JANUARY 1 AND 2, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


“1,950 CLAIMS IN 347 DAYS”, WOW. WHEN TRUMP WAS ELECTED I WONDERED HOW HE WOULD KNOW ENOUGH TO LEAD. I KNOW NOW. HE JUST MAKES IT UP AS HE GOES.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/01/02/president-trump-has-made-1949-false-or-misleading-claims-over-347-days/?tid=pm_politics_pop
Fact Checker Analysis
President Trump has made 1,950 false or misleading claims over 347 days
By Glenn Kessler, Meg Kelly and Nicole Lewis January 2 at 3:00 AM

With just 18 days before President Trump completes his first year as president, he is now on track to exceed 2,000 false or misleading claims, according to our database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president.

As of Monday, the total stood at 1,950 claims in 347 days, or an average of 5.6 claims a day. (Our full interactive graphic can be found here.)

As regular readers know, the president has a tendency to repeat himself — often. There are now more than 60 claims that he has repeated three or more times. The president’s impromptu 30-minute interview with the New York Times over the holidays, in which he made at least 24 false or misleading claims, included many statements that we have previously fact-checked.

We currently have a tie for Trump’s most repeated claims, both made 61 times. Both of these claims date from the start of Trump’s presidency and to a large extent have faded as talking points.

One of these claims was some variation of the statement that the Affordable Care Act is dying and “essentially dead.” The Congressional Budget Office has said that the Obamacare exchanges, despite well-documented issues, are not imploding and are expected to remain stable for the foreseeable future. Indeed, healthy enrollment for the coming year has surprised health-care experts. Trump used to say this a lot, but he’s quieted down since his efforts to repeal the law flopped.

Trump also repeatedly takes credit for events or business decisions that happened before he took the oath of office — or had even been elected. Sixty-one times, he has touted that he secured business investments and job announcements that had been previously announced and could easily be found with a Google search.

With the successful push in Congress to pass a tax plan, two of Trump’s favorite talking points about taxes — that the tax plan will be the biggest tax cut in U.S. history and that the United States is one of the highest-taxed nations — have rapidly moved up the list.

Trump repeated the falsehood about having the biggest tax cut 53 times, even though Treasury Department data shows it would rank eighth. And 58 times Trump has claimed that the United States pays the highest corporate taxes (25 times) or that it is one of the highest-taxed nations (33 times). The latter is false; the former is misleading, as the effective U.S. corporate tax rate (what companies end up paying after deductions and benefits) ends up being lower than the statutory tax rate.

We also track the president’s flip-flops on our list, as they are so glaring. He spent the 2016 campaign telling supporters that the unemployment rate was really 42 percent and the official statistics were phony; now, on 46 occasions he has hailed the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years. It was already very low when he was elected — 4.6 percent, the lowest in a decade — so his failure to acknowledge that is misleading.

An astonishing 85 times, Trump has celebrated a rise in the stock market — even though in the campaign he repeatedly said it was a “bubble” that was ready to crash as soon as the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates. Well, the Fed has raised rates three times since the election — and yet the stock market has not plunged as Trump predicted. It has continued a rise in stock prices that began under President Barack Obama in 2009. Again, Trump has never explained his shift in position on the stock market.

Moreover, the U.S. stock-market rise in 2017 was not unique and mirrored a global rise in equities. When looking at the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, it’s clear U.S. stocks haven’t rallied as robustly as their foreign equivalents. Yet Trump loves this claim so much that he has repeated it 28 times in the 49 days since our last update — more often than every other day.

We maintain the database by closely reading or watching Trump’s myriad public appearances and television and radio interviews. The interviews are especially hard to keep up with, in part because the White House does not routinely post on them on its website. In fact, a recent redesign of the White House website appears to make it difficult to find transcripts of Trump’s remarks at the White House.

This project originally started as a first-100-days database, but by popular demand we extended it to one year. We will soon face a decision about whether to maintain it beyond one year, even though it strains the resources (and weekends) of our staff. In at least one instance, the database was used for academic analysis. We welcome thoughts from readers about whether it remains a worthwhile endeavor.

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WHILE YOU’RE LOOKING UP GLOBAL WARMING, CHECK “SNOWBALL EARTH,” TOO.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42544598
Deadly US cold snap expected to worsen
January 2, 2018

VIDEO -- Parts of Niagara Falls freeze

A deadly cold snap that has left the US shivering in record-breaking temperatures for the New Year is expected to worsen in the coming days.

