Bloomberg Out: Will Not Run For President In 2020 Amid “Crowded Field”

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided against running for president in the 2020 election – and will instead use his political clout and immense personal fortune to try and prevent Donald Trump from winning another term, according to the New York Times

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In a Tuesday tweet, Bloomberg said: “While there would be no higher honor than serving as president, my highest obligation as a citizen is to help the country the best way I can, right now,” adding that he will be launching a new effort called “Beyond Carbon.”

While Bloomberg is aligned with Democrats on key issues such as climate change and gun violence, his pro-business moderate stance is unlikely to gel with a party rapidly gravitating towards socialist ideals. His support of the police along with a “generally favorable view of Wall Street,” would have also proven to be impediments, notes the Times

In a Bloomberg Opinion article announcing his decision, Bloomberg said that he thought he could have defeated Trump in a general election, but had become “clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field.” 

“It’s essential that we nominate a Democrat who will be in the strongest position to defeat Donald Trump and bring our country back together,” said Bloomberg. “We cannot allow the primary process to drag the party to an extreme that would diminish our chances in the general election and translate into ‘Four More Years.’”

The Trumps, as expected, are having a good time with the announcement: 

Read Bloomberg’s entire statement below: 

I’ve never made any secret of my belief that Donald Trump is a threat to our country. At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, I said: “New Yorkers know a con when we see one.” Last fall I spent more than $100 million supporting Democrats in the midterm elections. Republicans in Congress had failed — and are still failing — to fulfill their constitutional duty to hold the president accountable. Instead, they indulge his worst impulses and refuse to work with Democrats on the most urgent issues.

It’s essential that we nominate a Democrat who will be in the strongest position to defeat Donald Trump and bring our country back together. We cannot allow the primary process to drag the party to an extreme that would diminish our chances in the general election and translate into “Four More Years.”

Many people have urged me to run. Some have told me that to win the Democratic nomination, I would need to change my views to match the polls. But I’ve been hearing that my whole political career.

I’ve run for office three times and won each time, in no small part because I’ve never stuck my finger in the wind to decide what I should believe. It’s not who I am, nor do I think it’s what voters want in a leader. They want someone who levels with them, even when they disagree, and who is capable of offering practical, sensible and ambitious ideas — and of solving problems and delivering results.

I come out of the business world. I’ve had executive jobs in both the private sector and government. Finding solutions to tough problems is my life’s passion. My skills are in building and leading teams that draw up innovative plans and then work together to implement them. I think this is exactly what our country needs in a president, especially after what will be four years of chaos, disruption and deceit.

I know what it takes to run a winning campaign, and every day when I read the news, I grow more frustrated by the incompetence in the Oval Office. I know we can do better as a country. And I believe I would defeat Donald Trump in a general election. But I am clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field.

There is another factor that has weighed heavily on my mind: the likelihood that our biggest national problems will worsen over the next two years. With a leader in the White House who refuses to bring the parties together, it will be nearly impossible for Congress to address the major challenges we face, including climate change, gun violence, the opioid crisis, failing public schools, and college affordability. All are likely to grow more severe, and many of the president’s executive actions will only compound matters.

I love our country too much to sit back and hope for the best as national problems get worse. But I also recognize that until 2021, and possibly longer, our only real hope for progress lies outside of Washington. And unlike most who are running or thinking of it, I’m fortunate enough to be in a position to devote the resources needed to bring people together and make a big difference.

Since leaving public office, I’ve created and supported initiatives that are rallying citizens and leaders of cities, states, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to take action on their own. Like me, most Americans want to improve their communities and get things done. Together, we’ve shown that’s possible even without help from Washington.

I know there’s much more we can accomplish over the next two years, but only if we stay focused on the work and expand upon it. And the fact is: A national presidential campaign would limit my ability to do that.

So as I’ve thought about a possible presidential campaign, the choice before me has become clear. Should I devote the next two years to talking about my ideas and record, knowing that I might never win the Democratic nomination? Or should I spend the next two years doubling down on the work that I am already leading and funding, and that I know can produce real and beneficial results for the country, right now?

