Kamala Harris, sharp critic of Trump, Kavanaugh, plans visits to Iowa, other states, raising speculation about 2020 run

Hope she runs in 2020 because if this is the best the democrats have President Trump will surely win again.

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. drew attention and criticism for her exchanges with Brett Kavanaugh during a Senate panel's hearings on Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. (Associated Press)

In what will likely stoke speculation about a potential 2020 presidential run, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California plans to visit several states, including Iowa, later this month ahead of the midterm elections.
Harris, a Democrat, will stop in Des Moines on Oct. 22, where she is expected to speak at an event organized by Polk County Democrats, and in Cedar Rapids on Oct. 23, with other stops in between. She last visited the state in 2008 as San Francisco’s district attorney to campaign for then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
In recent months, Harris, 53, has actively campaigned for Democrats around the country ahead of next month's midterms, helping to raise more than $5 million for party candidates. She recently said she would "take a look" at a possible 2020 presidential run, the Hill reported.
The first-term senator is one of several Democrats contemplating presidential bids to challenge President Trump. Iowa is considered a prime destination for potential presidential candidates, because the Iowa caucuses traditionally launch a presidential election year.

Senate Judiciary Committee members Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., left, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., arrive at the chamber for the final vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, at the Capitol in Washington. (Associated Press)

The other Democrats visiting Iowa have included U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who recently headlined a party event in Des Moines, and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who recently campaigned for Fred Hubbell, the party's candidate for Iowa governor.
During the summer, Harris endorsed Deidre DeJear, a Democrat who is running for Iowa secretary of state.
But before her Corn Belt visit, Harris will hold campaign events this coming Friday in South Carolina and Oct. 21 in Wisconsin. She also recently campaigned for Democrats in Arizona and Ohio.
Harris' national profile rose sharply over her opposition to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh while serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, Harris and Kavanaugh had a testy exchange over whether he discussed the Russia investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller with anyone at a law firm associated with Trump’s personal lawyer.
“I think you’re thinking of someone and you don’t want to tell us,” Harris said when Kavanaugh responded that he couldn’t remember if he’d had such conversations.
She called the hearing a “sham” and a “disgrace” and accused Kavanaugh of being anti-women.
“He was nominated for the purpose of taking away a woman’s constitutionally protected right to make her own health care decisions,” she tweeted in September. “Make no mistake - this is about punishing women.”
But in September, the Washington Post gave Harris a rating of Four Pinocchios, saying she selectively edited a video of Kavanaugh comments about abortion-inducing drugs to argue that he is against birth control.
She’s also been an outspoken voice against Trump and Republicans, blasting them for their policies on everything from immigration to health care.
On Oct. 3 in Washington, Harris offered what the Atlantic magazine described as a possible preview of how she might respond to President Trump in a head-to-head campaign.
"Stop being mean," Harris responded when asked for her reaction to Trump's mocking of Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford during a campaign rally.
Some recent numbers may reveal why Harris is making the Iowa visit: A recent David Binder Research poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers showed that 37 percent favored former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination 2020, Politico reported, followed by Elizabeth Warren (16 percent), Bernie Sanders (12 percent), Harris (10 percent) and Booker (8 percent).

Calls for civility after vandalism, violent clashes outside GOP headquarters in New York

The Metropolitan Republican Club

A fool is nauseous, but a coward worse.

The Metropolitan Republican Club was vandalized with broken windows, spray-painted anarchy signs and a threatening message that the 'attack is merely a beginning'; reaction from NRATV contributor and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino.

