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Republicans face $30000 fine from California campaign regulators Sacramento Bee California's political ethics watchdog and a Republican campaign committee controlled by party legislative leaders have agreed to a $30,000 fine to settle allegations of illegal campaign-finance disclosures by GOP candidates during the 2012 and 2014 ... and more »

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Republicans face $30000 fine from California campaign regulators - Sacramento Bee

February 6, 2017 A Republican official has apologized for calling for "another Kent State" massacre in response to recent university protests.

Dan Adamini, the secretary of the Marquette County Republican Party in Michigan, tweeted that he was "sorry" for a pair of social media posts in which he referenced the infamous fatal1970 shooting of four unarmed college students by National Guardsmen during an anti-Vietnam War protest, and suggested that a similar incident might be the "only solution" to modern-day protests at the University of California, Berkeley, and elsewhere.

"Violent protesters who shut down free speech? Time for another Kent State, perhaps," Mr. Adamini wrote in a tweet last Thursday. "One bullet stops a lot of thuggery." In a similar Facebook post, he added, "They do it because they know there are no consequences yet."

The posts, which have since been deleted, received widespread backlash, and were quickly condemned by Kent State University and the Michigan Democratic Party.

"To call for 'another Kent State' and declare that 'one bullet stops a lot of thuggery' is to clearly and openly advocate for the murder of unarmed college students, simply because they dont share his beliefs or point of view," said Michigan Democratic Party chair Brandon Dillon in a statement, calling on Adamini to resign from any public or political party positions. "The right to free speech is the cornerstone of our democracy, and when someone threatens another individual or group with harm for exercising it, that one person is a threat to all of us, as Americans."

Kent State presidentBeverly Warren decried the posts in a tweet Saturday, writing that the remarks had "no place in healing the divide in America."

Later that morning, in an official press release, the university described Adamini's suggestion as "abhorrent," and invited him to tour the campus's May 4 Visitors Center, which features exhibits that tell the story of the shooting, "to gain perspective on what happened 47 years ago and apply its meaning to the future."

Some Kent State students praised the school's invitation to Adamini, noting the impact the center had had on their own perspective.

"I think that (inviting Adamini) to the May 4 Memorial was the best course of action," Brandon Calalesina, a junior computer science major, told the Kent State school newspaper. "The university didn't jump the gun and started attacking them. They welcomed him to understand rather than do anything else."

In an apology tweet, Adamini said the intent behind his original posts had been misinterpreted.

"Taking a lot of heat for a very poorly worded tweet yesterday," he wrote. "Sorry folks, the intent was to try to stop the violence, not encourage more."

Adamini has since deleted his Twitter account.

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Republican official Dan Adamini apologizes after calling for 'another Kent State' - Christian Science Monitor

"We may, in fact, have an additional Republican colleague voting 'no,' which would stop her tomorrow," Sen. Debbie Stabenow told CNN's Erin Burnett "OutFront" Monday.

Last week, Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski said they would not vote for DeVos.

If all other Republicans vote in favor of her, DeVos' nomination will pass the Senate with Vice President Mike Pence casting a tie-breaking vote. That would be the first time the vice president had broken a tie for a Cabinet pick in history.

But if DeVos' opposition can peel off more Republicans, she will not become education secretary. Republicans have said they are confident they have the votes.

Democratic senators have steadfastly opposed to DeVos' confirmation, and earlier Monday they began a 24-hour long debate against her on the Senate floor.

DeVos has faced significant pushback, from her controversial advocacy of charter school programs to accusations of plagiarism.

Stabenow said the Democrats' united front against DeVos has "galvanized" people and caused some Republicans to declare their intentions not to support President Donald Trump's pick.

But Stabenow acknowledged her party's weak position.

"We know as Democrats we don't have the votes to stop these nominations by ourselves, but people -- parents, teachers, administrators, community leaders across the country -- have power and are weighing in."

As for who else would join them, Stabenow demurred.

"I think there are a couple of folks still thinking about it," Stabenow said. "We don't know."

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Democratic senator: We may flip another GOP vote on DeVos - CNN

In the wake of Donald Trump's election in November, we looked at the phenomenon of social media bubbles and the effect they have on political discourse.

Research released by UK political think tank Demos reveals some of the extent of the echo chamber effect in political discussions on Twitter.

Demos looked at 2,000 users of Twitter all of whom expressed open support for either the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, The UK Independence Party (Ukip) or the Scottish National Party (SNP). A further 500 acted as a control group expressing no party allegiance. The results show, perhaps not surprisingly, that supporters of all parties are most likely to retweet people who share their views.

