Tuesday, July 12, 2016

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Trade, delegates emerge as potential flashpoints as GOP preps for convention


Republicans launched into a debate Monday over the principles and rules that will guide next week's national convention and beyond -- a harbinger of whether the Cleveland event will go smoothly or devolve into party infighting.
The groundwork for the convention is being laid in meetings of the Platform Committee that kicked off Monday in Cleveland, to be followed by the Rules Committee.
And one potential flashpoint already has emerged on the issue of international trade, something that has separated the GOP establishment and presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Trump, since the start of his campaign, repeatedly has argued the Trans-Pacific Partnership recently brokered by President Obama and similar global trade deals are hurting American businesses.
However, members of the so-called GOP Platform Committee, meeting to finalize the party's guiding principles, told Fox News that references to TPP in draft platform documents were removed Monday.
Asked if the issue would re-emerge, Platform Committee Chairman Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox Business Network, "Trade is going to be a component of it."
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But he predicted Trump would ultimately embrace the platform.
"If you talk to Donald Trump and he will tell you, he is for trade, but he wants to make sure they are good trade deals," he said.
Trump’s hardline stance on trade has given Washington Republicans a headache, considering their long-held beliefs in free trade and open markets, though -- as Barrasso noted -- Trump has tempered his views by saying he’s opposed only to bad trade deals.
The revelation about TPP references being removed came just minutes after Barrasso said the Trump campaign has essentially been hands-off on drafting the platform -- except for wanting language that allows him, if elected, to reject any trade deal he thinks would hurt the U.S. economy.
The 112-member committee divided Monday into small groups to focus on such issues as immigration, heath care and the economy.
They will regroup later this week. The convention itself begins July 18.
The biggest fireworks, though, could come later this week when the GOP Rules Committee meets to finalize the rulebook for convention delegates. This matters as it could become the last stand for Republicans trying to thwart Trump's nomination.
Most of the delegates awarded to Trump from state primaries and caucuses essentially must vote for him in Cleveland, according to 2012 convention rules. Under those rules, Trump has more than enough to seal the nomination.
However, if the committee overhauls the rules and gives delegates flexibility, the stop-Trump movement could have a last-ditch shot at pushing an alternative candidate. Still, few expect they can succeed at this point in upending the results of the primary elections.
Another issue that has divided Trump and Washington Republicans -- and that could become an issue in the platform debate -- is immigration.
Trump’s vow, if elected, to build a wall along the southern U.S. border and deport millions of illegal Mexican immigrants has upset party leaders trying to appeal to Hispanics, whose votes are crucial toward winning the White House and congressional seats.
Meanwhile, Trump doesn’t appear eager to insert himself into a potential intra-party battle over same-sex marriage.
Social conservatives seem to want states to decide on the issue, compared with the party’s previous position of trying to get a constitutional amendment to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and other party leaders say they have sought input for the platform from roughly 500,000 members over the past three years.
And in June, the party launched a website to get additional input.
“While Democrats are letting party insiders write their platform behind closed doors, Platform.gop is proof of our Party’s philosophy of listening to the voice of the people and honoring the democratic process,” Priebus said.

Party of Sanders? Bernie poised to back Clinton, after reshaping Dem message


Bernie Sanders is set to join Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail Tuesday, apparently ready to end the hold-out and formally endorse the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee – after having reshaped chunks of the party platform in his image.
The Vermont senator’s campaign declared victory over the weekend in helping write the “most progressive platform in party history,” after the Platform Committee adopted a slew of changes on climate change, the minimum wage and more. This comes after Clinton herself rolled out health care and college proposals that align more closely with Sanders’ positions.
He didn’t get everything he wanted: Most notably, the Democratic National Convention's Platform Committee voted down amendments to explicitly oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
But, in sum, Sanders appears to have succeeded in pulling the party – and potentially its standard-bearer -- to the left on key issues, as he moves to help Clinton unify after a fractious primary. At the same time, the liberal stances could help Donald Trump draw even more of a contrast with his presumptive presidential rival as the candidates look toward November.
“We have made enormous strides,” Sanders said in a statement Sunday. “Thanks to the millions of people across the country who got involved in the political process – many for the first time – we now have the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party.”
Sanders announced that he will join Clinton Tuesday at a high school in Portsmouth, N.H. – more than a month after the final primary.
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Sanders has not yet said he will endorse Clinton, but told reporters on Saturday that the two campaigns were coming together and to stay tuned.
All along, Sanders had stayed in the race to pursue revisions in the party platform and other changes.
As the policy meeting concluded after midnight on Sunday morning, aides to Clinton and Sanders both hailed the newly amended platform draft as the "most progressive" in party history. The draft includes many of Sanders' priorities, including a call for a $15 federal minimum wage over time, steps to break up large Wall Street banks and support to end the death penalty. On the issue of global warming, it includes support for pricing greenhouse gases, prioritizing renewable energy and limiting fracking.
"I think if you read the platform right now, you will understand that the political revolution is alive and kicking," said Sanders policy adviser Warren Gunnels.
Meanwhile, Clinton over the weekend rolled out an updated health care plan that, among other things, backed giving Americans the choice of a “public-option insurance plan” – a move hailed by Sanders.
"We have more work to do to finish our long fight to provide universal, quality, affordable health care to everyone in America," Clinton said in a statement.
She also called earlier for ensuring that families with annual incomes up to $125,000 would pay no tuition at in-state public colleges and universities – not quite the free college tuition Sanders supports, but a move his campaign touted as a step in the right direction.
Clinton’s policy plans earned her scorn from the right, however.
Jeremy Adler, communications director with the conservative AR Squared, decried what he described as the “socialist takeover” of the party.
“Desperate to win over the Warren-Sanders crew that deeply distrusts her, Secretary Clinton is willing to adopt even the most extreme left-wing views as her own. There is quite literally nothing she won’t do or say to fit in today’s modern Democratic socialist party,” he said in a statement.

