Mediaboss Marketing

President Trump has become the gift that keeps on giving, according to Avon Township Democrats at their regular meeting in the Round Lake Area Public Library Saturday.

"Our best recruiting tool has been Donald Trump," said Hal Sloan, 59, of Grayslake, chairman of the Avon Township Democrats.

"And I've heard other people say that he's the reason they keep going. We used to have six to 12 people at a meeting, and now we have 20 to 25," he said, with just over 20 people meeting in the activity room of the library on a sunny Saturday morning.

He said after the Women's March in Chicago, he wondered how to keep the momentum going forward.

"When I was there, the energy was phenomenal and I thought, 'How do I keep this going,'" he said.

"It was peaceful and respectful. There were a couple of Trump supporters with signs," he said, but things never turned nasty.

On Saturday, they discussed ways to use social media better, from Google Groups to Facebook and Twitter. They already have a Facebook page, website, http://www.avondems.com, and Twitter account @avontwpdems.

"Someone had suggested that we have a private Facebook page too, but I think it's redundant," he said.

"And remember when you respond in Google Groups, your message goes to everyone in the group," Sloan added.

Under new business, those present discussed having more social gatherings, like once a quarter, said Patrick Duby, 41, of Round Lake, who organized the first social evening recently at Taco El Norte's in Round Lake Beach.

"It's so we can reach out to the community and other townships. We had five other township Democrat organizations show up that night," he said.

"We talked about doing this every quarter and I want to do another one in May at another local venue. It's just a way to socialize and get to know other groups," Duby said.

Another member suggested the group recognize World Autism Month this month by providing more resources for families with autistic children because therapy is expensive and the earlier the little kids get therapy they better they socialize.

"We have a significant amount of families in our community and a lot of action in Springfield is geared toward cutting special education resources," said the woman who did not want to be identified.

Someone else suggested the group post bills on its website to alert people to those bills that would cut special needs funding.

Sloan said another community outreach effort is highway clean-up, where the group plans to pick up trash along Rollins Road, from Cedar Lake Road to Lotus Drive, on May 13

"It's a good workout," he joked, "and there is always the contest to see who finds the craziest thing along the roadway."

At one point, Tyler Sadonis, a field organizer for the Democrat Party, asked members to be volunteers for a telephone calling effort for the special election April 18 in Georgia. He explained they would be calling other Democrats in that state to make sure they go out and vote.

"We can show that the Democrats have momentum and win a congressional seat back," he said as he took out a sign-up sheet for people to use after the meeting.

Duby echoed the chairman's comments about Trump generating more interest.

"Our best recruitment tool has just been people listening to the news. People are more interested and engaged. Our membership tripled," he said.

Floyd John Trexler, 70, of Grayslake, became visibly irritated when the subject of President Donald Trump was brought up after the meeting.

"He hasn't done anything for me. All he's done is take things away," he said.

fabderholden@tribpub.com

Twitter @abderholden

Visit link:
Democrats see Trump's action boosting their membership - Chicago Tribune

Extreme partisanship is rampant on Capitol Hill, but a glimmer of hope for cooperation is emerging from a dark place the prescription painkiller and heroin crisis thats ravaging the country.

Its an issue where all sides have said they want to act, though getting agreement hasnt always been smooth.

Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican who has taken the lead on the issue, was only able to get five fellow Republicans last year to sign onto his bill to root out synthetic opioids pouring into the U.S. through postal packages from China. This year, hes already gotten several Democrats to join him.

The most recent co-sponsors from either party Sen. David Perdue, a Georgia Republican who is staunchly pro-life and anti-gun control, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and hero to the progressive left highlight the political breadth of the problem and eagerness to deal with it.

Another bill, the Stop OD Act of 2017, would authorize grants to highlight the dangers of opioids and expand the use of overdose-reversing drugs. It has more than 20 House co-sponsors, scattered from Hawaii to New Hampshire, and roughly split between Republicans and Democrats.

Drug abuse is a problem that afflicts many parts of the country and therefore is something that unites red and blue state legislators. If members can address that issue, it offers some hope of progress in other areas as well, said Darrell West, director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution.

The prescription drug and heroin epidemic stands out because it is affecting Americans of all ages with little regard for race, income or other social factors. The crisis resulted in more than 30,000 overdose deaths in 2015 alone.

The epidemics wide reach prompted Congress to pass bipartisan legislation last year the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act that bolstered treatment and the availability of overdose-reversing drugs.

But Congress struggled to pony up funds. After months of feuding, lawmakers agreed to dedicate $500 million per year for fiscal years 2017 and 2018. It passed just weeks after the contentious November election, giving lawmakers hope that bipartisanship is still possible.

With President Trump calling for belt-tightening in domestic spending, members of Congress are warning the administration not to fiddle with the funding.

Democrats said efforts to repeal Obamacare and proposed spending cuts in Mr. Trumps budget for the National Institutes of Health or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were particularly troubling.

During the campaign I was pleased to hear President Trump talk about the need to address [the epidemic]. Its been disappointing to see him try and take away health care, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Democrat, noting Obamacares expansion of Medicaid had been a vital conduit to treatment for addicts in her state.

For now, lawmakers are reaching for common ground wherever they can find it.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat, reached out to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, after Mr. Trump tapped him to lead the national fight against opioid addiction, saying we need all hands on deck, including administration officials to thwart the epidemic.

