Not just news about me, news which affects us.
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Not Me. Us.
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Dry February sends California back to drought: "This hasn't happened in 150 years"
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February is typically one of the wettest months in California, but the state is parched, and there’s no moisture in the forecasts...
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An Open Letter To My Opponent- Brynne Kennedy
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Brynne, It was 65 degrees in Antarctica yesterday. ANTARCTICA! In fact, it was over 30 degrees hotter in Antarctica yesterday, than in Richmond, Massachusetts. Why Richmond, Mass.? Because that’s where you’re from...
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State Senator Introduces Plan for California to Take Over PG&E
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State Sen. Scott Wiener will unveil legislation today to let the state of California seize control of the embattled utility PG&E...
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Primary Election Preview: Coarsegold Man Joins McClintock Challengers
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"Lawton says he supports the Green New Deal, universal health care, tax reform and gun control (but he is a gun owner). He says he has plans to address wildfire prevention and protection (including calling for the ouster of state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara). He’s also pro-immigration and pro-union..."
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$11 Billion And Counting: Trump's Border Wall Would Be The World's Most Costly
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The lessons from Australia’s fires
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Every American Family Basically Pays An $8,000 ‘poll tax’ Under The U.S. Health System, Top Economists Say
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Senate Republicans were laser-focused on confirming judges in 2019 — Even the unqualified ones
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Even as it stymied hundreds of bills this year, the Republican-dominated Senate was laser-focused, yet again, on confirming a huge number of judges at a rapid pace. That included three who were deemed “not qualified” for the job, by the American Bar Association (ABA), the independent professional organization which has offered presidents guidance on judicial picks for decades....
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You Don't Know Bernie
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Bernie Sanders — the guy who admits he can be grumpy and “nasty” and a “real son of a bitch,” the guy who’s known for giving the same speech over and over again — that guy is trying to win this campaign, maybe his last, by making people feel less alone...
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Houston police chief rips "smug" Cruz and McConnell, who "don’t want to piss off the NRA"
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Two days after a Houston police sergeant was shot dead responding to a domestic violence call, the city police chief, Art Acevedo, has lacerated the majority leader Mitch McConnell and Texas’s two Republican US senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz for stalling the Violence Against Women Act...
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Bernie Sanders’ Broadband Plan Is Comcast’s Worst Nightmare
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Sanders promises to break up media monopolies, restore net neutrality, and embrace the countless towns and cities that are building their own broadband networks...
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Trump Administration Moves to End Food Stamps for 700,000
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The Trump administration announced a plan Wednesday to end food-stamp benefits for about 700,000 Americans, issuing a new regulation that makes it harder for states to gain waivers from a requirement that beneficiaries work or participate in a vocational training program...
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NANCY PELOSI PUSHES THE HOUSE TO PASS USMCA, BUT NEGLECTS A BILL WITH BROAD SUPPORT TO STRENGTHEN UNIONS
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HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI has made no secret of her desire to pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement by the end of the year, telling reporters recently that it would be her goal for the House to vote on it before Christmas. Centrist Democrats have been insisting privately that a quick passage for the trade deal is necessary for moderate members of Congress to win their competitive reelections in 2020, to show they can “do something.” Unions have made clear, though, that from their perspective, USMCA lacks real labor enforcement mechanisms, which could undermine the whole deal, further drag down wages, and eliminate more jobs...
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Bernie Sanders vs. The Machine
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In 1981, he was elected mayor of Burlington. But the city’s bureaucracy showed him that winning wasn’t everything. So he learned how to fight back...
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Brett Kavanaugh’s latest opinion should terrify Democrats
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If you’ve spent any time around the Federalist Society — the hugely influential conservative legal society that plays an outsized role in choosing President Trump’s judicial nominees — then you’ve probably noticed their obsession with a singular issue...
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This California town has the slowest Internet in the U.S.
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It is one of the many rural communities across the nation on the edges of a digital divide that has been growing wider for decades...
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Trump hosted Zuckerberg for undisclosed dinner at the White House in October
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President Donald Trump hosted a previously undisclosed dinner with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook board member Peter Thiel at the White House in October, the company told NBC News on Wednesday...