I’ve come to realize that I’m less interested in talking than doing. And I have concluded that, for now, the best way for me to help our country is by rolling up my sleeves and continuing to get work done.

Here’s one way I’ll do that. In 2011, following the failure of cap and trade legislation in Congress, I teamed up with the Sierra Club on a campaign called Beyond Coal. By organizing and mobilizing communities affected by the harmful pollution of coal-fired power plants, we have helped close more than half the nation’s plants — 285 out of 530 — and replaced them with cleaner and cheaper energy. That was the single biggest reason the U.S. has been able to reduce its carbon footprint by 11 percent — and cut deaths from coal power plants from 13,000 to 3,000.

Now, I will take the next big steps. First, I will expand my support for the Beyond Coal campaign so that we can retire every single coal-fired power plant over the next 11 years. That’s not a pipe dream. We can do it. And second, I will launch a new, even more ambitious phase of the campaign — Beyond Carbon: a grassroots effort to begin moving America as quickly as possible away from oil and gas and toward a 100 percent clean energy economy.

At the heart of Beyond Carbon is the conviction that, as the science has made clear, every year matters. The idea of a Green New Deal — first suggested by the columnist Tom Friedman more than a decade ago — stands no chance of passage in the Senate over the next two years. But Mother Nature does not wait on our political calendar, and neither can we.

The same applies to gun violence. Congress has not passed a major gun safety bill in nearly 25 years. Last week the Democratic House voted to approve a bill strengthening the background check system, but the Republican Senate is virtually guaranteed to block it. Nevertheless, thanks to strong grassroots efforts that we have spent years organizing and mobilizing, 20 states have passed stronger background check bills or adopted other laws that help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. But 20 states is not enough, and we can’t stop now given the risks to our country.

Gun violence and climate change are not the only urgent challenges where we must make progress even as Washington continues to ignore proven solutions.

We know how to improve public schools and dramatically reduce the racial achievement gap. We did it in New York City, by raising standards, increasing accountability, and giving our children the education they need to thrive in today’s knowledge- and technology-based economy.

We know how to increase access to college for low-income students. My foundation is doing just that, by working with colleges to increase financial aid and recruitment, and giving high school students more support with the application process.

We know how to reduce opioid addiction; improve the quality of health care and access to it; and reduce homelessness on our streets. We extended life expectancy by three years in New York City, and I’m working to help other cities make similar progress.

We know how to strengthen local communities, by investing in civic leaders and the innovative work they are doing to tackle our nation’s challenges from the ground up. This is a central focus of my foundation’s work, and it is where answers to many of our toughest challenges lie.

And we know that to protect our democracy, we need to organize to protect every citizen’s right to vote.

On these and other issues, Washington is unlikely to take effective action over the next two years. Progress depends entirely on the rest of us.

In the weeks and months ahead, I will dive even deeper into the work of turning around our country, through concrete actions and results. And I will continue supporting candidates who can provide the leadership we need — on climate change, gun violence, education, health, voting rights, and other critical issues — and continue holding their feet to the fire to deliver what they promise.

I hope those who have urged me to run, and to stand up for the values and principles that they hold dear, will understand that my decision was guided by one question: How can I best serve the country?

Fairfax Accuser: “What Started As Consensual Kissing Quickly Turned Into A Sexual Assault” 

Professor Vanessa Tyson, who has accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) of sexual assault, issued a statement on Wednesday detailing her version of the alleged sexual assault which “began as consensual kissing” and “quickly turned into a sexual assault.” 

Tyson claims in her account that “Mr. Fairfax forced me to perform oral sex on him” during a 20004 encounter at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Fairfax admits he and Tyson had relations, but claims it was consensual. 

Meanwhile, an NBC is reporting that Fairfax responded to allegations against him by saying of Tyson: “Fuck that bitch.” 

“At no time did she express to me any discomfort or concern about our interactions, neither during that encounter nor doing the months following it, when she stayed in touch with me, nor the past fifteen years,” said Fairfax in a statement earlier Wednesday, adding “She in no way indicated that anything that had happened between us made her uncomfortable.”

