Daily Archives: 03/24/2012
NY Post Writes: What’s going on in Brooklyn? It’s not entirely clear. After all, it’s easy to misread political trends, particularly in highly local elections. Many folks chalked up Turner’s win to special circumstances, rather than a rightward shift among voters. They cite a desire by the district’s sizable Jewish population to send a message to President Obama about his policy toward Israel.
And then there’s voter disgust: Both Kruger and Weiner lost their seats amid scandal; their party then tapped entrenched hacks, while Republicans turned to fresh faces who weren’t professional politicians.
But every election has unique circumstances. Fact is, demographic changes have recast much of southwest Brooklyn over the last decade — with an influx of entrepreneurial Russian immigrants, for example, adding to pockets of socially conservative Catholics and Orthodox Jews.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) closed two banks this weekend, bringing to fifteen the number of banks it closed in 2012. Last year this time around, 26 banks were closed, down from the 41 this time in 2010. By late March in 2009, the FDIC had shuttered twenty banks that year; which was close to the 25 banks closed for all of 2008, Bush’s last year in office.
Check out my twitter @YossiGestetner for ongoing reporting of the Louisiana Primary Results of tonight.
Israelis marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against a possible Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The protest came amid a recent Facebook campaign linking Israeli and Iranian citizens in their opposition to war between the two nations. Campaign leaders, however, made it clear on their Facebook page that they had nothing to do with the Tel Aviv protest march. – Forward
JTA Reports: Jarrett will join Tony Blinken, the national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, in a session on Monday on the U.S. role in advancing Middle East peace. Jeremy Ben-Ami, the group’s director, had complained in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic that only sending Blinken signalled that the administration feared sending a higher-ranking official to the liberal pro-Israel group’s conference, and that it was succumbing to pressure from some centrist and right-wing groups to isolate the lobby.
“This decision is really indicative of the problem we started J Street to fix,” Ben-Ami said. “This is precisely the kind of calculation that shouldn’t be made.” In a statement Friday announcing Jarrett’s participation, Ben-Ami said that along with a video message from Israeli President Shimon Peres and a first-time participation by an Israeli diplomat — deputy ambassador Baruch Binah — Jarrett’s attendance was a sign that J Street had arrived.
Politicker Reports: Queens Republican Councilman Dan Halloran will announce on Monday that he is running for Congress for the seat currently held by retiring Rep. Gary Ackerman.
Mr. Halloran is so far the only announced Republican interested in the seat. Three Democrats are vying for it so far, including Assemblyman Rory Lancman, Assemblywoman Grace Meng and City Councilwoman Liz Crowley. Read more »
After Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2010 campaign, the Republican senator was fined $9,904 for failing to disclose information about 36 donors who gave more than $1,000 to his campaign within 48 hours of the general election, according to a Federal Election Commission filing made public this week. The donations totaled $92,440. Among the donors listed as not being disclosed was The Las Vegas Sands Corporation PAC, the political action committee of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. Rubio’s legal team from Holtzman Vogel in 2011 fought back against the fine, successfully proving to the FEC that only six of the donors were actually not disclosed properly. The Federal Election Commission dropped the fine to $1,360. – Miami Herald
“It sickens me to see the President of the United States literally and figuratively bow down to leaders of other countries. I also believe that he was incorrect to try and sip tea and sing Kumbaya with people like Ahmadinejad in Iran and Chavez in Venezuela at the same time that he’s treated some of our best allies throughout the world like garbage. You look like at the way he treats Honduras and England and Colombia and Israel and some of our other best allies, it just makes no sense. You can’t have a commander-in-chief, President of the United States, that treats our friends like garbage, and our allies like – and uh – our enemies like friends.” – Josh Mandel to Findlay Publishing Via Think Progress
Air Force One landed in Osan Air Base in South Korea at 5:28 a.m. ET Saturday, after a nine-hour flight from Alaska. President Obama was greeted on the tarmac by the U.S. ambassador to Korea, Sung Kim, and Korean dignitaries. – Politico
“This law does not apply to this particular circumstance,” Bush said after an education panel discussion at the University of Texas at Arlington. “Stand your ground means stand your ground. It doesn’t mean chase after somebody who’s turned their back…” Bush signed the law, pushed for by gun rights advocates, in 2005. It allows Florida residents to use deadly force rather than retreat if they feel threatened, even if they are not at home. Police and prosecutors cited the law in deciding not to charge George Zimmerman, the volunteer. – Dalls News H/T Drudge Report
