Hillary Clinton gets deserved applause for leading on end-of-life options

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Thursday February 04, 2016 · 5:22 PM PST

2016/02/04 · 17:22

Compassion and Choices, the nation’s biggest and most effective advocacy group for physician aid-in-dying, was quite impressed with Secretary Clinton’s heartfelt and courageous statement on end-of-life choices at the NH town hall last night. Here is the question posed to Clinton by Jim Kinhan , an 81-year-old dying from colon cancer:

"… I wonder what leadership you could offer within an executive role that might help advance the respectful conversation that is needed around this personal choice that people may make, as we age and deal with health issues or be the caregivers of those people, to help enhance their end of life with dignity."

And here is Hillary Clinton’s answer, totally off-the-cuff and totally on the mark. She admitted that she had never been asked about this before. Her candor and her courage were so impressive to Compassion and Choices that they sent out a letter to all their supporters and are now featuring Clinton on the front page of their website:

We need to have a conversation in our country … It is a crucial issue that people deserve to understand from their own ethical, religious, faith-based perspective. So here is how I think about it. I want, as president, to try to catalyze that debate because I believe you are are right. This is going to become an issue more and more often. We are on the good side having many people live longer, but often then with very serious illnesses that they can be sustained on but at some point don't want to continue with the challenges it poses. We have to be sure that nobody is coerced. I thank you so much for raising this really important, absolutely critical question that we are all going to have to do some thinking about.”

Compassion and Choices agrees with Hillary that we need a conversation:

This is a critical question for our nation that is only going to become more crucial in the coming years. We have to let all of the candidates know that there is a strong movement to expand end-of-life choice in this country, and we are ready to bring this issue to the forefront.

So, yes, indeed! Let’s have a conversation and let’s make this a national conversation. Thanks to the questioner and thanks to Secretary Clinton for showing the way.

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Should candidates speak out on physician aid-in-dying?

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Should candidates speak out on physician aid-in-dying?

Yes, it's the very least we can ask of them

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No, it is a private issue

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I'm more interested in The Super Bowl than in what happens to me on my deathbed.

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Father of mass shooter reveals anti-Israel motive as well as his own anti-Semitism.

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Monday December 07, 2015 · 10:22 AM PST

2015/12/07 · 10:22

Well, well, the little bits of ugliness just keep bubbling up. Here we have the father of Sayed Farook, the San Bernardino mass murderer, giving an interview to an Italian newspaper, La Stampa, in which he reveals his son’s hatred of Israel as well as his own deep anti-Semitic beliefs.

Buzzfeed has picked up this story from the Italian press and has reported it here:

The man told the newspaper his son

“shared the ideology of [ISIS leader Abu-Bakr] al-Baghdadi to create an Islamic state, and was obsessed with Israel.”….

“I would always tell him: Stay calm, have patience, in two years Israel won’t even exist,” he told the journalist.

“The geopolitics is changing: Russia, China, even America, no one wants the Jews down there. They’ll take them back to Ukraine. What’s the point of fighting? We already did that and we lost. You can’t beat Israel with armies but with politics.”

“But nothing changed, he was obsessed,” the man said.

“They’ll take them back to Ukraine…” Gee, that worked out so well for the Jews before. I’m sure they will all be delighted.

But duly noted.

League of Conservation Voters endorses Hillary!

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Sunday November 08, 2015 · 7:28 PM PST

2015/11/08 · 19:28

Here’s a wonderful endorsement for Secretary Clinton and a good reason for jumping in and writing an inaugural diary in the DK5 format:

The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund on Monday intends to endorse Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first time in three decades it has endorsed a presidential candidate before a single primary vote has been cast.

The decision to back Clinton over two Democratic rivals with equally strong, if not stronger, liberal environmental records shows the extent to which some environmentalists are concerned the Obama administration’s policies could be rolled back under a Republican president. The group’s president, Gene Karpinski, said it needs to activate volunteers and donors early to make sure Clinton is strongly positioned for the general election.

The decision was made to support Clinton over her opponents came because ““the stakes are so high” and Clinton “has proved she’s an effective leader who can stand up to the big polluters and push forward an aggressive plan to tackle climate change.”