Republicans in New York called upon Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other Democrats to denounce vandalism and violence after a Republican office in New York City was damaged this week.
“Last night one of our state headquarter buildings was attacked by radical leftists," said Marc Molinaro, the state Republican Party's nominee to challenge Cuomo for governor. "This type of political violence and rank vandalism is unacceptable. We are one nation and one state. We must not revert to violence under any circumstances."
Molinaro tweeted photos showing that the New York state Republican headquarters had had windows smashed, door locks filled with glue, and "anarchy" symbols spray-painted on the entrance.
In a statement Friday, state Republican Chairman Ed Cox joined Molinaro in calling the attack on GOP headquarters "unacceptable."
Both GOP leaders called on Cuomo to condemn the attack "and call for calm on the political left."
Cox accused Democrats -- including Hillary Clinton and former Attorney General Eric Holder -- of "inciteful rhetoric" that he said "must be stopped before someone gets hurt."
In an interview with CNN, Clinton made comments that some critics said seemed to condone mistreatment of Republicans.
“You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about,” Clinton told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. “That’s why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength.”
The comments were blasted by some Democrats as well as Republicans.
"I can't imagine how you get anything done if you don't bring civility back into politics," said U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., in response to Clinton's remarks. "And that goes for both sides."
Holder was captured on video speaking Sunday at a campaign event for local Georgia Democratic candidates. In the clip, he rejected former first lady Michelle Obama's famous call for civility in politics – adopting a confrontational tone that’s become increasingly fashionable amid the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation fight and other debates.
"It is time for us, as Democrats, to be as tough as they are, to be as dedicated as they are, to be as committed as they are," Holder told the crowd. "Michelle always says -- I love her; she and my wife are like, really tight, which always scares me and Barack -- but Michelle always says, 'When they go low, we go high.' No. When they go low, we kick 'em." 
President Trump, in an interview Thursday on “Fox & Friends,” rebuked Holder, calling his “kick” remark “disgusting” and “dangerous.”
“He better be careful what he’s wishing for,” Trump told Fox News. “That’s a disgusting statement for him to make.”
The vandalism that occurred at the New York GOP headquarters overnight Thursday was followed Friday evening by violence outside the same office that resulted in three arrests.
Videos posted online showed several men kicking a man who was on the ground.
The clashes followed a speech at the headquarters by the founder of a far-right group. Police said Saturday they were reviewing video and could make additional arrests.
The speaker was Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys, a group that describe themselves as "western chauvinists."
The clashes appeared to be between the Proud Boys and groups that were protesting McInnes' speech. No serious injuries were reported.
The three people who were arrested face assault charges.
After the Friday evening clashes, Cuomo denounced the violence that occurred at the GOP headquarters.
"Authorities must review these videos immediately and make arrests and prosecute as appropriate," he said. "Hate cannot and will not be tolerated in New York."
New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, a Democrat who is running for state attorney general, said, "I am disturbed and disgusted by the videos I've seen of members of the neo-fascist, white supremacist Proud Boys group engaging in hate-fueled mob violence on the streets of New York City."
In response to Thursday's overnight vandalism, Geoff Berman, executive director of the New York State Democratic Committee, said his party has "zero tolerance for violence."
"This type of divisiveness is repugnant to everything we believe as New Yorkers," he said, before turning his criticism on Republicans. "That being said, Ed Cox and Marc Molinaro's rhetoric on this is wildly inappropriate. We need less hate and division - not more."

Patriot Prayer rally in Portland turns bloody; American flag saved from flames

Joey Gibson, left, leader of Patriot Prayer, heads a previous rally in Portland, Ore., June 30, 2018.

Members of opposing groups violently clashed in downtown Portland, Ore., on Saturday night during an event that was billed as a march for “law and order.”

Participants with the conservative Patriot Prayer group and counter-demonstrators with Antifa got into a bloody melee outside a popular bar where members on both sides used bear spray, fists and batons to beat each other, the Oregonian reported.

