paralysis sets in.

My next call was to Los Angeles interior designer and long-time friend and colleague Christopher Grubb. "HALP!" I cried! "I have all these illustrious dinner guests coming who think my home is something out of Architectural Digest and they are about to be bitterly disappointed."

Grubb knows I'm prone to hyperbole. He also knows I can follow directions. He agreed to work with me on an hourly basis. He'd call the shots if I did the legwork, which involved shopping for materials, gathering samples, and coordinating workers. This would save him time and me money. Again, Done!

With a chef and a designer on board, I could feel my lungs fully expanding and my blood pressure dropping.

Since Grubb is on the West Coast, and I'm in Florida, we worked virtually. I sent him photos of the dining room and told him my goal was to move away from traditional furnishings to make the room more transitional, a direction he supported. We discussed some ideas, then he gave me my to-do list.

Over the next eight weeks, we exchanged dozens of texts, photos, a few sobbing emojis and made the following small refinements, which yielded big results and just might do the same for a room or two in your home:

Added lampshades. Although I had replaced the dining room's dated light fixture a few years ago, I had not "finished" the fixture off with chandelier shades, which Grubb advised. I test drove three shade styles, ordering one of each and returning the rejects, before settling on a black tapered shade. Because black shades direct light down, not out, they can make lighting more dramatic.

Filled in the art niche. Art niches in walls are common yet often difficult to work with as they limit the size of art you can hang in them. The niche in my dining room's accent wall was 5 feet square and 3 inches deep. Until recently, a large tapestry hung over the niche and covered it. But, as part of my attempt to make the space more contemporary, I sold the tapestry and now had this, uhh, hole in the wall. "Art niches just make you ask why?" said Grubb, who recommended having a drywaller fill it in.

Put up wallpaper. To make the open room feel cozier and more intimate, and to distinguish it from the entryway, Grubb suggested covering the now smooth back wall and ceiling with sea-blue grasscloth, which added character and texture to the room.

Replaced mirrors. Although Grubb liked the idea of two mirrors flanking the art on the main wall, he suggested replacing the existing round ones with larger, vertical mirrors to make the room appear taller. Since we were moving toward a more transitional less traditional look, we kept the frames simple.

Added ambiance. With the new furnishings in place, all I needed to do was add the finishing touches -- a fresh centerpiece of pale roses, patterned table linens, crystal and silver, candles and, of course, illustrious guests -- to make the room come together like a symphony.

Marni Jameson is the author of seven books, including "Rightsize Today to Create Your Best Life Tomorrow." You may reach her at marni@marnijameson.com

The rest is here:
OPINION | AT HOME: Dinner party prompts dining room refresh | Arkansas Democrat Gazette - Arkansas Online

After months of resisting efforts by Democratic allies to get him to take a harder line with Israel for its conduct in the war in Gaza, President Biden this week made what may be his most significant statement to date.

For the first time, he threatened to cut off the flow of certain types of weapons if Israel doesnt heed American warnings specifically, if it launches a planned invasion of Rafah that the Biden administration worries could lead to even more extensive civilian casualties.

Its a dicey decision, both politically and foreign policy-wise, from a man without many good options right now.

But in some ways, its been a long time coming. And at the very least it reflects the direction Bidens party has been headed in for months.

An outpouring of support for Israel after Hamass Oct. 7 massacre quickly gave way to liberal skepticism about how Israel had prosecuted its military response. And over the past six months, weve seen the lefts shift away from Israel continue mostly unabated.

Perhaps the most often cited manifestation of that is in the relative sympathies toward Israelis and Palestinians. Democrats had for years drifted toward the Palestinians, with a Gallup poll in early 2023 showing Democrats sympathizing more with them for the first time in the 21st century.

Oct. 7 briefly changed that, but since then, polling from the Economist and YouGov has shown a steady and pretty consistent move toward the Palestinians. About 4 in 10 Americans say their sympathies are about equal between the sides, but those saying they sympathize more with the Israelis has dropped from 34 percent in mid-October to 15 percent today.

About twice as many Democrats chose the Israelis as chose the Palestinians in October; today, Democrats who pick a side choose the Palestinians by double digits.

Weve seen an even bigger shift when it comes to the root of Bidens announcement this week: the idea that Israel is going too far.

In late October, more Democrats (39 percent) said Israels military response was either about right or not harsh enough than said it was too harsh (33 percent).

But Democrats have again shifted steadily away from Israel. Today, a majority of Democrats (54 percent) say its response has been too harsh 30 points more than those who say its been about right or not harsh enough.

