August 29, 2014

California Legislature passes ‘yes means yes’ bill

Source: Washington Post

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — State lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill that would make California the first state to define when “yes means yes” while investigating sexual assaults on college campuses.

The Senate unanimously passed SB967 as states and universities across the U.S. are under pressure to change how they handle rape allegations. The bill now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has not indicated his stance on the bill.

Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, said his bill would begin a paradigm shift in how California campuses prevent and investigate sexual assault. Rather than using the refrain “no means no,” the definition of consent under the bill requires “an affirmative, unambiguous and conscious decision” by each party to engage in sexual activity.

“With this measure, we will lead the nation in bringing standards and protocols across the board so we can create an environment that’s healthy, that’s conducive for all students, not just for women, but for young men as well too, so young men can develop healthy patterns and boundaries as they age with the opposite sex,” de Leon said before the vote.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/08/29/california_legislature_passes_yes_means_yes_bill/

August 28, 2014

UPDATED: Obama to make statement on Ukraine

Source: Washington Post

President Obama is expected to make a statement soon from the White House about the situation in Ukraine. Watch it at the link below.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/c/live/Obama_to_make_statement_on_Ukraine/53ff868ce4b0b19c172c8fd1

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UPDATE:

Obama rules out US military action in Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is ruling out the possibility that the U.S. will take military action to address growing violence in Ukraine.

Obama says the U.S. will stand firm with its allies to address the conflict in Ukraine, where the U.S. says Russia is backing pro-Russian separatists. But Obama says a military confrontation between the U.S. and Russia in the region, quote, “is not in the cards.”

But Obama is pointing to the NATO alliance as a deterrent for Russia. He says although Ukraine isn’t part of NATO, other nearby nations are. He says the U.S. takes its commitment to defend NATO allies “very seriously.” Obama will attend a NATO summit in Wales next week.

Obama spoke amid an escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine and fresh signs of Russia’s involvement.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/08/28/obama_rules_out_us_military_action_in_ukraine/

August 28, 2014

Another big boost for Obamacare

Source: Washington Post

By Greg Sargent August 28 at 3:40 PM

In another sign that the politics of Obamacare continue to shift, the Medicaid expansion is now all but certain to come to another big state whose Republican governor had previously resisted it: Pennsylvania.

The federal government has approved Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s application for the state’s own version of the Medicaid expansion, without a handful of the conditions Corbett had hoped to impose, Dem sources tell me.

Corbett just announced that he will accept the expansion that has been offered, perhaps with some last-minute changes — expanding coverage and subsidies to as many as half a million people.

This comes after months of jockeying between Corbett and the federal government. Corbett had pushed for a version of the expansion that would have imposed various conditions designed to make it more palatable to conservatives and to achieve political distance from Obamacare — while simultaneously taking all that federal money. Among them: Using the cash to pay for private coverage for the poor.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/08/28/another-big-boost-for-obamacare/

August 28, 2014

Captives held by Islamic State were waterboarded

Source: Washington Post

At least four hostages held in Syria by the Islamic State, including an American journalist who was recently executed by the group, were waterboarded in the early part of their captivity, according to people familiar with the treatment of the kidnapped Westerners.

James Foley was among the four who were waterboarded several times by Islamic State militants who appeared to model the technique on the CIA’s use of waterboarding to interrogate suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/captives-held-by-islamic-state-were-waterboarded/2014/08/28/2b4e1962-2ec9-11e4-9b98-848790384093_story.html

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The chickens are coming home to roost

August 28, 2014

False Hope: Why Libertarians Won’t Help Republicans Win the Youth Vote

Alan I. Abramowitz, Senior Columnist, Sabato's Crystal Ball August 28th, 2014

The Republican Party has a major problem with young voters. According to national exit polls, the GOP has lost the under-30 vote by a wide margin in every election since 2004. In 2012, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney by a whopping 23 percentage points among 18-29 year olds. Romney’s deficit among young voters was responsible for his entire margin of defeat in the national popular vote. Based on the exit poll results, Romney actually won more votes than Obama among voters who were 30 years of age and older.

Based on demographic trends and data from recent surveys, the GOP’s youth problem is not likely to improve any time soon. The age cohorts that will be entering the electorate over the next two decades include even larger proportions of nonwhites than today’s 18-29 year-old voters. And despite the claim by one scholar that a majority of 18-20 year olds voted for Mitt Romney in 2012, data from the Gallup tracking poll based on thousands of interviews with 18-20 year olds during 2013-14 showed no evidence of Republican gains in this age group.