Police fired pepper balls and other non-lethal impact munitions to break up the brawls and there were no immediate reports of arrests. Earlier in the evening, police reported seeing participants from both groups with hard-knuckle gloves, knives and firearms.
No weapons were reported seized. Authorities said four people received medical attention, but it was not known if any were taken to a hospital.
The two groups have clashed in the city before.
The march, dubbed “Flash March for Law and Oder in PDX,” was organized by Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson in response to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s oversight of the city’s police department. (PDX is the abbreviation for Portland International Airport that is sometimes used as shorthand for the city as well.)
The Patriot Prayer group gathered around 6 p.m. near Pioneer Courthouse Square and marched through downtown holding a sign that read “Replace PDX Mayor!”
The violence erupted after Gibson and about three dozen people waving American flags and reciting patriotic chants walked toward a street memorial for Patrick Kimmons, 27, a black man who was fatally shot by Portland police last month.
At the vigil, they were met by counter-protesters chanting “Black Lives Matter.” The fighting broke out 20 minutes later.
Video posted online shows a protester at one point lighting an American flag on fire. Seconds later someone snatches the flag and puts the flames out.
Saturday’s violence unfolded amid a series of clashes between rival political factions that have gained national attention.
Gibson called for the Saturday march in response to an Oct. 6 incident in which a 74-year-old driver clashed with a group that was protesting police brutality. The police department came under scrutiny for what critics saw as a hands-off approach to the event.
“This isn't political, it's just wrong,” a post on the event’s Facebook page reads. “It's a lack of respect for not only the law but just other humans.”
In a video of the incident that went viral, marchers are seen blocking traffic and directing traffic when the motorist drives through a group of marchers and then speeds off. Some protesters catch up to him and begin pounding on the car before the driver leaves.
The driver later said he meant no harm, he just wanted to get away from the protest, Fox News reported.

Doug Schoen: Hillary and Holder hurting Democrats with their amazing and disgusting comments

As Democrats campaign for the Nov. 6 midterm elections, they have plenty of legitimate criticisms to level at President Trump and Republicans who control the House and Senate. But Democrats were hurt in recent days by amazing and disgusting comments made by Hillary Clinton and former Attorney General Eric Holder.
As a Democrat, I want my party to win as many seats as possible in the House and Senate and to capture as many governorships and other state offices as it can. But the Clinton and Holder remarks do not advance that effort – they hurt it.
Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Clinton said Tuesday that “you cannot be civil with” the Republican Party because it “wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about.” She added that “if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again.”
But even worse than Clinton’s comments were those of Eric Holder, who said at a recent campaign event in Georgia that Democrats should abandon the advice of former first lady Michelle Obama, who said at the 2016 Democratic National Convention that her party and mine should respond positively to negative attacks from the GOP.
Mrs. Obama said that “when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.”
Holder argued just the opposite, saying: “When they go low, we kick them. That’s what this new Democratic Party is about.” He later said he wasn’t advocating violence – not literal kicking.

There is no justification for the angry rhetoric of Clinton and Holder, which only feeds into Republican claims that Democrats are an angry mob that can’t get over Clinton’s loss to Trump two years ago.

I beg to differ with both Clinton and Holder.
The only way the Democrats can regain the majority in either or both houses of Congress is by being civil, and pointing out the differences between Democrats and Republicans on the issues.
As a centrist Democrat, the issue that strikes me most is the degree to which the national debt and the deficit are now out of control.
America faces uncertain and unstable times financially. Yet we are seeing a Republican-controlled Congress that has largely failed to do anything besides provide tax cuts for major corporations and the wealthiest individuals. This is by no means certain to have fundamentally altered the path of the economy or to provide economic growth.
Put another way, what the Trump administration has failed to do is to fix health care and cover pre-existing conditions more fundamentally; lead America in a fiscally responsible way; and pass tax cuts that help the average American. The Trump tax cuts have driven up the national debt and endangered funding for programs that benefit millions of people in our country.
Democrats have long argued the need for a centrist agenda that focuses on:

• Providing health-care benefits – whether private or public – to all Americans to cover expansively all pre-existing conditions.

• Protecting the environment from the policies of the Trump administration that have only encouraged –and I dare say exacerbated – environmental degradation and climate change.

• Promoting a pro-growth, inclusive agenda that seeks to put working people first, and the interests of Washington insiders and economic elites second. President Trump claims that he is doing this – he calls it “draining the swamp” – but this has not happened.

