Turning Kansas Blue? Nah... Just The Two Biggest Cities-- Alexandria And Bernie In The Sunflower State

Jim Thompson with Bernie and Alexandria in Wichita

Hillary Clinton didn't campaign in Kansas. 427,005 people voted for her there anyway (36%). She won the Kansas City area-- Douglas County 31,195 (62.28%) to 14,688 (29.32%) and Wyandotte County 30,146 (61.80%) to 15,806 (32.40%) in landslides and did well enough in Johnson and Shawnee, respectively 129,852 (44.76%) to 137,490 (47.40%) and 33,926 (44.99%) to 35,934 (47.65%). She took the 3rd congressional district up there 47-46%. Sedgwick County (Wichita) was a bummer for her though-- 69,627 (36.88%) to 104,353 (55.28%). For whatever reasons, Clinton wasn't a popular political figure in Kansas. The state primary caucuses saws Bernie beat her in every district and his statewide total was an astonishing 67.7% to 32.3%. Bernie is very popular in Kansas. Who'da thunk?

The Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- the corporatists-- had a convention last week in Columbus Ohio to plot out a way to prevent Bernie and Elizabeth Warren from winning the 2020 presidential nomination. The same wing of the party and their media shills have been spending more time smearing Alexandria Ocasio than on defeating Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan since she defeated one of their own, corrupt New Dem powerhouse Joe Crowley, a few weeks ago in a primary. Bernie and Alexandria were in Kansas City and Wichita Friday, campaigning for progressives Brent Wilders and James Thompson.

Reporting for The Intercept yesterday, Briahna Gray wrote that "the gestalt of the day’s remarks was something bigger than any one race. The speeches-- particularly Sanders’-- announced a unifying theme that felt too coherent to have been thrown together for a House primary or two. Individually, the remarks were compelling. Together, they comprised an unabashed declaration of post-partisan movement building-- a rebuke to those in power who fetishize every identity-based division in order to diffuse the largest coalition in the country: the working class."

In the 3rd district (Kansas City), Welder has a primary from a heavy-funded EMILY's List moderate and some very right-wing Democrat coming up before he can get to Trump rubber-stamp Republican Kevin Yoder. In the 4th district (Wichita), "Thompson is an even better opportunity to prove the Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez case. Thompson is looking to fill the Wichita seat-- home of Koch Industries-- once held by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Thompson made waves last year when he came close to defeating Republican Ron Estes in a special election in a solidly red district, falling seven points short ahead of this year’s rematch. A civil rights attorney with no prior electoral experience, his near-win is evidence, to some, that Sanders’s platform is as pragmatic as it is progressive. “They say we should be more centrist,” Thompson said to supportive boos before arguing that if Kansans wanted a moderate, or a 'Republican-lite,' they would’ve voted for Clinton in 2016."

Where electoral battles have long been viewed as a struggle over red states and blue states-- an effort to dominate the map like advancing armies, on Friday, that partisan dichotomy was evoked only to be dismissed in favor of a narrative that highlights the universal struggles shared by residents in locales as diverse as Kansas and Vermont and the Bronx. Yes: Trump is a racist. Critiques of his immigration policy and calls for criminal justice reform received enthusiastic applause. And yes: Kansas went red in 2016. But Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and Thompson each emphasized that the enemy was not a color-- not red or blue, nor black or white. It was the 1 percent, people like the three families who, as Sanders pointed out, have more wealth than the bottom half of Americans.

Where there are working-class people, exhorted Ocasio-Cortez, there is hope for the progressive movement. Later, Thompson echoed that sentiment. It’s not about Republicans or Democrats, he said, but about working people coming together.

Thousands showed up in Wichita and the venue had to be moved to a bigger space to accommodate everyone. You can help Jim Thompson win his race against far right Republican Ron Estes here. There were around 4,000 in the middle of a workday. To Welder, Thompson, Ocasio and Bernie, politics is all about a strategy for economic-justice that is firmly rooted in a commitment to working-class empowerment. When they talk about Medicare-For-All, Job Guarantee and free public universities, that's what they're talking about-- and that's what it means to be a progressive in 2018. Watch... please:

Republicans On The Wrong Side Of History... On The NRA And On Putin-Gate

Teachers with Guns by Nancy Ohanian

On the extreme right, the Freedom Caucus has decided they can replace Ryan with neo-fascist Mark Meadows (R-NC) as Speaker and they are doing everything they can to undermine Ryan and bolster Meadows. Mainstream conservatives have their own problems with the incompetent and ineffectual Ryan and are also eager for him to announce his retirement and move on. (Ryan is widely rumored to be waiting 'til after Easter to announce he isn't running, saving himself the career-tarnishing embarrassment of being beaten-- possibly heavily beaten-- by a construction worker in November.)

