The Progressive Wing

That is very good news.

It appears that Davids is going to win KS-03 as Johnson County continues to count its votes. She pulled ahead about 4 am today.

Ironic that a very white suburb voted more for her, despite having no platform to run on.

In other good news.

*And a @justicedems. https://t.co/jxDdGayRsI

— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) August 8, 2018

The final result for KS3 is in with Davids winning by about 2000 votes. 37.3% to 33.9%. I think this will be a difficult pickup for the Dems in any case because 15,000 more people voted in the Republican primary, which was less competitive.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article216160795.html#storylink=cpy

Sharice Davids could make history in November after Kansas Democrats selected the Johnson County attorney as their nominee for a race that could help decide control of the U.S. House.

Davids, the winner of a six-way primary race, would be the first Native American woman elected to Congress if she prevails over U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, the incumbent Republican from Overland Park, in the general election.

She also would be the first openly LGBT person to represent Kansas at either the federal or state level.

Davids, 38, was raised by a single mother and went to Johnson County Community College before earning a law degree from Cornell University. She worked for a time as a private attorney before taking a job at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Davids was a White House fellow in 2016 and then returned to Kansas.

Davids supports Medicaid expansion; tax cuts for the middle class, as opposed to the Trump tax cuts that she sees as a giveaway to the wealthy; and reforming immigration while protecting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients.

Her contest against Yoder in November’s general election sets up what will likely be one of the most closely watched elections for the U.S. House.

The DCCC had already made its mind up to throw money at 02 & 03 in KS, which makes me wonder if some last minute funds came in under the radar to help Davids.

I hope she lays out a platform to run on because right now, she doesn’t have one.

A word to the wise: she better support Medicare For All. T and R, Spring Texan!!

she supports expanding medicaid, and not medicare, apparently, which is a big reason for the “meh” from me.

meh. wish ours had won. they are experts at weaseling their candidates in, although of course, i’m being a bernie bro to even speak against such a “social-issue” qualified candidate.

The weird thing is that Tlaib is losing the simultaneous special election to fill the remainder of Conyers term by about 1,000 votes. The difference was that there were more candidates for the primary. The supporters of the two candidates who didn’t run in the special favored Jones. It’s too bad because Tlaib would have gotten a leg up on seniority.

Thanks so much to all of you that stayed up on all the candidates and stayed up into the night! :O)

Australia’s China Reset: The rest of the world is watching how we counter Beijing’s campaign of influence.

Assuming this is also an open thread, I have this long, somewhat dense article by a consultant to the Australian government on China’s growing influence in Australia and other countries, and how they use “soft” influence that leads to harder measures. Of course, he has to be circumspect and it’s not a straightforward thing.

Interesting though. I watched Secret City, with Anna Torv, on Netflix, and it is a spy mini-series about this very thing and about how Australia is following us with draconian “security” laws. Good show and an article on a subject that I haven’t seen but seems to be quite real and upcoming.

The CCP’s international influence system is a complex, subtle and deeply institutionalised set of inducements and threats designed to shape the way outsiders talk, think and behave. The modus operandi is to offer privileged access, build personal rapport and reward those who deliver. It seeks common interests and cultivates relationships of dependency with chosen partners. The Party uses overt propaganda and diplomacy, quasi-covert fronts and proxies, and covert operations to frame debates, manage perceptions, and tilt the political and strategic landscape to its advantage.

Beyond the foundational assumption of a single, civilisational “China”, the specific demands of United Front work are framed by permutations of three narratives: China is inherently peaceful and beneficent, the growth of Chinese power is inexorable, and China is vengeful and dangerous if provoked.

These narratives are internally contradictory but consistent over time. The first two are delivered openly by leaders, diplomats and state propaganda. The third is usually delivered via back channels with plausibly deniable connections to the state: PLA “hawks”, specialist military hardware websites, academic forums, personal meetings with top leaders, editorials in the Global Times. Together, this messaging orchestra is designed to condition audiences into believing that the rewards are great, resistance is futile, and outright opposition may be suicidal.

The meta-narrative of Beijing’s ever-growing power is the drumbeat that accompanies China’s policies of territorial coercion across its southern and eastern seas. It is the subtext that persuades foreign governments to remain silent as Beijing abandons restraint in the restive borderlands of Tibet and Xinjiang. It is also the incentive for economic beneficiaries to avoid seeing, or to rationalise, or to even actively support the Party’s efforts to degrade the values and institutions of civil society.