Several deaths have been blamed on the deep freeze, which is forecast to heap more snow on the East Coast this week, the National Weather Service said.

Forty US states were under official winter alerts for bitter cold or snow on Tuesday morning.

Tourists visiting Niagara Falls have posted photos of the waters freezing.

The cold was expected to ease temporarily on Wednesday before the frigid temperatures return on Thursday.

New York tourists take selfie in front of frozen fountainImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
New York tourists take a selfie in front of a frozen fountain in Bryant Park

The US National Weather Service tweeted: "Arctic air mass will bring a prolonged period of much-below-normal temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills to the central and eastern US over the next week."

Schools in the eastern and central US have announced closures.

The central US has borne the brunt of the frigid temperatures since the snap began around Christmas.

Skip Twitter post by @NWSOmaha


NWS Omaha
✔
@NWSOmaha
We had to try the boiling water trick tonight at the office! Now it’s your turn! Try it for yourself and share your videos with us! Just don’t forget to be safe and bundle up! It’s still frigid out there! #newx #iawx
10:54 PM - Jan 1, 2018 · Nebraska, USA
9 9 Replies 54 54 Retweets 152 152 likes
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Report
End of Twitter post by @NWSOmaha

Omaha, Nebraska, broke a record dating back more than 130 years as teeth chattered in temperatures of -20F (-29C).

Aberdeen, South Dakota, saw the mercury fall to -33F (-36C), breaking a record set in 1919.

Authorities are warning that high winds can drive down temperatures even further, leaving uncovered skin frostbitten in minutes.

Skip Twitter post by @NWSSanDiego
View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

NWS San Diego
✔
@NWSSanDiego
This 6 AM PST temperature map shows bitter cold across much of the Lower 48. The only mild conditions exist across #SoCal and South #Florida. #cawx

9:25 AM - Jan 2, 2018
Replies 35 35 Retweets 52 52 likes
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End of Twitter post by @NWSSanDiego

Des Moines, Iowa, saw temperatures plummet to -20F (-29C) on Monday, but with the wind chill factored in it felt more like -31F (-35C), officials said.

The normally balmy southern US has not been insulated from the Arctic blast either.

Atlanta, Georgia, recorded a temperature of 13F (-10C) on Tuesday.

Media caption -- Record cold and hurricane-force winds are ideal conditions for a science experiment

The shores along Mobile Bay, Alabama - in the Gulf of Mexico - saw ocean waters freezing against boat piers.

The wind chill temperature in Tennessee was -6F (-21C).

Only southern Florida and the US South-West have escaped the brutal cold.

Several deaths have been attributed to the cold weather:

In St Louis, Missouri, a homeless man found in a rubbish bin apparently froze to death on Monday evening
Another homeless man, Clyde Chester Parsons, 52, was found dead on a porch in Charleston, West Virginia
Police believe a man found dead outside a church in Detroit, Michigan, froze to death
A 27-year-old woman, Lindsey Klima, found in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, on the shores of Lake Winnebago, probably died due to exposure, a sheriff said
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, two men are thought to have died from hypothermia
A man was found dead near a river in Bismarck, North Dakota
A snowmobiler, Brennan Walpole, 35, died after triggering an avalanche in Lincoln County, Wyoming


BERNIE, BERNIE, BERNIE – LOTS OF ARTICLES TODAY

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/12/22/the-top-15-democratic-presidential-candidates-for-2020-ranked/
The Fix Analysis
The top 15 Democratic presidential candidates for 2020, ranked
By Aaron Blake December 22, 2017

Photograph -- Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speak in Boston at an Our Revolution Rally in March. (Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto/AP)

President Trump got his first big legislative accomplishment this week. He also got a slew of very bad polling data.

Polls from Gallup, CNN, Monmouth University and Quinnipiac University all showed Trump's approval rating between 33 percent and 37 percent — among the lowest numbers of his entire presidency. And that same CNN poll showed Democrats taking a nearly unheard-of 18-point lead in the 2018 midterm generic ballot, becoming just the latest poll to show a very bad environment for not just Trump but his party, too.

