brooklynite
brooklynite's JournalFarage to Johnson: join forces or Brexit party will contest every seat
Source: The Guardian
Nigel Farage has launched his general election campaign by saying his Brexit party will contest every seat in the country unless Boris Johnson agrees to drop his deal with the EU and sign up to a “leave alliance”.
The former Ukip leader also praised Donald Trump for his intervention in which he suggested the prime minister and the Brexit party should form an alliance.
At the launch in central London on Friday, Farage said his message for the prime minister was: “Drop the deal because it’s not Brexit. Drop the deal because as these weeks go by and people realise what you’ve signed up to … people will not like it.
“Simply, it is not Brexit. What we’re doing here is kicking the can down the road.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/01/farage-to-johnson-join-forces-or-brexit-party-will-contest-every-seat
Elizabeth Warren proposes new taxes to fund Medicare-for-all but says middle class would be spared
Washington PostThe plan is designed to hit corporations and the wealthy, including a provision requiring companies to send most of the funds they currently spend on employee health contributions to the federal government. It also would expand her signature wealth tax proposal and would make cuts to military spending.
Warren’s new health-care financing blueprint comes at a pivotal moment in the Democratic presidential primary, as the Massachusetts senator’s steady rise in the polls has prompted sustained attacks by competitors about how she would pay for her plans. As someone known to come up with politically savvy ways to sell dense policy ideas, communicating the gist of this 20-page proposal will be a major test of her candidacy.
It’s also likely to serve as the next flashpoint in the primary race, coming out as the top candidates in the Democratic field are heading to Iowa for a busy weekend of political and campaign events starting Friday night.
Warren Leads Tight Iowa Race as Biden Fades, Poll Finds (Wa 22, Sa 19, Bu 18, Bi 17)
New York TimesThe top Democratic presidential candidates are locked in a close race in the 2020 Iowa caucuses, with Senator Elizabeth Warren slightly ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., according to a New York Times/Siena College poll of likely Democratic caucusgoers.
Ms. Warren appears to have solidified her gains in the first voting state while Mr. Buttigieg has climbed quickly to catch up with Mr. Sanders and overtake Mr. Biden, the onetime front-runner. Ms. Warren is drawing support from 22 percent of likely caucusgoers, while Mr. Sanders is at 19 percent, followed by Mr. Buttigieg at 18 percent and Mr. Biden at 17 percent.
The survey is full of alarming signs for Mr. Biden, who entered the race in April at the top of the polls in Iowa and nationally. He is still in the lead in most national polls, but his comparatively weak position in the earliest primary and caucus states now presents a serious threat to his candidacy. And Mr. Biden’s unsteadiness appears to have opened a path in the race for other Democrats closer to the political middle, particularly Mr. Buttigieg.
The poll reveals a race in flux but not in disarray, framed by a stark debate about the direction of the Democratic Party and by a degree of fluidity arising from Mr. Biden’s travails. In the early states, at least, the former vice president appears to be buckling on one side to the expansive populism of Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders, and on the other to Mr. Buttigieg’s calls for generational change.
Elizabeth Warren did not have a plan for this
PoliticoAn Elizabeth Warren event is like the candidate herself: well-organized, precise, unpretentious. The candidate, almost always clad in her campaign uniform of black sneakers, black pants, and a black camisole covered in a colorful sweater or jacket, stands before a single over-sized American flag. There’s some Fourth of July-style bunting along the walls, but the vibe is frugality rather than fireworks.
The real money is spent on organization. There are the clipboard kids who politely swarm every attendee and make it difficult to leave without serving up some personal information. Voters who are allowed to ask questions during the brief Q & A period are decided ahead of time via a lottery. Frequently the longest period of the event is spent on the picture line (they aren’t selfies), which is designed to spread the Warren message through social media. It’s as if the Warren team took the chaos and serendipity of an old-fashioned New England town hall and had McKinsey reinvent it to maximize every efficiency.
The Warren stump speech is simple, concise, and unchanging. She identifies three big problems and proposes three big plans: “corruption,” which she will tackle with an anti-lobbying package; inequality, which she will attack with a wealth tax that funds her education and child care programs; and the decline of democracy, which, among other things, she would attempt to fix by asking the Senate to relinquish the filibuster.
There is one issue that she doesn’t dwell on: Medicare for All. The enormously expensive (some $30 trillion), difficult to pay for (she’s already spent the wealth tax on other things), and politically dangerous (polls show Democratic support declining) plan that would make health care a basic right in America has been like an asteroid hurtling toward the Warren campaign. There’s still time to get out of the way but there’s also a chance it might blow up her campaign.
No rain in sight for L.A. area for next few weeks; critical fire weather warnings extended
Source: Los Angeles Times
The unusually long Santa Ana wind event is expected to ease Thursday evening. And with it, the fire risk will be reduced as well.
But there is not much good news on the horizon, with forecasters seeing little chance of rain in the next few weeks.
Critical fire weather warnings have been extended through Friday night for the windiest spots of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, continuing red-flag conditions for an additional 24 hours. The red-flag warnings, which sound the alarm for high winds, dry air and parched vegetation, will persist for inland mountains and valleys in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and the Santa Clarita Valley because of ongoing winds from the northeast and very dry air. Other areas were expected to see red-flag warnings expire as gusts ease Thursday evening to 25 mph to 35 mph.
Top wind gusts recorded Thursday were still strong — 67 mph in a Ventura County coastal valley, the National Weather Service reported, not much weaker than a peak recorded Wednesday of 78 mph at Boney Peak in the Santa Monica Mountains. The air is still bone dry, with relative humidity levels in Simi Valley, the site of the fire that threatened the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, at 8% Thursday.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-31/no-rain-in-sight-for-l-a-area-next-few-weeks-keeping-fire-danger-high
SCOOP: Tester Mentioned as Potential Senate Majority Leader in 2020
Montana PostThis post from Great Falls – Cascade County Democratic Central Committee was sent me as proof and it isn’t the first time I have heard the rumor. I have heard discussions are occurring all over Montana.
This is incredible news for Montanans as we are all proud of the consummate statesman, Mike Mansfield, the only Montanan to serve as Senate Majority Leader. He also holds the distinction of serving in the role the longest from 1961-1978. He also ushered through the Senate some of the most important legislation in our nation’s history. Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, The Clean Air and Water Acts and much more.
Trump, Lifelong New Yorker, Declares Himself a Resident of Florida
Source: New York Times
He came of age in Queens, built Trump Tower, starred in “The Apprentice,” bankrupted his businesses six times, and drew cheering crowds and angry protesters to Fifth Avenue after his election. Through it all, President Trump — rich, bombastic and to many Americans the epitome of a New Yorker — was intertwined with the city he called his lifelong home.
No longer.
In late September, Mr. Trump changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Palm Beach, Fla., according to documents filed with the Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Melania Trump, the first lady, also changed her residence to Palm Beach in an identical document.
Each of the Trumps filed a “declaration of domicile” saying that the Mar-a-Lago Club, Mr. Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, will be their permanent residence.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/politics/trump-new-york-florida-primary-residence.html
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Name: Chris BastianGender: Male
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Home country: USA
Member since: 2002
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