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Roger Stone was just found guilty on all counts
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The verdict is in for Roger Stone’s trial — and a Washington, DC, jury found President Donald Trump’s longtime political adviser guilty on all counts Friday. Stone was convicted of one count of obstructing an official proceeding, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and one count of witness tampering. The verdict makes Stone the sixth former Trump adviser to be convicted of, or plead guilty to charges...
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‘The genocide has not stopped.’ Government recommends not recognizing Yosemite area tribe
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The Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation has been waiting 37 years for a decision from the U.S. government about their petition for federal acknowledgment as a Native American tribe...
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"Words just aren’t Trump’s thing" Tom McClintock says as he prepares to fight impeachment
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Tom McClintock, a staunch Donald Trump loyalist, wishes the president would be a little more upbeat. “I think what he is doing and trying to do is enormously popular,” the Elk Grove Republican congressman said of Trump’s presidency. “I think that if he could summon his inner Ronald Reagan, and develop a more cheerful and sunny disposition, it might help his personal popularity. But I think his policies are quite popular here...”
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Trump tax cuts hiked the deficit, now $1 trillion, so guess what Republicans want for 2020
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In 2017, trying to sell Congress on a $1.5 trillion package of tax cuts, President Donald Trump made some pretty Trumpian predictions. “The economy now is at 3% (growth),” he said. "Nobody thought it would be anywhere close. I think it could go to 4, 5 and maybe even 6%, ultimately.” In fact, the economic growth rate that year was not 3% but 2.4%. And with Trump’s sweeping, massive, transformative, awesome, really huge tax cuts, the growth rate in 2018 surged all the way up to — drumroll, please — 2.9%...
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Thousands Of Scientists Around The World Declare A Climate Emergency And Warn Of "Untold Suffering"
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The climate crisis "is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity," thousands of scientists said in a dire warning...
'This is not climate change; this is bad management': California congressman
FOX BUSINESS NEWS - November 4, 2019
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) agrees with President Trump's statements on how poor forest management in California was a catalyst for the blazing wildfires...
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New Poll Shows Democratic Candidates Have Been Living in a Fantasy World
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In 2018, Democratic candidates waded into hostile territory and flipped 40 House districts, many of them moderate or conservative in their makeup. In almost every instance, their formula centered on narrowing their target profile by avoiding controversial positions, and focusing obsessively on Republican weaknesses, primarily Donald Trump’s abuses of power and attempts to eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans. The Democratic presidential field has largely abandoned that model...
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Edward Snowden says Facebook is just as untrustworthy as the NSA
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“The more Google knows about you, the more Facebook knows about you, the more they are able ... to create permanent records of private lives, the more influence and power they have over us,” Snowden told Swisher. “There is no good reason why Google should be able to read your email. There is no good reason why Google should know the messages that you’re sending to your friend. Facebook shouldn’t be able to see what you’re saying when you’re writing to your mother...”
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Life expectancy for American men drops for a third year
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Life expectancy for American men dropped for a third consecutive year, with the National Center for Health Statistics citing an increase in so-called "deaths of despair," such as the rise in drug overdose deaths...
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Keystone Pipeline leaks 383,000 gallons of oil in second big spill in two years
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Approximately 383,000 gallons of crude oil have spilled into a North Dakota wetland this week in the latest leak from the Keystone Pipeline, further fueling long-standing opposition to plans for the pipeline network’s extension...
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District 4 Candidate Lawton Challenging Incumbent McClintock
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...Lawton, who is running as an Independent, responded to a series of questions posed to him related to wildfire spending and prevention, health care and legalization of marijuana, among others. Here are his responses...
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PG&E’s Customers Should Stop Paying Their Bills
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California is on fire, and yet again it’s partly the fault of Pacific Gas & Electric, a company that has decided to shut off power to millions of people rather than upgrade its aging and failing infrastructure. An organized utility bill strike could drive PG&E’s valuation to zero and allow the public to take over...