And even one of Trump's better polls — from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal — showed that just 36 percent of Americans said they would at least "probably" vote to reelect Trump in 2020. A majority (52 percent) said they would at least "probably" vote for someone else. While just 18 percent said they would "definitely" vote for Trump, 38 percent said they would "definitely" vote against him.

Given all of that, and with just one year left until the unofficial start of the 2020 presidential race, you can bet a slew of Democrats are starting to get anxious to run against Trump. And depending on how that 2018 election turns out, you may see a bunch of them get into the race quickly. The field appears certain to be extremely big and wide open, and it could reward those who can lock down a base of support before others with claims to those same bases get in.

So whose stock is rising and falling at this early juncture? We ranked the top 15 possible Democratic nominees three months ago, and today we do it again.

As usual, they're ranked in ascending order of likelihood to win the Democratic nomination.

(Off the list: Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Garcetti, Tim Kaine, Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Cuban)

15. Dwayne Johnson (Previous ranking: N/A)

Yes, that Dwayne Johnson. The Rock keeps saying he might actually run for president — including this week, when he said he's "seriously considering" it. Yes, he tends to say these things when he's promoting a movie. And, yes, I know it seems ridiculous that a former professional wrestler would be a serious candidate. And, yes, we don't even know which party's nomination he would seek. But one regrettable reality of the Trump era is that we can't simply laugh off this stuff any more. At the very least, Johnson is a gifted communicator whom lots of people seem to like quite a bit.

14. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (Previous: N/A)

Another new entrant on this list, McAuliffe is exiting as a well-regarded, term-limited one-term governor next month. And he seems to be at least somewhat intrigued by running for the office he once spent his time trying to win for other people. For now, he's basking in a very strong 2017 election for Virginia Democrats, and he says he'll aggressively try to help Democrats win governorships in 2018. The big knock on him: Nobody on this list is closer to the Clintons, so he's not really a turn-the-page kind of candidate.

13. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz (Previous: 11)

As I wrote back in September, Schultz seems to have the talking-like-a-candidate-while-insisting-he's-not-getting-involved-in-politics thing down. For example: "I think the country, in many ways, is in need of a moral, a cultural and an economic transformation.” Also: "If we think about the country today — and I’m not talking about politics — I think the country needs to become more compassionate, more empathetic." Yep, definitely not talking about politics.

12. Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick (Previous: 12)

Patrick generally gives very little indication that he might run — although former president Obama's team is reportedly urging him to do so. But he did go to Alabama to campaign for Sen.-elect Doug Jones (D) earlier this month. And that's not nothing.

11. Oprah Winfrey (Previous: 11)

See: Dwayne Johnson. Add: An even more gifted communicator whom even more people seem to like a lot. She's been more oblique about actually running, but she certainly sounds intrigued.

10. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (Previous: 9)

While others on this list have taken a step forward during the sexual harassment debate, Cuomo has taken a step back. Asked about allegations against a former senior aide and what he perhaps could have done differently, Cuomo told a reporter, "When you say it’s state government, you do a disservice to women, with all due respect, even though you’re a woman." He added: “It’s not government, it’s society." If the current debate has shown us anything, it's that politicians would be best served not to downplay these issues when they hit close to home.

9. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (Previous: 10)

On this list, Brown provides the most complete blend of progressive politics, populism, white working-class appeal, and coming from a vital swing state. That should never be discounted.

8. California Gov. Jerry Brown (Previous: 5)

I had Brown a bit higher on this list last time around, despite the fact that he turns 80 in a few months. And now California has moved its primary much earlier, to March. That's a huge swath of delegates for a California-based candidate to nab very early in the process.

7. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy (Previous: 3)

Murphy provided one of those perfunctory nondenial denials back in October. Asked by CBS News if he might run, he said: "I am not running for president. I am running for reelection to the Senate." This is what politicians say when they need to make sure they get reelected first. It's also completely in the present tense, so it will still be accurate if he does decide to run for president after he wins reelection in 2018.

6. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (Previous: 8)

Booker told Politico last month that it would be "irresponsible" for anyone to say they will or won't run for president in 2020 this far out. (In that spirit, I will also not rule out running.) This just feels like the time for Booker.

5. California Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Previous: 7)

A few months ago, Harris got out front when it came to supporting single-payer health care. Last week, she got out front when it came to calling for President Trump to resign. If the 2020 Democratic primary is a race to the left, she seems intent upon not letting anyone outflank her.

4. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (Previous: 6)

It was Trump's tweet about Gillibrand that sparked Harris to act. After Gillibrand herself had urged Trump to resign, he tweeted that as a New York senator she "would do anything for" campaign contributions — which many took to be sexually suggestive. It's difficult to imagine a bigger gift when it comes to raising Gillibrand's profile in advance of a 2020 run for the Democratic nomination. Gillibrand also recently said she thought Bill Clinton should have resigned in the face of his own sexual misconduct allegations, and she was the first senator to call for fellow Democratic Sen. Al Franken (Minn.) to step down.

3. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Previous: 4)

If Warren runs, I think she tops this list. But I have a difficult time seeing her running if Bernie Sanders does, and I think Sanders is very likely to run. Warren has shown comparatively little inclination to run and hasn't been front-and-center in helping elect Democrats or speaking to the media — though the latter seems to be changing at least somewhat.

2. Former vice president Joe Biden (Previous: 2)

Biden remains in the second spot on this list, but not as firmly as before. The recent spate of sexual harassment allegations against politicians — and the reevaluation of past allegations — has put Biden's handling of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings back in the spotlight. Biden, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, has apologized more than once for how Anita Hill was treated, while also stressing he opposed Thomas's nomination. But Hill has said Biden's apology isn't good enough. If the Democratic Party continues to make this a focal point over the next couple years, Biden's actions could be gone through with a fine-toothed comb in a way he would rather they weren't.

1. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (Previous: 1)

A must-read story from Politico's Gabriel Debenedetti recently showed how Sanders conspicuously seems to be addressing the shortcomings that hampered his candidacy in 2016 — most notably his lack of familiarity with foreign policy and of inroads with powerful pro-Democratic groups, such as the American Federation of Teachers. Sanders has done nothing to diminish speculation that he will run again; the biggest question is, and will be, his age (76) — as it is with Brown (79) and Biden (75).



http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/366978-bernie-sanders-resolves-to-intensify-the-struggle-against-trumpism-in-2018
Bernie Sanders resolves to ‘intensify the struggle against Trumpism’ in 2018
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 01/01/18 11:55 AM EST

Photograph – Bernie Sanders resolves to ‘intensify the struggle against Trumpism’ in 2018, © Camille Fine

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) late Sunday shared his New Year’s resolution: to “intensify the struggle against Trumpism.”

“In 2018, we will not only intensify the struggle against Trumpism, we will increase our efforts to spread the progressive vision in every corner of the land,” Sanders tweeted.

Sanders has been a frequent and vocal critic of President Trump, even calling on the president to consider resigning because of sexual misconduct allegations.

Sanders has also advocated for progressive policies, including universal health care, free tuition at public universities and colleges and campaign finance reform.

Sanders, who lost the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination to Hillary Clinton, is considered among the leading candidates to run for the Democratic nomination in 2020.

The independent senator is spending New Year’s Day in New York City, where he will swear in Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) for a second term. Sanders previously appeared at a campaign rally for De Blasio.

A number of other lawmakers shared New Year's resolutions on Sunday, with several vowing to oppose Trump and Republicans.


http://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-more-iceland-768417
BERNIE SANDERS SAYS U.S. SHOULD BE LIKE ICELAND, LEGALLY ENFORCE EQUAL PAY
BY MELINA DELKIC ON 1/2/18 AT 3:26 PM

Bernie Sanders is calling on the United States to be more like Iceland and legally enforce equal pay for men and women, he said on Tuesday.

“We must follow the example of our brothers and sisters in Iceland and demand equal pay for equal work now, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or nationality. As we fight back Republican efforts to revert women’s rights to second-class, it is important to not lose sight that our real goal is to move forward and expand women’s rights,” the independent senator from Vermont wrote in a Facebook post.

01_02_Bernie_Sanders
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during a rally against the Republican tax plan on December 13, 2017, in Washington, DC.
GETTY/ZACH GIBSON

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The former presidential candidate posted in response to the Nordic country’s historic legalization of equal pay for men and women, which went into effect on Monday. Iceland is the first country to do so, and its legislation requires that any company or government agency that employs 25 people or more prove to the government that it pays men and women the same wages, or else face fines.

