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The citys public-housing stock is falling apart, and there are scant funds for repairs. So why are local politicians trying to block a plan to pump in new money?

Thats right: City Councilman Ben Kallos, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (Democrats, all) are trying to slow a plan to raise cash at the New York City Housing Authoritys Holmes Towers on the Upper East Side.

If they succeed, it could spell doom for the citys broader vision to save NYCHA housing.

Mayor de Blasio rolled out that broader plan in 2015, picking up on ex-Mayor Michael Bloombergs idea to generate NYCHA revenue by leasing the agencys underused land to private developers. The builders, in turn, would put up both market-rate and subsidized housing and fork over as much as $600 million over 10 years for NYCHA.

Last month, the city announced the first of these projects: a 340-unit building at the Holmes Towers on 92nd Street, just east of First Avenue. The developer, Hal Fetner, would sink an estimated $200 million into the deal, with $25 million going to the city up front.

Plus more goodies: Half the units would go to low- and middle-income tenants and half the new jobs to NYCHA residents. Plans also call for a new 14,500-square-foot playground and an 18,000-square-foot rec and community center.

But Kallos, Brewer and Maloney are fighting it as not good enough.

Maloney wants all new apartments to be subsidized, not just half. Kallos claims itll be too hard for NYCHA residents to afford even the subsidized units. Brewer says Manhattan should not be the cash cow for NYCHA.

Likewise, if Fetner has to subsidize every apartment, as Maloney suggests, hed lose on the deal. So why expect him to go through with it?

Remember, the main goal here is to raise cash for NYCHA repairs, not to relocate residents into fancy new digs with even greater subsidies than they get now.

The pols have other gripes: I dont think the NYCHA residents should be trapped in the shadows of the wealthy, huffs Kallos.

Now its hurtful to live near people better off than you?

They also complain about the loss of an existing playground, even though the new one and rec center will more than make up for it.

OK, pols love to pander to squeaky wheels and, especially in progressive New York, try to squeeze as much as possible from deep pockets. But this time theyre doing it at the expense of NYCHA tenants now stuck in those rotting apartments.

If they kill the Holmes project, what are the chances de Blasio can pull off more such deals to raise the cash needed to save NYCHA?

The pols should think about that when they go home to their own fancy digs.

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Democrats are trying to doom New York's public housing - New York Post

It was great entertainment, but for all the hype, the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings that featured former FBI Director James Comey failed to deliver a knockout punch.

You are not going to get another All the Presidents Men out of this story.

At least not yet. The facts are not there. Yes, Russia meddled in the presidential election, and yes, President Trump wanted Comey to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynns contacts with Russian officials.

But so far, there is no silver bullet that will bring the president down. As tempting as it is for the Democrats to push the idea that Trump could be guilty of obstruction of justice and push for impeachment, that could ultimately backfire on them it raises public expectations, but if it doesnt happen, it looks like you tried to do something and failed.

That wouldnt just hurt the party this time. If a real Trump scandal comes along, the Democrats will be haunted by a decision to spend their political capital and credibility on a scandal that came up short.

My advice would be to sit back, be polite and let special counsel Robert Muellers investigation take its course.

Let the questions hang out there in the publics mind, and leave the speculation to MSNBC.

The Senate Intelligence Committees hearings gave the whole world an opportunity to see our junior senator, Kamala Harris but not always to hear her.

On the first day of testimony, when she was sharply questioning Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Harris was basically told by committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., to shut up.

As Rosenstein bobbed and weaved and Harris tried to pin him down, Burr cut her off and demanded that she provide the witnesses the courtesy, which has not been extended, fully across, for questions to get answered.

Male dominance is still part of the Golden Club of 100 U.S. senators, as Sen. Elizabeth Nevertheless, She Persisted Warren can attest. After Burr disrespected Harris, Warren tweeted that silencing Californias junior senator for not being courteous enough is just unbelievable. Keep fighting, Kamala!

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, tweeted that Harris was getting facts onto the record. I was not interrupted by (Burr) when I asked tough questions. She was.

