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Posted: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 9:00 am

Democrat Announces For Congress

Kathy Ellis, a psychotherapist and addiction counselor from Jefferson County, announced her candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for Missouris Eighth Congressional District on Saturday at Jefferson College.

What is going on in Washington has got to stop, Ellis said, People are dying from the lack of healthcare, and Washingtons answer is tax cuts for the wealthy.

Ellis, a Democrat, proposes healthcare for all and investment in jobs in Southeast Missouri through improvements to infrastructure, increased access to quality education, protect and defend Social Security and pass a long-term farm bill.

Republican Jason Smith has represented the district since winning a special election on June 4, 2013. He was reelected in 2014 and 2016.

The district comprises 30 counties, including Ste. Genevieve.

(Information in a release from Ellis for Congress and Wikipedia.)

Posted on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 9:00 am.

Read the original:
Democrat Announces For Congress - Ste. Genevieve Herald

Republicans backed off a plan to vote this week on legislation rolling back much of President Obamas signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act. But Democrats dont think this is the end of Trumpcare.

Its far from over. McConnell said hes going to come back to it soon, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said in an interview at the Capitol. Were not taking anything for granted.

Senate Republicans Put Off Health-Care Vote

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Tuesday afternoon that the Senate would not be on the bill this week, as Republican Senators continue discussions within our conference on the differences that we have. But he added that were still working toward getting at least 50 people in a comfortable place. McConnell only needs 50 Republican senators to pass the legislationassuming Vice President Pence breaks a tie because Republicans are using a process known as budget reconciliation to evade a Democratic filibuster.

A number of Republican senators, however, have balked at the bill. Some conservative have argued it does not go far enough in repealing Obamacare, while moderates have expressed concern that it would too far in cutting Medicaid, the program that provides health insurance for low-income Americans. The Congressional Budget Office concluded on Monday that the Senate bill would leave 22 million Americans without insurance over the course of a decade.

With little control over the levers of power in Congress, Democrats have attempted to draw attention to what they say will be the harmful impacts of the Senate GOP health care legislation.

Senate Democrats convened a flurry of press conferences this week to denounce the bill, while Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is technically not a Democrat, but is nevertheless part of Senate Democratic leadership, held rallies in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to rally opposition against the bill.

Now the message from Democrats is that the fight isnt over.

They werent able to pass their cruelest, and most hurtful version of the bill, but that doesnt mean theyre not going to come back with a bill that is still cruel, and hurtful, Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts said. I do not believe that we are going to be able to preserve Obamacare unless we work every day, 24-hours a day, until the Republicans finally give up, he added. We have to keep our energy level high Thats the only way we are going to win.

Senate Democrats may be particularly wary of declaring victory too early after watching House GOP legislation to dismantle the Affordable Care Act stall out, only to be revived weeks later and passed.

The challenge now for opponents of the healthcare bill will be to keep the pressure on Republican senators during the July 4th recess, where they will return to their districts.

If we survive this week with the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid intact, the lesson anyone who cares about health care has to learn is that its dangerous to take your eye of the ball even for a day, Ben Wikler of the progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org said in an interview before McConnells Tuesday announcement. If Trumpcare isnt passed, isnt defeated, but is merely delayed this week, it is absolutely vital for anyone who cares about the healthcare system to dial up their pressure over the fourth of July recess.

Of course, Republicans will be making their case for the bills passage too.

The schedule may have changed a little but, but one thing hasnt changed and that is that Obamacare is collapsing, Republican Senator John Thune said on Tuesday during a press conference. It is a failed system that needs to be replaced, and we believe the legislation that were trying to get up on the Senate floor and consider there will take America in a better direction.

But even for their apparent reluctance to declare victory, some Senate Democrats evidently believe the road to passage for Republicans will be more difficult now that McConnell has delayed its vote.

This bill is like a stinking fish, its just going to get worse, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said in an interview. Were going to bring this to every state across the country. This is what we wanted. We wanted to be able to bring this debate out of Washington and back to our states. I think thats going to be the death knell for this bill.

Democrats also hope the delay will create an opportunity for constituents opposed to the bill to convey their objections directly to Republican senators.

I think its going to be a very tough two weeks for the Republicans to be hearing from their constituents at home who have now been educated as to what the impact of these cuts will be on the services their families receive, Markey said. I think its only going to complicate dramatically the complexity of their political dilemma.

Read more here:
Democrats Don't Think Trumpcare Is Dead - The Atlantic

Last week alone, Michigan Democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell said "I don't know where I belong" and "I'm not sure where I fit in" over the course of two different media interviews, ruminating on her place in a party she believes is splintering in too many different directions.