Sanders has pushed for equal pay before, and it was one of the major planks of his presidential campaign platform. Sanders’s presidential campaign website, which is still up and running, calls the wage gap a “national disgrace,” saying, “It is wrong that women working full-time only earn 79 cents for every dollar a man earns. We have got to move forward and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act* into law.”

Iceland has been ahead of the curve in the gender equality realm for years, and the new legislation is part of the trend. According to the World Economic Forum, which releases a report measuring gender parity in countries around the world through various social and economic measures, Iceland is, for the ninth year in a row, ranked first in its efforts to close the gender gap. The small country has closed “more than 87 percent of its overall gender gap,” the WEF wrote in November. Iceland also ranks fifth in providing similar work opportunities for men and women.

It seems to be a Nordic trend: Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden are all in the top five of the gender parity index. The United States did not receive such high marks.

Even though the U.S. has made strides in narrowing the gender pay gap since 1980— according to a report from the Pew Research Center in April, which found that women earned 83 percent of what men earned in 2015—it still lags behind in other areas. It ranks 49th on the WEF index, with low scores in women's political empowerment and their health and life expectancy.



http://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanderss-new-years-resolution-hinting-2020-presidential-run-767420
IS BERNIE SANDERS'S NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION HINTING AT A 2020 PRESIDENTIAL RUN?
BY MARIE SOLIS ON 1/1/18 AT 4:01 PM

Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) is gearing up for a battle against President Donald Trump in 2018—and, some speculate, in 2020.

On Sunday night, the 2016 presidential hopeful shared his New Year's resolution on Twitter, writing of his intentions to redouble efforts to defeat Trump and his agenda.

"Here is a New Year's Resolution I hope you will share with me," Sanders wrote on Twitter Sunday night. "In 2018, we will not only intensify the struggle against Trumpism, we will increase our efforts to spread the progressive vision in every corner of the land."

Keep Up With This Story And More By Subscribing Now


Bernie Sanders
✔
@SenSanders
Here is a New Year's Resolution I hope you will share with me. In 2018, we will not only intensify the struggle against Trumpism, we will increase our efforts to spread the progressive vision in every corner of the land.

11:06 PM - Dec 31, 2017
6,258 6,258 Replies 17,135 17,135 Retweets 73,522 73,522 likes
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With midterm elections looming, Democrats are largely focused on reclaiming control of Congress in November, when they'll have to gain three seats in the Senate and 24 in the House. Democrats seem to be in a better position to do so after unexpected victories in Virginia, where Democrat Ralph Northam beat his Republican opponent Ed Gillepsie for the governorship, and in Alabama, where Democrat Doug Jones beat Republican Roy Moore for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former Senate seat.

In order to sustain their momentum, Democrats have continued to use Trump to their advantage, banking on voters' outrage against him to bring them out to the polls and vote blue. Some of Trump's most outspoken opponents on Capitol Hill have been Democratic lawmakers, like Sanders, who are rumored 2020 presidential contenders.

Sanders called last month for the president to resign over more than a dozen allegations of sexual misconduct against him, joining colleagues like Senators Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), all of whom have been the subject of suspected 2020 runs.

Trump himself has predicted that Sanders will run against him in his bid for re-election, “even if he’s in a wheelchair."

Sanders has recently taken on a more prominent leadership role in the Democratic Party, though he's a registered independent. According to a November report from Politico, Sanders has been developing relationships to discuss international policy and leading outreach within the party, two moves some say could point to plans for another presidential campaign.

"He is now in a very different position than he’s ever been in before. He’s just stepping into the role,” Sanders's senior adviser Ari Rabin-Havt told Politico. “Let’s be clear: He’s in charge of outreach for the caucus. So when people say he’s doing a better job of reaching out? Well, yeah, he’s doing his job. This is a new phase of his career.”


PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s862/summary
S. 862 (114th): Paycheck Fairness Act

Summary

Much has been made in recent years of the gender-based wage gap, with the oft-cited number from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that full-time female workers make 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. (Although some studies have indicated that the gap is negligible or virtually nonexistent after controlling for certain variables.) The main bill in this Congress to close the gap is the Paycheck Fairness Act, S. 862 and H.R. 1619, introduced by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) in the Senate and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT3) in the House.