This is a huge endorsement for Clinton. I agree with The League of Conservation Voters that the stakes are high and that we absolutely cannot afford to install any Republicans in the White House in 2016. If you aren’t alarmed by this thought, here is a little hint for you, courtesy of GOP presidential pretender Marco Rubio:

“When I’m president,” Rubio said, “Keystone will be approved, and President Obama’s backward energy policies will come to an end.”

Edit: here is the link to the Washington Post article from which this report comes

www.washingtonpost.com/…

If you click it, you will find the links to the League’s 2012 endorsement. I expect that by tomorrow we will have a full statement from the organization which will explain their reasoning in detail.

In other words, the man's a grifter. UPDATED.

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Tuesday November 03, 2015 · 1:19 PM PST

2015/11/03 · 13:19

Finally someone came forward and said it loud and clear. Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine has stepped forward to call out Ben Carson and his ludicrous, self-interested "presidential" campaign.

But now Carson actually is running for president. Or is he? It is hard to tell. Conservative politics are so closely intermingled with a lucrative entertainment complex that it is frequently impossible to distinguish between a political project (that is, something designed to result in policy change) and a money-making venture. Declaring yourself a presidential candidate gives you access to millions of dollars' worth of free media attention that can build a valuable brand. So the mere fact that Carson calls himself a presidential candidate does not prove he is actually running for president rather than taking advantage of the opportunity to build his brand. Indeed, it is possible to be actually leading the polls without seriously trying to win the presidency.
And the notion that Carson could be president is preposterous. The problem is not only that he has never run for elected office. He has never managed a large organization; he has not worked in and around public policy, and he lacks a competent grasp of issues. His stance on health care, the closest thing to an issue with which his professional experience has brought him into contact, is gibberish. He mostly thrills audiences by scoffing at evolution and insisting Muslims be barred from the presidency, stances he cannot even defend coherently.

Truly, there is nothing to add to Chait's assessment. Carson is a major-league grifter, trying to fob himself off as a serious contender for the highest office in the land. That he is ahead in many polls is a reflection on the pitiable state of the Republican party, eager to let themselves be played by a world-class phony.

And truly, once you read Chait's article there is nothing more to say.

UPDATE:Talkingpointsmemo has picked up the scent of grifter.

There is a lot of evidence, coming from a variety of angles, that Carson for President is actually a direct mail scam. Or at least that it started that way.

Many Progressive Caucus members have endorsed Hillary and here's the corrected list

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Sunday October 11, 2015 · 8:33 AM PDT

2015/10/11 · 08:33

In response to pleas for donations to progressive candidates so that they could get to DC in 2017 to help Bernie Sanders, I rushed to write a diary to point out that many in the Congressional Progressive Caucus are already endorsing Hillary Clinton. I wanted, above all, to make the point that supporting progressive candidates is a good thing in and of itself. Progressives are needed no matter who goes to the White House in 2017. I have been donating to many of them this cycle, via ActBlue, EMILY's List, etc.

In my rush to print, I made a hash of the lists and ended up printing something that was incorrect and confusing. Last night I took down the diary which was bollixed up beyond repair.

So I'll try again. Here is the list, from Wikipedia, of the House members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. There is only one Senate member who belongs to the Progressive Caucus and that is Bernie Sanders.

In bold face, I have identified the Progressive Caucus members who have endorsed Hillary Clinton. The list I am using to identify Hillary Clinton endorsers is from Wikipedia's very comprehensive listing of candidates and their endorsements. I suggest having a look at it just for informational purposes.

