Trump Just Got Slapped In The Face; Landslide Win For Democrats In Fairfax County Tonight

".. Despite all Republican efforts to win this election by underhanded means, such as having a special election where voter turnout was expected to be extremely low, the usual Republican ploys did not prevail. Four percent turnout was anticipated and the Democrats rallied and raised that figure to ten percent. 62,000 votes were cast, in excess of the 50,000 max figure that was anticipated. Of those votes cast, 41,000 were for Keys-Gamarra and 21,000 for Grisafe. That’s a comfortable margin to win by."
".. But this election means so much more. This was the first election in the country post Charlottesville and the fact that the electorate was galvanized to get out the vote and put a fine Democrat in office is not to be taken lightly. A message has been sent to Washington and not via Western Union. If Donald Trump and the GOP don’t get it, then we’ll just have to keep winning elections until they do get it and “it” is this: America is not going backwards. The blacks are not going back to the ghetto, nor the gays to the closets, nor the disabled to hiding in the shadows, nor all the plans that Donald Trump, David Duke, Richard Spencer and their ilk were rubbing their small hands together about in eager anticipation. It’s not going to happen...
Read further commentary at  https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/29/1694453/-Trump-Just-Got-Slapped-In-The-Face-Landslide-Win-For-Democrats-In-Fairfax-County-Tonight?detail=emaildkre

The New Front in the Gerrymandering Wars: Democracy vs. Math

“Sophisticated computer modeling has taken district manipulation to new extremes. To fix this, courts might have to learn how to run the numbers themselves.

In the late spring of 2011, Dale Schultz walked the short block in Madison from his State Senate office in the Wisconsin Capitol to the glass-­paneled building of Michael Best & Friedrich, a law firm with deep ties to his Republican Party. First elected in 1982, Schultz placed himself within the progressive tradition that made Wisconsin, a century ago, the birthplace of the state income tax and laws that guarantee compensation for injured workers. In the months before his visit to Michael Best, Schultz cast the lone Republican vote against a bill that stripped collective-­bargaining rights from most public employees. But if Schultz had doubts about some of his party’s priorities, he welcomed its ascendance to power. For the first time in his career, Republicans controlled the State Senate and the State Assembly as well as the governor’s office, giving them total sway over the redistricting process that follows the census taken at the beginning of each decade. ‘‘The way I saw it, reapportionment is a moment of opportunity for the ruling party,’’ Schultz told me this summer.

Inside the law firm’s doors, Schultz took the elevator to what party aides called the ‘‘map room.’’ They asked him to sign a nondisclosure agreement, which he did without complaint. Schultz sat down and was given a map with the new lines for his rural district west of Madison. He and his wife, a former school superintendent, own a 210-­acre farm in the area, where they grow corn and beans and hunt pheasants. Schultz noticed that the newly drawn district mostly included precincts he’d won before. ‘‘I took one look at the map and saw that if I chose to run for re-­election I could win, no trouble,’’ Schultz remembered. ‘‘That was it.’’

Nearly all of the 79 Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly made a similar trip to the map room, signing the same secrecy pledge to see the new shape of their districts. The new maps efficiently concentrated many Democratic voters in a relatively small number of urban districts and spread out the remainder among many districts in the rest of the state. These are the twin techniques of gerrymandering, often called packing and cracking, which distribute voters to benefit the party that is drawing the district lines.”

Read more  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/magazine/the-new-front-in-the-gerrymandering-wars-democracy-vs-math.html

September 22nd is the deadline to comment

        CRC INFOGRAPHIC: How to Submit a Proposed Constitutional Amendment Through FLCRC.GOV

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today,August 22, 2017, the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) released a new infographic showing the simple steps Floridians can take to submit a proposed constitutional amendment through flcrc.gov.

CRC Chairman Carlos Beruff, said, “The recommended September 22nd deadline to submit a proposed constitutional amendment to the CRC is a month away and we encourage all interested Floridians to submit their proposals as soon as possible. The submission tool on flcrc.gov offers a simple, streamlined process to create and share proposed constitutional amendments with the CRC. Just follow the steps in our new infographic and make sure your voice is heard during this historic process!”

The CRC is considering Friday, September 22 as the filing deadline for public proposals. The recommended deadline is subject to approval by a vote of the full commission. The next full commission meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 19. For more information on upcoming CRC meetings, visit flcrc.gov/Meetings.