On Friday Elaina Plott, reporting for The Atlantic, noted that growing numbers of congressional Republicans are pressing for action on guns... pressing on Ryan. Needless to say, Meadows and the Freedom caucus aren't among them. And she noted that it's a month since the Parkland NRA/GOP massacre and a month since Señor Trumpanzee "told lawmakers he didn’t want to wait 'two weeks, three weeks, four weeks' to address gun violence in America, when 'people sort of forget and we go on.'...[S]students have helped keep the issue alive. And as Trump has backtracked on proposals he supported one month ago, including universal background checks and some kind of assault-weapons ban, reporters are continuing to ask questions."

As many Americans call for tighter gun laws after a mass shooting, Republicans are usually silent. According to the Republican lawmakers I spoke to for this story, there are several reasons why this is the case, from fears of primary challengers to the gun lobby. But, in the wake of the Parkland shooting, an increasing number of Republicans appear ready to abandon these concerns in favor of a more proactive response to gun violence. Now, they’re eager for their leadership to do the same, meaning an issue that has long united the party could suddenly expose even more rifts in an already fractured conference.

“There is a genuine lack of serious discussion on these issues,” Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who chairs the Second Amendment Caucus, told me. “Our leadership seems like the sheriff deputies at the Florida shooting: They don’t want to go in and take fire, and instead just hope the issue will burn itself out.”

Since 1990, the NRA and other so-called "gun rights" groups have given members of Congress and candidates for Congress $37,225,077 of which $32,287,496 went to Republicans and $4,257,394 went to Democrats, almost exclusively to Blue Dogs from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. (Note: the DCCC is still actively-- very actively-- recruiting NRA-backed candidates for Congress, examples this cycle being Anthony Brindisi in New York, Ann Kirkpatrick in Arizona, Elaine Luria in Virginia and, perhaps worst of all, Jeff Van Drew in New Jersey.) Below are the dozen worst House members in terms of how much blood money they've taken-- but not including the millions of dollars the NRA spends helping their favorite candidates with independent expenditures-- from the NRA and other gun groups (since 1990).

So far this cycle the dozen biggest bribe takers from the gun groups are listed here... but remember, the really big spending will come in the next seven and a half months, as we close in on the midterm elections, when the NRA will be fighting to defend their top congressional allies-- at least in part with illegal Russian money.

As the progressive winner of the TX-23 primary Rick Trevino is in the late May runoff to determine which Democrat will go up against Republican gun-extremist Will Hurd. This morning he told us that "Since I've been running for US Congress 3 of the top 10 worst mass shootings in US history have taken place. As long as we have NRA backed candidates like Will Hurd in the House and Senate, nothing will change. If the American people want gun reform they need to look at who takes money from the NRA and vote them out. Also, this is not just a GOP problem. In my home town of Laredo, Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX-28) has an A+ rating from the NRA. Any NRA backed candidate is garbage and needs to go and Democrats have to call out not just the GOP but NRA Dems within their ranks." That's why we love Rick-- outspoken and courageous. Please support his campaign here.

Brent Welder is running in an even redder district, and against an NRA favorite, Kevin Yoder in Kansas. "It is shameful," he told us, "that Rep. Kevin Yoder has decided that kowtowing to the corporate gun lobby and the NRA is more important than the lives of our children. We need leaders now more than ever on this issue and I will lead the efforts of reform and call out all gun lobby bootlickers like Rep. Kevin Yoder."

Levi Tillemann, the newest candidate Blue America is supporting, is running for the suburban Denver seat NRA ally Mike Coffman occupies. "It is becoming more and more evident," he told us, "that Republicans like Mike Coffman really have no empathy or real concern for the victims of gun violence.  The only thing that matters to GOP members is the continuing flow of green cash from the NRA spigot.  I call on Mike Coffman to return every penny he has accepted from the NRA and to stand up to the NRA and protect our children by passing safe gun laws."

