JaneAusten

I am sure the main story on Fox News will be how Hillary Clinton 30 years ago enabled Bill's behavior. And I am not kidding. After the GOP was after the Democrats about Weinstein's donations, a reporter asked the GOP Chair if they were planning on now terminating their joint fundraising agreement with Moore. No comment And this rational is some of the most ridiculous but likely something the Evangelical hypocrites will latch onto. Forget that Mary was a VIRGIN Wow. This defense of Roy Moore from AL state Auditor Jim Ziegler:

Dennis Hastert was speaker. And no one will ever convince me that his molestation of boys was not known when he was serving. I'd like to think it matters, but these folks only seems to care when it's a democrat or someone from Hollywood. The belief that we should believe the victims first is selective. Oh and I am sure the contingent of "why now" will come up as it always does. Anyone who mentions that has not been paying attention to anything that's been going on since many of these stories started coming out. Oh and the 14 year old victim, voted for Trump. How twisted is that.

So it looks like that stellar candidate in Alabama is a pedophile. No not kidding https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html?utm_term=.12a37fd8df2d

Can the democrats now stop taking African American women for granted?

^^ I don't know Vee. I don't watch Morning Joe and have stayed away from most MSM but even CNN was riding the "democrats in disarray" train and how Northam ran a horrible campaign. I think he ran a tepid campaign yet all this praise for Gillespie by the MSM of turning the race around, it turns out after watching that clip and Harold Ford's comments, he was wrong. That ad apparently backfired bigtime in areas Gillespie was actually competitive in when he ran for senator and in those areas he was close in and some he even won, he lost badly. And this idea that some GOPers really believe it's about not getting anything done, is so bad yet the media is endorsing the idea that to be competitive in 2018 they must pass a tax plan the majority of Americans hate. I am at times ambivalent about Tom Perez, and have to remind myself that the DNC is basically a fundraising arm for the democrats. While I think the party could use some good marketing and messaging, what I heard him say this morning is true. People in state races at the grassroots level are talking about issues important to their constituents. That's why so many of these local and state races went the way of democrats. Sure the Trump stigma is attached, but most of these folks are not ignoring the issues. Heck Northam didn't. I agree with what Carl said above. There is so much work and energy and so many groups coming out to help and this is what made a difference. Democrats universally won mayoral races, other municipal races, and state races and won by women, minorities, and LGBT folks. The Sikh gentleman who won as mayor in Hoboken after everything thrown at him. All of these things are being ignored. As is the fact that the GOP dumped millions themselves into VA.

So the state of Maine had an referenda on the ballot to expand Medicaid http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/mainers-set-vote-expand-medicaid-50977139 This COULD be a model for states that have chosen not to expand it. Why? Apparently the MOST consistent issue voters shared across all the races tonight - Healthcare was number 1

Some other interesting races 1. Charlotte, NC just elected their first AA Female mayor, Vi Lykes. 2. Helena. MT just elected their first AA mayor in the history of the state, Wilmot Collins

You have to wonder about the polling. I kept hearing the MSM and how dismal they were about VA yet there was so much activity in the state in terms of volunteers for weeks. The margin Northam won by was greater than any candidate in the past 30 years. And I think Northam while a decent man and candidate ran a rather lackluster campaign. I went through the training a few weeks back to become a CAC(an assister) who helps people enroll and even in Illinois, I had no clue that you could actually enroll in a marketplace plan and be eligible enough for Premium tax credits to pay nothing. Lots of things people don't realize. Good for you for getting it.

I've been seeing this. I am not going to get overly optimistic, but I do wonder if the fact that the democrats actually have candidates up and down the ballot in ALL races in the state legislature might be having a positive impact? Going to areas to compete where they haven't done that in years.

This is just a tad more information on the Scot Boies aspect of the story and more details about Lisa Bloom. The non denial denial from Boies. Oh right and no conflict of interest considering that he represented the Times also. I’m wondering if Lisa Bloom ever recovers from this. She made her deal with the devil. https://lawnewz.com/high-profile/gore-lawyer-david-boies-implicated-in-insane-ornate-plot-to-discredit-weinstein-accusers/

Thanks. I stand corrected and I appreciate your setting it straight.

I wonder if anyone has seen this interview with Corey Feldman recently on the Today Show about his desire to make a feature film and expose those in Hollywood. I actually fully believe him in terms of the abuse, but is there some legal rational for having to go this route? He also claims his publisher prevented him from naming names in his 2013 book which I believe, because it would have likely opened them up to litigation. He also claims that the statute of limitations in California prevents him from going to the police at this point.

By the way as this stupid idea of courting Trump voters is proving, if all the African American voters who voted for Clinton in 2016 voted for Northam, the governors race there would be a walk in the park. Northam has run a shitty campaign. Who the hell is advising him to take off the picture of his black lt. governor running mate from campaign material? These are the assholes who believe courting these racist voters is the answer.

So DFA Howard Deans former group withdrew their support for Northam in Virginia. Now I will say they never endorsed him http://www.newsweek.com/ralph-northam-virginia-governor-election-701625 all the news news this past week, Tulsi Gabbards comments, Brazile’s rigging talk from her book, Warren also supporting this rigged narrative, even Ellison’s comments, is making me wonder if there is a contingent deliberately trying to sabotage the Governors race in Virginia to remove Perez as head of the DNC. Interesting the timing on Braziles book is right in,line with the election. And this coming week is when that fraud Unity Commission is meeting to report on reforms to the DNC. I’ve also been suspicious of how weak Perez’z support has been for African American women.

