thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Many Candidates Change Positions Over Time. Mike Bloomberg Did It Almost Overnight.

But no candidate has reversed themselves as suddenly and jarringly as Bloomberg .
He has flip-flopped on the stop and @ @ @ @ @ raising the minimum wage , and financial sector regulation .
He has also issued policies @ @ @ @ @ past positions on Social Security and marijuana legalization .
The result ― it is increasingly @ @ @ @ @ and what he will do if he wins the Democratic Party presidential nomination and then @ @ @ @ @ Knew What He Was In For

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When Michael Bloomberg appeared at a forum hosted by the Bermuda Business Development Agency in March 2019, he explained that his then-recent decision to not run for president was based on a desire to not have to alter his positions to appeal to Democratic Party voters.
He was unwilling to “change all of my views and go on what CNN called an apology tour,” Bloomberg said, referencing Joe Biden’s numerous apologies as the former vice president was gearing up his candidacy.
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“Some of these people, they were for-it-before-they-were-against-it, and they’re with you as long as they can be and things like that,” Bloomberg said. “And that’s just not me. My charm is that I say what I believe and I do it.”
But Bloomberg changed his mind about running, announcing a bid for the Democratic Party presidential nomination last November. And in line with his critique of others, he has released a steady stream of new Bloomberg policies that either totally or partially contradict his past stated views ― some that he declared as recently as 2019.
It’s not as though past presidential candidates have not changed their positions to better appeal to a primary electorate.
Biden, whom Bloomberg made reference to in his “apology tour” comment, has had to apologize for or reverse himself for his opposition to forced school busing to achieve integration in the 1970s, his support for punitive criminal justice policies in the 1990s, and his vote to enable the Iraq War in 2002.
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In his 2012 presidential campaign, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was forced to distance himself from the health care plan he enacted as governor of Massachusetts because the Affordable Care Act pushed into law by then-President Barack Obama ― the man he sought to replace ― was based on it.
Perhaps the most famous recent faux pas concerning a policy reversal was uttered by then-Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) during his 2004 presidential race. Discussing an Iraq War funding measure, he said he “actually did vote for” it “before I voted against it.” That fueled the Republican effort to label him a “flip-flopper.” Indeed, he was mocked by actual flip-flops brought to the 2004 Republican National Convention, which happened to be hosted by then-New York Mayor Bloomberg ― at the time a Republican (he’s also been an independent).
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, seen here after a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington earlier this year, has found that running for the White House can be an exercise in backpedaling on policy positions. ASSOCIATED PRESS
But no candidate has reversed themselves as suddenly and jarringly as Bloomberg. He has flip-flopped on the stop and frisk law enforcement practice, raising the minimum wage, and financial sector regulation. He has also issued policies that contradict or obscure his past positions on Social Security and marijuana legalization. The result ― it is increasingly unclear what Bloomberg actually believes and what he will do if he wins the Democratic Party presidential nomination and then the White House.
The Bloomberg campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stop And Frisk
The clearest example of Bloomberg’s reversals is the one issue about which he has actually apologized: stop and frisk. The policy, started before he took office in New York but revved up by his administration, targeted Black and Latino neighborhoods. Of an estimated 5 million police stops of mostly young men from 2002 to 2013, the entirety of his time as mayor, 90% of those stopped and frisked were innocent.
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“I now see that we could and should have acted sooner, and acted faster, to cut the stops,” Bloomberg said days before entering the presidential race in November. “I wish we had — and I’m sorry that we didn’t.”
The policy only ended after a judge ruled that the practice was essentially a “policy of indirect racial profiling.” Bloomberg fought the ruling, personally attacked the judge who issued it and refused to admit that anything was wrong with the policy until he ran for president.
As recently as 2015, Bloomberg was defending the practice on strictly racial grounds. “Ninety-five percent of your murders — murderers and murder victims — fit one M.O.,” Bloomberg said at an Aspen Institute event. “You can just take the description, Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops. They are male, minorities, 16 to 25. That’s true in New York. That’s true in virtually every city.”
He currently claims, wrongly, that he ended stop and frisk after he saw that the policy was not working the way he had initially intended.
“Bloomberg has attempted to walk back his support of his own racist policies as if the country would simply forget,” Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color Of Change, a progressive group that backs criminal justice reform, said in a statement.
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Bloomberg’s opponents in the Democratic race assailed him for both the policy and the false reason he presents for why he ended it at a debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
“This isn’t about how it turned out. This is about what it was designed to do to begin with,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said. “It targeted black and brown men. ... You need a different apology here.”
“The policy was abhorrent,” Biden said.
But stop and frisk is hardly the only issue on which Bloomberg has made an about-face.
Rev. Al Sharpton (center) led demonstrators during a silent march calling for an end the of "stop and frisk" program that was a hallmark of Bloomberg's mayoral administration. ASSOCIATED PRESS
$15 Minimum Wage
Today, Bloomberg is running for president in support of a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage ― a position held by all Democratic presidential hopefuls. But during a talk at the International Monetary Fund in 2018, he described the minimum wage as one of many “impediments to job creation” in the U.S., and argued increasing it would force employers to employ fewer workers. This appears to be the position Bloomberg had held when he first emerged as a public figure.
“I, for example, am not in favor, have never been in favor, of raising the minimum wage,” he said in 2015.
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Bloomberg did back an increase in New York state’s minimum wage in 2012 to $8.50-an-hour from $7.25. But this came amid a push for establishing a living wage that would set the minimum at $15. When he vetoed a living wage bill passed by the New York City Council that would have increased minimum wages for businesses that received city monies that same year, he compared the measure to “the USSR.”
The Council overrode Bloomberg’s veto. He sued twice to prevent the law from going into effect.
“Only Mr. Bloomberg can tell us why he changed his mind,” Judy Conti, government affairs director for the National Employment Law Project, said about his change of heart on the issue now that he seeks the presidency.
Still, it’s “better late to the party, than never,” Conti added.
Wall Street Power
Similarly, Bloomberg is reversing himself on issues of financial sector power and reform. His career and fortune were built by servicing Wall Street with expensive computer terminals to facilitate trading in any and every market in the world. But he now proposes a raft of reforms that include a financial transaction tax and a Justice Department-led crackdown on financial sector lawbreaking.
This is a sudden pivot for Bloomberg, as he has spent his entire career defending Wall Street. He blamed the end of racist “redlining” practices in 2008 for the economic crash and ensuing financial crisis that begat the Great Recession.
“It all started back when there was a lot of pressure on banks to make loans to everyone,” he said, according to a report by The Associated Press.
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He told Occupy Wall Street protesters in 2011 that they had it all wrong. Banks didn’t create the financial crisis: “It was, plain and simple, Congress, who forced everybody to go and give mortgages to people who were on the cusp,” he said.
When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank financial sector reform, Bloomberg complained that the law took “punitive actions” against the banks and investors. The reforms were “stupid” and “really dysfunctional.”
“The trouble is if you reduce the risk at these institutions, they can’t make the money they did,” Bloomberg said in 2014.
Porter McConnell, director of the Take On Wall Street campaign at Americans for Financial Reform, termed it “great” that Bloomberg has rolled out a comprehensive financial sector reform plan.
But, “Americans need candidates who have a strong track record of acting in the public interest even in the face of industry opposition,” McConnell added in an email. “And blaming the 2008 financial crisis on the end of legal redlining suggests Bloomberg has a ways to go in understanding what reforming Wall Street is all about.”
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Social Security Cuts
Bloomberg's record and past statements provided fertile ground for attacks by other Democratic presidential contenders at Wednesday's in Las Vegas, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. MARK RALSTON via Getty Images
Bloomberg is now advocating for small targeted increases in Social Security benefits after repeatedly calling for cutting benefits over the past eight years. As recently as 2015, he compared AARP’s opposition to Social Security cuts to the National Rifle Association’s opposition to gun control, according to The American Prospect.
“[T]he gun advocates, the NRA is a single-issue advocacy group… they have a disproportionate percent of power,” Bloomberg said that year at a Council on Foreign Relations event. “So does the AARP. Somebody suggested we change the age when Social Security kicks in in the year 2050. They went crazy, it would hurt their members. How many members of the AARP are going to be around in 2050? Come on.”
He also was a national co-chair of the Campaign to Fix the Debt, a CEO-backed campaign to pair Social Security and Medicare cuts with tax increases. He endorsed the Social Security cuts in the so-called Bowles-Simpson plan unveiled by a commission Obama set up in 2010 (the plan went nowhere.
Bloomberg praised former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) ― who for years stressed deficit reduction ― for, “talking about whether we can afford to continue to do what we’ve been doing,” even if he didn’t entirely support Ryan’s plans.
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And he said over and over and over and over again that Social Security had to be cut.
Advocates for preserving and expanding current Social Security benefits say they don’t believe Bloomberg has changed his position. They assert that he’s just not talking about it anymore.
“I would be delighted if he were changing his position,” said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, a nonprofit that advocates for increasing the benefits, said. “I believe he is continuing his position, just using more guarded language to do it.”
The 2016 Democratic platform and all of the other top candidates for the party’s 2020 nomination have endorsed increasing Social Security benefits while Bloomberg has not, Altman points out.
Marijuana Policy
Bloomberg today says that if elected, he would decriminalize marijuana, expunge certain marijuana convictions and not interfere in states that have already legalized the substance.
But just last year he called marijuana legalization enacted by 11 states and the District of Columbia “perhaps the stupidest thing anybody has ever done.”
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His campaign, meanwhile, employs a former employee of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
His mayoral administration “oversaw the arrest of 440,000 individuals for marijuana possession and weaponized racist policing policies such as stop and frisk,” Erik Altieri, executive director of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, said in an email.
No small change in position, particularly one short of full legalization, is going to make legalization supporters trust him on this issue.
“If dialing back mass incarceration and ending our failed prohibition on marijuana is an issue that you care about, there probably isn’t a worse candidate in the primary to support than Michael Bloomberg,” Altieri said.
Bloomberg Knew What He Was In For
It’s not as though Bloomberg didn’t foresee that his bid for the Democratic Party nomination would be discordant with his past.
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The party, he lamented at the same March 2019 Bermuda business forum where he ruled out a run, had “moved very far left.” He was a centrist, he said, “and there’s just no ways of reconciling my views in terms of being fiscally responsible and addressing issues and actually demanding results in improving education and fighting drugs and climate.”
Winning the nomination, Bloomberg said, was “almost inconceivable” for him.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--New Mexico Sues Google For Collecting Children's Data In Schools