I hope we can take some lessons from this. It is a public health crisis in all of our states in every community, rural and urban, Ms. McCaskill said Friday.

Ms. McCaskill made her comments to a reporter just moments after shed cast a vote against Mr. Trumps Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch.

That court fight which saw Democrats mount the first ever partisan filibuster of a high court nominee and the GOP trigger the nuclear option to change the rules and curtail the use of the filibuster threatened to send the Senate to new lows of bipartisanship.

But Mr. Portman said even in the midst of that, bipartisanship is alive and well.

Literally during the vote, two Democrats came over, and we talked about other legislation, he said Friday. Were going to continue to work together across party lines. We have to. Thats our job, and we have lots to do.

Presidents change and lawmakers come and go, but The Washington Times is always here, and FREE online. Please support our efforts.

See the article here:
Opioid policy unites Democrats, Republicans on Capitol Hill - Washington Times

In lengthy article published by the Washington Post on Sunday, reporter Ben Terris revealed Emmy-winning Hollywood actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus has said shes been approached by top Democrats who wanted her to run for office.

According to Terris, Louis-Dreyfus said she has been approached by top Democrats and asked to run for office. (Not in a million years, she said she told them.)

Louis-Dreyfus didnt tell Terris what the Democrats had in mind or who the top Democrats are.

Louis-Dreyfus stars in HBOs hit comedy Veep, where she has for several seasons played a disgruntled, often ignored vice president thats always stumbling her way through a sea of scandals and political escapades.

Louis-Dreyfus likely isnt the first celebrity Democrats have approached about running for office. Many high-profile people with connections to the Democratic Party have been rumored to be interested in a 2020 White House run or for some other high-level political office.

According to the Financial Times, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook; Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team and reality-television star; and Bob Iger, the chief executive of Walt Disney, have all expressed interest in running for office since the start of 2017.

In an interview on The David Rubenstein Show, which aired in March 2017, Oprah Winfrey told host Rubenstein she has thought about since Donald Trump surprised the world in November 2016.

I thought, Oh, gee, I dont have the experience, Winfrey said. I dont know enough. And now Im thinking, Oh. Oh.

See the original post:
Report: Top Democrats tried to convince Emmy-winning actress to run for office - TheBlaze.com

Well, to be fair, the Democrats dont want to burn books that point out how unscientific the global warming scare is. They want to recycle them. The Daily Caller reports:

Three senior House Democrats asked U.S. teachers Monday to destroy a book written by climate scientists challenging the environmentalist view of global warming.

The Democrats were responding to a campaign by the conservative Heartland Institute copies of the 2015 book, Why Climate Scientists Disagree About Global Warming to about 200,000 science teachers. Democratic Reps. Bobby Scott of the Committee on Education, Ral M. Grijalva of the Committee on Natural Resources, and Eddie Bernice Johnson of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology all issued a statement telling teachers to trash the book.

But if the arguments in favor of global warming hysteria are so strong, why do they need to trash the book? Why not respond to its arguments?

Just kidding.

Public school classrooms are no place for anti-science propaganda, and I encourage every teacher to toss these materials in the recycling bin, Scott said. If the Heartland Institute and other climate deniers want to push a false agenda on global warming, our nations schools are an inappropriate place to drive that agenda.

Got that? If you make scientific arguments against a fraudulent claim that benefits government, you are anti-science. And if you tell the truth about the Earths climate, you are a climate denier. What a stupid phrase! Do the Democrats mean to imply that some people deny the Earth has a climate? Apparently so.

So who are the anti-science authors of a book that dares to tell the truth about government-funded global warming alarmism?

The books three authors all hold doctorates and taught climate or related science at the university level. The book was written by former Arizona State University climatologist Dr. Craig D. Idso, James Cook University marine geology and paleontology professor Robert M. Carter, and University of Virginia environmental scientist Dr. Fred Singer.

When it comes to the Earths climate, Democratic Congressmen Scott, Grijalva and Johnson are entirely ignorant. But what they do know is that the whole point of global warming hysteria is to give the government more power over the economy. That, they are in favor of! The excuse is mostly irrelevant.

Why do you think our federal government has funded global warming alarmism to the tune of $40 billion? It is all about power and money. And if you blow the whistle on the liberals scam, your book should be thrown in the trash! We wouldnt want Americas students to get a balanced view of the facts relating to climate, not when so much money is at stake.

See the original post here:
Democrats Lose Argument, Try to Burn Books - Power Line (blog)

The Trump administration's director of legislative affairs, Marc Short, met with the moderate Blue Dog Democrats on Monday evening on Capitol Hill, according to two people familiar with the meeting.

There were about 15 Democratic members present and a number of Congressional staffers, one source said. The Blue Dog Democrats Coalition for the 115th Congress has 18 members, so a majority of that group attended the meeting -- though the sources declined to give specific names of Congress members who attended.

It is a strategic move for the Trump administration as they struggle to find votes to support their legislative agenda. These would be the clearest allies on the Democratic caucus the Trump team can find: Centrist, bordering on almost right-leaning Democrats, hailing mostly from Trump districts.

One source said both sides discussed infrastructure in an effort to try and lock in some early goodwill from a group that will be central to any big push on that front. That person also added the meeting included some discussion on tax reform, in an effort to feel out where the Democrats stand on the issue.

Short pledged would meet with the group at a regular clip in the weeks ahead, according to one of the sources.

See the rest here:
Trump aide meets with moderate Democrats ahead of tax, infrastructure fights - CNN