Earlier, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., pleaded with Burr to rein Harris in. Too bad for him that she didnt return the favor during his incoherent questioning of Comey the next day.

Harris, however, was right on target Thursday when she brought up the private conversation between Trump and Comey on the status of the investigation into Flynn.

I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, Trump supposedly told Comey.

Harris likened the presidents statement to a robber holding a gun to somebody's head and saying, I hope you will give me your wallet.

The word hope was not the most operative word at the moment, Harris said.

It was hard to tell what Comey was more interested in during his Senate testimony, protecting the country or protecting his own career.

The former FBI director gave just enough to Democrats and Republicans for each side to form talking points Democrats could portray Trump as a lying egomaniac, while Republicans could maintain that the president didnt actually order Comey to do anything. But neither side could declare victory.

It was the same soft-shoe dance we saw Comey perform during his up-and-down pronouncements about Hillary Clintons emails during the 2016 campaign.

That hasnt stopped Trump and his operatives from trying to destroy him. The president first called him a showboat, then accused him of perjury. Trumps personal lawyer claimed Comey had leaked classified information.

John Kerry would recognize this Republican strategy call it swift-boating the showboat.

Movie time: Wonder Woman. A fabulous and fun movie on many levels. It has a star in Gal Gadot. It has a great plot and solid characters, and you wont go deaf from the special effects.

What was amazing for me was the number of parents who took their little daughters to the show. No doubt the girls will return to the theaters as teenagers for the sequel.

The Lovers: Somehow this comedy about a middle-aged couple in a dead-end marriage works.

Neither of the lead characters is particularly good-looking or sexy. Both are involved with someone else who is waiting for them to get a divorce. Then, right on the verge, they spark again. And so does the movie.

The Warriors are the best team in basketball. They may be too good.

Playoffs need to go seven games now and then. Games have to be interesting into the fourth quarter.

If the Warriors keep this up next year, and the year after that, what will be the point of watching?

Its tough being President Trumps mouthpiece. PR man Lee Houskeeper notes that overnight, Sarah Huckabee Sanders became Sarah Shuckabee.

Want to sound off? Email wbrown@sfchronicle.com

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Impeach Trump? Democrats need to take a deep breath - San Francisco Chronicle

House Democrats are serving on the Republican-controlled budget committee, but do they have any sway?

RALEIGH Eight state House Democrats, including Rep. Elmer Floyd of Fayetteville and Rep. Marvin Lucas of Spring Lake, were invited to the Republican-controlled table to help negotiate the final version of the $22.9 billion North Carolina budget this month.

But in a legislature where the Republicans hold veto-proof majorities, does being invited to that table have real meaning for the Democrats?

Lucas said there is some note to it, but he does not expect to have much influence.

House and Senate lawmakers began meeting behind closed doors this past Monday to work out their differences in the budget, which they are supposed to pass into law no later than June 30. Lucas said on Thursday said he had not yet been invited to attend one of the work sessions.

Still, Lucas is hopeful that he will be able to protect a $5.5 million request that Cumberland Countys lawmakers put in for construction of a fitness center at Fayetteville State University. There are other items he has an interest in, he said. He wouldnt discuss them, as that would be showing his cards to the Senate.

In these negotiations, Lucas said, its better to keep quiet about what you want because the other side can use that against you.

Another Democrat, state Rep. William Brisson of Bladen County, also is on the conference committee. He was more optimistic than Lucas on having a say on the final budget. Brisson expects to have some input on health and human service matters, which have been a focus for him during his legislative career.

Brisson may have more sway than the legislatures other Democrats because he often votes with the Republicans on partisan issues. He also is a co-chairman of one of the Houses budget committees, an unusually high position for a Democrat.

In all, 13 House Democrats voted for the Houses version of the budget.

In serving on the budget conference committee, House Democrats are faring better than their Senate counterparts. No Democratic senators were appointed.

Thats no surprise when the Senate approved its edition of the budget on May 11, the Democrats conducted a scripted, theater-like debate to that harshly criticized the Republican-drafted spending plan and praised Democratic Gov. Roy Coopers proposals.