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque claims Google is using its education services package that is marketed to school districts , teachers and parents as a way to spy on children and their families .
Attorney General Hector Balderas said that while the company touts Google Education as a valuable tool for resource-deprived schools , it is a means to monitor children while they browse the internet in the classroom and at home on private networks .
He said the information being mined includes everything from physical locations to websites visited , videos watched , saved passwords @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should be the number one priority of any company providing services to our children , particularly in schools , ” Balderas said in a statement .
“ Tracking student data without parental consent is not only illegal , it is dangerous.
” Google dismissed the claims as “ factually wrong , ” saying the G Suite for Education package allows schools to control account access and requires that schools obtain parental consent when necessary .
“ We do not use personal information from users in primary and secondary schools to target ads , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ School districts can decide how best to use Google for education in their classrooms and we are committed to partnering with them.
” UnlikeEurope , the U.S. has no overarching national law governing data collection and privacy .
Instead , it has a patchwork of state and federal laws that protect specific types of data , such as consumer health , financial information and the personal data generated by younger children .
New Mexico ’ s claim cites violations of the state ’ s Unfair Practices Act and the federal Children ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ requires websites and online services to obtain parental consent before collecting any information from children under 13 .
In a separate case , Google already has agreed to pay $ 170 million combined to the Federal Trade Commission and New York state to settle allegations its YouTube video service collected personal data on children without their parents ’ consent .
According to the New Mexico lawsuit , outside its Google Education platform , the company prohibits children in the U.S. under the age of 13 from having their own Google accounts .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around this by using its education services to “ secretly gain access to troves of information ” about New Mexico children .
The attorney general ’ s office filed a similar lawsuit against Google and other tech companies in 2018 , targeting what Balderas described as illegal data collection from child-directed mobile apps .
That case still is pending in federal court , but the companies have denied wrongdoing .
The latest lawsuit claims more than 80 million teachers and students use Google ’ seducation plaform .
Balderas said in a letter to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no immediate harm if they continue using the products and that the lawsuit shouldn ’ t interrupt activities in the classroom .

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s attorney general sued Google Thursday over allegations the tech company is illegally collecting personal data generated by children in violation of federal and state laws.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque claims Google is using its education services package that is marketed to school districts, teachers and parents as a way to spy on children and their families.
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Attorney General Hector Balderas said that while the company touts Google Education as a valuable tool for resource-deprived schools, it is a means to monitor children while they browse the internet in the classroom and at home on private networks. He said the information being mined includes everything from physical locations to websites visited, videos watched, saved passwords and contact lists.
The state is seeking unspecified civil penalties.
“Student safety should be the number one priority of any company providing services to our children, particularly in schools,” Balderas said in a statement. “Tracking student data without parental consent is not only illegal, it is dangerous.”
Google dismissed the claims as “factually wrong,” saying the G Suite for Education package allows schools to control account access and requires that schools obtain parental consent when necessary.
“We do not use personal information from users in primary and secondary schools to target ads,” said company spokesman Jose Castaneda. “School districts can decide how best to use Google for education in their classrooms and we are committed to partnering with them.”
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UnlikeEurope, the U.S. has no overarching national law governing data collection and privacy. Instead, it has a patchwork of state and federal laws that protect specific types of data, such as consumer health, financial information and the personal data generated by younger children.
New Mexico’s claim cites violations of the state’s Unfair Practices Act and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires websites and online services to obtain parental consent before collecting any information from children under 13. In a separate case, Google already has agreed to pay $170 million combined to the Federal Trade Commission and New York state to settle allegations its YouTube video service collected personal data on children without their parents’ consent.
According to the New Mexico lawsuit, outside its Google Education platform, the company prohibits children in the U.S. under the age of 13 from having their own Google accounts. The state contends Google is attempting to get around this by using its education services to “secretly gain access to troves of information” about New Mexico children.
The attorney general’s office filed a similar lawsuit against Google and other tech companies in 2018, targeting what Balderas described as illegal data collection from child-directed mobile apps. That case still is pending in federal court, but the companies have denied wrongdoing.
The latest lawsuit claims more than 80 million teachers and students use Google’seducation plaform. Balderas said in a letter to New Mexico school officials that there was no immediate harm if they continue using the products and that the lawsuit shouldn’t interrupt activities in the classroom.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Pete Buttigieg Unveils Plan For Protecting America's Public Lands

The issue of protecting public lands came up during the Democratic debate on Wednesday in Las Vegas .
Asked about @ @ @ @ @ required to boost renewable energy , Warren said she ’ s open to making exceptions @ @ @ @ @ new drilling and mining on federal lands in order to locate and obtain them , @ @ @ @ @ done in a sustainable way .
“ We can not continue to let our public @ @ @ @ @ for those who don ’ t care about our environment and are not making it @ @ @ @ @ .

The issue of protecting public lands came up during the Democratic debate on Wednesday in Las Vegas. Asked about critical minerals that will be required to boost renewable energy, Warren said she’s open to making exceptions to her proposed ban on new drilling and mining on federal lands in order to locate and obtain them, so long as it is done in a sustainable way.
“We cannot continue to let our public lands be used for profits for those who don’t care about our environment and are not making it better,” Warren said.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Michael Bloomberg Has A Communism Problem

Bloomberg : China is doing a lot .
Yes , they ’ re still building a lot of coal-fired power @ @ @ @ @ , they are , but they ’ re now moving plants away from the cities @ @ @ @ @ to stay in power in China , and they listen to the public .
When @ @ @ @ @ ’ t breathe the air , Xi Jinping is not a dictator ; he has @ @ @ @ @ he ’ s not going to survive .
Bloomberg : No , he has a @ @ @ @ @ PBS : He doesn ’ t have a vote .
He doesn ’ t have @ @ @ @ @ s not held accountable by voters .
Bloomberg : If his advisers gave him — @ @ @ @ @ on him just a revolution ?
Bloomberg : You ’ re not going to have @ @ @ @ @ survives without the will of the majority of its people .