All members are members of the Democratic Party or caucus with the Democratic Party. In the 114th Congress there are currently 70 declared Progressives, including 68 voting Representatives, one non-voting Delegate, and one Senator.
Arizona[edit]
Raúl Grijalva (AZ-3, Tucson) - co-chair
Ruben Gallego (AZ-7, Phoenix) - vice chair
California[edit]
Jared Huffman (CA-2, San Rafael)
Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11, Concord)
Barbara Lee (CA-13, Oakland) - whip
Michael Honda (CA-17, San Jose) - vice chair
Sam Farr (CA-20, Monterey)
Judy Chu (CA-27, El Monte)
Grace Napolitano (CA-32, Norwalk)
Ted Lieu (CA-33, Torrance)
Xavier Becerra (CA-34, Los Angeles)
Karen Bass (CA-37, Baldwin Hills)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40, Los Angeles)
Mark Takano (CA-41, Riverside) - vice chair
Maxine Waters (CA-43, Inglewood)
Janice Hahn (CA-44, San Pedro)
Alan Lowenthal (CA-47, Long Beach)
Colorado[edit]
Jared Polis (CO-2, Boulder, Fort Collins)
Connecticut[edit]
Rosa DeLauro (CT-3, New Haven)
Florida[edit]
Corrine Brown (FL-5, Jacksonville)
Alan Grayson (FL-9, Orlando)
Lois Frankel (FL-22, West Palm Beach)
Frederica Wilson (FL-24, Miami)
Georgia[edit]
Hank Johnson (GA-4, Lithonia)
John Lewis (GA-5, Atlanta)
Hawaii[edit]
Mark Takai (HI-1, Honolulu)
Illinois[edit]
Luis Gutiérrez (IL-4, Chicago)
Danny Davis (IL-7, Chicago)
Jan Schakowsky (IL-9, Chicago) - vice chair
Indiana[edit]
André Carson (IN-7, Indianapolis)
Iowa[edit]
Dave Loebsack (IA-2, Cedar Rapids)
Maine[edit]
Chellie Pingree (ME-1, North Haven)
Maryland[edit]
Elijah Cummings (MD-7, Baltimore)
Massachusetts[edit]
Katherine Clark (MA-5, Melrose)
Jim McGovern (MA-2, Worcester)
Joseph P. Kennedy III (MA-4, Newton)
Mike Capuano (MA-7, Boston)
Michigan[edit]
Debbie Dingell (MI-12, Dearborn)
John Conyers (MI-13, Detroit)
Brenda Lawrence (MI-14, Southfield)
Minnesota[edit]
Keith Ellison (MN-5, Minneapolis) - co-chair
Rick Nolan (MN-8, Crosby)
Mississippi[edit]
Bennie Thompson (MS-2, Bolton)
New Jersey[edit]
Frank Pallone (NJ-6, Long Branch)
Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12, Trenton)
New York[edit]
Nydia Velázquez (NY-7, Brooklyn)
Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8, Brooklyn)
Yvette Clarke (NY-9, Brooklyn)
Jerrold Nadler (NY-10, Manhattan)
Carolyn Maloney (NY-12, Manhattan)
Charles Rangel (NY-13, Harlem)
José Serrano (NY-15, Bronx)
Louise Slaughter (NY-25, Rochester)
North Carolina[edit]
Alma Adams (NC-12, Greensboro)
Ohio[edit]
Marcia Fudge (OH-11, Warrensville Heights), Chair, Congressional Black Caucus
Oregon[edit]
Suzanne Bonamici (OR-1, Beaverton)
Peter DeFazio (OR-4, Eugene)
Pennsylvania[edit]
Chaka Fattah (PA-2, Philadelphia)
Matt Cartwright (PA-17, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pottsville) - vice chair
Rhode Island[edit]
David Cicilline (RI-1, Providence) - vice chair
Tennessee[edit]
Steve Cohen (TN-9, Memphis)
Texas[edit]
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18, Houston) - vice chair
Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30, Dallas)
Vermont[edit]
Peter Welch (VT-At Large)
Virginia[edit]
Don Beyer (VA-8, Alexandria)
Washington[edit]
Jim McDermott (WA-7, Seattle)
Wisconsin[edit]
Mark Pocan (WI-2, Madison) - first vice chair
Gwen Moore (WI-4, Milwaukee)
Non-voting[edit]
Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia)

Only one member of the Progressive Caucus has endorsed Bernie Sanders and that is the chair, Raúl Grijalva (AZ-3, Tucson).

Progressives are needed in Congress. So let's support them no matter who we want for our nominee.

