January 11, 2016

Hillary Clinton to Planned Parenthood: ‘As Your President, I Will Always Have Your Back’

HOOKSETT, New Hampshire -- Hillary Clinton on Sunday cast herself as Planned Parenthood's most electable champion, pledging at an endorsement event that, as president, she would always stand with the women's health organization.

Before a fired-up crowd of primarily pink-clad women, Clinton alluded to the controversies the group has faced since a series of videos by anti-abortion activists were released in 2015. Clinton argued that Republicans would "accelerate the assault on access to safe and legal abortion" and that she is the person best positioned to beat them in November.

"I will always defend Planned Parenthood and I will say consistently and proudly, Planned Parenthood should be funded, supported and protected, not undermined, misrepresented and demonized," Clinton said. "As your president, I will always have your back."


http://whotv.com/2016/01/10/hillary-clinton-to-planned-parenthood-as-your-president-i-will-always-have-your-back/

January 11, 2016

Jane Sanders Withheld Information From Burlington College Donors While Overstating Their Pledges.

Former Burlington College president Jane Sanders overstated donation amounts in a bank application for a $6.7 million loan that was used by the college to purchase a prime 33-acre property on Lake Champlain in 2010.

Sanders told People’s United Bank that the college had $2.6 million in pledged donations to support the purchase of the former Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington property on North Avenue. The college, however, received only $676,000 in actual donations from 2010 through 2014, according to figures provided by Burlington College.

That’s far less than the $5 million Sanders listed as likely pledges in the loan agreement, and less than a third of the $2.14 million Sanders had promised People’s Bank the college would collect in cash during the four-year period.

Two people whose pledges are listed as confirmed in the loan agreement told VTDigger that their personal financial records show their pledges were overstated. Neither were aware that the pledges were used to secure the loan.

Burlington College also cited a $1 million bequest as a pledged donation that would be paid out over six years, even though the money would only be available after the donor’s death.

http://vtdigger.org/2015/09/13/jane-sanders-overstated-donation-amounts-in-loan-application-for-burlington-college/

January 11, 2016

Obama declines to back Democrat candidate before primaries over

Sitting presidents traditionally do not endorse candidates until after a nominee has been chosen. George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Regan, Lyndon John and Dwight Eisenhower all stayed out of the process.



http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35276042

January 11, 2016

Jane Sanders took $200k severance after costing local parish at least $1.5 million.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington lost at least $1.5 million and perhaps as much as $2 million on a $3.65 million loan to Burlington College, according to financial statements from the church. In 2010, Burlington College bought the former diocese headquarters on North Avenue for $10 million. The diocese sold the property to help cover the cost of a $17 million settlement with victims of priest sex abuse in Vermont. The college borrowed heavily to buy the 33-acre prime Lake Champlain waterfront property. The purchase was part of an ambitious expansion plan for the school, led by Jane Sanders, the former Burlington College president and the wife of presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders. In August 2011, Jane Sanders resigned (link is external) as doubts emerged about her plans and fundraising strategy. The college trustees gave her a $200,000 early exit package.

Sanders hoped to double the size of the college (link is external) and create a new campus at the diocese location. When she signed off on a $6.7 million loan from People’s United Bank and a $3.65 million loan from the diocese in 2010, she was banking on pledged donations from supporters.

The diocese loan was settled earlier this year, and recently released documents show the diocese lost $1 million in principal payments, plus $500,000 to $1 million in interest accrued but never paid over a five-year period.

A VTDigger investigation in September showed that Sanders overstated pledged donations (link is external) used to secure the People’s bank loan. Pledged donations never materialized, according to documents and statements from college officials. Ambitious plans to boost enrollments failed, pushing the college toward financial collapse.

Sanders declined to be interviewed for this and previous stories about the loans.

To avoid bankruptcy, the college sold 27 acres to developer Eric Farrell in February for $7 million. At about the same time, Burlington College settled the loan with the diocese.


http://www.vermontbiz.com/news/december/catholic-church-takes-loss-loan-settlement-burlington-college

January 11, 2016

Sanders Won't Say Vote Granting Immunity For Gun Manufacturers Was Wrong

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton is cornering Bernie Sanders on gun control every chance she can get, but the Vermont senator isn't backing down on his history of votes against stronger gun legislation.

Defending his vote in favor of a 2005 bill that granted broad immunity to gun manufacturers from civil liability lawsuits in state and federal courts, Sanders said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that "there were aspects of it that were absolutely right."
Rather than saying his vote was wrong, Sanders shifted, saying aspects of the bill were wrong.

"I will vote to revise that bill," said Sanders, who is challenging Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary. "There are parts of it that made sense to me."

The legislation shields gun manufacturers and sellers from being sued if a gun or ammunition they sold is used in a crime, including a mass shooting.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sanders-gun-immunity-vote_56927ed7e4b0cad15e652de1?utm_hp_ref=politics

January 11, 2016

Supergirl & The Flash Producer Would Love To Do A Crossover

ome things never change.

Greg Berlanti, executive producer on both Supergirl and The Flash, has again been asked whether the two will cross over.

And he's given his usual answer: He'd love to, but that's not entirely his decision.