Bloomberg: China is doing a lot. Yes, they’re still building a lot of coal-fired power plants.
PBS: And they’re still burning coal.
Bloomberg: Yes, they are, but they’re now moving plants away from the cities. The Communist Party wants to stay in power in China, and they listen to the public. When the public says I can’t breathe the air, Xi Jinping is not a dictator; he has to satisfy his constituents or he’s not going to survive.
PBS: He’s not a dictator?
Bloomberg: No, he has a constituency to answer to.
PBS: He doesn’t have a vote. He doesn’t have a democracy. He’s not held accountable by voters.
Bloomberg: If his advisers gave him —
PBS: Is the check on him just a revolution?
Bloomberg: You’re not going to have a revolution. No government survives without the will of the majority of its people.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Pete Buttigieg: Rush Limbaugh Has 'A Different Idea Of What Makes A Man Than I Do'

Pete Buttigieg doubled down on his response to Rush Limbaugh ’ s homophobic commentary , arguing that the right-wing radio host ’ s views of “ what makes a man ” are starkly different from his own .
During an appearance on “ The Ellen DeGeneres Show ” on Friday , the Democratic presidential candidate once again shrugged off Limbaugh ’ s crude and derisive take on whether or not a gay man stands a chance of becoming commander in chief .
“ I guess he just has a different idea of what makes a man than I do , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was packing my bags for Afghanistan , Donald Trump was working on Season 7 of ‘ Celebrity Apprentice.
’ Since when is strength about the chest-pounding and the loud-mouthed guy at the end of the bar ?
” “ The strongest people I know are not the loudest people , ” the former mayor of South Bend , Indiana , added before playfully cajoling his husband , Chasten , who was seated in the crowd .
The conversation took a more serious turn , however , when DeGeneres asked Buttigieg about his thus-far-negligible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minority voters at the national level .
Noting that he could never speak to the effects of racism “ from the perspective of personal experience , ” Buttigieg said he hoped that as president , he could nonetheless “ make myself useful to those who have.
” He then pointed to his Douglass Plan , which includes proposed changes to the country ’ s health , education and criminal justice systems .
Elsewhere in the interview , Buttigieg shared a few thoughts on Wednesday ’ s Democratic debate , sounding off on fellow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg .
“ I respect both of them , but I ’ m really worried about our ability to defeat Donald Trump if those are our choices , ” Buttigieg said .
“ If we have to choose between somebody who wants to burn things down in a way that I think a lot of Americans don ’ t identify with and somebody else who thinks he can just buy this with personal fortune as a billionaire ...
I don ’ t think either of those choices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us to bring Americans together and defeat this president.
” “ I think most of us can agree that we can do a lot better than the president we ’ ve got right now , and that we have to change things in this country before it ’ s too late , ” he added .

Pete Buttigieg doubled down on his response to Rush Limbaugh’s homophobic commentary, arguing that the right-wing radio host’s views of “what makes a man” are starkly different from his own.
During an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Friday, the Democratic presidential candidate once again shrugged off Limbaugh’s crude and derisive take on whether or not a gay man stands a chance of becoming commander in chief.
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“I guess he just has a different idea of what makes a man than I do,” Buttigieg said. “When I was packing my bags for Afghanistan, Donald Trump was working on Season 7 of ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’ Since when is strength about the chest-pounding and the loud-mouthed guy at the end of the bar?”
“The strongest people I know are not the loudest people,” the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, added before playfully cajoling his husband, Chasten, who was seated in the crowd.
The conversation took a more serious turn, however, when DeGeneres asked Buttigieg about his thus-far-negligible support from the Black community and other minority voters at the national level.
Noting that he could never speak to the effects of racism “from the perspective of personal experience,” Buttigieg said he hoped that as president, he could nonetheless “make myself useful to those who have.” He then pointed to his Douglass Plan, which includes proposed changes to the country’s health, education and criminal justice systems.
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Elsewhere in the interview, Buttigieg shared a few thoughts on Wednesday’s Democratic debate, sounding off on fellow candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
“I respect both of them, but I’m really worried about our ability to defeat Donald Trump if those are our choices,” Buttigieg said. “If we have to choose between somebody who wants to burn things down in a way that I think a lot of Americans don’t identify with and somebody else who thinks he can just buy this with personal fortune as a billionaire ... I don’t think either of those choices is going to make it possible for us to bring Americans together and defeat this president.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Go-Go Becomes Official Music Of D.C. Amid Movement To Preserve City's Black Culture

Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a bill into law on Wednesday that go-go is the official music of Washington , D.C. , amid widespread efforts to protect the gentrifying city ’ s Black culture .
D.C. Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie first introduced the legislation last year in response to the growing # DontMuteDC movement to combat the erasure of the city ’ s indigenous go-go music , which combines elements of funk , hip-hop , soul and other styles and is rooted in Black culture .
Howard University assistant professor Natalie Hopkinson and community activist and author Ronald Moten co-created the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Go-Go Music and Culture ” petition last year in April after an apparent noise complaint threatened the presence of go-go music at a famed D.C. intersection .
Donald Campbell , the owner of a Metro PCS storefront , said he was instructed to stop playing go-go music outside his store in the city ’ s Shaw neighborhood due to a complaint from a resident at a nearby luxury apartment complex .
Go-go music has been playing outside that storefront , located on a block named after “ Godfather of Go-Go ” Chuck @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eventually returned to the storefront thanks to the support of several local elected officials and a series of community-based demonstrations , rallies and the widely used # DontMuteDC hashtag on Twitter .
McDuffie : `` Go-Go is more than music .
It ’ s more than a simple genre .
It is our home-grown genre .
It is the catalyst that supplies the means for people to take care of themselves and their families .
It is the way that folks stayed out of the streets '' # DontMuteDC # LongLiveGoGo pic.twitter.com/o0Fk0K6rST — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) February 19 , 2020 The rallies to preserve the presence of go-go music outside the Metro PCS storefront are part of efforts to protect various aspects of Black culture in a gentrifying city .
Hopkinson , author of “ Go-Go Live : The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City , ” told HuffPost last year that there was still “ a lot of work ” to be done to empower Black youth and Black-owned businesses in the nation ’ s capital .
McDuffie ’ s legislation also required the mayor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , preserve , and archive ” go-go music .
“ Go-Go music is a creative force that has inspired generations of Washingtonians socially , culturally , and artistically , and this legislation will empower us to preserve and celebrate our native sound , ” Bowser said in a statement on Wednesday .

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Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a bill into law on Wednesday that go-go is the official music of Washington, D.C., amid widespread efforts to protect the gentrifying city’s Black culture.
D.C. Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie first introduced the legislation last year in response to the growing #DontMuteDC movement to combat the erasure of the city’s indigenous go-go music, which combines elements of funk, hip-hop, soul and other styles and is rooted in Black culture.
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Howard University assistant professor Natalie Hopkinson and community activist and author Ronald Moten co-created the “Don’t Mute D.C.’s Go-Go Music and Culture” petition last year in April after an apparent noise complaint threatened the presence of go-go music at a famed D.C. intersection.
Donald Campbell, the owner of a Metro PCS storefront, said he was instructed to stop playing go-go music outside his store in the city’s Shaw neighborhood due to a complaint from a resident at a nearby luxury apartment complex. Go-go music has been playing outside that storefront, located on a block named after “Godfather of Go-Go” Chuck Brown, for decades.
The music eventually returned to the storefront thanks to the support of several local elected officials and a series of community-based demonstrations, rallies and the widely used #DontMuteDC hashtag on Twitter.
McDuffie: "Go-Go is more than music. It’s more than a simple genre. It is our home-grown genre. It is the catalyst that supplies the means for people to take care of themselves and their families. It is the way that folks stayed out of the streets" #DontMuteDC #LongLiveGoGo pic.twitter.com/o0Fk0K6rST — CM McDuffie's Office (@CM_McDuffie) February 19, 2020
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The rallies to preserve the presence of go-go music outside the Metro PCS storefront are part of efforts to protect various aspects of Black culture in a gentrifying city.
Hopkinson, author of “Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City,” told HuffPost last year that there was still “a lot of work” to be done to empower Black youth and Black-owned businesses in the nation’s capital.
McDuffie’s legislation also required the mayor to “implement a program to support, preserve, and archive” go-go music.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--The For-Profit Contractor Behind Troubled Policing In Pete Buttigieg’s South Bend