McMorris Rogers booed for Benghazi remarks

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Saturday October 03, 2015 · 7:00 AM PDT

2015/10/03 · 07:00

The Huffington Post and TPM are both reporting that Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rogers was met with hisses and boos at the Washington Ideas Forum:

"I do believe that the work that we're doing in the Benghazi committee is very important," McMorris Rodgers said to boos in the audience. "We've not yet had important questions answered."
As she kept talking, the boos grew louder and people started hissing. Someone even shouted, "You're lying!"

If you want to read her full blah-blah-blah in praise of the Benghaziiiii Brouhaha, please go to the links. Otherwise, just enjoy how some, as yet unnamed but decent citizens responded to her craven defense of government abuse of power.

Host of the forum, ABC's Jonathan Karl tried to stop the booing by chiding the audience with ""Show some respect for our guests here."

Please, let there be more booing and hissing whenever a Republican steps on stage to defend the use of our government to hunt down its political enemies.

Joan Walsh, late of Salon, joins The Nation

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Tuesday September 22, 2015 · 7:14 PM PDT

2015/09/22 · 19:14

Here's a news item that I just tripped upon over at, ahem, Politico.
Joan Walsh, regular commentator on MSNBC and Salon Editor-At-Large has joined The Nation.

Walsh, a prominent liberal writer and currently editor at large at Salon, will join The Nation on Oct. 5. She'll continue her role as MSNBC contributor, Kim said.
"[Walsh] brings a deep knowledge of American political history and a passion for writing about elections, social movements, race, gender, class, media and many other subjects. She’ll be contributing several times a week online, as well as features and comments in the print magazine," Kim wrote in the memo.
Walsh joined Salon in 1998 and became its first full-time news editor. She became editor-in-chief in February 2005 and at the end of 2010 became editor at large.
““The stakes for the U.S. in 2016 are incredibly high, and I’m happy to be joining The Nation at this pivotal time,”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/...

Hillary scores another big union endorsement.

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Tuesday September 22, 2015 · 7:52 AM PDT

2015/09/22 · 07:52

Another big union endorsement just rolled in for candidate Hillary Clinton :
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America is throwing its support to Clinton.

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America has more than half a million members. In a statement to The Huffington Post, union president Doug McCarron called Clinton "a fighter" who has "consistently fought for our issues on many levels of government."

Clinton has also picked up endorsements from the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers; the American Federation of Teachers; the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers; and the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry.

This is another step forward in Hillary's long campaign for American workers. Nice work, Madame Secretary, nice work.

Hillary roars! Biotech stocks tumble!

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Monday September 21, 2015 · 5:35 PM PDT

2015/09/21 · 17:35

TRENTON, N.J. — Stocks of makers of biologic and "specialty" drugs plunged Monday after Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton said she'll soon release a plan to address "price gouging" in the industry.
It was the one of the worst days of the year for the stock market performance of the biotech industry. http://www.nytimes.com/...

In response to the egregious 5,000% overnight price increase for the anti-parasite drug Daraprim instituted by its brand new hedge-fund owner, Hillary Clinton sent out the following message in a Tweet:

"Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous," Mrs Clinton said.
"Tomorrow I'll lay out a plan to take it on."

Hillary published her tweet at 10:56 a.m. East Coast time and immediately the market for biotech began its tumble.

My, my, my. It seems that candidate HRC is being taken very seriously indeed. A weaker candidate might say the same thing but no one would notice. This is a powerful woman. Listen to the roar via The Washington Post:

“It is time to deal with the skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs and runaway prescription drug prices,” Clinton said.
She referred to news coverage Monday of the decision by Turing Pharmaceuticals to hike the price of the 62-year-old drug Daraprim by more than 4,000 percent. The New York-based company purchased Daraprim for $55 million this summer and immediately raised the price. The drug is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be severe in patients with compromised immune systems, such as HIV, and for pregnant women. http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

I am Hillary. Hear me roar.

Huckabee sides with Paraguay and against the 10-yr old forced to give birth

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Sunday August 16, 2015 · 1:24 PM PDT

2015/08/16 · 13:24

Do you know where your daughters are? If not, drop what you are doing right now and go find them. There are male Republican presidential candidates on the loose and ready to do them grievous harm!