With Fairfax potentially on the ropes, Governor Ralph Northam (D) embroiled in a “blackface / kkk” scandal, and now Attorney General Mark Herring (D) admitting to wearing blackface in the 1980s – the governorship of Virginia may fall to Republican Kirk Cox. 

Perhaps that’s why prominent Democrats – who just months ago treated as fact allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh – have been so silent on Fairfax. 

“Believe all women” unless they’ve accused a Democrat?  

Virginia governor’s future in limbo amid outcry over racist photo

February 5, 2019

By Gary Robertson

RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) – Embattled Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s political future, and the leadership of his state, remained in limbo on Tuesday amid mounting pressure for him to resign after the revelation of a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page.

The first-term Democrat and former U.S. Army physician has been under fire since a conservative media website on Friday released the photo, showing one person in blackface standing beside a masked individual in the white robes of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan.

Northam, 59, who is white, initially apologized on Friday and said he was one of the two people in the photo. He then changed his story on Saturday, saying he did not appear in the picture but had dressed in blackface at another point that same year to portray pop star Michael Jackson in a dance competition.

The origins of blackface date to 19th-century “minstrel” shows in which white performers covered their faces in black grease paint to caricature slaves.

Northam, who took office a year ago and has vowed to see his four-year-term through to completion, huddled with Cabinet officers on Monday as his political heir apparent, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, confronted a potential scandal of his own.

At a news conference on Monday, Fairfax, 39, denied a sexual assault allegation that was reported against him on the same website that first disclosed the Northam yearbook photo.

The Big League Politics site on Sunday posted a private Facebook message purportedly obtained from the accuser with her permission by a friend suggesting that Fairfax had assaulted her during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. While the Facebook post did not explicitly name Fairfax, the website’s story linked him to the allegation.

At a news conference on Monday, Fairfax acknowledged having had a consensual encounter with the woman in 2004 but denied any wrongdoing, adding that “now, years later, we have a totally fabricated story out of the blue to attack me.”

At least two media outlets, including the Washington Post, said a woman had approached them more than a year ago with the same allegation, but that they had been unable to substantiate her account.

Fairfax also expressed doubt at what Northam might do next.

“I believe the governor has to make a decision that’s in the best interest of the commonwealth of Virginia,” Fairfax told reporters at the capitol.

Asked if he were preparing to possibly assume office as governor, Fairfax replied, “There is a lot of uncertainty right now in our government. But we always have to be ready.”

Should Northam resign, Fairfax is in line to become the second African-American governor in the history of Virginia, where his great-great-great grandfather was a slave. The first was Douglas Wilder, a Democrat elected in 1989.

Fairfax would be only the fifth black politician to serve as governor of a U.S. state, dating back to the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction.

Revelation of the yearbook photo and the governor’s response to it have drawn calls for his resignation from most elected office holders in Virginia, considered a key swing state in the 2020 presidential race, and many national political figures. At least five Democratic presidential candidates, including U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, both of whom are black, said Northam had lost the moral authority to lead.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Gary Robertson in Richmond and Katharine Jackson in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone, Bill Trott and James Dalgleish)

Democrats move to ban Occupy from 2012 convention

In John Heilemann’s cover story “2012=1968?,” he wonders whether Occupy Wall Street protesters will do to Charlotte’s Democratic National Convention in the summer of 2012 what demonstrators did to the Chicago DNC in 1968. The North Carolina city, sometimes called the “Wall Street of the South,” is not taking any chances, and is already working to pass an ordinance that would make occupying downtown spaces with tents a “public nuisance,” in addition to banning “noxious substances,” padlocks, and other camping equipment. The fact that it would knock out the city’s current overnight demonstrators is an added bonus.

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx said dubiously last month that the rule, which could be enacted in January, is not aimed at a specific group. “Unlike many cities that have well-developed regulations governing protest activity, our local regulations contain gaps that need to be filled,” he said. But a memo about the ordinance does note, “The recent issues related to camping on city property have further amplified the need to review whether the city wants to regulate this activity during the DNC.” A city councilman added of the current Occupy Charlotte faction, “Once those ordinances go into effect, those overnight stays will end.”

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