There is no justification for the angry rhetoric of Clinton and Holder, which only feeds into Republican claims that Democrats are an angry mob that can’t get over Clinton’s loss to Trump two years ago.
And Holder looks particularly bad because he was once the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, yet now sounds like he is effectively advocating what appears to be either illegal activities, or metaphorical initiatives that run counter to our traditions and our politics.
Hillary Clinton has said she won’t run for office again, but Holder has said he may run for president in 2020. Whoever the Democratic candidate turns out to be needs to be a responsible and respectable opponent –not one who calls for kicking the GOP or for incivility.
We should have learned from the Senate confirmation hearing for now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that resisting for the sake of resisting doesn’t work. In fact, Democratic attacks on Kavanaugh may well have backfired, recent polls show.
The Democratic Party itself is lost now, without a message, a direction, a strategy, or agenda to confront a Republican Party that is seen as in many ways as having let the American people down.
We need change – but it must be constructive change. This Democrat believes that the comments that Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton made are wrong, counterproductive, and deserve to be rejected by the leadership of the Democratic Party.
American voters generally don’t support extremists. In 1964, Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater famously said “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” He won 52 electoral votes, compared to 486 for Democratic President Lyndon Johnson. While Goldwater was a conservative, Democratic extremists on the left have not and likely will not overcome the reluctance of voters to support one extreme or the other.
To be clear, I am not saying that Democrats are the radical, extremist party that President Trump describes them to be, nor do I believe they are the party of crime. I think that is just plain wrong. And GOP claims that Democrats are a bunch of radicals who will turn America into a failed state like Cuba or Venezuela are ridiculous.
However, the hostile rhetoric of Clinton and Holder goes well beyond what the president and Republicans have been saying. I think it deserves a rebuke from a Democrat to make it clear what is appropriate and what is not.

Pro-Abortion Cartoons

Pro-life activist assaulted by abortion protester on campus

Bailey Comment: Does Gabriela Skwarko look like she will ever marry a man and have children? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it must be a duck :-)

Gabriela Skwarko, a pro-abortion student at Ryerson University in Toronto, shoved pro-life activist Katie Somers Oct. 1. (Toronto Against Abortion)

Police are investigating an incident in Toronto caught on camera where an abortion protester attacked a female pro-life activist.
Gabriela “Gabby” Skwarko, a student at Ryerson University in Ontario who works for the school’s Office of Social Innovation and is part of the Ryerson Reproductive Justice Collective, is seen in a video attacking two members of Toronto Against Abortion (TAA).
“I was shocked and terrified,” TAA Director Katie Somers told Fox News. “When I cried out in pain I kind of thought she would leave me alone but it seemed to make no difference to her.”
Blaise Alleyne, president and founder of TAA, said Skwarko launched the attack out of nowhere as the anti-abortion group was getting to wrap up for the day.
“I don’t like seeing my friends get beat up in the street,” Alleyne said. “We’re in the business of exposing violence to end it. We’re shining a light on this deplorable behavior. Assaulting somebody for having a conversation is not acceptable. We want to expose it and end it.”
Skwarko allegedly targeted Somers and Alleyne for their role in the pro-life group. She kicked over signs, fell on top of one, landing on Somers. Then she threw a metal cart at Somers and ran toward her, grabbed her backpack and reached in, took out her stainless steel water bottle, and threw it on the ground. She shoved Somers and then bumped Alleyne in the chest.
“Let’s go! C’mon,” Skwarko said, taunting the pro-life advocates. EMS and police were immediately called. The Toronto Police Service and the Ryerson Student Conduct Office are currently investigating the situation.
Skwardo is temporarily forbidden from contacting Alleyene, who is a part-time student at Ryerson, and from going within 100 meters of him or any pro-life demonstration he is involved in.
As a result of Skwarko’s attack, Somers has taken time off work to heal, including an injury to her wrist and bruising down her right leg.
The incident comes just a day after a video went viral of a pro-choice activist, Jordan Hunt, a Toronto hairstylist who lost his job and was arrested last week for violently kicking a female pro-life activist after he tried to steal on of their signs.
“We would like the violence against peaceful pro-life protests to stop, but more than anything we would like the violence to pre-born children to stop," she said. "And despite this attack, we will continue to fight for pre-born children until abortion is unthinkable."
Somers said she’s not ready yet to get back out there, although that’s her goal. She posted a video on TAA’s Facebook about why she will continue her pro-life outreach.
“At this point, I don’t feel safe to return to peaceful protests,” she told Fox News. “It’s been really hard and really scary. I’m used to some opposition to the pro-life message but I’m not used to people being willing to resort to violence in opposition to it.”
LEFT-WING STUDENT CHARGED FOR ATTACKING PRO-LIFE PROTEST
Alleyne said Canada, along with China and North Korea, has no legal restrictions on abortion.
TAA demonstrates on the Toronto campus once a week, but is not officially recognized by the university as a club, like the pro-choice group is.
The university did not respond to request for comment.