Just because people regard Israels actions as too harsh, of course, doesnt mean they necessarily desire a hard line or cutting off aid. But there, too, weve seen Democrats gradually adopt a more skeptical position.

While in early November, Democrats favored maintaining the same levels of Israel aid or increasing it by around a 2-to-1 margin, polls over the past month show a plurality of Democrats now want it decreased.

That number crept as high as 48 percent in an early April poll nearly half of Democrats wanting less money for Israel.

ABC News-Ipsos polling last week showed a similar shift. It asked whether the United States was doing too much to support Israel. The biggest shift away from Israel since January? Among those who described themselves as somewhat liberal. They went from 35 percent saying we were doing too much for Israel in January to 48 percent now.

(Its valid to ask whether people truly know what genocide entails, and Americans tend to apply that label pretty broadly. But it would at least seem to reflect significant unease about how far Israel has gone.)

Given all of that, you begin to see how even a historically pro-Israel Democrat like Biden might come around to a more forceful posture. Hes not actually threatening to reduce the total level of aid; just cutting off offensive weapons that could be used in an incursion into Rafah.

That turn may be in line with a growing segment of his party, but Biden still risks losing the support of key Democratic-leaning constituencies or the broader electorate.

Even these polls, after all, show that scaled-back support of Israel is a minority position with the broader public.

The ABC-Ipsos poll showed 38 percent overall said we were doing too much to support Israel. And the most recent Economist polling shows only about one-third overall say Israels response has been too harsh (34 percent) and that we should decrease aid (34 percent).

The question now is whether Bidens warning will have the desired effect and help tamp down the growing consternation on the American left or whether it will just lead to even more choices among fraught options.

See original here:
Biden's Israel red line, and the Democratic Party's shift away from Israel - The Washington Post

In summary

From prohibiting non-disclosure agreements in bill negotiations to protecting utility ratepayers, bills keep dying this year despite lawmakers refusing to say no when it came time to vote. Is it time for the rules to change?

Among the most controversial bills that died this spring was a measure prompted by allegations that Gov. Gavin Newsom secured a lucrative benefit for a billionaire supporter by exempting his restaurants from a minimum wage increase.

Newsom dismissed the allegations as absurd, but KCRA 3 reported that the public might never get a full accounting of what happened because participants to the bill negotiations signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that threatened them with legal action if they spoke about the issue.

The controversy prompted a bill banning NDAs for legislative negotiations, but the bill died last month even though only one Democratic member of the Assembly Committee on Elections voted against it. It failed because five other Democrats on the committee didnt vote.

As CalMatters revealed in April, not voting is a common practice for California legislators. Last year, at least 15 bills died due to lack of votes instead of lawmakers actually voting no to kill them. So far this year, a database at CalMatters Digital Democracy indicates that at least 12 bills have died because lawmakers declined to vote.

Insiders say its a way for legislators to be polite to colleagues and perhaps avoid a no vote on their own legislation. But critics say its also a way for legislators to dodge responsibility for their decisions.

Some will say that those bills were tough votes for lawmakers, said Mike Gatto, a former Democratic legislator from Los Angeles. But one must remember that the whole reason why the public elects these lawmakers is for them to take tough votes.

The Legislatures bill-tracking website doesnt distinguish whether a legislator declined to vote, was absent or if the lawmaker announced they were formally abstaining from voting. Now, with the launch of Digital Democracy, the public has easy access to video and transcripts that show just how often legislators are present in hearings and even engage in discussion, sometimes highly critical of the legislation, before staying silent during the call for a vote. Some legislators say the practice should be changed.

I think it is appropriate for legislators to basically vote yes or vote no, Santa Ana Democratic Sen. Tom Umberg, a former federal prosecutor, recently told CBS News for a story done in collaboration with CalMatters. But, you know, that is the system that we have. Should we change it? Probably.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire didnt respond to CalMatters requests to discuss whether the Legislatures rules on voting should change.

Among the bills that died recently from California Democrats not voting were several involving public safety issues. They include a bill that would have prohibited sexually violent predators from being released into communities unless they had a place to live. Another would have increased penalties for property crimes. A third would have made it harder for police to charge people with a crime for filing false complaints against officers.

Another bill that died for lack of votes would restrict the controversial practice of gas and electric utilities from using ratepayer money for political lobbying. Senate Bill 938 was in response to a Sacramento Bee investigation last summer that revealed SoCalGas charged at least $36 million to ratepayers for political lobbying to oppose California policies aimed at addressing the climate crisis.

