Before friends and family in a packed chamber, Kamala Harris was sworn in as California’s newest U.S. senator Tuesday morning. She became the first black woman the Golden State has sent to the Senate and the first Indian American to ever serve in the body.
Month: January 2017
Assemblywoman rings in 2017 with a surprise marriage to a former lawmaker
For a legislator who frequently offers glimpses of her personal life on Twitter, the new year brought something entirely different to share: a wedding. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez was married on Sunday to a former Republican member of the Assembly, Nathan Fletcher .
Meet the six Californians who are officially joining the largest congressional delegation today
Rep.-elect Jimmy Panetta , center, is seen outside the Capitol Hill Hotel on Monday, when freshman members of Congress checked in for orientation. Rep.-elect Jimmy Panetta , center, is seen outside the Capitol Hill Hotel on Monday, when freshman members of Congress checked in for orientation.
A Trump tweet that doesn’t spark outrage in Chicago
President-elect Donald Trump ‘s tweets often trigger what is now commonly referred to as Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS. You’ve seen the symptoms: the wailing and shrieking of tortured liberals; their references to Hitler and the end of days or whatever dark prophecies can be tweeted with two left thumbs.
Adding Pre-Existing Technology Won’t Save a Patent-Ineligible Claim
In the recent FairWarning and Synopsys cases , the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found the challenged claims of a patent ineligible under 35 USC 101 for not claiming a technical improvement. Following this trend, the Federal Circuit reversed in part a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding of patent-eligible subject matter.
Blue state lawmakers want to keep Trump off 2020 ballot unless he releases tax returns
Maryland state senator Paul G. Pinsky. D, said of Trump and his tax returns: “We all expected anyone who is going to be in front of the public and lead our nation would be transparent.”
Trump objects after House GOP votes to gut ethics office
President-elect Donald Trump criticized House Republicans Tuesday for making one of their first acts a vote to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, arguing that tax reform and health care should be higher priorities. “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority,” Trump asked over Twitter the morning after the surprise and secretive move by the House GOP.
Obama’s last trip to Chicago as president will be next week
President Barack Obama shown here during an address before Illinois lawmakers in the House chamber of the State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. President Barack Obama shown here during an address before Illinois lawmakers in the House chamber of the State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016.
GOP drops weakening of ethics office, challenged by Trump
House Republicans reversed themselves Tuesday under pressure from President-elect Donald Trump, and dropped plans to swiftly gut an independent congressional ethics board. GOP drops weakening of ethics office, challenged by Trump WASHINGTON – House Republicans reversed themselves Tuesday under pressure from President-elect Donald Trump, and dropped plans to swiftly gut an independent congressional ethics board.
‘Horrible and ineffective’: Pricey Shelter at Home aids thousands but reviews mixed
Wooden ‘Shelter At Home’ sink platform and legs, discarded now and sitting in a trash heap on Breeden Drive, off Hooper Road in far north Baton Rouge near Central. Many of the street’s residents participated in the Shelter at Home program after the floods in August damaged their homes.
South Carolina Gets Additional $65M in Matthew Aid
The State newspaper of Columbia reports the Department of Housing and Urban Development grant is part of a $2.3 billion nationwide package for states hit hard this year by natural disasters. But the money is still a long way from arriving.
SpaceX Says it Figured Out Why its Rocket Exploded And Will Fly Again Within Days
Four months after an explosion tore through its signature Falcon 9 rocket during fueling, destroying the rocket and its multimillion-dollar cargo in just 93 milliseconds, SpaceX says it has isolated what went wrong and is ready to fly again. If the Federal Aviation Administration issues the company a license, likely following the completion of a full-scale engine test scheduled for Jan. 3, the company will launch 10 communications satellites for Iridium on Jan. 8, including an attempt to land the reusable first stage of the rocket on a sea-going robotic platform.
Texas to NYT: Keep On Truckin’
I know there are many Texas readers here, so perhap you can help the NY Times understand the love of truck. Twitter reacted also to the notion that it was frivolous to spend money on a truck with more power than needed.