This is Southern St. Johns County's U.S. House Rep Trying to Defund Mueller

GOP Rep Introduces Measure to Defund Mueller Probe After 6 Months

"Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has introduced a measure that would defund special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling six months after its passage. The amendment would also bar Mueller, who is also looking into whether Trump associates colluded with Russian operatives, from probing items that occurred before Trump declared his presidential bid in June 2015. Mueller’s investigation is wide-ranging and is reportedly looking into the president’s finances, something Trump said would be a “red line.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-rep-introduces-measure-to-defund-mueller-probe-after-6-months

 U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis

Email

Local Office:                                                        Washington, DC Office:
31 Lupi Court, Suite 130                                      1524 Longworth House Office Building
Palm Coast, FL 32164                                          Washington DC 20515
Ph: 386-302-0471 // Fx: 386-302-0474                Ph: 202- 225-2706 // Fx: 202-226-6299

Letter To The Editor - "CRC: Rid Us of Bane of Open Primaries"

Editor: Because of sophisticated gerrymandering by advanced computerized technologies, primary elections are often the moment when winning candidates are selected. Primaries are increasingly the only meaningful round of voting for “We the People” of Florida.
The use of fake candidacies of write-in candidates who have no intention of actually contending by both major parties, frequently blocks majorities of Florida voters from participating.
This results in highly partisan candidates being elected who do not need to work with representatives of districts with differing views. Gridlock, born of unwillingness to compromise to reach solutions that benefit the broadest number of citizens, threatens confidence in the democratic process.
Many Floridians feel they are back in the colonial days of taxation without any representation of their views, values or priorities. If ever there was an issue the Florida Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) needed to address, this is surely top of the list. Members of the CRC: give the voters of Florida the opportunity to enact an open primaries measure in 2018.
Warren Clark
St. Augustine
http://staugustine.com/opinion/2017-08-28/letters-editor

September 22nd is the deadline to comment

        CRC INFOGRAPHIC: How to Submit a Proposed Constitutional Amendment Through FLCRC.GOV

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today,August 22, 2017, the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) released a new infographic showing the simple steps Floridians can take to submit a proposed constitutional amendment through flcrc.gov.

CRC Chairman Carlos Beruff, said, “The recommended September 22nd deadline to submit a proposed constitutional amendment to the CRC is a month away and we encourage all interested Floridians to submit their proposals as soon as possible. The submission tool on flcrc.gov offers a simple, streamlined process to create and share proposed constitutional amendments with the CRC. Just follow the steps in our new infographic and make sure your voice is heard during this historic process!”

The CRC is considering Friday, September 22 as the filing deadline for public proposals. The recommended deadline is subject to approval by a vote of the full commission. The next full commission meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 19. For more information on upcoming CRC meetings, visit flcrc.gov/Meetings.

 

Tillerson: Trump 'Speaks for Himself'

CNN - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that President Donald Trump "speaks for himself" when asked whether the President's response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, raised questions about Trump's values.

Tillerson said on "Fox News Sunday" that the United States was committed to freedom and "equal treatment of people the world over" when posed the question by anchor Chris Wallace.

"I don't believe anyone doubts the American people's values," Tillerson said.

"And the President's values?" Wallace asked.

"The President speaks for himself," Tillerson said.

Last week, a United Nations committee issued a warning to the United States about racism and hate crimes, saying US leaders had not sufficiently condemned white supremacy.  Trump was widely criticized for his response to the racially motivated violence in Charlottesville, in which he said "both sides" -- white supremacists and those protesting them -- were responsible for the clashes that left one woman dead and dozens injured.

Trump initially blamed the violence on "many sides," but amid mounting criticism, he called out white supremacists and hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan specifically a couple of days later. Then, then next day, he generated further controversy with his "both sides" remark during a press conference at Trump Tower.

Wallace mentioned the UN criticism in his question to Tillerson about Trump's comments.

"Are you separating yourself from that, sir?" Wallace continued, referring to Trump's statements and how that might affect others' perceptions of US values.

"I made my own comments as to our values as well in a speech at the State Department last week," Tillerson replied.

In that speech earlier this month, Tillerson delivered a condemnation of both hate and those who "protect or accept hate speech" in any form -- a sharp contrast with the comments made by Trump.

"It's simply important to say -- although I think it's well understood and embraced, I'm certain, by everyone in this room -- we all know hate is not an American value, nowhere is it an American value," the top US diplomat said.

"Those who embrace it poison our public discourse and they damage the very country that they claim to love," Tillerson said. "So we condemn racism and bigotry in all its forms."

"Racism is evil -- it is antithetical to America's values, it is antithetical to the American idea," Tillerson said.