What's interesting, however, is that the effect becomes more pronounced as you move away from the mainstream parties. Conservatives were least partisan, retweeting other conservatives 46 percent of the time, Labour supporters retweet their own side 65 percent of the time. But Ukip supporters retweet other Ukippers 73 percent of the time and SNP supporters retweet their own 78 percent of the time.

The extent to which those studied retweeted media sources follows their political leanings too. Labour and SNP supporters are most likely to share stories from left-leaning sites like the Guardian and the Independent, whereas Conservative and Ukip supporters are most likely to share from the Telegraph or Guido Fawkes. Labour supporters though are more likely to tweet Telegraph stories (16 percent) than Conservatives are Guardian ones (11 percent).

"The paper suggests that there is a strong connection between a user's ideology and the users and news sources they interact with, and that offline beliefs play a key role in the way users behave online, a hypothesis that is often assumed but rarely measured," says the man behind the study, Alex Krasodomski-Jones writing on the Demos website.

In his conclusion to the report Krasodomski-Jones notes, "Compromise, the ability to process a diverse range of opinion and, above all, an acceptance of some kind of shared reality and truth are central to a functioning democracy. All are threatened by the echo chamber effect."

You can find out more and download the full Talking to Ourselves? report on the Demos website.

Photo Credit: Bevan Goldswain/Shutterstock

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Democracy 'threatened' by the social media echo chamber - BetaNews - BetaNews

Artur Mas and the other defendants Irene Rigau, left, and Joana Ortega applaud supporters in Barcelona before heading to court. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The former Catalan prime minister Artur Mas has insisted he was following a democratic mandate when he organised a symbolic independence referendum three years ago and had no intention of committing any crime or disobeying anyone.

Mas, who governed Catalonia from 2010 to 2016, appeared in the high court in Barcelona on Monday along with the former vice-president Joana Ortega and former education minister Irene Rigau.

They are accused of criminal disobedience and breach of trust for holding the non-binding referendum in defiance of Spains constitutional court. If convicted, Mas could face a 10-year ban on holding office while Ortega and Rigau could be barred for nine years.

About 40,000 people took to the streets of Barcelona to show their support for the trio as they arrived for the start of their trial. Many held red and yellow separatist flags and some shouted: Independence, independence!, Down with Spains justice system! and We want to vote!

Although the constitutional court ruled the referendum was illegal five days before it was held on 9 November 2014, Mas and others went ahead with the vote, helped by more than 40,000 volunteers who opened schools and installed polling stations.

More than 80% of participants opted for independence, but only 2.3 million of Catalonias 5.4 million eligible voters took part.

Mas declined to answer questions from the prosecution on Monday morning, but told defence lawyers he was responsible for planning and driving the referendum.

However, he denied anyone had been motivated by a simple desire to defy the Spanish authorities. There was no intent to commit any crime or disobey anyone, he said. Our aim was to rise to the challenge and promote participation by all possible means.

Mas also asked why the Spanish judiciary had not done more to prevent the vote, asking: If this was so clearly a crime, why didnt the constitutional court do anything to stop it?

Speaking before the proceedings began, he accused the Spanish authorities of seeking to punish their opponents. Independence isnt on trial here, democracy is on trial, he told Agence France-Presse in the courthouse.

Its the first time that a democratic government is [being] tried for having allowed people to vote. Its an unprecedented moment.

But Spains foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, insisted the trial was merely proof of the rule of law in Spain, adding: What is on trial is an act that failed to acknowledge a constitutional court sentence, nothing more.

The trial, scheduled for five days, comes amid souring relations between Madrid and Barcelona and seven months before the pro-independence Catalan government plans to hold a binding referendum on splitting from Spain.

The renewed push has again been blocked by Spains constitutional court. It has warned Mass successor, Carles Puigdemont, and Carme Forcadell, the speaker of the Catalan parliament, that they had a duty to stop or paralyse any move to ignore or dodge the suspension, or face potential liabilities, including at a penal level. Forcadell faces charges of contempt of court and neglect of duty for allowing the parliament to vote on plans to secede from Spain last July.

While the separatist movement has acquired huge momentum over recent years, any vote would probably be very close. A poll at the end of December showed 46.8% of people in the region are against independence, compared with 45.3% who are in favour.

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Former Catalan PM defends 'democratic' independence vote - The Guardian