Shocking, Shocking News: Has Been Harvard Hack Hates Trump
Or just CLICK THIS LINK to start shopping for anything. Don’t worry – anything you buy through it will pay Daily Pundit a commission! Thanks! Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said investors are being far too sanguine about the risks associated with Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
Schadenboner Watch
Liberals are panicking about the fact that President-elect Donald Trump will be able to fill four vacancies on the historically left-leaning Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals when he takes office later this month. Outgoing Sen. Barbara Boxer called the vacancies a “judicial emergency,” according to Bay Area public radio station KQED, even though there are 29 judges on the court.
Desperation
The mainstream media are abuzz with claims that House Republicans have voted to ” gut ” or ” eviscerate ” the Office of Congressional Ethics , or to strip it of its independence. Perpetual House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed Republicans had ” eliminated ” the oversight body, and linked the move to President-elect Donald Trump, claiming that the House Republicans’ move represents a violation of Trump’s campaign promise to “drain the swamp” in Washington.
Intramural GOP Strife Over Russia? Not So Fast . . .by Andrew C….
Judging by General Flynn’s book, the media portrayal of a rift between Senator John McCain and Trump’s brain-trust is exaggerated. ne of the first great media riffs to define the Trump administration before it even takes power blares from the news pages of today’s Wall Street Journal .
Congress convenes with new members from Louisiana; House GOP drops plan for ethics office changes
Louisiana’s two new congressmen and newest U.S. senator are taking the oath of office at the nation’s capital today. U.S. Sen.-elect John Kennedy, R-Mandeville, and U.S. Reps-elect Mike Johnson, R-Bossier City, and Clay Higgins, R-Port Barre, were elected in November to serve as the newest members of the Louisiana delegation.
Obama’s Failed Presidencyby Conrad BlackLike most people, I had hoped …
We have been denied that, not by the candidates, who have been dignified, but by the outgoing administration. I have written here and elsewhere before that this has been the most incompetent administration since James Buchanan brought on the Civil War, but I had not realized how the immunity to severe criticism afforded President Obama, because of his pigmentation, had been allowed to disguise how inept this administration has been, how authoritarian and sleazy, and how the president’s demiurgic vanity has gone almost unnoticed as the toadies and bootlickers like Tom Friedman and David Remnick went into overdrive.
Friends in high places: Asa edition
WELL CONNECTED: Political consultant Jon Gilmore, leading a fund-raiser for former boss Asa Hutchinson, uses this photo on his private business page to tout his connectyions to the state’s top politician. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson , getting out ahead of the legislative session – when campaign fund-raising has an even more fraught appearance than normal – is throwing a fund-raiser for his 2018 gubernatorial campaign Thursday at the Capital Hotel.
How to Leave Your Halfway House and Get to Work Riding DART
This morning I woke up at the halfway house to which I was released from a south Texas medium-security prison a month back and got into the back of the van that leaves every hour to take ex-convicts such as myself to the DART rail stop on Illinois Avenue. Upon arrival, I tried and failed to purchase a bus pass from the machine whose sole purpose is to sell bus passes to people who want bus passes.
NRATV Compares Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg To Nazi Germany’s Secret Police
Grant Stinchfield, the host of the National Rifle Association’s NRATV, compared former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun violence prevention efforts to the work of the Gestapo, the state secret police in Nazi Germany. During the January 3 broadcast of NRATV, Stinchfield lauded Donald Trump’s election as the National Rifle Association’s “biggest victory,” before cheering that “nearly every candidate supported by Michael Bloomberg and his anti-gun Gestapo lost” : GRANT STINCHFIELD : 2016 actually shaped up pretty well for the Second Amendment — take a look.
GOP commands new Congress dogged by ethics office vote
The new Republican-led Congress lined up to be sworn in Tuesday, facing questions about a secretive move to gut an independent ethics board that drew criticism from President-elect Donald Trump over the priorities of GOP leaders. Trump, who takes office later this month, challenged the decision to immediately weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics, arguing that tax reform and health care are more important.
The Latest: Panetta, Cheney at House session
The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says confirmation hearings for Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, will begin next week. The hearings are expected to last two days.
Governor calls for free tuition at New York public colleges
The Democrat unveiled his plan Tuesday morning at LaGuardia Community College in Queens alongside U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. During the senator’s unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, Sanders pushed for free tuition at all U.S. public colleges.