In the past, Tillerson has come under fire for saying, as he did in May, that US foreign policy should sometimes separate values such as freedom, human dignity and "the way people are treated" from policies it pursues around the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/27/politics/tillerson-trump-speaks-for-himself/index.html

 

Our Hearts Are With You Texas

FROM ALL OF US IN ST. JOHNS COUNTY FLORIDA

How a New Generation of Progressive Activists Is Leading the Trump Resistance

...."The Indivisible movement – which now counts more than 6,000 chapters nationwide – is the centerpiece of a robust new grassroots machinery that has arisen to confront the crisis of the Trump presidency. Rivaling anything accomplished by the Tea Party, the passionate activism of hundreds of thousands of progressives has already achieved the impossible in Washington, D.C. – overwhelming Republican control of Congress and the presidency to stymie the repeal of Obamacare"......
Read more at  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/how-progressive-activists-are-leading-the-trump-resistance-w499221

PUBLIC’S TURN TO WEIGH IN: Confederate Monuments Issue Coming to St. Augustine City Commission

"While St. Augustine residents debate the future of Confederate monuments in public spaces, other cities around the state and the nation are doing the same.

Officials in West Palm Beach, Manatee County, Jacksonville and elsewhere have either voted to take the monuments down or have seen public arguments about what path to choose......

 A monument has also been taken from West Palm Beach cemetery. Crews took apart a Confederate monument in the city-owned cemetery to be put in storage until its owner, the United Daughters of Confederacy, determines its fate, according to WPTV.
The city’s mayor decided to remove a 10-foot memorial to Confederate soldiers in Woodlawn Cemetery, according to the Palm Beach Post. The paper reported the monument “recently joined others nationwide as symbols of a wound that has not healed” and that it been vandalized — spray painted with the word “Antifa (expletive) Nazi & KKK” — just the day before the announcement."
Read entire article at  http://staugustine.com/local-news/news/florida/2017-08-26/public-s-turn-weigh-confederate-monuments-issue-coming-st
 

Pro-Russian Bots Take Up the Right-Wing Cause After Charlottesville

"Analysts tracking Russian influence operations find a feedback loop between Kremlin propaganda and far-right memes."

"Angee Dixson joined Twitter on Aug. 8 and immediately began posting furiously — about 90 times a day. A self-described American Christian conservative, Dixson defended President Donald Trump’s response to the unrest in Charlottesville, criticized the removal of Confederate monuments and posted pictures purporting to show violence by left-wing counterprotesters.

“Dems and Media Continue to IGNORE BLM and Antifa Violence in Charlottesville,” she wrote above a picture of masked demonstrators labeled “DEMOCRAT TERROR.”

But Dixson appears to have been a fake, according to an analysis by Ben Nimmo and Donara Barojan of the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council think tank. The account has been shut down. Dixson’s profile picture was stolen from a young Instagram celebrity (a German model rumored to have dated Leonardo DiCaprio). Dixson used a URL shortener that is a tell for the sort of computer program that automatically churns out high volumes of social media posts whose authorship is frequently disguised. And one of her tweets attacked Sen. John McCain for his alleged support of Ukrainian neo-Nazis, echoing language in tweets from Russian outlets RT and Sputnik.

The same social media networks that spread Russian propaganda during the 2016 election have been busily amplifying right-wing extremism surrounding the recent violence in Charlottesville, according to researchers who monitor the activity. It’s impossible to tell how much of the traffic originates from Russia or from mercenary sources. But there were hordes of automated bots generating Twitter posts and much more last week to help make right-wing conspiracy theories and rallying cries about Charlottesville go viral.

A sample of 600 Twitter accounts linked to Russian influence operations have been promoting hashtags for Charlottesville such as “antifa,” a term for activists on the far left; and “alt-left,” a term Trump used, which was interpreted by many as suggesting an equivalence between liberal demonstrators and white nationalists in the so-called alt-right.

 The sample includes accounts that are openly pro-Russian like state-controlled outlets RT and Sputnik, which a joint U.S. intelligence assessment concluded are “part of Russia’s state-run propaganda machine.” The sample also includes those, like “Angee Dixson’s,” that seem to be written by typical Americans. And it follows automated bots that help make messages go viral and even users around the world who spread the Kremlin’s messages whether or not they mean to support Russia. The network is tracked by four researchers working with the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a project of the German Marshall Fund that seeks to expose efforts to undermine Western democracy."

Read complete article  https://www.propublica.org/article/pro-russian-bots-take-up-the-right-wing-cause-after-charlottesville