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Essential Politics: From insurrection to impeachment, America's governing crisis – Los Angeles Times

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The eyes of the nation are focused on the crisis playing out in Washington, and rightly so — in the span of less than a week, the capital was shaken by a violent attack on the nation’s legislative branch of government and is now braced for a likely second impeachment of the sitting president in his waning hours in the White House.

But let’s take a step back and examine this crisis moment in American democracy through snapshots here in California, from a few geographic and historical points far away from the U.S. Capitol building.

What you’ll find raises the question: How will this deeply divided country put itself back together?

From Shasta and Schwarzenegger

My colleague Hailey Branson-Potts is perhaps the most thoughtful and eloquent of staff writers at The Times when it comes to chronicling California’s rural communities. Her latest dispatch, from Shasta County, offers a glimpse of the lengths some Californians seem prepared to go to in order to reclaim what they feel they’ve lost.

“We have to make politicians scared again,” said Carlos Zapata, a resident who attended a tense meeting of county supervisors last week. “If politicians do not fear the people they govern, that relationship is broken.”

Others with whom Branson-Potts spoke echoed those thoughts and more — her story provides an important window into the anger and the call for action among those who seem to see the pandemic and the election through the same political lens.

“This is by far the worst it’s been,” Supervisor Leonard Moty said. “They politicized the virus. The pandemic. You saw a culmination of it by a president who incited a whole group of people to march to the Capitol and do bad things. I think we have a number of people in this county who follow his voice. Who knows what they will do?”

A different but no less dire warning was issued Sunday by the last Republican governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. While he has hardly been silent about his opposition to President Trump, the video he posted on social media was deeply personal, including a harrowing tale of his father and other Austrian men who became members of the Nazi Party. Schwarzenegger likened the violent mob that attacked the Capitol last week to the horrific events of Kristallnacht, the murderous rampage by Nazis over two nights in November 1938.

“I grew up in the ruins of a country that suffered the loss of its democracy,” Schwarzenegger said. “Growing up, I was surrounded by broken men drinking away their guilt over their participation in the most evil regime in history. Not all of them were rabid anti-Semites or Nazis. Many just went along, step by step, down the road.”

The former GOP governor, whose second term in office was dominated by a steadily growing gap with his party’s sharply conservative base, said he did not believe America was on the same path. Yet.

“President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election and of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies. My father and our neighbors were misled also with lies, and I know where such lies lead.”

A second impeachment

There are no hard and fast rules about what constitutes an impeachable offense under the U.S. Constitution. The Republican leader of the House in 1970, Gerald Ford, famously put it this way: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

All signs indicate that the House will consider an article of impeachment against Trump as soon as this week for what Democrats and a smattering of Republicans believe is his role in sparking the violent mob that attacked Congress.

“Next we will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation to the floor,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to her colleagues, giving Vice President Mike Pence 24 hours to respond. “In protecting our Constitution and our democracy, we will act with urgency, because this president represents an imminent threat to both.”

Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) said Saturday that he believes the president committed an impeachable offense but didn’t say whether the Senate should convict Trump and remove him from office before President-elect Joe Biden takes the oath Jan. 20.

Biden sidestepped the issue when asked about it by a reporter last week, choosing instead to reaffirm his belief that Trump is “unfit” for the job. So, too, did many former top U.S. security officials when asked by The Times whether the president is a threat to the nation’s security.

“What would this president do over the next days if it happens again — if a domestic or foreign enemy attacks any element of this country?” asked Tom Bossert, Trump’s former homeland security advisor, who left in 2018. “I don’t get the impression he would do a damn thing, and I find that to be alarming.”

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The social media shutdown

For a presidency largely conducted through social media platforms, the last few days have been … quiet. Not that President Trump doesn’t have ways to communicate with the nation — press releases, press conferences, media interviews come to mind — but he has chosen to use none of those options in the days since Twitter permanently suspended his account and wiped out its reach to some 88 million followers.