Unions Facing the Trump Era
Beginning in 1979 in Seattle, WA, Jim Levitt expertly fabricated custom aircraft parts and tools, helping make the Boeing Company one of the most successful businesses in the world. But in 2013, corporate executives issued a threat: They demanded that Levitt and his fellow machinists surrender their pensions, and that Washington State political leaders hand over a record $8.7 billion in tax benefits.
ANALYSIS: TRUE. Obama Hung Democrats Out to Dry for Past Eight Years. …
The Daily Beast’s Jackie Kucinich said to CNN’s Nia-Malika Henderson on Sunday that it would be interesting to see what kind of reception President Obama will receive when he meets congressional Democrats next week, adding that the president has hung his party “out to dry” during his time in the White House. Obama will meet Wednesday with Democrats on Capitol Hill to discuss ways to protect Obamacare from being dismantled by the incoming Republican majority, Politico reported Friday.
4 Iowans killed in plane crash
Authorities in southern Illinois have identified the four people who died after a single-engine plane crashed in a wooded area on New Year’s Eve. Johnson County Coroner David Rockwell says 34-year-old Curt Terpstra, 37-year-old Krista Green, 35-year-old Jordan Linder and his 26-year-old sister, Jasmine Linder, died in Saturday night’s crash.
Republicans primed for push to dismantle Obama’s policies
Members of the 115th Congress will be sworn in at noon Tuesday, setting off an aggressive campaign by Republicans who control the House and Senate to dismantle eight years of President Barack Obama’s Democratic policies. The first and biggest target is Obama’s signature health care law, which Republicans have long sought to gut and blamed as a primary cause for a economic recovery.
House GOP votes to gut independent ethics office
House Republicans have voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison. The ethics change, which prompted an outcry from Democrats and government watchdog groups, is part of a rules package that the full House will vote on Tuesday.
Big fiscal questions to shape Kansas lawmakers’ work in new session
Big questions about taxes and spending will shape the Kansas Legislature’s work after its annual session opens on Jan. 9. But the biggest question might be how much GOP moderates work with conservatives and how often they seek deals with Democrats on tax and budget legislation to protect funding for education and other programs.
Bruce Springsteen questions Trump’s competence for office
In this Nov. 7, 2016, file photo Bruce Springsteen performs during a Hillary Clinton campaign event at Independence Mall in Philadelphia. During an interview on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast released Monday, Jan. 2, 2016, Bruce Springsteen questioned whether President-elect Donald Trump “is simply competent enough to do this particular this particular job.”
Should we require women to register for the draft?
Four F-15 Eagle pilots from the 3rd Wing walk to their respective jets at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, for the fini flight of Maj. Andrea Misener .
Morning Bits
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speaks at her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 17. One is precedent, two is a trend . “Another way for Australia to demonstrate its unswerving support for Israel, as the Middle East’s only liberal, pluralist democracy, might be to join any move by the Trump administration to move its embassy to Jerusalem.”
Three steps for progressive resistance and rebuilding as Trump era launches
As the new year begins, any honest progressive knows the political outlook is bleak. But if we’re going to limit the damage that President-elect Donald Trump inflicts on the country, then despair is not an option.
In Trump’s America, Seattle workers can lead
Within the local labor movement, we often joke that they should move AFL-CIO headquarters from D.C. to Seattle, because this is where workers have learned to ask for what we really want. And it’s where workers are committed to fight until we win it.
Trump names lawyer Lighthizer as top trade rep
President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday he will nominate lawyer Robert Lighthizer as U.S. trade representative, picking an experienced trade official who has questioned the conservative movement’s commitment to free trade.
Alabama space explorers await impact of Trump administration
But his campaign suggestions – more deep space exploration, less Earth science – seem to bode well for Alabama and for Marshall Space Flight Center.
Is Growing Inequality Inevitable?
We could have much higher minimum wages. We could stop the union-bashing. We could restore a brand of globalization that promotes rather than undermines national social standards.
Congress returns with aggressive conservative agenda
As a new Congress convenes Tuesday, Republicans will arrive with a long and aggressive to-do list, emboldened by majorities in the House and the Senate and the promise of President-elect Donald Trump. Working from a blueprint of the last half-decade, they’re anxious to enact the conservative policy agenda that a Democratic White House has thwarted, undoing much of President Barack Obama’s legacy in the process.