Environmentalists and utility watchdog groups were outraged, arguing that ratepayers bills should only reflect the cost to deliver electricity or gas to their homes. They said shareholders should foot the bill for political lobbying.

But Sen. Dave Min, a Democrat from Irvine, saw his bill to ban the practice fail in April before the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee. The committee has 18 members, so the bill needed at least 10 yes votes to advance. In two separate votes, six members of the committee declined to vote. When combined with Republicans no votes, the abstentions were enough to kill Mins bill.

At its April 16 hearing, Democratic Sens. Bill Dodd of Napa and Angelique Ashby from Sacramento questioned whether the legislation would help consumers since lobbying costs represent a small fraction of a utilitys expenses. In the end, they both declined to vote.

Joining them were fellow Democrats Josh Newman, Anna Caballero, Susan Rubio and the committees chairperson, Steven Bradford. Dodds office was the only one to respond to CalMatters interview request.

I respect the author and his intent with the bill, but there were unanswered questions about the impact it would have on grants for fire prevention activities, Dodd said in an emailed statement. So I reserved voting yes or no until those questions were answered.

Several legislators who helped kill the bill banning NDAs from legislative negotiations were also present during that hearing.

The four Democratic Assemblymembers on the elections committee who declined to vote on the NDA ban are Marc Berman of Cupertino, Steve Bennett of Oxnard, Akilah Weber of La Mesa and Matt Haney of San Francisco. Evan Low of Cupertino, whos running for Congress, was absent for the hearing. The absence is recorded on the Legislatures tally of votes the same as the lawmakers who stayed silent. None of them responded to interview requests.

It was a controversial bill in part because it dealt with a scandal about the governor that broke in February when Bloomberg News reported that the Panera Bread chain appeared to be exempt from a new law that raised the states minimum wage to $20 for fast food workers. In the Bloomberg investigation, sources said the Newsom administration sought the exemption to benefit a billionaire Panera Bread franchise owner who is a major Newsom donor.

Learn more about legislators mentioned in this story.

Mike McGuire

Democrat, State Senate, District 2 (Santa Rosa)

Bill Dodd

Democrat, State Senate, District 3 (Napa)

Angelique Ashby

Democrat, State Senate, District 8 (Sacramento)

Anna Caballero

Democrat, State Senate, District 14 (Merced)

Susan Rubio

Democrat, State Senate, District 22 (West Covina)

Josh Newman

Democrat, State Senate, District 29 (Fullerton)

Thomas Umberg

Democrat, State Senate, District 34 (Santa Ana)

Steven Bradford

Democrat, State Senate, District 35 (Inglewood)

Dave Min

Democrat, State Senate, District 37 (Irvine)

Matt Haney

Democrat, State Assembly, District 17 (San Francisco)

Marc Berman

Democrat, State Assembly, District 23 (Palo Alto)

Evan Low

Democrat, State Assembly, District 26 (Cupertino)

Robert Rivas

Democrat, State Assembly, District 29 (Salinas)

Vince Fong

Republican, State Assembly, District 32 (Bakersfield)

Steve Bennett

Democrat, State Assembly, District 38 (Oxnard)

Akilah Weber

Democrat, State Assembly, District 79 (La Mesa)

After KCRA revealed that negotiators working on the minimum wage bill were required to sign NDAs, Republican Assemblymember Vince Fong introduced the bill to ban the practice for legislative negotiations. Labor groups opposed the bill, and business groups were split. Fong, who is running for Congress, didnt return a request for comment.

During the hearing, Assemblymembers Berman and Weber spoke with the bills author, but still declined to vote.

This is an extremely important bill that deals with a very important issue, Weber said in the hearing. She also suggested the bill was drafted too quickly and she had questions about whether or not the bill was too broad.

Gatto, a former Democratic Assemblymember, said it was especially galling that lawmakers refused to vote on the non-disclosure agreement bill, given the legislation itself involves the sanctity of the (legislative) process.

It just feels dirtier somehow, Gatto said.

See more here:
How California Democrats killed a controversial bill without a vote - CalMatters

WICHITA Mike McCorkle relies heavily on three key issues in his run to knock House Speaker Daniel Hawkins out of office: protecting womens reproductive rights, expanding Medicaid and especially how McCorkle thinks Hawkins has failed to listen to his constituents.

McCorkle, a Democrat running for a seat in the Kansas Houses 100th District, is focusing his campaign on grassroots tactics. Since his initial run against Hawkins in 2022, hes garnered support from local politicians, members of Women for Kansas and John Carlin, Kansas 40th governor from 1979-1987 and archivist of the United States from 1995-2005.

