Tweet of the Day

CA-25:Steve Knight's operatives were first to receive Katie Hill's photos/texts

Breaking via LA Times.

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot confirm deal to create the world's fourth-largest carmaker

Peugeot (PSA) and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) confirmed their intention to merge on Thursday, in what would be a 50-50 share swap and create the world’s fourth-largest carmaker.

The new company’s shares will be listed in New York, Paris and Milan with FCA’s John Elkann becoming the chairman and Peugeot’s Carlos Tavares becoming the CEO.

“Discussions have opened a path to the creation of a new group with global scale and resources owned 50% by Groupe PSA shareholders and 50% by FCA shareholders,” they said in a statement.

“In a rapidly changing environment, with new challenges in connected, electrified, shared and autonomous mobility, the combined entity would leverage its strong global R&D footprint and ecosystem to foster innovation and meet these challenges with speed and capital efficiency.”

he PSA board approved the merger and the Fiat Chrysler board met Wednesday. Executives have briefed regulators in the U.S. and France, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.



https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/31/fiat-chrysler-and-peugeot-confirm-deal-to-merge.html

Extra Bonus Tweet of the Day

Bonus Tweet of the Day

Annie Lennox - Love Song For A Vampire

Election 2019: PA Democrats within range of taking over Bucks County Commission

Republicans have spent decades in charge of the three-member Board of Commissioners in suburban Philadelphia’s populous and competitive Bucks County, but Democrats finally have the chance to take the majority on Tuesday.

Team Blue already achieved a major breakthrough in 2017 when the took four of Bucks’ five so-called “row offices,” which are the countywide offices other than commissioner; until that year, Democrats hadn’t won a single row office in over 30 years. Republicans then got some more unwelcome news earlier this year when one of their two county commissioners, Charley Martin, decided to retire after 23 years on the board.

County commission races operate under different rules in Pennsylvania than they do pretty much anywhere else. All three seats are elected countywide, and voters can select up to two candidates. However, each party can only nominate two candidates, so the board will wind up with a 2-1 split no matter what. The question is which party will get that vital second seat that they need to control the body.

The board’s Republican chair, Robert Loughery, is seeking re-election, and he’s joined by state Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, who represents a Democratic-leaning seat in the legislature. The Democratic ticket features incumbent Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Bob Harvie, who serves as chair of the Falls Township Board of Supervisors.

In 2015, the last time the commission was up, Loughery took first place with 27% while Ellis-Marseglia was close behind with 26%. Martin managed to edge out a Democratic candidate for the third and final seat by a narrow 23.8-23.5 margin, a 728-vote victory that allowed Republicans to hang on to the majority for another four years, but that long streak could come to an end next week.




https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/30/1893488/-Daily-Kos-Elections-Live-Digest-10-30?_=2019-10-30T15:00:02.691-07:00#update-1572472276000

Katie Hill's Estranged Husband Claimed He Was Hacked

USTIN, California — The estranged husband of Katie Hill, who resigned from Congress after nude pictures of her were posted online, told his parents he believed he had been hacked just before the images were published.

Hill, a Democrat from California's 25th District, resigned Sunday after the conservative website Redstate published text messages and photos suggesting the lawmaker had been in a sexual relationship with a woman staffer on her campaign, as well as a male worker in her congressional office.


Redstate and the Daily Mail also published nude photos of Hill, raising questions about their origin.

In a message to supporters, Hill called the incident a "coordinated campaign carried out by right-wing media and Republican operatives," as well as her "abusive husband," Kenny Heslep.

It's unclear what role Heslep — who is currently in the middle of a divorcing Hill and has publicly accused her of sleeping with a male staffer — may have played in the scandal, but his father told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday that Heslep believed he had been the victim of hacking before the images were released.

"He was hacked is what he says," Fred Heslep said when contacted at his home in Southern California.

When asked if his son had a role in distributing the images, he added: "He says no."



https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/katie-hill-kenny-heslep-parents-hack-story

FLIPPABLE: Trish Gunby for MO-HD99 (THIS TUESDAY)

I’ve been a 99th District resident for 25 years, serving as an active citizen and mother who’s known for studying issues and collaborating to solve problems with those who do and do not share my perspective. My involvement has given me a front-row seat to question legislators and uncover the ways voters’ voices and votes are being disregarded. I have decided I can no longer sit two hours away from Jefferson City and watch as the state’s democratic process is dismantled. It’s time to restore representation for all Missourians!

My husband Mark and I have two children – Kyle and Bryn – who both graduated from Parkway South before attending Mizzou and Bradley University. I’m a Parkway West graduate, myself, who then attended the University of Tulsa, and majored in political science and advertising/public relations. Mark is an internist and geriatrician with BJC Medical Group and has been designated as one of St. Louis’ Best Doctors by St. Louis Magazine. His only shortcoming is he’s from Chicago and is a Cubs fan. Love transcends all, I suppose.

Professionally, my background is in project management and marketing – having worked at Citicorp Mortgage and Purina before staying home to raise the kids. Alongside actively volunteering and serving in local leadership positions, this work prepared me to identify issues, organize the right teams to assess community/business needs and ensure success and accountability.






https://www.trishgunby.com

Election 2019: Days before Nov. 5 election, Virginia Republicans take hard right turn

n crucial swing districts, from Northern Virginia to Richmond to Hampton Roads, Republican candidates are trying to turn out GOP voters while hoping they can hang on to the centrist images they cultivated all summer. To pull it off, they’re casting Democrats as extremists — invoking hot-button issues such as abortion and immigration that Republicans had largely avoided as they attempted to soften their connection to an unpopular President Trump.

“The strategy was to try to make it comfortable for women to vote Republican again,” longtime Virginia political analyst Robert Holsworth said. The harsh turn “may be a risky strategy because it may remind people again of their Republican identity, which at the moment is not that popular in suburban Virginia.”

Democrats, too, have resorted to tougher tactics as next week’s election looms, depicting Republicans as chummy with Trump and in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. But that’s consistent with the strategy they’ve adopted all along, in a year when national Democrats view Virginia as a tuneup for next fall’s presidential contest.

Democrats, too, have resorted to tougher tactics as next week’s election looms, depicting Republicans as chummy with Trump and in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. But that’s consistent with the strategy they’ve adopted all along, in a year when national Democrats view Virginia as a tuneup for next fall’s presidential contest.

“The road to 2020 runs through 2019,” Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke said in a video the Democratic Party of Virginia tweeted on Wednesday. “And the success for the United States of America is dependent on what we do this year in the commonwealth of Virginia.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/blue-summer-red-fall-virginia-republicans-change-colors-with-the-season-stepping-up-attacks-on-democrats/2019/10/30/0115f352-fb26-11e9-8190-6be4deb56e01_story.html