Why it wasn ’ t can in part be traced back to Lexipol , a California-based for-profit contractor that has shaped how small and midsize cities like South Bend conduct law enforcement .
The company offers prewritten police manuals , which are the main way cities legally regulate police behavior on the ground .
Lexipol has a reputation for pushing back against stricter policing standards in its manuals , whether around body cameras or when it ’ s appropriate for officers to use force .
“ Lexipol comes to the task of drafting police manuals and policies with a specific @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Carl Takei , an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who has been litigating policing practices — specifically around Lexipol policies on immigration that the ACLU alleges are unconstitutional .
“ The way they market themselves to small or medium size cities like South Bend is that if you adopt our policies , our policies will protect you from liability.
” Lexipol has policy templates that cities take on and shape to their needs .
In South Bend , the language stayed largely unchanged , with some minor tweaks .
Takei , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around the use of force and body cameras , said they were in line with what the company has done for thousands of other jurisdictions across the country .
Indiana law states that an officer “ is justified in using reasonable force if the officer reasonably believes that the force is necessary to effect a lawful arrest , ” and has “ probable cause ” to use force .
That language doesn ’ t prevent a city from going further , Takei said .
But that is how the city ’ s lawyers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the series of training programs on deescalation tactics and implicit bias that the police force also underwent , and were implemented under Buttigieg ’ s direction .
How Lexipol came to South Bend is a story that ’ s played out around the country ; the city needed to update a policy manual that hadn ’ t been touched in several decades .
While Lexipol is little known to the American public , its services are widely used by cities like South Bend that may not have the resources to dedicate to policy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chief was familiar with the group , and Lexipol offered the city a discount if it contracted with the company for both the fire department and police department manuals .
The city council , which allocated the budget for the rewrite , wasn ’ t involved in how it would be done .
“ I didn ’ t have any company in mind .
The only thing I knew was the body cameras should record .
I was very basic ― we sent a very basic charge out to leadership , ” said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serving African American man on the city ’ s Common Council and who has endorsed Joe Biden for president .
“ We needed to get something on the books .
There was a tremendous lack of trust in the police in our area because of the police tapes , ” he added , referencing Buttigieg ’ s decision to ask for the resignation of South Bend ’ s first black police chief after learning he was involved in secretly recording police officers allegedly engaging in unethical behavior .
“ We have enough qualified @ @ @ @ @ @ @ locally , ” Henry Davis said .
“ We have enough human capital here locally .
We have one of the leaders in higher education in our backyard .
How do we miss all of our local talent and a university when it ’ s time to develop a policy to keep people safe .
We passed 100,000 people and Notre Dame ’ s campus to go find somebody who doesn ’ t have any information about South Bend.
” “ Pete had no vision on the police , ” said Derek Dieter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and city council member who is running for a local county commissioner position as a Republican .
Dieter , a Trump supporter , has publicly attacked Buttigieg ’ s presidential run on Tucker Carlson ’ s Fox News show and called on him to resign as mayor .
“ You wouldn ’ t have to go hire a firm that would love to make money off of this thing .
You can talk to other police departments .
But that ’ s his M.O .
; it ’ s always been , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that doesn ’ t know anything about South Bend , Indiana.
’ ” Lexipol would not comment on its methods of drafting policy for South Bend , and whether it worked with community leaders .
In a statement to HuffPost , Bill McAuliffe , the director of professional services for Lexipol and a former law enforcement officer , said the company does “ not provide boilerplate policy ; rather , each law enforcement agency needs to take the next step and review and customize the policies to make sure they ’ re applicable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the community.
” “ It ’ s not about , ‘ Hey , Chief , we can keep you from getting sued , ’ ” McAuliffe previously told Newsy about Lexipol ’ s practices .
“ It ’ s , ‘ No , hey , Chief , we can help you have solid policy , help you train your people so that they ’ re treating your citizenry properly , the way you want them to be treated , the way they deserve to be treated .
And therefore , if they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the law and everything else , then you ’ re not going to get sued .
’ ”

Pete Buttigieg addresses newly sworn-in police officers during a ceremony on June 19, 2019, at the South Bend Police Department. ASSOCIATED PRESS
In the days after Eric Logan, a 54-year-old African American man, was shot and killed by a police officer in South Bend, Indiana, last summer, it became clear the city’s law enforcement policies had failed.
The police officer who killed Logan was wearing a body camera, an initiative instituted under then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg. But the camera was off. The city’s policy didn’t specifically mandate officers turn their cameras on. Immediately after, the city issued a clarification: Officers should turn the cameras on during all “work-related interactions.”
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Any day now, the city will hear from the special prosecutor appointed to investigate the shooting whether the officer, who has since resigned, will face charges.
The unusually long investigation has frustrated the South Bend community. South Bend residents might not have had to wait nine months for answers if the officer’s body camera had been on.
Why it wasn’t can in part be traced back to Lexipol, a California-based for-profit contractor that has shaped how small and midsize cities like South Bend conduct law enforcement. The company offers prewritten police manuals, which are the main way cities legally regulate police behavior on the ground. Lexipol has a reputation for pushing back against stricter policing standards in its manuals, whether around body cameras or when it’s appropriate for officers to use force.
South Bend contracted with Lexipol in 2015, paying $94,770 for a rewrite of its police manual. Buttigieg’s presidential campaign platform is progressive on policing; it calls for raising the legal standards for officers to justify using lethal force in favor of deescalation policies and supporting departments that emphasize community involvement in policing. But his vision for policing in America isn’t in line with what happened in South Bend.
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When Buttigieg has had to answer for his record on policing and race relations, he has emphasized a number of initiatives: an online “transparency hub” that allows anyone to go through police recruitment data and police incidents; implicit bias and deescalation trainings; and his push to update the policies guiding law enforcement in South Bend ― with the help of Lexipol.
Rewriting the police manual was done largely outside the eye of the community, and it was done in a manner that resulted in what Buttigieg’s presidential platform might call “a lack of substantive guidance” for police officers — policy gaps that sowed distrust in the community before and after Logan’s death.
Founded by former law enforcement officers turned attorneys, Lexipol has opposed mandatory deescalation policies, stricter standards for the use of force, prohibitions against shooting at moving vehicles, and it has drafted policies deliberately vague enough to give officers as much discretion as possible under the legal statutes.
“Lexipol comes to the task of drafting police manuals and policies with a specific mindset and political orientation,” said Carl Takei, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who has been litigating policing practices — specifically around Lexipol policies on immigration that the ACLU alleges are unconstitutional. “The way they market themselves to small or medium size cities like South Bend is that if you adopt our policies, our policies will protect you from liability.”
Lexipol has policy templates that cities take on and shape to their needs. In South Bend, the language stayed largely unchanged, with some minor tweaks. Takei, who reviewed South Bend’s policies around the use of force and body cameras, said they were in line with what the company has done for thousands of other jurisdictions across the country.
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On the use of force, which Takei described as a “typical example of the Lexipol philosophy,” the South Bend policy “restates the bare minimum constitutional standard for use of force, and then offer[s] a laundry list of nonbinding considerations, rather than to set bright-line rules.”
“Lexipol comes to the task of drafting police manuals and policies with a specific mindset and political orientation. The way they market themselves to small or medium size cities like South Bend is that if you adopt our policies, our policies will protect you from liability.” - Carl Takei, ACLU staff attorney
For example, the policy says that an officer can use force to defend against “what he/she reasonably believes would be an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury” and later notes that “imminent does not mean immediate or instantaneous.”
Asked why Buttigieg’s campaign platform is different than the policies Buttigieg enacted as mayor, his campaign cited restrictive Indiana laws.
“Indiana law has prevented Pete from making progressive reforms on issues ranging from gun safety to enacting a more restrictive standard on the use of force,” campaign spokesperson Sean Savett told HuffPost. “However, Pete believes that police departments in Indiana and across the country must do more to emphasize deescalation policies.”
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Indiana law states that an officer “is justified in using reasonable force if the officer reasonably believes that the force is necessary to effect a lawful arrest,” and has “probable cause” to use force. That language doesn’t prevent a city from going further, Takei said. But that is how the city’s lawyers interpreted the law. The city emphasized the series of training programs on deescalation tactics and implicit bias that the police force also underwent, and were implemented under Buttigieg’s direction.
How Lexipol came to South Bend is a story that’s played out around the country; the city needed to update a policy manual that hadn’t been touched in several decades. While Lexipol is little known to the American public, its services are widely used by cities like South Bend that may not have the resources to dedicate to policy writing. South Bend’s police chief was familiar with the group, and Lexipol offered the city a discount if it contracted with the company for both the fire department and police department manuals. The city council, which allocated the budget for the rewrite, wasn’t involved in how it would be done.
Demonstrators with Black Lives Matter protest a visit by Buttigieg to a homeless shelter in Los Angeles on Jan. 10, 2020. ASSOCIATED PRESS
“I didn’t have any company in mind. The only thing I knew was the body cameras should record. I was very basic ― we sent a very basic charge out to leadership,” said Oliver Davis, who was the longest serving African American man on the city’s Common Council and who has endorsed Joe Biden for president. “We needed to get something on the books. There was a tremendous lack of trust in the police in our area because of the police tapes,” he added, referencing Buttigieg’s decision to ask for the resignation of South Bend’s first black police chief after learning he was involved in secretly recording police officers allegedly engaging in unethical behavior.
When Logan was shot, Davis said he recalled thinking, “Well, the police body cameras will show what really happened.”
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“To find out the body cameras weren’t on was a major setback,” Davis said.
Other leaders in the city recall a higher level of concern about the contract. Henry Davis Jr., a South Bend city councilman who unsuccessfully ran against Buttigieg for mayor in 2015 and remains a vocal critic of Buttigieg’s record in the city, said he remembered community leaders expressing concern. Davis wasn’t on the city council when the contract with Lexipol went through, but was personally opposed to it.
“We have enough qualified officers locally to develop policies and procedures locally,” Henry Davis said. “We have enough human capital here locally. We have one of the leaders in higher education in our backyard. How do we miss all of our local talent and a university when it’s time to develop a policy to keep people safe. We passed 100,000 people and Notre Dame’s campus to go find somebody who doesn’t have any information about South Bend.”
Buttigieg’s fiercest detractors called it a lack of “vision.”
“Pete had no vision on the police,” said Derek Dieter, a retired South Bend police officer and city council member who is running for a local county commissioner position as a Republican. Dieter, a Trump supporter, has publicly attacked Buttigieg’s presidential run on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show and called on him to resign as mayor. “You wouldn’t have to go hire a firm that would love to make money off of this thing. You can talk to other police departments. But that’s his M.O.; it’s always been, ‘Let’s hire some outside consultant that doesn’t know anything about South Bend, Indiana.’”
Lexipol would not comment on its methods of drafting policy for South Bend, and whether it worked with community leaders. In a statement to HuffPost, Bill McAuliffe, the director of professional services for Lexipol and a former law enforcement officer, said the company does “not provide boilerplate policy; rather, each law enforcement agency needs to take the next step and review and customize the policies to make sure they’re applicable, practical and functional for the agency and the community.”
It has also pushed back against the notion that it writes policies to prevent lawsuits.
“It’s not about, ‘Hey, Chief, we can keep you from getting sued,’” McAuliffe previously told Newsy about Lexipol’s practices. “It’s, ‘No, hey, Chief, we can help you have solid policy, help you train your people so that they’re treating your citizenry properly, the way you want them to be treated, the way they deserve to be treated. And therefore, if they’re treating them properly and within the law and everything else, then you’re not going to get sued.’”
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The push for new police regulations in South Bend came around the time of then-President Barack Obama’s national push for more community policing, said Henry Davis, who helped draft the first call for body cameras.
But according to a study in the Texas Law Review by UCLA law professors Ingrid Eagly and Joanna Schwartz, what is known about Lexipol’s process and policies is not consistent with the evidence-based consensus on policing.
“Lexipol’s approach to police policymaking diverges in several significant ways from that long advocated by scholars and experts,” they wrote. “Commentators have viewed police policies as a tool to constrain officer discretion and to improve officer decisionmaking. Lexipol, in contrast, promotes its policies as a risk management tool that can reduce legal liability.”
“Indiana law has prevented Pete from making progressive reforms on issues ranging from gun safety to enacting a more restrictive standard on the use of force. However, Pete believes that police departments in Indiana and across the country must do more to emphasize deescalation policies.” - Sean Savett, Buttigieg campaign spokesperson
Buttigieg took action in the months after Logan’s death to open the city’s policing guidelines to public scrutiny. He briefly left the campaign trail to support the creation of Community Action Group meetings, of which here have been eight, and give residents the opportunity to offer recommendations to improve policing practices.
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At those meetings, Tim Scott, the president of South Bend’s city council, recalls Black Lives Matter activists specifically bringing up concerns about Lexipol’s rewrite of the police manual.
“It was good to be able to talk through those subject matters,” Scott said. “It was a shame that it took Eric Logan’s death for there to be that kind of input.”
Focused on his presidential run, Buttigieg has reflected on his record on policing in South Bend as a work in progress.
“I don’t think all of these issues are things that somebody can just claim to have solved,” Buttigieg said in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon in June 2019. “The issues that I haven’t solved as a mayor are issues that America hasn’t solved, that no city has solved, but where we’ve made progress.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Anderson Cooper Calls 'Bulls**t' On Rod Blagojevich On Live TV