Democratic National Committee staffer shot and killed in Washington


A Democratic National Committee staffer was fatally shot early Sunday morning in his Washington, D.C. neighborhood, according to city police officials.
Authorities have identified the victim as 27-year-old Seth Rich, the DNC’s director of voter expansion.
Police said they heard gunshots about 4:20 a.m., then found Rich shot several times but still conscious and breathing. He was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.
“Our hearts are broken,” said DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “Seth Rich was a dedicated, selfless public servant who worked tirelessly to protect the most sacred right we share as Americans -- the right to vote.”
The shooting occurred in the 2100 block of Flagler Street NW, about three blocks from Howard University Hospital. Residents commenting on news accounts of the shooting report a recent spike in armed robberies near the crime scene.
Rich’s Linkedin page shows he graduated in 2011 from Creighton University in Nebraska with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Police said Monday they have no suspects or possible motives in connection with the shooting.

Officials concerned about 'virtual' war on cops



Even after a militant anti-cop shooter stopped firing a barrage of shots at Dallas police officers in the streets on Thursday, Police Chief David Brown was forced to confront a virtual war on his force and other officers nationwide, as hate-filled posters took aim at cops online.
Brown said Monday that he was the subject of death threats almost as soon as Micah Johnson’s deadly rampage – which killed five officers and wounded nine others – had ended. The threat against Brown was posted by a private Facebook account to the Dallas police Facebook page, and Brown said he was taking the menacing social media message seriously. Dallas police have so far been unable to identify the source of the threat.
“There is a heightened sense of awareness over threats we’ve seen all around the country,” Brown said at a news conference. “We’re all on edge, we are, and we’re being very careful.”
The concern Brown is facing, even days after Johnson’s assault ended with the killer being blown up by a police robot, is mirrored by other officers and other police departments around the country.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Sunday that four men in that city were arrested for making Facebook threats against white police officers.
One of the men is accused of posting “All lives can’t matter until black lives matter. Kill all white cops,” The Detroit News reported.
Craig said while his department must consider the free speech rights of Internet posters, direct threats to law enforcement officers won’t be tolerated.
“Social media is new territory, and while it’s been established that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment, we’re talking about people specifically saying on Facebook they want to kill white police officers,” Craig said.
While the rhetoric of protesters marching in anti-cop demonstrations in recent years – including a “What do we want? Dead cops” chant in 2014 – has often been heated, online threats in the days following the Dallas shooting are taking on a new significance.
The co-founder of a black militia whose events the Dallas police shooter had attended wrote after the attack in a since-deleted Facebook post that the killer “shall be celebrated one day,” The Dallas Morning News reported.
Huey P. Newton Gun Club co-founder Yafeuh Balogun also tweeted: “I have no remorse for the Dallas Police Officers shot downtown, it’s about time.. at the protest etc.”
The gun club was named after the radical founder of the Black Panther Party and was formed to institute armed patrols of communities in Dallas, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The FBI’s New Orleans Division on Friday also sent out a bulletin to police departments in the Baton Rouge and Shreveport areas warning of multiple groups on social media calling for a “purge.” The FBI memo was obtained by Judicial Watch.
“Baton Rouge purge starts July 9th 12am ends 5am July 10th…Rule 1 must kill every police!!!” one post cited by the FBI said.
Though nothing materialized from the threat, police officials are eyeing the warnings with increasing alarm.
“If someone threatens to kill the president, that person would be arrested and prosecuted,” Craig said. “How is it any different when someone threatens to kill white cops?”

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