On Friday, the editorial board of the Washington Post declared flatly that History Won't Be Kind, Republicans. The Republicans who care enough to have bothered to read it would have found out the board is furious at them for enabling Trump, Nunes and Putin. They blame the same guy who is getting all the pushback on a dysfunctional gun policy: Paul Ryan. "The nation's intelligence community," they wrote, "concluded long ago that the Russians interfered in the 2016 presidential election in an effort to hurt the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. In the face of this unprecedented attack on U.S. democracy, House Republicans have produced a report that casts doubt on the work of U.S. intelligence professionals whose conclusions were politically damaging to the White House. This was a new low for the Republican majority and their leader, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI)."

On Tuesday, House Intelligence Committee Republicans officially stopped pretending to investigate Russian election meddling, handing over a draft report to their Democratic colleagues. They did not deny what is plainly impossible to refute, that the Russians aggressively interfered in the race to sow discord and undermine U.S. political institutions. But they disputed the intelligence community’s finding that the Russians engaged in these activities to help Mr. Trump. In fact, House Republicans are trying to draw connections between the Kremlin’s influence campaign and Ms. Clinton, always a convenient GOP punching bag, deflecting awkward questions about Russia’s clear affinity for Mr. Trump in 2016.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (CA), the Intelligence Committee’s ranking Democrat, and former intelligence officials decried the attempt to cast doubt on Russian intentions. “The four intelligence chiefs all agreed with the assessment, which was based on highly classified intelligence,” former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. told CNN. “This is a case of people living in their own reality bubbles when we can’t agree on basic facts.” Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III recently indicted 13 Russians for, among other things, “supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump... and disparaging Hillary Clinton.” It is already on the record that the Russians selectively released damaging information on Democrats but not Republicans.

Perhaps sensing that their position was untenable, Republican Intelligence Committee members admitted to reporters later on Tuesday that the Russians had, indeed, attempted to harm Ms. Clinton, if not to help Mr. Trump, as though doing the former does not imply the latter.

If they’re unclear about Russian intentions, leaders won’t draw the right lessons, or even ask the right questions. Why did the Kremlin dislike Ms. Clinton and favor Mr. Trump? What kinds of candidates will the Russians attack, or help? How should voters assess the president’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin?

House Intelligence Committee Republicans also insisted that they found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians, just evidence of “bad judgment” in a few circumstances. It’s easy not to find evidence when you don’t look. Many potentially relevant witnesses went un-interviewed, and witnesses who refused to answer questions were let off the hook. Fortunately, while House lawmakers have decided that their work is done, the Senate Intelligence Committee continues investigating, as does Mr. Mueller. History will not judge kindly these legislators who abased themselves and their institution.

Anyone think it's just a coincidence that Putin laundered many millions of dollars into the Trump campaign through the NRA? And Paul Ryan... and the Republican Party-- on the wrong side of history? Yes, on everything.

Indiana Republicans Take On Religious Leaders-- To Give Their Loan Shark Donors The Right To Rip Off Their Own Constituents

Ever notice that corrupt conservatives always seem to support payday lender schemes while progressives fight against them? As soon as Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney acting head of the CFPB-- the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-- one of his first moves was to stop protecting consumers from predators in the payday lending world. (They were big donors to his political career.) Florida reporter James Elmore from the Palm Beach Post pointed out how Mulvaney is working to destroy all the regulations that have kept the payday lenders from stealing borrowers blind. Elmore wrote that "A consumer agency taken over by an appointee of President Donald Trump who took more than $62,000 in contributions from payday lenders while in Congress said it will suspend landmark rules aimed at alleged predatory abuses in that industry." The 3 members of the House who have taken the biggest reported bribes from payday lenders all work hard to repeal regulations that protect consumers:

• Kevin Yoder (R-KS)- $313,009
• Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)- $266,400
• Pete Sessions (R-TX)- $226,999

Brent Welder is the Democrat running against GOP crook Kevin Yoder. This morning he told us that "Payday loan con artists gleefully get rich by trapping hardworking people who find themselves in a pinch. Then corrupt politicians do their bidding to make sure they can keep the scam alive. I am running against these con artists’ biggest bootlicker, Kevin Yoder. I don’t take any corporate PAC donations because I will aways serve hardworking people, and never the payday scammers." And the same kind of crap is happening on a state level-- of course in that states where Republicans control the state Senate, the state House and the governor's mansion... like Indiana:

Payday lenders could charge interest on small loans at rates more than triple what Indiana law currently defines as criminal loansharking under a bill the Indiana House approved this week.