In an interview with CNN ’ s Anderson Cooper , former Illinois Gov .
Rod Blagojevich evoked Nelson Mandela and said he had been a “ political prisoner ” and unfairly targeted .
In a fiery rebuke , the CNN host rejected Blagojevich ’ s claim that so-called “ corrupt prosecutors ” were responsible for his conviction on 18 felony corruption charges for campaign finance violations and bribery .
“ You do have an obligation to at least admit what you did wrong , and you refuse to do that , ” Cooper told the former governor , who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week .
“ And you ’ re creating a whole new alternate universe of facts , and that may be big in politics today , but it ’ s still frankly just bullshit.
” Blagojevich was the Democratic governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009 , when he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption .
He attempted to sell the former U.S. Senate seat of newly elected President Barack Obama through his power as governor to appoint someone .
When Blagojevich ’ s corruption came to light , the Illinois @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and in 2009 voted to ban him from holding any political office in the state .
Blagojevich attempted to use his interview with Cooper to defend his reputation and redirect the attention to corruption in the criminal justice system .
“ If you were to ask Nelson Mandela whether he thought the process was fair back in the early ’ 60s in South Africa , he would say what I ’ m saying today , ” Blagojevich told Cooper .
Later , he urged Cooper to take action : “ I hope one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the fight to reform our criminal justice system and actually do something about the problem of over-sentencing Blacks and Latinos .
I learned that when I was there [ in prison ] .
” Cooper quickly shot him down : “ What ’ s sad is that you hadn ’ t actually learned that when you mattered ― when you actually were the governor .
”

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In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich evoked Nelson Mandela and said he had been a “political prisoner” and unfairly targeted.
Cooper allowed Blagojevich to make his point before calling “bullshit.”
In a fiery rebuke, the CNN host rejected Blagojevich’s claim that so-called “corrupt prosecutors” were responsible for his conviction on 18 felony corruption charges for campaign finance violations and bribery.
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“You do have an obligation to at least admit what you did wrong, and you refuse to do that,” Cooper told the former governor, who was granted clemency by President Donald Trump this week.
“And you’re creating a whole new alternate universe of facts, and that may be big in politics today, but it’s still frankly just bullshit.”
Anderson Cooper is a legend. pic.twitter.com/4YYwmJVF2a — Ian Sams (@IanSams) February 22, 2020
Blagojevich was the Democratic governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption. He attempted to sell the former U.S. Senate seat of newly elected President Barack Obama through his power as governor to appoint someone.
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When Blagojevich’s corruption came to light, the Illinois House of Representatives voted to impeach him and in 2009 voted to ban him from holding any political office in the state.
Blagojevich attempted to use his interview with Cooper to defend his reputation and redirect the attention to corruption in the criminal justice system.
“If you were to ask Nelson Mandela whether he thought the process was fair back in the early ’60s in South Africa, he would say what I’m saying today,” Blagojevich told Cooper.
Later, he urged Cooper to take action: “I hope one day maybe you’ll join me in the fight to reform our criminal justice system and actually do something about the problem of over-sentencing Blacks and Latinos. I learned that when I was there [in prison].”
Cooper quickly shot him down: “What’s sad is that you hadn’t actually learned that when you mattered ― when you actually were the governor.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Bette Midler Has Divine Comeback To Trump's 'Parasite' Comments

“ We ’ ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade .
On top of it , they give @ @ @ @ @ the year ?
Was it good ?
I don ’ t know.
” Midler sensed @ @ @ @ @ a joke and fired back on Twitter :

“We’ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of it, they give them the best movie of the year? Was it good? I don’t know.”
Midler sensed a good set up for a joke and fired back on Twitter:


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Joe Biden Says He Was Arrested In South Africa Decades Ago

Former Vice President Joe Biden has begun telling a story on the campaign trail of his being arrested in South Africa decades ago .
The only problem is , he doesn ’ t appear to have mentioned this incident publicly before this month .
The Democratic presidential candidate told some version of the following story at one campaign event in South Carolina and two in Nevada over the past two weeks , per The New York Times : On a visit to South Africa decades ago , he claims he tried to visit Nelson Mandela in prison and got arrested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ago , Nelson Mandela walked out of prison and entered into discussions about apartheid , ” Biden can be heard saying in a video from the South Carolina event on Feb. 11 .
“ I had the great honor of meeting him .
I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him on [ Robben ] Island.
” Former civil rights activist and Georgia congressman Andrew Young was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the late 1970s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told the Times that he had traveled with then-Sen. Biden to South Africa but had never been arrested there — “ and I don ’ t think he was , either , ” Young said .
A New York Times search of news media did not find any mention of Biden being arrested in South Africa .
He did not note it in his 2007 memoir , in which he discussed a ’ 70s trip to South Africa , according to the Times .
In a 2013 visit to the South African Embassy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Biden talked about a 1977 visit to the country .
He reportedly said he had met with anti-apartheid leaders there but did not get to speak with Mandela , who was serving what would ultimately be 27 years in prison .
Biden did not appear to have mentioned being arrested .
The former vice president is trailing behind Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) in early national polls of the Democratic primary , just one day before the Nevada caucuses and within weeks of the South Carolina primary and Super Tuesday .