I don’t know how reliable this author is, but here’s his bio:

John Garnaut is a consultant to Australian government and private clients. He was previously Fairfax’s China’s correspondent (2007–13) and Asia-Pacific Editor (2014–15), Senior Advisor to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (Nov 2015 – Sept 2016), and Principal Advisor (International) at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Oct 2016 – Jun 2017).

Published in The Monthly, from Australia.

Wasn’t Turnbull considered RW by Aussie standards? That propaganda messaging is the same no matter what language it’s communicated in!

LieparDestin

She currently is in third place less than 3,000 votes behind the Republican. Washington is a mail in state and the late vote always skews left so she has a chance to make the top 2. Adam Smith has about 50% of the vote so far.

Wow, c’mon Washington State. I wandered over to TOP and commented on last night’s results. Wonder if I will get bojo’d? 🙂

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/08/08/rep-christopher-collins-r-ny-charged-with-insider-trading-federal-prosecutors-announce/?utm_term=.563bb3c19ba4

Surprise surprise. Another Republican crook

Federal prosecutors charged Rep. Chris Collins (N.Y.), one of President Trump’s earliest congressional supporters, with insider trading on Wednesday, alleging the congressman schemed with his son to avoid significant losses in an biotechnology investment.

Collins’s son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins’s fiancee, were also charged.

The indictment, secured by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, is related to Collins’s relationship with Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company that was developing a treatment for multiple sclerosis. Collins was the company’s largest shareholder and on its board of directors, giving him access to confidential corporate information.

The congressman illegally shared bad news about a drug trial the company had been anticipating with his son before it was announced publicly, according to prosecutors. Cameron Collins traded on the information and passed the news along to Zarsky. The trades allowed Cameron Collins and Zarsky to avoid $768,000 in losses, according to the indictment.

Prior to Wednesday’s indictment, Collins was already under scrutiny for his role in promoting Innate Immunotherapeutics, which had been developing a new therapy for multiple sclerosis before a high-stakes clinical trial failed last year, essentially putting the company out of business. In October, the Office of Congressional Ethics found “substantial reason to believe” that Collins violated federal law and House rules by meeting with federal officials in his congressional capacity to seemingly benefit the firm and also that he shared private information about the firm in order to solicit investors.

Among those Collins allegedly solicited investments from were family members, his congressional staff and House colleagues — including former congressman Tom Price, who later served as Department of Health and Human Services secretary. The House Ethics Committee is reviewing the Office of Congressional Ethics report but has not taken action against Collins.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/08/you-celebrate-the-victories-and-keep-pressing-on

What does Abdul’s loss “mean”? The New York Times said it is “a reminder that Democratic primary voters across the country are not necessarily motivated chiefly by liberal ideology.” Well, that’s technically true, but not as meaningful as it seems. The result does mean that Democratic voters don’t just vote automatically for the most progressive candidate. But nobody thinks that anyway; we all know it requires organization and money to win as well. We have to be careful about what lessons we draw from this: Leftists will point out that the other two candidates had far, far more money than El-Sayed. Millionaire businessman Shri Thanedar spent $12 million of his own money on the race, and managed to pull 17.7 percent of the vote. He seemed to be running for purely opportunistic reasons, and pretended to be a Bernie Sanders progressive despite having recently supported Republicans. He was a borderline fraud (and is actually being sued for fraud). He had once tortured a hundred beagles! I mean, Thanedar was an utterly ridiculous candidate, but he had one thing: $12 million. And he flooded the race with advertising. He was everywhere.

The fact that Shri Thanedar got 17.7 percent of the vote tells us something sad but obvious about American politics: It’s driven in large part by money. Money isn’t everything. Shri was never going to actually win. But money can do a hell of a lot. When I visited Michigan, I watched Abdul on the phone trying to convince medium-sized donors to give several hundred dollars so he could afford to run another local TV ad. He had to spend 35-40 hours per week doing this, just to have any television advertising at all. That’s a second full-time job in addition to all the other campaigning, and it’s a full-time job that Thanedar, being self-funded, didn’t need to do. The advantage that money gives you is absurd. If you don’t have it, you have no alternative but to try to build an organization from scratch, hoping you can inspire people enough to work for you for free. If you’re running on a platform that wealthy people aren’t going to like, as Abdul was, it’s going to be extremely difficult to get your word out to voters, because who will fund it? The race certainly proves, to some degree, that our politics is corrupt: A millionaire could simply buy nearly 20 percent of the vote. Others will see the result differently, and think it proves that progressive politics aren’t viable in the Midwest or whatever. I don’t think that’s tenable. Bernie Sanders won Michigan with the exact same political platform as Abdul. The ideas did not change. And let’s remember that Shri Thanedar, fraud that he was, lifted the Sanders platform as well, and ran on single-payer healthcare. If you add the two single-payer candidates together, they got very nearly half the vote.