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Twitter to stop accepting political ads
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Fourth man charged in Mexican pot conspiracy that cops say killed El Dorado sheriff’s deputy
THE SACRAMENTO BEE - October 29, 2019
Federal officials have charged a fourth man in connection with last week’s marijuana field shootout that killed El Dorado County sheriff’s Deputy Brian Ishmael, saying the new defendant was part of a conspiracy run out of Mexico that oversaw two marijuana grows in rural areas of Somerset & Georgetown...
Spoiled food. Empty shops. Sierra foothills wait in the dark for PG&E to restore power
THE SACRAMENTO BEE -October 28, 2019
Closed gas stations. Packed resource centers. Spoiled food. And this might be just the beginning. Thousands of residents in the Sierra Nevada foothills entered their third day without power on Monday, the result of a massive blackout impacting nearly 1 million PG&E customers in Northern California. PG&E said it had begun restoring power to some north state customers on Monday, but warned it would launch another round of shutoffs Tuesday, when strong winds are forecast to return to the region...
What If the Public Took Control of the Energy Grid?
TEEN VOGUE - October 25, 2019
Public utilities are hardly a new idea — over 2,000 public utilities already exist in the U.S. — but the growing demand for a more just energy system has lent this ownership model new energy...
911 caller and suspected gunman face murder, federal charges in El Dorado deputy killing
THE SACRAMENTO BEE - October 25, 2019
The three suspects held in connection with the shooting death of El Dorado County sheriff’s Deputy Brian Ishmael were hit simultaneously Friday with state and federal charges as prosecutors launched dual efforts to send the men to prison...
How a Tax Break to Help the Poor Went to NBA Owner Dan Gilbert
PROPUBLICA - October 24, 2019
Billionaire Dan Gilbert has spent the last decade buying up buildings in downtown Detroit, amassing nearly 100 properties and so completely dominating the area, it’s known as Gilbertville. In the last few years, Gilbert, the 57-year-old founder of Quicken Loans and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has also grown close to the Trump family...
Trump impeachment: Five takeaways from 'explosive' testimony
BBC NEWS - October 23, 2019
Acting US Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor spoke to Congress behind closed doors for more than nine hours on Tuesday, providing testimony alternatively described as explosive or inconclusive, depending who was doing the talking. Here are five takeaways from Taylor's opening statement, which reportedly took more than an hour to deliver and elicited sighs, and gasps from those in attendance...
Rates of Uninsured Children Are Rising
JEZEBEL - October 22, 2019
More and more children are insured, as states dick their parents around with new eligibility paperwork requirements for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Trump administration creates a climate of fear for undocumented immigrants...
A ‘judicial catastrophe’ is looming, Fresno judge says. Court vacancies are a problem
THE FRESNO BEE - October 21, 2019
A Fresno-area federal judge has sounded the alarm about U.S. Eastern District Court vacancies that could lead to a “an impending, acute and judicial catastrophe.” Presiding Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill sent a letter on Friday to the White House and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, warning about impending retirements on the court with the highest caseload in the nation for more than two decades.
“The statement sounds serious and ominous. It is both,” he said of the potential catastrophe. “It may also sound like an exaggeration. It is not.”
“The statement sounds serious and ominous. It is both,” he said of the potential catastrophe. “It may also sound like an exaggeration. It is not.”
Report details how ExxonMobil and fossil fuel firms sowed seeds of doubt on climate change
LOS ANGELES TIMES - October 21, 2019
Two days before ExxonMobil goes to court Wednesday, facing New York state accusations the oil company misled investors about climate change, a team of researchers released a report Monday outlining the company and the broader fossil fuel industry’s decades-long campaign of deception, and its success at confusing the American public...
PG&E plans another big blackout. Here’s how many Californians could lose power
THE SACRAMENTO BEE - October 21, 2019
Get ready for another major blackout, courtesy of PG&E Corp. The troubled utility warned Monday that it could shut power Wednesday night to as many as 209,000 households and businesses to safeguard portions of its grid from gusting winds and the threat of a major wildfire...