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Former Vice President Joe Biden has begun telling a story on the campaign trail of his being arrested in South Africa decades ago. The only problem is, he doesn’t appear to have mentioned this incident publicly before this month.
The Democratic presidential candidate told some version of the following story at one campaign event in South Carolina and two in Nevada over the past two weeks, per The New York Times: On a visit to South Africa decades ago, he claims he tried to visit Nelson Mandela in prison and got arrested.
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“This day, 30 years ago, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison and entered into discussions about apartheid,” Biden can be heard saying in a video from the South Carolina event on Feb. 11. “I had the great honor of meeting him. I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him on [Robben] Island.”
Former civil rights activist and Georgia congressman Andrew Young was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the late 1970s when Biden visited South Africa. Young told the Times that he had traveled with then-Sen. Biden to South Africa but had never been arrested there — “and I don’t think he was, either,” Young said.
A New York Times search of news media did not find any mention of Biden being arrested in South Africa. He did not note it in his 2007 memoir, in which he discussed a ’70s trip to South Africa, according to the Times.
Biden’s team did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
In a 2013 visit to the South African Embassy in Washington after Mandela’s death, Biden talked about a 1977 visit to the country. He reportedly said he had met with anti-apartheid leaders there but did not get to speak with Mandela, who was serving what would ultimately be 27 years in prison. Biden did not appear to have mentioned being arrested.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Russia Wants To Help Bernie Sanders And Donald Trump. Only Trump Is Helping Russia.

U.S. intelligence officials believe Russia is trying to boost Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) in the 2020 Democratic primary race as part of its interference in this year ’ s presidential election , according to Sanders and news reports on Friday .
Sanders moved to quickly and firmly reject Moscow ’ s involvement .
His response was strikingly different from the way President Donald Trump has handled Russia ’ s meddling since the Republican first received Russian President Vladimir Putin ’ s support in the 2016 election and then was informed earlier this year that Putin wants to see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president , I stand firmly against their efforts , and any other foreign power that wants to interfere in our election , ” Sanders said in a statement he issued after The Washington Post broke the news Friday of the Russian efforts to help him claim the Democratic nomination .
“ I don ’ t care , frankly , who Putin wants to be president , ” Sanders said .
“ My message to Putin is clear : stay out of American elections , and as president I will make sure that you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ internet propaganda to sow division in our country , and my understanding is that they are doing it again in 2020.
” Four years ago , Putin used online support for Sanders to worsen splits within the Democratic Party as he sought to secure Trump ’ s election .
His aim now could be two-fold : exacerbating Democratic divisions again to weaken the anti-Trump coalition while bolstering a Sanders candidacy some political analysts believe Trump would find easy to attack as extreme .
Sanders in his response on Friday focused on the national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Campaigning in California on Friday , he told reporters , “ It ’ s an ugly business , and all of us have got to say , sorry , you ’ re not going to do this in this election.
” Putin in 2016 could have viewed Sanders ’ relative silence on foreign policy beyond criticizing U.S. overreach as a sign he might be sympathetic to Moscow .
But the senator has since articulated a vision of foreign policy that ’ s wary of Putin ’ s aggressive ultra-nationalism and support for oligarchs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because he is skeptical of muscular demonstrations of U.S. power like military interventions , he does not endorse forces trying to undermine the U.S. or spread disinformation on Washington ’ s role in global issues like the Syrian civil war .
In the 2016 campaign cycle , Trump denied receiving Russian support even as he openly invited it .
His family and his advisors explored the possibility of such help privately and his aides ensured the GOP ’ s convention platform adopted a position on Ukraine softer than Republican orthodoxy at the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interests .
Once elected , Trump continued to reject the intelligence community ’ s conclusion that Russia had interfered in the election and did his best to denigrate and thwart special counsel Robert Mueller ’ s lengthy probe into the matter .
Trump continually has framed the concerns and findings about Russian interference as a personal attack on him by political enemies , and used the power of the U.S. government to push a conspiracy theory that exonerated Moscow .
The New York Times reported last week that Trump became angry with Joseph @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intelligence , for telling House lawmakers ― especially Democrats ― about Putin ’ s 2020 interference efforts .
McGuire was replaced as the acting intelligence chief on Friday by Richard Grenell , a staunch Trump loyalist .
And in the Senate , Republicans are blocking legislation that would require campaigns to be more transparent about offers of foreign assistance .

U.S. intelligence officials believe Russia is trying to boost Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the 2020 Democratic primary race as part of its interference in this year’s presidential election, according to Sanders and news reports on Friday.
Sanders moved to quickly and firmly reject Moscow’s involvement. His response was strikingly different from the way President Donald Trump has handled Russia’s meddling since the Republican first received Russian President Vladimir Putin’s support in the 2016 election and then was informed earlier this year that Putin wants to see him reelected.
“Unlike the current president, I stand firmly against their efforts, and any other foreign power that wants to interfere in our election,” Sanders said in a statement he issued after The Washington Post broke the news Friday of the Russian efforts to help him claim the Democratic nomination.
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“I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president,” Sanders said. “My message to Putin is clear: stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do. In 2016, Russia used internet propaganda to sow division in our country, and my understanding is that they are doing it again in 2020.”
Four years ago, Putin used online support for Sanders to worsen splits within the Democratic Party as he sought to secure Trump’s election. His aim now could be two-fold: exacerbating Democratic divisions again to weaken the anti-Trump coalition while bolstering a Sanders candidacy some political analysts believe Trump would find easy to attack as extreme.
Sanders in his response on Friday focused on the national interest in rebuffing the Russian efforts. Campaigning in California on Friday, he told reporters, “It’s an ugly business, and all of us have got to say, sorry, you’re not going to do this in this election.”
Putin in 2016 could have viewed Sanders’ relative silence on foreign policy beyond criticizing U.S. overreach as a sign he might be sympathetic to Moscow. But the senator has since articulated a vision of foreign policy that’s wary of Putin’s aggressive ultra-nationalism and support for oligarchs. He’s shown that just because he is skeptical of muscular demonstrations of U.S. power like military interventions, he does not endorse forces trying to undermine the U.S. or spread disinformation on Washington’s role in global issues like the Syrian civil war.
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In the 2016 campaign cycle, Trump denied receiving Russian support even as he openly invited it. His family and his advisors explored the possibility of such help privately and his aides ensured the GOP’s convention platform adopted a position on Ukraine softer than Republican orthodoxy at the time and in line with Putin’s interests.
Once elected, Trump continued to reject the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia had interfered in the election and did his best to denigrate and thwart special counsel Robert Mueller’s lengthy probe into the matter. Trump continually has framed the concerns and findings about Russian interference as a personal attack on him by political enemies, and used the power of the U.S. government to push a conspiracy theory that exonerated Moscow.
The New York Times reported last week that Trump became angry with Joseph McGuire, the acting director of national intelligence, for telling House lawmakers ― especially Democrats ― about Putin’s 2020 interference efforts. McGuire was replaced as the acting intelligence chief on Friday by Richard Grenell, a staunch Trump loyalist.
And in the Senate, Republicans are blocking legislation that would require campaigns to be more transparent about offers of foreign assistance.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Trump's Pick For National Intelligence Director 'Not Interested' In The Job