The House on Wednesday narrowly passed House Bill 1319, which would allow storefront lenders to offer three to 12-month loans of $605 to $1,500 with annual percentage rates up to 222 percent.

Under current Indiana law, rates of more than 72 percent are considered felony loansharking. Payday lenders can offer higher rates, but only for smaller loans.

The House passed the measure after Speaker Brian Bosma, who rarely votes on legislation, joined 52 other representatives in supporting the bill, despite his own church's opposition. The bill now moves to the Senate.

"Some (GOP lawmakers) had had political concern about it, that it had some political ramifications for them in their home districts and occasionally I will cast a vote on something like that so they’re not left dangling in the wind themselves," Bosma said.

The vote comes after intense lobbying by payday lenders, who have hired several lobbying firms including those of two former Republican lawmakers who served with Bosma-- Matt Whetstone and Matt Bell.

The payday loan industry argues that the new, unsecured loans will fill a niche not served by conventional lenders, helping customers short on cash and credit who have nowhere else to turn.

But opponents argue that such high-interest loan products are predatory, ensnaring cash-strapped borrowers and sending them into a death spiral of debt.

Those opponents include social service charities, the state's four largest veterans organizations and a large number of religious groups-- including Grace Church, where Bosma attends and sometimes serves as an usher.

Opponents have managed to kill bills in the past that would have created additional high-APR loan options. But this year, opponents say it seems like there is more lobbying power from the payday loan industry.

"It feels like this year it’s like an army," said Erin Macey, a policy analyst for the Indiana Institute for Working Families. "Anytime we push out one narrative, they’ve found another one."

Four large payday lenders, including Advance America and Check into Cash, spent more than $186,000 on lobbying at the Statehouse last year, according to lobby registration records.

Industry representatives argue there is a greater need this year for a new type of loan because of new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules created during the Obama administration.

"The net efect of this is that payday loans will become obsolete in most part when it becomes effective next summer," said Sabra Northam, representing the Community Financial Services Agency. "The impact of this rule is that the consumers that our association serves today will have to turn to the unregulated market.

"The future of those rules, however, have fallen into limbo under President Donald Trump, who has been critical of the CFPB. The agency announced last month it's rethinking the rules, which would have required lenders to determine upfront whether people can afford to repay their loans.

Bill author Rep. Martin Carbaugh, an accountant and Fort Wayne Republican, said the new loan product would provide borrowers with an additional avenue to build up their credit score.

“We have a demand problem and we have a need for these things," Carbaugh said.

Supporters say the bill includes some protections as well. For example, the proposal prohibits the loans if the monthly payments exceed 20 percent of the borrower's monthly income.

Opponents say those terms would trap low-income Hoosiers into borrowing money they can't easily pay back.

That means borrowers would have to earn about $23,800 a year to qualify for a six-month, $1,500 loan. By the end of the loan, that borrower would end up paying $2,378, according to an analysis by the Indiana Institute for Working Families.

"I’m all for helping people, but this bill is helping no one but the companies that are going to benefit from these high interest rate," said Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis.

Bosma stood by his vote and said he was unaware that his church had taken a position on the matter.

"Our church family of course has to take a position that they think is appropriate, and I have to do what I believe is comfortable as a policy maker," Bosma said Wednesday. "It wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve disagreed with the folks at my church before."

Blue America's only endorsed candidate in Indiana is Dan Canon and we asked him about how this could happen. "In Indiana, you can see class warfare being openly waged every day," he said frankly. "Here, as in most of middle America, we've got a situation in which poverty is steadily climbing and wages are steadily dropping. The cost of living is always increasing, and the availability of decent-paying jobs is falling. The response of the legislature has been to cut corporate taxes, institute draconian work requirements for Medicaid recipients, and jack up hidden regressive taxes on the working classes (like toll roads and gas fees). The latest insult is a return to the days when predatory lenders could effectively own the working poor. It's barely a secret that our elected officials would like nothing more than to make most of us into a class of serfs who exist to make the rich even richer. We should get rid of as many of these plutocrats as possible in November, and support candidates who will push for progressive taxation, a nationwide usury law capping interest rates at 15%, a living wage, and protections for organized labor."

Like Dan, Hawaii legislator/congressional candidate, Kaniela Ing, is fully woke-- and fighting strong and hard for the working families he represents. Payday lenders are not his cup of tea, to put it mildly. "Payday lenders," he told me this morning, "always happen to be placed in high profile locations within the most vulnerable and indigent communities, preying on the poor. I’ve been in hard times before and was tempted to walk in and fall into the trap. We need major reforms and alternatives for folks just scraping by."

