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Last month, congressional Democrats unveiled their Better Deal agenda ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, promising new and improved ideas to push the party forward. But while some of their policies might be seen as improvements, not much is new.

[M]any Americans dont know what we stand for, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in the New York Times previewing this agenda.

In the last two elections, Schumer said, Democrats failed to articulate a strong, bold economic program for the middle class and those working hard to get there. We also failed to communicate our values to show that we were on the side of working people, not the special interests. We will not repeat the same mistake.

Our agenda is focused on efforts to create jobs and raise incomes for American workers, to lower the cost of living for American families, and to build an economy that gives every American the tools to succeed in the 21st century, added House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in the Washington Post.

But many of the "Better Deal" proposals are similar to what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigned on and talked about over the last several years, although congressional Democrats contend their new plans are bolder.

Take, for example, their call to stop price-gouging on prescription drugs.

Were going to fight for rules to stop prescription drug price gouging and demand that drug companies justify price increases to the public, Schumer said.

But here was Obama on price gouging when he signed an executive order aimed at reducing drug shortages. The shortage of prescription drugs drives up costs, leaves consumers vulnerable to price gouging and threatens our health and safety, he said. This is a problem we cant wait to fix.

In September 2015, after the price of a specialty drug was raised from $13.50 to $750 overnight, candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted, Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous. The next day, she proposed a $250 per month cap on drug spending for Americans with chronic illnesses and conditions.

The Democrats "Better Deal" also targets monopolies and big corporations. We will demand that proposed mergers meet tough new standards to protect competition before approval, Pelosi said.

Yet last year, the Clinton campaign released a fact sheet calling for a new commitment to promote competition, address excessive concentration and the abuse of economic power, and strengthen antitrust laws and enforcement.

Another parallel: Democrats are calling for tax credits to businesses that provide apprenticeships and training for unemployed Americans a strategy Schumer says will bring millions back into the labor force or retrained to secure full-time, higher-paying work.

Yet apprenticeships were featured in Clintons 100-day jobs plan, which she presented at a Las Vegas campaign rally last August: I want to give every business a $1,500 tax credit if they will train apprentices pay those apprentices while theyre getting trained so more people can take advantage of that opportunity.

And then theres Democrats more recent call for an independent trade prosecutor to combat trade cheating.

Sound familiar? Here was Clinton in June 2016: I am going to appoint a trade prosecutor who will report to the president so we are going to end the abuse of our market, our workers, our people.

Other similarities between the "Better Deal" and past Obama and Clinton proposals: Investing in Americas infrastructure and raising the minimum wage.

While Democratic rhetoric on prescription-drug costs, job training, infrastructure and the minimum wage might not be new, a Democratic official tells NBC News that their "Better Deal" agenda aims to better emphasize these proposals as well as provide the partys candidates with a unified message.

Our main job is to give broad, big picture research to our candidates to help them personalize it, localize it, and see the importance of talking about the economy in their districts, says Meredith Kelly, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Kelly adds that Democratic polling concluded that Democratic and swing voters are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of the economy and their place in it. And many of these voters priorities, Kelly says, are reflected in the "Better Deal."

The idea, said Kelly, is to communicate a stronger economic message so that [the Democratic Party] can be as competitive as possible with Republicans when it comes to our trustworthiness on the economy and jobs.

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Democrats' 'Better Deal' Priorities Aren't Exactly New Ideas - NBCNews.com

Texas lawmaker Veasey sees himself as the Democratic party's future News & Observer Rep. Marc Veasey thinks he's the future of the Democratic Party: Moderate, African-American and focused on helping Democrats reconnect with the working-class voters who abandoned them for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. In recent weeks, he's also ... and more »

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Texas lawmaker Veasey sees himself as the Democratic party's future - News & Observer

Following the violence of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., Democrats in the Michigan House of Representatives are stepping up to the plate, pushing for legislation that would require African-American history to be taught in all public schools as a means to combat racism.

We all have to do a better job of getting to know each other and understand each other, said Democratic Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, the lead sponsor of the bill. But it starts in our schools in educating children properly so theyre able to push back when they hear lies pushed forward about different races of people.

Gay-Dagnogo in March introduced the bill, which would require that students in all grades be taught about the history and contributions of African Americans in the development of the U.S. and the world, MLive reports. The horrific acts of violence in Charlottesville reinforce the need for such a requirement, the Detroit Democrat says.

In Michigan, there is a set of expectations for social studies content that does include lessons on slavery and the civil rights movement, as well as the continent of Africa and its people. But Gay-Dagnogo says that those lessons likely vary depending on the district and do not provide a clear understanding of the contributions that African Americans have made to this country and their involvement prior to slavery, post-Reconstruction and on, something she wants to change.

Even after the civil rights era, theres nothing that highlights the positivity and the accomplishments of African Americans in science and engineering and building this country, she said.

Rep. Jeremy Moss, a co-sponsor of the bill, noted that while a more involved education in African-American history is not going to drastically change race relations overnight, it is taking a step in the right direction.

Decent Americans want to think that Nazis and the KKK are from an era of history thats long gone, but those bigots who rallied in Charlottesville were my age, Moss said. So something is happening here that we arent teaching the next generation about the perils of white supremacy.

Read more at MLive.

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Democrats in Mich. House of Representatives Push to Make African-American History Required Learning Following ... - The Root

President Trump accused Obstructionist Democrats on Friday of hurting national security by waging court fights against his policies, in an apparent reference to the battle over his travel ban and other measures that could get renewed attention following the terror attacks in Spain.