Just hours after President Donald Trump said he was considering naming Rep. Doug Collins ( R-Ga. ) as director of the Department of National Intelligence , the congressman announced he ’ s not interested .
Apparently neither Trump nor anyone on his team discussed the post with Collins before his name was floated by the president .
“ This is not a job that interests me at this time ; it ’ s not one that I would accept , ” Collins said flatly on Fox Business on Friday morning , the day after Trump told reporters he was considering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Collins is currently in a Senate primary race against fellow Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler , and he wants to see that through , he explained .
Collins , a staunch defender of the president and the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee , said it was “ humbling ” to be considered by Trump for the post .
The president tweeted early Friday that he was considering “ four great candidates ” to head the DNI .
But Collins was the only one he identified to reporters .
Trump has named @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Grenell , a fierce Trump loyalist , as acting head of the department .
ProPublica reported Friday that Grenell worked in 2016 as a consultant for a Moldovan politician later accused of corruption by the U.S. Grenell also failed to notify the U.S. that he was working on behalf of a foreign politician , in apparent violation of the law , according to the online investigative publication .
Joseph Maguire was ousted this week as DNI acting director because Trump was reportedly furious that one of Maguire ’ s deputies briefed the House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ again interfering in the presidential election to sway the vote for Trump .
At a Las Vegas campaign rally Friday , Trump blasted the briefing as Democratic “ disinformation , ” even though it ’ s based on U.S. intelligence .
Collins is under fire from members of his own party for challenging Loeffler , who was appointed by Georgia Gov .
Brian Kemp earlier this year to replace a retiring senator .
Loeffler already has some significant GOP support , and party leaders are fearful that Collins will dilute the Republican vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ candidates .
Earlier statements Trump made about the Georgia race indicate he may have dangled the DNI post to draw Collins out of the contest .
Collins infamously said in January that Democrats “ are in love with terrorists ” — a comment for which he later apologized .
Check out Collins ’ s comments about the DNI post in the video above .
He discusses it at the start of the tape .

Just hours after President Donald Trump said he was considering naming Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) as director of the Department of National Intelligence, the congressman announced he’s not interested.
Apparently neither Trump nor anyone on his team discussed the post with Collins before his name was floated by the president.
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“This is not a job that interests me at this time; it’s not one that I would accept,” Collins said flatly on Fox Business on Friday morning, the day after Trump told reporters he was considering him as permanent head of the DNI. Collins is currently in a Senate primary race against fellow Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, and he wants to see that through, he explained.
Collins, a staunch defender of the president and the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said it was “humbling” to be considered by Trump for the post.
The president tweeted early Friday that he was considering “four great candidates” to head the DNI. But Collins was the only one he identified to reporters.
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Collins is under fire from members of his own party for challenging Loeffler, who was appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp earlier this year to replace a retiring senator. Loeffler already has some significant GOP support, and party leaders are fearful that Collins will dilute the Republican vote in a primary that will include Democratic candidates. Earlier statements Trump made about the Georgia race indicate he may have dangled the DNI post to draw Collins out of the contest.
Collins infamously said in January that Democrats “are in love with terrorists” — a comment for which he later apologized.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Henry Cuellar Is First Democrat Backed By Koch Super PAC

A super PAC founded and funded by billionaire Charles Koch reported $ 34,000 in spending to support Rep. Henry Cuellar ’ s ( D-Texas ) primary campaign , according to a Friday filing with the Federal Election Commission .
This is the first time that Americans for Prosperity Action is backing the election campaign of a congressional Democrat .
Cuellar , a seven-term incumbent , is facing a tough primary challenge from immigration and human rights lawyer Jessica Cisneros .
He has one of the most conservative voting records among Democrats in Congress despite representing a safe Democratic seat .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Texas corporations and business associations , including the American Bankers Association , Texas Bankers Association , the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Laredo Chamber of Commerce .
Cisneros has won endorsements from Sens .
Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) and Elizabeth Warren ( D-Mass . )
and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , national and local progressive groups , including Justice Democrats , women ’ s groups , environmental groups , as well as labor unions like the Service Employees International Union and the local Texas AFL-CIO .
Koch Industries , Inc. , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ owned by Charles Koch , is the largest donor to Americans for Prosperity Action this election cycle , giving $ 3 million .
The group is the super PAC arm of the larger nonprofit Americans for Prosperity .
The nonprofit group was founded by Koch and his late brother David Koch to advance a free market and libertarian policy agenda in the United States .
It played a pivotal role in funding the anti-Obama administration Tea Party in 2010 .
Rep. Henry Cuellar , D-Texas , talks with reporters after a meeting with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Capitol Hill , Thursday , June 27 , 2019 , in Washington .
This is not the first Koch-linked group to back Cuellar .
The Koch Industries PAC donated $ 5,000 to Cuellar ’ s campaign .
And an arm of the LIBRE Initiative , a Latino outreach group operating under the umbrella of Americans for Prosperity , endorsed Cuellar on Feb. 14 .
The March 3 primary election has been the target of significant outside spending , some of it from untraceable sources .
A nonprofit group called American Workers for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issue ads backing Cuellar .
The group is associated with Texas-based political consultant Gilberto Ocañas and was created as a Delaware-corporation on Dec. 11 .
There is little other information explaining who supports it or is funding its pro-Cuellar efforts .
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce , the chief lobbying organization for corporate America , has also announced plans to spend $ 200,000 backing Cuellar .
Like American Workers for Progress , the Chamber does not disclose its donors .
The American Bankers Association is also running ads in English and Spanish backing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Texas Forward , a super PAC affiliated with the pro-choice women ’ s nonprofit EMILY ’ s List .
It has not yet reported its donors to the FEC .

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A super PAC founded and funded by billionaire Charles Koch reported $34,000 in spending to support Rep. Henry Cuellar’s (D-Texas) primary campaign, according to a Friday filing with the Federal Election Commission.
This is the first time that Americans for Prosperity Action is backing the election campaign of a congressional Democrat.
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Cuellar, a seven-term incumbent, is facing a tough primary challenge from immigration and human rights lawyer Jessica Cisneros. He has one of the most conservative voting records among Democrats in Congress despite representing a safe Democratic seat. His reelection is supported by large national and Texas corporations and business associations, including the American Bankers Association, Texas Bankers Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Laredo Chamber of Commerce.
Cisneros has won endorsements from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, national and local progressive groups, including Justice Democrats, women’s groups, environmental groups, as well as labor unions like the Service Employees International Union and the local Texas AFL-CIO.
Koch Industries, Inc., the giant oil and gas services corporation owned by Charles Koch, is the largest donor to Americans for Prosperity Action this election cycle, giving $3 million. The group is the super PAC arm of the larger nonprofit Americans for Prosperity. The nonprofit group was founded by Koch and his late brother David Koch to advance a free market and libertarian policy agenda in the United States. It played a pivotal role in funding the anti-Obama administration Tea Party in 2010.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, talks with reporters after a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 27, 2019, in Washington. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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This is not the first Koch-linked group to back Cuellar. The Koch Industries PAC donated $5,000 to Cuellar’s campaign. And an arm of the LIBRE Initiative, a Latino outreach group operating under the umbrella of Americans for Prosperity, endorsed Cuellar on Feb. 14.
The March 3 primary election has been the target of significant outside spending, some of it from untraceable sources.
A nonprofit group called American Workers for Progress spent $720,000 in January on issue ads backing Cuellar. The group is associated with Texas-based political consultant Gilberto Ocañas and was created as a Delaware-corporation on Dec. 11. There is little other information explaining who supports it or is funding its pro-Cuellar efforts.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the chief lobbying organization for corporate America, has also announced plans to spend $200,000 backing Cuellar. Like American Workers for Progress, the Chamber does not disclose its donors. The American Bankers Association is also running ads in English and Spanish backing Cuellar.
Cisneros has received backing from Texas Forward, a super PAC affiliated with the pro-choice women’s nonprofit EMILY’s List. It has not yet reported its donors to the FEC.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Intel On Russian Election Interference Must Be Declassified To Inform Voters: Ex-Ambassador

Former U.S Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said Friday that intelligence concerning Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election should be declassified and made public so that American voters can judge for themselves what ’ s happening .
He also suggested that House Democrats should consider holding weekly hearings on the threat with Richard Grenell , the new acting director of the Department of National Intelligence .
McFaul said it ’ s no surprise that Russia is again interfering this election season in a bid to sway the vote for Trump — as American intelligence discovered in the 2016 election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Putin seeks Donald Trump ’ s victory again , ” McFaul told Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC ’ s “ Deadline White House.
” “ To me , that ’ s no great insight ... [ it ’ s ] very clear.
” But what needs to be disseminated is what “ concrete ” steps that Russia , under President Vladimir Putin , may be taking to help make that happen , he added .
“ Let ’ s just start declassifying this stuff ” before the November election “ so the American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That ’ s what the Obama administration was criticized for not doing in 2016.
” McFaul also warned of the extreme danger of the “ politicization of intelligence.
” If all intelligence is “ filtered through partisan politics , that means that the president is not getting an accurate picture of the threats out there , whether it ’ s pandemics , or nuclear weapons or terrorist attacks , ” he added .
Joseph Maguire was ousted this week as DNI acting director because Trump was reportedly furious that one of Maguire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Committee last week that Russia was again meddling in the presidential campaign in Trump ’ s favor .
At a Las Vegas campaign rally Friday , Trump blasted the latest Russian revelation as Democratic “ disinformation ” — even though it ’ s based on information discovered by his own intelligence community .
ProPublica reported Friday that Maguire ’ s replacement , Grenell , a fierce Trump loyalist , worked in 2016 as a consultant for a Moldovan politician later accused of corruption by the U.S. Grenell also failed to notify the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a foreign politician , in apparent violation of the law , according to the online investigative publication .
Check out the video above to hear McFaul discuss Russia and the presidential campaign beginning at 8:15 .