I do think the Clintons and Obama's are better when it comes to public education - well a little. One big issue I had with Obama I am a former HS Math teacher in Chicago Public Schools and was still teaching there when Arnie Duncan(Obama's Sec of Education) was closing schools, consolidating, and was behind the first few Charter Schools. Obama appointed him his first Sec of Education. And when DeVos talked about Charter schools, Duncan even commended her. He, Rahm Emmanual Obama's former chief of staff, both are charter school advocates and Chicago has a significant number of them now. The new education funding bill just signed allocates a tax credit for Illinois residents who donate money to private schools as long as that money is used for disadvantages students. That tax credit comes our of the state of Illinois public education budget. Emmanual and Duncan both believe that the solution to public school funding is to privatize them partially through the charter school model. And by the way the charter schools now have lower scholastic achievement than the public schools. So what I am saying is that I don't buy that Obama would have people serving for him, especially as his Sec of Education, who's beliefs were in contrast. The one positive aspect of the Sec of Education is that they have limited influence on the public school system, Sure there are changes they can impact, but the budgets and curriculum are controlled entirely by each state and school district.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/education-officials-expect-ineffective-betsy-devos-to-step-down-as-her-agenda-collapses-report/ One problem with implementing her plan is that public schools receive very little of their funding from the federal government. Another is her overall unpopularity and ineffectiveness. Her first budget proposal for the department — one which would have slashed funding from multiple school programs and reapportioned that money to DeVos’ pet cause, “school choice” — was rejected by Congress. Now, with her agenda on the rocks and morale at the Education Department cratering, some predict that DeVos may return to the private sector sooner than she’d planned.

Except their ratings have been up it didn’t start with Meghan. They had a panel that gelled and then used the false excuse of focus groups to get rid of someone who is smart, and energetic. And the deflection doesn’t work on this show as it does on Fox because you don’t have a panel of cocktail waitresses and male unics nodding and agreeing with u endlessly.

I understand your perspective and actually agree with a lot of it. I also don't think you can take from this that computers and nursing are the only retraining opportunities available. There are vocational programs and trade schools that are available for retraining. Natural Gas seems like a logical transition for a lot of these folks, but they'd have to leave their homes and travel to do some of this work and that seems to be a major obstacle. It would likely pay more than mining plus traveling and gaining exposure and experiences outside of that bubble could be a hidden benefit My point in bringing up the Depression era programs under the New Deal was that people were desperate, so desperate for work, that they left home, were given the basics, and sent their wages back home. Working and earning your own way ,also helps build self esteem and confidence.(ie; why we have an opioid crisis). I guess the fact that they point to West Virginia as being somewhat of a success in terms of retraining tells me there is some level of hope. I hope so. West Virginia has worked hard on turning itself into a tourism state which has likely brought more outsiders in. Perhaps that's helped.

Tell me again how this is about economic anxiety. Its about cultural anxiety and not wanting to leave your protective white bubble. They'd rather hold out for non existent coal jobs, not even take advantage of gvmt funded retraining, and suck up welfare in some stupid hope coal is returning. These people won't even go to training to be retooled to work with Natural Gas, which has been the big hit in more recent years to coal than those "liberal' ideals like Wind and Solar. I'm reminded how during the depression, Americans from all over the country worked for organizations like the WPA and the CCC in particular where they had to mobilize to work. At the CCC you got room and board and meals and $5 a month and the rest went back home to your family. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trump-effect-coal-retraining-insight/awaiting-trumps-coal-comeback-miners-reject-retraining-idUSKBN1D14G0

This person is a troll. There used to be a few conservatives that would post here that you could have reasonable discussions with on here. That no longer exists here.

There have been reports that this was to be the shows last season. I don't know if that's true, but this gives Netflix an out I guess. The show should have switched the focal point to Claire anyway a few seasons back vs Frank. Here's hoping Spacey never works again. This latest attempt to try and cover his abuse with a coming out story is putrid. Good riddance. By the way to all, Lip Stick Alley has had stories of Spacey over the years, including the pedophile aspect and some fairly outrageous conspiracies which are way out there. A number of years ago there was a story regarding Spacey on a visit to Chicago that quickly disappeared from the media and press. His handlers got out ahead of it.

Amy you are a courageous woman. Your story is all too familiar and I hope you get some comfort going forward that perhaps the tables have turned. It's still frightening to me how much harassment and abuse has been normalized and expected. I had my own experience with my first employer and I won't say I forgot about it, but in many ways I was lucky because I worked for a large company and transferring into another group was an option. Fortunately the man who was culpable was a "dick" to men who worked for him also. He had a high turnover of personal and was ultimately fired, but everything that has happened in the past several weeks makes me wonder how many more people were victims of his regardless of where he ended up. Best of luck and wishes on your journey through your recovery. You will come out stronger in the end. You already are.

I'm not discounting any of that, particularly the EPA side. I highly doubt most even understand the impact of what's happening at the EPA. Kristoff at the NY Times has done some great work on this. I hope at least those on the purist left are paying attention as we become an over polluted country again all in the interests of the fossil fuel industry. That's what happens when you only plan to vote for the purist of the pure.

There are a lot of racists in this country Also a lot of people who are fed up with business as usual in DC. The funny thing is despite Trumps attempts to shake things up, Congress - all republican - has yet to pass anything and they are only fast forwarding their tax bill due to fear of their donors turning their backs in 2018 elections. Same as the prior 6 years in congress which was under GOP control with Obama. Nothing done in Congress. Other than a ton of Hillary investigations