Jill Stein is a Russian agent.
Jill Stein is a Russian agent.
Jill Stein is a Russian agent.
Jill Stein is a Russian agent.
Jill Stein is a Russian agent.
Jill Stein is a Russian agent.
Jill Stein is a Russian agent.
Jill Stein is a Russian agent. https://t.co/qkDUe6yADd

— Zac Petkanas (@Zac_Petkanas) December 18, 2017

Jill Stein is hurting the people who pretend to care

Looks like President Trump isn’t the only one who has to cry “no puppet.” A controversial CNN interview Tuesday morning saw Jill Stein repeating what some called a Russian talking point on election interference: “We do it, too.”
The two-time Green Party presidential candidate made her remarks as she defended her campaign’s refusal to hand over to congressional intelligence committees documents covering “internal discussions” that she says are protected by the Constitution. Detractors and defenders leaped immediately into action, the former accusing Stein of being little better than a Russian agent and the latter bemoaning the media’s propagandistic repression of dissenting voices.

Jill Stein is on @NewDay right now repeating Russian talking points on its interference in the 2016 election and on US foreign policy.

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 1, 2018

Alan Grayson to shake things up

Alan Grayson, a liberal firebrand who ignited controversy during his previous tenure in Congress, has decided to run again for his old seat representing a district in Florida.
His decision sets up a showdown in the Democratic primary with Rep. Darren Soto, the first Florida congressman of Puerto Rican descent, who succeeded Grayson after he made an unsuccessful Senate bid in 2016.
...In 2016, he fell short in his bid to win a U.S. Senate seat, losing to fellow House member Patrick Murphy in the Democratic primary. (Murphy, in turn, lost the general election to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
Much of the Democratic establishment — including then-Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) — rallied around Grayson’s opponent in the primary.

Cynthis Nixon still way back, but gaining ground

Cynthia Nixon has cut into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s early polling lead, but the two-term incumbent still maintains a dominant position in this year’s Democratic primary, according to a new survey from Quinnipiac University.
Mr. Cuomo leads Ms. Nixon 50 percent to 28 percent, the poll shows.
While Quinnipiac has not previously surveyed voters across the state about the race, other earlier polls showed Mr. Cuomo leading Ms. Nixon by more than 30 and 40 percentage points. Mr. Cuomo also led Ms. Nixon in a survey of Democratic New York City voters, 64 to 21, in a Quinnipiac poll in late March.
“We cut Cuomo’s lead IN HALF,” Ms. Nixon’s campaign emailed supporters within minutes of the poll’s release on Wednesday.

Democrats no longer have millenials

The online survey of more than 16,000 registered voters ages 18 to 34 shows their support for Democrats over Republicans for Congress slipped by about 9 percentage points over the past two years, to 46 percent overall. And they increasingly say the Republican Party is a better steward of the economy.
Although nearly two of three young voters polled said they do not like Republican President Donald Trump, their distaste for him does not necessarily extend to all Republicans or translate directly into votes for Democratic congressional candidates.
That presents a potential problem for Democrats who have come to count on millennials as a core constituency - and will need all the loyalty they can get to achieve a net gain of 23 seats to capture control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November.

a government-guaranteed job idea sells

The proposal has been getting some traction on the left lately, after being floated by think tanks and embraced by likely Democratic presidential candidates including Sens. Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Bernie Sanders.
In a new Rasmussen Reports poll, 46% said they favored such a program. Sanders, according to the Washington Post, backs a version that would see local and state governments offer proposals for public works projects. Workers would be hired for at least $15 an hour with paid family and medical leave.
There are numerous practical questions about a jobs-guarantee plan, including its cost. In one proposal, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated an annual cost of $543 billion for the creation of 9.7 million full-time jobs.

Pro: Haspel is qualified

Haspel is now the nominee to lead the CIA, the first woman to be so nominated but, more important, the first career CIA officer to rise directly to the post since Richard Helms was confirmed 52 years ago.
Haspel has served as agency's deputy director for the past year, having previously served in senior roles in the directorate of operations and as chief of station in a major allied capital. During the years after 9/11, she worked on a range of sensitive counterterrorism missions. Quite simply, she is among the most qualified people ever nominated to lead the CIA.

Anti: Haspel is qualified

More recently, the CIA created black sites around the world to host programs of institutionalized torture, documented by the Senate itself. The torture memos, written to justify this torture, so twisted and distorted legal norms that they were kept secret for years. The agency also facilitated creation of a black hole legal regime in Guantánamo, where the US has indefinitely detained hundreds of people in violation of international law.
My guess is that none of this bleak history will be raised when Gina Haspel appears before the Senate. Since 9/11, we have witnessed a national, collective effort to rehabilitate the CIA and champion its role as a noble protector of the US.
...Given its sordid history, the question to ask might not be whether Haspel rises to the caliber of the CIA. The question might be whether Haspel descends to the level of instigator of torture, murder and interference in foreign governments that has marked the history of the CIA. Unless and until we examine the difficult questions about the past and future of the CIA, Haspel may just be perfect for the job.