State Sen. Ben Clark of Hoke and Cumberland counties said this was his idea, an effort to gain more public attention for the Democrats ideas.

The Senate Democrats added salt when the budget came up with its final Senate vote shortly after midnight on the morning of May 12, a Friday. The final vote scheduled for that time was to meet the constitutions requirement that the budget must be voted on twice, and on separate calendar days.

Historically, if the second vote comes shortly after midnight, the lawmakers only briefly debate and then conduct a vote that is essentially pro forma.

The Democrats werent having that. They repeatedly filed amendments to the budget, dragging the debate toward 1 a.m. while the Republicans had to spend time shooting them down.

Finally, the Republicans stopped the session for two hours. They came back around 3 a.m. with their own amendment. They took money for education programs in some Democratic districts.

Then the Republicans approved the whole budget over the Democrats' objections.

And that worked out well for the Democrats, Clark said. The maneuvers generated a lot of publicity for the Democrats and their budget position, he said, and criticism of the Republicans.

This is publicity the Democrats hope to carry into the next elections.

Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@fayobserver.com, 486-3512 and 261-4710.

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Capitol Affairs: Democrats get seats at the Republicans' budget table - Fayetteville Observer

The Democrats' New Economic Agenda Will Solidify Their Minority Status Forbes In a column from December of 2015, the Wall Street Journal's Mary O'Grady unveiled a rather inconvenient fact that poverty warriors on the American left and right would perhaps prefer remain hidden: from 1980 to 2000, when the U.S. economy boomed, the ...

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The Democrats' New Economic Agenda Will Solidify Their Minority Status - Forbes

NorthJersey 6:00 a.m. ET June 11, 2017

In this Sept. 23, 2016, file photo, Muslim worshippers pray during a service at the Bernards Township Community Center in Basking Ridge.(Photo: Julio Cortez/AP)

The right to worship, or not to worship at all, is one of the basic principles that has guided this nation since its founding. That right, though, increasingly, has come under siege lately as communities in New Jersey and across the country have tried to stymie Muslims in their efforts to practice their faith as they see fit.

As Staff Writer Hannan Adely reported, Muslims from New York to Minnesota are fighting what they believe to be an ongoing anti-Muslim campaign by filing lawsuits whenever they feel threatened. One such case recently involved Bernards Township in Somerset County. The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Bernards Township will pay $3.25 million to a settle a lawsuit over its denial of a permit to build a mosque.

Part of that settlement requires the township to train, within 180 days, all current and future members of its Planning Board and Township Committee in diversity and inclusion, particularly focusing on Islam and Muslims. It should never have had to come to this, not in diversity-rich New Jersey, and not anywhere in this country where people merely seek a place to pray or worship without feeling threatened.

Now, a new and similar case has surfaced in Bayonne, where a Muslim group filed a federal-discrimination lawsuit in late May after the city rejected its plan to convert an old warehouse on a dead-end street into a mosque. Indeed, as anti-Muslim sentiment has increased including reports of anti-mosque fliers being placed in childrens mailboxes at school Muslim groups have remained undeterred, and more determined than ever to press the issue.

Municipalities around the country should pay close attention to what happened in Bernards Township, said Adeel Abdullah Mangi, an attorney representing Muslim groups in the Bernards and Bayonne lawsuits. The American Muslim community has the legal resources, the allies and the determination to stand up for its constitutional rights in court and will do so.

The U.S. Department of Justice, in a report last year, said there had been a sharp increase in the number of its investigations into religious discrimination involving mosques or Islamic schools over the past six years. The same report noted particularly severe discrimination faced by Muslims in land use.

The founders of this nation were not perfect men, but they knew enough to realize the importance of religious liberty, the practical right of individuals to practice their faith without interference from the state. That right is enshrined in the Constitution, and it is going to stay there. Local municipalities around the country opposed to the building of mosques had better get used to the idea.

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Editorial: First Amendment protects all faiths - NorthJersey.com