August 19, 2017

Helena, Montana, removes Confederate memorial

Montana's capital city on Friday removed a memorial to Confederate soldiers that has been in a public park since 1916 after officials deemed it a threat to public safety in light of last weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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Earlier this week, Native American lawmakers in Montana sent a letter to the city requesting that it remove the fountain, which they said stood for segregation, secession and slavery. The memorial is thought to be the only Confederate monument in the upper Rockies.
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The Helena City Commission agreed on Wednesday and acted swiftly to uproot the fountain from the park just two blocks from City Hall. Crews arrived shortly after 9 a.m. Friday. By early afternoon, it was lifted by crane onto a flatbed truck.

City Parks and Recreation Director Amy Teegarden said the fountain initially will be stored in a city warehouse.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/helena-montana-removes-confederate-memorial/

August 12, 2017

The Bernie Bros and sisters are coming to Republicans' rescue

By Dana Milbank (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-bernie-bros-and-sisters-are-coming-to-the-republicans-rescue/2017/08/11/caacbad0-7e9f-11e7-9d08-b79f191668ed_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.ea73dd40681c
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President Trump is woefully unpopular, feuding with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other Republicans. The GOP can’t manage to repeal Obamacare or do much of anything. Voters say they’d like Democrats to run Congress.

But here come the Bernie Bros and sisters to the Republicans’ rescue: They’re sowing division in the Democratic Party and attempting to enact a purge of the ideologically impure — just the sort of thing that made the Republican Party the ungovernable mess it is today.

Bernie Sanders’s advisers are promoting a “litmus test” under which Democrats who don’t swear to implement single-payer health care would be booted from the party in primaries. Sanders pollster Ben Tulchin penned an op-ed with a colleague under the headline “Universal health care is the new litmus test for Democrats.” Nina Turner, head of the Sanders group Our Revolution, told Politico this week that “there’s something wrong with” Democrats who won’t “unequivocally” embrace “Medicare-for-all.”
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But to force Democrats to take some kind of single-payer purity oath would set back the cause. Democrats need to pick up 24 seats to take control of the House, yet there are only 23 Republicans in districts won by Clinton — and only eight of those were won by President Barack Obama in 2012. There are a dozen Democrats in districts Trump won. In such swing districts, it would be suicidal to pledge support for something Republicans will brand as socialism.
...

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Dear potential alerter:

This WaPo opinion piece is not an attack on Democratic public figures or groups, it is a criticism of STRATEGY regarding how best to win back Congress and get to universal health coverage. Much more facts and reasoning are presented at the link, but I am limited to 4 paragraphs in the OP. If you think Dana Milbank is wrong, please present your case in a reply so that we can have a substantive discussion on this important issue.

SunSeeker

August 5, 2017

Gunfire sparked blaze that destroyed 63 homes outside Yosemite

Source: LATimes.com

Fire investigators say gunfire caused a wildfire near Yosemite National Park that destroyed 131 structures, including 63 homes, last month.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday that a gun fired on public lands caused the wildfire that burned 127 square miles (331 square kilometers) on July 16.

The fire prompted evacuations in several areas, including the town of Mariposa.

Cal Fire is offering a $2,000 reward for information about the person responsible for starting the fire.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-yosemite-fire-20170805-story.html

August 5, 2017

Trump defends national security adviser H.R. McMaster amid calls for his firing

Source: CBS News

President Trump is standing up for his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, calling him a "good man" amid calls for his ouster by conservatives.
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"He has determined that, at this time, a different set of experiences is best-suited to carrying that work forward," a statement released by the White House said of Cohen-Watnick's release. "General McMaster is confident that Ezra will make many further significant contributions to national security in another position in the administration."

Last week, McMaster also removed Middle East director Derek Harvey from his position at the NSC due to a "difference in vision," according to a White House source. Harvey was also hired by Flynn, whose short-lived tenure as national security advisercame to an end in February. 
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The attacks directed at McMaster came from conservative news sites and grew on social media. The hashtag #FireMcMaster has been tweeted more than 50,000 times since Wednesday, the Times reported, including by accounts linked to Russian cyber operations.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-defends-national-security-adviser-h-r-mcmaster-amid-calls-for-his-firing/

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Posted this for that nugget in the last paragraph. Is this the first time Putin has unleashed the Russian bots to try to undermine a Trump decision?

A harbinger of things to come?

I guess it's "live by the bot, die by the bot"!