‘Stop talking about Dr. Seuss!’: House Democrat rails against the GOP in fiery speech defending workers

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On Tuesday, members of the U.S. House of Representatives debated a union organizing bill. One of the Democratic congressmen speaking out in favor of it was Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, who passionately told his colleagues that legislation to “help the damn workers” in the U.S. is long overdue.

Ryan explained, “One of the earlier speakers said this is the most dramatic change in labor law in 80 years. And I say, ‘Thank God! In the late ’70s, a CEO made 35 times the worker. Today, it’s 3 or 400 times the worker. And our friends on the other side (are) running around with their hair on fire.”

Raising his voice even more, Ryan added, “Heaven forbid we should pass something that’s going to help the damn workers in the United States of America! Heaven forbid we tilt the balance that has been going in the wrong direction for 50 years! We talk about pensions, you complain. We talk about the minimum wage increase, you complain. We talk about giving them the right to organize, you complain. But if we were passing a tax cut here, you would all be getting in line to vote yes for it.” Continue reading.

Postal Service Improperly Divulged Spanberger’s Sensitive National Security File, and Asks for It Back

NOTE:  The PAC that received this information and has been offering it to Ms. Spanberger’s opponent, the Congressional Leadership PAC, is affiliated with Speaker Paul Ryan.  It is also the PAC running pro-Paulsen television ads in our area.

Abigail Spanberger spoke with voters at a campaign event in June in Midlothian, VA. Credit: Erin Schaff, The New York Times

The following article by Michael Tackett was posted on the New York Times website August 30, 2018:

WASHINGTON — The Postal Service said on Thursday that it “deeply regrets our mistake in inappropriately releasing” the official personnel file of Abigail Spanberger, a former C.I.A. operative now running as a Democratic candidate for Congress, and requested that a Republican-aligned super PAC return the documents.

“We take full responsibility for this unfortunate error, and we have taken immediate steps to ensure this will not happen again,” David Partenheimer, a Postal Service spokesman, said in a statement. He added, “The privacy and security of personal information is of utmost importance to the Postal Service. The Postal Service offers our sincere apology to Ms. Spanberger, and we will request the return of the information which we mistakenly disclosed.”

The Postal Service also acknowledged the possibility of additional inappropriate disclosures, but when asked, would not provide details like whether those disclosures involved other candidates for office.

View the complete article here.

A process that tarnishes the House

The following commentary from the Editorial Board of the Washington Post was posted on their website February 1, 2018:

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

“WHAT THIS is not is an indictment of our institutions, of our justice system,” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday about the now infamous “Nunes memo.” “It does not impugn the Mueller investigation or the deputy attorney general,” the speaker insisted. Is this cynicism or naivete?

Discrediting law enforcement is the memo’s transparent purpose and why it has been embraced by President Trump. Written mainly by the staff of Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the loose-cannon chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the memo reportedly makes the case that the FBI abused spying authorities as it sought permission to surveil a former Trump adviser. The Justice Department called its potential release, which Mr. Trump reportedly intends to approve, “extraordinarily reckless.” The FBI released its own startling public statement citing “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” Adam Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, wrote in a Post op-ed that the Nunes memo “cherry-picks facts, ignores others and smears the FBI and the Justice Department.” Continue reading “A process that tarnishes the House”