Silicon Valley has ended the Twitter presidency,” is how Times staff writers Eli Stokols, Andrea Chang and Suhauna Hussain put it in their story Friday afternoon.

The Facebook banishment has been described as “indefinite” by the company’s leadership. Other social media companies have taken similar actions to limit Trump’s use of their services. Whether the president waits out his suspension or seeks to embrace some conservative-leaning platforms remains to be seen.

In the meantime, archives of the president’s prodigious Twitter habit are a popular online item. The Times took a look at the history of his tweets about California.

National lightning round

— Despite ample warnings, the U.S. Capitol Police did not bolster staffing Wednesday and made no preparations for the possibility that the planned protests could escalate into violent riots, according to several people briefed on law enforcement’s response.

— Congressional leaders wanting answers about the actions of the U.S. Capitol Police in last week’s melee might want to remember that they are the ones who have ensured that the agency’s procedures and actions were kept under wraps for decades.

— A Republican state legislator from West Virginia faces federal charges after he livestreamed himself entering the U.S. Capitol with rioters.

— In the final days of his presidency, Trump may have exposed himself to criminal prosecution after he leaves the White House.

— The president left a lot of clues over the years that he wouldn’t go quietly when his time in office came to an end.

— House lawmakers may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for the coronavirus while they sheltered at an undisclosed location during the Capitol siege.

— GOP members of Congress who voted against certifying Biden’s victory, even after a mob broke into the Capitol, are rebuked in their districts.

— Before they take office, elected officials swear to uphold the U.S. Constitution. But what happens when they are accused of doing the opposite?

— American diplomats have drafted cables condemning Trump’s incitement of the Capitol riot and calling for administration officials to support invoking the 25th Amendment.

Newsom to Legislature: Act fast on schools, stimulus

There were two separate California budget efforts unveiled last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom: one that lays out his proposals for state spending in the fiscal year that begins in July and one for immediate action by the Legislature this month.

Let’s take the most pressing issues first. Newsom wants legislators to sign off on $5 billion in immediate actions: $2 billion for elementary schools that put together campus reopening plans once COVID-19 conditions allow (and those that have remained open) and a $3-billion plan for direct relief to Californians and businesses — most of which would be spent in the form of $600 checks for about 4 million of the state’s lowest-income residents.

That would be followed by action in the spring on another $6.5 billion in pandemic response efforts. Education programs make up the bulk of the proposal ($4.6 billion) and focus on students who have fallen behind as the result of remote learning. Job assistance and workforce training are also included in the package; so, too, are dollars to continue the purchase of hotels for homeless housing and a boost for zero-emission vehicle incentives for those who can’t otherwise afford them.

Newsom’s budget for the coming year, a $227.2-billion spending plan that he submitted Friday, is a testament to the remarkable staying power of professional, upper-income jobs during the pandemic. Last year’s budget assumed a historic collapse of tax revenue that largely didn’t come to pass, especially for the higher-income earners on which California relies to fund its government services.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to help small, medium-size businesses, but folks at the top [are] doing pretty damn well,” Newsom told reporters on Friday.

Today’s essential California politics

— Newsom said the state will vaccinate 1 million more residents by Jan. 17, a goal announced amid the lagging vaccination rollout and surging cases of COVID-19.

— State Senate Minority Leader Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) posted, then quickly deleted, a tweet Wednesday accusing the mob that overran the U.S. Capitol of being led by the leftist, anti-fascist movement known as antifa and not by supporters of President Trump.

— Ten months into a COVID-19 pandemic that has put many out of work, the state unemployment agency has suspended payments on 1.4 million benefit claims, angering jobless Californians as it attempts to rein in rampant fraud.

— The former chair of the Federal Election Commission filed a complaint against a major contributor to the campaign to recall Newsom, alleging that a “shell company” was being used to hide the identities of its donors.

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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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