McCorkle said its hard to believe Hawkins has been reelected five times since he first won the 100th District seat in 2012.

Winning House 100 means removing your current speaker, which would be good for most Kansans since he supports extreme minority agendas, McCorkle said during a meet and greet campaign event Saturday in Wichita. Hes out of touch with House 100 and a majority of Kansas in general.

McCorkle referenced Hawkins unwillingness to hold a hearing on Medicaid expansion for years and said that, when Hawkins did, it was a joke.

Hes a friendly guy on a personal level, but hes just some kind of bipolar person who can be friendly person (to) person but yet still say its OK that 150,000 people dont have adequate health care, which is wrong, McCorkle said.

Vowing to protect womens reproductive freedom, McCorkle criticized Hawkins pro-life stance.

I expect House 100 voters to confirm their disappointment with his actions against women by voting for change, he said.

McCorkle also pointed to Hawkins 99% corporate donor list.

During the 2022 cycle, Hawkins received thousands of dollars in support from various companies and entities, notably Koch Industries, the NRA and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors of Kansas.

Which begs the question: Who does he really represent? McCorkle said.

Hawkins spokeswoman did not respond to email and phone requests seeking comment for this story.

In McCorkles first run for the 100th District in 2022, he received 3,808 or 40% of votes, while Hawkins secured 5,641 votes.

McCorkle also ran for Kansas 27th District in the Kansas State Senate in 2020. Republican opponent Gene Suellentrop beat McCorkle with double the votes 26,296 to McCorkles 13,143.

Despite the losses, McCorkle said these past races elevate his 2024 attempt at unseating Hawkins. He cited his increased name recognition, experience and amount of volunteers.

More than 60 supporters congregated Saturday in downtown Wichita at the fundraiser for McCorkle including Carlin.

Now retired and in his mid-80s, Carlin resides in northern Kansas, but he said he drove to Wichita to support McCorkle.

The fact that Im coming ought to say something in itself because I dont travel very much, Carlin said.

Carlin, who served as House speaker from 1977 to 1979, said he knows exactly what power the speaker has.

Mike is not running against somebody that voted wrong: (Hawkins) engineered all this crap, Carlin said. Seriously, the speaker of the House makes all the appointments, the committees, the chairs, controls the agenda. Nothing comes up on the floor unless the speaker (allows it).

Carlin said the turnout for the constitutional amendment on abortion in August 2022 could work in favor of McCorkles campaign.

(The issue of abortion) motivates a lot of people. I mean, you look at campaigns across the country right now, not just in Kansas, that issue motivates and wins a lot of elections, Carlin said.

McCorkle and other supporters said they think the energy of this election cycle is different.

Its a much broader support and much, much better-coordinated community, McCorkle said. And so we just have a really good synergy.

Jonathan Jones, deputy executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party, said electing moderate candidates like McCorkle is one step to breaking up Kansas Republican supermajority, which produces legislation that Gov. Laura Kelly vetoes.

I feel lucky at the end of the veto session that we succeeded in sustaining those deals, Jones said. Im tired of feeling lucky. I want to do everything we can to make sure we know whats going to happen, that we can give the governor as much power as we possibly can for her last two years in the cycle.

Born and raised in Wichita, McCorkle said he enjoyed a safe secure childhood near Seneca and Harry. He attended public schools throughout his youth and, in his senior year of high school, enlisted in the Army in 1976.

During his 13 years of service, he worked on 14 photo and intelligence analyst assignments, including volunteering for Desert Storm.

Following his military service, McCorkle lived and worked abroad. The candidate has done various work from being a manager to a machinist. In 2019, he returned to his home city to take care of his parents.

Id been watching these elections from abroad for years, and I kept thinking, Man, we just got a crisis of citizenship, McCorkle said. And so, I resolved that when I came back I would just get involved.

McCorkle said he initially wanted to help a candidate, not be a candidate.

And, of course, no one would run, and so I ended up being the name on the ballot against Suellentrop, which was a steep learning curve, McCorkle said. Nonetheless, (I) made some allies, and this third time, we got a good group of strong allies, people that want to work together, and I believe were gonna get it right.

Correction: Mike McCorkle served in the military for 13 years. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated his years of military service.

Read more from the original source:
Democrat hopes to unseat Kansas House speaker with focus on reproductive rights, Medicaid expansion Kansas ... - Kansas Reflector