What do I mean when I call these day pay lenders crooks and the politicians who take bribes from them corrupt? I found an interesting story last week about by Bradley Brownell about Scott Tucker. Never heard of Scott?

American Le Mans Series champion and Le Mans veteran Scott Tucker is now more likely to be known as payday lending scam artist and convicted felon Scott Tucker. Through nefarious means, primarily deceptive undisclosed payday loan fees, was able to amass a fortune, some of which he used to fund his Level 5 Racing program for years of top-flight motorsport, and win multiple national championships.

In the new Netflix series Dirty Money, episode two takes a deep dive one-hour look into Scott Tucker’s business history and how the scheme ended with him receiving 16 years and 8 months in federal prison, plus a $1.26 billion judgement. Part of the reason Tucker received so much time in prison for his misdeeds was the absolute lack of remorse.

Sort of like Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Kevin Yoder-- and the Republicans in the Indiana legislature.

Kansas Progressives Have A Real Chance to Win a Swing District-- The Third District

McCain and Romney both won in KS-03, the Kansas congressional district that includes all of the Kansas part of Kansas City, all of suburban Johnson and Wyandotte counties and part of rural Miami County. Last year, though, Trump lost (narrowly), 47.2% to 46.0%. The DCCC ran one of their GOP-lite candidates, Jay Sidie, and he lost in a rout-- 51.3% to 40.6%, underperforming even Hillary. Maybe they could have figured out he was the wrong candidate when they saw how well Bernie did in Kansas against Hillary. Bernie won every district in the state and he won KS-03 62.1% to 37.9%. But the DCCC doesn't pay attention to inconvenient facts like that.

Last year the district's PVI was R+6 but now it's R+4, easily the least red district in the state. Jay Sidie, the guy from last cycle, is running again-- as are at least 4 other candidates. One is the kind of forthright progressive that Kansas voters seem interested in as an antidote to the status quo. We asked him to introduce himself.

Who I am and our campaign
-by Brent Welder

Pouring concrete in scorching summer heat and waiting tables on nights and weekends, I worked my way through college. I never had a rich dad that could loan me a million dollars. But I did have a mom and dad who made sure I had solid Midwest values and a strong work ethic.

From an early age, I learned the importance of standing up for what I thought was right. That’s why I have fought my whole life for workers’ rights through working for labor unions and progressive candidates, like Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders inspired me. From the first time I heard him speak, I knew I had found someone who finally said everything I knew what was right—from a $15 per hour minimum wage to single payer heath care system to creating a government that works for us, not the wealthy 1%.

So I got involved. I started organizing locally, then got elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Then Bernie Sanders nominated me to serve on the National Platform Committee. I wrote an amendment to ban corporate money from elections, and we passed the most progressive platform in history.

Disillusioned with politics as normal and poor decisions leading up to the November elections, I realized that I needed to do more. It was time for me to step up and put it all on the line.

I am running because I am tired of billionaires and giant corporations having too much control over our government. We need to get money out of politics, that’s why I’m not accepting any corporate PAC money. I am committed to fighting for the issues I care for (expanded list), including:

• Fighting for US, Not Billionaires or Giant Corporations
• Fighting for a $15 Minimum Wage
• Fighting for Middle Class Workers and Labor
• Fighting for Medicare for All
• Fighting for Women’s Equality
• Fighting for Racial Justice
• Fighting for Immigration Reform

Why can I win Kansas-03?

Kansas-03 is 1 of only 5 Republican districts that Clinton won in the general and Bernie won in the primary. Bernie won the primary with 62% of the vote. The Republican that currently holds the seat, Kevin Yoder, has voted with Trump 97% of the time, even though Trump’s negatives are the third highest of any swing district in the country. Polling has Yoder losing to a generic Democrat by 6%. Therefore, it is very likely to become a Democratic seat in 2018.

I helped to organize this district for Bernie. My wife and I are labor lawyers with deep ties to the community. I have already received Our Revolution Kansas City and my first union endorsement from BMWED. I have what it takes to win-- the drive, the story, and you.

My Republican opponent, Kevin Yoder is raking in the corporate PAC money, but our campaign is staying strong with donations from people like you. I can’t do this without you. Together we are stronger than any handful of billionaires trying to corrupt our economy and political process. Donate today.

More information: BrentWelder.com