Dingell, who believes Democrats are alienating the working class voters they once represented, is disillusioned by her party's impulse to segment itself into the categories of identity politics. "We've become this identity politics. The Women's Caucus, the Black Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus," Dingell observed on MSNBC after Jon Ossoff lost his bid for a seat in Georgia's 6th District. "We've lost the sense of we,' that our strength comes in community."

In an interview with the Washington Post published one day earlier, Dingell said that her party was in "disarray," pointing to its failure to connect with the working class voters who once saw Democrats as their voice in government. "We took people for granted. We, for a long time, thought we had that worker, men and women, that union worker. We've lost them because we stopped talking to them." The congresswoman also relayed in the interview that voters in her Michigan district "don't think we understand them."

"Nobody listened to me in the last election when I told them they weren't talking about the issues that really mattered in the Midwest," Dingell lamented, adding later, "I sometimes feel like I have no home even in the Democratic Caucus here."

After losing the presidency and the Congress in addition to a host of down-ballot races over the course of the Obama years, Democrats are pledging to do better. But with a base split between progressives fixated on intersectionality and the #Resistance defining liberal opposition to Donald Trump as eagerly obstructionist, it will be difficult for Democrats to unify around solutions to the problems Dingell understands better than most in her party.

Leaders like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and DNC Chairman Tom Perez have resorted to a bizarre and insulting schtick of peppering their speeches with curse words in a transparent bid to appeal to blue-collar voters with whom the canned rhetoric of Hillary Clinton or the lofty language of Barack Obama never resonated.

For her part, Dingell recognizes the value of connecting with voters based on their backgrounds. "We need to understand each of these groups have issues. I'm a woman, I've been discriminated against," she conceded, continuing, "But I know my power and strength is being part of a broader community where we all pull together and fight for an issue."

Especially in the wake of Ossoff's loss last week, Democrats are paying a lot of lip service to the notion of reforming the party and getting serious about speaking to working class voters. But unless they are able to reconcile their increasingly radical, and increasingly vocal base of fervent anti-Trump resistors with Dingell's constituents, a monumental task by any standard, she may never be able to find her place in the party again.

And her voters won't either.

Emily Jashinskyis a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

More here:
Michigan Democrat Debbie Dingell: 'I don't know where I belong' in the party of identity politics - Washington Examiner

(1 of ) Matt Stevens, SMART's community education and outreach employee, uses the new Airport Blvd. station to take photos of a SMART railcar, Wednesday June 29, 2016 in Santa Rosa. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2016 (2 of ) A SMART train passes through Rohnert Park at Southwest Boulevard in 2016. (JOHN BURGESS/ PD FILE) (3 of ) A SMART train passes by the bicycle rack at the Railroad Square SMART rail station, in Santa Rosa in 2016. (ALVIN JORNADA/ PD) (5 of ) A SMART test train pulls into the Rohnert Park platform, south of Rohnert Park Expressway in Rohnert Park in 2016. (CHRISTOPHER CHUNG/ PD) (6 of ) Scott Mitchell, one of 11 train engineers for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system, takes the public on a test ride in August 2016. (ANGELA HART/ PD FILE) (7 of ) SMART's train number 2 heads for San Rafael, Monday June 26, 2017, crossing Sixth Street in Santa Rosa. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2017 (8 of ) SMART's train number 2 heads for San Rafael, Monday June 26, 2017, after stopping at the Railroad Square station, Santa Rosa. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2017

MARTIN ESPINOZA

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | June 26, 2017, 12:13PM

| Updated 6 minutes ago.

What better way to generate buzz about a new transit service than to offer free rides? Thats exactly what Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit will be doing starting Thursday.

Offering the public an early look at the North Bays newest transportation system, SMART has scheduled three days of free rides June 29 and July 1 and 4, with more free ride schedules expected to be announced later this week.

Were really excited to be able to finally let people on the trains to experience them, said Debora Fudge, chairwoman of SMARTs board of directors.

Fudge, the mayor of Windsor, said SMART has been granted permission by the federal government to allow limited passenger use while federal officials do their final review of SMARTs positive train control, or PTC, an advanced safety system that automatically shuts down a train in the event of an emergency such as derailments caused by excessive speed.

She said SMART has fully tested the trains PTC system and will be offering free rides until the federal government approves paid passenger service.

When we get that final permit, then we run 34 trains a day and start commuter service, Fudge said.

SMARTs soft-launch begins Thursday, with three free round-trip rides from between Rohnert Park and Marin Civic Center stations. Trains depart southbound from SMARTs Rohnert Park Station at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Trains will depart northbound from the Marin Civic Center at 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Riders can get on and off at any stop.