Former U.S Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said Friday that intelligence concerning Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election should be declassified and made public so that American voters can judge for themselves what’s happening.
He also suggested that House Democrats should consider holding weekly hearings on the threat with Richard Grenell, the new acting director of the Department of National Intelligence.
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McFaul said it’s no surprise that Russia is again interfering this election season in a bid to sway the vote for Trump — as American intelligence discovered in the 2016 election.
“It is an intelligence assessment that Putin seeks Donald Trump’s victory again,” McFaul told Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC’s “Deadline White House.” “To me, that’s no great insight ... [it’s] very clear.”
But what needs to be disseminated is what “concrete” steps that Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, may be taking to help make that happen, he added. “Let’s just start declassifying this stuff” before the November election “so the American people know what’s going on. That’s what the Obama administration was criticized for not doing in 2016.”
McFaul also warned of the extreme danger of the “politicization of intelligence.” If all intelligence is “filtered through partisan politics, that means that the president is not getting an accurate picture of the threats out there, whether it’s pandemics, or nuclear weapons or terrorist attacks,” he added.
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Joseph Maguire was ousted this week as DNI acting director because Trump was reportedly furious that one of Maguire’s deputies briefed the House Intelligence Committee last week that Russia was again meddling in the presidential campaign in Trump’s favor. At a Las Vegas campaign rally Friday, Trump blasted the latest Russian revelation as Democratic “disinformation” — even though it’s based on information discovered by his own intelligence community.
ProPublica reported Friday that Maguire’s replacement, Grenell, a fierce Trump loyalist, worked in 2016 as a consultant for a Moldovan politician later accused of corruption by the U.S. Grenell also failed to notify the U.S. that he was working on behalf of a foreign politician, in apparent violation of the law, according to the online investigative publication.
Check out the video above to hear McFaul discuss Russia and the presidential campaign beginning at 8:15.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-22--Election-Year Trump Says He's Ready To Float Farmers On Another River Of Taxpayer Cash

President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that he ’ s prepared to fork over still more massive taxpayer subsidies to help farmers get through the trade wars he concocted .
He also falsely claimed yet again that money “ coming into the country ” from tariffs will cover the costs .
In fact , tariffs imposed by him are paid by American companies that import goods or parts , which typically pass those costs onto U.S. consumers .
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in a report two weeks ago that the tariffs will cost the average American family $ 1,277 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FARMERS NEED ADDITIONAL AID UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE TRADE DEALS WITH CHINA , MEXICO , CANADA AND OTHERS FULLY KICK IN , THAT AID WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT , PAID FOR OUT OF THE MASSIVE TARIFF MONEY COMING INTO THE USA !
— Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) February 21 , 2020 Trump has already directed an extra $ 28 billion on top of regular subsidies paid to farmers , who are credited with helping him win the 2016 election , to mitigate the effects of his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 40 % of farm income last year was provided by government insurance and taxpayer subsidies .
But farmers are still struggling mightily with the impacts of the trade war , as well as weather complications and international food prices .
Farm bankruptcies last year were up 24 % .
The Trump administration last month signed a “ Phase 1 ” trade deal with China which includes a pledge from China for major purchases of U.S. farm goods .
But China ’ s struggle with the outbreak of the coronavirus could impact that plan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is launching an investigation into how Trump ’ s farm subsidies are handed out amid complaints that the money is not going to those who most need it , but to regions most important to Trump ’ s re-election , and to corporations .
The probe is being initiated at the request of Sen. Debbie Stabenow ( D-Mich. ) , who has complained that the program is providing more funds to southern states that voted for Trump and favoring large and foreign agriculture companies over small farms .
“ It ’ s clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assistance payments pick winners and losers rather than help the farmers who have been hit the hardest by this president ’ s trade policies , ” Stabenow wrote in a letter last month requesting the investigation .

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President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that he’s prepared to fork over still more massive taxpayer subsidies to help farmers get through the trade wars he concocted.
He also falsely claimed yet again that money “coming into the country” from tariffs will cover the costs. In fact, tariffs imposed by him are paid by American companies that import goods or parts, which typically pass those costs onto U.S. consumers. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in a report two weeks ago that the tariffs will cost the average American family $1,277 this year.
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IF OUR FORMALLY TARGETED FARMERS NEED ADDITIONAL AID UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE TRADE DEALS WITH CHINA, MEXICO, CANADA AND OTHERS FULLY KICK IN, THAT AID WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, PAID FOR OUT OF THE MASSIVE TARIFF MONEY COMING INTO THE USA! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2020
Trump has already directed the payment of an extra $28 billion to farmers on top of regular subsidies to mitigate the effects of his trade war and retaliatory tariffs. Nearly 40% of farm income last year was provided by government insurance and taxpayer subsidies.
But farmers, who are credited with helping him win the 2016 election, are still struggling mightily with the impacts of the trade war, as well as weather complications and international food prices. Farm bankruptcies last year were up 24%.
The Trump administration last month signed a “Phase 1” trade deal with China that includes a pledge from China for major purchases of U.S. farm goods. But China’s struggle with the outbreak of the coronavirus could impact that plan.
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The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office is launching an investigation into how Trump’s farm subsidies are handed out amid complaints that the money is not going to those who need it most, but to regions most important to Trump’s reelection, and to corporations.
The probe is being initiated at the request of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who has complained that the program is providing more funds to southern states that voted for Trump and favoring large and foreign agriculture companies over small farms.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-21--Michael Bloomberg Says He Will Release 3 Women From Nondisclosure Agreements

I ’ ve had the company go back over its record and they ’ ve identified 3 NDAs that we @ @ @ @ @ years with women to address complaints about comments they said I had made .
If @ @ @ @ @ be released from their NDA so that they can talk about those allegations , they @ @ @ @ @ they ’ ll be given a release .
I ’ ve done a lot of @ @ @ @ @ the past few days and I ’ ve decided that for as long as I @ @ @ @ @ , we won ’ t offer confidentiality agreements to resolve claims of sexual harassment or @ @ @ @ @ recognize that NDAs , particularly when they are used in the context of sexual harassment @ @ @ @ @ a culture of silence in the workplace and contribute to a culture of women not @ @ @ @ @ It is imperative that when problems occur , workplaces not only address the specific incidents @ @ @ @ @ practices that led to those incidents .
And then leaders must act .

I’ve had the company go back over its record and they’ve identified 3 NDAs that we signed over the past 30-plus years with women to address complaints about comments they said I had made. If any of them want to be released from their NDA so that they can talk about those allegations, they should contact the company and they’ll be given a release. I’ve done a lot of reflecting on this issue over the past few days and I’ve decided that for as long as I’m running the company, we won’t offer confidentiality agreements to resolve claims of sexual harassment or misconduct going forward.
I recognize that NDAs, particularly when they are used in the context of sexual harassment and sexual assault, promote a culture of silence in the workplace and contribute to a culture of women not feeling safe or supported. It is imperative that when problems occur, workplaces not only address the specific incidents, but the culture and practices that led to those incidents. And then leaders must act.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-02-22--Read Live Updates From The 2020 Nevada Caucuses

The vote is a key moment for former South Bend , Indiana , Mayor Pete Buttigieg , who currently has @ @ @ @ @ Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) , who was victorious in the New Hampshire primary ; @ @ @ @ @ D-Mass . )
, who made headlines after attacking former New York City Mayor Mike @ @ @ @ @ on Wednesday .
Sen. Amy Klobuchar ( D-Minn. ) and former Vice President Joe Biden @ @ @ @ @ to find footing in the primary contests so far , are also on the ballot @ @ @ @ @ not .

The vote is a key moment for former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who currently has the most delegates; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who was victorious in the New Hampshire primary; and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who made headlines after attacking former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg at the Democratic debate on Wednesday. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former Vice President Joe Biden, who have both struggled to find footing in the primary contests so far, are also on the ballot in Nevada. Bloomberg is not.