This bill contains several proposed changes to federal law. It would amend the Equal Pay Act of 1963, currently the primary law governing this issue, to limit when employers can pay differently to “bona fide factors, such as education, training, or experience.” It would require the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to collect data on compensation, hiring, termination, and promotion sorted by sex.

It would also prevent employers from retaliating against employees for inquiring about or disclosing wage information at a company — perhaps the main method employees have of discovering such a gap in the first place. And it would “make employers who violate sex discrimination prohibitions liable in a civil action for damages.”

What supporters say
Virtually every congressional Democrat has signed on has a co-sponsor.

Mikulski said, ““Equal pay is not just for our pocketbooks, it’s about family checkbooks and getting it right in the law books. The Paycheck Fairness Act ensures that women will no longer be fighting on their own for equal pay for equal work.” President Obama has also endorsed the legislation, saying “When women succeed here in America then the whole country succeeds… I’ve got two daughters, I expect them to be treated the same as somebody’s sons who are on the job.”

What opponents say
However, not everybody agrees. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA5), the highest-ranking woman in Republican leadership, said “Many ladies I know feel like they are being used as pawns and find it condescending that Democrats are trying to use this issue as a political distraction from the failures of their economic policies.” In fact, notably, not even a single Republican woman has signed on or signaled her support.

The bill faces a steep uphill climb in the Republican-controlled Congress. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI1) has voted against the House version multiple times. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has accused the legislation of being a “‘messaging bill… These are bills designed intentionally to fail so that Democrats can make campaign ads about them failing.” He also mocked the bills as being introduced by Democrats to “blow a few kisses to their powerful pals on the left” and that its main goal was so “The Democrats are doing everything they can to change the subject from the nightmare of Obamacare.” Republicans also warn that the bills would increase lawsuits, which in turn would raise the cost of doing business in America.

One Republican supporter
Only one Republican in either chamber has cosponsored the bill: Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ4). Smith was one of only three Republicans to vote for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first piece of legislation President Obama signed during his presidency in 2009, which extended the length of time women had to file wage discrimination lawsuits. The other two Republicans who voted in favor are both still serving — Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY1) and Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ7) — but neither have signed on as a co-sponsor to this bill.

What to expect
Both the House and Senate version have not received consideration since being introduced in March 2015 to their respective committees: Education and the Workforce Committee in the House; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Senate.

The bill (or a close variation of it) has been introduced in every Congress since 1997, with current Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) the lead sponsor of its 2005–06 and 2007–08 incarnations. The closest it came to enactment was passage by the then-Democratic House in 2009, but although the Senate voted in favor with 58 votes, that wasn’t enough to overcome the 60-vote barrier needed to dispel a filibuster.

Last updated Feb 14, 2016. View all GovTrack summaries.


https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-bill-de-blasio-inauguration_us_5a4a9491e4b0b0e5a7a7f8f6
POLITICS 01/01/2018 04:19 pm ET
Bernie Sanders Holds Up New York City Mayor As Model For The Trump Opposition
The Vermont senator swore in Bill de Blasio for his second term on Monday.
By Alexander C. Kaufman

BENJAMIN KANTER/MAYORAL PHOTO OFFICE
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) swears in New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for a second term after a speech on Monday afternoon. First lady Chirlane McCray and the couple’s two children, Dante and Chiara, stand between the two men.

NEW YORK ― At a ceremony to swear in New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for his second term, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) held up his hometown as a bastion of progress and a template for what Americans should strive for in the face of the Trump administration’s policies.

“We have an administration in Washington which, instead of bringing us together, is trying to divide us up to appeal to our very worst prejudices,” the Brooklyn-born Sanders said Monday afternoon on the front steps of New York City Hall.

In the time since Sanders attended the inauguration of President Donald Trump last January, he said, the White House began “eviscerating environmental legislation and making us more dependent on fossil fuel and not less.” The Republican-controlled Congress attempted to “throw 32 million people off of the health care they have.” And the president signed a sweeping tax bill providing “the billionaire class with hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks while raising taxes on millions of working-class families.”

“In this city, the largest city in our country, the people of New York under Bill de Blasio have chosen to move government in a very different direction than what we’re seeing in Washington,” Sanders told the crowd.


BENJAMIN KANTER/MAYORAL PHOTO OFFICE
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) swears in New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for a second term after a speech on Monday afternoon. First lady Chirlane McCray and the couple’s two children, Dante and Chiara, stand between the two men.