There are other factors we can think about here, though I am not sure how to actually figure out which mattered. Abdul was young, didn’t have many political connections, hadn’t served in the state legislature. Perhaps it was just premature. Perhaps he didn’t do a good job of campaigning in rural areas, or didn’t sufficiently connect with black voters. Note that these factors are campaign-specific, though: To the degree they affected the race, they keep us from being able to draw broad conclusions about “progressivism and the midwest.” My friend Eli Massey says that one way to look at Abdul’s result is as kind of impressive, given that “El-Sayed is young, new to politics, and beat an opportunistic millionaire that was chasing after the same voter base.”

Giving ‘Hope to Workers Across the Nation,’ Missouri Votes to Repeal GOP Attack on Unions

It’s the end of a hard-fought campaign for labor organizers and their allies in this conservative state. Activists for the ‘No’ campaign collected twice the required number of signatures to put the legislation to a vote,” Jones noted following labor’s victory. “At its core, the result is a sign that even voters in red states can be persuaded of the importance of organized labor to worker prosperity.”

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/21366/missouri_right_to_work_janus_prop_a_election

After a string of victories across the country in recent years—including this summer’s Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court ruling—the anti-union “right-to-work” movement has met its match in Missouri.

In Tuesday’s primary election, Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition A, a ballot measure that would have made state the 28th in the nation to adopt a “right-to-work” (RTW) law. Designed to bankrupt organized labor, the deceptively named legislation would have prohibited private sector unions from collecting fair share fees from workers they are legally required to represent.

With the defeat of Prop A in Missouri, the U.S. labor movement has passed its first major test since the Janus decision in June, in which the Supreme Court’s conservative majority essentially imposed “right-to-work” on the nation’s entire public sector.

“The timing of this is essential. I think everyone wants to write the labor movement’s obituary,” AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler recently said. “It’s going to energize and activate us and show that we fight back.”

Overcoming ‘Decades of Corruption and Systemic Racism,’ Reformer Wesley Bell Ousts Prosecutor Who Let Michael Brown’s Killer Off the Hook

In a remarkable upset victory that could have a “transformative” effect on St. Louis’s deeply racist criminal justice system, progressive reformer and Ferguson city council member Wesley Bell on Tuesday handily defeated 27-year Democratic incumbent Bob McCulloch in the race to become St. Louis County’s top prosecutor.

“Wesley Bell and an amazing team of volunteers ousted a 27 year incumbent! With his win tonight St. Louis County Prosecutor-elect Bell is breaking through decades of corruption and systemic racism in the criminal justice system.”
—Democracy for America

McCulloch became “notorious” nationwide after his refusal to prosecute police officer Darren Wilson for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014—an event that sparked weeks of protests and galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement.

Among the Biggest Grifters in American History’: Wilbur Ross Accused of Stealing More Than $120 Million

But a deeply reported investigation published by Forbes on Tuesday—which includes the testimony of more than 20 people who previously worked with Ross in the private sector—alleges that Trump’s commerce secretary could “rank among the biggest grifters in American history.”

That is why Trump chose him for the cabinet. He wants to pick a few pointers on how he did it.

The Case for Imposing Sanctions on Donald Trump and His US-Based Business Empire
It’s time for Americans to get a taste of their own medicine. The world should blacklist Trump, his associates, and his businesses.

Well, the world has a chance to start making sense again. And I’m not talking about more retaliatory tariffs, however justified those might be given Trump’s sanction-anything-that-moves policy.

The better way to go is for the international community to treat the Trump administration like a criminal syndicate. Former Canadian diplomat Scott Gilmore gets it right:

I propose that instead of taxing the import of American serviettes, we tax Trump. In the spirit of the Magnitsky Act, Canada and the western allies come together to collectively pressure the only pain point that matters to this President: his family and their assets. This could take the form of special taxation on their current operations, freezing of assets, or even sanctions against senior staff. Canada could add a tax to Trump properties equal to any tariff unilaterally imposed by Washington. The European Union could revoke any travel visas for senior staff in the Trump organization. And the United Kingdom could temporarily close his golf course.