The Obstructionist Democrats make Security for our country very difficult. They use the courts and associated delay at all times. Must stop! Trump tweeted, later adding: Radical Islamic Terrorism must be stopped by whatever means necessary! The courts must give us back our protective rights. Have to be tough!

Moments earlier, Trump had said U.S. security officials are on the lookout for any signs of trouble, while assuring that Americas borders are far tougher than ever before.

The president issued the message as Spanish officials make arrests and hunt for more suspects in Thursdays attacks that killed at least 14 in central Barcelona and the resort of Cambrils.

Homeland Security and law enforcement are on alert & closely watching for any sign of trouble. Our borders are far tougher than ever before! Trump tweeted.

Despite his assurance on the border, his administration remains locked in a court battle with opponents of his travel ban.

The Supreme Court plans to take up the case in the fall, while allowing portions of it to go into effect.

In June, the Supreme Court partially lifted lower court injunctions against Trumps executive order that had temporarily banned visas for citizens of six countries. The justices ruling exempted applicants from the ban if they could prove a bona fide relationship with a U.S. person or entity, but the court offered only broad guidelines as to how that should be defined.

The Trump administration then set new criteria for new visa applicants from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen saying they must prove a relationship with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the United States to be eligible. The same requirement, with some exceptions, holds for would-be refugees from all nations who are still awaiting approval for admission to the U.S.

In Spain, a fourth person was arrested on Friday in connection with the terror attacks.

The death toll rose to 14 after a woman died following an injury when a car plowed into pedestrians in Cambrils, about 80 miles south of Barcelona. She is the first fatality of the attack in the popular seaside town.

Police shot and killed five suspects who were equipped with bomb belts in Cambrils. The belts were found later to be fake. It was not immediately clear if the Barcelona van driver was among the arrested or dead suspects.

Local governmentconfirmed the incident in Cambrils was linked to the attack in central Barcelona, which wounded more than 100.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Trump slams Obstructionist Democrats as danger to national ...

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Because, of course, they want rule of law to reign, a group of citizens began digging up the grave of Nathan Bedford Forrest in Memphis this week over his helping found the Ku Klux Klan.

They only got a few shovelfuls before giving up. But they vowed to return with a backhoe to dig the rest of the mans grave up later.

Legally speaking, this would be called grave robbing and vandalism, and might even violate a few of Gods laws, as well. But none of that matters to vigilantes in pursuit against racism and racist racists who practice it.

Real guts, these fine people have, to take a stand against something so popular as racism. Yeah, its right up there with gonorrhea, syphilis, flesh-eating amoebas and child rape. Good old red-white-and-blue racism.

But there is a method to this nihilistic madness. Without racist America, you would not have the political party known as Democrats. Its entire existence, every dime it raises, every position it takes is based on this century-old cliche that somehow America the country that invented freedom and self-governance is still totally racist.

Their leader Nancy Pelosi a full decade after she became Speaker of the House is shocked SHOCKED, I SAY!!! to find that there are Confederate statues all throughout the Capitol building where she has worked for more than a quarter-century.

Suddenly she finds them reprehensible symbols of racism.

There is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or in places of honor across the country, Mrs. Pelosi said.

After, apparently, 30 years of herself celebrating violent bigotry.

In this land of dishonest race hucksters, it is always important to remember that small lies never win. They always go for the BIG LIE.

Remind me, again, who was behind all the violent bigotry of the Civil War? Oh, yeah, it was Democrats. And who was behind all the vestiges of it over the last century? Democrats.

Mrs. Pelosi knows this, of course, because she worked shoulder-to-shoulder for 23 years beside a retired member of the Ku Klux Klan. That would, of course, be the great senator from the great state of West Virginia, Robert C. Byrd, a lifelong Democrat.

As the Exalted Cyclops of the KKK, Mr. Byrd recruited more than 100 people to join his chapter and warned in a letter against America becoming degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.

Modern-day Democrats denounced Byrd in 1989 by naming the suite of offices in the U.S. Capitol that house Democrat leadership the Robert C. Byrd Rooms.

During Black History Month that year, Democrats talked up Byrd for serving in the Senate with great distinction for more than 30 years. They noted his diligent work, attention to detail, boundless energy and intense loyalty.

Funny, Adolf Hitler also noted those same prized characteristics in awards he gave his most efficient oven masons and wire-fence builders.

Democrats also denounced Exalted Cyclops Robert C. Byrd by placing him No. 3 in line for the presidency.

And to think that a racist like Donald Trump sits in a seat once reserved (three times removed) for the great Exalted Cyclops Robert C. Byrd!

Anyway, we shall see if Nancy Pelosi and fellow members of the racist Democratic Cartel will call for the dismantling of the Robert C. Byrd Democratic Senate office rooms. Or the 400 bridges, roads and federal buildings that bear his name in West Virginia.

In his defense, Exalted Cyclops and Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd did later renounce his membership in the Klan.

Once, more recently, while advising that young people get involved in politics, he added this admonishment: Be sure you avoid the Ku Klux Klan. Dont get that albatross around your neck. Once youve made that mistake, you inhibit your operations in the political arena.

So, nothing to do with the KKK being a bunch of dumb, racist scumbags. It just makes it hard to advance very far in politics.

Unless you are a Democrat in the U.S. Senate.

Charles Hurt can be reached at churt@washingtontimes.com and on Twitter, @charleshurt.

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Democrats decry the KKK while forgetting legacy of one of ...