The GOP’s youth problem has led to considerable speculation by pundits and Republican strategists about what the party should do to increase its appeal to younger voters in the future. One idea that has attracted some support both inside and outside of the party is that Republicans could win over younger voters by nominating candidates who espouse libertarian policies on issues ranging from same-sex marriage and national security to government regulation and health care.

The claim that candidates with libertarian views could help Republicans appeal to younger voters was recently advanced in a lengthy article by Robert Draper in the New York Times Magazine. Draper’s argument is based on the assumption that many younger Americans are attracted to the libertarian philosophy of maximum individual freedom and minimal government. But how realistic is this assumption?

more
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/false-hope-why-libertarians-wont-help-republicans-win-the-youth-vote/

August 28, 2014

Wolf Headed for Landslide Win in Pennsylvania

A new Franklin & Marshall College poll in Pennsylvania finds Tom Wolf (D) with a 25-point lead over Gov. Tom Corbett (R) in the race for governor, 49% to 24%.

Said pollster Terry Madonna: "The big takeaway here is that the race has not changed because Corbett has not changed. His narrative remains the same, and that's the fundamental problem for his campaign."

Corbett would be the first Pennsylvania governor ever to be denied a second term.

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http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/08/28/wolf_headed_for_landslide_win_in_pennsylvania.html

August 28, 2014

McConnell Pledges No Government Shutdown

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) "tried to quash talk that he would allow another government shutdown if he becomes Senate majority leader next year," CNN reports.

Said McConnell: "Of course not. Remember me? I am the guy that gets us out of shutdowns."

Brian Beutler: "He's threatening to use the appropriations process as leverage to extract concessions. That's a government shutdown fight. And no matter how he plays it, he will unleash forces he and other GOP leaders have proven incapable of restraining."

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http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/08/28/mcconnell_pledges_no_government_shutdown.html

August 28, 2014

Forecast Shows Democrats Outperforming Expectations

Sam Wang has updated his Senate forecast which shows Democrats with a 70% probability of retaining control of the upper chamber.

One reason his forecast is more favorable to Democrats than others is that he's relying more on actual polls than so-called "fundamentals."

"This year's Senate race is harder than any electoral forecast that the other forecasters have ever had to make. To be frank, 2008 and 2012 were easy. My own experience is guided by 2004 Presidential race, which was as close as this year's Senate campaign. In 2004, I formed the view that the correct approach is to use polls only, if at all possible."

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http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/08/28/forecast_shows_democrats_outperforming_expectations.html

August 28, 2014

Michelle Nunn Takes A Page From Blistering Anti-Romney Playbook

By DANIEL STRAUSS Published AUGUST 28, 2014, 11:15 AM EDT

Democrat Michelle Nunn's campaign for U.S. Senate is taking a page from the playbook Democrats used to hit Mitt Romney over his time as the head against Bain Capital.

A new television ad by the Nunn campaign targeting businessman David Perdue, the Republican nominee Nunn is facing in the Georgia Senate race, hits the former CEO for his time as the head of Pillowtex in North Carolina. The company went bankrupt soon after. The ad features people in neighboring Salisbury, N.C., many of them elderly, describing how the bankruptcy devastated many of the employees while Perdue "walked away with his $1.7 million."

"Just months after David Perdue abandoned Pillowtex, the company went bankrupt," the ad said.

"All we were was people to make money off our backs," one of the people in the video, Cynthia Hanes, who the ad said worked at Pillowtex for 31 years, said near the end.

-snip-

And compare it to the ad "Stage," below:



more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/michelle-nunn-kannapolis-mitt-romney-david-perdue-priorities-usa

August 28, 2014

Chuck Todd Pushes RNC Chair: 'Too Many Crazy White Guys'?

By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published AUGUST 28, 2014, 11:04 AM EDT

On MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown," host Chuck Todd asked Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, on Thursday about report commissioned by two conservative groups that found that the Republican party is still lagging behind the Democratic party with women voters.

According to the report, obtained by Politico on Wednesday, women said the GOP was "stuck in the past" and "intolerant." The poll found that 49 percent of women view the Republican party unfavorably and 39 percent view the Democratic party unfavorably.

When asked why the party is doing worse with female voters than in 2010, Priebus argued that the GOP can close this 10-point gap by ramping up outreach and focusing on the economy.

"You know, I'm not sure," Priebus responded. "But I think the point of that poll wasn't reported by Politico. The point was if you looked at it, women were rejecting the Democratic party by 40 percent; they were rejecting the Republican party by 50 percent. I don't think either party can do a victory lap here."

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/reince-priebus-gop-women-poll