Some countries are experimenting with this approach. Turkey, for instance, is retaliating against a U.S. freeze on the country’s interior and justice ministers by applying the same penalty to their U.S. counterparts. There’s ample room for this kind of retaliation. The Trump administration, after all, put nearly a thousand people and businesses on the U.S. blacklist last year – a 30 percent increase over Barack Obama’s last year in office. It’s just a matter of time before more widespread retaliatory blacklisting begins.

I have to say, I’m not entirely against other countries slapping some fines on us. Many Americans may not even realize what sanctions and tariffs do, until we get a taste of it at home. I’d rather get these retaliatory measures than bombs, that’s for sure. And there’s a whole grey world as to tariffs. If done right, they can protect national communities in every country and we relied on them for a long time. And I especially like the idea of taxing the administration.

And hey, can we even stop Iran from using U.S. dollars in its international transactions? What happens if they do it anyway? I would, I think.

As you can see, I could use a class or two on tariffs and sanctions.

wi60

Kinda lioke the idea of other countries slapping tariffs on Trumpcorp’s properties in their country, Hey the best way to hurt a billionaire is to make them loose their money

I don’t have the faintest idea as to how this will turn out.

BREAKING: US Senate Intelligence Committee calls editor @JulianAssange to testify. Letter delivered via US embassy in London. WikiLeaks' legal team say they are "considering the offer but the conditions must conform to a high ethical standard". Also: https://t.co/pPf0GTjTlp pic.twitter.com/gQIUstbGbq

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 8, 2018

why not do it digitally?

A ‘Complete Fabrication’: FCC Chair Ajit Pai Finally Admits Claim of Attack on Net Neutrality Comment System Was Total BS

FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel—who has forcefully defended net neutrality and was one of two members of the panel to vote in favor of protecting the rules in December—said the new report confirms that the comments system crashed not because of hackers, but because of overwhelming support for the open internet.

“The Inspector General Report tells us what we knew all along: the FCC’s claim that it was the victim of a DDoS attack during the net neutrality proceeding is bogus,” said Rosenworcel. “What happened instead is obvious—millions of Americans overwhelmed our online system because they wanted to tell us how important internet openness is to them and how distressed they were to see the FCC roll back their rights. It’s unfortunate that this agency’s energy and resources needed to be spent debunking this implausible claim.”

so do we get to change the outcome now that we know the input that was meant to be relied upon was false?

Par for the course. Lying is what Trump and this administration do best.

That’s been going down since Nixon.

Greg Palast is on Thomm Hartman’s show, and it appears 100,000 votes are still locked in voting machines in Johnson County.

I still find it probable that Welder lost for that reason.

any chance of that changing once votes are counted? how can they decide without those votes? i thought Welder won—dang!

Welder has conceded already. He isn’t trying to drag this out.

It’s much wilder on the Republican Governor side where the gap is less than 200 votes and one of the candidates is charged with the recount. It was assumed that Johnson County would put Colyer over Kobach because it was supposedly the home of less crazy Republicans and then counting stopped due to a “glitch.”

TYT is sending a reporter to Kansas to investigate “the glitch” further. Cenk announced that bit on their show today.

double bummer. i hope Welder runs again for something else. dam.

the usual…glitch. they don’t even need a glitch if they find a good hacker.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/08/07/brenda-jones-john-conyers-seat/897996002/

I just can’t figure this one out?

Rashida Tlaib appeared headed for a victory over Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones Wednesday morning in a tight race to replace former U.S. Rep. John Conyers.

In a Democratic primary considered all-but-decisive in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, Tlaib led with 33.2 percent of the vote, compared with 29.2 percent for Jones and 14 percent for Bill Wild.

Yet at the same time voters did this.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2018/08/08/rashida-tlaib-golf-cart-grassroots-historic-win/934690002/

In a separate race, Jones remains ahead by less than 1,000 votes in a special primary election to finish out the last couple months of the unfinished term for Conyers, who resigned in December.
With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Jones led that race by 37.4 percent to Tlaib’s 36.2 percent, according to unofficial results. Jones and her campaign spokeswoman could not be immediately reached Wednesday for comment.

So if I understand the results correctly Jones appears to be the one to finish Conyer’s remaining term yet Tlaib represents the Dems in November.

The unofficial Wayne County results show that I've won the full term election, and that @DetCouncilPres Jones has won the special election to complete John Conyers Jr.'s term. Congratulations to President Jones, who has done so much good for so many working class Detroiters!