The senator praised the 56-year-old mayor, considered one of the most progressive in the country, for running on a populist platform to increase affordability for working-class families. He especially touted the city’s universal preschool program ― a signature achievement for de Blasio that serves about 70,000 kids.

“While many politicians don’t even talk about the crisis of child care, the de Blasio administration has taken a major and important step forward in leading this country toward universal pre-K education,” Sanders said.

New York is still plagued by an affordable housing crisis, with rents rising twice as fast as wages. Scott Stringer, the city’s comptroller, and Public Advocate Letitia James ― both of whom were also sworn in for second terms on Monday ― railed against rent hikes in speeches ahead of Sanders and de Blasio. But Sanders commended the efforts of de Blasio’s administration, which went to court last year to defend the city’s decision to bar landlords from raising prices on rent-stabilized apartments.

Sanders also highlighted the mental health initiative of New York City’s first lady, Chirlane McCray, as well as de Blasio’s promise to defend the approximately 175,000 so-called Dreamers in the city who were given legal status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that Trump repealed in September.

“The issues go on and on again,” Sanders said. “The bottom line is what Mayor de Blasio and his administration understand is that in this country, in the home of Ellis Island, our job is to bring people together with love and compassion and to end the divisions and the attacks that are taking place.”

The people of New York under Bill de Blasio have chosen to move government in a very different direction than what we’re seeing in Washington.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

In a short speech capping off his inauguration on Monday, de Blasio thanked Sanders and his wife, Jane, for spearheading a populist campaign that galvanized a long-dormant leftist movement across the country.

“These two proud Brooklynites have changed America in a profound way,” de Blasio said. “Bernie and Jane, you have proven that the voices of the people are what matter most, and the political process in this country will never be the same. It will be better, it will be more democratic, because of what these two have done.”

The mayor said last month that meeting Sanders was the highlight of his first term, an example of what the New York Daily News described as an “emerging bromance” between the two men. Yet de Blasio supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is also a former New York senator, in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, and campaigned for her in Iowa.

Some progressive activists have speculated that Sanders threw his support behind de Blasio to bolster the mayor against centrist Democrats such as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is being discussed as a potential 2020 presidential candidate, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), a loyal Clinton ally with whom de Blasio has long feuded.

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MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID -- THIS IS INFORMATION THAT ALL FIRST RESPONDERS AND OTHER HELPING PROFESSION MEMBERS, ESPECIALLY TEACHING,
POLICE OR FIRE DEPARTMENT DO NEED TO HAVE. THEY INTERACT WITH THE PUBLIC CONSTANTLY, AND OFTEN UNDER STRESS. IF THESE PEOPLE DON'T HAVE A DESIRE TO ACTUALLY BE HELPFUL, THEY SHOULD GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS. DEALING WITH A PERSON WHO IS MENTALLY ILL SO OFTEN SEEMS TO THROW POLICE OFFICERS FOR A LOOP. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, AND HAVE SOMETIMES ENDED UP KILLING A PERSON WHO NEEDED TO BE HOSPITALIZED. OUR SOCIETY IS AIMED SO MUCH TOWARD WINNING AND LOSING THAT LIVING IS NOT CONSIDERED AS IMPORTANT. EVEN IN A SITUATION THAT COMPETITIVE, THERE IS TOO LITTLE EMPATHY. EVEN "STRONG" PEOPLE NEED EMPATHY. I HAD NO IDEA THAT THIS GROUP EXISTED, AND IT RELIEVES ME TO SEE IT. THE LACK OF PREPARATION FOR HAVING TO OVERCOME A PERSON IN A MANIC EPISODE WITHOUT KILLING HIM IS A GREAT DEAL OF OUR PROBLEM.

https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org
Find a Mental Health First Aid Course
Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour course that teaches you how to help someone who may be experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge. The training helps you identify, understand and respond to signs of addictions and mental illnesses. Find a Mental Health First Aid course near you using the search tool below.

[LAW ENFORCEMENT: If you took the One Mind Pledge, click here to schedule a training for your agency.]