Unless, of course, you agree with forcing a 10-yr old girl to give birth to her rapist step-father's seed. If that's how you roll, then Mike Huckabee is the guy for you!

HuffPo is reporting on Huckabee's appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" show.

In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," the former Arkansas governor argued that the Paraguayan government's refusal to allow an abortion for the now-11-year-old, who gave birth last week after being raped by her stepfather, prevented a second tragedy.

"Let nobody be misled, a 10-year-old girl being raped is horrible, but does it solve a problem by taking the life of an innocent child?" he asked. He added later, "When I think about one horror, I also think about the possibilities that exist and I just don't want to think that somehow we discounted a human life ... Let's not compound the tragedy by taking yet another life."

Huckabee has taken a firm stance against abortion and suggested last month that he wouldn't rule out using federal troops to stop women from accessing the procedure. He also identifies with a small group of conservative legal scholars who believe the Constitution gives the president the power to outlaw abortion, despite the Supreme Court's many rulings on the matter.

Anyone who has a daughter, was a daughter, wants a daughter, or knows a daughter should grab a pitchfork and head right over to the Huckabee campaign. Time to demand that these creepy Republicans get the hell away from our children.

"I would never give up my microphone" to BLM, sez The Donald.

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Wednesday August 12, 2015 · 12:38 PM PDT

2015/08/12 · 12:38

Over at The National Memo I ran into this gnarly tidbit:

Donald Trump made a promise — and perhaps a challenge — at his press conference Tuesday night, after being asked about the Black Lives Matter activists who recently disrupted a Bernie Sanders campaign event and took the microphone.
“I would never give up my microphone. I thought that was disgusting,” Trump told reporters gathered in Birch Run, Michigan. “That showed such weakness — the way he was taken away by two young women. The microphone — they just took the whole place over. And the audience, which liked him, I mean, they were him [sic] — they’re saying, ‘What’s going on? How could this happen?’

“That will never happen with me. I don’t know if I’ll do the fighting myself, or if other people will. But that was a disgrace. The way they — I felt badly for him. But it showed that he’s weak. You know what? He’s getting the biggest crowds, and I’m getting the biggest crowds. We’re the two getting the crowds. But believe me, that’s not gonna happen to Trump.”

Bluster, belligerence, self-aggrandizement, pomposity, sexism, racism. Oh, Donald, you have it all... all of that plus the dead opossum on your head.

Barney Frank: "Why Progressives Shouldn’t Support Bernie"

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Wednesday July 22, 2015 · 7:41 PM PDT

2015/07/22 · 19:41

Barney Frank has an opinion piece in today's Politico which pretty firmly states why he thinks progressives should stand with Hillary Clinton as opposed to Bernie Sanders.

The full title of the piece is Why Progressives Shouldn’t Support Bernie:
Wishful thinking won’t win the White House.

Frank outlines a variety of reasons which range from pure electoral strategy to a listing of what he sees as Clinton's longstanding progressive bona fides. He also mentions his disagreement with her on Iraq.

What I found most interesting was Frank's barely veiled annoyance at Sanders for his career-long refusal to be part of the Democratic Party:

Decades ago, Sanders made a principled choice to play a valuable part in our politics — the outsider within the system. He defied the uniquely American aversion to the word “socialism.” We are, after all, the only Western democracy in which no self-identified socialist party has ever played a significant governmental role. While voting with the Democrats to organize first the House and then the Senate, he made clear he did so as a regrettable necessity, not a preference, and cited his nonmembership in the party as an indication of his political integrity. Substantively, he has consistently, forcefully and cogently made the case for a larger federal government role in improving both the fairness and the quality of life in our country, refusing to soft-pedal in the face of declining support for this view in public opinion.
His very unwillingness to be confined by existing voter attitudes, as part of a long-term strategy to change them, is both a very valuable contribution to the democratic dialogue and an obvious bar to winning support from the majority of these very voters in the near term.

An endorsement, pro or con, from Barney Frank is probably not going to make any difference to anyone, but I wasn't surprised that Sanders' unwillingness to be part of the Democratic Party is not sitting well with some of the party stalwarts.

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