— Rashida For Congress (@RashidaTlaib) August 8, 2018

Yes. Except the lame duck session goes through the end of the year. There were a couple more candidates on the primary ballot who were not on the special election ballot whose supporters must have favored Jones more.

alrighty then! Go Tlaib!

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/08/08/michigan-governor-candidates-running-mates/933290002/

I have a suggestion but I doubt it will be picked up on.

LANSING — Bring on the running mates.

With the Nov. 6 matchup for governor set, Republican Bill Schuette and Democrat Gretchen Whitmer are soon expected to announce their choices for running mates, who would serve as lieutenant governor for the winning candidate.

I am suggesting that Whitmer choose Abdul El Sayed as her running mate. It would eliminate any friction between the progressive and more moderate factions.

However it is more likely That Whitmer will choose someone else as a payback to the Democratic establishment types.

Maybe I am reading between the lines, but I suspect Whitmer has aims beyond MI. She will pick (using AOC nomenclature) a plain saltine cracker and not someone who is Muslim. But, if she wins, I hope he is named to some post within her administration, if for any reason, to make it more inclusive.

Abdul needs to build on what he’s done. Run again as a true public servant. Next election cycle is 2020. Whitmer will serve for 4 years. He ought to aim at a US House Rep seat. Continue to push MFA. LD: Beto is now being taken seriously over at TOP. I commented. He will win. You guys are lucky. I have to vote Bill Nelson, 80 yo versus Sick Rott. Nelson has ecology cred. There’s no accurate description for his opponent who is indicted for Medicare fraud. It still was re-elected by the voters. Go Figure. 🙁

A very appreciative T and R, Benny!! This FL Futurist has been shaking her victory fist!! A few thoughts from early Wednesday morning. El-Sayed might have lost, but he will win the next election he campaigns in. Whitmer better pay attention especially on MFA. Abdul did very well. Look at what he was up against. Thompson and Welder…I am so overjoyed. Yes! Yes! Yes! Thompson will win the district in November. Welder’s race is going into recount. Missouri defeated Right to Serf. These are YUGE!! I’m watching these bellwether ‘red’ states. There is a lot of action going on that the Craporate MSM misses. Good. Best thing for us is to stay under their idiotic YUPPIE radar for now. The FRightwingnuts and their Fundie soldiers have been scheming and plotting for decades!! Try over 50 years. Here we are only 3 years down the road from when the Bernster started campaigning. Hold that thought for a moment. See what I mean?
—————————————————
I wrote this comment first thing in the am. Welder lost but not by much. Thompson won–another Berniac winning a primary in a ‘super red’ district. The GOPukes better pay attention cos he will win the election. Har-har-har!

Fox watching the henhouse.

All of this is stunning. Kobach gets to oversee the recount for a race *he is in,* and if his opponent in that race wants to pay for a hand recount, Kobach gets to set the price. https://t.co/YoAM4yxkf2

— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) August 8, 2018

wi60

Heard a news blerb Cruz is getting desperate as he called Trumpcorp to visit texas to help him. After what Trumpcorp called Cruz and his wife during the election Gawd !!!!!! Go Beto go!!!! your making the R’s very very scared.

Yeppers, Lyin’ Ted is sweatin’ bullets.

magsview

Hello all! Have been out of the country and missed you.

I took a break from politics for the most part, so am catching up.

Sorry about Welder, but not surprised. The establishment Dems put the kibosh on him, saw that one shaping up. It would be nice if Sharice outlined some kind of actual platform other than the cookie cutter Dem one.

Really sorry about Abdul, but also not surprised. I am not at all impressed by Whitmer. Ick.

Nice about Klaib. She seems to have also, like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, pulled it off via the knock on tons of doors route. I respect that.

Speaking of Alexandria, seems like she’s been taking a lot of incoming fire. They, and you know who I mean by ‘they’, doing everything they can to squash her.

What’s up with Ben Jealous? Hmmmmm

Hi LD/JD: question here. Isn’t Beto part Hispanic? So, wouldn’t it be correct to describe him as ‘part Latino’? Hope you 2 have a good day, and thanks! 🙂

magsview

Lol, thank goodness for the smart comedians who can see the b.s.:

My primary voting guide is EMILY'S LIST: I oppose whomever they endorse. Their name stands 4 "Early Money Is Like Yeast: (it makes dough rise)." I'm trying to think of names that spells out what they really do. ALICIA: Affluent Ladies Inspiring Centrists in America? Other names?

— Host of the Katie Halper Show (@kthalps) August 8, 2018