CHESS IS A GREAT WAY TO TEACH COMPETITION AND GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP AS WELL. IT HAS THE NEED FOR TENACITY AND A COOL HEAD. WATCH THE VIDEO WITH THIS STORY ALSO.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-chess-kids-put-on-a-poker-face-1/
Teaching kids a "poker face"
The 60 Minutes team discovers that Dr. B's chess lessons are about more than kings and queens. They're about winning graciously—and learning from losing
2017, Dec 31
BY Brit McCandless

Jeff Bulington was new in town. He'd recently arrived from Memphis on a mission to teach chess to the children of Franklin County, Mississippi, when a man in an SUV spotted him. The man stopped the car in the middle of the street, got out, and approached Bulington, saying "I know everyone in this town, and I don't know you." Bulington explained who he was, and the man responded, "Oh, I'm the mayor," before returning to his car and driving off.

That's life in a county of only 7,000 people.

"Franklin Country is one of those places where, if you're an out-of-towner, you're going to be spotted pretty quickly," says 60 Minutes producer Laura Dodd. She co-produced this week's 60 Minutes story about what happened after Bulington arrived — and the impact he's had on the community.

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Jeff Bulington, or "Dr. B" as he's known to his chess students. CBS NEWS

"Here's this stranger coming in — nobody really knows who he is — to teach their kids chess," correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi tells 60 Minutes Overtime's Ann Silvio in the video above. "Everybody thought, like, 'What's this guy about?'"

But Bulington had a plan.

A wealthy benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous, lured Bulington and his chess skills to Franklin County. He had seen how Bulington molded chess champions in Memphis, and he hoped to see the same success brought to Mississippi. He thought maybe a dozen kids would be interested.

Nearly two years later, Bulington, or "Dr. B" as he's known in town, is now teaching hundreds of Franklin County kids, showing them so much more than chess.

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"We're using chess to open some doors and to help the people maybe see themselves in a way they didn't see themselves before," Bulington says, "to develop a kind of intellectual, cultural identity that didn't exist before."

Bulington's students now identify as chess players who are skilled enough to compete on the national level. Though some are only in the fifth and sixth grades, they are happy to sit at a chessboard for hours-long games. Alfonsi attributes their patience, in part, to the slower pace of life in Mississippi.

"Those kids will sit at a chessboard, and they'll take their time, and they'll think," Alfonsi says. "And they just take a minute. I think it makes them great chess players."

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One of Bulington's chess students CBS NEWS

The kids themselves have a name for the mental zone they enter as a game stretches into two and three hours: "chess dimension." When in chess dimension, there's only the board, the black and white pieces, the chair they're sitting in.

But Bulington's students continue learning even after the game is over.

"Dr. B thinks if you keep winning games, you're not getting better," Alfonsi explains, "that when you lose, you get better. It teaches them you learn from every single game. You learn when you lose. When you win, you don't examine your games in the same way."

Win or lose, Bulington has an important instruction to his students: maintain a poker face.

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Bulington teaches his students to maintain a poker face, regardless if they win or lose CBS NEWS

"He says that, like, our own mother should normally not be able to tell whether we won or lost," says Parker Wilkinson, one of Bulington's chess students.

And as Alfonsi witnessed firsthand at the national chess championship in Nashville, that's exactly what Bulington's chess players do.

"The tournament's over, and you're watching from a distance," Alfonsi recalls. "You have no idea what's going on on the board. And the kids come down this long hallway, and they're walking to you, and you're starting [sic] at their faces like, 'Did they win? Did they lose?"

But their stoic faces betrayed no information.

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Bulington's students have competed nationally CBS NEWS

For Bulington a loss means there's more to learn, and a win shouldn't be something to gloat over.

"I think it's easy to draw cheap conclusions about how good you are for winning one particular game," he says. "And it can also do damage to another person. You don't want to do that."

Bulington teaches his students that he doesn't want to see them cheering "I won!" and hoisting up a trophy, merely because they captured someone else's king. "Don't like that," he says.

For Bulington's students, knowing they can say "checkmate" on the national stage is victory enough.

"He's teaching them they can compete with anybody," Alfonsi says. "He's teaching them to be graceful when they win and just as gracious when they lose. He's teaching them quiet confidence."

Bulington is also clear with his students: Because they hail from a small Mississippi county, where the mayor stops strangers in the street, they will be underestimated.

"And that's OK," Alfonsi says. "Use that to your advantage. Surprise people."

The video above was originally published on March 26, 2017, and produced by Brit McCandless and Sarah Shafer Prediger. It was edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.

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