“I would love it, a lot of things would have to go right and people would have to say ‘Yes,’” Berlanti told EW at the Television Critics Association. “It would have to figured out very soon. It would all have to be figured out in the next month or so. As it remains right now we’ve talked internally about how cool it would be, but we haven’t had official conversations. [The CW chief Mark Pedowitz] is supportive.”

There's a ticking clock, in part, because both Supergirl and The Flash are filming episodes that will air late in their seasons...and Supergirl's order is only twenty episodes, not 22, meaning that they have a little less time to work with.

From the start of the season, CBS has been resistant to a crossover, which wouldn't be as practically easy as The Flash's crossovers with Arrow. Not only do the series air on different networks, but they film in different cities (and countries), rather than on the same lot.


http://comicbook.com/2016/01/10/supergirl-the-flash-producer-would-love-to-do-a-crossover/

January 10, 2016

Twitter Slumps to All-Time Low as Product Changes Loom

Twitter Inc. is at an all-time low just months after co-founder Jack Dorsey took the helm as chief executive officer.

Since its 2013 initial public offering, the company has disappointed investors with slowing user growth and sales. While Dorsey aims to turn it around with product improvements, the moves haven’t yet affected the company’s numbers.

Twitter shares fell 1.4 percent to $19.98 at the close in New York, their lowest since the company’s initial public offering in November 2013. The stock fell 35 percent in 2015. The decline came after U.S. equity markets suffered their worst week since 2011.

Dorsey said this week that Twitter is looking at new ways to display text, including letting people post longer tweets. He noted that people are already sharing longer messages by posting screenshots of text, although he added that he expects most tweets to remain “short and sweet and conversational.” The maximum number of characters in a post could be raised to as much as 10,000, a person with knowledge of the matter said, well beyond Twitter’s iconic 140-character limit.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-08/twitter-slumps-to-all-time-low-as-product-changes-loom

January 10, 2016

Maine Democrats To Press For Impeachment Of Gov. LePage

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The furor over Gov. Paul LePage's comment about "young white" girls being impregnated by out-of-state drug dealers is last week's news. This week could bring an impeachment order calling for an investigation into the Republican' alleged abuse of power.

A group of lawmakers led by Rep. Ben Chipman, a Portland Democrat, submitted the order, and Chipman said it's due to be debated on the House floor on Thursday. But House Democrats are divided, and the situation remains fluid.

"Anything can happen between now and then," said Rep. Sara Gideon, assistant Democratic leader.

Some lawmakers insist the Legislature must take some sort of action, whether it's censure or impeachment, to punish LePage for using his influence to pressure a charter school operator into rescinding a job offer to House Speaker Mark Eves, a Democrat.

Chipman said he has eight co-sponsors for his proposal to create a special committee to investigate that incident and seven others in which the governor allegedly overstepped his authority. The panel would issue its recommendations to lawmakers by April 1.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/maine-democrats-impeach-gov-lepage

January 10, 2016

Juror reveals Steven Avery verdicts were a compromise

Demos's producing partner Laura Ricciardi said this juror believes a retrial is warranted -- somewhere far from Wisconsin, where the original trial took place. Ricciardi said the juror "told us the verdicts in Steven's trial were a compromise. That was the actual word the juror used, and went on to describe the jurors ultimately trading votes in the jury room. Explicitly discussing, 'If you vote guilty on this count, I will vote not guilty on this count.' That was a significant revelation."

According to the juror, the finding of not guilty on the count of mutilating a corpse -- a "split verdict" -- was intended to "send a message to the appellate courts," Demos said.

"They thought that Steven would get a new trial. That was sort of their plan and it didn't work out that way," Demos said.

Wisconsin's Supreme Court rejected Avery's later bid.


http://fox6now.com/2016/01/06/juror-reveals-steven-avery-verdicts-were-a-compromise-does-that-give-him-any-hope-for-new-trial/

January 10, 2016

Is "Great Ground Game" the New Unskewed Polling?

During the daily punishment of listening to Fox News everyday, I just heard a segment on the Republican primary. The gist was that people in the know are saying that this year "a great ground game" is more important than its even been before. And it may count for a lot more than great poll numbers this time around.

Let me cut to the chase. No, it's not. It's definitely not. As I mentioned late last year, 'ground game' - organizational structure on the ground in a certain area to turn out voters on election day - is very important. But it's only important in terms of relatively small margins. Maybe you're polling at 40% and your amazing ground game got you to 43%. Maybe Trump is at 35% and Cruz is at 29% and Cruz's amazing ground operation gets it to a tie. Caucuses are sort of an exception. Since it involves going and sitting around in a school gymnasium or similar place for several hours one night. But, if you're getting killed in the polls, your ground game is definitely not going to help you in a primary.

But when I heard that the poster boy for the "great ground game" was Chris Christie, I started to realize that maybe this is the "unskewed polls" of the 2016 cycle, only this time it's not to sustain the fantasy that Romney is definitely absolutely going to win. It's an intra-Republican mode of denial to make you believe that Donald Trump is not only not winning the primary race as of now but dominating the race like no non-incumbent has in modern history.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/is-great-ground-game-the-new-unskewed-polling