Driver, 74, says he meant no harm, just wanted to get away from 'angry mob'

Antifa mob threatens motorists in Portland, Oregon; insight from Andy Ngo, journalist and Portland resident.

The driver of a car seen in a viral video driving through a protest in downtown Portland, Ore., last week said Friday that he never tried to run them over, according to reports.

"When you have an angry mob yelling at you and beating on your car you just want to get out of there," Kent Houser, 74, told the Oregonian.

The demonstrators were protesting last Saturday after a fatal police shooting that occurred the previous week.
Progressive activists accused Houser of attempting to mow down the protesters, but he says he had no idea that police had shot and killed Patrick Kimmons, 27, on Sept. 30, according to the paper.
Houser, a southwest Portland resident, said he was driving through downtown to meet his wife, the paper reported.
"I saw them, they saw me, and they rushed my car," Houser said. "Admittedly, I might have given them the one-finger salute when I rolled up."

"I saw them, they saw me, and they rushed my car. Admittedly, I might have given them the one-finger salute when I rolled up."

— Kent Houser, 74, driver involved in viral video

Portland Police Sgt. Chris Burley told Portland's KGW-TV that the driver reported he was shoved during the interaction.
Authorities are investigating the incident.
Houser said he also received a "nasty postcard" recommending that he sign up for anger management training, the Oregonian reported.

John Kelly called Elizabeth Warren 'impolite arrogant woman' after 'insulting' conversation

White House chief of staff John Kelly once described Sen. Elizabeth Warren as an “impolite arrogant woman” after having a telephone conversation with her about President Trump’s travel ban.
“Absolutely most insulting conversation I have ever had with anyone,” wrote Kelly in an email to his top aide, Kevin Carroll, on Feb. 8, 2018, when he was the secretary of Homeland Security, BuzzFeed reported.
“What an impolite arrogant woman. She immediately began insulting our people accusing them of not following the court order, insulting and abusive behavior towards those covered by the pause, blah blah blah,” he added.

"What an impolite arrogant woman. She immediately began insulting our people accusing them of not following the court order, insulting and abusive behavior towards those covered by the pause, blah blah blah."
— White House chief of staff John Kelly

Kelly reportedly refers to an order issued by federal judges to block Trump’s executive order that affected several mostly Muslim countries. The ban was temporarily blocked following a lawsuit by the ACLU.
The Massachusetts Democrat, a likely 2020 presidential contender, has long been an opponent of the travel ban, attended protests shortly after Trump first issued the executive order.
At Logan International Airport, Warren condemned Trump’s order, saying “we will not turn away children,” according to the Boston Globe. “We will not turn away families,” she continued. “We will not turn away people who try to help Americans. We will not turn away anyone because of their religion.”
In March last year, she also took a swipe at Trump, celebrating lower courts’ decisions to block the travel ban. “Turns out, an illegal Muslim ban by another name is still an illegal Muslim ban. So the courts just blocked @realDonaldTrump's second one,” she wrote in a tweet, adding that the ban is a “recruiting tool for ISIS” and a “betrayal of our values.”
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN ON SOME MUSLIM-MAJORITY NATIONS
Earlier this year, however, the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s travel ban and offered a limited endorsement of the president’s executive authority on immigration.
In a written statement, Trump called the ruling “a tremendous victory for the American People and the Constitution.” As critics continued to decry the policy as “xenophobic,” Trump described the court decision as “a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country.”
The top aide to whom Kelly wrote the email about Warren told BuzzFeed: “Too bad Senate Majority Leader McConnell couldn’t order her to be quiet again! Warren is running for president so early, trying too hard, and chasing bad pitches.”