Sallie Mae Execs Tan At Maui Retreat While Student Debt Crisis Tops $1.6 Trillion
NBC NEWS - October 17, 2019
WAILEA, Hawaii — As 1 in 5 American adults wonder how to pay off their combined $1.6 trillion in student debt, Sallie Mae executives and sales team members wrestled with a different question: Between meetings, how should they spend their time on their five-day paid trip to the luxury Fairmont resort on Wailea beach in Maui...?
Our Republic Is Under Attack From The President
Admiral William H. McRaven, THE NEW YORK TIMES - October 17, 2019
"If President Trump doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office... If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we can’t have faith in our nation’s principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don’t join, who will protect us...?"
McClintock Weighs In On Syria And PG&E Power Shutoffs
MYMOTHERLODE.COM - October 17, 2019
Yesterday the US Congress voted 354-60 in favor of a resolution to oppose President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from northern Syria. McClintock, a Republican who represents the Mother Lode, was a "no" vote...
Hemp Process Continues With Planning Board
MARIPOSA GAZETTE - October 17, 2019
The cultivation of hemp in Mariposa County has been a topic of hot discussion dating back to the spring. At Friday’s Mariposa County Planning Commission meeting, the issue at hand was essentially whether to begin moving forward toward allowing hemp cultivation in the county or whether to continue tabling the issue. The commission voted 3-2 to recommend that the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors continue to table the issue...
What it's like when a criminal, bankrupt, for-profit monopoly cuts your power
MASHABLE - October 10, 2019
The Trump Administration may be the decade's defining example of an inept yet destructively shady organization, a gang that can't shoot straight. But one of the nation's largest utilities, a literal corporate felon called Pacific Gas & Electric, is giving Team Trump a run for its money this week — when it cut power to me and around 2 million of my neighbors in the most confusing manner possible...
Democrats, Please Don’t Mess This Up. Impeach Trump for All His Crimes, Not Just for Ukraine.
THE INTERCEPT - September 27, 2019
ARE DEMOCRATS PREPARING to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement on Tuesday that the House of Representatives would hold an “official impeachment inquiry” over Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine, and his request for dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter, was a welcome one. But on Wednesday, according to several reports, “Pelosi and senior House Democrats agreed in a private meeting... that they should narrow their impeachment investigation of President Trump to his dealings with the president of Ukraine.”
Representative McClintock is not fighting for America
MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT - September 27, 2019
Congressman Tom McClintock is not fighting for America. Democracy is the deeply held value that our great American republic is based on, but Representative McClintock is derelict in his duty to defend it. Absolutely central to democracy are free and fair elections and co-equal branches of government. Both are currently under siege by President Trump...
‘Basically made up’: Tom McClintock dismisses whistleblower complaint, Trump impeachment
SACRAMENTO BEE - September 26, 2019
Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove has some choice words for House Democrats and their drive to impeach President Donald Trump.
It is “a lot of Never-Trumpers setting their hair on fire, which basically is situation normal,” McClintock said in an interview with Auburn’s KAHI radio station, which aired Thursday morning. His thoughts on the the whistleblower report that pushed some once-skeptical Democrats to support impeachment? “Nonsense,” the congressman called it...
It is “a lot of Never-Trumpers setting their hair on fire, which basically is situation normal,” McClintock said in an interview with Auburn’s KAHI radio station, which aired Thursday morning. His thoughts on the the whistleblower report that pushed some once-skeptical Democrats to support impeachment? “Nonsense,” the congressman called it...
It's been a rough 9 months for our insurance commissioner: Take a look
SACRAMENTO BEE - September 18, 2019
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has had a controversial first nine months in office, after he accepted more than $50,000 in industry contributions and had to return the money...
LaMalfa & McClintock vote against a bipartisan bill meant to put pressure on Saudi Arabia
SIERRA SUN - July 18, 2019
Congress voted 405-7 in favor of H.R. 2037. The bill requires the director of national intelligence to report to Congress on foreign individuals who played a role in Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. The bill also requires those individuals to be banned from traveling to, or remaining in, the U.S. and mandates the Secretary of State to report on human rights violations by the Saudi government. Two of the seven, all Republicans, who voted against the bipartisan bill represent portions of Nevada County: Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) and Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove)...