Then on July 1 and 4, SMART has scheduled a type of excursion service for Sonoma County residents planning to go to the Marin County Fair in San Rafael. Free rides will be offered between all stations between Sonoma County Airport Station and the Marin Civic Center station, which is near where the fair will take place. Riders on these trains also can get on and off at any stop.

The train will start at the Sonoma County Airport Station at 5 p.m. and arrive at the Marin Civic Center at 6:01 p.m. On both days, the train will be held at the Marin Civic Center until after the fireworks, departing back to Sonoma County at 10:36 p.m.

The train arrives at Sonoma County Airport Station at 11:37 p.m.

Free rides will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, said SMART spokeswoman Jeanne Mariani-Belding, who encouraged people to arrive early.

The specific schedules and station locations offered during the public review period are based on thousands of responses from the pubic, SMART said.

On Monday, one North Bay resident watched with curiosity as a SMART made a test stop at the Santa Rosa Downtown Station at Railroad Square.

Emily Porter of Mill Valley said shes been considering commuting between Marin County and her job at a winemaking supply company in Petaluma.

I was wondering if it was going to be a viable commute but the commute is not that bad, she said. I reverse commute to Petaluma when everyone else is going to San Francisco.

Rick James, who lives in Santa Rosa and works at Keysight Technologies, said he has no reason to use the new transit system as a commuter but wouldnt mind taking it for fun family trips. On Monday, James and his daughter, UC Santa Cruz student Kelsey James, spent part of the afternoon visiting Railroad Square.

Both joked theyd definitely ride the rail system if it went all the way to Santa Cruz.

I hope it takes off, though. Weve invested so much, said the elder James. It would be good to get people off the road.

Kelsey, who is getting a graduate degree in cognitive psychology, said she had a chance to study abroad in Italy and loved riding the train. She said she admired how the various Italian public transit systems of buses, taxis and trains were connected. Theres something nostalgic about riding the train, she said, adding that even a modern train feels right.

Mariani-Belding said the preview rides are aimed at getting local residents more familiar with the new transit system and how it works. She said later this week SMART will announce additional schedules for upcoming preview rides.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.

Here is the original post:
SMART train begins free preview rides this week - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

The Free Beacon has an interesting story, based on interviews of unnamed Trump administration officials, about the Obama minions, some still embedded in the bureaucracy, who are leaking furiously to the Washington Post and the New York Times:

A new wave of leaks targeting the Trump administration has actively endangered ongoing intelligence and military operations being conducted by the United States and its allies, sparking anger and concern inside and outside the White House, according to multiple conversations with senior U.S. officials intimately familiar with the situation.

The classified leaks, which are being handed to sympathetic journalists by former Obama administration officials who left the government and by holdovers still serving in the Trump administration, have damaged a number of ongoing operations, ranging from American efforts to prevent Russian infiltration of the United States to Israeli efforts against ISIS, sources said.

The Democrats pretend to be concerned about Russia, but have no compunction about interfering with the Trump administrations efforts to deal with the Russian threat (which Obama, to his everlasting shame, didnt). The Obama administration never pretended to be concerned about Israels security, so I guess we cant accuse them of hypocrisy on that one.

Anger is running so high that multiple current U.S. officials have named some of the former Obama officials they believe are behind the unauthorized disclosures, which Trump officials say are aimed at kneecapping the current administration and also rewriting the record of the Obama years. *** The leaks have been traced to a number of former Obama administration officials, including Ben Rhodesthe former National Security Council official responsible for creating an in-house echo chamber meant to mislead reporters and the public about the landmark nuclear deal with Iranand Colin Kahl, former Vice President Joe Bidens national security adviser.

Another source, this one a senior administration official who is also intimately familiar with the situation, confirmed the assessment to the Washington Free Beacon.

Those responsible for the disastrous foreign national security policy of the Obama administration for the last yearsBen Rhodes, Colin Kahlthey provide the marching orders to a broader group of people that are associated with the broader [Democratic Party] Podesta-Clinton network, and now theyre trying to rewrite history at the cost of American national security, the official said.

The leakers and reporters need to be criminally prosecuted. We keep hearing that the Trump administration is serious about doing this, but it is time for action. I am not a criminal lawyer and dont presume to give advice to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former U.S. Attorney and long time member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But I would think one way to proceed is to impanel a grand jury and subpoena the reporters who have illegally published leaked information, and ask them their sources. There is no federal shield law, so as I understand it, if they refuse they can be imprisoned indefinitely. (This happened to Judith Miller.) The sources dont seem to be much of a mystery, and the reporters and editors obviously arent. So it is time for the law to come down hard on the leakers and their enablers.

See the article here:
Trump Insiders Denounce Democrat Leaks - Power Line (blog)